Which of these is the best Broadband Provider?

eskimo

I'm kind of at my wits end at the moment. Everything was fine when my ISP was BT. But then Vodafone took over and screwed it all up. My internet only works about 50% of the time now.

I want to switch. I was going to wait for Imagine WiMax to become available in my area but I've read on this forum about all the problems they're having.

The only options available to me appear to be Magnet (their "Swift" package which seems a little overpriced and awkward), Eircom, Vodafone and Smart. Which of them would you go with, and which would you absolutely stay away from?

Magnet: Rory

eskimo wrote: »

I'm kind of at my wits end at the moment. Everything was fine when my ISP was BT. But then Vodafone took over and screwed it all up. My internet only works about 50% of the time now.

I want to switch. I was going to wait for Imagine WiMax to become available in my area but I've read on this forum about all the problems they're having.

The only options available to me appear to be Magnet (their "Swift" package which seems a little overpriced and awkward), Eircom, Vodafone and Smart. Which of them would you go with, and which would you absolutely stay away from?

Swift means that we dont have any equipment in the area, so we cant offer the 24Mb stuff etc. We do offer the 8.1Mb stuff (swift) in available areas.

Cabaal

Eircom and Vodafone are basically the same equipment at the exchange so really the only major difference is Smart or Magnet.

Magnet: Rory

Cabaal wrote: »

Eircom and Vodafone are basically the same equipment at the exchange so really the only major difference is Smart or Magnet.

True, except we dont have any equipment there (hence the swift pack) and also dont forget voda may be reselling a BT ADSL2+ service in specific areas (dont know if theyre doing this yet).

killbillvol2

I know eircom get a lot of bad press here for different reasons but I've had broadband with them in 2 different places for about 6 years and have no complaints.
The total amount of downtime in that period wouldn't add up to 24 hours I'd say and even during one outage, when I needed to send an urgent email, I was able to revert to dial up to get by.
I've looked at all the other operators from time to time and I know there are cheaper options but I'm prepared to pay a premium for rock solid reliability.

Cabaal

To be honest as much as I personally dislike Eircom you won't actually find a huge amount of complaints about them on the Broadband forum...historically speaking.

Sure you'll pay more then other suppliers but they seem to provide decent support, I guess this is what happens when you basically have a monopoly

In saying that I'm with UTV on the eircom resold product for two years now and I can't fault it much.

eskimo

190 views and only 9 votes lol!
And I'm pretty sure one of the votes for Magnet came from the Magnet employee. Sigh.

I've a feeling that no matter what broadband company I choose, there're gonna be problems. I'm just definitely not staying with Vodafone, they've been horrendous :-/

coldfire1x

UPC not in list??

Fat_Fingers

No UPC and no Atari Jaguar ?!?!?!

BlackWizard

eskimo wrote: »

190 views and only 9 votes lol!
And I'm pretty sure one of the votes for Magnet came from the Magnet employee. Sigh.

I've a feeling that no matter what broadband company I choose, there're gonna be problems. I'm just definitely not staying with Vodafone, they've been horrendous :-/

If the poll was changed to which provider do we hate the most, there would be lots more votes.

I've only experience with BT and Vodafone. So I can't really vote in the poll.

Magnet: Rory

eskimo wrote: »

190 views and only 9 votes lol!
And I'm pretty sure one of the votes for Magnet came from the Magnet employee. Sigh.

I've a feeling that no matter what broadband company I choose, there're gonna be problems. I'm just definitely not staying with Vodafone, they've been horrendous :-/

Caught......well in fairness I do have Magnet and I did have 3 of the 4 others.....but I know what your saying...a few more votes would be better.

What ever happened to the providers poll.........maybe that can be brought back?

Moonbeam

Smart is now Digiweb.
Do you live in an area where any LLU products are available to you?
Which isp is best depends on your location,phone line,what you can afford to spend and if you can get wireless.
If your line is unbundled for Smart/digiweb /magnet they will be the best option if not and you have a bad phone line somehting like metro wireless might be a better option.

eskimo

Personally, I've had UTV, BT, UPC and now Vodafone Home. UPC was my personal favourite. The only one I've had remarkable problems with is Vodafone Home.

coldfire1x wrote: »

UPC not in list??

Fat_Fingers wrote: »

No UPC and no Atari Jaguar ?!?!?!

This poll is for my own personal use. I only listed the ISPs that are available in my area.

Magnet (Rory) wrote: »

Caught......well in fairness I do have Magnet and I did have 3 of the 4 others.....but I know what your saying...a few more votes would be better.

What ever happened to the providers poll.........maybe that can be brought back?

A new ISP poll like the 2007 one would be a good idea, in my humble opinion. I personally don't have extensive knowledge of all the available ISPs in Ireland, so I wouldn't be the best person to create it. I think it would be massively appreciated though if somebody did create a 2010 version.

Moonbeam wrote: »

Smart is now Digiweb.
Do you live in an area where any LLU products are available to you?
Which isp is best depends on your location,phone line,what you can afford to spend and if you can get wireless.
If your line is unbundled for Smart/digiweb /magnet they will be the best option if not and you have a bad phone line somehting like metro wireless might be a better option.

Thanks Moonbeam. Can you explain further what LLU means exactly? From the following explanation which I found through Google, I gather it means small local companies offering broadband?

"LLU (Local Loop Unbundling) describes the de-regulation of the former BT exchange network which allows 3rd party access to the last mile of copper wiring to a broadband users house. The “Local Loop”, describes the wires and equipment that connect your home to your local telephone exchange. Historically owned and maintained by BT (www.bt.com), LLU means that other companies can now access the local exchanges."

DUBLINHITMAN

Magnet (Rory) wrote: »

Caught......well in fairness I do have Magnet and I did have 3 of the 4 others.....but I know what your saying...a few more votes would be better.

What ever happened to the providers poll.........maybe that can be brought back?

well at least you can reply to a poll to up magnet
how about trying to sort out my issue of a speed test recommending my closest server as Warsaw @ 80ms
and Dublin @ 1080ms

its annoying i,m paying full whack for the bolt highly tuned line and getting 6dwn and 1up
on the dwnload thats half of what i should be getting .
discount would be the only way to make me happy and actually put a vote for magnet. any help would be great

thanks

AlmightyCushion

DUBLINHITMAN wrote: »

well at least you can reply to a poll to up magnet
how about trying to sort out my issue of a speed test recommending my closest server as Warsaw @ 80ms
and Dublin @ 1080ms

its annoying i,m paying full whack for the bolt highly tuned line and getting 6dwn and 1up
on the dwnload thats half of what i should be getting .
discount would be the only way to make me happy and actually put a vote for magnet. any help would be great

thanks

You should probably drop him a pm as he may miss this post otherwise.

jor el

DUBLINHITMAN wrote: »

its annoying i,m paying full whack for the bolt highly tuned line and getting 6dwn and 1up
on the dwnload thats half of what i should be getting .
discount would be the only way to make me happy and actually put a vote for magnet. any help would be great

I'd suggest you go to the Magnet forum for any issues as this is not the correct place.