Full Fibre UK ISP Zzoomm Replaces 150Mbps Package with 200Mbps
Alternative full fibre operator Zzoomm, which has built a 2Gbps speed Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) broadband network to cover 202,000 premises (RFS) in England, has today launched a new 200Mbps (symmetric) service that appears to replace their previous entry-level 150Mbps package. But the new entry-level tier is more expensive.
The new “200 Full Fibre” service is priced at £32.95 per month on a 12-month minimum term and comes with a £100 Amazon voucher for new customers (compared to £29.95 for the old 150Mbps tier). All of their packages also include a free standard installation, Zzoomm Wi-Fi 6 Hub (router), free in-home Wi-Fi setup, unlimited data and a pledge of “no mid-contract price rises“.
The operator’s network, which is home to 30,000 customers (c.15% take-up), is currently available across parts of around 29 market towns and small urban communities in Berkshire, Oxfordshire, Herefordshire, Yorkshire, Staffordshire, Wiltshire and Cheshire. Zzoomm originally aspired to cover 1 million premises across 85 UK towns by the end of 2025, before the difficulties of raising fresh capital forced their build to stop (here and here). But growth via mergers and acquisitions is now being actively explored (here).
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Chris Collinson, CCO of Zzoomm, said:
“At Zzoomm, we’re committed to meeting the growing demand for faster, more reliable broadband. This new service is 33% faster than our 150Mbps capability for only £3 extra.
The launch of our new 200 Full Fibre, 200Mbps symmetrical service reflects our dedication to delivering top-tier connectivity that keeps up with the pace of modern life. This update ensures that our customers, future and existing, not only stay ahead of the digital curve but enjoy symmetrical speeds that significantly surpass the national average.
We are committed to keeping continuously improving our offerings and this launch is all part of our mission to provide our customers fast, reliable Full Fibre broadband that truly elevate their online experience.
Full Fibre just got faster.”
Despite the positives, it is worth keeping in mind that not all consumers want or need faster speeds and there are those who would rather have a cheaper / slower package that exists to cater for only their basic needs. In that sense, removing the cheapest option for new customers does have some downsides.
Mark is a professional technology writer, IT consultant and computer engineer from Dorset (England), he also founded ISPreview in 1999 and enjoys analysing the latest telecoms and broadband developments. Find me on X (Twitter), Mastodon, Facebook, BlueSky, Threads.net and Linkedin.
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Distress move.
As much as I think Zzoomm offer a great service and at a price that this on the Openreach network don’t, I do agree with Mark that not everyone want super-duper fast broadband. But saying that Talk Talk which is supposed to be one of the cheaper providers charge £28 a month on a 24-month contract for 152Mb/s down and 30Mb/s up and the price will increase in April.
Vodafone charge £26 a month for the same sort of thing, well they say from £26 a month
I know where I would go, well I did, as Plusnet more or less forced me.
The 12 month contract is good, not the stuid 24 months that other providers seems to be doing.
I can see why Zzoomm is doing it, after all it don’t really cost them any more so i have been told to provide a faster broadband or not much more, so if they can get consumers to think they are getting something for that extra £3 then that is more money for Zzoomm. Most providers are doing it, trying to push people to a faster services even if they don;t need it.
Do I agree with it no, I think Zzoomm may have been better to have a lower speed that is cheaper.
70Mb/s for £24 would be ideal for many people, i would certainly go down to it.
I hope Zzoomm don’t try to move people off the 150Mb/s, because they may end up losing customers.
As for FibreBubble posting distress move, no it is business, as Io said above, other providers do the same sort of thing all the time.
I know FibreBubble is an openreach lover and want all Altnets to fail, most of those that post on here are. BT shareholders unite on here.
@Adrian. Best stick to posting nonsense about broadband. You know nothing about what I may or may not do or think.
If you look at the zzoomm books, you will see they are having to deal with their dire cash flow.
Every company is going to want to increase revenue per customer, upping the speed costs them nothing and it masks a price increase. Your desire for slower services at a lower price won’t happen, there’s debt to service, a balance sheet that needs to look healthy, and build costs aren’t any cheaper to people who take the lowest tier they’re able to buy.
I would think within three years that sub-£30 broadband options won’t exist outside of social tariffs.
@FibreBubble, I can tell a lot of what you think or do by what you post on here and others who seem to want Alt nets to fail.
As for Zzoomm books, I agree it is not good, the problem with cash flow and new providers going belly is one of the reasons why I was planning to stay with Plusnet on FTTC.
But I thought stuff it, I give it a go and see what happens.
Lots of providers have cash flow issues, some that have been going for many years, hopefully Zzoomm will get more customers to help them with their cash flow.
@Jonny, I know what you are saying and yes you are right about the cost of providing a faster speed, but some people only use their broadband for basic stuff like paying bills, browsing and that sort of thing and may look at a different way of going like mobile.
One of my brothers have a mobile hotspot which he takes camping, got a sim with so much data on for 6 months at a good price, and it worked well, so he is thinking of using it at home and getting rid of his broadband, works out a lot cheaper than his fixed line broadband.
I know people who only use a tablet or a phone to access the net and have got rid of their fixed connection a while back. .
£30 a month can be a fair bit for some people and since we are at the stage where almost everything you do including making appointments for the Doctor is online, internet of some sort is important. Not everyone can get social tariffs and now with the government getting rid of payments for heating to older people, there will be even less money for some to go around and broadband may be one of the things they will get rid of.
Myself, I prefer to spend less on broadband, yeah I could have gone for the lower speed, but the cost difference is minimal, if Zzoomm had a 75Mb/s tarrif at around £24 a month I would have took it.
I did think my brother’s idea was not a great idea, but looking at it, for him maybe it is, I then thought about it for me, but adding up all I got and what I use my broadband for, it is not a good idea, for me.
Checking their site it’s £32.95 for 200mbit with a £100 amazon voucher, or £24.95 for 500mbit, so it seems to me they are trying to get more people signed up for the 500mbit service. After which the room it service jumps to £35 a month. I am not sure if Zzoomm allow you to recontract at a lower price after 12 months, but it still seems to me that an Openreach service from Vodafone,etc… would be cheaper in the long run.
@Kraven You can downgrade after your 12 month contract. I’m with Zzoomm on the 2Gig package at £54.95 a month. My contract is up in March next year. My price jumps up to £64.95 so I might go for the 1Gig package and save some money at £39.95.
@Kravan, they are hoping you will like the faster speed and find it useful, so keep to it, don’t really cost them any more to provide it. I went for the 500MMb/s for £24, i was going to change to the lower speed when contract came to the end, but at only a few quid extra, decided to keep to it and enter into another 12 month contract with them
@MICHAEL, I am curious, do you get the benefit of the 2Gig connection? Unless you have a lot of people using the broadband or have computers that can use that speed and most can’t because they only have a 1Gig Ethernet connection, then you are paying for something that you are not going to use.
You may even find 500Mb/s will do you ok. As much as I like Zzoomm and hope they do well, I still would not pay over the odds for something I don’t need. But if you feel you need 1Gig, then that is fine also 🙂
@Ad47uk I also have the 2gig service from zoom. I have a PC with a 2.5gig ethernet port, plus a fast M.2 SSD so I’m pretty well able to make use of the full speed.
However, despite the connection being 2gig (in fact the speed tests show it’s a little above that), the wider internet does generally not serve files at that sort of speed. In reality the maximum download speed I’ve seen is about 1.5gig and that’s pretty rare, downloads often max out around 1gig.
I experienced the same thing many years ago when I was one of the first to be on Virgin’s 300meg service, real speeds rarely went above 200 back then.
Obviously that’s a single device, if you’re connecting multiple devices all using high bandwidth you may see more benefit, but I’d generally recommend people stick to 1gig right now until the rest of the internet gets faster!