Inb4 @Linux

Without a doubt 2degrees

Do you mind elaborating on your position, just so we have a clear picture.

Support is better with 2degrees. Having had to interact with vodafone on a business connection, it was better then residential but still resulted in a promised call back that didnt.

2degrees hands down between the two! 2d far better support and you will find zero speed difference between them

I'm not sure if Vodafone peer openly at the local internet exchanges, but 2degrees do. Other than better support speed is probably comparable.

So if we can ignore the support related issues, there should be no practical difference?

ioquatix:

 

So if we can ignore the support related issues, there should be no practical difference?

 

Not really

So, just to be transparent, I personally like 2degrees a lot, and that comes from when they were Snap. They were (and still are) a geeky ISP that will accept you using your own hardware, and are generally ahead of the curve with technology (e.g. IPv6). I like simple transparent plans for the most part they continue to deliver on that.

Support isn't a huge issue for me, and so far we've received good support from Vodafone.

That being said, Vodafone don't seem like a friendly company to deal with. I've had some bad experiences in the past with them both personally and from extended family. Regarding 2degrees, every time I've had an issue they have sorted it out, usually with a pretty reasonable outcome, e.g. free credit, etc. So support is definitely something which can leave a really bad taste in your mouth.

If there is no technical difference (e.g. peering agreements, international bandwidth, etc), then it's hard for me to make a business case why we should use one or the other. I do get the feeling that 2degrees (/Snap) is a very technically competent ISP, but I find it hard not to believe that Vodafone also don't have technical chops where it matters, given their position in the market.

ioquatix:

 

So, just to be transparent, I personally like 2degrees a lot, and that comes from when they were Snap. They were (and still are) a geeky ISP that will accept you using your own hardware, and are generally ahead of the curve with technology (e.g. IPv6). I like simple transparent plans for the most part they continue to deliver on that.

 

Support isn't a huge issue for me, and so far we've received good support from Vodafone.

 

That being said, Vodafone don't seem like a friendly company to deal with. I've had some bad experiences in the past with them both personally and from extended family. Regarding 2degrees, every time I've had an issue they have sorted it out, usually with a pretty reasonable outcome, e.g. free credit, etc. So support is definitely something which can leave a really bad taste in your mouth.

 

If there is no technical difference (e.g. peering agreements, international bandwidth, etc), then it's hard for me to make a business case why we should use one or the other. I do get the feeling that 2degrees (/Snap) is a very technically competent ISP, but I find it hard not to believe that Vodafone also don't have technical chops where it matters, given their position in the market.

 

If you are looking at a single fibre connection then it's hard to put a business case together. If you are looking at doing a strategic vendor assessment and looking at mobiles, fibre, landline and associated support then you have a different discussion.

2degrees can struggle with that because of their network coverage but still it's the best way to assess a supplier.

ioquatix:

 

...I find it hard not to believe that Vodafone also don't have technical chops where it matters, given their position in the market.

 

You'd be surprised. There are quite a few threads on here where someone has been told something by one of their so-called "Ninjas" that is just plain wrong.

2degrees for the reasons mentioned above. :)    There's not much difference between ISP's until you need to talk to customer service.

That's where VF fail big time.

quickymart:

 

ioquatix:

 

...I find it hard not to believe that Vodafone also don't have technical chops where it matters, given their position in the market.

 

 

You'd be surprised. There are quite a few threads on here where someone has been told something by one of their so-called "Ninjas" that is just plain wrong.

 

This comes from an attitude where you don't train your front of house staff correctly and have an ever deminishing number of experienced support staff to take escalated queries leading to an action that should be a 5 minute call becoming a two week experience.

Overall a functional service between the two is going to be near identical however I'd personally consider that service to be at risk should a fault/provisioning error occur as the above attitude + the usual "Don't admit there is an issue" on higher end services (like transit/etc) from Vodafone make any fault experience a nightmare requiring significantly more troubleshooting and manpower than if you could get a straight answer out of them in the first place.

lucky015:

 

quickymart:

 

ioquatix:

 

...I find it hard not to believe that Vodafone also don't have technical chops where it matters, given their position in the market.

 

 

You'd be surprised. There are quite a few threads on here where someone has been told something by one of their so-called "Ninjas" that is just plain wrong.

 

 

This comes from an attitude where you don't train your front of house staff correctly and have an ever deminishing number of experienced support staff to take escalated queries leading to an action that should be a 5 minute call becoming a two week experience.

 

Overall a functional service between the two is going to be near identical however I'd personally consider that service to be at risk should a fault/provisioning error occur as the above attitude + the usual "Don't admit there is an issue" on higher end services (like transit/etc) from Vodafone make any fault experience a nightmare requiring significantly more troubleshooting and manpower than if you could get a straight answer out of them in the first place.

 

I suspect poor training starts further up the chain..... :P

Example:  

Last November the husband of one of of my clients died from cancer. 

The husband was sole authority on their VF account paid by direct debit, so to stop the Direct Debit VF advised my client send in the death certificate, standard procedure. 

And so started her long journey (pilgrimage) with VF CSR.  (I could write a novel, but don't worry I won't :D)

Let me just say that despite three death certificates & numerous calls to VF, 6mths later VF still hadn't cancelled the direct debit.

This is a lady also dealing with the death of her husband of 20 years.

Eventually out of despair this woman contacted me, I in turn contacted VF Business Hub where I was assured by an account manager the matter would be resolved within 6 days. 

14 days later Direct Debit goes out.   Again I contact VF Business Hub again & ask the same account manager: what's going on?

His reasoning for the delay: death certs were handled by a special team & these things take time.  I inquired as to the location of this special team..  His response?

"Um.. on the floor above". 

/facepalm.     

I politely suggested he take that Death Cert over to the special team himself.  Which he did.

The events above are recalled without exaggeration.

There's more where that came from too...... :P