yet another "who should I go with" thread.

schmooFlan

Hi there,

I've just moved in to an apartment in Ranelagh, and after leaving the countryside behind am looking forward to getting some sort of broadband connection.
I was looking for some sort of www.whirlpool.net.au equivalent for
Ireland and this forum seems to be a pretty good start.

Anyways, I was just wondering if people could comment on my current
understanding of my choices as regards a broadband provider.

NTL - Don't do Ranelagh at the moment

Smart - Don't do Ranelagh at the moment

Magnet - Don't do Ranelagh at the moment

BT - have crappy billing systems. This scares me as I only want this connection for one year, no more no less, so I don't want any hassle leaving.

IBB - ten thousand posts of misery from people dealing with them.

eircom - not the best choice for most, but it seems to be the best for me
at the moment?

So, I'm thinking of going with eircom.
Has anyone got any options I haven't thought of, or are my assumptions
above wrong?

thanks!

bk

Well you have certainly done your homework.

Eircom is a fine option if you are willing to over spend.

Recently a lot of my friends have gone BT (I've got NTL) and they have had no problems. Going with BT is safe as long as you take the following steps:

1) Keep a log of each time you call BT, note time, date, person you spoke to and reason for calling/outcome.

2) Keep every bill from BT and study it carefully for any problems.

3) When cancelling, phone them to let them know, but also send them a registered letter letting them know that you are cancelling.

As long as you do this, they really can't screw you over.

Sapele

Definitely pay the extra for Eircom. Esat BT is a bad company. My bill was wrong for 7 months; no matter what I did they couldn’t get it right. Then they billed me the same amount again ...... save yourself a headache. My online bill is STILL incorrect after all this time. You can do everything right and still end up in a billing muddle with them -- to this day I still don't understand esat BT, if its deliberate billing fraud or massive billing incompetence

EDIT: look into Digiweb also

Robxxx7

Eircom are probablt the most stable choice ....if stable is the correct word !

But everyone will have different experiences with different providers. You ahve already done alot of homework and searching around here will also be useful.
I use a wireless provider, but it wouldn't be my first choice, but i have no other alternative.

You may have had a look here already, but this will tell you what is available in your area ... best of luck

http://www.broadband.gov.ie/bbinfo/ServiceByLocationSearchWF.aspx

cgarvey

You seem to be well on top of things, so if you take bk's advice and just document all dealings with BT, then I think the significant cost savings over the eircom equivalent would be more than worth the effort involved in documenting the BT stuff.

Personally, I would record all phone calls (which means you have to tell them you're recording them), and save copies of the T&C you sign up to at the time you sign up. Know/understand what it is, exactly, what you're going to pay, so that you can cut off DD at the end of the contract knowing they've taken their share and that's that. Recorded delivery, like bk says, is the only way to go!

So, you seem capable of being able to deal with that, where as many other BB users mightn't be. Therefore, I'd recommend BT. You won't find many complaints about their network/service here, and they certainly are better value than eircom.

.cg

Sean^DCT4

schmooFlan wrote:

Hi there,

I've just moved in to an apartment in Ranelagh, and after leaving the countryside behind am looking forward to getting some sort of broadband connection.
I was looking for some sort of www.whirlpool.net.au equivalent for
Ireland and this forum seems to be a pretty good start.

Anyways, I was just wondering if people could comment on my current
understanding of my choices as regards a broadband provider.

NTL - Don't do Ranelagh at the moment

Smart - Don't do Ranelagh at the moment

Magnet - Don't do Ranelagh at the moment

BT - have crappy billing systems. This scares me as I only want this connection for one year, no more no less, so I don't want any hassle leaving.

IBB - ten thousand posts of misery from people dealing with them.

eircom - not the best choice for most, but it seems to be the best for me
at the moment?

So, I'm thinking of going with eircom.
Has anyone got any options I haven't thought of, or are my assumptions
above wrong?

thanks!

Im also with Eircom, although I don't pay the bill...
I have always been extremely satisfied with Eircom.

• It's never down. I have had broadband since Eircom introduced it for residential customers 2-3 years now I think. It has been down once as far as I recall and it just required a reset from their end due to Exchange upgrades.
• It's always downloading at max speed, when available (+Contention Ratio is good)
• 3.1MB Down 30k Upload
• 30GB Monthly Transfer Limit (Although I have smashed through this every month since they upgraded me from 0.5MB -> 1MB -> 2MB -> 3.1MB)

Hope that helps

schmooFlan

Cheers for all the replies!

I think freedom from logging calls and sending registered letters is probably
worth 20 quid a month to me, so I'll probably stump up the extra monies
and go for Eircom anyways.

thanks again!

philologos

eek... another new eircon customer :eek:
tbh I've never had any problems with BT and you could save a good bit of money as opposed to eircon

zuma

eircom are always going to be viewed by over 90% of the population as it make it feel safer....its as simple as that.

I have a BT connection....no problems at all and I pay €30 a month for a 3Mbit connection....which Im not complaining about!

What do eircom customers pay for a 1Mbit connection these days???

philologos

more than BT anyway!