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Should I swap my SMART broadband for UPC ?

  • 17-09-2009 5:20pm
    #1
    King Ian
    Registered Users Posts: 142 ✭✭


    I have NTL digital and SMART broadband at the moment (most basic package for both) - which together cost me about €75 per month. (34 + 41)

    I've seen an offer from NTL (UPC) recently where you can get HD digital and broadband together for €51 per month. Obviously in these tough times, it would be nice to save about 25 euro per month, and get HD in the process.

    The only concern I have is that my SMART broadband service has always been excellent. I have had it for about 3 years, and it has only gone down once in all that time.
    UPC/NTL have a terrible reputation - even though I have had very few problems in the 3/4 years I've used them.

    Should I swap my SMART broadband for UPC ? Is it worth the price saving?

    (PS: I should say that while I get a fair amount of usage from my broadband, I am not doing any heavy amount of downloading. Youtube and Itunes are about as big of files I would ever need to download)


Comments

  • #2
    donal.hunt
    Registered Users Posts: 335 ✭✭donal.hunt


    How has your TV service been? If your TV service has been good / very good to date then you should be fine and you'll actually be pleased with the extra speeds.

    See if you can find some folk locally who already have broadband and ask their opinion. Customer satisfaction with UPC/NTL/Chrous really does seem to depend on the area... Some of the older areas have frequent problems due to the poor quality of the network.

    In general, UPC are getting better - still not perfect - getting them to actually resolve issues completely can be tough. It really depends how much effort you want to expend dealing with the issues when they crop up.

    I've been using NTL broadband since late 2004 and I've had a few blips and issues along the way but I haven't ever considered switching due to the value-for-money fast connection. Nothing else on the market comes close for the same price and I rely on my connection to work from home / update websites for a number of folk in my spare time. On average, I don't have more than 3-4 issues a year (if that) - at least in the past 1-2 years.

    anyway - I've rambled on enough now... check with some locals who already have it and see what their experience has been over the past year.


  • #3
    King Ian
    Registered Users Posts: 142 ✭✭King Ian


    Thanks for the comment.

    Honestly, I've had very few serious issues with NTL digital TV in all the time I've had it. I can't remember a single occasion when it cut out or was unavailable. (Which makes me wonder anytime I hear friends and colleagues complain about NTL all the time.....)

    I got the DVR box from them about a year ago.....and it's a bit slow and clunky at times, but I'm not a telly addict so I can get over it


  • #4
    J-blk
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 3,906 ✭✭✭J-blk


    You can't always gauge the reliability of the broadband service on the reliability of the TV service - I have had outages in the past where the broadband went down for a day or longer, yet the digital TV never once failed during the same time. They are quite separate in that, as is availability (just because you can get digital TV in a certain area is no guarantee that you can get their broadband too for example).

    That said, I've been with NTL/UPC for 4-5 years and I am pretty happy. I've had maybe 4-5 outages tops in all that time, the worst one lasting a day and a half, but most others less. I even got a credit for the downtime when it was long and I complained about it to them.

    Customer service is notoriously bad and there are many horror stories here. I do think the UPC takeover is improving things and a couple of times that I've called them in the last couple of months, I've been very pleasantly surprised with the speed they answered the call and the resolution. Still, that seems to not be the case for everyone, so I'd be aware of the potential poor customer service if you need it...

    I'd agree with Donal.hunt that the broadband quality varies quite a bit from area to area. I was in the city center area up to March and at peak hours, my 20Mbps connection would more or less collapse speed wise. In south Dublin now and it stays around 12-15Mbps even at the worst hours if not at full speed.

    Besides the issues with customer service and some outages, I'd definitely recommend them but your mileage may vary...


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