Virtual ISP

[Capricorn]

I like the sound of this ISP but am worried about it being a Virtual ISP, as it seems that Virtual Providers are always the first to get into trouble, and of course no matter how good the ISP is it is still dependant on the main provider, in this case Entanet. Am I being over cautious?

 

[Unicast]

From what I'm hearing Aquiss are fine. Aquiss (so I'm told) are one up from your standard visp in that they manage their own bandwidth (L2P ?).

Not heard anyone say anything bad about them.

 

[jcrom]

Entanet have different types of resellers: some promote Entanet, and billing and support is offered by Entanet. Which means basically you sign for Entanet through a channel partner.

But other people buy large amounts of bandwidth capacity from Entanet, but use their own network, billing and support. This is the case for Aquiss. Entanet is a wholesale provider to Aquiss, nothing else, and Aquiss have a lot of control on their own offering.

I could give you a list of plenty of primary ISP (not VISP) whose offering is poor (to keep it polite), some of them quite big in size (several hundred thousands customers) but really bad for the rest (hint: their name seems to start with the letter T).

It's always a good thing to find out what other customers say, in forums, do Google search for reviews etc and then made an informed choice.

 

[Simon J]

As previously stated, Aquiss manage their own bandwidth which happens to be supplied by Entanet. So what you're getting is business quality reliability (which is the market that Entanet are in) but with support (provided by Aquiss) tailored to the home market. As an Aquiss customer since the beginning of the year, I find that the setup works very well and I don't think that Aquiss will be getting into any trouble with the number of satisfied customers that it has.

 

[Capricorn]

Thanks Guys, however I think I am falling at the first hurdle as they don't accept Direct Debit.

 

[ManOfMeans]

Have you emailed them to ask? they may be setting the system up and not advertising it yet as they have only been going for a few months and dont let that put you off they have good backing and plenty of experiance in running a ISP.

 

[Capricorn]

Payment is only by either Credit Card or Paypal.

 

[Kits]

Payment is only by either Credit Card or Paypal.

Paypal accepts debit,switch as well as credit cards you can set up a DD with paypal if i remember correctly so that Paypal takes the money by DD and pays the supplier for you.

 

[jfreeman]

But other people buy large amounts of bandwidth capacity from Entanet, but use their own network, billing and support. This is the case for Aquiss. Entanet is a wholesale provider to Aquiss, nothing else, and Aquiss have a lot of control on their own offering.

But, and it's a big BUT...

Should something go bang in Entanet land you'd be just as rogered as if you were with UKFSN or one of the other simple resellers who let Entanet handle billing and/or support. The fact Aquiss have support and billing in house won't help you if something blows up over in Entanet/BT land. If something like this happens Aquiss just sit in the middle and have no real control over getting it fixed.

In that respect they're not much different than someone such as UKFSN.

The DNS for aquiss.net is hosted on:
ns3.aquiss.net 84.45.241.132
ns4.aquiss.net 84.45.241.133

These are firstly within the same routed block which means even smaller failures would probably result in lost DNS and therefore lost mail (it would get bounced). Secondly, these are also entirely within Entanet's netblock so if Entanet disappeared frankly the Aquiss service would be pretty much down.

I'm not suggesting for one minute that Entanet would disappear -- merely suggesting Aquiss are not as independent of Entanet as they try to make out.

I understand UKFSN run their own mail and webservers so they've got their own servers/network too. "We have our own network" doesn't mean a great deal/make them any "better" than any other reseller/partner...

Ultimately, it's still Entanet -- no matter how hard Aquiss make out otherwise.

 

[aquiss]

jfreeman,

I am on hols at the moment, so can't really spend too much time chatting otherwise the missus with chew my ears, however our core network and hosting networks (the nameservers you mention above are not our general nameservers) are totally seperate, for many of the points you raise (good points I might add).

Like any hosting or network setup, you expect the upstream providers to be working in order that people can reach servers. However we have split our network in 2 groups, and then mirrored at each location to ensure a diverse setup, which should reduce the total amount of downtime we have. (No downtime on any equipment in 93 days I might add). These are located at 2 points within the UK.

That said Entanet, and why we selected them for many key points to our business, have a large diverse quality network which allows us to develop key aspects of our operations, beyond broadband.

Anyway, back to the DIY....painting a ceiling required

 

[jfreeman]

I'm not too sure why resellers (partners -- call them what you want) insist on prattling on about other parts of their portfolio whenever this question comes up.

Bottom line is that if something goes pfft in Enta or BT land Aquiss (or any other 'partner') are in no better position to get it fixed than another 'partner/reseller'. That's the core issue here. If something goes bang, you're sitting in the middle until either Enta or BT fix it. And your customers are sitting there with no (or limited) connectivity. And my point regarding the nameserver was that if Entanet went, so would Aquiss, along with all the connectivity of your customers. No it's not likely to happen, but stranger things have happened!

The webserver/mailserver staying up when no-one has any connectivity doesn't cut it

Your boss shouting Oi is no different to Jason of UKFSN shouting Oi to be honest which another point I am trying to make.

Great you have some mirrored boxes in two different data centres for redundancy reasons; and so you should. That isn't a valid argument over why someone should pick Aquiss over another partner or reseller for the reasons above.

Now if you decided to sling in your own centrals then you'd be directly in control of all factors. Until such time, you're governed by Enta. At least from a core connectivity point of view. If Boggits decides to turn on QoS all your customers would be affected and there wouldn't be a whole lot you could do about it; just like any other reseller be they UKFSN, Vivaciti or whoever.

Curious as to how/why the bush telegraph got you off a ladder but there you go

 

[sharpy1982]

jfreeman,

All due respect, you certainly do seem to have a lot of knowledge regarding Enta’s set-up which leads to me to the conclusion that you are either directly involved with an Enta reseller or in direct support of one, sorry if I am wrong.

In my humble but experienced opinion of broadband provision. Every ISP, VISP, reseller or channel partner regardless of their size or how much money they have stuffed down their back pockets would be totally screwed if BT were to vanish into thin air overnight or if BT’s network was to take its last dieing breaths.

Extremely unlikely as this may sound, it is however a possibility and this is where I reach my conclusion:

Every ISP is in some way shape or form is reliant on another company or companies to survive, in this sense every ISP is a reseller regardless of having BT centrals or not because it is selling someone else’s product and needs to do this to survive.

If I were to pick a new broadband provider it would a well informed decision based on the following criteria:

• They knew what they were talking about.
• They had a vast knowledge and experience in the broadband market.
• They did not offer unbelievably low cost deals.
• They listen to their customers.
• They have good honest reviews.


Arguing about who has the biggest central or who doesn’t really means nothing to me and to be honest seems utterly childish.


Regards,
Sharpy.

 

[jfreeman]

...which leads to me to the conclusion that you are either directly involved with an Enta reseller or in direct support of one, sorry if I am wrong.

You're wrong Try re-reading my posts before drawing such 'conclusions'

True ISPs don't have an additional layer between them and BT should something go phut.

Resellers do.

Herein lies one of the reasons ADSLGuide currently only list ISPs with their own BT centrals.

 

[redsox_mark]

Entanet

I've just recently joined Aquiss (and very happy so far!).

When deciding, my biggest reservation was due to the Entanet partner relationship. All ISPs using BT's network are of course dependant on BT to provide service.. in Aquiss's case there is Entanet as well.

But I went with them anyway. Why?

1. First and foremost the customer support. In all my dealings, and from what other users have been saying, they are very responsive and knowledgable. Yes, if either BT or Entanet's network falls over there is only so much they could do.. but at least I have confidence they will push for resolution, and keep me informed.

2. From all I could find about Entanet, they seem to run a high quality network; mainly aimed at business customers. Yes that could change in future, they could go down the tubes, but if that happens I'd just leave... for now they seem to provide a quality service.

So I understand the theoretical risk with Entanet adding a layer... but if the core network they run works well, and I get great support from Aquiss, then it is not an actual problem for me.

You may ask why take that risk? Well any ISP is a risk (my last one was a "true ISP - Eclipse - which went from good to horrible).

 

[Mel]

You're wrong Try re-reading my posts before drawing such 'conclusions'

True ISPs don't have an additional layer between them and BT should something go phut.

Resellers do.

Herein lies one of the reasons ADSLGuide currently only list ISPs with their own BT centrals.

Even with a few of the real ISPs as listed on ADSLGuide, like Eclipse or plusnet you could end up with an unbundled connection involving yet another company for example Tiscali wholesale.

 

[Rory]

Thinking about Aquiss for when...

... I FINALLY get kicked off by NetServices. I still curse not leaving FAST24 after the "first" exemplary episode.

Anyway Aquiss are co-leading the race for my custom - and the fact that an Aquiss rep has posted in this forum re-assures me greatly.

FAST24 never bothered replying in their OWN forums, let alone venturing out onto the WWW.

May come down to a coin flip ...

 

[aquiss]

I'll take heads

 

[timeless]

... I FINALLY get kicked off by NetServices. I still curse not leaving FAST24 after the "first" exemplary episode.

Anyway Aquiss are co-leading the race for my custom - and the fact that an Aquiss rep has posted in this forum re-assures me greatly.

FAST24 never bothered replying in their OWN forums, let alone venturing out onto the WWW.

May come down to a coin flip ...

you can say that again... lve not even been contacted regarding these problems! hell if l wasn't moving and had to find a new ISP l wouldn't have even come here and never found out about all this.. touch wood tho lm still up and running, regardless as long as this connection lasts til the 17th (the supposed cease date) then lm happy as the movers are in on the 18th from as far as l hear.