UTV connect vs Sky vs Vodafone vs eircom

boardseller

Hi I am a rural broadband user currently on smart telecom(Eircom bitstream) 8mb/s actually getting about 5.2mb/s

Recently we have been offered 24mb/s from other providers the only product we can get is Eircom bitstream upto 24mb/s no NGB

Which provider has the best backend?

UTV Connect are they anygood??

Of UTV, Sky, Vodafone and Eircom who would you pick and why?

degsie

Sky... why? Unlimited!

FSL

As far as broadband is concerned there is no such thing as unlimited.

whiterebel

FSL wrote: »

As far as broadband is concerned there is no such thing as unlimited.

There is with Sky, they don't even meter the usage on their website.

Simi

I'm sorry, but I'm not entirely clear what you're saying is available to you. Whether your line has been artificially limited or not? But if 5.2mbs is the best possible speed your line can achieve, then I don't see what you hope to gain by switching provider

Vodafone also have unlimited packages now btw and don't charge a bitstream penalty, unlike sky & eircom. You pay the same price whether you're in a fibre, ngb or plain old 8mb adsl area.

bk

If Vodafone have "up to" 24mb/s available in your area, then I would go with them.

BTW you won't actually get 24mb/s, you might not get much more then you currently have, but no harm in trying.

degsie

Having been with VF and now with Sky I can only comment on these two:

Sky - truly unlimited, stable but 'locked down' router, decent customer service. No fiber 'till April 2014. Gave me better speeds than VF.

Vodafone - crap Huawei router (gave me endless problems) but good customer service. It wasn't unlimited when I used them and you were heavily penalised when going over limit. They also have fiber rolling out.

Sully

UTV, Sky & Voda all use the eircom wholesale network so its essentially the same service. The contention ratio with eircom is lower, as I understand it, and they appear to have more reliable, stable routers.

So it pretty much comes down to price and value for money. Eircom offer extras in terms of emobile, wifi hub and study hub. Vodafone offer some sort of study hub and discount if your a Voda mobile customer. Sky I think give it cheaper if you have TV with them. UTV, I don't believe have anything extra?

boardseller

bk wrote: »

If Vodafone have "up to" 24mb/s available in your area, then I would go with them.

BTW you won't actually get 24mb/s, you might not get much more then you currently have, but no harm in trying.

I have being told by vodafone rep and sky broadband's website checker my line can handle 14.6mb/s i currently am getting 5.25mb/s on my 8mb/s package,

I was leaning in the direction of sky broadband myself as it is unlimited and I was of the opinion they would have latest backend equipment and are investing, also they have to provide ondemand services so they will hopefully continue to invest, I have heard vodafone lacks in the investment department, but they are the cheapest but sky is pretty close

Why would you chose vodafone over sky??

bk

Because the reviews of Sky's service here on boards have tended to be terrible, with lots of complaints and slow speeds.

Also Sky still haven't rolled out eFibre, unlike Vodafone.

Vodafone (Via their partner BT Ireland *) seem to be actually investing far more in their infrastructure and far faster then Sky. There are even rumours that Vodafone are going to start doing Fibre To The Home in partnership with the ESB.

Vodafone have far more experience and expertise in the telcos market then Sky do. Sky are still new and pretty unproven and I haven't been impressed by their performance so far. They seem to be just all about marketing, rather then actual real development and investment.

* Actually I believe Sky also partner with BT Ireland, which is probably why 24mb/s LLU is available to you from both Sky and Vodafone, it is actually BT Ireland LLU in the background.

Sully

bk wrote: »

Because the reviews of Sky's service here on boards have tended to be terrible, with lots of complaints and slow speeds.

Also Sky still haven't rolled out eFibre, unlike Vodafone.

Vodafone (Via their partner BT Ireland *) seem to be actually investing far more in their infrastructure and far faster then Sky. There are even rumours that Vodafone are going to start doing Fibre To The Home in partnership with the ESB.

Vodafone have far more experience and expertise in the telcos market then Sky do. Sky are still new and pretty unproven and I haven't been impressed by their performance so far. They seem to be just all about marketing, rather then actual real development and investment.

* Actually I believe Sky also partner with BT Ireland, which is probably why 24mb/s LLU is available to you from both Sky and Vodafone, it is actually BT Ireland LLU in the background.

Vodafone use eircoms network for phone and broadband. Its not their own network.

bk

Sully wrote: »

Vodafone use eircoms network for phone and broadband. Its not their own network.

It is a lot more complicated then that!

In all cases they use Eircoms phone line from the exchange to the home.

However at the exchange there can be two different setups:

- Exchanges that have BT Ireland LLU DSLAMS installed, they then use these BT Ireland DSLAMS in the exchange and the BT network from the exchange.

- If the exchange isn't BT Ireland LLU enabled, then they use Eircoms Bitstream product which means Eircoms DSLAMS and Eircom carriage back to a central POP, from which the data is transfered over onto BT Irelands network.