Choice of broadband and land-line

noelfitz

I am with Vodafone and am thinking of changing my broadband and land-line. Where is the best place to get advice, and what help can I get from Bonkers, Comreg, Switcher, Carphone Warehouse, etc.?
I am thinking of Virgin Media Broadband, but cost, service, and speed are important for me.
Any advice on choosing broadband and phone would be appreciated.
Thanks.

The Cush

Is Virgin Media broadband available to you?
240Mb and 350Mb unlimited packages, the best option IMO if it's available to you.

https://www.virginmedia.ie/broadband/buy-a-broadband-package/

sliabh 1956

At the moment I am having issues with Vodafone with very slow 36 mbs download. I have been talking to them on a regular basis. they are trying to sort it but to no avail. The funny thing is it was allways pretty good up to a few months ago. To night Alex from Vodafone assured at least 50 mbs alas that is not the case. My son who lives approx 4 kms away in Ennis gets 89mbs with Eir.

noelfitz

The Cush,

many thanks.
At present Virgin Media is the front runner for me. But I heard service and support is very bad. Is this so?
My contract is up in a few weeks, so I have some time to decide.

noelfitz

Sliabh 1956

I am grateful for your reply.
Vodafone is fine for me, but I have been promised greater speeds soon, but soon never comes. I would worry about changing from an only OK provider to a dud, who is unhelpful.

TomOnBoard

You need to know what infrastructure is or will be available to you.

For example, are you limited to Eir copper based lines into your gaff for the forseeable future. If so, anyone using that infrastructure will have more or less the same issues/limitations between you and the exchange. Differences may/will arise between different providers as to how your traffic is impacted by their connections after that point.

When Vodafone tells you abt improved services ate they trying to pre- sell SIRO to you?

noelfitz

TomOnBoard wrote: »

You need to know what infrastructure is or will be available to you.

For example, are you limited to Eir copper based lines into your gaff for the forseeable future. If so, anyone using that infrastructure will have more or less the same issues/limitations between you and the exchange. Differences may/will arise between different providers as to how your traffic is impacted by their connections after that point.

When Vodafone tells you abt improved services ate they trying to pre- sell SIRO to you?

TomOnBoard
I am thinking of 360 Mb Virgin Full House TV and Home Phone (59 EURO p.m., 12 month contract).

I think I have cable going past my house, which was installed years ago (by NTL, later UPC). There is a grey box on the house but has never been used and may be obsolete now. I never got cable TV, using FTA, but wanted the option to use it in the future and allow houses further up the road to have the cable.

All other suppliers, other than Virgin Media, use the old wiring, at best I can get less than 9 Mb down, 0.9 up load speeds with this. But some time ago fibre arrived on our road, but has not been implemented. I do not know what SIRO means, I presume it is the cable I have.

I am still veering towards Virgin Media, but wavering, so I appreciate help.

ED E

Have you checked your address on the virgin website? No point discussing it until thats checked. Some areas have Virgin but capped at 30Mb so its important to check.

TomOnBoard

noelfitz wrote: »

TomOnBoard I do not know what SIRO means, I presume it is the cable I have.

SIRO is the Vodafone/ESB service that is being rolled out in some places to bring fibre to your electricity meter box.

blackbullet

stay clear feom eir at all costs worst provider ever have your heard of pure telecom or sky hope this helps.

TomOnBoard

I'm sure many broadband customers across the country have had issues one way or the other with every provider. So any one provider can't be dismissed out of hand. If you do that based on posts on Boards, you'd go with no supplier
.
If you're dependent on copper wires coming into your house you'll be dependent on Eir to some extent anyway regardless of which provider you'll end up contracting with. However, if you have other options such as VM or SIRO they wont be involved. Even if you get FTTH from another provider that infrastructure is also provided by OpenEir (allegedly a separate company) but not really so separate at all.

Check with your neighbours and establish what package theyre on and with what provider. Switcher will give you a good comparison of package features and costs (although not always up to date on pricing- I see eir packages on Switcher ay 40 PER month for 1st 6 months that are 35 on eir"s own site.

I think contract duration is a very important piece of the equation- in my view 12 months is much better than being lock in for 18 in case the service is not as expected. Also the small print around fair usage policies seems to give some people grief particularly if they are heavy users.

Hope this helps.