Zen upgrading to ADSL2/WBC

[Tacitus]

Looks like Zen are jumping on the ADSL2/WBC bandwagon.

Unlike iDNet they don't appear to be increasing the allowances, so at present iDNet look the better buy....

[Gary]

Looks like Zen are jumping on the ADSL2/WBC bandwagon.

Unlike iDNet they don't appear to be increasing the allowances, so at present iDNet look the better buy....

AAISP have a unifies allowance for ADSL2+ and 8mb ADSL which is a bit odd, I though ADSL normal flavour was more expensive 

[Lance]

Certainly the reason the packages are different on IDNet is because ADSL2+ and WBC is cheaper and IDNet are passing on those savings by increasing allowences. It seems other ISPs aren't following suit.

[dujas]

Unfortunately things are not entirely going to plan (a recurring theme, I know).

   * Some of the cost reductions we expected are not happening as we expected, which means 20CN lines will continue to cost us a lot more than 21CN lines. Our price reductions have not allowed for this.
   * Until we get a new service (WBMC IPStream connect) from BT (which could be 6 months off) we don't make any savings moving lines to 21CN and in fact increase costs. We expected the new service to have been available long before now.
   * And the last straw is that BT continue to make serious errors in the regrade process causing customers to be off line for days in some cases.

From AAISP's blog (29th April).

Perhaps explains why they aren't increasing the download allowances (for now at least).

[Sebby]

Interesting stuff. IDNet do seem to be one of the better ADSL2+ ISPs at the moment.

[Tacitus]

Interesting stuff. IDNet do seem to be one of the better ADSL2+ ISPs at the moment.

If, as the AAISP blog suggests their costs have increased rather than decreased due to BT b------g them about, I hope it doesn't hit them too hard.  It must be an absolute nightmare having to deal with BT.  However much you make allowances for them to screw up they will always exceed your expectations and leave you in the doo doo. 

That said judging by the posts on here, the move to ADSL2 seems to have been relatively smooth for iDNet once the initial bugs were sorted.

[Sebby]

If, as the AAISP blog suggests their costs have increased rather than decreased due to BT b------g them about, I hope it doesn't hit them too hard.  It must be an absolute nightmare having to deal with BT.  However much you make allowances for them to screw up they will always exceed your expectations and leave you in the doo doo. 

Yep, I agree with you there.

[Lance]

In a way it's reassuring that it isn't just Idnet getting screwed by BT.

[D-Dan]

Based on my own experience of ADSL2/WBC - good luck to them 

Steve

[dujas]

I think every ISP that has moved to ADSL2/WBC has had 'teething problems', which is probably why many like Zen have delayed their roll-out, despite first announcing it back in 2008. Aggravating thing seems to be that BT don't appear to be learning and adapting.

[Gary]

I think every ISP that has moved to ADSL2/WBC has had 'teething problems', which is probably why many like Zen have delayed their roll-out, despite first announcing it back in 2008. Aggravating thing seems to be that BT don't appear to be learning and adapting.

Sadly that comes as no real surprise, IDNet do well in the face of adversity, we should count ourselves lucky

[bobleslie]

I was with Zen during the painful early days of ADSL Max.

I'm afraid they got pushed aside because of performance issues with a move to IDNet.

I've often wondered just how much it was Zen or BT.

I guess most of us know the answer. 

[Sebby]

I think every ISP that has moved to ADSL2/WBC has had 'teething problems', which is probably why many like Zen have delayed their roll-out, despite first announcing it back in 2008. Aggravating thing seems to be that BT don't appear to be learning and adapting.

Teething problems aside (e.g. Infineon MSAN and router incompatibilities) it seems that ADSL2+ - at least in this country - is fundamentally flawed as most people's lines aren't good enough to adopt the extra frequencies.

[Lance]

It certainly shows why we need fibre doesn't it.

[Sebby]

Yep, it really does, Lance.

[Tacitus]

It certainly shows why we need fibre doesn't it.

It does but I think a lot of the problem is BT failing to maintain their existing kit to a sufficiently high standard.  Too much focus on profit and not enough on service, sadly something which applies to many businesses in this country.

[Gary]

It certainly shows why we need fibre doesn't it.

Bran flakes?

[dujas]

BT reckons a government plan to put a 50p tax on copper lines in order to fund fibre broadband to the country's hard to get to places can only go so far - and will probably never reach the last fifth of the UK.

The plan, unveiled last month in the government's Digital Britain report, is aimed at ensuring superfast broadband is rolled out to areas likely to be ignored by the market.

Liv Garfield, BT's director of strategy, said today that she believes the 50p per month levy will still leave a proportion of the UK without fibre.

"I could see a way to get to 80, 85 per cent with [the fund generated by the fibre tax] but I struggle a little more if it is up to 100. It's impossible to get up to 100."

Back in May, the telco revealed it is accelerating its rollout of fibre exchanges and BT's Garfield said the next phase of exchanges to be fibre-enabled is likely to be announced sometime next week. The accelerated programme will mean more than a million premises will be within reach of fibre-based services by March 2010, rising to around 1.5 million by next summer, she added.

Source

Well most of us have a chance of partial fibre at least (in the next 10years?), the other 20% are at the mercy of government.

[zappaDPJ]

I read and laughed my backside off today at BT's latest commitment to those lucky? enough to be connecting up to fibre... "There will be an SLA [service level agreement] associated with the product," said David Campbell, managing director of next-generation access at BT Openreach. "We will accept a fault and fix it if the line drops below 15 meg."

15 meg my eye, I seem to recall the trials last year offering 2.5Mbps download speed/ 0.5Mbps upload speed
for some. In fact I believe it was reported after the event that BT had succeeded in offering the world's slowest fibre network, and that's without Wimbledon.

Sorry if I sound a little cynical but I find BT Openreach offering service level agreements a rather poor joke because first you have to have a service to offer and they are simply not capable. New balls please.

[Sebby]

Bran flakes?

Probably better than copper!

[Gary]

Probably better than copper!