Smithfield Market D7 Broadband

Hi arsenal,

The broadband choices in the Smithfield Market are vErY grim.

1) Wired Broadband. UPC is no go as the building has not being wired to support it. UPC said that rewiring the entire complex to support 400+ apartments and 20+offices is too much of investment not being sure if there is enough people switching over to UPC. SmartTelecom are the owner of all the infrastructure in Smithfield Market, so they are not going to let anyone temper with their system. In addition any other provider such as Digiweb, eircom, Magnet, Sky (yes they use wired connection) will connect you but you will be using SmartTelecom infrastructure, which at today standard is totally not adequate. I'm currently using SmartTelecom 24Mb line (theoretical), but I can only achieve a realistic 5-8MB download. The problem is that the wiring in the building needs to be upgrades, CAT5 cables significantly decrease the speed once it stretches over 100m. So fibre backbone need to be put in place to connect each floors, something which is not going to happen as smart telecom only recently entered the market after being a long time in receivership (bankrupt).

2) Mobile devices such as 02, 3, Vodafone (dongles) are only as good as the signal that you receive. Hence if you facing away from a land mass / signal receiver you are in trouble. Plus if you are looking for reliable broadband I would strongly discourage it. Do you know when you call someone and you cannot hear anything. That is when a device switch from a 3G to EDGE (or vice-versa) and your connection is typically dropped / reconnected. The same happens when you are downloading or browsing. So if you only checking email and use Facebook you will be ok. If you use it for streaming watching on-line tv or Skype video calls then I guarantee you will have issues at some point of time.

3) Fixed Wireless, I have not experience with any of these. WiFiMax, WiMAX or equivalent, so someone else should fill in the gap. I friend of mine had one of these boxes installed in his home about 5-6 years ago. He was very happy with it. I think back then it offered 4Mb/4Mb upload and download so it was excellent back then. Im not aware of a similar service.


If the building had a good infrastructure I would advise you to get a Wired Broadband, any will do, unlimited, Fibre if all possible and not the ASDLv2 like it is moment. I'm stuck with Smart at the moment as they offer the best deal. I don't torrent, I don't work from home, I use skype sometimes and I do a lot of browsing, so for the general purpose it is sufficient.

I'm eagerly waiting for the eFibre to come around to see if Digiweb (which bailed out SmartTelecom in their soaring times) or Eircom are going to spend some money on the complex.

I think the power sits with the peoples in the Smithfield Markter complex. If they all signed a petition and it was sent to the Broadband regulator or whatever government body which is in place to govern "fair competition", then it is be possible that SmartTelecom could be thrown out.

I'm not a lawyer, I'm a IT Engineer, so some should seek if this road is possible.

Regards and good luck.

Hi, is there someone who could make a quick update of the situation of Broadband providers in Smithflield Market?

Is the wired SmartTelecom original infraestructure still the same? Did Eircom, Magnet, Digiweb (which took over SmartTelecom) or anyone else spent some money on these buildings to upgrade equipment or put fibre? I would appreciate any update about the current situation. I contacted UPC and they're still out of Smithfield Market, and they have no plans to be there in a while.

I don't want to be stuck for 12/18 months with a monthly ~50€ connection to get only 6MB on my line, so any advice would help

If they advertise up to 24mb and you get 5, then you don't usually have any comeback. If they're advertising 24mb then that's different.

That's not the same as what you said though.

Since previous post says that SmartTelecom (now Digiweb) owns the infrastructure, I went to them to ask for plans. I got the following offers (none are available on the website):


"- For only €39.95 p/m we can give you our Super Fast broadband up to 24mb download speed, you also get a massive traffic allowance of 350gb[...]. We will also give you free Anytime calls to landlines in Ireland and the UK and 30 mins anytime to mobiles in Ireland and the UK@

"- For only €34.95 p/m we can give you our Super Fast broadband up to 24mb download speed, you also get a massive traffic allowance of 350gb[...]. We will also give you free off peak calls to landlines in Ireland and the UK and 30 mins off peak to mobiles in Ireland and the UK"

- For only €29.95 p/m we can give your our Super Fast broadband up to 24mb download speed, you also get a massive traffic allowance of 350gb[...]."

"There is no contract".
"The set up of the service is free."

the fact that digiweb website is outdated (prices 2012, updated on 2013, etc), no terms and conditions document, poor ratings (url: ratemyisp ie/ratings/digiweb/), gives me high concerns.

willycat wrote: »

Allowance of 350 GB = ridiculous

SKY gives the same connection and no allowance for 30e/6 months, 40e afterwards. Vodafone will be 38e/month and no allowance too, soon.

I wouldn't go with Digiweb.

I am currently switching from Eircom to Sky, due to terrible broadband performance on peak times, we'll see. Anyway I wouldn't go to any capped connection.

Thanks for sharing that info, willycat.

I have 2 questions for you, if you don't mind:
1. - Are you currently based in Smithfield Market?
2. - Which are the upstream/downstream speeds you usually get?


Unsure if Digiweb is a good choise (nothing sounds like a good deal, to be honest).

arturmartins: If you live in Smithfield Market, you can get a phone line for sure. Or you can try Vodafone Simply Broadband (currently 35€/month, will be 38€/month from April). It's a good price and they will install everything for you.

For now, it's capped at 300 GB / month but from April this limitation will go away. Confirm it with them.

About speeds: you'll get between 6 and 10 MB on your regular Broadband line in Smithfield Market, no matter what provider you pick. It's unsure when Fibre will be available here. If you check Fibre coverage in Eircom's website, apparently all Dublin city center has Fibre coverage except this spot. Yeah, pretty weird, you can thank the useless guys from Wyse management (company who manages the building) as they are the ones who got Smithfield Market isolated from all good Broadband deals available. They even blocked UPC from providing their services here, thanks Wyse, hope you get broke soon.

So, this lets anyone on Smithfield Market with only regular Broadband options: Eircom, SKY, Vodafone and others (Magnet, Digiweb...).

I would stay the hell away of Eircom at all costs. TERRIBLE broadband performance on peak times, the most ultracongested broadband I've ever seen, a problem that has been there for more than a year and they are not solving. They throttle and reroute their customers over the busiest and most congested international nodes, resulting in dramatic loss of speed and performance. And don't you consider ever calling their atrocious Customer Service, it would make you want to jump out of the window. No one takes notes of anything, 10 calls will get you 10 different answers (most of them totally opposed as the other ones), you could be even insulted or treated like an idiot just for complaining, or they will tell you it's your fault for using WiFi (yeah), or send you an engineer to "fix your faulty line". Have fun with the engineer when he shows up and tells you line is okay and Eircom's network is a mess. Or even better, have fun yourself after taking a day off your work and engineer doesn't show up. Eircom's forums are full of desperate people who are tied to a contract with Eircom, people left without internet for months, people being triple-charged ... lots of crap there, avoid at all costs.

Sky: can't really tell, I am just switching to them, so far they seem extremly competent and ready to answer or attend you. They were superfast sending the router (was at home 36h after order was placed). Will see. Probably SKY seems heaven to me, coming from Eircom. But a couple of monkeys trying to interact after 10 pints of Guinness would seem more competent to me than Eircom, so ...

I don't expect a superhugefast broadband in SKY, like the 120MB/240MB lines in UPC would perform, but I would be happy to have my 7-10 MB line performing as a 7-10MB line 24h a day, not just at 6am as it happens with Eircom. I know a couple of guys who happen to have Sky broadband and they say it's stable and CS reacted fast every time they had a problem. 12 month contract, 30€/month for 6 months, then 40. If you are in a Fibre enabled area, you can upgrade but will be required to pay +10€ per month.

Vodafone: have a couple of friends using, more or less same opinions as in SKY. 18 months contract (oh), but 38€/month forever is a good price. Also, if you are in a Fibre enabled zone, you can upgrade for free.

Side note: I don't expect Fibre being available in Smithfield Market soon, again THANKS WYSE MANAGEMENT!

12MB down and near 1 up is probably the maximum speed you can get at this time in Smithfield Market, lucky you! If you don't really mind the 350GB cap, then you're good to go!

There's no Fibre option, as the incompetent WYSE management company blocked everything they could over the last years. UPC is not here, neither is regular eFibre (Eircom, SKY, Vodafone), so you will be stuck with a regular Broadband connection "UP" to 10MB, but most probably you will have a line of about 6-8 MB.

When UPC was expanding his optic Fibre network they were deined to enter the premises, so Smithfield Market ended up isolated. Also, as I said, there is not regular eFibre either, due to WYSE incompetency.

Take a look at the current eFibre coverage in Dublin City Center in the image attached. See the greyed/blacked area in the middle? That's Smithfield.

Actually, the guys at the other side of the square (Jameson's Distillery side) don't have eFibre either, BUT THEY HAVE UPC Fibre, which is in fact much better.

Don't expect the situation to improve anytime soon. If you want to live in Smithfield Market, you will have a 6MB Broadband line, period. You will be paying an expensive Broadband connection to have only 6MB, yes, and your neighbours will have 120MB or 250MB for even less money. Yes. That's Smithfield Market.

Oh, and stay away from Eircom and their terrible peak times!

Wow that's surprising news Dandelion, but I won't believe it until it's here. Management company here is always claiming lots of good things will happen and they never end up happening.

Got this in the postbox today

DjTaz wrote: »

I rang them yesterday and they seemed quite positive that it was all good to go there , so i asked to get the broadband installed.

€45 for the 240MB unlimited so they took my details (Block A) and im told ill have someone in contact with me very shortly.
Ill update as i go.

Just to keep everyone up to date , i got a call from them to say there were some issues they were trying to resolve but they hope to have it resolved this week sometime. fingers crossed.

Thanks man, this does make a difference.

DjTaz wrote: »

Another quick update on this (as i asked today again about it) and i have to say they do seem to be very confident about it all.

Hi there. I just moved to the Block A and found these problem. I called VirginMedia this morning and they took my phone number to call me when it will be possible to install their 120/240Mbps broadband in there. Any other news about it?

Thanks