Fibre ISP that allows you to use your own router?

[MrJim]

My broadband contract is up for renewal in a week's time, and I want to change to a different ISP. I'm currently with SSE, and while it has been very cheap (£21 a month for 78 mb/s and inclusive of anytime landline calls), the quality of the connection for playing online games has been pretty bad (packet loss, relatively high latency etc).

One good aspect of SSE is that they do allow you to use your own router rather than the one they supply, and I'm keen to continue doing so (I prefer not to use an ISP supplied router in 'bridge mode' either, as it takes up space, uses another power socket, as well as a small amount of electricity). I just wondered if anyone can recommend an alternative ISP which does allow you to use your own router? So far I'm looking at Plusnet or Talktalk, both of which a pretty competitive price-wise. I was with Sky a while ago, and while I did manage to get hold of my login details 'unofficially' using Wireshark etc, I'd rather not have the hassle of going down that route (no pun intended) again. Thanks in advance for any suggestions

[Flibb]

Have used my own kit with Plusnet and BT without any problems. Both FTTC

[virtuo]

Have used my own kit with Plusnet and BT without any problems. Both FTTC

Same, currently doing it with Plusnet with no issues

[shaithis]

Zen also

[spacein_vader]

I'm with Origin and they allow it too. I'd steer clear of TalkTalk, they're cheap for a reason. Very unreliable and consistently do poorly in customer satisfaction/complaint reports.

[jimborae]

Vodafone now allow you to use your own kit. Previously they didn't but now have relented. I'm with them have few complaints or issues.

Full Disclosure - I am an employee but this in no way influences my opinions which are my own.

[badass]

Another plusnet user here. Using the supplied BT box but not the plusnet router that's supposed to go with it.

[Biscuit]

I have been using my own router with Plusnet for donkeys. Not sure I would recomend them though, customer service has taken a COLOSSAL nose dive in recent years.

[neonplanet40]

I'm with Origin and they allow it too. I'd steer clear of TalkTalk, they're cheap for a reason. Very unreliable and consistently do poorly in customer satisfaction/complaint reports.

I'm with TalkTalk. moved from Plusnet. TalkTalk's customer service has been much better for me that either BT, Sky or Plusnet (which are the same company).

Likewise, TalkTalk was cheaper AND allows you to use your own router. Im on 76MB Fibre.

[MrJim]

I'm with Origin and they allow it too. I'd steer clear of TalkTalk, they're cheap for a reason. Very unreliable and consistently do poorly in customer satisfaction/complaint reports.

That's interesting. I used to be with Talktalk years ago before FTTC was introduced, & never had much of a problem with them. I did a quick search about Origin though, & found quite a few messages on various boards about poor service quality from them. Mind you, if you look online, I'm sure you'll find complaints about just about every ISP. How do you find Origin, are you have with the service? Do you play online games, & if so, have you had any problems with the quality of connection?

[MrJim]

Vodafone now allow you to use your own kit. Previously they didn't but now have relented. I'm with them have few complaints or issues.

Full Disclosure - I am an employee but this in no way influences my opinions which are my own.

That's a bit odd, as I used the website chat thingy to ask Vodafone it I could use my own router, & their response was that I could, but only by using their router in 'modem' or bridge mode. I'll probably give them a phone call, and see what they say.

[MrJim]

I have been using my own router with Plusnet for donkeys. Not sure I would recomend them though, customer service has taken a COLOSSAL nose dive in recent years.

That's a shame, their adverts always emphasise the quality of their customer service. I was with Plusnet a while ago, & never had much of a problem, apart from taking about 30 mins to get through to anyone by phone.

[spacein_vader]

That's interesting. I used to be with Talktalk years ago before FTTC was introduced, & never had much of a problem with them. I did a quick search about Origin though, & found quite a few messages on various boards about poor service quality from them. Mind you, if you look online, I'm sure you'll find complaints about just about every ISP. How do you find Origin, are you have with the service? Do you play online games, & if so, have you had any problems with the quality of connection?

Sadly they're very poor. I thought I was escaping the days of poor service and unreliable connections when I left TalkTalk but Origin are just as bad. I have regular dropouts ranging from 30 seconds to 10 minutes at least a couple of times a week (that I'm aware of,) I've never waited less than 35 minutes on the phone to talk to their support team and this week their website was down for 3 full days with no explanation. They're also blocking some of my ports despite claiming they don't do that and keep blaming my router/firewall settings. I've checked these and even ran a PC in DMZ and I know the router config works.

Also while it doesn't affect me if you do use their router they still own it and you have to send it back when you leave. Fair enough, but they don't tell you this when you cancel or in the letter they send to confirm it, you have to ring/email them to ask for the return address to send it to (it isn't included in their website knowledge base,) and you have to pay for the postage. On top of that if you don't get proof of delivery (hiking postage further,) they have a habit of asking you to prove they got it and if you can't do that (or don't send it back,) they charge you £40+ as a penalty.

As soon as my contract is over I'll be gone. Looking for a good quality ISP thatdoesn't have usage caps, doesn't block ports and does allow you to hook up your own router.

[MrJim]

Sadly they're very poor. I thought I was escaping the days of poor service and unreliable connections when I left TalkTalk but Origin are just as bad. I have regular dropouts ranging from 30 seconds to 10 minutes at least a couple of times a week (that I'm aware of,) I've never waited less than 35 minutes on the phone to talk to their support team and this week their website was down for 3 full days with no explanation. They're also blocking some of my ports despite claiming they don't do that and keep blaming my router/firewall settings. I've checked these and even ran a PC in DMZ and I know the router config works.

Also while it doesn't affect me if you do use their router they still own it and you have to send it back when you leave. Fair enough, but they don't tell you this when you cancel or in the letter they send to confirm it, you have to ring/email them to ask for the return address to send it to (it isn't included in their website knowledge base,) and you have to pay for the postage. On top of that if you don't get proof of delivery (hiking postage further,) they have a habit of asking you to prove they got it and if you can't do that (or don't send it back,) they charge you £40+ as a penalty.

As soon as my contract is over I'll be gone. Looking for a good quality ISP thatdoesn't have usage caps, doesn't block ports and does allow you to hook up your own router.

Gosh I'm really sorry to hear that - I'm glad I wasn't tempted to give them a go. Have you any idea which ISP you'll go to next?

[Biscuit]

That's a shame, their adverts always emphasise the quality of their customer service. I was with Plusnet a while ago, & never had much of a problem, apart from taking about 30 mins to get through to anyone by phone.

I get the feeling that, as is so often the case, once they had established a pretty solid user base and decent reputation, they started sub contracting various parts of the business, including sales and telemarketing.

The resulting disconnection between the departments resulted in people being mis-sold deals, lied too about services and a customer service team who rely on the information that's in their database far too much. They probably are from Yorkshire, but as a person who lives in the county I can tell you that "gods country" still has its dark areas.

I had such a big argument (literally shouting and trading passive aggressive insults) with the customer services department that I demanded they analyse the recorded calls from a previous discussion to prove the demands I was making of them were from promises that were made when I agreed to the contract.
They somehow tried to make out doing this for me, and discovering that I was telling the truth, rather than charging me an extra £20-30 a month with a new contract was somehow doing me a favour!?
I was very clear with the manager I spoke too, who was getting the favour done for them by me not buying the recordings of my phone calls and reporting it to trading standards.

Lot of people having issues with Plusnet if you look on their forum and trustpilot, they are "responsive" to these problems but the reality is that they shouldn't be happening in the first place, and simply responding to an issue rather than resolving it are very different things.
Easiest way to have a good customer service is to make sure your product is good enough to not need it.

Once this contract is up, im gone, for good. Plusnet wont see another dime from me, I'll be moving on to any other company who can offer me the very basic service I actually need. Quite sad really given that, despite a few blips (also related to house moves) they have provided me 6-7 years of on and off solid service.

[spacein_vader]

Gosh I'm really sorry to hear that - I'm glad I wasn't tempted to give them a go. Have you any idea which ISP you'll go to next?

Sadly not. None of the big boys seem to meet my criteria so I'm looking at the smaller players but Origin are one of those so who knows. I hear good things about Zen as well but I've got till next summer to decide unfortunately.