Zen Internet Support Forum

Well I find myself with a similar predicament to other forum posters over staying with Zen for no other reason than bandwidth allowances / options or rather lack of.  What a ridiculous position to find oneself!

I understand there are commercial reasons behind not increasing the bandwidth for Pro users but quite frankly, in my opinion, you are alienating us from the rest of your home customers by not even offering a small increase.  Perhaps as a company, more money is made from Lite and Active customers? 

My requirements in terms of bandwidth are now a major issue due to the requirements to stream tv, all be that via a flash interface, however that still eats up the allowance whilst at the same time working from home and having kids with their own requirements the 50Gb soon disappears.  Sure there are options to 'top up' but priced high and if one hit 100Gb you would be hitting the Office Max prices surely!  This situation will only get worse over time with more and more iPlayers popping up.  Whilst connected via a BT Wholesale connection who now have 'unlimited' connections, sure with traffic shaping, but surely costing to Zen must be changing so that they could easily offer a bandwidth increase or a new account for customers to choose 100Gb, 150Gb etc and not take so much of a hit?  There must be a happy ground somewhere inbetween to find a connection with Zen with its current level of support, service etc but with more bandwidth but at a lesser price that the topup Gb pricing?

I really hope this comes sooner rather than later as I find myself pushed elsewhere simply due to cost ;o(

I can't see how this situation can improve until all video/program streaming becomes Pay as You Go with both the supplier and the ISP sharing in the fee.

In the long term I see this forcing new thinking for bandwidth supply that will result in a much higher cost to the customer and maybe at the same levels as energy prices.

Maybe the BBC iPlayer is the first nail in the coffin of the internet as we know it.

 

 

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Ken

Zen Active 8000

By the time a family pays off the mortgage for a home in the suburbs, the home isn't home,and the suburbs aren't suburbs.

Hi there,

See my reply here:

http://forum.zensupport.co.uk/30539/30599/permalink/ShowThread.aspx#30599

To re-iterate, we don't want to create a product that would not be sustainable.  The quality of service and support you receive is achieved though Zen Internet's commitment to deliver what we say we will.  To do this we must ensure our products are capable of doing so - that means investment in capacity and resources so you can get the best performance out of your service from us; with no traffic shaping or other measures that can restrict your use of the Internet. 

There have been no significant changes in bandwidth costs - but Lite and Active had some flexibility to allow us to change the usage amounts at different factors. More than twice the amount was added to Lite while there was an additional quarter increase to Active.  Pro is not significantly more expensive than Active yet provides twice as much usage as it stands - so doesn't share the flexibility for change that Lite and Active had.

kind regards,

Phil.

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Phil Long
Technical Support Manager - Zen Internet Ltd.

Hi Phil,

 I appreciate your reply and I also understand the position you are describing.  It would still be nice though if Zen offered say a Pro Plus account etc with larger bandwidth options in say 50Gb chunks rather than the £1.49 per Gb that's there now.

Lite - 5Gb
Active - 25Gb
Pro - 50Gb
Pro Plus - 100Gb
etc etc

That's the tree I was barking up ;o)

I just think the leap from £30 for 50Gb to £92+ for unlimited is massive and am simply suggesting, asking, hoping etc that something inbetween could be offered...

I've been on Zen for nearly five years, ever since my exchange got broadband. I've never had the slightest trouble with the service, the billing or the upgrades from 512 to 2mb and then Max (heady days indeed). However, I've got the same issue as many - not enough bandwidth for a predictable cost. With two teenage kids in the house, I've been around the 60gig mark for the past six months, which is effectively costing me an additional £10 per month, taking the cost of Pro up to £44.99

Yet for £39.99, I can get Home 90 with Enta, with a 90 gig allowance (peak) and 330 gig off peak (which includes weekends). I'd have been willing to pay a bit more to stick with Zen, but there seems to be little upside. So regrettably, next Wednesday, BT willing, I'm off.

It may still be a bad move, but given my (kiss of death here) stable line, high speeds and lack of problems, simple economics says it has to be worth a try.
 

Strokes my fixed 2Meg 100Gig download limit.

Almost like a Pro Plus version of Zen and I quit often cap my own speed down anyway so speed meens very little to me but CAPS mean a lot, I would go as far as saying I hate having them and if I had to watch where I was I would leave soon after but I have never reached the 100Gig so far and thus it is like unlimited.

 

Well guys, I've gone as planned - migrated today with no real issues. I've had five years of totally trouble free service from Zen but have migrated because of the lack of anything more than a 50gig Max product at a reasonable price.

 All the best for the future and thanks to those who have offered the odd word of advice through the forums. Thanks particularly to James and Phil for taking such a close interest in what their customers are saying.

 

regards

Hugh

Hi Hugh,

Thank you for your kind words and for your years of loyalty to Zen, I hope you have a pleasant experience with your new provider, but keep an eye on Zen - should you find any future changes meet your needs. :)

kind regards,

Phil Long. 

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Phil Long
Technical Support Manager - Zen Internet Ltd.

At least Zen are not saying it is a lack of bandwidth through the system.

LINK

And it is about profit.