The reason for my anger and eventual migration from Zen was the reluctance from Zen to get involved with the issue and do something it seemed they wanted to pass the buck to an external supplier ie BT/Open reach whatever rather than agree there was an issue which i plainly demonstrated with before and after traces, and then propose a solution rather than it will eventually drop off we don't know when but it will, i am a competitive gamer ping is everything and yes up-speed is more important as is stability, i was getting spikes and warping on a 75Mb line!
As I said in my earlier reply, all ISPs using the BT Openreach FTTC platform are subject to the same DLM system.
Phil has explained your case revealed the difference in DLM profile names between BT Openreach and BT Wholesale misled Zen into provisioning the lines that were moved from the BT Wholesale based network to the Zen network on the wrong DLM option. This meant Zen switched your line onto the middle of the three DLM profiles, rather than leaving it on the "speed" option that they'd intended.
As Zen mistakenly thought they'd already selected the "speed" DLM profile, the only helpful act within their power for your issue, all they could do was to involve BT Openreach. That's not "passing the buck" (as you describe it) - when dealing with issues arising from third-party equipment, Zen or any other ISP has to pass the issue over to the third party once they've exhausted any delegated options.
Had you allowed Zen to move you back to the speed DLM profile, you would have got the same performance from the BT Openreach FTTC equipment that you had enjoyed on Zen before being migrated from BT Wholesale backhaul to Zen's own backhaul, which is presumably the same performance you now have with Sky (implying they also use the speed profile). It was a provisioning mistake by Zen that they have acknowledged and fixed.
Clearly Zen may well have learnt from this episode, but for me it was the final straw,
It was a one-off provisioning issue when Zen migrated customers to the new Zen MPLS network. Zen have now fixed their internal systems so this won't affect anyone else. Of course, it was your right to migrate away based on the service issues you experienced, and I'm glad you're content with your new ISP.
The underlying position remains as I said. The BT Openreach FTTC DLM works the same for customers of all ISPs. The only control the ISP has over the DLM is to selecting one of three DLM profiles, which are different trade-offs between speed and stability.
This episode did not change the balance of power between the ISPs and BT Openreach on DLM issues. It remains the case that other than selecting the profile, all the ISP can do is pass the issue to BT Openreach, and a full DLM reset needs an engineer visit.
if you search my posts on this forum you will see a previous issue with ADSL where i was forced to replace my router before Zen would get involved or the terrorist Open reach would once again charge this is despite the fact the fault occurred after an outage and a lift and shift ordered by Zen, but that's another issue,
As both Phil and I said, BT Openreach and Wholesale are both more ready to raise visit charges than in the past. ISPs try to do what they can to exclude issues at the user's end, which an engineer wouldn't resolve but would raise a charge for. No customer is going to be happy if they wait in for an engineer that doesn't fix their issue, then they get a bill of around £100.
If you'd already had a lift and shift, that would tend to exclude many possible network side issues, which suggested the issue is more likely to be at your end. If you were certain your router wasn't to blame, you could have insisted on a visit. However, as basic routers are so inexpensive and may just solve the issue, I can see why Zen would suggest trying a different router first.
When I was on ADSL, I always had a spare router on hand just in case. I still have that spare router, actually - not that I have an ADSL line to use it on! What I did discover is two examples of the same router from the same batch can perform quite differently - my live router managed some 800 kbit/s greater downstream sync speed than its sibling spare.
on the 1 occasion i have had to deal with Skys Tech people they were very quick to respond, the call was free and the English based 2nd line knew exactly what he was talking about and resolved it.
As I said, Sky is clearly a good fit to your needs, and I'm delighted you've found an inexpensive service that meets your requirements.
My concern with cheaper providers is the variability of service. On the limited number of occasions I've had to deal with Zen technical support over the past ten years, I've always got straight through to someone with deep technical knowledge straight away, with no need to get through a script-reading first line stage. For me, the service I have received justifies the higher price.
Everyone has different experiences of the same service. It's always tempting when you face problems to go elsewhere. I'm glad that, in your case, you found the grass was greener.
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