Broadband Related > ISPs

Help picking an ISP - Leaving Plusnet

(1/7) > >>

xreyuk:
Hi All,

Looking at leaving Plusnet, mainly due to their network congestion and their support being astonishingly awful (technical know-how has seriously reduced). Their profiling system has a habit of getting me stuck on stupidly low profiles (I'm currently stuck on 37Mb profile on a 56Mb sync speed), which the staff seem to have lost the ability to rectify without 4 or 5 phone calls to different people to get a profile reset done.

I mainly use my internet for gaming, the odd bit of streaming, and general browsing, but the heaviest (and most important use) is online gaming.

So far I've been looking at Zen, AAISP, ID-Net and Vodafone. After looking it's between Zen and Vodafone due to pricing and network structure.

It's my understanding that Zen, AAISP and ID-Net will use the same BT backhaul that Plusnet use and pick it up somewhere from BT. If my current congestion is BT related, then I will still suffer from this congestion moving to one of these ISPs. If not, based off pricing and their reviews, Zen are coming out as my first choice (the usage plans on AAISP are a bit poor for me, and I'm not messing about with billing every few months).

This leaves Vodafone, and it's my understanding that Vodafone actually pick up the connection from BT at the local exchange (where they have presence), getting me onto the Vodafone network quicker. As it's newer and I know they use multiple 10Gb connections to feed each exchange, this makes me think there will be lower congestion on their network, and obviously, they're priced very well.

Anyone got any thoughts/observations/corrections?

Thanks!

jelv:
Unless you are on a fixed IP with Plusnet, no ISPs use will be on the same network as your Plusnet connection. Plusnet use WBMC Dedicated not shared.

I'm astonished at your shortlist if you are leaving Plusnet because of poor support. https://www.thinkbroadband.com/isps/compare?commit=Compare&isp_2=1&isp_16=1&isp_104=1&isp_6=1 will show the reason. There's one that shouldn't be on your list!

Read posts here for further information.

j0hn:
Search the word Vodafone on these forums and read some of the posts from the last 6 months or so.
Go have a read on the Vodafone section of ThinkBroadband.

Vodafone has in my opinion the most congested widely available backhaul on the OpenReach network.

ISP's like Zen and AAISP will use a range of backhaul providers like BT Wholesale or Talktalk business.

Just because 1 ISP who uses BT Wholesale backhaul suffers congestion does not mean every ISP will.

Some ISP's who were using the Vodafone backhaul have since dropped them completely due to the serious congestion problems.

I'll be gobsmacked if you get a better performance on Vodafone than you do on Plusnet.

Vodafone is the last ISP I would recommend.

Jon21:
I’ve personally only used AAISP and Sky. AAISP are very good, have great technical support and as far as I could tell when I was with them, zero congestion on their network, which was via TTB. They are quite expensive though. I’m currently with Sky and tbh, I’ve noticed zero difference. Sky’s network appears to be congestion free, I actually get better latency than I did with AAISP. I think that’s perhaps due to Sky having a POP in either Wolverhampton or Birmingham. I’m not sure how good Sky’s customer support is. Whenever I’ve contacted them via Twitter, they’ve been helpful though.

Out of your list, Zen, AAISP or IDnet would no doubt be good choices. All comes down to how much your willing to pay per month.

jaydub:
As j0hn says, IDNet use multiple providers.  I think their default position is Zen backhaul, but they also offer BTw and TTB backhaul on their FTTC connections.  They are willing to move you to another backhaul provider if you have issues.  I started on TTB, was moved to Zen where I had half speed single thread issues and am now on BTw, which has been the best of the lot as far my connection is concerned.

I would shy away from Zen as well, since they have well chronicled single thread speed issues intermittently (see ThinkBroadband forum).

Out of your short list of 4, all except Vodafone were on mine and I chose IDNet as the lowest cost option for mixed landline phone and broadband usage.  Uno were the additional ISP that was on my short list and not on yours

Take Johns advice, check out the ThinkBroadband forum and  you will see they have backhaul congestion issues.  You would be better staying with Plusnet than jumping ship to them.  IDNet, Uno and AAISP will provide a better service than Plusnet, but at additional cost.

I've added Plusnet  and Sky to j0hn's TBB ISP comparison.

https://www.thinkbroadband.com/isps/compare?isp_2=1&isp_16=1&isp_77=1&isp_21=1&isp_104=1&isp_6=1&commit=Compare

Telling!

Navigation

[0] Message Index

[#] Next page