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Author Topic: Zen BB - thoughts?  (Read 1294 times)

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Gaffers

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Zen BB - thoughts?
« on: 17 April 2019, 13:08:50 »

I have just cancelled my Virgin FTTP contract as they have had numerous opportunities to fix a recurring drop in speed and they rarely hit their promised speed.

I know that some here use Zen (including the OOF servers iirc) and I was looking in to their reviews which suggest a drop in service recently.  What do those who use it think?  Plus I cannot figure out the difference between their Unlimited Fibre 1 & 2 offerings.  I fit is 'truly unlimited' then why should it matter which one I take?
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Kevin Wood

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Re: Zen BB - thoughts?
« Reply #1 on: 17 April 2019, 13:38:27 »

I've never bothered going to fibre as my ADSL2 connection is great and I don't want the radio interference issues of VDSL, so can't help with the fibre package comparison, but I've been with Zen for many years and don't have a bad word to say about them.

On the one or two occasions when I've had a problem it's been down to OpenReach and they've been quick to pass on the issue and chase it until it's resolved. They also drop the "have you tried rebooting it?" script and talk the technical details as soon as they relaise they are talking to someone reasonably savvy, which helps.

If they have deteriorated in service I haven't noticed, but then I've had no need to contact them for years.

I also look after a couple of web sites and domains hosted with them and find that side rock solid too.
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TheBoy

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Re: Zen BB - thoughts?
« Reply #2 on: 17 April 2019, 17:31:11 »

Not noticed any issues here, and (for non P2P/illegal streaming/"Linux distro downloads" (aka BR films off NNTP) we are fairly heavy users.  I sync all bro's servers back here over VPN for backup purposes. I only use VoIP for calls (real SIP, not any of that useless junk), we use Netflix, and OOF and other sites are hosted here.

I don't use it for work, as I have a BT Business fibre for that.

Pretty certain that fibre 1 is a lower speed.

Downside is cost. And they never do deals. If they "give" you a router, bin it and buy something decent.


Mine is FTTC.
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Re: Zen BB - thoughts?
« Reply #3 on: 17 April 2019, 19:56:14 »

Downside is cost. And they never do deals. If they "give" you a router, bin it and buy something decent.

I have my own setup.  Any router I get is either switched out for a dedicated modem or if I have to use their's I flick it in to modem mode and connect my own router/firewall.

I will be FTTC as well and they reckon about 32 meg down/6 up.  Should be enough for me. Most TV is on demand as we both have varied schedules so rarely watch anything live.  Lot's of Netflix, music streaming and a bit of gaming.  I run a VPN server for when I am travelling or am doing internet banking.

Thing is VM promised about 200 meg but managed to deliver between 0.2 and 20 and it took about half an hour on the phone and me losing my rag to stop him taking me around in circles to stay on as a customer. "Which part of I am leaving do you not understand?" ::)
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TheBoy

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Re: Zen BB - thoughts?
« Reply #4 on: 18 April 2019, 18:02:54 »

VM suffers from contention.  They lack the network to be able to offer even a small subset of their customers line sync speeds.

Most Openreach provided areas tend not to have contention to any great extent, but its not unheard of. But as you know, not all ISPs are the same, so when Openreach manage to get the packets at line speed to the ISP, different ISPs can have various bottlenecks, or sub optimal peering.

I have always found with Zen, I can get to near linespeed.  My router is currently claiming 58Mbps down, and just doing a download test via a downloader, I am getting 58Mbps down, sustained.

Obviously, the key is what your actual sync speed will be, that 36/6Mbps will come from Openreach's guesstimater, so YMMV.  But whatever your sync speed is, that's going to be the same with any provider running over Openreach's network.
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Jimbob

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Re: Zen BB - thoughts?
« Reply #5 on: 21 April 2019, 12:32:01 »

I moved (back) to Zen a couple of months ago.

Line is ever so slightly faster that with BT, but it just NEVER drops unless I reboot,  stark contrast to BT resyncing every week or 2.  Doesnt really mater to me, but an intersting observation none the less.

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Re: Zen BB - thoughts?
« Reply #6 on: 21 April 2019, 13:01:34 »

I moved (back) to Zen a couple of months ago.

Line is ever so slightly faster that with BT, but it just NEVER drops unless I reboot,  stark contrast to BT resyncing every week or 2.  Doesnt really mater to me, but an intersting observation none the less.
That's very odd, as any resync or sync loss is between your modem and the DSLAM (in the street cabinet if you are FTTC), and you will be on the same street cab and most likely the same port on the DSLAM, as that's completely in Openreach's hands, not the ISP's.

If you get sync loss between about 1am and 3amm that tends to be when Openreach do planned maintenance on their network.

ISPs can ask for different profiles, which potentially could affect stability. This is usually a compromise between stability and speed.  Maybe what Zen put on yours suits your line better.


Zen, not being one of the big 5, don't have to provide things like parental filtering (or DNS poisoning, as I like to call it), or some of the legal blocks that the UK courts insist the big 5 do.

I see BT/Sky/Whorehouse etc and similar to be more of a wrapped service, and Zen more of an unadulterated pipe in.
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