switch broadband supplier

bbbbb

My one year contract with IOLBB is about to expire, I'm wondering how to go about successfully neogotiating a better deal or switching to someone else (UTV, eircom).

Any success stories out there?

garthv

im in the same boat as yourself,thinking of going for the 1meg IBB package though

Adey2002

GaRtH_V wrote:

im in the same boat as yourself,thinking of going for the 1meg IBB package though

If you go with Irishbroadband you will regret it. Irishbroadband is not broadband at all. The support is totally inferior and the service is absolute crap. You may as well just get 2 cans and a wet piece of string as have Irish"broad"band. Avoid them at all costs.

i'm on the 512 breeze (which is supposed to be better than ripwave) and 8/1 contention.

Bass.exe

Whoa! IBB are bad? Please explain, in detail, as I was looking at their 1mb package.... now I'm kind of put off.
What exactly is wrong with their service?

Baz_

I think what adeys trying to say is he is upset and angry at the moment with ibb because hes having problems with his connection, what he failed to mention is how many time he has had to contact the support, how long it took to get his problem sorted (if it was at all) and in what way is it totally inferior (i.e. what are his experiences with other companies support). He also leaves the matter ambiguous as to the connection speed he gets, the uptime his service gives (ripwave in my experience is complete arse on this point) and exactly how the contention affects him.

On the other hand, most people on here feel that the Breeze 1meg package is a great option (sorry to be speaking for them, but I have to get my post count up somehow;)) and I haven't heard many complaints about it at all, especially in terms of the connection speeds (oh, wait I did hear one gripe, again about contention, and that the service is uncapped :boggle:).

In other words, adey might not be the most reliable source (no offence).

Baz_

Bass.exe

Someone was complaining IBB was *UN*capped??

Ok, fair enough. It's just I gathered that bbbbb was unhappy with IBB too. I'm using Eircom atm. It's ok, only around 3 days of downtime over the whole year. It's the download cap that really gets me though.

Blaster99

Everyone is entitled to choose whatever they like, but you may want to keep in mind that with IBB you'll feel the contention and they're not going to apologise for it. If you share your bandwidth with a few warez boyz, you're not going to see 1Mbps very often. And you may want to consider what type of users go for an uncapped service before you take the plunge.

I presume the DSL providers don't end up with this problem because they have caps and they also have an awful lot of users who don't sit glued to their favourite P2P software all day long. With Eircom's ADSL I've never seen a slowdown in speeds, with IBB it's all over the shop.

Enigma365

We got ripwave in our flat because we had no alternative(no ntl or phone line).

The problem with IBB ripwave is not really the speed. When its working, the download speed is fine. The problem is the stability of the service. It goes down an average of 5 minutes every two hours for no particular reason(it just loses signal). It's incredibly annoying but not so annoying that i wish to cancel the service.

It is far better than 56k and is relatively cheap. Having said that, if you have the option to go with a phone line broadband service, take it.

Bass.exe

Blaster99 wrote:

...keep in mind that with IBB you'll feel the contention and they're not going to apologise for it. If you share your bandwidth with a few warez boyz, you're not going to see 1Mbps very often.

Contention for IBB 20:1. Contention for Eircom 28:1.
Although there probably aren't that many people sharing my line.

Plus, Eircom's max speed, 512kb. IBB's max(for the 1mb package), 1mb. Even if it's not always at 1mb, it's still probably better than eircom.

Drapper

I got IBB and I get DATA bursts of 156kps on a 1 meg lite line !!! great service and I'd not complain !!! USing DAP or FLashget increases the speed too """

garthv

A friend of mine got the 1 meg package and he just lives down the road from me.He has it a few months and not a single complaint from him. Tbh with 1meg up and down,better contention ratio than IOLBB and no cap id take sh1tty tech support anyday

Tony

Adey2002 wrote:

If you go with Irishbroadband you will regret it. Irishbroadband is not broadband at all. The support is totally inferior and the service is absolute crap. You may as well just get 2 cans and a wet piece of string as have Irish"broad"band. Avoid them at all costs.

i'm on the 512 breeze (which is supposed to be better than ripwave) and 8/1 contention.

I can understand your post as their customer service is bad but have to say since I've upgraded to 1 meg with 20:1 contention the speed and pings are in a different league, averaging 950 kpbs on speedtests

bbbbb

Guys, thanks for the replies but I think we've drifted off topic here. I'm with IOL BB (http://www.iol.ie/broadband/ or esat bt), i.e. regular DSL over the phone. Happy with the service, not looking to switch to a wireless provider, but looking for a better deal.

Got a reply from UTV, they will charge 29.99 a month plus 72 to setup, 99 if I need a modem (so effectively 36 per month). Bit disappointed, if I was a brand new customer I'd get 3 months free on top of that, and why do I have to pay for set up when I'm already set up?

Adey2002

Baz_ wrote:

In other words, adey might not be the most reliable source (no offence).

Baz_

No offence taken Baz, but to answer your question, I have had to get onto supprt numerous times. The last problem took several phone calls and weeks to resolve. I will be the first to say that their service has improved considerably in the recent months its still not really up to standard and coming from DSL to IBB you will notice a vast difference in service. The main problem is always with contention and it seems the way IBB calculate it, because I'm on a contention of 8/1 and get nowhere near the download speeds I should. Ping times are also terrible so if your a gamer (even a slow paced poker game) I wouldn't bother with IBB.

Also, I would be interested to know whether those that are happy with IBB have just come from a dialup connection or if they have had broadband previously.

I'm not alone in the problems with IBB. Just check the boards and you will find most problems relate to IBB. (see http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=203258 ) for this weekends...

Bass.exe

bbbbb, to answer your question:

I use Eircom. It's overpriced, and is very restrictive, due to the insanely LOW cap the put on downloading, and possibly uploading, depending on which package you get.
The cheapest package is €40 a month, and you get 4GB of download and 1GB of upload cap.
The next one up is €55 a month, and you get 8GB of download, infinite upload.
Contention is 28:1 AFAI remember.
The Good Side? Hardly any down-time, Pretty consistent latency, of around 40.

My friend got IBB just a bit back(N.B. This is the BREEZE package, not RIPWAVE). He's very happy with it so far. It's €48.80 a month, a 1mb line(up and down), and no cap. It's got a contention ratio of 20:1. He gets excellent latency too, around 25 I think.
He's had no problems as of yet. You should probably look into wireless, just to cover all your options. I have heard.... mixed stories of IBB's services, not just on boards.ie.

HungryJoey

Well i use Eircom, I have to admit , it is an execelent service. Never had to ring Tech & Support once. Never failed on me, Never cut of...NOT ONCE !! But it is also expensive...

thats why hopefully soon i will change to 1.5MB B'band from NTL ...for only 50Euro...

Check there preice list...
http://www.ntl.com/locales/ie/en/athome/internet_cable.html

Drapper

Guys BB is still in infancy in Ireland !!! Dont chop and change until the industry matures !!! BB is really 2 meg and above which will be rolled out soon !!! DSL cant handle greater than about 5 megabits so WAIT !!! FIBRE FOR ANYONE ??? watch the dutch !!!

VDSL and Wireless, Cable ect will evolve and compete with each other !!!!!!!

Drapper

Adey2002 wrote:

No offence taken Baz, but to answer your question, I have had to get onto supprt numerous times. The last problem took several phone calls and weeks to resolve. I will be the first to say that their service has improved considerably in the recent months its still not really up to standard and coming from DSL to IBB you will notice a vast difference in service. The main problem is always with contention and it seems the way IBB calculate it, because I'm on a contention of 8/1 and get nowhere near the download speeds I should. Ping times are also terrible so if your a gamer (even a slow paced poker game) I wouldn't bother with IBB.

Also, I would be interested to know whether those that are happy with IBB have just come from a dialup connection or if they have had broadband previously.

I'm not alone in the problems with IBB. Just check the boards and you will find most problems relate to IBB. (see http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=203258 ) for this weekends...

The complaints are with Ripwave !! not Breeze !! I've got it and its GRrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrreeeeeeaaaaaaattttttttttt...............

dub45

bbbbb wrote:

Guys, thanks for the replies but I think we've drifted off topic here. I'm with IOL BB (http://www.iol.ie/broadband/ or esat bt), i.e. regular DSL over the phone. Happy with the service, not looking to switch to a wireless provider, but looking for a better deal.

Got a reply from UTV, they will charge 29.99 a month plus 72 to setup, 99 if I need a modem (so effectively 36 per month). Bit disappointed, if I was a brand new customer I'd get 3 months free on top of that, and why do I have to pay for set up when I'm already set up?

UTV will have set up costs to pay to Eircom so they will be passed on to you.

You will have to change your telephone to UTV not necessarily a hardship but be aware of it. Posters on here have pointed out before that IOL BB have good packages of telephony and bb so that might be worth checking if you are a heavy telehphone user before moving away.

UTV are very anxious to tie customers in to further 12 month contracts whenever they can so watch out for that. For instance to change betweeen clicksilver products they now require you to commit to a further 12 month contract even though there is no charge to them for the move up and only a 15 euro charge for the move down!

UTV only supply a USB modem but will supply an ethernet modem for around a further 50 euros.

In the past UTV have had reliability problems and ping problems but certainly for the last few months all has been pretty stable. UTV's customer service is pretty good although at the moment people have been complaining on the utv support news group about long delays on the customer help line and finally there is the danger of being without bb for a period while you change ( it should be possible to change without interruption but.........)

tom-thebox

Another IBB user here, download speeds are crap, the support dont reply.

I am going to be getting a decent provider shortly no idea who yet and sticking the their kit up their ***.

Bass.exe

Ripwave? Or Breeze? Important Distinction there!

tom-thebox

Bass.exe wrote:

Ripwave? Or Breeze? Important Distinction there!

I am on breeze.

jonny68

Can anyone tell me which od the BB providers where you dont have to sign a 12 month contract?

Drapper

That would be.................. ehhhhhhh all !! you can give 30 days notice I think to most if you are not happy with the service, most have a cooling off period too. But you must be not happy !!!

bbbbb

asked UTV why the 72E setup fee if I'm already setup

Unfortunately there is no broadband migration process in
the ROI so you will need to cancel your broadband account with IOL and then
reapply through ourselves incurring the setup charge.

There you go. Sticking with IOL/esat then, too much hassle otherwise.