Which broadband?

paulthelegend

Hi, im like a rabbit caught in headlights here... had an Eircom sales person at the door and ive been thinking bout getting broad band for a while, and personally i dont like eircom but offered the 39.95 (inc vat) package, not bad but the 4gb cap ...

i was happy enough and gona go with it, but then i came on here and have spent about 3 hours looking at different ones and theres cable and wireless and isdn etc etc JASUS!!! im sooooooo confused now

so if i tell you my situation can you recommend what to go for?

Im in dublin4 area so line has been "pre aproved" by eircom for BB
want to spend no more then 40-50 a month, but lower is better really
Not into gaming but might give it the odd go, just want to be connected all the time and download a few songs etc.
Dont mind putting up arials or dishes etc, with eircom at the moment on my phone line. Dont really want to change cause thats a pain in the ass

So can someone give me 2-3 options and ill go onto the government site etc and check them out

And also advise me away from the really bad ones(dont bring emotions into this haha if eircoms BB is good but everyone hates them i dont mind going with them )

Thanks im sure youse can answer it in seconds and would take me weeks to pick (the wrong) one

tylerdylan

Hi There
Well its a tough decision which BB to go with:rolleyes:

I would say that Esat is good,only because of the higher download /upload amount.
I have as with a load of people ,had a dreadful time with the billing (monkeys) dept.
However the service has been fine.I dont do any gaming so pings etc are not an issue.(dont even understand pings to be honest:o )

I have esat bundled and its great knowing how much the whole lot will cost ever month(once the monkeys I mean billing dept get it right!)

And sorry but just on princiable cant recommend Eircom sorry

Ripwave

Originally posted by paulthelegend
Hi, im like a rabbit caught in headlights here... had an Eircom sales person at the door and ive been thinking bout getting broad band for a while, and personally i dont like eircom but offered the 39.95 (inc vat) package, not bad but the 4gb cap ...

Check out the IOL Bundles. If you current spend €25 per month on voice calls, then you can get IOLBB for as little as €33.15 per month, with a higher cap than eircoms.

UTV is only €30/month.

Eircom are going to end up benefitting financially, no matter who you get DSL from, so try to minimize the damage you are doing to the national infrastructure by giving at least some of the money you spend on broadband to a competitor.

Kobie

Personally I'd have to give my vote to UTV.

DrEvil

You should check out Irish Broadband http://www.irishbroadband.ie

They should be available in your area. Check here to see what's available http://www.broadband.gov.ie/BBInfo/ServiceByLocationSearchWF.aspx


These are the prices:

Ripwave Home:
Download Speed - 512 kbps
Upload Speed - 128 kbps
Average Contention - 40:1
Download Cap - None/Unlimited
Install (incl. VAT) - €120.00
Monthly (incl. VAT) - €30.00

Breeze Home:
Download Speed - 512 kbps
Upload Speed - 512 kbps
Average Contention - 20:1
Download Cap - None/Unlimited
Install (incl. VAT) - €149.00
Monthly (incl. VAT) - €35.00

Breeze Home Plus:
Download Speed - 512 kbps
Upload Speed - 512 kbps
Average Contention - 8:1
Download Cap - None/Unlimited
Install (incl. VAT) - €149.00
Monthly (incl. VAT) - €48.40

logic

So far I have had NTL, IBB(wireless) and Eircom DSL. Rated them like this

1. NTL - No downtime and No lapse in speed (had a constant 60K with p2p programs)

2. IBB - flakey but good connection speed. High winds gives flakey connection

3. DSL - Capped and slower at peak times


Just my 2 cents

Stephen

I'd get ntl in a flash if I could, but there coverage area is so tiny that's highly unlikely to ever happen.

Some towns around the country (dungarvan and kilkenny for example) have local cable modem services that are supposed to be quite good. For most of us though, its adsl or nothing.
I'm currently with UTV. If you're a big gamer UTV is not for you. For occasional casual gaming UTV is alright though, but your ping will be higher than those on the other isp's. Downloads seem pretty fast (~50KB/sec) since they fixed the problems they had over easter too. €30 service is capped at 8GB/month. The higher priced 24:1 service has a 16GB cap.

The main condition on UTV is the requirement to use them for your telephone service too, but I find that they're cheaper than eircom anyway.

DrEvil

2. IBB - flakey but good connection speed. High winds gives flakey connection

I've got Breeze home plus and high winds is definitely not a problem. The ONLY issue i've had is interferance but new customers don't get these problems as the old equipment that causes this

paulthelegend

Thanks very much for all your comments in taking them all in,

I was wondering about the irishBB does weather effect it at all?

As for the UTV thing i hate the whole changing over thing cause i think you have to give 2months notice and then eircom will try screw you while you change over.... then again i was on esat before and they gave me loads of free stuff if i changed back over (after i was kicked off the no limits thing a few years ago haha)

as for the difference between breeze and ripwave? does the contention rate matter that much in peoples experiance?

And what are your average download rates with the services? 60k with ntl sounds sweet.

I think IBB is winning at the moment so is there any downsides to them? or should they not be winning

So its NTL, IBB or utv should be my only options?

and if my voice calls(land lines) arnt over 25 a month then esat shouldnt really be an option

Gonzo

if you are living in an NTL area then NTL is the best choice by a country mile, its cheap, very fast and 100% reliable.

paulthelegend

DrEvil ... you live up to your name... you just made it even more confusing, attached whats available, and i see NTL isnt on it but i emailed them just to make sure.

DrEvil

DrEvil ... you live up to your name... you just made it even more confusing, attached whats available, and i see NTL isnt on it but i emailed them just to make sure

lol:)

You live in D4 right? i'm pretty sure that NTL internet isn't available there

Check out http://www.ntl.com/locales/ie/en/athome/internet.html There's a freephone number to call them and the deals look good but the only problem i see is with the small print at the bottom
"Always-On is currently only available to selected areas within Dublin.You must be a subscriber to ntl's Basic TV pack in order to avail of ntl's Broadband service."

It looks like imo to go for NTL if you can otherwise IBB

Mutant_Fruit

NTL would be the first option for everyone, dirt cheap, and has a 30GB cap per month... much more than anyone else. Its 1gb per day, and as far as i know, its not heavily enforced...

IBB are great if you're not big into gaming. Even when it's flakey you can still pull down over 40gb's a month if you so wish. When it works good you can pull down over 130gb

aphex™

Originally posted by Mutant_Fruit
When it works good you can pull down over 130gb

So you're the c*nt whose been hogging all the bandwidth? u on 3rock? :mad:

paulthelegend

Right I think I’m gona go with IBB but I don’t believe there unlimited cap is that true. Also is it worth the extra 5er for the 20:1 contention ratio? And is anyone a sales rep for them and I can just give them the number or what ever so at least someone gets commission rather them IBB getting all the money haha

Mutant_Fruit

Here's my usage stats for March/April Enojy em (especially those of you on caps ).

As far as i know if you go with Ripwave, there is no cap, but there is a fair usage policy. Meaning that you might be asked to ease up if you go downloading like i do, but that might be changed now.

It used to say in their FAQ that Ripwave had a fair usage policy, but it no says there is no cap, therefore no "fair usage" policy. I know "Breeze Home" and "breeze plus" have no caps whatsoever.

Check it out, but if they say there's no cap, believe it.

EDIT: Sorry, it still does say there's a fair usage policy on ripwave:

Does a download limit apply?
There is no download limit with Ripwave. However, to ensure fair and equitable access to all users, a fair usage policy will apply. Irish Broadband reserves the right to contact those users with excessive usage to request adherance to reasonable limits.

The Real B-man

there are so many isp's but all seem to be based in Dublin i live in kilcoole co.wicklow and broadband isnt here yet:mad: nearest exchange is 2km away i thaught if you were within 5km your line was enabled? anyway i dont think i will be bb for awhile i was in the states and my uncle pays $10 a month for 2mb connection ireland the rip off nation. why is it that there is such a high demand for it and eircom arent enabling the lines i know loads of people in my area who want it for gaming and work o god i want bb and cheap:( :rolleyes:

hostyle

netsource are good but you may need to prove to them that you are a business. doesn't mean you have to be one though. no cap either (apparently).

BKtje

away i thaught if you were within 5km your line was enabled?

I believe the limit of RADSL is about 3-3.5km? Thats as the wire runs and not as the crow flies.

Even if your within distance extra equipment is needed in the exchange to make broadband work. While the number of exchanges are increasing they are by no means near to being in every exchange.

Cryos

Lo all,

B-man broadband is available in kilcoole, but as you know all the estates were built around the 70's so our cables are well under standard.

Options are to buy yourself an new PSTN but even then eircom say they cant gaurentee our lines will pass.

(btw pm me where in kilcoole are you?)