Zen is 30: How the world and Zen have transformed

Back in 1995 Google, YouTube, Netflix, music streaming, smart homes, smartphones and ultrafast broadband were all the stuff of dreams, and the internet was a very different place.

It was all about dialup connections, ‘electronic’ mail, Yahoo and the very start of the dot com boom. Many homes didn’t even have an internet connection.

This October, we’re celebrating an amazing, uninterrupted 30 years of Zen. And just like the internet, we’ve come a long way. But what’s changed in that time - and do you remember where you were?

1995

It all started with a conversation in the pub and a flash of inspiration. Richard Tang and brother Daniel decided to set up Zen Internet using Richard’s life savings. Our first dialup service was launched, capable of supporting up to six simultaneous users sharing 64kbps of bandwidth!

In other news, Yahoo! Search was launched, quickly becoming the world’s most popular search engine, and all you culture lovers might be interested to know that the biggest selling single of the year was Unchained Melody by Robson and Jerome. Make of that what you will.

1999

While the world was dancing to Britney Spears, fears of the millennium bug took hold and the Euro was launched. Meanwhile, we hit the momentous milestone of 25 employees!

In the previous year, we’d just earned our first national award, the Comdex Starlight Award for ‘Best Internet Provider’ and Google was launched. That’s right, we’ve been around longer than Google!

2000

This was a big year for Zen as we launched our first broadband service, connecting one of the first customers in the UK.

And, as the world strode into a new millennium, full of optimism and uncharted possibility, Bob the Builder’s ‘Can We Fix It?’ was the UK’s top-selling single and England crashed out of Euro 2000 thanks to a late Romania penalty.

2002

Another milestone was reached, as we hit 10,000 customers for the first time. Just the previous year we’d also launched our Partner Programme.

In other news, Michael Jackson decided it would be a good idea to hang a baby over his balcony, new highbrow TV show ‘The Osbournes’ launched and just 45% of UK households had internet access.

2005

Having won our first of 21 consecutive PC Pro Awards in 2004, we celebrated our tenth anniversary in 2005, one year after the launch of Facebook.

Tony Christie’s ‘Is this the way to Amarillo’ shot to number one, 34 years after its initial release, thanks to Peter Kay and Comic Relief. And in a major development in the fight against global warming, the Kyoto Protocol was signed.

2007

Just a year after launching our ‘up to 8Mbps’ broadband, we also expanded our portfolio to include Broadband Voice, our first VoIP service.

And with 300 employees filling every square inch of Zen HQ, we made the move into the much larger (and current Zen HQ) Sandbrook Park.

Meanwhile, 2007 also saw the launch of the first iPhone, and after its release the previous Christmas the Nintendo Wii quickly beat the odds to become the UK’s must-have games console. Who’d have thought ten pin bowling with a remote control could be so much fun.

2011

After launching fibre optic broadband in 2010, we began to offer our first ‘up to 100Mbps’ fibre broadband this year. And 2011 also saw the launch of Zen Cloud Hosting and Business Talk SIP.

The share of UK households with internet access had risen to 77%, still way short of today’s almost ubiquitous coverage, The King’s Speech was released and Adele’s ‘Someone like You’ was the UK’s biggest selling single.

And April also saw the wedding of Prince William and Kate Middleton, watched by more than 26 million viewers in the UK alone.

2014

One year after being announced Which? Recommended Broadband and Phone Provider for the first time, our workforce had grown to 420 employees, and our number of customers to 90,000.

Interminable earworm ‘Happy’ by Pharrell Williams was the UK’s biggest selling single, while virtual reality entered the mainstream after Oculus (maker of the Oculus Rift VR headset) was purchased by Facebook for $2 billion. And the Facebook spending didn’t end there as they also spent an incredible $16 billion on everyone’s favourite messaging service WhatsApp.

The journey to 30

The world certainly kept changing, and so did the way we all connect, work and play.

2020

The early part of this decade saw a huge shift in the way we used the internet, with video calls, remote working, and home entertainment becoming more important to our lives than ever.

‘Zoom’ entered that select list of words that have jumped the divide between noun and verb (think ‘Google’ or ‘Hoover’), becoming synonymous with the times, and probably driving more than a few of us to despair!

And on the Zen front, 2020 was the year we became a certified B Corporation!

2021

2021 was a year defined by sporting drama, as many of us felt the agony of England’s Euro 2020 final loss to Italy. Though Team GB did the nation proud, bringing home 65 medals from the delayed Tokyo Olympics.

And amid the turmoil, it was also the year we earned our first of what would become five consecutive Which? Recommended Provider for Broadband accolades.

On the music front, ubiquitous names Adele and Ed Sheeran were again the UK’s best-selling artists, while Spiderman topped the box office, followed by another three superhero films as the decade’s most popular genre showed no sign of fading.

2022

Sporting celebration remained on the menu, as the Lionesses brought football home, winning their first major tournament at Euro 2022.

It was a fantastic time for us at Zen too, as we were officially named a Great Place to Work. Our commitment to providing the best broadband was also recognised as our running PC Pro award tally hit 19.

The passing of Queen Elizabeth II saw a time of mourning as we remembered the life of the UK’s longest reigning monarch.

And as the year headed to its close, the world was blissfully unaware of what had been unleashed upon it as ChatGPT publicly launched to little fanfare.

2023

As we moved closer to the present day, 2023 was defined by a major shift in UK telecommunications: the upcoming PSTN switch-off, or as we termed it: “The Great British Switch Off”.

On the cultural front, the UK welcomed its first new monarch in more than 70 years as the nation celebrated the coronation of King Charles. And the box office was shaken in the summer as the “Barbenheimer” phenomenon had cinemas buzzing.

2024

Our dedication to customers was a highlight in May, as we were honoured with the Which? Customer Service Brand of the Year award. While we continued to push broadband boundaries, launching our Full Fibre Max services, now delivering speeds well over a gigabit!

Apparently ‘Stick Season’ was the UK’s biggest-selling UK single of the year (no, us neither).

And for those who love a bit of 90s nostalgia, August brought the long-awaited news that Oasis would finally be reuniting, cueing an unprecedented ticket scramble.

2025: Celebrating 30 years and looking ahead

As we step into our 30^th year, the recognition continues, with Zen receiving the Which? Utilities brand of the Year award in May.

2025 has also seen the launch of our new purpose statement: “Do right by people and planet”.

Over 30 years, we’ve seen internet fads come and go – from Myspace to Ask Jeeves, and the rise and fall of many tech businesses. But through it all, we’ve remained true to our most important goals: Happy Staff, Happy Customers, and Happy Suppliers.

Our new purpose, “Do right by people and planet”, now proudly sits at the heart of our longstanding commitments, including our carbon neutral and B Corp status. And we continue to invest in our network to ensure it’s ready for whatever the future of connectivity holds.

Today, nearly 98% of UK households have internet access, as so many of us rely on it for shopping, entertainment, gaming, staying in touch, working, and keeping our smart homes connected.

As for our developing music tastes, we think this timeline has proven these to have often been slightly questionable!

We’re excited about what the next chapter will bring, and we promise to keep doing everything we can to give you the best possible service, all the time.

Thanks for being part of the Zen journey, and here’s to the next 30 years!