Frustration with FTTH providers web pages

Johnboy1951

Is it only me?
Am I seriously failing to find full information easily and quickly?

I decided I should inform myself of present offerings for new connections to the openeir fibre network, from the different providers.

I was able to get the names of the providers from this page ..... those with the 'house' icon
https://fibrerollout.ie/rollout-map/where-to-buy/

This is good .... I won't be wasting time searching websites of companies who do not provide the FTTH service.
I have listed those that were linked on the page above and my initial reaction to the info provided on the pages.

1. Airwire: http://www.airwire.ie/index.php/products/ruralftth
Having chosen the "rural fibre" all the details I wanted were displayed clearly.

2. BBNet: http://www.bbnet.ie/?page_id=5157
There are a couple of examples of their 'offerings' but apparently I am expected to call them for details!

3. Digiweb: https://www.digiweb.ie/ultrafast-ftth-broadband/
Digiweb have three examples on the page, but they are lacking details, such as Cap/FUP & installation charge.
I can either BuyNow or webchat to try to elicit the details.

4. eir: https://www.eir.ie/broadband/1000mb-fibre/
Initially I could not find the offer details ...... until I noticed that there was a lower half to the web page that was not immediately visible when arriving at the page.
eir seem to have a convoluted charging structure ..... reduced price for some period and full price afterwards.
Some offers seem to apply to new customers only, but I am unsure if that is a new FTTH customer or a new eir customer (someone who had a landline or broadband from eir, or maybe their sports package from satellite.

5. FastCom: https://www.fastcom.ie/fastcom-fibre-packages-ireland/
Another with low start prices and the monthly charge jumps after a few months.
I saw no mention of Cap/FUP (just "usage - unlimited" whatever that might mean!) or of installation fee.

6. Net1: https://net1.ie/fibre/
The example offerings here were divided between FTTH and FTTC .... very reassuring!
I did not see a broadband only offer on the page .... broadband and 'free' phone included, which from other providers was about €10 per month.
Free installation and 'unlimited downloads'.
I am expected to dig into their site for more details apparently.

7. Pure Telecom: https://www.puretelecom.ie/residential/home
I see I can have

Up to 1000MB/s Fastest Fibre Broadband Starting from:€39 */ month
* €39 for 3 months, €85 thereafter.

So the same convoluted pricing structure as others.
Besides the 1,000 I only saw 100 ..... no 150, 300 or other speeds.
"Unlimited Fibre Download" .... whatever that means!
Installation fee? no idea.

8. Westnet: http://www.westnet.ie/packages/fibre-to-the-home---new-service/7/
This service is geographically limited, so you would have to check with them if they will provide your area with service.
Besides that it seems they covered a lot of what is needed by way of info

– No Connection Fee
– Guaranteed speeds of 150Mb/s
– High Speed Wireless Router supplied
– Short Term Contract ..... 12 months
– Unlimited data: Unlike other companies who impose data caps, we can offer you truly limitless data
– Transparent Pricing Policy: no price hikes or complex bundles

I saw no mention of other speeds being available, or of bundle offers such as with phone line.

##########

It seems the majority of these providers deliberately make it difficult for a potential customer to make a decision based on clear facts and pricing structure.
A lot of the info is not displayed to the page visitor.

I can only conclude those companies have something (they consider negative to their aim of selling their product) hidden from easy viewing ...... else why hide it? If something requires a detailed explanation then a prominent link to that info could be displayed.
They have lots of room for fancy graphics on the web pages but not for vital information?

I have a decision to make in the next month or so ... which provider to choose for the initial connection and first 12 months service?

I will be looking at
price .... and how easy it is (without calculator) to know the bottom line
Cap/FUP/Unlimited/etc ..... is this clearly explained without having to dig deep into terms & conditions? If not, I am not interested in deciphering their legalese or calculating their 'extra charges' if a cap is exceeded!
Installation & router charge ..... and also how good the default router is
reliability .... as this mostly depends on the fibre itself there should be no diff between providers but of course their backhaul must be capable. How to know?
customer service .... this should not be a big deal after installation if the service is reliable which it should be, so not too worried.

Have I missed out a provider in my research?
Have I mis-interpreted some details? Please correct me if I have, thanks.
Should I be considering other details on which to base my decision?

######## EDIT #########

9. Lightnet: http://www.lightnet.ie/fibre-to-the-home-broadband/ (are not listed on the eir page as doing FTTH, but they do)
Another provider only showing one speed on the page (150Mb/s)
There are three offers the lowest is a very low cap of 80GB and the third 'Unlimited' (which equals 1TB)
Going over the cap gets the connection dropped to 1/0.25
You can contact them to purchase extra apparently ... no prices on site.
Connection fee and installation fee also vary across the three offers.
Phone connection provided but each call is charged at 'competitive rates' whatever that means!


.

Marlow

Based on the list that you posted up there, that means you're looking for rural FTTH providers.

There are 2 or 3, that aren't listed on fibrerollout.ie, but that's either because they're not ready or don't want the fact publicized too much.

Northwest Broadband are now offering FTTH using SIRO in Sligo town and are going to be providing OpenEIR FTTH, but they're not ready with OpenEIR. Their FTTH isn't on their website yet, either ( http://www.nwb.ie )

Lightnet are offering OpenEIR FTTH, but their pricing and data caps aren't really competitive. ( http://www.lightnet.ie/fibre-to-the-home-broadband/ ) Unlimited with them means 1 TB/cap.

Sky still hasn't told anybody what they're going to do.

I know of 2 more, but they're only providing to select customers.

/M

Johnboy1951

Marlow wrote: »

Based on the list that you posted up there, that means you're looking for rural FTTH providers.

There are 2 or 3, that aren't listed on fibrerollout.ie, but that's either because they're not ready or don't want the fact publicized too much.

Northwest Broadband are now offering FTTH using SIRO in Sligo town and are going to be providing OpenEIR FTTH, but they're not ready with OpenEIR. Their FTTH isn't on their website yet, either ( http://www.nwb.ie )

Lightnet are offering OpenEIR FTTH, but their pricing and data caps aren't really competitive. ( http://www.lightnet.ie/fibre-to-the-home-broadband/ ) Unlimited with them means 1 TB/cap.

Sky still hasn't told anybody what they're going to do.

I know of 2 more, but they're only providing to select customers.

/M

Thanks for the extra info.
Maybe by the time it is available to me some of those others will have begun to make their offerings publicly available.

Although Lightnet are listed on the eir site, they do not have the 'house icon' to indicate they do FTTH
Maybe someone in Lightnet should follow up on that!

If you hear of any further movement with those other providers you might get a chance to post here, thanks.

.

Marlow

Johnboy1951 wrote: »

are listed on the eir site, they do not have the 'house icon' to indicate they do FTTH

It's down to communcation between OpenEIR and the partners or whatever they decided themselves.

The data on fibrerollout.ie is not accurate .. but at least it's a decent starting point.

It's up to each provider/wholesales partner to ensure, that the data are correct and that they are listed. Generally .. if they aren't, they are probably not too bothered.

/M