New provider, Zen or Nildram, opinions please?

Hi

Finally had enough of Plusnet's appalling service and their non-existent customer
support.

Eventually got my Mac code (after they initially read "I want to migrate" as "cease
my account")

I hardly ever need to use tech support, but if I should need to I'd like to be able
to phone and get through, and either get an answer, or set things in motion.
Currently Plusnet are unable to offer this service.

The ability to resolve issues quickly and without fuss is important to me, so I can
have a reliable and seamless service. A news server that is reliable is also an
important consideration. Although cost is an issue, in my case I'd rather pay a
little more and know I've got the facility to contact my provider should the need
arise. (and have them respond effectively).

Looking at Zen (whose phone support I used for a friend and was totally impressed)
and Nildram who I've heard good things about.


Anyone got views?

TIA




--

Andrew Sayers

Andrew Sayers wrote:
> Hi
>
> Finally had enough of Plusnet's appalling service and their
> non-existent customer support.
>
> Eventually got my Mac code (after they initially read "I want to
> migrate" as "cease my account")
>
> I hardly ever need to use tech support, but if I should need to I'd
> like to be able to phone and get through, and either get an answer,
> or set things in motion. Currently Plusnet are unable to offer this
> service.
>
> The ability to resolve issues quickly and without fuss is important
> to me, so I can have a reliable and seamless service. A news server
> that is reliable is also an important consideration. Although cost is
> an issue, in my case I'd rather pay a little more and know I've got
> the facility to contact my provider should the need arise. (and have
> them respond effectively).
>
> Looking at Zen (whose phone support I used for a friend and was
> totally impressed) and Nildram who I've heard good things about.
>
>
> Anyone got views?
>
> TIA

I'm with Zen, moved from Plusnet about a year ago. Support is good but
hardly used it TBH. I also find Usenet (including binaries) excellent. I've
had a completely trouble-free service.

The bad news: I'm on a 2Mb unlimited account which is fab. But they've
introduced MaxDSL now and that's capped at 50GB if you're concerned about
download limits- and they're not offering the 2Mb uncapped service to new
subscribers (and indeed, were I to "upgrade" there'd be no downgrade
option). Personally I think this MaxDSL thing is a swizz and I wish it had
never been introduced- besides the fact that it's all dependent on living
next door to your exchange, there simply isn't the infrastructure to support
higher speeds in terms of bandwidth. Anyway, wandering off topic.

Like I said, other than the capping being introduced, they're pretty good,
if not cheap.

After the horror of Plusnet and their ever decreasing T&Cs, moving to Zen
was a walk into the broad sunlit uplands.

Ian

On Sat, 08 Jul 2006 02:14:25 +0100, Andrew Sayers
<(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:

>Looking at Zen (whose phone support I used for a friend and was totally impressed)
>and Nildram who I've heard good things about.
>
>
>Anyone got views?

Hi,

I can't comment on Nildram as I haven't used them but I've been with
Zen for two years on their 2mb service. During that time I've moved
home three times and they've sorted it all out for me with a single
phone call. No cocked up billing (are you listening Demon?) and up
and running quickly.

I can recommend Zen highly. They are more expensive than most but
having had dealing with many ISPs through my work I happily pay the
extra. Many ISPs couldn't care less about customer service but in my
experience Zen do.

They have monthly contracts too.

On Sat, 08 Jul 2006 02:14:25 +0100, Andrew Sayers <(E-Mail Removed)>
wrote:


>
>Looking at Zen (whose phone support I used for a friend and was totally impressed)
>and Nildram who I've heard good things about.
>

Either or, I've been on Nildram for the past 3 years and their service has
been exemplary.

That said, I've heard that Zen are pretty good too.

A trawl around the forums on adslguide.org.uk should give you an idea of
what their offerings are like.



greg
--
If you want venality, if you want ignorance, if you want drunkenness,
and facility for being intimidated; or if, on the other hand, you
want impulsive, unreflecting, and violent people, where do you look
Do you go to the top or to the bottom?

"Greg Hennessy" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:(E-Mail Removed)...
> On Sat, 08 Jul 2006 02:14:25 +0100, Andrew Sayers <(E-Mail Removed)>
> wrote:
>
>
>>
>>Looking at Zen (whose phone support I used for a friend and was totally
>>impressed)
>>and Nildram who I've heard good things about.
>>
>
> Either or, I've been on Nildram for the past 3 years and their service has
> been exemplary.
>
> That said, I've heard that Zen are pretty good too.
>
> A trawl around the forums on adslguide.org.uk should give you an idea of
> what their offerings are like.
>
>
>
> greg
> --
> If you want venality, if you want ignorance, if you want drunkenness,
> and facility for being intimidated; or if, on the other hand, you
> want impulsive, unreflecting, and violent people, where do you look
> Do you go to the top or to the bottom?

I am also on Zen fixed 2 Meg unlimited (pity they don't still do it)
although I do not go over the Cap set on the new product (50 Meg download) I
would not change to Max at this time.

I have no problems with the service and on the very few occasions I have
contacted support they have been excellent not that you have to do it very
often and sometimes seems a waste of the extra expense of Zen, so if the
cost does not put you off give them a try, as its only 1 month contracts
what do you have to lose?

I would point out one thing if you are comparing other ISP's the 50 Meg
download cap is the only restriction on the service i.e. No traffic shaping
no port blocking and no cap on uploads, yes you got it just downloads.
Isn't that great?

On Sat, 8 Jul 2006 03:07:29 +0100, "Jaxtraw"
<(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:

>Andrew Sayers wrote:
>> Hi
>>
>> Finally had enough of Plusnet's appalling service and their
>> non-existent customer support.
>>
>> Eventually got my Mac code (after they initially read "I want to
>> migrate" as "cease my account")
>>
>> I hardly ever need to use tech support, but if I should need to I'd
>> like to be able to phone and get through, and either get an answer,
>> or set things in motion. Currently Plusnet are unable to offer this
>> service.
>>
>> The ability to resolve issues quickly and without fuss is important
>> to me, so I can have a reliable and seamless service. A news server
>> that is reliable is also an important consideration. Although cost is
>> an issue, in my case I'd rather pay a little more and know I've got
>> the facility to contact my provider should the need arise. (and have
>> them respond effectively).
>>
>> Looking at Zen (whose phone support I used for a friend and was
>> totally impressed) and Nildram who I've heard good things about.
>>
>>
>> Anyone got views?
>>
>> TIA
>
>I'm with Zen, moved from Plusnet about a year ago. Support is good but
>hardly used it TBH. I also find Usenet (including binaries) excellent. I've
>had a completely trouble-free service.
>
>The bad news: I'm on a 2Mb unlimited account which is fab. But they've
>introduced MaxDSL now and that's capped at 50GB if you're concerned about
>download limits- and they're not offering the 2Mb uncapped service to new
>subscribers (and indeed, were I to "upgrade" there'd be no downgrade
>option). Personally I think this MaxDSL thing is a swizz and I wish it had
>never been introduced- besides the fact that it's all dependent on living
>next door to your exchange, there simply isn't the infrastructure to support
>higher speeds in terms of bandwidth. Anyway, wandering off topic.
>
>Like I said, other than the capping being introduced, they're pretty good,
>if not cheap.
>
>After the horror of Plusnet and their ever decreasing T&Cs, moving to Zen
>was a walk into the broad sunlit uplands.
>
>Ian
>
I would say more or less the same thing about Nildram - after leaving
Plusnet in disgust 2 months ago.

Nildram are probably cheaper than Zen and a similar price to Plusnet.
I pay £23/month for up to 50 gigs on a 2 mB connection which includes
a partially resticted Giganews service. Another great saving with
Nildram is that if you transfer your phone billing to them (line lease
remains with BT) you get up to 500 minutes of FREE phone calls/month
(i.e. free to land lines, not to mobiles) - I reckon that saves me
around £8/month.

So far problem free. I even got through to a human in service after a
2 minute hold to sort out a password problem (-my fault!) during
initial setup.

Totally recommended so far. You are on a monthly contract anyway, so
if it all goes pear shaped you can easily vote with your feet.

In article <(E-Mail Removed)>,
(E-Mail Removed) (Andrew Sayers) wrote:

> Looking at Zen (whose phone support I used for a friend and was
> totally impressed)
> and Nildram who I've heard good things about.
>
>
> Anyone got views?

You could also look at us

www.icukhosting.co.uk/internet_home.asp

FWIW, excellent phone and email support is something we pride ourselevs
on, so consquently we're not the cheapest provider as a result.

Leslie
ICUK

In message <(E-Mail Removed)> of Sat, 8 Jul
2006 09:44:12 in uk.telecom.broadband, root@localhost.?.invalid writes
>On Sat, 08 Jul 2006 02:14:25 +0100, Andrew Sayers
><(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:
>
>>Looking at Zen (whose phone support I used for a friend and was
>>totally impressed)
>>and Nildram who I've heard good things about.
>>
>>
>>Anyone got views?
>
>Hi,
>
>I can't comment on Nildram as I haven't used them but I've been with
>Zen for two years on their 2mb service. During that time I've moved
>home three times and they've sorted it all out for me with a single
>phone call. No cocked up billing (are you listening Demon?) and up
>and running quickly.
>
>I can recommend Zen highly. They are more expensive than most but
>having had dealing with many ISPs through my work I happily pay the
>extra. Many ISPs couldn't care less about customer service but in my
>experience Zen do.
>
>They have monthly contracts too.

In spite of anything suggested by my headers, Zen has been my first
broadband ISP since 2005/12/28. They seem expensive with activation
charges of 47UKP including VAT. I was luckily able to change my 256kb
uncapped service to a faster uncapped service when they quietly
introduced capped maxadsl and withdrew uncapped faster services.
Telephone support is available 08.00 to 20.00 Monday to Friday and 09.00
to 17.00 at the weekends on 0845 058 9009.
<http://www.saynoto0870.com/numbersearch.php> says the corresponding
geographical number is 01706 902009. <http://support.zen.co.uk> does not
make obvious that geographical number nor public holiday hours.

I just spoke to Nildram Sales on 0800 197 1474 where a lady speaking
standard English said telephone support is available 24/7 on 0870
0946000. She did not have the geographical number which saynoto0870
reports as 01296 300400. She was courteous but slightly baffled by my
questions.

I did a cursory check that both those geographical numbers work.
Nildram's background music was less offensive than I met in recent calls
to Zen. I got through to Ravi when I tried Nildram software support. I
did not make a fair test of his English.

I am paying over the top for a reliable, uncapped, low bandwidth service
with good support on the rare occasions I have needed it. I suspect that
anyone starting now without my antipathy to capped services and 0870
numbers would prefer Nildram to Zen.

Meanwhile I put up with Zen where telephone support has always been
provided in either standard English or Lancastrian. YMMV.
--
Walter Briscoe

Nildram let you carry over any unused allowance over on to the next month
(only). You can also download unmetered after midnight.

www.icuknet.co.uk wrote:
> In article <(E-Mail Removed)>,
> (E-Mail Removed) (Andrew Sayers) wrote:
>
>> Looking at Zen (whose phone support I used for a friend and was
>> totally impressed)
>> and Nildram who I've heard good things about.
>>
>>
>> Anyone got views?
>
> You could also look at us
>
> www.icukhosting.co.uk/internet_home.asp
>
> FWIW, excellent phone and email support is something we pride
> ourselevs on, so consquently we're not the cheapest provider as a
> result.
>
> Leslie
> ICUK

I'm probably moving soon and since I doubt I'll be able to move my 2Mb
account with Zen- they only offer MaxDSL now, I may well be interested in
your service. Are you planning to stick with offering a 2Mb unlimited
account? (I'm not a heavy downloader, but I hate caps on principle Do you
provide usenet?

Ian