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[Black Sheep]

IMPO ......... PlusNet.

[Ixel]

Thank you all for your replies.

I was considering Zen (business, unlimited fibre 2 or unlimited fibre office), but after reading the last two replies I'm once again stuck. I look at Plusnet and see a bit of BT in it (despite the fact they're actually operating nothing like BT), but what mostly concerns me is the longer contract time vs Zen, implementation of traffic prioritisation and some comments I've read about possible congestion. And then I look at Zen, I see a company that seems to have no traffic prioritisation implemented, cheaper call rates on business line rental, though on the other hand I haven't found too much user feedback to know for sure whether or not the network has a good amount of spare capacity to not cause congestion issues during peak times. I imagine for both Zen and Plusnet that these problems don't really exist and I'm concerning myself over nothing.

I haven't phoned both companies yet to confirm the pricing and availability of multiple static IP's, but I will be. My first step is to get a MAC out of BT Business, which is the easiest step I hope. The hardest step is to choose between Zen or Plusnet.

Any more opinions are welcome, thanks for the input .

EDIT #1 (30/06/2014 09:58): Called BT Business, after a short wait I managed to get the request for a code made easily, been told I must wait up to 5 working days and to regularly check my email for the MAC code. Also noticed a reply from Zen Internet in my spam folder that confirms they offer multiple static IP's for both residential and business packages, and there's no extra charge. BT Business have offered me half price 12 months if I renew my contract, though I imagine it would mean another 24 month contract, so after 12 months would return to the normal price. While it's a nice offer, I don't think I'll take BT Business's offer up.

So far it looks like I'll be picking Zen, will keep everyone updated for those curious about what I do and how I managed to get on.

[loonylion]

I'm with plusnet and I can't say I've noticed any issues with traffic prioritisation or congestion.

[Azzaka]

The issue with the faults T&C's I'm not entirely sure what they are, however I do know that since Fibre installs, depending on the issue it can be very hard to get OR to resolve the fault if it is based on performance.

If you have any queries do let me know. And as far as IPv6 goes, if you read TBB it's all negative, however what we are not telling people, is that we are Upgrading all our Aggregation Routers from Redbacks to Junipers as the Redbacks do not do IPv6 at all.

This is costing us a lot, however once done, we will be able to offer both Native v6 and Tunnelled v6 options across our estate. (this should not be posted elsewhere please.)

-Azz

[Ixel]

The issue with the faults T&C's I'm not entirely sure what they are, however I do know that since Fibre installs, depending on the issue it can be very hard to get OR to resolve the fault if it is based on performance.

If you have any queries do let me know. And as far as IPv6 goes, if you read TBB it's all negative, however what we are not telling people, is that we are Upgrading all our Aggregation Routers from Redbacks to Junipers as the Redbacks do not do IPv6 at all.

This is costing us a lot, however once done, we will be able to offer both Native v6 and Tunnelled v6 options across our estate. (this should not be posted elsewhere please.)

-Azz

That's great to hear. Obviously I won't post this elsewhere, hopefully others will also honor that request. Thanks.

Well I'm still waiting on the MAC which I've been told (according to regulations) is up to 5 working days. So end of Friday is the deadline, it wouldn't surprise me if BT Business doesn't issue me the code and blames it on a system fault or having no record of my request on the phone, how fortunate that I record all my phone calls . Once I have the code I'm almost certain now that I'll signup to Zen.

[Chrysalis]

The issue with the faults T&C's I'm not entirely sure what they are, however I do know that since Fibre installs, depending on the issue it can be very hard to get OR to resolve the fault if it is based on performance.

If you have any queries do let me know. And as far as IPv6 goes, if you read TBB it's all negative, however what we are not telling people, is that we are Upgrading all our Aggregation Routers from Redbacks to Junipers as the Redbacks do not do IPv6 at all.

This is costing us a lot, however once done, we will be able to offer both Native v6 and Tunnelled v6 options across our estate. (this should not be posted elsewhere please.)

-Azz

Thats good on the ipv6, if only you posted that on tbb, you would have saved some hassle on there.

[Azzaka]

Thats good on the ipv6, if only you posted that on tbb, you would have saved some hassle on there.

I agree. I will be shooting an email to the Bosses to ask if we can post something more substantial as what has been said so far needs to be taken down and re-written.

[Ixel]

I just called BT Business again this morning to make sure the request for a MAC was done. Fortunately it is, but I apparently need to wait until Monday to get the code (where I requested first thing Monday morning). Anyway, while on the call the advisor said that they're the only ISP to guarantee 80% of the connection speed. I assumed this would show up on the BT wholesale performance tester, so I ran a speed test and the minimum speed range for the downstream is 40Mbps, where I sync at the full 80Mbps, so surely the minimum speed range should be around 60Mbps, unless I'm missing something?

[kitz]

they're the only ISP to guarantee 80% of the connection speed

Hmmm that may be a bit of a porkie pie.   
Any ISP that uses the FTTC Elevated traffic option should be able to guarantee a higher throughput for example Zen offers it to their office users.  There are plenty of other ISPs that will offer Elevated for business too.
I guess BT only count the likes of Sky, which dont retail for business use. :/

Even then thats possibly stretching the truth a little.. because any ISP will still be subject to whatever BTw dictate for their part of the 21CN network the guarantee is actually.

WBC Fibre FTTC customers can select either Standard or Elevated downstream throughput options for End-User Access orders.

The Elevated end user‟s traffic is given preferential weighting in the BRAS which gives a higher throughput under congestion of the shared VLAN between the BRAS and DSLAM.
BT Wholesale dimensions the WBC network between the BRAS and the DSLAM according to the demand seen in the network in the busy periods, defined by the busiest 3 hours of the day.

Our network dimensioning rules are designed to ensure that customers receive a given IP throughput based on the product they have purchased, regardless of the activity of other users within this shared part of the network to allow users to achieve a throughput of:

• For End-User Accesses selecting the "Standard" traffic option, BT Wholesale will provide
   a throughput level of at least 12 Mbit/s for 90% of the busy 3 hour period.
• For End-User Accesses selecting the "Elevated" traffic option,BT Wholesale will provide
   a throughput level of at least 16Mbit/s for 90% of the busy 3 hour period.

For end-user accesses provided with services that will synchronise within the 5 to 15 Mbit/s range, the following applies:

• For End-User Accesses selecting the "Standard" traffic option, BT Wholesale will
  provide a throughput level of at least 70% of the value of their BRAS profile for 90%
  of the busy 3 hour period.
• For End-User Accesses selecting the " Elevated " traffic option, BT Wholesale will
  provide a throughput level of at least 80% of the value of their BRAS profile for 90%
  of the busy 3 hour period.
  
  

The throughput measures defined above are subject to the end user's service achieving a downstream line speed greater than the throughput speed for the selected downstream traffic option

but same as with the similar guarantees when on adsl1/adsl2+ where the min was also very low,  we just hope things dont get quite that bad.
I dont know what TTBusiness guarantees are.


---
Edited Zen link

[cpettitt]

Thank you all for your replies.

I was considering Zen (business, unlimited fibre 2 or unlimited fibre office), but after reading the last two replies I'm once again stuck. I look at Plusnet and see a bit of BT in it (despite the fact they're actually operating nothing like BT), but what mostly concerns me is the longer contract time vs Zen, implementation of traffic prioritisation and some comments I've read about possible congestion. And then I look at Zen, I see a company that seems to have no traffic prioritisation implemented, cheaper call rates on business line rental, though on the other hand I haven't found too much user feedback to know for sure whether or not the network has a good amount of spare capacity to not cause congestion issues during peak times. I imagine for both Zen and Plusnet that these problems don't really exist and I'm concerning myself over nothing.

The Traffic Management side of things, in my opinion is probably better. It's not about slowing people's connection down, it's about providing a service the same as any other ISP, but identifying the traffic that you're using and allowing us to ensure that the more important traffic is weighted in the right way.

We'd hate for a video you're watching to be constantly buffering whilst someone else in the office is trying to download a Linux Image, for example.

[Ixel]

Thank you all for your replies.

I was considering Zen (business, unlimited fibre 2 or unlimited fibre office), but after reading the last two replies I'm once again stuck. I look at Plusnet and see a bit of BT in it (despite the fact they're actually operating nothing like BT), but what mostly concerns me is the longer contract time vs Zen, implementation of traffic prioritisation and some comments I've read about possible congestion. And then I look at Zen, I see a company that seems to have no traffic prioritisation implemented, cheaper call rates on business line rental, though on the other hand I haven't found too much user feedback to know for sure whether or not the network has a good amount of spare capacity to not cause congestion issues during peak times. I imagine for both Zen and Plusnet that these problems don't really exist and I'm concerning myself over nothing.

The Traffic Management side of things, in my opinion is probably better. It's not about slowing people's connection down, it's about providing a service the same as any other ISP, but identifying the traffic that you're using and allowing us to ensure that the more important traffic is weighted in the right way.

We'd hate for a video you're watching to be constantly buffering whilst someone else in the office is trying to download a Linux Image, for example.

Good point. For a user who wants to have a connection that prioritises traffic in an expected way it's ideal. Unfortunately the long contract time is most likely still going to point me to joining Zen. Still, there's plenty of time for me to decide, I haven't received the migration authorisation code from BT Business yet and probably won't until Monday of next week based on what was said on the phone call with BT Business this morning. Thanks for the follow up.

[cpettitt]

No problem.

Either way, I think you're in safe hands, Zen or Plusnet

[Ixel]

Just an update for those curious that the MAC still hasn't been issued by BT Business. I will chase this up with a phone call by 4pm if nothing shows up in my inbox.

If I don't receive the MAC today then I imagine it's overdue (requested lastweek on Monday, not long after 9am), in that case do I report this problem to Ofcom and let them sort it?

EDIT 07/07/2014 #1:
Called BT Business, was told to still expect it by the end of today, though I don't hold high hopes. Will update if I receive it (or not).

EDIT 08/07/2014 #1:
Unfortunately no email from BT Business with the MAC. I've sent an email to them stating that it's overdue, as well as pointing out I have a recording of the phone call earlier. Hopefully it'll get the ball rolling.

[Azzaka]

Question: did you move this post to TBB forums? I don't want to double post if you did.

-Azz

[Ixel]

Question: did you move this post to TBB forums? I don't want to double post if you did.

-Azz

Nope. I haven't posted on there.