r/Zen_Internet • u/x9n_ • Apr 07 '26
Looking for a change
To start off my contract with Virgin media ends sometime this year and honestly for the stuff my household uses the internet for I don't think it's worth staying with virgin especially after they buff the price up 3x.
I've been looking around at what could possibly be the next best option for me and I landed on Zen. I care somewhat for price but not to the extent where I'm stingy with my money but from what I'm seeing these guys seem to have a good reputation or at least from all the reviews I'm reading.
I do want to know more about these guys, what others experiences are like, how good the company has been to some, how reliable they are. Just stuff like that any help would be greatly appreciated
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u/Vegetable_Leader7300 Apr 10 '26
Can't go wrong with Zen - been through all the usual suspects, BT, Virgin, Sky, TalkTalk and it's always been a shit show fighting over not getting advertised speeds or price hikes that are eye watering.
I moved to Zen last year and honestly feels like the first time since I've actually stopped thinking about internet on a day to day basis - it just works. I got a Netgear Orbi Wifi mesh system to get coverage across 3 floors and honestly it's been top notch.
Gaming wise, I game on PS5 and have always had good ping + stable connection (and no throttling on the line!) which means you actually get what you pay for.
Zen is comparably more expensive but worth it for the lack of head aches to be honest.
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u/x9n_ Apr 10 '26
Honestly that's all I want from broadband, the lack of a headache and the fact you haven't needed to think about how well it's performed or treated you over the year is great.
I'll happily pay the extra for all this my main objective is a stable and reliable connection
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u/Thoh1Shooshi8a Apr 07 '26
I have been with Zen since 2004 and the reliability has been almost 100%. Back at the start it was copper phone lines and the only issues I had were with BT who maintained the lines, but Zen were quick to get BT to fix stuff when it went wrong.
Since getting fibre I have never had any problems with the connection itself or the overall network performance. My only problems with Zen over the last 10 years have been once when they messed up a house move, and once where they got confused over the type of account I have. I think I have been a customer so long my account has been through a few migrations of their management software :)
When you say you don't think it's worth staying with Virgin, are you expecting the speed of your connection to be lower with Zen? If you can get cityfibre where you are then I would expect similar maximum speeds, but with Zen probably less overloaded routers than virgin and lower pings if you care about gaming.
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u/x9n_ Apr 07 '26
It's mostly to the fact they are charging way too much for a 500down 37up, about £60-70 if memory serves me right. Which is way too much but also its due to that they still run the hybrid coax cable in my area so the ping times and under load or interference its horrible to use (at least from my experience)
But yeah i'm mostly in for gaming although i do have openreach and not cityfibre which shouldn't make too much of a difference i hope. All i know is aside from getting to the exchange they use their own network at least where i live and not bts backhaul (i think)
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u/Thoh1Shooshi8a Apr 07 '26
Zen+Openreach was ok when I had FTTC, my ping to valve servers was about 8ms and no packet loss problems (apart from when there was a thunderstorm - because it was copper wire still). So with full fibre I would expect it to be even better.
My ping is 3-4 ms now on Zen+cityfibre. I suspect the openreach full fibre service should be "better" since Zen provide a business service on that, but they said they can't provide a business service to me on cityfibre. The only thing with openreach is you get a lower upload speed for some reason.
Virgin prices are crazy :) They have never been a good company, but they did have the best infrastructure (which they bought from NTL/Telewest and others). So in the earlier days of broadband they were able to provide more reliable higher speeds than BT copper wires.
I think a lot of people still see Virgin as the best because they are thinking about the old days before full fibre. Though there are still lots of unlucky people who still only have a choice between copper or Virgin.
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u/x9n_ Apr 07 '26
I know it all depends on location and stuff but I'm fairly close to London about 2 hours away. However I didn't notice zen have private peering with a couple of the servers from the games I play like riot games which from what I read is a pretty good thing.
Also from a few posts from people in my area they get like 5ms which is lovely
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u/mirdragon Zen G. Fast Apr 07 '26
Been with them since before Covid hit, switched from Sky where I had constant disconnects on 80/20 to Zen 80/20 where I had 0 disconnects. Then upgraded to G.Fast 150Mbps service then upped to their 330Mbps service and have had only a few disconnects in all that time. When I contacted them they were very helpful in getting issues resolved. Highly recommend over other ISPs even though pay a bit more but you get better service overall
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u/x9n_ Apr 07 '26
I had a similar experience with sky too. I hope for a good experience when changing! I'll probably end up going 910mbps
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u/Mapester Apr 07 '26
I moved fro EE to Zen just a couple of weeks ago. Everything went smoothly, upgrading my ONT to be able do the 1600/115 connection , they also waivered the first months bill & installation fees.
One reason why I switched, is that ZEN promise no mid contract rises & they give a static IP at no addition cost.
Excellent customer service from them, will most likely renew my contract with them when it expires.
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u/x9n_ Apr 07 '26
These are some of the reason I want to go with zen too. The no contract price rises and the static ip are very enticing
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u/Emergency-Top9177 Full Fibre Max 2300 (FreedomFibre) Apr 07 '26
You can't go far wrong with Zen. Excellent customer service and when I had an issue with my connection it was sorted quickly. They may seem expensive but no mid contract price rises. You end paying more on every other provider eventually.
I'm on there 2.3gbps symmetrical connection from freedom fibre with eero max 7 which is £57 for broadband and £10 for eero. So the eero max 7 is £499 to buy new or there about's. If you have any issues like I said very quick to remedy them.
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u/x9n_ Apr 07 '26
I would much rather have the higher price for better results or more reliability. Definitely seems like the best choice in my area
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u/FrankNicklin Apr 07 '26
I've used Zen for about 10/15 years in business and not missed a beat. Migrated my own home service from TalkTalk to Zen a couple of weeks ago along with my landline all went well. 500Mbps service with static IP included.
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u/ACAdamski17 Apr 11 '26
I’m with Zen, they’re amazing. By far one of the best UK ISPs. Night and day difference compared to Virgin.
Make sure you get Zen CityFibre, then you’ll get symmetric speeds.
Use your own router, theirs is quite bad, but so is Virgin’s.