Moving from NTL to who?

Jonnie_Onion

In light of the fact that NTL are changing their cap to down+upstream I'm seriously considering moving to ADSL again (Can't go with magnet because we'll be keeping the cable TV). I haven't really been keeping track of what's out there and what providers are decent.

Does anyone have any idea? I believe all the top-end caps are 30Gb for downloads only. And that BT are terrible for billing and Smart are in financial difficulty, but nothing after that.

If you're moving from NTL because you were cut off or just because you don't like the new T&C's, who are you going to go with?

aphex™

Sure Smart would be bought up very quickly if they were close to going tits-up.

You're very unlikely to see any drop in service. If it was me, i'd be going with them.

Drapper

Eircom is where I'm going! sick of NTL too!! Bad move by Chello / UPC

aphex™

Dinarius wrote:

Well?

Sure BT Ireland's billing system will probably charge him ten times that then take weeks to pay him back. Have you not seen the horror stories on here?

Dinarius

I have, but remember that every horror story represents just one individual.

Remember too that the principle....'If someone has a good meal in a restaurant, they tell their best friend about it. If someone has a bad meal in a restaurant, they tell five people about it.'......applies too.

The web is largely peopled by those looking for information and those wishing to complain. Very few come here to praise.

That said, BT could still be crap, but they're just too successful to be failing to deliver to most of those they sell to.

D.

bk

You don't have to get TV from Magnet, you can just get the BB (which is advisable as the TV service doesn't work very well).

Smart would be a very good option.

Jonnie_Onion

Oh I didn't realise that you could just take the BB from Magnet on its own.

Is it true though that you have to use their router? This would be a problem since we have a wireless setup in the hosue and port-forwarding is essential. Think I saw someone complain about lack of portforwarding somewhere here.

I think I'll get smart though at the moment.

Mojito

I'm thinking of switching from NTL to another BB provider. My 2 best options would be Smart or Magnet. Which would be the better of the 2? Also does anyone know what the story is with portforwarding and Magnet?

I'm not to keen on changing my phone number with Smart but I will if its the better option.

Vadrefjorde

I gave NTL the 30 days notice last week due to all the crap they have started and their raidly plummeting service. Having been with BT before and experienced their billing there was now way i was going back to that. I'm gonna go for smart i think but was considering IBB. Even though they have been slated on here they seem to have spent a lot of money on upgrading i'm still 50:50 so if anyone has any positive reports about Breeze with IBB i'd be glad to hear 'em......;)

tman

I'm thinking either smart or magnet as well...
one of my flatmates has started sharing my connection now, so it'll be hard enough for me to stick to NTL's measly cap without having to worry about him going on porn download binges:o

quad_red

I need to get broadband set up in my new apartment this bears fruit for thought.

NTL (provider of choice as we're getting NTL tv anyway) don't supply broadband to our area (D2, across the road from the Barge pub :rolleyes: ).

The line will be used for xbox live and the girlfriend skype-ing her sis in the US. No need for phone calls.

So the options are:
Eircom: way too expensive.
BT: too much BS with billing and expensive.
Metro: Expensive to connect (90odd quid), heavy download limit etc.
Smart: Seemed good until today. You guys are saying they are almost bust and Smart told me on the phone that I'd have to go back to Eircom, reconnect phoneline, THEN ditch Eircom and go to Smart.

Any advice?

tabatha

whats the story with chorus? everytime i go into calcosts.ie they give me that as my best option?

aphex™

tabatha wrote:

whats the story with chorus? everytime i go into calcosts.ie they give me that as my best option?

It is possibly cheaper because with Chorus i don't think you need to get their tv package, whereas with NTL you do.

Ntl and Chorus are now owned by the same company, though.

easy guv'nor

I'm also looking round for decent deals. Has anyone considered UTVinternet? Only had a glance at their site but the prices seem good and you for a few euro extra you get unlimited use.

Wonder is their support/quality of service any good?

shltter

easy guv'nor wrote:

I'm also looking round for decent deals. Has anyone considered UTVinternet? Only had a glance at their site but the prices seem good and you for a few euro extra you get unlimited use.

Wonder is their support/quality of service any good?

UTV support is muck but that is true of most ISPs 40+ minutes on hold waiting to speak to someone is not unusual.

Big Chief

Smart just sacked 200 staff as little as last week. Theyre own faults really considering the whole "our exchange" court cases that lost them more money than they care to what to think about.

I was on smart saying that before i moved which would be about 2 months back, and i was on the 3meg service for a long time and theyre service was fantastic, changing phone number being the only problem, would be unsure myself personally about going back to them now even though they were that good due to the fact they are sacking staff left right and centre due to financial difficulties.

UTV are the work of the devil, a crap service, and a very bitter crowd where if you have the "audacity" to ring them and ask for your universal account number (which by law in ireland should actually be printed on the front of every telephone bill) they put a 30 day cancellation notice on your account, with or without your consent and this applys to most people i speak to, theyre service is not well renowned either so i would stay away.

Had eircom dsl a few years back and never experienced any problems personally, infact i was still using my netopia modem up until 2 months ago and not once did it even conk out, problem being expense of it was the main thing which had forced me to another provider after the initial contract period ran out, the service itself was rarely if ever down though and dl speeds were consistantly good.

BT ill keep my bias opinion of this thread of what goes on, and as people did say though, they are getting more and more customers for a reason and this isn't due to the complaints, althoguh i must admit the problem with the billing system was pretty junk even if i do say so myself which had been reported several hundred times before action had been taken recently to upgrade the whole system, but even then thats not due out till late october..

NTL - i just actually chose to go with them myself as of yesterday, 6mb Cable inet with digital tv for 45 yoyo's a month seemed a great deal, i had cable service in scotland for many years through telewest and had personally preferred it over dsl for reasons of my own so when i noticed i eventually (after 4 yrs over here) had it available i did go for the opportunity and the 6meg was to nice to knock back considering my own personal amount of usage so quite chuffed with that really. That and im bored of the usual 15 channel ntl cheapo package ive had for years

Any other providers i wouldnt really be giving a first hand opinion of which is usually preferable, although the amount of complaints i receive from perlico customers is through the roof on a everyday basis about lack of service and lack of actually ever delivering a service to them, but as you say - ppl with bad experiences you hear more about than good which is human nature and since i have no first hand experience of dealing with them or using them at home i cant give any real opinion of my own.

kleefarr

Dinarius wrote:

The web is largely peopled by those looking for information and those wishing to complain. Very few come here to praise.

That said, BT could still be crap, but they're just too successful to be failing to deliver to most of those they sell to.

D.

I've been happy with BT for four years. No serious problems really, other than ones caused by Eircon when we moved house.

quad_red

Big Chief wrote:

NTL - i just actually chose to go with them myself as of yesterday, 6mb Cable inet with digital tv for 45 yoyo's a month seemed a great deal,

How are you getting that?

NTL informed me that they couldn't pipe broadband to our apartment complex. However, the engineer this morning said the signal on the line was more than strong enough to carry broadband and that he had installed broadband in the area before.

I called NTL and they informed me that the area wasn't yet enabled for broadband. But it would in December maybe. I asked how much for a 6meg line + tv.....

€55.

bk

quad_red wrote:

How are you getting that?

NTL informed me that they couldn't pipe broadband to our apartment complex. However, the engineer this morning said the signal on the line was more than strong enough to carry broadband and that he had installed broadband in the area before.

I called NTL and they informed me that the area wasn't yet enabled for broadband. But it would in December maybe. I asked how much for a 6meg line + tv.....

€55.

When you sign up for NTl BB as a new customer, they often give you analogue TV free for 12 months. I assume that is what the OP was on about.

BTW BB might be available in your area, but NTL/UPC might just not be taking on any new customers at the moment due to their problems with bandwidth and routing.

FrankGrimes

Just spoke to Magnet there, they seemed pretty good and there packages aren't bad, though the €24 line rental does make it a little pricey - €83 would get me 8MB broadband with 150GB cap, telephone with free local and national landline calls, and 20 digital tv channels. At €59 that would be great value, but the line rental makes me think.

An 8MB line with no contention would be a beast of a performer though. Reckon I'll probably go with them.

Now all I gotta do is download loads on my NTL connection to get them to kick me off and free me from my contract

kin9pin

FrankGrimes wrote:

Just spoke to Magnet there, they seemed pretty good and there packages aren't bad, though the €24 line rental does make it a little pricey - €83 would get me 8MB broadband with 150GB cap, telephone with free local and national landline calls, and 20 digital tv channels. At €59 that would be great value, but the line rental makes me think.

An 8MB line with no contention would be a beast of a performer though. Reckon I'll probably go with them.

Now all I gotta do is download loads on my NTL connection to get them to kick me off and free me from my contract

Can you get the 8Mb line without the tv?

Vadrefjorde

FrankGrimes wrote:

Now all I gotta do is download loads on my NTL connection to get them to kick me off and free me from my contract

I commenced a download frenzy since i gave them the 30 days notice:D . Not that i'm going to get any record breaking figures here :mad: My connection has gone from 4.7 (supposedly 6meg) to about 1.1meg with 50~60% QoS. Don't think i'll be ringing up to complain though. I'm just glad i'm getting shot of them. I've never seen a service go downhill so rapidly since their change of ownership which is a shame 'cos it used to be a great service (providing you didn't have to phone them). R.I.P. NTL this new lot don't deserve to be using your name

FrankGrimes

kin9pin wrote:

Can you get the 8Mb line without the tv?

I don't think so - think 4MB with 100GB is the most you can get without TV. Their uploads arent the best (512KB up is max I think), but I don't upload much so not a major concern.

00sully

NTL are going for me too - brutal service now. Rang magnet and they said it'd be 3 months before they're in my area - anyone know if they are good on their word?

im willing to wait provided they ACTUALLY DO provide 4megs uncontended! anyone have anything useful to say about Magnet??

If they are good I will be executing my "get out" clause with NTL considering their service is so poor now....for shame...RIP "the real" NTL (was getting 10mb with no cap a few months ago )

Jonnie_Onion

Decided to go with BT in the end.