Moving from BT to Zen Internet

M25

I'm moving to Zen from Plusnet at the end of the month.

Going for 1.6GBPS so they'll send an eero Pro 6E. For £10 more PM you can get a Max 7 but it looks like they want that back at the end of the 18 months sadly.

I have my own Max 7 and a Pro 7 mesh system and it works incredibly well. I'll just change the username and password inside the eero app once I have that information from Zen.

Yes, it's expensive but no in contract price rises (for now) and I've always wanted to give them a try. 

I've had a text from OpenReach saying they're visiting to upgrade my ONT (I have asked for a 2nd connection as I have about 3 months remaining on my Plusnet contract). I note Zen just said in the email that my old gigabit ONT is no longer suitable for 2.5GB. No mention of the extra connection.

First time in my Internet life I've not went with the cheapest. 

Hold on tight! 

iniltous

You won’t be getting a second connection via a single ONT  , the ONT swap is simply because the speed ordered is in excess of 1Gb , I suspect you will be getting a impact statement from Plusnet outlining the early termination charges etc , in fact you should have already received this so may be worth contacting them to see why you haven’t, or possibly Zen have ordered a second service which will be installed alongside your current PN service, so two dropwires , two ONT’s  etc , if that’s the case you would be paying for both  services until you cancel the PN one yourself .
I would also call Zen to clarify if the used the appropriate OTS process or not .

flaneurs_lobster

@M25

I think this is the first mention that I've seen anywhere of anyone having to have an ONT replaced because it's too slow - in fact for any reason at all.

Please forgive the rubbernecking (I run my 20-odd devices on a 50MBPS FTTC) - what are you doing that needs 1.6GBPS?

FlatFour

M25 said:

I'm moving to Zen from Plusnet at the end of the month.

Going for 1.6GBPS so they'll send an eero Pro 6E. For £10 more PM you can get a Max 7 but it looks like they want that back at the end of the 18 months sadly.

I have my own Max 7 and a Pro 7 mesh system and it works incredibly well. I'll just change the username and password inside the eero app once I have that information from Zen.

Yes, it's expensive but no in contract price rises (for now) and I've always wanted to give them a try. 

I've had a text from OpenReach saying they're visiting to upgrade my ONT (I have asked for a 2nd connection as I have about 3 months remaining on my Plusnet contract). I note Zen just said in the email that my old gigabit ONT is no longer suitable for 2.5GB. No mention of the extra connection.

First time in my Internet life I've not went with the cheapest. 

Hold on tight! 

1.6 GBPS?  Nice.  I must admit, 1.6 is tempting for me as it's still cheaper than BT's 900 MBPS.  However, some of my internal hardware only supports Gigabit, while some is 2.5 Gigabit.  Could always just get a new NIC...  I will certainly just go for 900 initially, then perhaps change in the future.

Interesting aside, 900 MBPS isn't "gigabit"... except it is lol.  I had friends flexing on me that theirs was Gigabit, mine was "only" 900.  It seems that for Fibre Openreach measure it after the protocol overhead, whereas with regular networking that's not how it's done.  I.e. my Gigabit internal Network can transfer data at a little over 112 MB/s.  My 900 MBPS Fibre can download at a little over 112MB/s.  900 = 1,000 in that regard.

I did wonder why the top offering is 1.6 GBPS and not 1.8 though...  I wonder what speeds people are actually hitting.  For me, 900 MBPS is great, but I'd like more than 100 MBPS or so upload.  BT used to heavily throttle upload speeds - most people don't notice - but I had to call them more than once to (literally) flip the switch to restore my full speed.  Hope going to Zen won't see Openreach flip that switch back again...

Nothing wrong with treating yourself to the premium product.  I live on the internet and PC's - at least, it certainly seems that way lol - so speed has a significant impact on things.

flaneurs_lobster said:

@M25

I think this is the first mention that I've seen anywhere of anyone having to have an ONT replaced because it's too slow - in fact for any reason at all.

Please forgive the rubbernecking (I run my 20-odd devices on a 50MBPS FTTC) - what are you doing that needs 1.6GBPS?

Heh, I suspect it's that speed is just addictive lol.  Coming from, not that long ago, the end of a 1.6km from the cabinet ADSL connection, giving 2mbps download (barely 1mbps up) on a good day, the speed is addictive for me lol.  As for possible reasons, well, I download and upload a fair bit of stuff so speed really helps.  However, speaking for friends of mine... it's amazing how much bandwidth his kids suck up playing online games and streaming media.  I'd suggest that Gigabit is near essential for him for everyone to get a good service.

M25

I remember  my dial-up 36KBPS (56KBPS) or so and failing several times to be able to download a 22MB update to Nero. Took weeks.


When signing up for Zen they said they could see a live line and asked if I wanted them to take it over or have a 2nd line. I went with the 2nd line.

I think that's what they mean as the emails mention changing the ONT. I'll see what happens. 

Plusnet have phoned 7 (!) times you'd think there were laws about that. That's not Zen-related, I just happened to go partially through the Vodafone checkout and it caused that. Since I've not had another mass call situation from Plusnet maybe my new Zen 2nd line is a real thing so it isn't getting flagged.

I will pay Plusnet the £100 or so don't have a problem with that. My intention though is to have an entirely separate line at some stage for a digital phone. Might happen might not. Also, I like the idea of a 2nd line for a few months in case of problems.


I've always admired Zen from afar and with the new overcharging scam waved through by OfCom I thought I'd give Zen a go. They are also the only company showing 1600MBPS here. One business line supplier also does.

Heck, it's just a wee treat for 18 months I have absolutely no need for anything more than 400MBPS.

FlatFour

My very first experience with internet was a 56k dial-up.  I was only allowed to connect after 6pm as the call was free after that time lol.

I guess you just called them to get things sorted, rather than go through the online process?  Perhaps that's what I should do if I have any concerns re: my landline.

"BT" (might not be BT) like to Phone me and instantly ask for various security details.  Erm, no, you called me identify your self to my satisfaction first.

It's the price of BT that irks me the most, plus this yearly inflation + director's bonus increase.  As I mentioned before, negotiating a renewal at the end of March, and not getting the agreed deal as of 1st April (like less than a week later) is BS.

Heh, you're going to struggle going back to anything slower after treating yourself..  I don't think I could.

Stompa

FlatFour said:

One quick question though @Stompa did you manage the entire process online with Zen, or did you need to speak to them at any point?

I would have preferred to do it all online, but rather strangely there was no option to do so and I had to do the entire thing by phone, though they were very efficient and it was pretty straightforward.

As regards phones, I bought a couple of Fritz!Fon C6s from Zen which have performed flawlessly. They avoid me having to have a separate DECT base station. Curiously I find they enable me to make two simultaneous outgoing calls. I've no idea whether that is possible if you plug another DECT base station into the back of the Fritz!Box. Mind you, I've never need to make two calls at the same time!

FlatFour

Hey all,

Quick update:

I just did the switch.  I was prepared to call them but gave the online option a try first.  It's been updated since I last tried this, and it seemed to ask all the right questions re: phone line etc.  Last time, I could get through the process with no questions about the phone line.  I ended up aborting that attempt in the end, as I found out BT had extended my contract (another 18 months) when I thought I was on a rolling one after the prior one expired.  It appeared that changing the monthly included calls - I had a "pay as you go" type deal for inclusive calls - automatically entered me into a new contract.  Anyway, 18 months later, here I am.

As soon as I kicked off the process and Zen had to check with my current supplier, and I got a text from BT.  They say as I'm terminating while in-contract (I'm not) they'll have to charge me £22.75 in early-termination fees.  Obviously wrong as my new contract start date is AFTER my current contract end date, plus I've already paid for this month in advance by direct debit... taking me to the end of my contract.  They've always billed in advance, bar any landline calls that come the following month.

As an aside, BT seemed to always find a way to charge a bit more.  One time I went from a £70 PCM product to a £60 PCM product (not exact numbers, but you get the idea) and the first month under the new terms was more expensive then the prior month on the old terms.  Subsequent months were correct though.  Given the same billing date, BT could never explain this.

There is one day, Sunday 1st Feb, I'll still be on BT, as the switch can only occur Monday to Friday it seems.  I expect BT to make a bit of a mess of this, though I did deliberately pick the first available date after my contract with BT ends.  There should be NO fees.  At what point should I ensure the Direct Debt to BT is cancelled?

Note: I had to pay the first month + set up fee (£15) on my credit card, so I assume Zen's direct debit won't start until the following month.

giraffe69

I've just switched from BT to Zen. BT acknowledged end of contract. Start date for Zen complied with this but BT still charged, for an unfathomable reason, 4 extra days. I paid Zen a month ahead of time and the direct debit did not start until month two. So far impressed with Zen.

Stompa

FlatFour said:

Note: I had to pay the first month + set up fee (£15) on my credit card, so I assume Zen's direct debit won't start until the following month.

I seem to recall that a few days before the second payment was taken I got an email from them telling me it would be taken as a recurring payment from my credit card. I had to phone them to get it switched to Direct Debit.