So they were not bothered by retail/SOHO customers' complaints. It was only when their Wholesale customers kicked up that they bothered to look into it properly.

However - the explanation given by their Mark Howarth looks a little too simple to me, given they are two different networks that needed rebalancing between them. Surely at least their retail customers are on one or the other? With reversion to BTW solving their problems?

Very detail-light indeed. It's a shame most of us who noticed the issues have since migrated off Zen GEA or to other providers, guess we will have to take their word for it!

Given claim it was ongoing for a couple of weeks (Vs the experience of folk here of heading up for half a year) you can colour me sceptical...

Edited by jimbof (Sat 19-Nov-22 11:23:53)

In reply to a post by jimbof:

Very detail-light indeed. It's a shame most of us who noticed the issues have since migrated off Zen GEA or to other providers, guess we will have to take their word for it!

Given claim it was ongoing for a couple of weeks (Vs the experience of folk here of heading up for half a year) you can colour me sceptical...

Is this problem still going on? I have been a FTTC customer with Zen for years, I had a regrade to FTTP Zen 500 today but speeds are 200Mbit and vary wildly. I am unsure what backbone I am on.

I can say that a friend 10 minutes away in the same town gets full speed without issues.

I spoke to Zen and they made me test from the ONT with a CAT5e cable (I tried 10 cables) and I can't get anything over 220Mbit, with one result of 250Mbit, now they say they can't help me because I hit the minimum speed guarantee so I am really annoyed as I only get 50% of what I pay for and they don't care.

Am I better of just moving in the cooling off period?

I don't know if it is still ongoing as I left. Performance has been great since leaving, with the same equipment at my end.

You might want to check the terms of the cooling off. It's usually done from point of order (not point of install), and they usually set the install date to be beyond the end of the cooling off (so you can only cancel penalty free before install).

If this is still going on - and they are still trotting out the "above minimum guarantee" bull by means of justification for not doing anything - then I'd be trying to get and recommending loudly to folk via any channels open (eg Trustpilot reviews, etc) not to go with them.

I seem to remember someone having exactly the same problem a few weeks ago. IIRC it turned out nobody had updated the user's line settings to reflect/match the new Openreach service.

Edit: Found the thread. Not the same reported problem but similar. The upstream Zen profile for the line was still at 70Mbps.

If your upstream is limited that could affect downstream. Or maybe the downstream profile hasn't been updated either.

(Openreach require all providers to have a downstream limiter like the Plusnet one, to prevent data from the provider being sent faster than the line is set to by Openreach. If it is sent faster then packet loss and retransmission happens).

Edited by pluralist (Fri 02-Dec-22 12:15:22)

@wizz

I spoke to Zen and they made me test from the ONT with a CAT5e cable (I tried 10 cables) and I can't get anything over 220Mbit, with one result of 250Mbit,

Not entirely sure this is profile related.

Did Zen ask you to test using a Linux boot image rather than Windows?

What machine are you testing with? Could be your machine holding things back if it’s knocking on a bit or running antivirus/spamware protection which can hold things back network wise, especially at higher bit rates.

Hi,

So yes I have tried two different laptops directly connected to the ONT. I only have windows devices unfortunately. I also moved a desktop machine up near the ONT and plugged that in. All these devices are not that old. one laptop is a I5 8th Gen the other is a 10th Gen I7 with an NVME drive, the desktop is a little older.

In all tests the speeds are between 150 to 250Mbit and its so unstable, no test is the same, its hard to keep track of the changes in speeds, 1 test will be the bare minimum speed of 250 and then the next it will be in the low 100's

I could boot ubuntu and test but I don't see why I should, operating system should make very little difference and if it does something is messed up elsewhere outside of my network


They have now escalated the case and have said I am not getting the minimum speed required but it's taken a 2 hour wait on hold and then 45 minutes to get anywhere! Terrible service.

I don't think they have left me on an old profile, prior I had FTTC 70down 20up and got it never dropped below that, so now I get great 70Mbit upload but down is no where near the 500

In reply to a post by Pheasant:

@wizz

I spoke to Zen and they made me test from the ONT with a CAT5e cable (I tried 10 cables) and I can't get anything over 220Mbit, with one result of 250Mbit,

Not entirely sure this is profile related.

Did Zen ask you to test using a Linux boot image rather than Windows?

What machine are you testing with? Could be your machine holding things back if it’s knocking on a bit or running antivirus/spamware protection which can hold things back network wise, especially at higher bit rates.

Edited by Wizz_The_Great (Fri 02-Dec-22 17:12:39)

In reply to a post by Wizz_The_Great:

I could boot ubuntu and test but I don't see why I should, operating system should make very little difference

You don't have to but it's a very good test for ruling out your own hardware.

Operating system can make a dramatic difference in throughput. Older machines can hit gigabit on Linux while barely hitting half that on Windows.

A Linux boot image provides a blank operating system which can also rule out software firewalls, anti-virus, anti-malware etc or even unknown malicious software on your system.

It does sound from the specs like it's not your hardware at fault but there are good reasons why it is suggested as a troubleshooting step.
This forum has had a considerable number of slow speed complaints from people convinced it wasn't their own hardware at fault and when advised to try it they received full speed on a Linux boot iso. That's become more common since gigabit take up had increased.
It's usually down to old hardware, security software or a combination of both.

You could be running the same security software on both machines which is affecting throughput.

and if it does something is messed up elsewhere outside of my network

Not at all.
If a Linux boot disc gets full speed then it would mean the issue is within your network.
I have more than 1 Windows machine (admittedly older) with a Gigabit port that can't get near gigabit on Windows. They don't hit gigabit on Linux either but they are significantly faster than on Windows.
I couldn't blame my provider for that.

The cooling off period starts the day you placed your order and not the day the service went live.
For many orders this means the cooling off period is over by the time service starts.

The likes of BT & Virgin start the 14 days from the service starting but that's their own decision. The consumer protection regulations start when you place the order and is what most providers use.
I'm not sure about Zens cooling off period.

Zen's cooling of period does start from date of order not date service went live so unfortunately you may be outside of this now.

As someone who has worked in ISP tech support I can confirm that I have seen instances where speeds have been low on windows but on the same hardware they have hit 900Mb plus on Linux. Windows really isn't the best OS and this would rule out an issue with Windows networking/drivers and antivirus software. It wouldn't take too long to load Ubuntu Live USB and do a few tests and wouldn't require any permanent changes to you PC.

If after this you are still getting low speeds it gives you more ammo to through at Zen in proving the issue is not at your side.

Well I took both laptops to my friends house 10 minutes away who has Zen 500 and got perfect speeds on this hardware on his line so that answers that question!

How can the cooling off period start when you order? They didn't install the line until day 16 into my house, that makes no sense!

In reply to a post by johnno101:

Zen's cooling of period does start from date of order not date service went live so unfortunately you may be outside of this now.

As someone who has worked in ISP tech support I can confirm that I have seen instances where speeds have been low on windows but on the same hardware they have hit 900Mb plus on Linux. Windows really isn't the best OS and this would rule out an issue with Windows networking/drivers and antivirus software. It wouldn't take too long to load Ubuntu Live USB and do a few tests and wouldn't require any permanent changes to you PC.

If after this you are still getting low speeds it gives you more ammo to through at Zen in proving the issue is not at your side.