Andrews & Arnold (AAISP) Reviews

In life, I feel you get what you pay for. I've been with AAISP now since January when I moved into a house with FTTC, having also used them for ADSL about 2 years ago. I've always been incredibly impressed by their impeccable service.

In the first flat I had a complicated installation due to antique wiring and BT being a real pain, AAISP sorted me out - offering me a SIM card / cellular solution until I got the line installed (I didn't need one as I had one already, but the offer was noted and appreciated!).

In the new flat, I was able to use my line via ADSL - again due to competent, technically savvy support staff - before I got my fibre line installed, and their support after that has been impeccable.

AAISP are by far the cheapest ISP, but as a customer I feel that thier costs really do reflect the service you get from them; real support staff with real knowledge - no scripting or overseas support centres, combined with uncontended, unfiltered internet lines with lots of control for you to get the most out of your line (i.e. throttling to ensure VoIP quality of service, etc, all comes as standard configuration settings).

Hi,

I have been with Andrews & Arnold for a few years now and can't fault them at all.
They have the best technical support I ever encountered, competent, fast and clearly always doing the extra mile (like chasing BT like a Bulldog after a bone).

It's so refreshing to be able to talk to some that actually knows what he is talking about and not some human script reading machine (no rebooting my PC won't fix my router OSPF table... ;-))

The performance are clearly what it says on the tin. Being in a 20CN BT area I'm quite limited to 8Mb but I always had it, without any contention at peak hours.

Really can't fault them at all.

If only every utilities companies we have to interact with could be like Andrews & Arnold

You get why you pay for, they might not the cheapest around (but their Home::1 is still very competitive) but the value is very impressive.

I've been a customer of AAISP for over eighteen months - first of all with FTTC and then, after a move, ADSL. I have also taken a mobile data SIM with them for my laptop, and just got FTTC again. FTTC speed is near maximum, over BT's prediction.

I chose AAISP because I had been having problems with my old provider, wanted FTTC anyway and was also looking for a good means to get IPv6. A few quirks and two failures of router, but nothing too annoying on the whole - I did have to drive to Bracknell and back to get a router when one failed on a Friday, but few other ISPs would think of providing for that.

IPv6 is not supported natively on their mobile system, but it was quite easy, with a little help from one of their staff, to get a 6in4 tunnel working - so, even on the mobile connection, I now have IPv6.

Yes, they are more expensive than others' offerings, but they make up for that with great customer service.

I have just been connected by Andrews and Arnold after a recommendation from a friend and so far the experience has been fantastic.

I was previously with (most recently) TalkTalk. I'm very rural, basically on the outer limits of what will carry on a land line and 3 months ago after fiber work to the local exchange, my average speed dropped by about 90% of its previous average. Despite many many hours spent on the phone and engineers(?)visits, my line speed never got back up to more than 50% of where it averaged previously. Frustrated, I contacted AAISP. No promises were made, but they were prepared to take over the account and look at what they could do.

I have been contacted with information at every stage of the transfer, and my questions answered honestly and with a level of technical expertise I haven't seen before from an ISP. Everything about them so far has smacked of quality, from the pre-organised passwords (yeah I read XKCD too) through to the text saying my connection was now live. Total down time between providers was a couple of minuets whilst their modem booted up. My initial speed tests are 20% faster than with TalkTalk (same physical line and BT exchange equipment)and pings are coming back quicker too.

Time will tell if they maintain this standard and what the connection is like long term - but if there is a problem, I at least feel that they will fight my corner against BT / Openreach.

I've been with Zen for 8 years, but when I discovered there was 21cn at my exchange, and I wasn't able to get on it, I looked around for an alternative. I found AAISP a few months ago, as they promise to help fix rubbish BT lines if you have problems, so I bore them in mind for a friend / for the future, but did remember think they looked expensive compared to Zen (I was wrong btw).

Determined to get on the 21cn I looked again, and realised I would in fact get more download allowance for the same money than with Zen, and then called their support line to see if they could help at my exchange.

They could. One week later and I've jumped from the 6.5 mbps I've been stuck on for 8 years to a full 24mps - speedtest.net is reporting 20mps.

All the way along they have kept me informed, they sent me my choice of router, they are open about how they work and if you investigate a bit more, there is no stupid traffic shaping or any of that going on, just perfect internet access with great support. They even phoned to check all was well once the link went live.

I couldn't be more pleased or recommend them more highly.

I have been with AAISP for eight years, moved my line when I retired and recently upgraded to FTTC. Working with others I supported home users and small office networks. Though not a reseller for AAISP I signed up about twenty five customers with them. I therefore have experience dealing with both AAISP and the big providers.

I could go in to detail and give many examples, read the reviews it’s already been done. Suffice it to say that with AAISP you get a quick, high quality service from knowledgeable staff. What you don’t get is the ‘loose the will to live’ moments so often experienced with the big providers.

To quote from another review: ‘If you want broadband done properly there is no other reasonable choice of provider.’

I think there is a divide in the current ISP market, both in providers and consumers.

On the one hand we have consumers who are looking for the best value for a service (that most people consider to be as essential as electricity and water supplies) much like how they shop around for their gas and electricity. This generates a tier of providers who feel they need to compete on price alone, now there is nothing wrong with this market approach to ISP's and broadband and for a lot of people this is ideal.

On the other hand we have consumers who wish to get the best performance, technical support, features of service and cutting edge technology so that they can keep up with the curve with regards to broadband provision. As a result providers have catered to these more discerning (you could say picky) consumers.

AAISP Falls distinctly into the second type of ISP, they are all about providing the best possible service to their consumers. Be that in raw speed, technology, support or range of services.

They are happy to help their customers and even promise to fix your faulty line or give you a refund. The also have no problem standing up to BT and requesting engineer visits or multiple ones if required.

They have genuine technical knowledge and you can talk to someone who has an IT and telecom background, so if you are technically minded or work in the industry you are not stuck with 1st line style support. This does not mean you have to be a geek to get a service with them, far from it they are happy to support all levels of technical skill.

I think there will be a few complaints about the prices they charge or the pricing model that they use, I think it is a fair one and I think you can go back to the start of this review and see if you want an ISP who competes on price or service and support. I think this will be one of the times where you really do get what you pay for.

Blake.

Edit : 15/08/2013

I am in the process of moving into a new flat that had problems with not enough lines being provisioned when the build was refurbished. This took some back and forth with OpenReach (who did not want to talk to me) regarding when the lines would be installed. My sales contact at AAISP AA-Jam was excellent, provided good information and was very helpful throughout. I now have a target date for install and FTTC provision. Excellent service again from AAISP

I've been with AAISP for a few years now and whenever I've had issues with the BT side of my connectivity AAISP and their incredibly helpful support staff have always gone out of their way to help resolve the issue.

Having been with AAISP for nearly three years now, there is no doubt they are an excellent ISP. Sadly I have now left due to my usage starting to get higher and higher but if you can afford it for your level of usage and want a reliable service it is definitely worth it. I had a a fault with my line a few months ago and it was fixed very quickly and efficiently. When you email support you get a response from someone who knows what they are doing and it's quick. They are even really helpful when you are leaving! You get what you pay for and I would highly recommend.

I picked AA ISP because of great reviews about the service provided.

They certainly aren't the cheapest and in an all-you-can-eat world, it seemed a step backwards to move to a peak usage pricing model. However, Internet access is so important that you want to know that someone will be there to fix it if it goes wrong.

For 6 months nothing went wrong: was it worth a little extra? The updates are well-composed and the CQM interface impressive. I was able to diagnose congestion we were generating on our network. Certainly more impressive than other providers.

But when a fault developed they showed how good they are. It was a BT fault. A quick chat over the phone to someone who would be third level support at any other ISP, a few tests and the fault was identified as BT fault. BT poked and problem fixed hours later when they replaced hardware at the exchange.

I can't help feeling that would have been a frustrating 7-day battle with one of the big name ISPs, and a great reason for using a company that believes in high levels of service and paying a little bit more for that.