BT broadband vs eircom broadband

ash2008

hey guy, looking for some advice.
im moving to a new apartment in rathmines area of dublin. Smart and ntl are unavailable in my area.
Heard bad things about irish broadband and perlico.
Digiweb metro sounds good, but my landlord wont go for the drilling and stuff they do during the installation.

so i can get eircom 2mb for €55, contention 48:1
or bt 3mb for €56, contention 24:1

this would make bt the obvious option, but looking around at some threads, it seems their customer service leaves a lot to be desired.

What would you recommend? If bt works then i wont ever have to deal with their customer service right?

and i dont really want a phone package..just straight broadband

Vunderground

I've had that package for ages. Had it when it was 2mbs and look forward to the 8mbs upgrade. The week before last I was having connection problems. They got onto Eircom and the line was fixed in days and they sent me a new router as they reckoned the old Prestige one was past it. Why does anybody pay more for less unless they own shares in the wretched company or work for it?

guil

i think 2mb eircom is 24:1 only 1mb is 48:1

SeanW

I use BT and am a happy camper. I've so rarely had to contact customer service that some of the problems are not even worth considering.

Why piss your money away?

BTW Broadband+Talk is not a package, it's just the phone service with nothing included - I signed up for both accidentally, but found they discounted line rental when you get Broadband at least 2MB (old 1MB package) so no complaints there.

rogue-entity

Actually, BT's 3Meg service has a 17:1 contention ratio when I last checked, which was before I upgraded from 2Meg a few months back. Just waiting for them to upgrade to 8Meg now.

I would wholeheartedly recommend BT over Eircon, never had any issues with them once I had it installed, I even got the modem a week early too.

Barlow07

rogue-entity wrote: »

Actually, BT's 3Meg service has a 17:1 contention ratio when I last checked

Wrrrrroooooooooong, Contention is 48/1 for 1/2MB and 24/1 3MB.

OP, i would go with BT 3MB, if they upgrade your exchange then you might the 8MB service at the same price. I enquired already, but it wont be available until June they say.

Peanut

There is really no point in trying to guess the quality of service from the specified contention ratio, you're better off just trying to get an idea of real world speeds from people.

I recently switched from Eircom to BT, and I would say in terms of advertised vs. actual speed they are both fine, but you will get better value with BT.

The 3mb packages from both should be upgraded to 7.6mb in the next 3 months or so. The 2mb packages are being increased to 3mb.

ash2008

cool, thanks guys.
i rang BT today to enquire. My new flat has an eircom line , but theres no phone there. The BT person said i need to connect with eircom to get a phone number first before i can get broadband with BT, but i dont want a phone just broadband, and this way wont i need to sign up with eircom, pay to sign up and then cancel to get BT...seems a very roundabout way of doing it to me?

jor el

You can't get DSL broadband without connecting the phoneline, and since eircom own all the lines you have to get them to connect it. You also need your eircom account number, not just the phone number, to move to BT. You'll get that on your first bill, they won't give it out over the phone. You'll also need to wait until eircom check the line (done once a month and virtually impossible to get them to expedite).

I know eircom are more expensive, but you really need to do your research and understand what you're getting in to if you go with BT. Not only are their customer service team useless, their billing system is as broken as a system could possibly be. Overcharging and delays in refunding is common. Loosing applications is also common place. The randomly request a "magical" deposit from some users. They give no receipt for this, don't usually even inform the customer that the order is waiting on the deposit, and won't tell you how or when you'll get it back. And finally, when you're done with them, it's impossible to get them off the line and stop billing you.

All I'm saying is, think hard before jumping into bed with BT.

guil

ash2008 wrote: »

hey guy, looking for some advice.
im moving to a new apartment in rathmines area of dublin. Smart and ntl are unavailable in my area.
Heard bad things about irish broadband and perlico.
Digiweb metro sounds good, but my landlord wont go for the drilling and stuff they do during the installation.

so i can get eircom 2mb for €55, contention 48:1
or bt 3mb for €56, contention 24:1

this would make bt the obvious option, but looking around at some threads, it seems their customer service leaves a lot to be desired.

What would you recommend? If bt works then i wont ever have to deal with their customer service right?

and i dont really want a phone package..just straight broadband

ya said ya dont want a phone package but both those prices are for bundles, eircom 3mb is 48 p/m and bt 3mb is 42.50 p/m,, bt look for a deposit off ya to process the order, think they asked me for 150 euro when i was goin to get 3mb from them

ghost26ie

i've both over the last few years. never had a problem with eircom other than price. was always stable. only time it was down was when on one day 2 groups dug up the main phone lines out of dublin. the reason i went to BT was the savings. it has been stable up to a few months ago when i started having DNS issues. but they have now gone away.

SeanW

jor el wrote: »

You can't get DSL broadband without connecting the phoneline, and since eircom own all the lines you have to get them to connect it. You also need your eircom account number, not just the phone number, to move to BT. You'll get that on your first bill, they won't give it out over the phone. You'll also need to wait until eircom check the line (done once a month and virtually impossible to get them to expedite).

I know eircom are more expensive, but you really need to do your research and understand what you're getting in to if you go with BT. Not only are their customer service team useless, their billing system is as broken as a system could possibly be. Overcharging and delays in refunding is common. Loosing applications is also common place. The randomly request a "magical" deposit from some users. They give no receipt for this, don't usually even inform the customer that the order is waiting on the deposit, and won't tell you how or when you'll get it back. And finally, when you're done with them, it's impossible to get them off the line and stop billing you.

All I'm saying is, think hard before jumping into bed with BT.

Hmm, well, I've been using BT for close to 3 years now and rarely had problems. The only issues I've ever had with their billing system was them giving me an "online billing discount" while continuing to send me paper bills every two months. No complaints there. Tech support is OK too, could be a whole lot worse.

Besides did you read about the trouble with €ircon that some people had in the "Eircom troubles" thread? I wouldn't wish that crap on my worst enemy.

SeanW

I believe the speed upgrades will be going to both Eircom users and customers of resellers (e.g. BT). So, defo worth connecting to Eircom then switching to BT.

ash2008

thanks guys...i rang BT again to find out exactly what they wanted me to do with eircom. I got thru to a different guy, was more helpful..he checked my address, and said 2 other flats in the building have bt but something (tech thing) needs to be done with my phone line, so they going to send an engineer out within the week and then i get my equipment. He gave me his name to ask for him if i have anymore questions, so that makes me feel more comfortable.
I know eircoms cust service is pretty good, but my experience of their internet service in another area hasnt been great, and their tech support consisted of "reboot your router"..."that didnt work?, ok theres something wrong with your computer, we cant help"
plus theyre more expensive

kmick

I have had both (Eircom 1Mb and BT 3Mb) and was happy with both. eircom dont do a 3Mb service for new users so BT is the only way. Think I pay 66 for 3Mb and all my domestic calls (anytime). The customer service has recenty improved and I can now get through 1 time in 3 rather than 1 time in 10. Never had a problem with billing and they have never asked for a deposit. I have never had a serious issue but my perception would be that if I do it will take a lot of time and effort to fix it. One time my username got changed (long story) and it took me 2:45 hours to get through and get it sorted. I would not like to see how long it would take if i had a more technical issue. So overall I would give it 1.5 thumbs up.

kaimera

afaik they ask for a deposit if you are renting a place which tou get back after 6 months or so.

boomslang

I was considering the same Eircom or BT.
Having worked on BT Ireland's Billing and seen first hand what a nightmare of a system it is I'm not so sure I want to give them my cash. I had eircom previously but I'm considering going back to them from IBB due to the speed issues I'm having on my business line.