I really don't want to jump ship but please look at your Caps

[Ardua]

If you really want to understand how innovative AAISP is then Google 'Rev K me' and read his blog. The MD might seem to be somewhat eccentric but he clearly knows his stuff.

[kerrso05]

With respect, the website design isn't really indicative of the service offered.  You should've seen IDNet's old website! 

The Website may not be indicative of the Service but who wants to pay £921 or even £2112. I know the saying "you shouldn't judge a book by it's cover" but I think in their case you should. It' no wonder they keep their tariffs complicated when you would have to pay that type of money. No I think that has nailed it for me, I'll not be going over to them.
It's no wonder you nearly fell off your chair.

Simon how long ago did Idnet have that laughable Website?........a number a years? Well Idnet moved on why could AAISP not?

Anyway I think we should stop talking about them their not even a contender.....certainly not in my opinion. The only contenders that I can see are Zen and ADSL24 or if we really want to live dangerously BT Infinity (certainly Griff is with them and he hasn't had any problems so far)

[Simon]

IDNet's old website was about 4-5 years ago. I wouldn't say it was laughable, but it wasn't exactly dynamic.  Didn't mean they didn't offer an excellent service though. 

[kerrso05]

Wow.........I have just visited http://revk.www.me.uk/ ....did you say he was eccentric, I think that word doesn't describe him. He's going on about Union Jacks and how most Union Jack Flags are not made right.......honestly get a life, who cares and he runs an innovative ISP...NO I don't think so 

[Glenn]

TalkTalk do FTTC for £15/month if you are brave. 

[kerrso05]

Yes Simon my very point 4 or 5 yrs ago and this ISP AAISP  are still like that.....they haven't moved on, mind you, it's no wonder after looking at their Leaders Blog site. It's like a time warp that he's never got out off. 

Honestly, you can't compare Idnet with them.....Idnet are in a league of their own

[kerrso05]

TalkTalk do FTTC for £15/month if you are brave. 

Glen  ........I like it 

[Ardua]

Wow.........I have just visited http://revk.www.me.uk/ ....did you say he was eccentric, I think that word doesn't describe him. He's going on about Union Jacks and how most Union Jack Flags are not made right.......honestly get a life, who cares and he runs an innovative ISP...NO I don't think so 

It is a known fact that there is a thin line between brilliance and eccentricity. Read some of his earlier and more technical posts. In your position, I would also add Goscomb to my list.

[pctech]

The guy writes the code that runs on his own routers that power the AAISP service (the hardware is designed in conjunction with  another ISP I understand)

I did look at AAISP myself at one point but was very concerned it would be very easy to run up large bills with them and the overage charges (any bandwidth used over your inclusive allowance) was quite high, think it was about £5/GB at the time and was mesured down to the byte so you would be charged a proportion, as I was a shift worker at the time I would use the net sometimes during the day and sometimes at night.

IDNet are a terrific bunch and will be moving my landline back to them in August but the on/off peak business would be problematic for me as I use iPlayer etc and a bit of xbox live, also I was concerned as there was no capping so I could run up an overage charge although they do send you e-mail to warn you and its available in the portal.

I settled on Zen because, like IDNet and indeed AAISP they are a business rather than consumer focussed ISP so the network is well provisioned and not crammed to capacity like a lot of the consumer ISPs but have just a straight allowance with capping so that costs couldn't spiral out of control as when you hit the cap you can only go to buy some more bandwidth so you can only use what you have paid for but can also purchase additional bandwidth which is 'banked' until used and your inclusive is always used first.

[kerrso05]

Goscomb, had a quick look at them seem to be similar but not as good as Idnet.... more expensive and again they have caps which aren't as good as Zens

[pctech]

Harry, how about fast.co.uk who are based in your neck of the woods I believe http://www.fast.co.uk/

I cannot pass comment as I've not used them.

[Ardua]

Just seen this on the Xilo website. Do not know if it helps. There are some customer experiences on ISPReview:

RFibre 15GB  -  40Mb/2Mb  - 15GB Peak / UM Off-peak - Standard Priority (12Mb AR) - ex £19.16   inc £22.99
Fibre 30GB  -  40Mb/2Mb  - 30GB Peak / UM Off-peak - Standard Priority (12Mb AR) - ex £21.66   inc £25.99
Fibre 75GB  -  40Mb/10Mb - 75GB Peak / UM Off-peak - Standard Priority (12Mb AR) - ex £27.49   inc £32.99
Fibre 125GB -  40Mb/10Mb - 125GB Peak/ UM Off-peak - Standard Priority (12Mb AR) - ex £29.16   inc £34.99

Fibre 75GB  -  40Mb/10Mb - 75GB Peak / UM Off-peak - Enhanced Priority (16Mb AR) - ex £30.41   inc £36.49
Fibre 125GB -  40Mb/10Mb - 125GB Peak/ UM Off-peak - Enhanced Priority (16Mb AR) - ex £32.49   inc £38.99


Fibre+
Fibre+ 50GB  - 80Mb/20Mb - 50GB Peak / UM Off-peak - Standard Priority (15Mb AR) - ex £24.99   inc £29.99
Fibre+ 75GB  - 80Mb/20Mb - 75GB Peak / UM Off-peak - Standard Priority (15Mb AR) - ex £29.16   inc £34.99
Fibre+ 125GB - 80Mb/20Mb - 125GB Peak/ UM Off-peak - Standard Priority (15Mb AR) - ex £31.66   inc £37.99
Fibre+ 300GB - 80Mb/20Mb - 300GB Peak/ UM Off-peak - Standard Priority (15Mb AR) - ex £39.16   inc £46.99
Fibre+ 500GB - 80Mb/20Mb - 500GB Peak/ UM Off-peak - Standard Priority (15Mb AR) - ex £57.07   inc £68.48

Fibre+ 125GB - 80Mb/20Mb - 125GB Peak/ UM Off-peak - Enhanced Priority (30Mb AR) - ex £34.57   inc £41.48
Fibre+ 300GB - 80Mb/20Mb - 300GB Peak/ UM Off-peak - Enhanced Priority (30Mb AR) - ex £42.49   inc £50.99
Fibre+ 500GB - 80Mb/20Mb - 500GB Peak/ UM Off-peak - Enhanced Priority (30Mb AR) - ex £60.41   inc £72.49

AR = assured rate
UM = unmetered with 400GB fair usage check

Some other exciting news...

New FTTC activations will be free until end of July (£80 + VAT saving)
FTTC migrations from another FTTC provider will also be free until end of July (£50 + VAT saving)
No charge for existing users to upgrade to one of the new packages (£11 + VAT saving)

Peak times on all FTTC services is 8am-8pm Monday to Friday.

If you wish to place an order and are able to get FTTC, please contact sales and we'll get you placed in the activation queue. Packages will be on our availibility checker in due course.

Matt
Edited by Matt, Yesterday, 11:33 AM.
80/20Mb 50GB added.

Clearly, IDNet's competitors are looking hard at caps.

[Technical Ben]

Yep, it's basically the same as a phone line costings. Charges per min during the day are more expensive than weekends/evenings. The only problem is on internet usage we don't have an easy thing such as minuets to go by, but MB or GB. So it's harder to translate that to the customer. The "unit" is too complicated IMO and they should stick to MB/GB. However, Electric meters and gas do sell per "unit", and are just as complicated! (standing charges, first volume costs etc). So I can understand AAISP doing the unit thing as well.

However, the same as a pay as you go mobile or home phone, it would be massively expensive for heavy users at peak times. However, those who use off peak it could be really cheap for. I do that on my mobile, and rarely go over my £10 monthly inclusives.

[zappaDPJ]

Just seen this on the Xilo website. Do not know if it helps. There are some customer experiences on ISPReview:

Wow!

Fibre+ 75GB  - 80Mb/20Mb - 75GB Peak / UM Off-peak - Standard Priority (15Mb AR) - ex £29.16   inc £34.99
FTTC migrations from another FTTC provider will also be free until end of July (£50 + VAT saving)
Peak times on all FTTC services is 8am-8pm Monday to Friday.

That's sounds like a pretty outstanding deal to me and unlike ADSL24, I've heard very good things about XILO.

[kerrso05]

pctech thanks for that, I don't know anything about Fast other than they appear to be an Northern Ireland Company (IMO that means nothing because they could be the biggest crooks in the world for all I know.....but I don't think they are) They have caps like Zen but they're not as generous. The only option is their FTTC 100GB which as it name suggests is a cap of a 100Gb for £51.05 whereas for a few pound more on Zen you get 400Gbs. I think there is no comparison

[kerrso05]

Yes Xilo looks good, certainly going in the right direction. I like the 8am to 8pm peak times, that is really good. I like this:-

Fibre+ 75GB  - 80Mb/20Mb - 75GB Peak / UM Off-peak - Standard Priority (15Mb AR) - ex £29.16   inc £34.99

or I could probably live with the cheaper:-

Fibre+ 50GB  - 80Mb/20Mb - 50GB Peak / UM Off-peak - Standard Priority (15Mb AR) - ex £24.99   inc £29.99

I wonder what the charges are if you go over

Definitely I like the 8 to 8......which Idnet say they wont be doing because of financial restraints. If Idnet aren't going to move on the times of the peak cap then maybe they could put their allowances up from 30gbs to say 75Gbs.....then I could probably think about staying

[kerrso05]

Guys the reviews are excellent for XILO....here are some of them:-

"Easily the best ISP I've ever used, although Gofast were very good also.
Every time I contact customer services I get a competent, technically aware individual that's keen to help. They always seem to come up with the goods too, I couldn't be happier with them"

"And the service has been excellent. We also have more Webspace than previously. The cost is slightly more but for the solid support and speed I'm quite happy to accept that."

Constantly good reviews....to me they sound like.........Idnet, only with a better pricing structure

[Ardua]

More Xilo feedback at:

http://community.xilo.net/forum/7-customer-testimonials/

[Steve]

It is reseller using TT and Be* backbone for adsl. FTTC I guess maybe on a BT backbone.

[kerrso05]

Ardua, yes they certainly look good, I have joined their forum and am asking some questions just to see how they react. It's the 8 to 8 that attracts me.....nothing else and if Idnet cant move the times I have to look elsewhere but I can tell you now I am very very reluctant to move because my time here has been a joy and mostly hassle free. But hey, I haven't moved yet.....maybe things will happen and there will be changes here.....I can only wish

[Ardua]

Ardua, yes they certainly look good, I have joined their forum and am asking some questions just to see how they react. It's the 8 to 8 that attracts me.....nothing else and if Idnet cant move the times I have to look elsewhere but I can tell you now I am very very reluctant to move because my time here has been a joy and mostly hassle free. But hey, I haven't moved yet.....maybe things will happen and there will be changes here.....I can only wish

I confess the bit that I feel is somewhat strange in this exchange is that other business-related ISPs who are keen to protect the working day from customers who want to stream appear to be more flexible than IDNet over peak/off-peak times. Most with peak/off-peak times also treat weekends as off-peak as well. It doesn't bother me directly as I stay well within my peak bandwidth allocation but it seems odd, well at least to me, that IDNet seems to be positioning itself apart from its main niche competitors. I find it hard to believe that IDNet has more gamers than say AAISP or Zen, or that its business customers are more demanding than those who choose another provider. I chose IDNet 6 years ago because I did my research and could see that they offered a good package at only a slightly higher price than BT. Given what is happening to the market in the round, I can well see why others might see IDNet's reluctance to package/price match with its main niche rivals as an incentive to look elsewhere.

I shall most certainly be watching how the market evolves during the 10 months that I have left on my FTTC contract.

[Technical Ben]

What network do they use? I've got Sky or Talktalk networks available only, and BT upgrading at the end of the month.

[Glenn]

TalkTalk for ADSL and BT for the FTTC products, I believe.

[Technical Ben]

Who, Xilo or AAISP? (I'm easily confused or loose track)

[pctech]

AAISP use BT or what was BE Wholesale (now O2 Wholesale) for ADSL like IDNet.

Xilo I think use BT for standard packages or Cable and Wireless or Talk Talk LLU for LLU packages.

I think in Harry's case it'll be BT for FTTC as personally I'm not aware of anyone else rolling out VDSL2 (the technical name for FTTC) at the moment in the UK.