Twist or Stick

[kraduk]

So the time has come. I'm out of contract on vodafone fttp 900 via cityfibre, and need to make a few decisions. The lack of ipv6 still irks me on voda, but the service has been rock solid. The only ISPs that are on CF and clearly state they provide ipv6 are idnet and zen. Both want £40 pcm vs VF on £26. Does anyone have any experience with them? If i'm going to pay a 50% premium I have to have big advantages over VF to justify it. Its also worth noting I dont give a hoot about the isp provided router or wifi, as i have my own kit already that is far better than they offer.

 

[YuGi]

customer service on zen is top notch, on voda its terrible ig your paying for that really.

 

[kraduk]

that is a factor, but only when things go badly wrong. 4 years in they haven't.... Most peoples internet issues are either wifi or copper based issues as well, neither are relevant here.

 

[Ionide]

Most peoples internet issues are either wifi or copper based issues as well, neither are relevant here.

I thought the same until Vodafone put me on the wrong BGP and my ping went from 2ms to 8ms, download as low as 10mbpds on 900 plan, and no one wanted to fix it.

Also several billing issues and support means you need to spend hours to resolve simple things.

Was fine for 3yrs till they messed it all up.

Went with TT, clearly the best option on CityFibre atm imo, hoping we hear news on the 2.5G plan soon.

 

[Anth]

Went with TT, clearly the best option on CityFibre atm imo, hoping we hear news on the 2.5G plan soon.

Do TalkTalk offer IPv6?

 

[CarlO1460]

So the time has come. I'm out of contract on vodafone fttp 900 via cityfibre, and need to make a few decisions. The lack of ipv6 still irks me on voda, but the service has been rock solid. The only ISPs that are on CF and clearly state they provide ipv6 are idnet and zen. Both want £40 pcm vs VF on £26. Does anyone have any experience with them? If i'm going to pay a 50% premium I have to have big advantages over VF to justify it. Its also worth noting I dont give a hoot about the isp provided router or wifi, as i have my own kit already that is far better than they offer.

Curious, what use do you get from ipv6?

 

[Ionide]

Do TalkTalk offer IPv6?

No.

 

[kraduk]

Do TalkTalk offer IPv6?

No, but they dont have pppoe on iirc

 

[kraduk]

Curious, what use do you get from ipv6?

It's a tech thing. If it were a clear cut advantage i could justify the extra money for it. 50% more is a tough sell though.

 

[kraduk]

I thought the same until Vodafone put me on the wrong BGP and my ping went from 2ms to 8ms, download as low as 10mbpds on 900 plan, and no one wanted to fix it.

Also several billing issues and support means you need to spend hours to resolve simple things.

Was fine for 3yrs till they messed it all up.

Went with TT, clearly the best option on CityFibre atm imo, hoping we hear news on the 2.5G plan soon.

That is a factor. However triggering a migration, is the best way to cause a lot of issues. In the ideal world i would not be starting from here. However if i hadn't taken it fttp with voda i would have had to to wait another two years on a crap copper connection..

 

[CarlO1460]

It's a tech thing. If it were a clear cut advantage i could justify the extra money for it. 50% more is a tough sell though.

What do you mean a tech thing? Do you have specific use cases for it?

Or just want it not need it?

 

[baby_frogmella]

So the time has come. I'm out of contract on vodafone fttp 900 via cityfibre, and need to make a few decisions. The lack of ipv6 still irks me on voda, but the service has been rock solid. The only ISPs that are on CF and clearly state they provide ipv6 are idnet and zen. Both want £40 pcm vs VF on £26. Does anyone have any experience with them? If i'm going to pay a 50% premium I have to have big advantages over VF to justify it. Its also worth noting I dont give a hoot about the isp provided router or wifi, as i have my own kit already that is far better than they offer.

Just be aware that there are/were major backhaul issues on Zen resulting in poor speeds. So you may get a worse service with Zen...at a higher cost. I would just stick with Vodafone, despite no IPv6 at least you're getting a solid connection.

 

[fenice]

Just be aware that are/were major backhaul issues on Zen resulting in poor speeds. So you may get a worse service with Zen...at a higher cost. I would just stick with Vodafone, despite no IPv6 at least you're getting a solid connection.

There are no speed issues with my Zen service nor have there ever been, where did you get your 'information' on the speed problem and where was the problem located?

@kraduk - I'd go with Zen if I were you: good service and excellent tech support plus your ipv6.

 

[Matt_2k34]

I'm kinda with Carl here - unless you're behind CGNAT - Why would you pay £14/mo more for IPv6?

If you have a specific use case for IPv6 can you not use one of the 6to4 services? will be cheaper than that I'm sure.

 

[drsox]

There's definitely been speed issues on their FTTP. I've seen many comments and also have a friend who experienced it and then left Zen due to non resolution of it.

 

[baby_frogmella]

There are no speed issues with my Zen service nor have there ever been, where did you get your 'information' on the speed problem and where was the problem located?

@kraduk - I'd go with Zen if I were you: good service and excellent tech support plus your ipv6.

Here you go Sir:

Noticed some (subjective) slowdowns... :: Zen Internet :: think broadband

FTTP Technical issues - looking for insight

FTTP Technical issues - looking for insight

forum.kitz.co.uk

In a nutshell

Zen are moving lots of their customers from BT Wholesale and Talktalk Business backhaul on to their own backhaul network. This has resulted in lower performance for many who have had this change enacted.
Zen don't give any notification this change is happened or that it has happened.

 

[Matt_2k34]

Vodafone also have their own FTTP package issues:

Milton Keynes routed via Manchester, high latency - Gigafast Broadband 900

My Gigafast Broadband 900 connection that is based in Milton Keynes is getting routed through Manchester instead of London. This means that all data packets go 120 miles north, and then 160 miles south before they can start getting routed to the correct destination. Latency to bbc.co.uk (London...

forum.vodafone.co.uk

If it's working, unless theres a specific reason you can't get around for IPv6 - I wouldn't be touching it for the cost increase.

 

[MissTuned]

Here you go Sir:

Noticed some (subjective) slowdowns... :: Zen Internet :: think broadband

FTTP Technical issues - looking for insight

FTTP Technical issues - looking for insight

forum.kitz.co.uk

In a nutshell

I'm not sure what backhaul I'm using, but I have FTTP with Zen on a 300/300 CityFibre package and get my full 300 down (and 900+ up for some reason) even during evening peaks, I've never known there to be an issue, so it seems like something impacting badly on some people and not at all on others. Perhaps it's only impacting on Openreach users.

I do think that the CS side of Zen has gone downhill over the years, though. They are certainly no AAISP. The main issue is that email responses are very slow, telephone calls take a long time to answer and if you have an ongoing problem nobody seems to take any notes, so you have to explain from scratch regularly. Presumably the customer base has grown faster than the staff. They are not as bad as el-cheapo mass market ISPs but they aren't premium quality any more, they are more of a mid-market option.

One minor niggle with Zen for me is the supplied router, it's a FritzBox with a VDSL modem and you have to use one of your LAN ports as the WAN which brings you down to three available, it is a reasonable unit but it feels like they are dumping off old stock of DSL modems on FTTP customers. From the marketing emails I get from them, it seems like they are more interested in selling expensive and unnecessary (for me) "digital voice" VOIP packages these days.

 

[Matt_2k34]

I'm not sure what backhaul I'm using, but I have FTTP with Zen on a 300/300 CityFibre package and get my full 300 down (and 900+ up for some reason) even during evening peaks, I've never known there to be an issue, so it seems like something impacting badly on some people and not at all on others. Perhaps it's only impacting on Openreach users.

Zen had issues when they migrated to GEA / new network (?) / gateway changes (?), mostly tail end of 2021 to early this year I think?

examples:

Zen Internet Speed Drops

I have a 300/50 FTTP service that has been installed since October 2021. Around July 2022 I started to get speed drops of 50% or more. It was possible to restore the speed with a router reboot but then it would come back. After several weeks trying to convince Tech support they had an issue it...

www.ispreview.co.uk

GEA migration nightmare

Bear with me - it's a long one but I'm at my wit's end now. I've had Zen's FTTP 500 service since the beginning of last year, and I've been extremely happy with it to date. Woke up on Friday morning though with no Internet at all. Checked the router, and the PPP connection had dropped at...

www.ispreview.co.uk

Slow speed after GEA migration :: Zen Internet :: think broadband

Worse Zen FTTP 900 performance following GEA migration

Worse Zen FTTP 900 performance following GEA migration

forum.kitz.co.uk

Their support quality also took a dive so that didn't help with lots of people having issues..