Which ISP would you recommend?

Steffano2002

Hello everyone!

I am moving to Ashbourne in a few days and I am leaving a property where I had NTL Broadband. Obviously, the first thing I did was contact NTL to see if NTL BB was available in Ashbourne but that's not the case...

So I rang Eircom this morning to re-activate the phone line in the house (free reconnection at the moment - happy days!) and ordered the 7MB BB Package (€60.11 EUR per Month).

But is this the best package I can get for my money? The Eircom Sales Rep. told me that the Ashbourne Exchange was ADSL2+ enabled and I have a couple of questions about this:

1) Why is the maximum offering 7.6MB for Residential Customers on a ADSL2+ Exchange? Is this normal for Eircom?

2) Will any other provider offer a higher bandwidth than Eircom or are they limited to 7.6MB by Eircom?

3) Is my best option to go with Eircom in this particular case?

Thank you in advance for your input!

Steffano2002

Update:

Right, I rang BT and they told me that they could also offer 7.6MB but they'll do it €5 EUR cheaper and we'll have no download limit.

So the question is, is there any point in getting Eircom? I mean the way I see it is, the service will be exactly the same (same QoS, same Latency, same Contention Ratio) BUT, with Eircom it will be capped to 50GB per month AND €5 EUR more expensive... Am I missing something here?

kaimera

smart
magnet

both no contention or caps.

both offer 20Mb+ down top end bb

smart is 1Mb up
magnet is 1/2Mb

check if it's available.

smart is 80pm tho

magnet is 65 i think possibly ex-vat

In the same position myself atm, moved only to find NTL isn't available but the cancellation fee is waived

free connection by eircom is legend cos we need 2 phone lines for all the bandwidth in the new house we require!

Steffano2002

kaimera wrote: »

smart
magnet

both no contention or caps.

both offer 20Mb+ down top end bb

smart is 1Mb up
magnet is 1/2Mb

check if it's available.

smart is 80pm tho

magnet is 65 i think possibly ex-vat

In the same position myself atm, moved only to find NTL isn't available but the cancellation fee is waived

free connection by eircom is legend cos we need 2 phone lines for all the bandwidth in the new house we require!

Thanks for your post Kaimera!

First thing I did was check if NTL was available: no luck. So then I checked the next best thing: Magnet/Smart: no luck either (Magnet not available in Ashbourne - Smart won't answer the phone).

So I'm stuck with crappy Eircom line...

Checked Eircom vs BT and main differences for the 7MB broadband were:

- BT cheaper by €5 EUR
- No download cap with BT (50GB with Eircom)
- Last but not least: Contention Ratio: Eircom 48:1 - BT 24:1!

I was willing to live with the first two but I can't justify paying more to share my line with more people. No way! So BT it is! And hopefully something better will become available in the near future... Here's hoping! :rolleyes:

kaimera

there is a cap with BT and you prolly whill be throttled.

Have a quick search thru this forum for threads about BT throttling...they do not do an unlimited service even on their LLU product.

Does the smart website say that your exchange is enabled? If so just go with them tbph Steffano.

Steffano2002

kaimera wrote: »

there is a cap with BT and you prolly whill be throttled.

Have a quick search thru this forum for threads about BT throttling...they do not do an unlimited service even on their LLU product.

Does the smart website say that your exchange is enabled? If so just go with them tbph Steffano.

I know BT must cap their service somehow (there is "fair useage policy" after all) but I can live with that...

As for Smart, I'm worried about them... Few years ago they were THE broadband provider to have! Now they've gone all quiet (I know they had some deep financial issues but still...), they don't answer the phone, the website is poo...

Are they as good as Magnet (same product so easier to compare)? I was a happy camper with Magnet when I lived in Stoneybatter! Never had Smart though...

Steffano2002

kaimera wrote: »

there is a cap with BT and you prolly whill be throttled.

Have a quick search thru this forum for threads about BT throttling...they do not do an unlimited service even on their LLU product.

Does the smart website say that your exchange is enabled? If so just go with them tbph Steffano.

Where do I find out if Smart is available in Ashbourne? The Line Checker tells me it's not available but the line has only been active 24 hours so it's not conclusive...

On hold to the Sales people... Do they ever answer? Seriously?

Steffano2002

Finally got through to Smart. They're not available in Ashbourne either...

BT here I come!!!

Uthur

i have no complaints about BT but i am not usually a very heavy downloader.
they are normally cool but they will throttle you if you push them too far

spurious

Steffano2002 wrote: »

Finally got through to Smart. They're not available in Ashbourne either...

Pity. They are a fantastic provider.
Best of luck with BT.

Steffano2002

spurious wrote: »

Pity. They are a fantastic provider.
Best of luck with BT.

I know... I'm gutted but what can you do sure...

Steffano2002

Uthur wrote: »

i have no complaints about BT but i am not usually a very heavy downloader.
they are normally cool but they will throttle you if you push them too far

I actually don't download that much. It's the GF! Shouldn't have shown her how to use GrabIt/Newsgroups... :rolleyes:

mhairt

Steffano2002 wrote: »

So I rang Eircom this morning to re-activate the phone line in the house (free reconnection at the moment - happy days!) and ordered the 7MB BB Package (€60.11 EUR per Month).

!

Hi recently got a line reactivated as well and was told there was a free reconnection promotion and the line could take 7 MB. I have just been charged €75 for connection and the line could not take 7MB. Apparently the free connection only applies to the phone line and not to broadband. Makes no sense to me but watch out for it.

meepins

I'm in Cabra, can anyone recommend me a good ISP for about 40ish euro a month (can't get NTL broadband and eircom are a rip off) thanks.

Steffano2002

meepins wrote: »

I'm in Cabra, can anyone recommend me a good ISP for about 40ish euro a month (can't get NTL broadband and eircom are a rip off) thanks.

I was on the Cabra Exchange (IIRC) and I had Magnet. Defo go with Magnet! 100% recommended!

You'll have to pay a bit more than €40 a month though... But it's worth it!

Steffano2002

mhairt wrote: »

Hi recently got a line reactivated as well and was told there was a free reconnection promotion and the line could take 7 MB. I have just been charged €75 for connection and the line could not take 7MB. Apparently the free connection only applies to the phone line and not to broadband. Makes no sense to me but watch out for it.

They won't see a penny from me (and they don't have my bank details). The Agent on the phone said it was free. Verbal contract. They can shove that €75 EUR where they want...