Is Zen still any good?

Sorry for the double post but I'm putting this here as well as Which ISP in case some people only visit the Zen forum


People have been saying in recent months that Zen's technical support, sale team and performance have been going downhill, with lack of staff and network congestion

And there's also some kind of issue with the Fritzbox they insist you use, which blocks some types of ping

So could people say here, whether Zen is still worth changing ISP to from EE, or whether it's better to look somewhere else like Plusnet, John Lewis or BT? (or maybe even KCOM?)

If I change from EE to Zen, am I definitely going to see a big improvement in reliability, download speed and ping times, as well as much better support?

And is Zen any good for gaming ping times to US servers? Or does the Fritzbox make gaming a bad experience, like random disconnects from game servers because their pings to you have been blocked?


Does Zen traffic manage or traffic shape anything? Including to game servers?


Is there an ISP that's good for gaming that offers a monthly contract?

Edited by deleted (Mon 12-Jul-21 12:36:37)

I've been with Zen for a number of years and I can't fault them. I've been mainly on FTTC but just switched over to FTTP last month on the 900Mbps package and Im getting over 900Mbps from some Speedtest.net servers. So no traffic shaping that Im aware of. You don't need to use there fritzbox router unless you have issues with them then they advice using it so they can give you full support, but will you really need that? I've not had any issues I've needed to call zen about in years of use. Only other need for the fritzbox is using there digital voice service on FTTP but you may be able to use other routers and use an adapter.

Pings should be good for gaming too just make sure you have a good fast router I'm using Asus and there really good, Ethernet is better than Wifi too. Im getting 14ms on ethernet to Speedtest servers.

I've got family who are on or have been on EE and all they did was complain and there casual users of Netflix and browsing. Zen should be a lot better for a consistent fast service.

Speedtest results

In reply to a post by maximono:

Only other need for the fritzbox is using there digital voice service on FTTP but you may be able to use other routers and use an adapter.

On FTTC I found the Fritz box a doddle to set up to use VoIP from SIPgate with a ordinary handset plugged in to the router. It can also act as a DECT base station.

Not seen any performance drop in many months. The last issue was more than a year ago when many ISPs found themselves facing unprecedented infrastructure demands. It got solved and stability resumed.

My 80/20 FTTC service is stable and usually has ping times of around 7ms. I use the Fritz! 3490 (no longer issued) as the modem with Draytek hardware running the infrastructure behind it.

My parents use a 40/10 Zen FTTC service and their service is equally stable with a 7590 running on it.

I have two BQM sessions running on TBB and both show stable, reliable connections.

I have used technical and sales support this year and both have been excellent. Email can be slow so I just pick up the phone.

Zen don’t profile traffic as far as I’m aware.

Zen are Very Good. I look after four connections, all rock solid. Support friendly and helpful, don't treat you like an idiot. (Not that you should need them very often.) The FritzBox is a good router. As above I have VoIP and DECT from mine as well as the usual LAN and site to site VPN. (Actually on the latter my old FB is a bit slow - if you do a lot of VPNing.)

In reply to a post by zelly:

People have been saying in recent months that Zen's technical support, sale team and performance have been going downhill, with lack of staff and network congestion

And there's also some kind of issue with the Fritzbox they insist you use, which blocks some types of ping

I could say who is "people" and objectively, is it widespread or a small number of vocal posters, or someone with an axe to grind, or maybe self-selective (a majority of satisfied customers are less likely to be lurking on Which ISP?).
Is it always a fault or is it as much the relentless household growth in connected Wi-Fi devices with added streaming / cloud requirements.

My own experience is that the connectivity is reliable for home working. I can't remember the last time I've needed support though.
My main job switched to majority remote working last year as did many public sector organisations and my second job in design and support of of managed networks was almost 100% remote working already.

I do periodically look at PlusNet and Sky pricing but I think the reality is, most providers want to offer you a target price of £20-25 per month for new customers, some with automatic price increases baked in unless you renegotiate or (threaten to) switch every single year.

If they also charge about £5 on top for a static IP and if that is monthly rather than one-off, it soon becomes less of a saving vs the time spent constantly looking for another provider.

I originally moved to IDNet to secure an affordable dual-stack connection - this was before any mass-market providers were ready. It was when your choices were limited to basically AAISP or IDNet.
I'd learnt the ropes for IPv6 on a tunnelled he.net connection including their informal certification thing but needed to progress to direct connectivity experience to check compatibility for long term networking hardware purchases.

I moved onto Zen after they went to their fixed pricing model and I couldn't justify the IDNet price, although the latter's call charges were still relatively reasonable.

As regards the Fritz box the question of PING is more of a rate limiting decision than a hardware limitation or arbitrary blocking. It should have no bearing on gaming.

When people talk about their "ping" to gaming servers it is generally a catch-all for ordinary delay and jitter characteristics from their home network to a range of geographical locations, and in game it is more of a player state (position/inputs/collision/weapon status) plus a keepalive / heartbeat when idle, and TCP/UDP rather an actual ICMP ping in question.
I'd guess that has as much to do with an ISP's peering and transit as a Fritz box vs another router.

Repeating what was said, most decent ISPs will ask you to reconnect an originally supplied router only to rule out any DIY factors and homogenise the support script, not actually forbid you using anything other router.

My use cases may not be representative but nor is my opinion based on fanboy-ism.

Edited by prlzx (Mon 12-Jul-21 22:19:13)

In reply to a post by prlzx:

If they also charge about £5 on top for a static IP and if that is monthly rather than one-off, it soon becomes less of a saving vs the time spent constantly looking for another provider.

PlusNet's is a one off charge

In reply to a post by Kenneth:

In reply to a post by prlzx:

If they also charge about £5 on top for a static IP and if that is monthly rather than one-off, it soon becomes less of a saving vs the time spent constantly looking for another provider.

PlusNet's is a one off charge

Good to hear and not the worst, but still leaves people without IPv6, baffling limitation given the relationship with wider BT, and the
CPI+3.9% (it's ok because Ofcom said that's the maximum increase we can apply? justification being parroted by some players)

In reply to a post by zelly:

Sorry for the double post but I'm putting this here as well as Which ISP in case some people only visit the Zen forum


People have been saying in recent months that Zen's technical support, sale team and performance have been going downhill, with lack of staff and network congestion

And there's also some kind of issue with the Fritzbox they insist you use, which blocks some types of ping

So could people say here, whether Zen is still worth changing ISP to from EE, or whether it's better to look somewhere else like Plusnet, John Lewis or BT? (or maybe even KCOM?)

If I change from EE to Zen, am I definitely going to see a big improvement in reliability, download speed and ping times, as well as much better support?

And is Zen any good for gaming ping times to US servers? Or does the Fritzbox make gaming a bad experience, like random disconnects from game servers because their pings to you have been blocked?


Does Zen traffic manage or traffic shape anything? Including to game servers?


Is there an ISP that's good for gaming that offers a monthly contract?

I've been with zen for 20 years without fault

Very happy with my ZEN FTTP connection.

Absolutely 0 issues since install, nice low ping, speedtests always near enough maxed out, dual stack v4/v6.... whats not to like!

The above plus the fact I know my price will remain as is without having to chase a new deal every 12/18/24 months is the icing on the cake.

I suspect that being BT's cheap option - they don't get the resources/investment after being brought into BT Consumer division and likely not allowed to out compete - they did various changes to reduce costs around then.

The 3.9% is one of the reasons why I am switching - just because it made me look and see what options are available and FTTP available and isn't hugely more than I am paying (and about same as when I first got ADSL 20 years ago) combined with a reoccurring issue with phone line thought time to change. The only issue with plusnet support was time it took to answer the phone around Christmas last year, but much better later on - now if BT had fixed the line properly

I have, in the past, been a perfectly satisfied Zen customer, and have always recommended them to people in much the same way as one says "buy a Dell" when people ask what computer they should buy.

But our current experience of trying to get an FTTP line installed is absolutely dreadful. Rather than being the intermediary who protects you from Openreach's inherent delinquency and incompetence, they have become an amplifier for this delinquency and incompetence, doubling (or is it squaring?) the difficulty of getting anything done.

Openreach appointments come and go with no attendance, emails to Zen's provisioning team go unanswered, phone-calls are not returned, etc.

When you do speak to the staff, they're unfailingly polite, helpful and apologetic, but they are apparently overwhelmed.

I sorely regret our placing this order with them, and if the latest install date (given to me informally, the promised confirmation has failed to arrive) is another failure, then I shall cancel the order and prise our money back out of them.

All of the commenters here who currently have lines running nicely, be careful with them!
You do not want to be in the position of needing to ask for support....

Zen could be better at answering emails to their support team - I tried contacting them by live chat last Saturday, but there were no agents available, so I sent them a message instead. As I had not received a reply by Wednesday, and was still unable to contact them by live chat, I phoned them instead. Despite a warning that there could be an extended wait time due to technical issues that some of their staff were having, I got through very quickly. I only wanted to request a static IPv6 address, and it turned out that there is a dedicated team dealing with that who can only be emailed - they did respond to my email to them the next day though. I have no idea what happened to my original message though.

I have had no issues with network congestion, and Zen do not traffic shape. My connection has been 100% reliable in the 14 months that I have been with them.

In reply to a post by tboorman:

Zen could be better at answering emails to their support team

It's hard to do worse. They don't appear to answer ANY emails any more.

I used to always contact Zen via email and responses were usually prompt, often within a few hours or the same day.

I've sent Zen 7-8 emails over the last few months on behalf of customers and not a single email has had a response.
Not even an automatic reply warning that emails aren't being read, which is just poor.

In reply to a post by j0hn83:

I've sent Zen 7-8 emails over the last few months on behalf of customers and not a single email has had a response.
Not even an automatic reply warning that emails aren't being read, which is just poor.

I agree that is totally unacceptable. They should not offer email as a way of contacting them, if they cannot be bothered to reply. It would be far better to give customers a way of logging tickets through their portal.

Hi, could you PM me with some details of the emails you've sent? I'd have expected you to get at least an automated response to confirm we've got your email.

In reply to a post by ajays:

Hi, could you PM me with some details of the emails you've sent? I'd have expected you to get at least an automated response to confirm we've got your email.

Which raises the interesting question as to which is worse. No acknowledgement at all, or confirmation of receipt and no reply?

I dont remember having issues with email support (but dont have to contact them very much at all).
I just contacted them as I had a question, I got an Auto response right away and a reply with in an hour!

In reply to a post by zelly:

Sorry for the double post but I'm putting this here as well as Which ISP in case some people only visit the Zen forum


People have been saying in recent months that Zen's technical support, sale team and performance have been going downhill, with lack of staff and network congestion

And there's also some kind of issue with the Fritzbox they insist you use, which blocks some types of ping

So could people say here, whether Zen is still worth changing ISP to from EE, or whether it's better to look somewhere else like Plusnet, John Lewis or BT? (or maybe even KCOM?)

If I change from EE to Zen, am I definitely going to see a big improvement in reliability, download speed and ping times, as well as much better support?

And is Zen any good for gaming ping times to US servers? Or does the Fritzbox make gaming a bad experience, like random disconnects from game servers because their pings to you have been blocked?


Does Zen traffic manage or traffic shape anything? Including to game servers?


Is there an ISP that's good for gaming that offers a monthly contract?

Their service has been ropey for me lately. I'm on cable to box then wire to the house and I used to get a solid 27-30 D/L and a good 10 U/L.
That's been dropping to the mid to lower 20's for d/l and about 7 for u/l and it's causing issues when there's two people using the net watching Youtube for example and streaming internet radio AAC 44.1KHz 320 Kb/s to my hifi...

Tonight the speeds are varying between 7Mbps - 18Mbps down and 7 up. Buffering like crazy.
Their speedtest result also shows something called Bufferbloat F for download but I've no idea what this means.

Virgin just stuck fibre down my street and that's offering 500 MBps and to me it looks like too big a speed upgrade to ignore.

Been with Zen over 2 years and their tech support is frankly awful, several staff were beyond aversive to calling out openreach to deal with a line fault, telling me that the handback threshold for my line was the minimum expected (its not, its where you can cancel the line) and therefore there was no fault and they wouldn't raise it with Openreach. Several others were insistent that Openreach were liable to charge £150 and were equally poorly informed in regards to the terminology.
Seriously considering hopping ship elsewhere to see if anyone can gee up Openreach to get access to a joint post with water ingress (in a neighbour's garden and they are being belligerent about access, demanding payment and more, which means my line slows down everytime it rains....
Fritzbox I have no issues with, its just the Tech Support that's frankly awful, my tech phobic wife has better knowledge tbh....

Their support is non-existant from 8pm Friday until Monday morning.

In reply to a post by RabbleRouser:

Their support is non-existent from 8pm Friday until Monday morning.

Unless you are a business customer , (or it was pre the ( #scamdemic ) Small buisnesses are in decline thanks to Unnecessary lockdowns that are proven not to work i could go on ,

You have made your views on the pandemic known in a number of posts, but this is not really the place for them.

Welcome to the thinkbroadband forums btw;
I can't remember how long I was a lurker before something prompted me to register and post.

Sorry I have to disagree.

The technical support phone line is staffed during weekend daytimes.

I reported a problem by phone recently one Sunday afternoon.
The agent ran some tests, confirmed that it was a fault at the exchange, passed the issue to BT and I woke up the next morning to find my connection restored.

I agree that the online chat function is rarely staffed, but I prefer a direct "face to face" discussion.

Edited by ToneDeaf (Mon 09-Aug-21 20:41:38)

I thought The Park was the place for idiotic conspiracy theories to be posted!

My personal experience with ZEN has been fantastic

I was with Plusnet on FFTC and had been for 4 years however in the last 12 months I was getting throughput issues where my sync speed was 70mbs but my throughput was lucky to be 5mb after 6pm at night. This went round and round with customer service and tech support for the 12 months. New routers, BT visits, line tests etc but the issue was never fixed. I was going through the motions of early contract termination as i was that fed up with plusnet when i saw Openreach installing Fibre on my road so delayed the switch until his was live

I switched to Zen FTTP and dumped Plusnet as soon as i could and never looked back. I originally could only order 300mbs FTTP however 6 weeks later i could upgrade to 900mbs

I have had absolutely no issues with Zen FTTP and its been a breath of fresh air compared to Plusnet's FTTC. They might be more expensive than some providers at present but their Price for life makes up for that in my opinion as the number of providers where contracts can raise with RPI etc during contract term is rising

Pings to online gaming are low 9-14ms and throughput has yet to drop below 880mbs and its tested randomly and often. Upload is 110 on test which has been greated when backing up to crashplan etc

In the last 6 months i have had 15 mins of downtime and this was at 1:00am where the ONT showed red lights and likey outside of Zens Control (City Fibre were installing and playing with cabinets all the same week on the estate so i put it down to cabinet/exchnage maintenance)

Thought Zen on CityFibre was a symmetric service?

I already had an account with Zen, wanted to have internet setup at a second address.
Did try to contact their sales team via live chat but it wasn't online so I filled in the form instead.
After a couple of days I didn't get a reply, so I tried the live chat again. This time it was working and I got hold of someone pretty quickly, explained what I wanted and they phoned me up there and then to sort it out.
Wasn't able to setup the connection for exactly when I wanted it due to a cease on the phone line (thats not Zens fault) phoned back when the cease had expired and got it sorted.
Waiting for the activation but I hope everything goes according to plan!

In reply to a post by Pheasant:

Thought Zen on CityFibre was a symmetric service?

It definitely is symmetric.

Andy has Zen over OpenReach infrastructure.

I think he's blaming CityFibre rolling out in his area for his OpenReach service downtime. Very possible if CityFibre are using PIA.

How could CityFibre have anything to do with downtime on another physical network -even if they are using the ducts and poles?

Big boots and rope burns.

At 1:00 am? For 15 minutes downtime?

My experience of Zen has been absolutely first-class.

I moved from Plusnet when my contract ended as FTTP was scheduled to come to our area, and Plusnet couldn't offer it.

I spent 14 months on ADSL before switching to FTTP but even then latency was instantly halved.
Calls to Customer Service (mainly to migrate domain names as they were cheaper than 123-reg) was met by people with thorough technical know-how, not just working from a script.

Migration from ADSL to FTTP this summer was seamless and simple, I kept the same static IP which saved me a lot of messing about on my network server and since then I've had rock solid 100/20 meg connection (actually 10% more most of the time) with 6-7ms latency. There has only been 10 minutes downtime in the small hours one morning.

I've only been a customer for 18 months, but are they any good? Yes they are! Slightly more expensive than most, but worth it.