Vispa or Zen

I have my MAC code and am looking for somewhere to migrate to. Zen appears
to have no limitations and therefore looks favourite but is more expensive
than Vispa. On looking at Vispa I see there appears to be a news server,
but no details. The site states usage cap unlimited but also, much further
down, says FUP 50 GB and clicking on "more info" leads to a fair use policy
for dialup. Finally, I note that, right at the bottom of the page there is
information that makes the monthly contract is subject to a £47 termination
fee if terminated within the first 12 months.

I think Zen still looks favourite, any thoughts from users of either ISP?

Thanks.

--
Old Codger
e-mail use reply to field

What matters in politics is not what happens, but what you can make people
believe has happened. [Janet Daley 27/8/2003]

I am with Zen and migrated from BTyahoo.

Wonderfull connection and excelent support not that you will need it very
much but when you do you get a person in the UK and who has the knowledge to
help.

Take a trip to their support forum and see what others have to say.
http://forum.zensupport.co.uk/

OK they are more expensive but you get what you pay for.

In article <43a09ac8$0$97164$(E-Mail Removed) ews.net>,
Old Codger says...
> I have my MAC code and am looking for somewhere to migrate to. Zen appears
> to have no limitations and therefore looks favourite but is more expensive
> than Vispa. On looking at Vispa I see there appears to be a news server,
> but no details. The site states usage cap unlimited but also, much further
> down, says FUP 50 GB and clicking on "more info" leads to a fair use policy
> for dialup. Finally, I note that, right at the bottom of the page there is
> information that makes the monthly contract is subject to a £47 termination
> fee if terminated within the first 12 months.
>
> I think Zen still looks favourite, any thoughts from users of either ISP?
>
> Thanks.
>
>
Vispa is a very good service. I left them for a number of reasons, one
of which was that their usenet server wasn't exactly what I wanted and I
would have to go and buy service elsewhere if I wanted a full binary
feed (which I did). Vispa's in-house server was set up for text usenet
and not binary groups.

That termination fee looks like it applies to their 1Mbps and above
service which is repayment of a discounted connection charge for new
customers. It might not apply to migrations.

I went to Eclipse which I'm happy with, but Vispa was excellent for
service and reliability. Zen are equally good but have the benefit of
excellent usenet in-house. You have to juggle what it's worth to you to
make the decision, as if you want binary groups then Zen may be a better
overall deal than Vispa plus a binary NSP subscription. Zen also don't
have a fixed Fair Usage Policy (nor do Eclipse).

If support is important to you, then Vispa really is in a class of it's
own as their support bods are nice people and located in Altrincham (not
some Indian call centre!)

FR

"Old Codger" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:43a09ac8$0$97164$(E-Mail Removed) reenews.net...
>I have my MAC code and am looking for somewhere to migrate to. Zen appears
>to have no limitations and therefore looks favourite but is more expensive
>than Vispa. On looking at Vispa I see there appears to be a news server,
>but no details. The site states usage cap unlimited but also, much further
>down, says FUP 50 GB and clicking on "more info" leads to a fair use policy
>for dialup. Finally, I note that, right at the bottom of the page there is
>information that makes the monthly contract is subject to a £47 termination
>fee if terminated within the first 12 months.
>
> I think Zen still looks favourite, any thoughts from users of either ISP?
>
> Thanks.
>
> --
> Old Codger
> e-mail use reply to field
>
> What matters in politics is not what happens, but what you can make people
> believe has happened. [Janet Daley 27/8/2003]

Zen are brilliant. They have 1 month contracts, so if you're not happy with
them you can leave without any fuss. That shows confindence in thier
service, how many other ISP's are that confident? Very few - most tie you
into 12 months because they wouldn't be in business otherwise.

Zen are totally relaxed on the useage - no limits whatsoever.

News servers go a little icky every now and then, but that's the worst thing
I can say about them.

Very happy Zen customer for last 3 years :-)

**SS**

Flying Rat wrote:
> In article <43a09ac8$0$97164$(E-Mail Removed) ews.net>,
> Old Codger says...
>> I have my MAC code and am looking for somewhere to migrate to. Zen
>> appears to have no limitations and therefore looks favourite but is
>> more expensive than Vispa. On looking at Vispa I see there appears
>> to be a news server, but no details. The site states usage cap
>> unlimited but also, much further down, says FUP 50 GB and clicking
>> on "more info" leads to a fair use policy for dialup. Finally, I
>> note that, right at the bottom of the page there is information that
>> makes the monthly contract is subject to a £47 termination fee if
>> terminated within the first 12 months.
>>
>> I think Zen still looks favourite, any thoughts from users of either
>> ISP?
>>
>> Thanks.
>>
>>
> Vispa is a very good service. I left them for a number of reasons, one
> of which was that their usenet server wasn't exactly what I wanted
> and I would have to go and buy service elsewhere if I wanted a full
> binary feed (which I did). Vispa's in-house server was set up for
> text usenet and not binary groups.
>
> That termination fee looks like it applies to their 1Mbps and above
> service which is repayment of a discounted connection charge for new
> customers. It might not apply to migrations.
>
> I went to Eclipse which I'm happy with, but Vispa was excellent for
> service and reliability. Zen are equally good but have the benefit of
> excellent usenet in-house. You have to juggle what it's worth to you
> to make the decision, as if you want binary groups then Zen may be a
> better overall deal than Vispa plus a binary NSP subscription. Zen
> also don't have a fixed Fair Usage Policy (nor do Eclipse).
>
> If support is important to you, then Vispa really is in a class of
> it's own as their support bods are nice people and located in
> Altrincham (not some Indian call centre!)

Thanks to both of you.

The problem I saw with Vispa was the termination fee which has no stated
exceptions, the 50 GB FUP limit with absolutely no details as to its
application to broadband and the total lack of any information on the news
server. If a company cannot be bothered to detail its limitations and its
other services then I can't generally be bothered to ask, particularly if I
can find what I want elsewhere.

I had already looked at Eclipse but discounted them due to the complete lack
of any info on e-mail or news server. I do also wonder about the
sustainability of their pricing.

Seems you do generally get what you pay for. Zen is looking more like the
right solution even though I use only a few GB a month and rarely download
any binary messages. The clear statements of what you get plus the clear no
limits sells them to me.

I was going to go to Metronet, much cheaper and, again clear statements of
what one got, but Plusnet bought them. Apart from Zen, every ISP I have
looked at since then has had either low limits, possible weasel words in
their T & Cs, cancellation charges - often hidden or not obvious - or
unclear details. I keep coming back to Zen.

--
Old Codger
e-mail use reply to field

What matters in politics is not what happens, but what you can make people
believe has happened. [Janet Daley 27/8/2003]

Secret Squiddle wrote:
> "Old Codger" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
> news:43a09ac8$0$97164$(E-Mail Removed) reenews.net...
>> I have my MAC code and am looking for somewhere to migrate to. Zen
>> appears to have no limitations and therefore looks favourite but is
>> more expensive than Vispa. On looking at Vispa I see there appears
>> to be a news server, but no details. The site states usage cap
>> unlimited but also, much further down, says FUP 50 GB and clicking
>> on "more info" leads to a fair use policy for dialup. Finally, I
>> note that, right at the bottom of the page there is information that
>> makes the monthly contract is subject to a £47 termination fee if
>> terminated within the first 12 months. I think Zen still looks favourite,
>> any thoughts from users of either
>> ISP? Thanks.
>>
>> --
>> Old Codger
>> e-mail use reply to field
>>
>> What matters in politics is not what happens, but what you can make
>> people believe has happened. [Janet Daley 27/8/2003]
>
> Zen are brilliant. They have 1 month contracts, so if you're not
> happy with them you can leave without any fuss. That shows
> confindence in thier service, how many other ISP's are that
> confident? Very few - most tie you into 12 months because they
> wouldn't be in business otherwise.
> Zen are totally relaxed on the useage - no limits whatsoever.
>
> News servers go a little icky every now and then, but that's the
> worst thing I can say about them.
>
> Very happy Zen customer for last 3 years :-)

Thanks SS, am leaning strongly towards them.

--
Old Codger
e-mail use reply to field

What matters in politics is not what happens, but what you can make people
believe has happened. [Janet Daley 27/8/2003]

In article <43a1a2dd$0$90288$(E-Mail Removed) ews.net>,
(E-Mail Removed) says...

> I keep coming back to Zen

I had 2 accounts with Plusnet (I have 2 lines here) and both have this
evening been cancelled. I am migrating one over to Zen, the other is
simply terminating.

It seems, no matter what, Zen are the 'bees knees'.

Boss Hog <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:

>It seems, no matter what, Zen are the 'bees knees'.

I concur. Very happy with them.

On Fri, 16 Dec 2005 10:49:58 +0000, (E-Mail Removed) (Peter) wrote:

>
> Boss Hog <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:
>
>>It seems, no matter what, Zen are the 'bees knees'.
>
>I concur. Very happy with them.

Despite a-holes slagging them off in this group. Zen are one of, if
not the best, ISP in the UK.

On 17 Dec 2005 11:17, (E-Mail Removed) wrote:

>Despite a-holes slagging them off in this group.

Cross-posted, but to be honest, I've seen no-one "slagging them off" in
either group. Comments that they are more costly than some are hardly
negative, just honest, as far as I can tell. I know users of Zen and
other ISPs, no especially negative comments have been made about any
(including Bulldog and Tiscali, FWIW). Peter.