Speed drop recently

I have been on Zen 900 for 18 months and when it was installed it was often hitting speeds of just over 1gb on a network cable from pc direct to back of router. Recently speeds have dropped to ~600mbps which is still fantastic, but am wondering why it has dropped. I have tried the Zen supplied fritzbox and that is the same - so its not a router issue. Would more people in my area coming on line with fttp cause a drop ? thanks in advance.

If you look in the control panel on the Zen site you will very likely see reference to a recently completed GEA order.

I would happily make a bet that Zenb have migrated you from either BT Wholesale or Talktalk Business as the backhaul provider to their own GEA network called Plexus.
It's very much a negative change.
Have a read of the GEA migration thread in the Zen section here and see what's awaiting you.

Thanks for that info, yes I've just checked the Zen portal and i was migrated last year. Is a rollback to the previous config possible ? I know that 500-600mbps is still very good but previously it was 900 to in excess of 1gb. Doesn't seem right that I've lost a third of my speed.

In reply to a post by nazzer:

Thanks for that info, yes I've just checked the Zen portal and i was migrated last year. Is a rollback to the previous config possible ? I know that 500-600mbps is still very good but previously it was 900 to in excess of 1gb. Doesn't seem right that I've lost a third of my speed.

Several people have been migrated back that I am aware of, although Zen initially give you the run around but stick to your guns that the service is a lot worse since they migrated you.

Quick update, just spoken to the "fault manager" and i will be having an engineer visit on monday. Is there anything specific i should tell him ? Would it be possible to do the GEA rollback on his side (the physical here or at the exchange?) or is the GEA back end at Zen ? thanks in advance !

The engineer visit is a waste of time. Unfortunately it's a formality that many providers insist on going through.
The engineer will simply check your fibre is in order and possibly change the ONT for no reason what so ever.

The engineer is unable to migrate you back. It's something Zen need to order and involves no physical work, simply virtual routing changes in the exchange.

May also involve you chasing Zen on the phone a bit, as several times during my migration the "wet string" holding together their authentication systems didn't move me between the BTW and Zen GEA authentication setup, so I ended up with failing PPPoE logins. Clowns.

So, yes the roll back was agreed and it is happening today. Currently got no internet. I called up for an update and was informed it could take up to midnight tonight. Not sure what is required back end but currently using mobile phone as hot spot. Hurry up please...

The way Zen have first introduced this fault and then completely failed to own up to it while bungling moving people back has more than likely put me off using them for as long as I am making decisions about buying connectivity services.

Zen have now moved me from the BTW backhaul to their own for the THIRD time. They assured me that they would not move me again the last time.

Needless to say, problems have recurred.

Clowns seems to be an appropriate term.

You have more patience than me, I'd be demanding to be released from the contract after the second migration

I have 6 months to go.

I'm not sure why I am this patient. Old age apathy probably.

They say that they'll move me back.

Won't be renewing

The 2nd time they moved me to Zen GEA (after managing to get back to BTW for a month) was enough, and they agreed easily to release me from contract. They didn't need much pushing, just a reminder of how much of my time they were wasting and what that was costing me. Give them a bit more of a poke.

Yup, that happened to me, they hadn't set something up on the right authentication server, or as I'd say, failure of the piece of blutak holding the whole network together. Good luck! And you'll need even better luck for your connection to stay on BTW!

mmm 2nd day of no internet. After a bit of back and forth it seems that everything is configured correctly apart from I now have an ONT mismatch. My ONT serial is now used or no longer paired correctly. Shows in Zen system as ONT mismatch ?

BT engineer scheduled for tomorrow morning to fit new ONT - this apparently is paired in the system and the connection should authenticate and work... quite frustrating as nothing has changed physically here. Does this ring true? anyone shed any light on this. Thanks

Sounds like another Zen screw up

Day 3, engineer came and reluctantly swapped the ONT. No change, but rang Zen who did a re-provision / reset the radius and this has resolved it. Back to 900-1g speeds. Phew...

Reading all this, makes me wonder about Renewing on ANY new Contract with Zen!

Joined them in 2017 ADSL, Migrated to FTTP in 2018, Had my first first fault recently, which surprised me off for 5 hours. I was previously with Eclipse but they offered no FTTP, which was a shame, had a good time with Eclipse since 2004.

and when I rang up Technical Support, went through the name and address, telephone number etc, and usual turn on and off ONT, reset ONT etc

He then started to tell me he's going to test!

Line then dropped, Zen rang me back....

Can you hang up the phone so we can test, that was me testing the line, I cannot test whilst I'm using it.

I said but my Broadband is FTTP, it comes in on fibre direct to house from exchange!

He asked me what's the telephone number for testing ? #[censored]

There is no telephone number.

NOW, I'm sure they have a computer system that shows what I've got!

Umm, me does now wonder!