I am tempted by FTTC.. why would I want IDNet over BT ?

[jm_paulin]

I got the new cabinet up in the street, the BT checker says it is avail end of the month....

Decision time: IDNet or BT ?

Initially I thought BT, despite their profile shaping. It is new stuff, so probably still some rough edges... IDNet probably just outsource any issues to BT anyway... So can you give me a good reason to switch to IDNet instead?

And is the IDNet backbone fat enough to handle the increase of traffic?

Thanks

JM

[Simon]

  JM.  Someone will be along soon for you.

[Rik]

Hi and welcome to the forum.

You're right, IDNet re-sell BT wholesale products. Your choice, in that respect, is whether you want to deal with a small customer service team in the UK on a freefone number, or an overseas call centre. With IDNet, there is also no traffic shaping or throttling.

IDNet's backbone is more than large enough to cope with the demands of fibre, there's plenty of spare capacity and the network has been upgraded recently.

[jm_paulin]

Right, the `Oversea's customer support`.... That is a very good point indeed! No offence to anyone

JM

[Ray]

 

[Rik]

Right, the `Oversea's customer support`.... That is a very good point indeed! No offence to anyone

We've all sat in those queues.

[Lance]

Welcome to the forum!

IDNet probably just outsource any issues to BT anyway...

Don't forget, though, that BT Retail do too.

[gyruss]

With IDNet, there is also no traffic shaping or throttling.

Whenever i tell folk which isp i'm with i mention that they don't shape or throttle, and i always.. always get the response 'yeah right!', or similar.  I presume most other isp's do throttle, so what i want to ask is.. how does IDNET bypass what other isp's do not? further, how do we know its not throttled? if not by idnet,.. by BT themselves?  Is there any tests you can do that check this out?

[Rik]

BT may well throttle, deliberately or through lack of capacity. IDNet, otoh, have more capacity than they need, so that there is always headroom within their network, which they also upgrade in advance of need. Obviously, it's a fine balancing act, and sometimes things don't quite go to plan, but for the most part, there is no congestion once you reach IDNet's network. As an example, IDNet bought in a significant amount of extra capacity for the world cup, even tough they had to pay for it for a minimum of three months. They had learnt from the previous experience of the Olympics, and ensured customers didn't experience the same problems.

Testing is next to impossible, as it's virtually impossible to determine where on an end-to-end connection any congestion may be arising.

[Lance]

how does IDNET bypass what other isp's do not?

Quite simply, they charge above average prices. By charging more but carrying the same number of users they can afford to have the extra headroom.

[bindeweede]

Hello all.  New member here.  I hope this is not in the wrong place.  I want to ask the same question as the OP, but substitute "Zen".  My 21C connection gives me a feeble 3.5 Mbps at best.  My exchange has FTTC and Zen contacted me to see if I was interested in the fibre option.  BUT, the testing thing on the Zen site said I could only get at best 12.2 Mbps - which would be great, But Zen say they can't (won't?) support anything lower than 15 Mbps.

I spoke to someone at IDNET this morning who said it would not be a problem.  The set-up charges with IDNET are lower than Zen, but the same 12 month contract.

So, first stupid question - are there ANY drawbacks with IDNET as an isp - not interested in telephone service.  Please be honest. 

Thanks for being patient.     If you have been.........

[Glenn]

  bindeweede

IDNet are only a small company, but they are well run. You will find a lot of their customers have been with them for a long time, personally, I have been here nearly 5 years.

BT permitting (one order was delivered 1 year late), IDNet have excess capacity for the number of subscribers, so there is normally no congestion on their network, that doesn't mean that you will not suffer from congestion on your exchange, as Rik has already said.

IDNet, otoh, have more capacity than they need, so that there is always headroom within their network, which they also upgrade in advance of need. Obviously, it's a fine balancing act, and sometimes things don't quite go to plan, but for the most part, there is no congestion once you reach IDNet's network. As an example, IDNet bought in a significant amount of extra capacity for the world cup, even tough they had to pay for it for a minimum of three months. They had learnt from the previous experience of the Olympics, and ensured customers didn't experience the same problems.

[Ray]

 

As Glenn posted, they are a good ISP, I've been with them for just over 4 years.

[Lance]

Welcome to the forum.

The only potential drawback is that support hours are largely during office hours. Realistically, this won't be a problem as no-service support cals get dealt with out of hours and normally the connect justs works with no need to contact support.

[sof2er]

Well my experience with IDNet so far with FTTC has been excellent, there were a few problems in the start in some scottish areas which lead to no connectivity for 2-3 days but after that I've always had connection. Pings are stable and don't flunctuate at all and neither do upload speeds, download speeds on the other hand do but at the minimum I'm getting 20 Mbps up to 37 Mbps.

[.Griff.]

Well my experience with IDNet so far with FTTC has been excellent, there were a few problems in the start in some scottish which lead to no connectivity for 2-3 days but after that I've always had connection. Pings are stable and don't flunctuate at all and neither do upload speeds, download speeds on the other hand do but at the minimum I'm getting 20 Mbps up to 37 Mbps.

Pretty much agree with sof2er. My pings are rock solid, upload speed is fast and consistent but just don't expect the same from your download speed.

[bindeweede]

Thanks to all for the replies.  I have read a few posts where people here seem to have had major problems with fibre, but the last 2 posts seem to balance things a bit.  Not being techie, I'm wary of the possible problems of changing ISP, let alone going over to a completely new system.

I know it is Friday afternoon, but I've just got 2.7 Mbps on Speedtest.net, and I really think that is not good enough.  I am waiting to hear back from Zen to see if they will offer me a fibre connection.  If not, I think I might well be requesting my MAC.

EDIT.  16.50 and I got 1.88 Mbps!

[zappaDPJ]

I'm one of those people that initially had problems with it but with help from IDNet support, a few suggestions on these forums and some fiddling about I now have a consistent 7-8ms ping, a solid 8MB upload and somewhere between 18-36MB download speeds. I agree with Griff that download speeds do vary but overall I'm very happy with things.

[bindeweede]

Well, I have been doing some homework, with help from posters here.  Someone posted a link to a PC Pro article on Zen's pricing, which was interesting, so I've done a little comparing.  Installation and router with Zen = £146.88 :  IDNET = £88.  I don't know if Zen's price includes p&p for the router, but I believe it doesn't with IDNET.  Also the routers are different - Zen will supply and support a Netgear WNR 2000:  IDNET's is a Netgear WGR 614.  I have no idea what the differences are.

Monthly charge with Zen = £35.25 for 50 GB monthly download.  IDNET £27.99 for 30GB peak and 90 off - peak.  And the last thing I was told by a Zen rep was that they wouldn't sell me the fibre option anyway, as my line will, apparently only support up to 12.2 Mbps.  But I am querying that atm.

But I am coming to what seems to be the obvious conclusion........MAC.

Edited to change "MB" to Mb".

[.Griff.]

If you Google the WGR614 you'll see it's available a lot cheaper on the high street than it is from IDNet. Sorry IDNet but I'm only being honest.

That said in my experience it's a bad router anyway so I'd look for something else.

[Gary]

If you Google the WGR614 you'll see it's available a lot cheaper on the high street than it is from IDNet. Sorry IDNet but I'm only being honest.

That said in my experience it's a bad router anyway so I'd look for something else.

It seems to get good reviews 

[Simon]

If you Google the WGR614 you'll see it's available a lot cheaper on the high street than it is from IDNet. Sorry IDNet but I'm only being honest.

True, Griff.  IDNet can't buy in bulk to compete with high street / online prices, but they do pre-configure them for the customer, and I don't believe they make anything on router sales.  

[.Griff.]

It seems to get good reviews  

A quick Google suggests it gets very mixed reviews with some being over 6 years old. I'm sure it's a capable budget router for your average user but it lacks gigabit ports for a start and simply doesn't cope well with the higher speeds achieved with FTTC/VDSL2.

You only have to look at some comments made on here by some other FTTC users to see they share the same opinion.

[.Griff.]

True, Griff.  IDNet can't buy in bulk to compete with high street / online prices, but they do pre-configure them for the customer, and I don't believe they make anything on router sales.  

I've just noticed IDNet have significantly lowered the price of this router. When I signed up they tried to charge me £75 for the router where as I paid £27 elsewhere.

I see they're now charging £49.99 (Or £41.00 depending which page you click on.. Oops..*) which is a little more realistic.

* - http://www.idnetters.co.uk/forums/index.php?topic=22376.0

[Simon]

I've asked for clarification of the price.