Thinking about joining iDNet, Questions about service.

[Dealz]

Hi,

Been a while since i last posted :forgive me:, a few of you might remember me asking about the DG834N a while back.

I'm currently looking for a new ISP and I've had a look at the website and i noticed the "Reasons To Choose iDNet" and it's made me wonder a few things.

Maximum Throughput Guarantee
We guarantee no contention on our network, no throttling, no traffic shaping & no port blocking. No contention on our network is achieved by not oversubscribing our broadband services and ensuring that bandwidth investment exceeds customer demand. This means that we can guarantee the maximum throughput that your line can support at all times.
   
Low Latency Guarantee
Our network is one of the fastest, best connected networks in the UK, with points of presence in London, Amsterdam and Paris. At these exchanges we have peering agreements with over 480 networks which enable us to pass traffic at up to Gigabit speeds, delivering the highest performance and lowest latency that is technically possible.
   
Q: How true are these? Hows does iDNet guarantee these?... I guess i'm looking for a more technical explanation.

Traffic Priority (optional)
Business Premium traffic is given priority at the exchange over standard ADSL traffic which means lower contention and higher throughput speeds especially during peak times.

Q: Is this worth the additional £10/Month? How effective is this feature?

I thought this would be the best place to ask these questions, my mistake if this is the wrong place to ask.

I'm just looking for more user feedback/experiences & technical explanation.

Thanks advance.

[Simon]

It's not the wrong place to ask, as such, but I think you may need to ask IDNet direct about the technical side of how their networks operate. 

[Steve]

It's a guarantee that IDNet won't slow your connection down once you've left BT's back haul, the traffic priority is probably only worth it on a 'busy' local exchange IMO.

[Gary]

It's a guarantee that IDNet won't slow your connection down once you've left BT's back haul, the traffic priority is probably only worth it on a 'busy' local exchange IMO.

I would agree, although I'm on a very small exchange and it does help during peak times as the capacity is not huge so things do slow down a bit, its something you can try out, if it does not help you can remove it.

[Dealz]

Thank you for your replies.

It's not the wrong place to ask, as such, but I think you may need to ask IDNet direct about the technical side of how their networks operate. 

I have emailed iDNet to ask for a more technical explanation of how they guarantee max throughput and low latency.

It's a guarantee that IDNet won't slow your connection down once you've left BT's back haul, the traffic priority is probably only worth it on a 'busy' local exchange IMO.

I didn't think of that but it makes sense that it should probably be worth it if the local exchange is busy.

I would agree, although I'm on a very small exchange and it does help during peak times as the capacity is not huge so things do slow down a bit, its something you can try out, if it does not help you can remove it.

True, I could always try it out to see what difference it makes to me and if not a enough it can be removed.

[Dealz]

Anyone willing to share their honest experience of IDNet?

[Gary]

Anyone willing to share their honest experience of IDNet?

They are good, I normally have no issues and never talk to support much, the service is fast, its stable, and you pay for what you get. This last two weeks I have a possible rein issue, I have had great help from support, they got a lift and shift done after one engineer visit who thought that may help but IDNet pushed that though themselves when he did not give a complete report which is great service, sadly it did not fix my issue. They have kept in contact and have been more than helpful. They are still pursuing this and I have another visit coming Saturday.

I moved years back to get cheaper internet at O2 and it was a mistake, I came back. AAISP are a good ISP but IDNets tariffs for me are more suitable, when my line works as it should latency is always good for gaming at my end. I have my domain hosted by them also. Tbh you could do alot worse than come here, and its a one month rolling contract, if it does not suit you then you can move on.

Everyone has a different opinion of what they get, I was pleasantly surprised at support, yes a couple of times out of hours did not call back but I received a call from the day shift instead, not an issue really. For my needs they are a good ISP and at this time I see no reason to move on unless going to LLU would cure my issues and that's out of IDNets hands as the fault is not theirs. Email service works well, I believe they now do status updates or will be soon via twitter as mentioned on their facebook page for those that use social media. They get my vote, I hope that helps.

[lozcart]

Anyone willing to share their honest experience of IDNet?

I've been a customer since 2006, never looked at moving to another provider 

[zappaDPJ]

Anyone willing to share their honest experience of IDNet?

This is the ping I get on FTTC, it never changes:


Microsoft Windows [Version 6.1.7601]
Copyright (c) 2009 Microsoft Corporation.  All rights reserved.

C:\Users\zappaDPJ>ping idnet.net

Pinging idnet.net [212.69.36.207] with 32 bytes of data:
Reply from 212.69.36.207: bytes=32 time=7ms TTL=59
Reply from 212.69.36.207: bytes=32 time=7ms TTL=59
Reply from 212.69.36.207: bytes=32 time=7ms TTL=59
Reply from 212.69.36.207: bytes=32 time=7ms TTL=59

Ping statistics for 212.69.36.207:
    Packets: Sent = 4, Received = 4, Lost = 0 (0% loss),
Approximate round trip times in milli-seconds:
    Minimum = 7ms, Maximum = 7ms, Average = 7ms

C:\Users\zappaDPJ>


99.9% of the time my upstream/downstream is what you can see from the attachment.

There are occasional blips but in general I doubt you'll find many ISPs with IDNet's record of consistency.

[Dealz]

Thank you Gary, lozcart and zappaDPJ for your feedback. 

[esh]

Probably the most honest I can give is just by dumping this plot here, it's a couple years old now, I need to update it at some point! I am also using the priority exchange package.



As you can see they had a couple rough periods in 2009 which they solved by yelling at BT and generally improving their bandwidth. There hasn't been any more since. If you're curious, point (a) on the graph was changing my router, which shows you how significant router can be on ping stability! Point (b) was a router reboot which actually moved me onto a worse path, which shows again the randomness/luck of BT/ADSL. Point (c) was another reboot to change path and point (d) was separating the ADSL modem and router on the local network.

In 2012 I moved onto IDNet LLU with telefonica, mostly because it offered ADSL2 capability whereas BT didn't in my area. It has been very good. Haven't had a single second of downtime now in over 230 days according to the router. I have found tech support to be responsive and useful. They've also been very open about what problems they've had, why, and what's happening about it, which is what I find most important actually. Everyone has issues, it's just if you have no idea what's going on that customers get really annoyed. Or I do anyway. My average ping is 20ms now. At worst in the evenings it is no more than 35ms. I routinely get 1.4MB/s.

If you have any other questions, post away.

[zappaDPJ]

Thank you Gary, lozcart and zappaDPJ for your feedback. 

Thanks, you're very welcome. As said above, if we can help further, don't be afraid to ask

[Simon]

To be fair, it's unlikely that many negative responses will be posted in this thread, as anybody who was unhappy with IDNet, and has subsequently left, probably won't be reading the forum any more.  But, in my opinion, the comments you have received have been accurate and fair.  Personally, I've been with IDNet for around five years, and have never felt the need to look elsewhere.

[Dealz]

Probably the most honest I can give is just by dumping this plot here, it's a couple years old now, I need to update it at some point! I am also using the priority exchange package.

As you can see they had a couple rough periods in 2009 which they solved by yelling at BT and generally improving their bandwidth. There hasn't been any more since. If you're curious, point (a) on the graph was changing my router, which shows you how significant router can be on ping stability! Point (b) was a router reboot which actually moved me onto a worse path, which shows again the randomness/luck of BT/ADSL. Point (c) was another reboot to change path and point (d) was separating the ADSL modem and router on the local network.

In 2012 I moved onto IDNet LLU with telefonica, mostly because it offered ADSL2 capability whereas BT didn't in my area. It has been very good. Haven't had a single second of downtime now in over 230 days according to the router. I have found tech support to be responsive and useful. They've also been very open about what problems they've had, why, and what's happening about it, which is what I find most important actually. Everyone has issues, it's just if you have no idea what's going on that customers get really annoyed. Or I do anyway. My average ping is 20ms now. At worst in the evenings it is no more than 35ms. I routinely get 1.4MB/s.

If you have any other questions, post away.

Thank you esh for posting your graph and for explaining the lettered points , although it's old the graph is interesting to look at. Would be good to see an updated graph.

Q: At point (d) when you say "separating the ADSL modem and router on the local network" just to clarify do you mean a separate modem and router (2 devices) , rather than a modem built into a router (1 device)?

Thanks, you're very welcome. As said above, if we can help further, don't be afraid to ask

Thanks, I'm so far liking this community, very welcoming and helpful 

To be fair, it's unlikely that many negative responses will be posted in this thread, as anybody who was unhappy with IDNet, and has subsequently left, probably won't be reading the forum any more.  But, in my opinion, the comments you have received have been accurate and fair.  Personally, I've been with IDNet for around five years, and have never felt the need to look elsewhere.

I understand, to be honest i'm not really looking for negative feedback as i won't really find that here. I'm looking for feedback from users about their experience with IDNet and also if they have had any issues in that time how effectively the billing/tech support team dealt with it, things like that... also a friendly and helpful community can actually go a long way to improve user experience. 

[jameshurrell]

I've been with IDNet for several years now. I work from home (permenantly) on an ADSL2+ connection and rely on that connection working 24/7 (I have no backup facility). I also wanted something that guaranteed no traffic management or throttling and IDNet meets this requirement. I haven't had to contact support about an issue in years now.

[Dealz]

I've been with IDNet for several years now. I work from home (permenantly) on an ADSL2+ connection and rely on that connection working 24/7 (I have no backup facility). I also wanted something that guaranteed no traffic management or throttling and IDNet meets this requirement. I haven't had to contact support about an issue in years now.

Thanks for your feedback, I'm also going to be working from home soon so need a reliable connection.

Q: You say you don't have backup facilities but do you have the Enhanced Care and/or SLA?
Q: Which Router are you using?

[endpoint101]

I almost started a new thread titled "Thinking about leaving IDNet", but decided to jump in here instead I'm up for my annual renewal of £288 for the 50Gb+150Gb ADSL2+ package (one that isn't listed on their site any more).

I've been really happy with the service from IDNet over the past 3 years, however now that BT is truly unlimited and they offer max download speeds of 16Mb for £16 a month (with an introductory offer of 6m for free). Now I'd be set to save nearly £100 a year (not including the 6m being free).

I'm severely tempted to jump ship for that difference in price. Dealz; have you discounted BT in your decision for ISP? If so, why?

[Steve]

Someone I think it was the ISP owner said with broadband that you can perm only two of the following three options : Fast,reliable,cheap.

[Gary]

Having watched a friend tear there hair out almost trying to deal witn the outsourced call centre this week because India says all is well and the line is connected but there is no socket in the house at all...yeah BT are scary when it goes wrong.

[sobranie]

Passing thought  .........  If any of these cheapo ISP's were anywhere near as good as IDNet, Zen etc then we'd all probably be off like a shot!
You get what you pay for after all.

[Niall]

There really are only three ISPs to go with, IDnet, Zen and AAISP. Then if you don't care about support you can consider Sky and BT. Then if you don't care at all about what you get or support, there's Talk Talk, etc.

The Sky package is good for those that want a lot of entertainment adding to a package they already have. For example, my mate is a lecturer in media, so it's ideal for him as he's now got everything he needs in one package.

BT is similar with their own TV packages but there are hidden charges that brings it up to a price where you're not really gaining much in savings and the support is dire.

My only annoyance with IDnet is that BT seem to ignore them. 6 weeks later and I'm still waiting to hear back from support as they're waiting to hear from BT.

[D-Dan]

I only just spotted this thread, so pardon my late answer. I'm a former IDnet customer (I left because I experimented with emigrating, not because of IDnet - long story), and I can honestly say that in my time with them, the service was second to none. Although support is a 9-5 Monday to Friday thing (is that still the case?), OOH support was still answered, and the fact that you get to know the small team by name is a bonus. I would highly recommend them to anyone, and there's a fair chance that I'll return to them once my current contract is up (providing they can provide the speeds I'm getting used to).

Bottom line for me, yes, worth every penny.

[Simon]

Although support is a 9-5 Monday to Friday thing (is that still the case?), OOH support was still answered...

IDNet's office hours are 8am – 6.30pm Monday to Thursday, and 8am – 6pm Friday.  There is an out of hours service that can offer limited support outside of these hours.

[D-Dan]

IDNet's office hours are 8am – 6.30pm Monday to Thursday, and 8am – 6pm Friday.  There is an out of hours service that can offer limited support outside of these hours.

Thanks for clarifying, Simon, though now I feel sorry for the guys at IDNet. When I'm off to the pub for my Friday pint, before my second Friday Pint, and then, ermm, Friday night out, those poor guys are still fixing the moaning bu&&ers problems

[Dealz]

I almost started a new thread titled "Thinking about leaving IDNet", but decided to jump in here instead I'm up for my annual renewal of £288 for the 50Gb+150Gb ADSL2+ package (one that isn't listed on their site any more).

I've been really happy with the service from IDNet over the past 3 years, however now that BT is truly unlimited and they offer max download speeds of 16Mb for £16 a month (with an introductory offer of 6m for free). Now I'd be set to save nearly £100 a year (not including the 6m being free).

I'm severely tempted to jump ship for that difference in price. Dealz; have you discounted BT in your decision for ISP? If so, why?

I haven't considered BT mainly because i'll be working from home at some point in the near future and based on my research BT is not an ISP to be with for reliability but mainly support, I have seen some not so good feedback about BT and even BT business. Plus i have read negative feedback (although not all bad) regarding BT's IP Profiling/bras & DLM lowering sync/throughput speeds. Also maybe this doesn't apply to BT's truly unlimited service (not really looked into it) but i don't want to have my connection traffic shaped, throttled, ports blocked etc... my current ISP doesn't so i don't want to switch to an ISP that does.

Something i don't want to go through is technical support who are "reading from a script' cause they don't have genuine technical knowledge which i can imagine will be very frustrating when trying to get an issue looked into/fixed. 

I agree with sobranie, when it comes to broadband you get what you pay for. So i'm prepared to pay a bit more vs BT, Plusnet etc for a better overall service.

IDNet's office hours are 8am – 6.30pm Monday to Thursday, and 8am – 6pm Friday.  There is an out of hours service that can offer limited support outside of these hours.

Simon, With "Enhanced Care for Business-Critical Support" it mentions this...  "If your broadband line is critical to your work or livelihood, you may wish to take out an enhanced care package. Broadband Enhanced Care operates 24 hours a day, 7 days a week including UK Bank and Public Holidays, with BT promising to clear any reported fault within 20 hours - including out of hours engineer visits."

In bold does this mean there is a 24/7 contact number for support?