Magnet Triple Play: Value for €, and anyboy with expericenes with magnet.

Charlie

Signing up for triple play with magnet soon. I currently have ntl digital (in one room) for t.v, eircom (home starter: 1meg) for broadband and euphony €10 all you you can eat national calls for my telecom, this came to a total of €131 a month. I wanted sky+ in my living room and in my bedroom but it would of cost way too much if I had of just swapped sky for ntl. However for €60 p.m I will be getting 2 meg broadband, unlimited national calls and 25 t.v stations (in one room), then I can get sky + in two rooms for €67 p.m making a grand total of €127 p.m. With what I save p.m and what I save with the "1st 3 months half price" offer with sky, the €69 I have to pay for each + box is made up for in my savings. All in all I will be getting a superior broadband package and t.v in 3 rooms, 2 of which will be equipped with sky plus for the same amount I am currently paying.:D Just wanted to make people aware of this kind of deal and also if anyone has had any experience with magnet could they post their info.

Charlie

By the way I am in no way connected with Magnet or am I trying to make a sales pitch, I just wanted to draw peoples attention to the particular package which I believe a lot of people could be interested in.

V1llianous

I signed up with Magnet a few weeks ago and hope to get it installed in the next fortnight. Cannot comment on the actual service as I haven't got it yet but I am impressed with their customer service. They rang a couple of times to see if I had received the sign up pack and asked had I any queries. I also had to ring them re procedure of changing no current BB but line rental with Esat, was told I had to go back to Eircom but wouldn't have to pay them as it would happed so quickly. Also had a slight query re the new number as no number porting available and they seemed to be helpful. Will see if it does work out soon. I am in a similar boat to OP. I have Sky downstairs but wouldn't use it upstairs too much - bit bored with crappy aerial though but delighted to get this package.

Currently I am paying 24.19 a month on line rental, 22 a month on IOL NoLimits (must be one of the last) and then about 7 a month on calls for a total of approx 53 a month. Mrs V1llianous will be at home soon all day due to arrival of baby V1llianous and for an extra 20 a month we get the free landline calls nationwide (up to an hour in length), broadband all day also which is 87 times faster than current access, and 20 TV channels upstairs. Mrs V1llianous is happy to get Channel 4 and I am happy to get Setanta Sports.

Looking forward to the install - was told exchange is being unbundled on 4th December so should be nicely settled in for Christmas.:D

bk

Well if NTL BB is available in your area, it will work out cheaper then Magnet.

NTL is currently upgrading their speeds. 3m/300k is going up to 8m/500k, it is happening right this minute:
http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2054857259

I believe the 1m and 2m services are also being upgraded (probably to 2m and 5m).

So you could get:
NTL Analogue TV = €19 (I got this free for 12 months when I signed up for BB)
NTL BB 1m (possibly 2m soon) = €25
Blueface VoIP (unlimited local and national calls anytime of the day) = €15

So it costs €59 per month, throw in another €10 to get over 100 channel Digital TV or €5 for 50 channels. Much better value for money then Magnet IMO.

V1llianous

NTL isn't an option for me as I want to keep the old Sky. Better TV and cheaper with the sports etc for the same packages as I need (ok want ! ;})

Charlie

bk wrote:

Well if NTL BB is available in your area, it will work out cheaper then Magnet.

NTL is currently upgrading their speeds. 3m/300k is going up to 8m/500k, it is happening right this minute:
http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2054857259

I believe the 1m and 2m services are also being upgraded (probably to 2m and 5m).

So you could get:
NTL Analogue TV = €19 (I got this free for 12 months when I signed up for BB)
NTL BB 1m (possibly 2m soon) = €25
Blueface VoIP (unlimited local and national calls anytime of the day) = €15

So it costs €59 per month, throw in another €10 to get over 100 channel Digital TV or €5 for 50 channels. Much better value for money then Magnet IMO.

Thats not an option for me either. I have ntl digital but sky is so much better, especially with a plus box. Magnet is a great deal for anybody who has or wants sky. VOIP won't work with sky.

paulm17781

charlie mchugh wrote:

Thats not an option for me either. I have ntl digital but sky is so much better, especially with a plus box. Magnet is a great deal for anybody who has or wants sky. VOIP won't work with sky.

Does Sky work with Magnet? Do Magnet use VOIP at the exchange like Smart?

Charlie

So you could get:
NTL Analogue TV = €19 (I got this free for 12 months when I signed up for BB)
NTL BB 1m (possibly 2m soon) = €25
Blueface VoIP (unlimited local and national calls anytime of the day) = €15

So it costs €59 per month, throw in another €10 to get over 100 channel Digital TV or €5 for 50 channels. Much better value for money then Magnet IMO.[/QUOTE]

That wouldnt be the case for me as I currently have sky sports and digital in two other rooms which would make your €59, €111.50 to me. So for an extra €15(making €126.50) I get a GUARANTEED 2mb connection, a sky plus box in two rooms, and magnets tv service(25 channels) in one room. Much better value for me anyway, a similar setup with ntl broadband would cost me €156!!!. I guess what I'm trying to say is that if you have sky, magnet is a really good deal for you.

bk

charlie mchugh wrote:

Thats not an option for me either. I have ntl digital but sky is so much better, especially with a plus box. Magnet is a great deal for anybody who has or wants sky. VOIP won't work with sky.

Yeah, I use a Tivo with NTL Digital, PVR's are amazing, NTL really need to do a PVR service for people without the skills or time to get a Tivo setup.

BTW watch out for Magnet, they might also be using VoIP at the exchange, so Sky might not work with them, check with Magnet first.

BBTW Sky has new boxes with ethernet ports coming next year partly because so many people are going with VoIP.

Charlie

paulm17781 wrote:

Does Sky work with Magnet? Do Magnet use VOIP at the exchange like Smart?

When I was on to magnet they told me there would be no problem with using sky digital with magnet, they knew the question I was asking them because the lady said"there's no problem with magnet and sky working together but after that i'm contractually not allowed to tell you anymore about sky digital". I think a lot of people must be asking them this.

bk

charlie mchugh wrote:

That wouldnt be the case for me as I currently have sky sports and digital in two other rooms which would make your €59, €111.50 to me. So for an extra €15(making €126.50) I get a GUARANTEED 2mb connection, a sky plus box in two rooms, and magnets tv service(25 channels) in one room. Much better value for me anyway, a similar setup with ntl broadband would cost me €156!!!. I guess what I'm trying to say is that if you have sky, magnet is a really good deal for you.

Your maths are wrong.

AnalogueTV = €19 (you only pay once)
Digital TV box 1 = €10 it is then an extra €5 for each aadditional digital box.

A sports subscription is €24, you only have to pay this once and you can watch it on all digital boxes.
1m (soon 2 or 3m - my 3m service is currently running at 8m is €25.

So the total cost is €88 (and I get €19 off that). NTL is much cheaper then Sky or Magent.

And don't forget NTL give you the 3m (now 8m) service free for the first 3 months.

Hell you could spend an extra €20 and get the now 8m service and still be cheaper then Magnets 2m service

BTW more then likely you won't be able to run 3 independent TV's/VCR's off the Magnet service, you will probably be able to do 2 at best, unless you are in a fibre area.

Charlie

bk wrote:

Yeah, I use a Tivo with NTL Digital, PVR's are amazing, NTL really need to do a PVR service for people without the skills or time to get a Tivo setup.

When I was on to ntl to cancel the service, the lady kept me on the phone for ten minutes telling me why ntl was better than sky, I then tried getting a word in edge ways and said I was going to sky for the pvr, which she replied that ntl have "looked at some advice on pvrs" so they will have them by "next year". I burst out laughing. It sounded so much like the promise I heard in 2002 that ntl would have interactive within "6 months".

Charlie

bk wrote:

Your maths are wrong.

AnalogueTV = €19 (you only pay once)
Digital TV box 1 = €10 it is then an extra €5 for each digital box.
A sports subscription is €24, you only have to pay this once and you can watch it on all digital boxes.
1m (soon 2 or 3m - my 3m service is currently running at 8m is €25.

So the total cost is €88 (and I get €19 off that). NTL is much cheaper then Sky or Magent.

BTW more then likely you won't be able to run 3 independent TV's/VCR's off the Magnet service, you will probably be able to do 2 at best, unless you are in a fibre area.

Im not running the three services off magnet. i'm getting sky (two plus boxes) digital in two rooms and then magnet give you their tv in one room for €10. The sums I was running off was if I had sky in two rooms, ntl analogue in one room and a 2mb ntl broadband service, and i'd be paying €25 for line rental for the line I need to provide sky with. Ntl is good value if you stick with ntl digital after that the figure goes through the roof. Not all of us can hack a tivo box, so sky is the only viable solution for pvr.

bk

charlie mchugh wrote:

When I was on to ntl to cancel the service, the lady kept me on the phone for ten minutes telling me why ntl was better than sky, I then tried getting a word in edge ways and said I was going to sky for the pvr, which she replied that ntl have "looked at some advice on pvrs" so they will have them by "next year". I burst out laughing. It sounded so much like the promise I heard in 2002 that ntl would have interactive within "6 months".

Well NTL:UK (different company to NTL:Ireland now) has a three tuner (watch recorded show while recording 3 other channels!!), 160GB HDD, High Definition, MPEG4 PVR with BB :eek: coming out in early 2006, it will be far better then Sky+, but probably the same as the new Sky HD boxes.

There have been rumours from very reliable sources that NTL:Ireland (UPC soon) will also have a PVR next year.

bk

charlie mchugh wrote:

Im not running the three services off magnet. i'm getting sky (two plus boxes) digital in two rooms and then magnet give you their tv in one room for €10. The sums I was running off was if I had sky in two rooms, ntl analogue in one room and a 2mb ntl broadband service, and i'd be paying €25 for line rental for the line I need to provide sky with. Ntl is good value if you stick with ntl digital after that the figure goes through the roof. Not all of us can hack a tivo box, so sky is the only viable solution for pvr.

That is fair enough, sorry if I seem over enthusiastic, I'm just so happy about my upgrade I could kiss everyone in NTL now

Just as long as you understand the limitations of IPTV services over BB then that is cool, I worry that people sign up for Magnet without understanding the limitations.

I agree that Sky has better PQ and SQ and that Sky+ rocks, as does the EPG. But I'm very happy with my setup being so cheap, yet offering so much.

Charlie

bk wrote:

That is fair enough, sorry if I seem over enthusiastic, I'm just so happy about my upgrade I could kiss everyone in NTL now

Just as long as you understand the limitations of IPTV services over BB then that is cool, I worry that people sign up for Magnet without understanding the limitations.

I agree that Sky has better PQ and SQ and that Sky+ rocks, as does the EPG. But I'm very happy with my setup being so cheap, yet offering so much.

Thats cool, the magnet t.v service wont really be heavily relied on (not when you have two sky+ boxes!!! sorry) it will only be replacing a room where we had analogue so it dosent feel like we are taking away t.v point. I agree ntl broadband rocks but it limits your options for other area of t.v/communications (no sky). Sky always seemed unattainable beacuse of the high cost of multiroom viewing, but magnet reduces that price significently when you consider you get 2 meg broadband, unlimited national calls and t.v in one room all for only €60. I had been paying €95 for that magnet setup with my various providers and my broadband was only 1 meg and capped at 8 gb.

bk

charlie mchugh wrote:

I had been paying €95 for that magnet setup with my various providers and my broadband was only 1 meg and capped at 8 gb.

Yes, it is a nice reduction for you. Let us know how Magnet goes, no one who actually has the service has actually posted yet.

I'd be interested to hear what the download and upload speed you get actually is. What the pings to boards.ie and clarity.jolt.co.uk are like and finally what the TV service is like.

Keep us informed.

Charlie

bk wrote:

Yes, it is a nice reduction for you. Let us know how Magnet goes, no one who actually has the service has actually posted yet.

I'd be interested to hear what the download and upload speed you get actually is. What the pings to boards.ie and clarity.jolt.co.uk are like and finally what the TV service is like.

Keep us informed.

Will do.

One last thing I've seen posted around the place, is that you get a new number with magnet as eircom won't port. That musn't be the case anymore as magnet offered me an extra week's wait in order to process the port forward with eircom.

Tazz T

But isn't Magnet only available in a few select small areas?

paulyx

If magnet are sending the TV signal down the phone line will you be able to use broad band when you are watching tv ?

Charlie

paulyx wrote:

If magnet are sending the TV signal down the phone line will you be able to use broad band when you are watching tv ?

Yeah because the line will be ADSL2+ which is capabale of download rates of 24mbps.

paulyx

Thats ok if your near the exchange but the 24mb will only cover 2% of there customers 8mb would be a realistic fig and the tv station would take up up a lot of your bandwith.

bk

paulyx wrote:

Thats ok if your near the exchange but the 24mb will only cover 2% of there customers 8mb would be a realistic fig and the tv station would take up up a lot of your bandwith.

Typically a SD MPEG2 IPTV stream will take about 4mb. The question is do Magnet guarantee to give you the 4mb BB on top of the TV stream and what happens if you want two TV streams (one for TV and another for VCR/PVR) or even three?

Charlie

bk wrote:

Typically a SD MPEG2 IPTV stream will take about 4mb. The question is do Magnet guarantee to give you the 4mb BB on top of the TV stream and what happens if you want two TV streams (one for TV and another for VCR/PVR) or even three?

Good question, I'll have sky in two rooms so the magnet service is just for emergency watchin in case the two other rooms are being used, plus I live in an adsl2+ area so I don't see it being a problem for me. I guess only time will tell, but in fairness to Magnet they have been very efficent with things so far (from my experiences anyway).

abra123cadabra

I posted my experience in another thread.

Anyone interested, it's here:

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showpost.php?p=50620959&postcount=32

abra

Freddie59

abra123cadabra wrote:

I posted my experience in another thread.

Anyone interested, it's here:

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showpost.php?p=50620959&postcount=32

abra

That's interesting - especially the bit about the Digital TV problems.:)

abra123cadabra

Thought so too.

As I understand, magnet is pretty new, just starting to provide/expand their services. Still, I'm a customer - even one willing to experiment with new providers.

How did I decide to go for magnet? Well, they seem to be best value for money in my area (Clontarf) and for my purposes. And the decision was very easy as eircom was just not the speed I paid for (broadband business starter).

I checked magnets webpage and the following appealed to me:

1. Up to 4Mb download, 512Kbps upload over existing phone lines, using ADSL2+ technology and 100GB monthly usage allowance.

2. 48 digital TV channels, including animal planet, the history channel, bbc1-4, uktv (7 different ones)

3. Free Local and National telephone calls.

Now the situation is as follows:

1. Internet speeds are ok, though not full speed all the time. Monthly allowance of 100 GB is the sum of up- and download according to the costumer service. The agent admitted that their wording is misleading. All of a sudden 100 GB is nothing. Anyway, they are just observing and don't provide any means for the customer to check the actual usage. So I have to wait and see what happens. Surely it's not my fault if I'm unknowingly over the limit.

2. I get a line-up of 42 channels, uktv style twice, missing uktv food, uktv history, animal planet and the history channel. That would total up to 45. Where are the remaining 3 channels I pay for???

In addition to that I didn't realise they would use IPTV (and VoIP). So now I have a distorted picture/sound when the data is not streamed properly. Not reliable enough to record a program though much better than the ntl cable picture (snowy most of the time). And, most annoying, I don't have teletext, especially subtitles, which is a great feature with children.

They try to fix the uktv style problem but the other channels are just not available yet. Why do they print the channel icons in their ads if I can't get them???

3. Most of our calls are international calls. We use for this telestunt, using two premium numbers, one universal access number and one shared access number (1520, 1530, 0818 and 1890). Before signing up I called magnet to find out how these calls would be charged.

I was told 0818 should be national rate and 1890 should be local rate (as with eircom) and they would most likely be included in the free local and national calls. The agent calling me back with this info was not sure at all, meaning they didn't have an internal list with the tariffs for these numbers.

However, checking their webpage yesterday, I'm not sure about that. Both rates appear in the "international charges" dropdown list. If they charge me, it will still be cheaper than eircom but my original decision was based on the free local and national calls including these two numbers.

You see, I'm not totally happy (yet) but I don't regret the change. magnet's customer service is very friendly and prompt. They call back and try to fix the problem. I feel valued as a customer. Having worked as call center agent for some years I have to say the agents are well trained and that's what a good service provider needs to survive on the market.

abra

V1llianous

Hi, my line is currently being unbundled. Can I ask a question to whoever has magnet down -

My TV that I want connected is in the top bedroom (cos of Sky in living room) 2 floors up from the main phone point.

Does anyone know if Magnet phone and broadband will work if plugged into a phone extension cos I don't want to have to lay cable up 2 sets of stairs. If not has anyone a suggestion for doing this wirelessly.

TIA

V1llianous

Sorry mods but need to bump as need answer to this today.

paulm17781

V1llianous wrote:

Does anyone know if Magnet phone and broadband will work if plugged into a phone extension cos I don't want to have to lay cable up 2 sets of stairs. If not has anyone a suggestion for doing this wirelessly.

I would imagine you would need a DSL filter on the line. I would also think that they would provide these. Unless they use VOIP at the exchange in which case they probably wouldn't need filters. In answer: Probably best to ask Magnet.