Blacknight Broadband 5Gb pricing

Thanatus · 05-06-2025 01:45PM #1

They are charging €99.99 a month as an OpenEir Reseller.

Personally this seems insane considering the wholesale pricing from OpenEir list both the 2Gb and 5Gb services at €39.72 (even if ex-vat).

Have I missed something or is it only support staff and such as additonal operating costs?

It is a shame that Blacknight seem to have lost any competitive nature with 5Gb package by not even undercutting their competitors out of contract pricing.

If anyone could possibly correct my knowledge on this matter I would appreciate it as I can't find any mention of having to provide any additonal hardware or anything.

edit
Forgot to mention the obvious that they do not even provide some generic ewaste router with the 2Gb or 5Gb service so no extra costs there.

The Cush · 05-06-2025 02:16PM

I always assumed Blacknight was more of a business to business reseller rather than residential.

NotShero · 05-06-2025 02:23PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2058414681/blacknight-broadband-5gb-pricing

They wouldn’t just be reselling OpenEir. Like nearly all ISPs, they would have their own backhaul, routing, peering so that’s probably the price difference. But I do agree they don’t seem to be concerned with being competitive in the residential market.

Thanatus · 05-06-2025 02:32PM

@The Cush

Have always known them as the hosting company more than anything else but seem to have branched out. Doesn't change the fact they are charging 25 euro more per month than their 2Gb service with no apparent increase in operating costs, like 100 euro a month would be understandable for business broadband customers if they need the bandwidth but there is nothing competitive in the pricing and not sure about others but to me the 6 month contract period and the static ipv4 by default (even though Eir can do the same for 50 euro once off fee) doesn't justify the instanity of the pricing for residential broadband.

@NotShero

Thank you for clarification, Was having a hard time trying to find actual information about what costs go into it as all I could find indicated that OpenEir deal with all the hardware aspect with ISP's using their system just having a software interface that providers options for services to eircode address and usual account information stuff. Still not sure that it makes up for the price increase over the 2Gb service as I would hope they future proofed up to 10Gig at minimum so as not to have to replace hardware on their end in the nearish future.

Glaceon · 05-06-2025 02:32PM

I did enquire about Blacknight once, they could only offer me service via OpenEir rather than SIRO, who were the only ones available to me at the time. I went with Digiweb in the end.

KildareP · 05-06-2025 04:15PM

It's only a 6-month contract, they do offer a discount off the monthly headline price if you pay in advance.

They're not really aiming themselves at residential to be honest - many ISP's don't, it's just not a market worthwhile chasing.

Thanatus · 05-06-2025 11:13PM

@KildareP

Fair enough but it is still an odd choice of price considering the other possible services and how they match up compared to competitors pricing when it comes to out of contact rates. Just seems like someone decided "hey f*ck it lets just do 99.99 because sure why not" without comparing other ISP pricing. Only virgin media fibre is near that price out of contract and they get to do that because their upload is double that of the OpenEir 5Gb service.

just don't see why they are doing what they are with the 5GB considering they keep the other home broadband services price under the out of contract rate from other ISP? (at least when it comes to the fibre offerings)

lotas · 06-06-2025 12:43PM

Looking at Eir's price for 5Gb FTTH, its 50 a month under a 2 year contract, then 90 quid a month thereafter… Given Blacknight are only setting you up for a 6 month contract, thats probably why… Also, been a Blacknight business customer for a couple of years now. I have 2Gb FTTH and ex vat its 80 quid. Just put in a request to upgrade to 5Gb, and it will go up by a tenner ex vat. I have been very happy with their service, so no issue going back.

Thanatus · 06-06-2025 02:42PM

@lotas I have no complaint with their service or support. It is just the pricing choice seems like someone took a fall, hit their head and then decided to do an increase of 25 euro per month on residential pricing between 2gig to 5gig. Instead of just doing a 10 euro increase like they have between 1gig and 2 gig packages.

theintern · 06-06-2025 03:42PM

Curious as to why you've gone with Blacknight at all? Given their 1G service is significantly more expensive than the competition? 64 euro a month for 1G is pretty far above what others are charging. Their 500 offer is more than what many price 1G at.

I've looked at them in the past because I've used the company before and know people who've worked for them and had good experiences, but the prices are just way too high.

lotas · 06-06-2025 06:06PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123520490#Comment_123520490

Going from 1-2Gb is double the speed for a 10er… going from 2 to 5 is more than double, plus, there would be a LOT more infrastructure in the background required to run it… Not many people need or want 5Gb internet, so its premium price…

lotas · 06-06-2025 06:08PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123520666#Comment_123520666

Business support, business class connection, Dedicated IPs (i got a /29 V4 plus a /48 V6) and better connectivity… Residential broadband providers find ways of getting the price down… usually by giving crappy service or borking the connection somehow (Virgin by default on residential are CGNATting connections). I went business so, yea, i pay more, but i get more.

tazzzZ · 09-06-2025 11:59AM

I was with blacknight for my 1gb/200 SIRO connection for the past year or two. Mostly it was the support that kept me with them. I didn't mind spending a little bit more for that. I was with airwire before that too. I try to stick to Irish businesses if i can. And the whole offering was worth the extra for me. I have since gone to virgin for the 5gb offering. The price difference is just too much to justify for me. As other have done I have by-passed the hub router to bypass the cgnat and get my own ipv4 address assigned which is an extra cost and a bit of a hassle but well worth it. In my few dealings with VM since changing I will say I really miss the level of customer service I had from blacknight and airwire… but the 5000/500 (mostly upload) is just worth the hassle so far.

theintern · 10-06-2025 12:17PM

I find Digiweb support to be excellent. You can get a static IP from them for a one time 50 euro charge, and they're almost as cheap as any of the competition. I'm not sure the Blacknight premium is worth it over someone like Digiweb, that's why I was asking.

Both are Irish companies as far as I'm aware.

Thanatus · 11-06-2025 01:05PM

@tazzzZ Virgin media seems the way to go if available, stuck waiting for them to run fibre in my area although I have gotten the mail notice about their intention to do so. Knowing virgin media it could be anywhere from 2 months to 2 years before they do it. It is great to know that the Hub can be bypassed.

tazzzZ · 12-06-2025 12:17AM

Yea I have them installed… The cancellation team were absolute CU Next Tuesdays when I spoke to them about the €50 offer they had. And tbh they got their way because I just hung up the phone rather than argue with them.

Cant argue about the service though. Always get over the rated service… usually 5.2Gb down and 520Mb up. So very happy with that

Blacknight Broadband 5Gb pricing

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