UTV or ESAT for broadband ?

stiofanD

Hope someone can provide me with a bit of guidance. I'm about to sign up for one of the free broadband trials, but I'm not sure whether to go for UTV or ESAT.

On the one hand UTV is only e30 a month, but they are going to charge me e99 at the end of the three months and give me a USB modem (I really want one with an ethernet port)

On the other hand, Esat is e40 a month, no installation charge (AFAIK - is this right?) and give you a modem with an ethernet port.

Whats the general consensus - UTV or ESAT ?

Cheers!

dub45

stiofanD wrote:

Hope someone can provide me with a bit of guidance. I'm about to sign up for one of the free broadband trials, but I'm not sure whether to go for UTV or ESAT.

On the one hand UTV is only e30 a month, but they are going to charge me e99 at the end of the three months and give me a USB modem (I really want one with an ethernet port)

On the other hand, Esat is e40 a month, no installation charge (AFAIK - is this right?) and give you a modem with an ethernet port.

Whats the general consensus - UTV or ESAT ?

Cheers!

For obvious reasons I wont make a recommendation:) but I will point out that it is possible to get an Ethernet modem from UTV for an extra charge. Ripwave has commented on here that he thinks the modem that UTV supply is not satisfactory for security reasons anyways but apart from the comments you may read here in the thread look around the various other threads for comments on things like caps pings etc. Eventually a lot of people end up buying routers so dont let the modem be your sole criterion.

Paulw

I use Esat and find them great. I've had little or no technical problems at all.

HelterSkelter

I've been on Esat (IOLBB Plus) for about 4 months now and find it great. The speeds are always fast (50Kb/s+) and I find the cap pleanty (16GB), I never downloaded more than 4GB in a month. The modem they gave me is gathering dust now cos I bought a wireless router.

Iago

esat will supply a usb/ethernet router for no additional charge

They do charge an installation fee of €90

they seem to be more secure and reliable in terms of connections and speeds...

ulto

Go for the free trial with esat first. Then see what you make of it. At lesat you will get free BB for 3 months

Optikus

Having only tried Eircom an ESATBt, my vote would go for the latter.

Ripwave

Iago wrote:

esat will supply a usb/ethernet router for no additional charge

ESAT have only supplied dual ethernet/USB Zyxel Prestige 623-T1s since last November. There is no need to make any special request, it's the standard equipment supplied.

Ripwave

stiofanD wrote:

On the one hand UTV is only e30 a month, but they are going to charge me e99 at the end of the three months and give me a USB modem (I really want one with an ethernet port).

You have to sign your phone calls over to UTV to get the €30 service. If you sign your calls over to ESAT, you only have to pay €33.15 for IOL Broadband.
http://www.iol.ie/bundles/bb_adv.htm (Minimum €15/month spend on phonecalls required).

stiofanD wrote:

On the other hand, Esat is e40 a month, no installation charge (AFAIK - is this right?) and give you a modem with an ethernet port.

As far as I know, IOL will also charge €90 "installation" after the 3 month free trial (which looks like it would actually be a disincentive for people to stay on, so it seems stupid to me). But the modem has bothe ethernet and USB ports, and, importantly, provide NAT so that your machine won't be vulnerable to any internet worms that break out.

I've been recommending IOL/ESAT based on the current offerings.

stiofanD

Thanks for all the replys!

I think on balance going for Esat is best, so I applied today....unfortunately its a 21 day lead time before activation, so will have to endure 2kB/s downloads for a while longer

EKRIUQ

I got my modem and was connected to UTV withinn a week, and when UTV talk when that is launched there could also be huge phone savings, as for speeds I've no problems and there technical department seem to be very efficient any time I had questions, plus its €120 euro's cheaper per year than esat.I'm only 2 months through my 3month free trial but if I decide to stay with UTV I'll get another month free.:)

JP Mulvano

Wait hold on a minute €90 after the 3 month trial I got some blurb that says €50. When did anyone else sign up I just got the trial.

Stark

Go with Esat.

Ripwave

TIPPTOP wrote:

plus its €120 euro's cheaper per year than esat.

12 times €33.15 is only €37.80.

EKRIUQ

Don't shoot the messenger

Only going on the info that Esat gives on its broadband page Here
See nothing about €33

stiofanD

TIPPTOP wrote:

Don't shoot the messenger

Only going on the info that Esat gives on its broadband page Here
See nothing about €33

The €33 only applys if you take their homephone package aswell as the broadband. This is basically committing you to a minimum call bill of €15 per month (whether you make that many calls or not)

Ripwave

TIPPTOP wrote:

Don't shoot the messenger

Only going on the info that Esat gives on its broadband page Here
See nothing about €33

IOL/ESAT has a range of bundles, depending on the users needs. If you take the Talk and Surf Bundle 3, then you only pay €33.15 for BB. You're committed to a minimum spend of €15 for phonecalls, but most users make enough calls to cover this. http://www.iol.ie/bundles/bb_adv.htm

EKRIUQ

gotcha!:)

Gonzo

Esats performance is alot more reliable than utv with good download speeds and low pings, utv have highish pings and their past performance history leaves alot to be desired tho they seem to have settled down now, still tho go for esat - better pings, less disconnections and better modem.

dub45

Esat's account sides has always had a bad reputation and I had a small experience of this a long time ago - has this side of things improved?

muffler

I got broadband a few weeks ago with Esat/BT. As with a friend of mine the waiting time for delivery of the modem etc was about 2 weeks even though they advised about it taking up to 21 working days.

Three things in favour of Esat/BT's as opposed to 1 on Eircom's side

1. I get a discount of about €6.00 per month as I have the phone service with them too.
2. The technical support calls are low call rate as opposed to 33c per min. with Eircom.
3. The download limit is twice that of Eircom.

In Eircom's favour was that they had no connection fee in their recent summer promotion as opposed to Esat/BT's €90

I think Eircom may now be charging a connection fee.