Is Smart the smart choice?

MunsterCycling

Hi I'm looking to get Smart BB in and am wondering if they would be the right choice? They are available on our exchange and we were with them for phone services before the €ircon fiasco of a few years ago.

Probably go for the 6Mb or 8Mb option but not sure about needing the 1Mb upload? Don't game that much, although I could be converted and have modest download needs, linux distros being the biggest. Woudl also like to use either Skype or preferably a SIP service as have family overseas that have BB at home so useful for keeping the comms costs down.

Opinions please on a neatly formatted post, canvassing shall disqualify!

MC

Kensington

Have been with Smart myself since the very beginning of smart broadband. Apart from a few line faults, thanks to the shower at eircom, have had no issues with them whatsoever.

Gaming works fine over the connection, although you do have to do port forwarding to get it to work properly. Skype works fine over it, no issues there and I'm running a Blueface VoIP connection over it aswell without any issues whatsoever. Plus, they don't shape bit torrent traffic and there's no download limits. So if you can get it, definitely go for it!

As for 1Mb upload - just get the basic package in at first if you're undecided and if you find yourself needing more upload speed then just add it on at a later stage.

Also, depending on your line you may not be able to handle 6Mb or 8Mb speeds. If you wanted, you could always get for the 4Mb package and upgrade later on if your line can take it (the guys on the support forum for smart will be able to tell you once you are activated, what the maximum speed your line can take is).

MunsterCycling

Been reading over on the Smart forums that to change the account you have to sign a new 12 month contract, can't see a prob with that but just prefer not to have it. Do you have to sign up for Direct Debt or will they allow billing in the traditional sense?

Thanks

MC

pizzahead77

Yes, you have to sign a 12 month contract as a new customer (I believe all the providers require you to do this).

Yes, you are supposed to pay by direct debit but I don't - I cancelled it and pay the bill manually each month by laser on their website.

MunsterCycling

Any probs with cancelling the DD or did you ask them first?

jor el

You can cancel the direct debit by writing to your bank. As long as you pay the bill on time, there should be no problem and Smart will have no reason to contact you about it. You also don't have to let Smart know you're canceling it.

MunsterCycling

Presume they still send you a paper bill before the due date so you know how much to pay them? Thanks for all the info btw.

MC

Spear

MunsterCycling wrote: »

Been reading over on the Smart forums that to change the account you have to sign a new 12 month contract, can't see a prob with that but just prefer not to have it. Do you have to sign up for Direct Debt or will they allow billing in the traditional sense?

Thanks

MC

New contracts are only for new customers, if it's just a package change then no new contract is required.

jor el

You should still get your bill. Think you can opt for email billing either.

You should definitely go for Smart if you can.

steve-o

Spear wrote: »

New contracts are only for new customers, if it's just a package change then no new contract is required.

According to the discussion on the Smart forums, a new contract is required.

OP, Smart is great. Go for it. No need for the faster upload - regular upload is fine for VOIP.

MunsterCycling

steve-o wrote: »

According to the discussion on the Smart forums, a new contract is required.

OP, Smart is great. Go for it. No need for the faster upload - regular upload is fine for VOIP.

That's why I asked the question. Not really a prob for me but just wanted to know.

How long does the provisioning take? No BB on line before, currently with TalkTalk for phone.

Spear

steve-o wrote: »

According to the discussion on the Smart forums, a new contract is required.

OP, Smart is great. Go for it. No need for the faster upload - regular upload is fine for VOIP.

http://support.smarttelecom.ie/forums/showthread.php?t=2455
http://support.smarttelecom.ie/forums/showthread.php?t=2248

A package change is only a phone call, no new contract.

MunsterCycling

Interesting that the 2nd link contradicts the 1st but seeing as the 1st is newer I'll take that answer (it also came from a Smart Admin... )

MC

Great help guys,

Thanks to all who have answered so far,

MC

BTW Hope some of ye will join the boards.ie Rosetta team and fold proteins to help medical research, link in my sig.

MC

Spear

MunsterCycling wrote: »

Interesting that the 2nd link contradicts the 1st but seeing as the 1st is newer I'll take that answer (it also came from a Smart Admin... )

MC

Great help guys,

Thanks to all who have answered so far,

MC

BTW Hope some of ye will join the boards.ie Rosetta team and fold proteins to help medical research, link in my sig.

MC

It may be different for you since you don't have BB with them already. Easiest thing is to call them and ask. In the case of those threads the package changes were being applied to pre-existing ADSL lines, though my change did involve a new call package as well and there was no mention of contracts.

And I'm signed up to enough BOINC projects as this point I'm afraid.

MunsterCycling

Can never have enough BOINC projects...

pjproby

I have Smart for about three months now and I am very happy with the service.
Be careful though-i applied online-when the gear arrived I realised they had changed my phone number-should have ticked a box I have no recollection of seeing-when the first bill arrived i realised was paying for local calls per minute-I assumed I had signed up for a package-again I was told that I should have ticked a box when signing up. In fairness they did put me on a package after that.
The lesson is-do not sign up online.

Kensington

MunsterCycling wrote: »

How long does the provisioning take? No BB on line before, currently with TalkTalk for phone.

If you pay both your line rental and call charges to TalkTalk, then it may take a while. Unfortunately, an eircom account number is required to sign up to smart. Which means you would have to cancel TalkTalk, switch back to eircom, wait for your first bill to get your account number (they won't give it out to you over the phone, I wonder why eh...) and THEN sign up for smart. Lead time between submitting your details to smart and actually getting changed over is about 10 working days.

byte

Kensington wrote: »

If you pay both your line rental and call charges to TalkTalk, then it may take a while. Unfortunately, an eircom account number is required to sign up to smart. Which means you would have to cancel TalkTalk, switch back to eircom, wait for your first bill to get your account number (they won't give it out to you over the phone, I wonder why eh...) and THEN sign up for smart. Lead time between submitting your details to smart and actually getting changed over is about 10 working days.

I think somebody posted some time ago that he rang eircom for his account number and said it was to set up a direct debit or something, so they gave it to him. Might be worth a shot.

Vunderground

So, if you were with BT would you have to go back to Eircom in order to leave them...please tell me it isn't so!!!

pizzahead77

Vunderground wrote: »

So, if you were with BT would you have to go back to Eircom in order to leave them...please tell me it isn't so!!!

Nope, as long as you have your Universial Account Number from BT - my brother was with BT for line rental, phone and broadband and didn't need to cancel anything.

Blindpew

I was going to get Smart a few years ago but was told I would have to be disconnected from the ISP I was with for about five weeks before they could connect me. Is this still the procedure does anyone know?

pizzahead77

Blindpew wrote: »

I was going to get Smart a few years ago but was told I would have to be disconnected from the ISP I was with for about five weeks before they could connect me. Is this still the procedure does anyone know?

No - the only downtime should only be when the physical switch over happens in the exchange

Kensington

pizzahead77 wrote:

Nope, as long as you have your Universial Account Number from BT - my brother was with BT for line rental, phone and broadband and didn't need to cancel anything.

I stand corrected on that point so - good to hear this has changed. It was completely ridiculous that eircom was let away with that crap of someone paying who was paying their line rental through anyone other than eircom having to switch back over to eircom first, and then over make the move over to smart.

Vunderground

Thanks for the info!

Would it make any difference if the person moving from BT had got the recent upgrade to 8bms with the LLU line? Logically it would make the transition quicker as the line is already unbundled, but logic don't live in these parts much

Vunderground

Thanks for the info!

Would it make any difference if the person moving from BT had got the recent upgrade to 8bms with the LLU line? Logically, it would make the transition quicker as the line is already unbundled, but ...

MunsterCycling

OK lots to go on there, will keep ya posted as to how it works out.

MC

PS Don't forget ot sign up for the boards.is rosetta team...