UTVip or IOL NetSmart

Gav_b

Hi,

Which of these two ISP packages would you recommend.

TIA

[DF]Lenny

I have tried utvip for a few months and while its quite good if you only want to surf if you are into playing games/downloading the ping and d/l rates are chronic .They also charge you 2months if you decide to change to a different isp which was close to €70 if i remember correctly:-(

andrew163

Hi,

I'm on utvipxl, I find it great....... I'd recommend it. Also, UTV have excellent tech support, and I've never (ever) gotten an engaged tone when dialing up. http://www.utvip.com

You might want to look at IOL Anytime also............. NetSmart is a bit out-dated, but afaik you can still order it.

IOL anytime is the exact same as UTV, but its a bit more expensive (they have in introductory offer thats actually cheaper then UTV, but this only lasts a few months).

Hope that helps,
andrew.

andrew163

Originally posted by [DF]Lenny
I have tried utvip for a few months and while its quite good if you only want to surf if you are into playing games/downloading the ping and d/l rates are chronic .They also charge you 2months if you decide to change to a different isp which was close to €70 if i remember correctly:-(

thats strange...... I get excellent download rates and pings that I thought were impossible on dialup (100-200)...........theyre better then any other ISP I've ever used

BKtje

Afaik that offer has now expired as you could only sign up to it till the end of July.

Frank Grimes

Originally posted by Gav_b
Hi,

Which of these two ISP packages would you recommend.

TIA

I've never connected to UTV so no comment there.
I'm connected to Anytime though and Netsmart previously, great service imo (not perfect, but that's allowed ).
You should really consider Anytime rather than Netsmart, same cost but Anytime gives you 180 hours peak/off peak as apposed to 120 off peak with Netsmart.

Creamy Goodness

who in there right mind would go for netsmart now?

less hours restricted times that you're allowed on the net?

it ain't making no sense!.


Anytime is better than UTV if you're planning to play games if not UTV is cheaper for surfing the web

Paddy20

UTVip XL, without a shadow of a doubt if you are using the web for research, entertainment etc. However, as I am not a gamer, those who are tell me that they really need Broadband.

Again UTV Clicksilver may be the answer.

Tiesto

remember tho if u go with utvip u have to accept their telephony package.

Nuphor

Both are good, pings are slightly higher for UTV, d/l speeds are allegedly better with Anytime (I can't comment. I'm with anytime, but to me, UTV's download speeds kick every other ISP's arse).

To be honest, the only major difference is that telephony is bundled with UTV, and it isn't with Anytime. That was the deciding factor for me. All else was irrelevant as I'm using Silvermead broadband anyway.

myhandle

Originally posted by Cr3m0
who in there right mind would go for netsmart now?...

I see your point but NetSmart does have one advantage over Anytime.

The contract term is shorter, about 3-4 months, not 12 months as Anytime.

DundalkDuffman

I had nothing but praise for UTVip when I signed up. Recently, however I have had connection problems at various times of the day. It could take 5 or 6 attempts to connect and then it was at 42000bps. I emailed their support over a week ago and still have heard nothing. It does nothing to persuade me to take their anytime option.

skywalker_208

remember tho if u go with utvip u have to accept their telephony package.

their telephony package?

Frank Grimes

Originally posted by skywalker_208
their telephony package?

It means you have to use them for voice calls too.

Paddy20

Plus, you get up to "25% off" your ordinary telephone call charges. Just think 25% cheaper than the Rats charges, yet you still retain your Eircom telephone number and continue to pay the Rats telephone line rental bi-monthly cost direct too Eircom.

Personally, this discount has saved me a small fortune!.

P.;)

skywalker_208

so how does this work? do u still get your eircom bill and pay it in the same way? are the UTVIP charges on it?

kaimera

you get yore €ircom bill every second month for the line rental [forty something euros afaik]

then you get another bill from UTV [not sure of the billing for them tho..one month or two]

Calman

With UTVipXL u get software to count how much time you've used but with Anytime u get to check online from Esat's database. This would be handy if u had 2 computers using the same phoneline because they wouldn't be sychronized or if the software crashed on your computer and u couldn't see how much time you've used that month or something else. I'm thinking of getting flatrate and that's why I'd pay the €5 more for Anytime but it's a 12 month contract so I'd go for UTVipXL's 3 month contract instead. Correct me if I'm wrong in any of this. BTW how do u make a € sign, I just copy and paste cause I dunno how?

DundalkDuffman

Depending on your setup. On mine it is the alt GR button and the number 4 key together. At my work I had to assign a key to use for it.

Lukin Black

I've been using Netsmart & Anytime and they're grand. I never considered UTV, just because I pay for the internet, as I'm the only user, and don't want the phone calls coming outta my bank account too. Especially with the size of our bill.

Paddy20

skywalker_208,

You still get your normal Eircom bill bi-monthly, but the only charges on it should be for your line rental. The UTVip monthly charges are NOT on it.

The U.TV Internet bills are presented to you once a month online. These you can print off if you wish. You can choose various payment methods, Credit card, direct debit,etc. Your U.TV Internet statement usually includes One months advance internet access subscription fee i.e. UTVip XL = €24.99c [inc vat], plus your ordinary telephone call charges in arrears!.

Calman,

On my keyboard. To get the Euro [€] I press Ctrl + Alt and while still holding these pressed I then press the number 4 key and bingo!.

P.

Paddy20

skywalker_208,

Might be an idea for you to have a study of the F.A.Q. frequently asked questions section on:- www.utvip.com

Good luck.

P.;)

andrew163

Originally posted by Calman
With UTVipXL u get software to count how much time you've used

does that software actually count the hours or is it just a fancy dialer that crashes alot?


answering gav_b's original question (again), I recently got my line splitter/pairgain removed (after a small war with eircom over it) and although pings have gotten even better for me and the speed has almost doubled, I do get disconnected every once in a while (which didn't happen before) (although its not disconnecting every 5 minutes or anything like that). Then again, no ISP's perfect.....

BTW how do u make a € sign, I just copy and paste cause I dunno how?

AltGR + 4 held down together will give you a € sign
(or ctrl+alt+4)



<edit>sorry paddy i didnt see you'd already answered that question :$ </edit>

Stephen

According to UTV people on their support newsgroup, they're working on implementing a system where you can check how many hours you've used online.

davil

If EsatBT's Anytime is anything like BTopenworld anytime I will be keeping away. I used to work for BTopenworld tech support and my god the service provided was crap. They had 90 minute cutoff rates where you have to disconnect and try to reconnect. The original BTopenworld Anytime had no limit to the amount of hours online and then they changed it and most people didn't have a clue it happened unless they used their email adresses they got with their account. The contention ratio was always uber-bad as well. But as soon as I can afford it I will go for EsatBT's business broadband service cos from what I hear, it rocks.....

:ninja:

skywalker_208

well ive read all the documentation, usage policy, FAQ's etc and it seems that utvip is the way to go for me... wat about connection speeds? does anyone have any complaints about slow speeds?