Eir Fibre Broadband

kave2

Hi all, Eir seller showed up at the house yesterday and offered Eir Fibre Broadband 500mb for 39.99 for 24 months. Apparently it's available now to my area(Roscam, Galway), installlation early Oct.

I currently have VM which is very good but is cost 71e for 500mb and they are not offering any deals.

Is Eir reliable enough? I'm WFH so reliable broadband is a must.

Thanks a lot.

The Real B-man

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2058263294/eir-fibre-broadband

The fibre product is very reliable i would suggest getting the eir smart wifi hub to extend wifi coverage i have two these and are excellent for there price point and offer wifi 6

so a future proof even if your current devices don't utilise the the potential.

kave2

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119616708#Comment_119616708

Thanks for reply. Lot of bad experiences with Eir in this forum. Do you actually get full speed, 500mb?

I have been with VM for very long time and they have been excellent in my area.

snowstreams

I wouldnt be in any rush to leave VM unless they really cranked up the price. I remember UPC as they were known at the time used to crank up the price on us but we could bargain them down by threatening to leave.

I have EIR Fibre to my house for the last 4-5 years & its been good and reliable but the modem they gave us (F2000) hasnt great wifi. I bought a separate router to cover the wifi side of things after a few months. (Im still looking for a good alternative to the F2000 that I could buy myself)

Also Eir do tend to increase their prices over time & it would be useful to change to other providers yearly to keep the best deals but I have TV and phone & 2 mobiles all rolled into the bill, so its very hard to get out of the package until both mobiles are out of contract.

snapper365

What wholesale network are Eir offering to sign you up to? I would assume it's OpenEir, which is very reliable. You will almost certainly get a rock solid 500Mbps.

The main problem with VM is that there is no competition. 71euro per month is proof of that. At that price, you could save nearly 500 a year with other suppliers if you switch to an open network, but as long as you're on VM, you're stuck with VM prices.

Switching to OpenEir will necessitate some installation work (usually free but can be disruptive and/or unsightly) but it will allow you to switch to various suppliers whenever you're out of contract.

If you're wary about Eir's customer service (and my personal experience would suggest you are right to be), bear in mind that although their Sales team may lead you to believe that they're the only show in town, they aren't.

Punch your eircode into the OpenEir website to check your coverage. Once the service is available to your eircode, you can order from one of a whole bunch of suppliers.

kave2

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119618083#Comment_119618083

TBH, not really sure. He just said Eir Fibre, 500mb, 39.99e with 24 months contract, free installation and first month free.

He even said not to cancel VM until this is installed and tested. Regarding installation, they would have to drill through wall but it was done with VM too.

Didn't even know OpenEir existed, what is difference between two. Thanks a lot.

I might give it a go and test it out. If it works well I will cancel VM, if not I just cancel within 14 days cooling period.

Gooser14

You should check Vodafone for their deals also. I got their 500 mb on a 12 month contract for €30 pm (advertised as €35 pm) . They also waived the €50 installation fee. I was a first time FTTH connection. Have it since April & very pleased with it so far.

snapper365

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119618278#Comment_119618278

OpenEir are responsible for building and maintaining their wholesale fibre network, they carry out the infrastructure work etc. If you see a van with the "Eir" logo in green lettering, look closer and you'll likely notice a little "Open" written just above.

Eir is a telecoms provider. That's who called to your door and that's who you would sign up to/pay your DDs to etc. Their logo is the same except it's lilac and doesn't have the "Open" part. It's confusing and possibly deliberately so. They're both owned by Eircom but they are run as separate entities.

Crucially, the OpenEir network is open to other suppliers (over 20 IIRC) so being connected to it allows you to switch freely (assuming you're not in contract) to get the best price, which is something you cannot do on VM.

The Eir sales team in your area might have the run on their competitors, possibly due to having better visibility of the fibre rollout, but you're not obliged to sign up to them in order to get connect to the OpenEir network.

Check your eircode and see: https://openeir.maps.arcgis.com/apps/instant/lookup/index.html?appid=a8fdd9780bd84f0799f99522c48f6e66

The Real B-man

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119620759#Comment_119620759

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2058263294/eir-fibre-broadband

You are correct but they Eir retail do not have any insider knowledge to when fibre is available on the Open Eir network all isp's are notified at the same time its highly regulated some of those reps would sell sand to Arabs to get a sale.

monkeybutter

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2058263294/eir-fibre-broadband

Eir are by far the worst company you will ever deal with

I would use them only if no other option is available, SKy vodafone etc all sell the same product in a pointless wasteful cycle just like in the leccy gas etc market

shop around each year as they are all scumbag companies who will rip you off for customer loyalty

C3PO

I wouldn’t have Eir as my only Broadband provider even if they were giving me the service for free! If you have problems you are likely to have a complete nightmare sorting them out!

Kalyke

What router are Eir providing now F2000 or F3000?

The Real B-man

F3000

RobiePAX

Virgin Media is a bad choice if you live in the area where OpenEir can connect you to Gigabit Fibre, which is argubly one of the best options in Ireland.

OpenEir rents out their cable to Eir, Vodafone, Sky, etc. You will have power to negotiate a good deal or otherwise easily swap providers for a better price who use the same OpenEir cable. You don't have that power with Virgin.

If you are afraid of Eir customer care reputation you could try Vodafone or Sky. They can get you connected too. Just make sure they don't charge over €100 for install. Most should do it for free as it's in their best interest to get you connected.

Vologda69

After Virgins recent price increases (nearly 78 a month) and poor 500mb broadband (i work from home). I signed up to Eir for 39.99 for 24 months. Had heard the stories about poor customer service. Installation was pain free as im not far from FTTH cabinet. Connection is rock steady and not far off 480mb. No more dropped Skype meetings. Had to follow up re transferring my landline number. Twitter support staff were polite and helpful, answering within hours. When I rang 1901 it was answered in under three minutes. Again very helpful. So I can only say positive things about Eir, who seem to be getting their house in order.

PaulJoseph22

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119624322#Comment_119624322

Its a dreadful piece of kit, replaced it with Asus.

eir are appalling.

alec76

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119677712#Comment_119677712

It's decent enough router for ISP much better than F2000

Could easily hit 550 mbps wireless speeds too.

I didn't see the option to disable Eir WiFi network though ( I didn't look too long as I am using own router, still just curious if there is such option)

knobtasticus

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119683420#Comment_119683420

If I'm remembering correctly - you gotta ring eir to get the public network disabled. There's no local option to do it.

alec76

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119702462#Comment_119702462

Thank you for the heads-up . Not available through WEB UI anyway. Probably possible via TELNET/SSH or WEB UI hidden option.