3 or Meteor Broadband to Go?

NicsM

Looking for some help/advice, am currently living in a UPC blackspot and need internet access. It's a houseshare and the other tenants are stuck in a contract with Digiweb but the download allowance is not big enough for all of us.

I really don't want to get stuck into a 12 month contract so thought midband might be a good option. I've done a bit of research and despite all the bad things I've heard, I've narrowed it down to the sim only contracts (30 days notice) from either 3 or Meteor, 60GB for €29.99 or 20GB for €19.99 respectively.

I would stream a lot of tv online so I know this could eat into a 20GB meteor allowance fairly quickly but I've heard congestion with 3 is pretty bad.... If anyone could offer some input it would be much appreciated!

long_b

Ninaluna wrote: »

Looking for some help/advice, am currently living in a UPC blackspot and need internet access. It's a houseshare and the other tenants are stuck in a contract with Digiweb but the download allowance is not big enough for all of us.

I really don't want to get stuck into a 12 month contract so thought midband might be a good option. I've done a bit of research and despite all the bad things I've heard, I've narrowed it down to the sim only contracts (30 days notice) from either 3 or Meteor, 60GB for €29.99 or 20GB for €19.99 respectively.

I would stream a lot of tv online so I know this could eat into a 20GB meteor allowance fairly quickly but I've heard congestion with 3 is pretty bad.... If anyone could offer some input it would be much appreciated!

You need to get a PAYG SIM from both and do some speed tests from the location in question at various times of day I'm afraid

el diablo

I'd avoid Meteor "Broadband" to Go if I were you. Absolutely rubbish signal strength where I live (Dublin) and terrible customer service. I had to cancel my service before my contract was up.

jay93

Meteor have a much faster network than 3 when you can a 3G signal with meteor the download speed is generally around 4-6 Mb/s upload is around 2 Mb/s in most areas ive tested it in. 3 have alot of new customers on their network so its bound to be slower.Only way to be sure tough is to test out both networks in your area

NicsM

Thanks for all the replies guys, I got the 3 Broadband Pro package a few days ago....not thriled so far as it's managing about 1.29 mbps download but will stick with it for a while.

NewsMeQuick

I'm on the same trail, considering the the 30 day meteor 'contract' for 20GB at €20.32 or something from 3. I asked in the shop about this today and they said the Meteor one is paid by direct debit. That seems contract-like but a 30 day contract really is no hassle and at that price for 20GB it sounds good to me. In my area, the Meteor BB has improved massively in the last 3 years. Consistently for the past 2 years, it will reach 3-4mbps for downloads. One problem is that I'm a gamer and once a week or so it does cut out for more than 30 seconds, at which point I'm ejected from a game.

The 3 one I was thinking about is prepay €35 for 20GB. Clearly, that's a lot more expensive than the Meteor one, but if you wanted to stay clear from contracts and direct debit, it was my next plan. The girl in the shop struggled to explain it to me, and I can see why from the website. It's nonsense from 3, I think it's something like this; you have to buy a usage allowance when you start the offer, and they are very expensive too (€70 for a 20GB allowance). When this initial allowance is finished, then you top up by the offers on their website. They offer 3 initial offers when you purchase the device and 4 or 5 normal 'top up' ones. How confusing...and pointless.

Anyone tried either of these?

p.s. I had not seen that 60GB for €30 with 3, I'll investigate that further...

-=al=-

NewsMeQuick wrote: »

I'm on the same trail, considering the the 30 day meteor 'contract' for 20GB at €20.32 or something from 3. I asked in the shop about this today and they said the Meteor one is paid by direct debit. That seems contract-like but a 30 day contract really is no hassle and at that price for 20GB it sounds good to me. In my area, the Meteor BB has improved massively in the last 3 years. Consistently for the past 2 years, it will reach 3-4mbps for downloads. One problem is that I'm a gamer and once a week or so it does cut out for more than 30 seconds, at which point I'm ejected from a game.

The 3 one I was thinking about is prepay €35 for 20GB. Clearly, that's a lot more expensive than the Meteor one, but if you wanted to stay clear from contracts and direct debit, it was my next plan. The girl in the shop struggled to explain it to me, and I can see why from the website. It's nonsense from 3, I think it's something like this; you have to buy a usage allowance when you start the offer, and they are very expensive too (€70 for a 20GB allowance). When this initial allowance is finished, then you top up by the offers on their website. They offer 3 initial offers when you purchase the device and 4 or 5 normal 'top up' ones. How confusing...and pointless.

Anyone tried either of these?

p.s. I had not seen that 60GB for €30 with 3, I'll investigate that further...

Yeah meteor does something similar when you sign up It's just a one off thing at the start though and it works out fine

It's all subject to location for the networks but once you get a decent signal it should be ok...

I was usualy getting less than 2Mb on 3 with high pings and meteor worked out x3 faster for me. I've pretty much tried them all since I can't get a fixed service. I pay 24 for 50gb a month on meteor 18 month contract

3 seems to be to me at least more congested and probably has more devices on their network since they advertise and push data on their phone packages a lot, smart-phones are congesting the crap outa everything

Really depends what network works best for your location... you should probably be doing better than 1.29Mb/s

CodyJarrett

Similar position and found O2 are the fastest and most reliable, but also the most expensive.

15GB costs me €20 per month on a six month contract.

NewsMeQuick

Thanks for the input I'm almost definitely going for the Meteor €20 for 20GB by direct debit without a contract. It's quite likely that I won't be here within the year so I'm avoiding contracts. A 6 month one perhaps but I would like as many GBs that my Euro can buy. I'll give that one a go and see what happens. I intend to get the wifi hotspot to allow all my devices to use it.