AAISP Reviews

Ok, so this is not a broadband review but read on...

Came to the end of my BT FTTP contract but moving soon and unfortunately AAISP’s charges would have been too high to use them for broadband but I could use them for voice.

On the day my broadband switched to another provider they managed to extract my FTTP BT line which is technically VoIP and migrate it by 10am. Not only did they provide fantastic presale service but on the day they telephjn3d me to make sure my line was working... never, ever had that in my lifetime. So when the time comes there will be no hesitation in using them for broadband. Luckily with VoIP it’s just a case of plugging in my Gigaset base into a router, literally anywhere.

So, like many I spent years in the race to the bottom getting the cheapest service - and knowing no better. However, working from home soon revealed the downside with my mainstream provider. We had a line fault and our speed dropped by 80% - I spent hours ( literally hours) on hold to get through to the overseas call centre - only for them to follow a script. Eventually the fault was fixed after three months - but my lesson was learnt. I bought out of my contract and moved to A&A - just a different world - yes it costs more - but it’s so worth it - human beings who want to help - and the whole process of switching and bedding in has been awesome - and we have never had such a stable and high speed connection - seriously. I was nervous about the switch to VoIP Instead of a ‘proper landline’ - I shouldn’t have been - it’s brilliant ! Emailed voice mail is great and best of all if I’m on the phone and there’s another call. the other phones ring and everyone can ‘do their own thing’ at the same time - it’s great. I am not a techy but the dashboard is great - I don’t understand much of it - but it’s fascinating. Love the text message when the service goes down - which is only when Openreach reset the line generally to increase the speed. I am a huge fan - it really is an amazing service and an amazing company! Very highly recommended

I switched to A&A when making the move to Fibre to The Premises FTTP. I didn't choose the easiest way as I wanted to use my own, kind of exotic router. Still the tech support was very responsive and helpful and I got my connection up and running quickly.

I really like the transparent information available, the control panel that allows to monitor the connection and the email notifications in case of event, incident etc. and the fact there is no filtering and that the customer is free to choose their own way.
Obviously in my case it is a bit more involved than the usual Sky / BT / TalkTalk but this is what I wanted and I am very happy. Also I like to deal with a (relatively) small company with normal people without the corporate call centres protocols. Very nice.

I haven't done speed tests so it is difficult to judge that side of things. I was already on a good FTTC with Sky.

Very happy with the move to A&A overall.

Having just moved to a rural location with a dreadful 8 Mbps down and 0.5 Mbps up, PlusNet told me there was simply "nothing they could do" to improve my line due to location being too far away from the nearest cabinet. I suffered several long calls with them begging to help me further, but to no avail.
I'd heard about A & A via a friend, and decided to take a chance and pay a hefty early-exit fee from PlusNet to go with them.
As soon as A & A took over my line they immediately found faults, and a few days later it was 18 Mbps down and 1.2 Mbps up - massive improvement. Why PlusNet could not do this, who knows.

Last year I applied for community FTTP vouchers (via the Openreach scheme) and we've just got FTTP installed. I now have a perfect 80/20 FTTP line with A & A and am very happy.

The key points about A & A:
- You can call them and get through immediately (I have never had to wait)
- They know what they are talking about (no B/S!)
- They actually care about their customers getting a good experience
- Their control panel (CQM) is simply superb, and you get a full detailed breakdown about your usage, uptime/downtime, tweak settings etc, view support notes about your account (nothing is hidden)
- They do employ a download limit but under normal average usage you're unlikely to reach it
- They are more expensive, but you get what you pay for, and it's worth it

There is nobody quite like Andrews & Arnold. A proper, technical ISP for technically-minded customers. Of course, they would do a fine job for anyone else too! But their special range of services, approachability, and technical competence are a real breath of fresh air. No more call centres, no more fob-offs, no more marketing nonsense, and no gimmicks. Just a solid, traditional service, run by experts, which does what you need it to, week after week.

Perhaps it really is Covid-19, but so many companies out there are using it as an excuse for truly terrible service. Everyone from banks to supermarkets. Let's all provide terrible service and blame the virus!

Not A&A.

My connection is rock solid, and has been up almost trouble free for years. When something major failed on Thursday night just after 6pm, just after tech support officially closed, I popped on to IRC to find plenty of other people also having issues, and tech were already on top of things. In a few minutes everything was back where it should be. Sooner or later we'll probably even get a full technical lowdown on what went wrong, the cause, and why it's not going to do that again. You only need to check aastatus.net to see the level of detail and honesty present.

And this is my experience of A&A over many years. By the time I notice something has gone wrong, they're already in the process of fixing it. I've had line faults, exchange faults, rogue subcontracted engineers connecting my phone line to someone else entirely, and virtually all of the time, the resolution is on it's way before I even call.

Costly, yes, but the overall honesty and no-nonsense approach wins, every time

Had a speed fault with Plusnet who claimed nothing wrong. Switched to these guys on 18th jan who reported the issue and all sorted 3 days later with no hassle or fight.

Never seen service like this in terms of speed of service levels, customer service and knowledge. My thanks go to Jason G in Tech Support for his quick responses via email exchanges. No excuses and straight to the point just how things should be.

Great service, really helpful, solid technical support from people who know what they are doing, not following an call centre script. Prices a bit higher than mainstream but the level of support and the quality of the service is easily worth it.

AAISP's attitude is refreshing. The no-nonsense "we aim not to be the bottleneck" service really lives up to its billing.

Four-line ADSL
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I switched to AA (now using BT Wholesale (21CN) IPStream Max _Premium on FOUR bonded lines) ten years ago. Using extremely long lines (65 dB / 41 dB).

With AA, speeds never drop even at peak times and latency remains consistently excellent regardless of time of day.

Static, real IPv4 and IPv6 address blocks, whatever you want, all foc. No more NAT. Fantastic. To illustrate just how they work: Some time ago I outgrew the /28 (block of 16) range of IPv4 addresses that I had. A quick email and within minutes tech support moved me to a new home in a larger IPv4 block of /26 (block of 64). I hate to think what some ISPs would be charging per month just in standing charges for IPv4 addresses. I have several IPv6 blocks, two /48s and several /64s. So shockingly efficient and hassle-free.

Native IPv6 is working. I have a four-line ADSL setup, with almost a 4x multiplied bandwidth in both directions using a Firebrick FB2900 router and four ZyXel modems. Downstream speed is around 9.4-10.2 Mbps; Upstream is 1.2 Mbps.

4G Mobile Data
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I also AA's 4G mobile data service, based on the Three network, with SIMs supplied by AA. If all four DSL lines go down, my router switches to 3G backup.

I've been with these guys for - maybe - 7 years now and was with them longer on a house share with a friend before. I've gone from ADSL2+, to VDSL, to g.fast. I've seen the speeds go up from 20mbps down to now 250mbps down.

I've only had to call them twice about line issues, and on both occasions they asked the right questions and we got it fixed. I've mostly had consistent speeds and when I have seen something happening that seemed off, AAISP seemed to agree on their portal already and were already tackling the issue. READ AS: I didn't even need to contact them - it was already noted and in hand.

I've converted people to their services, and it goes like this:

Firstly they think it seems a bit more expensive, but you point out you get what you pay for. If you keep jumping to providers for the lowest bidder, or the highest speed promised for the smallest number of pounds, your experience won't change. You'll keep being frustrated, and they won't fix your line issues.

Then what happens is they ignore you and continue on with the old method. And I don't blame them, it's always worth a punt somewhere else. But nothing changes, and they are fed up.

Lastly they switch, and somehow all the problems with their internet connection disappear. Funny that?

Have all the stars AAISP, you deserve it. Even value. It's worth every penny.