any experience with smaller broadband companies?

jmitchell89

hi, im looking to switch from virgin and ive been through all the main providers and typically when i get really poor service i end up complaining and getting out my contract and just moving. which now means ive cycled through all the main companies.

when i check for local dedicated isps there isnt much available in my area and im wondering if anyone could recommend a provider in Liverpool. i can see companies like zen broadband, hyperoptic
and next vision telecommunications and theyve all got better value that what im on now. has anyone got experience with these type of providers? thanks in advance

Chino

jmitchell89 said:

has anyone got experience with these type of providers?

Have you tried asking on the Thinkbroadband forum?
https://forums.thinkbroadband.com/

BooJewels

I've been with Zen from pretty much their very beginning (early 1996 I think - dial up, then ISDN, then broadband and they were just local to me in those days) and have no desire to change - simply because it works well enough that I barely give it a thought.

I can't really comment much on customer service as I've had reason to call them so infrequently.  I can count on the fingers of one hand how many times my service has dropped in something like 24 years. I rebooted my router in early December as one of the lights was flashing red and it's been running without incident since.  I'm probably due an upgrade and will look at fibre when I do, but not because it's falling short anywhere.

JJ_Egan

Zen often wins the BB provider of the year / best BB in varying places and also A&A .

Not that i use either as BT do all i want .

mgfvvc

My experience with Zen was that their call centre staff were much more clued in and helpful than elsewhere, but, as well as paying a premium rate, I still ended ended with problems being referred to Openreach after months of dropouts and being dinged for £200 because Openreach couldn't find a fault.

In the end I couldn't justify the cost of staying with Zen, but they are probably the best ISP out there, so if you are getting a decent price then go for it.

I would just note that a lot of ISPs don't pass on the full cost of an Openreach visit, but Zen do. I have heard that some might pass on as little as £50 of the charge whereas with Zen it was something like £200.

Highland76

mgfvvc said:

I would just note that a lot of ISPs don't pass on the full cost of an Openreach visit, but Zen do. I have heard that some might pass on as little as £50 of the charge whereas with Zen it was something like £200.

Actually all ISPs pass on the cost of an Openreach engineer visit if the fault is found inside the customers premises - Zen aren't unique in that respect. On the hand, if the fault is found externally (eg at the PCP or FTTC cab) then no ISP - including Zen - will charge the customer. Pretty much all ISPs make this very clear when an Openreach visit has been requested and if the customer doesn't agree to any potential charges, then the visit doesn't go ahead. 

JJ_Egan

Ann1122 said:

I used a couple of these and can say for sure that the connection is quite poor...

A couple of these what ??

Name the ISPs  .

onomatopoeia99

I use A&A (have done since 2003, first ADSL then later FTTC) who are a small ISP and I will happily say they are excellent. 

wild666

I'm with Origin their prices are pretty cheap, £18.99 for upto 11Mb, £23.99 for up to 36 Mb and £27.99 for their fibre Max up to 76 Mb it just depends on how far you are from the cabinet. During the lock down there as been the odd outage lasting up to 90 minutes and a drop in speed of about 4 Mb but I can still do everything I want and then some.

Mister_G

I've been with Origin for four years now (renewed twice).  Prices are competitive and I like being able to pay the 18 months upfront. The service has been reliable and speeds consistent.

Of course being on the Openreach infrastructure you are always at their mercy, but I've only had one line fault which was fixed very quickly.

ximi

vodafone ?