Phone/Internet in Dun Laoghaire: UPC, Vodafone or Smart?

none

Hi,

Since Eircom forces its customers into leaving, I'm on the lookout for the best Phone/Internet deals available in central Dun Laoghaire. I always thought UPC don't do Phone/Internet in this area but just got a call from them (in response to my email enquiry) confirming that it's available for me. Can anyone confirm using their service in Dun Laoghaire?

I generally like Eircom service but not prices. That was the reason I left them a few years ago and this is exactly the same now. I also used BT but since they offloaded its residential business to Vodafone, I'm a bit cautious of them.

I know the prices so my question is primarily about the speed (real rather than declared), reliability and functionality. For example, both BT and Eircom provided an online billing and usage meter - do these 3 (UPC, Vodafone or Smart) have it? I like having my statements in electronic form (downloadable not just viewable online) so I'd like to keep it paperless.

Any feedback?

Cheers

_Sidhe_

I'm not in that part of the country myself, but I can answer a few of the questions.

UPC do have an online billing service.
Through their website I can open any bill I've gotten off them for the last 3 or so years.
I also get an email and text once a month telling me that my bill is available to view.
It opens as a pdf, so while I've never had cause to print one off myself, it's fairly standard.
They no longer send me paper bills.

As for the service, there are a few drawbacks.

The phone serice comes through their modem.
So if there's a powercut, you will be without your phoneline.
Then again, I use DECT cordless phones anyway, so if the power goes, I'd be without the line anyway.
The quality of line is pretty much identical.
If your BB goes though, chances are the phone is gone too.

As for the BB speeds.
Cable BB should (in theory) give you closer to the advertised speeds than DSL.
I have 20MB BB, and I never register less than 18-19.
However, that may be my area.
There are areas around Ireland that do seem to have consant network issues from what I've read here.
Maybe somebody from the area can advise you there.

How far away are you from your telephone exchange?
Cause if you're with UPC it won't matter, but if you were to go for Smart etc, it would make a big difference to your top speed.
ADSL2+ speeds deteriorate quite quickly the further you get from the exchange.

none

Cheers for that, _Sidhe_! Cool that UPC have pdf bills, I love it:) Do they also have an online usage meter where you can see download/upload data per month?
I also have a DECT so subject to potential power cuts but they are rare.
I'm just near the East Pier so not sure how close to the exchange but never had issues with either BT or Eircom DSL. And as I said, I only learned today that UPC can serve me too.

pizzahead77

I believe you will only get the nationwide (eircom's bitstream) DSL with Smart in Dun Laoghaire. I don't think they have any ADSL2+ equipment in that exchange.

Smart offer online billing too but currently only for their ADSL2+ customers.

OgreSwamp

Smart can offer up to 7Mb in Dun Laoghaire and price is too high - 46eur + you have to pay line rental to Eircom.
Same story with Magnet...
I'll check UTV today (I'm looking for broadband too and our building isn't connected to UPC), one year ago they provided up to 7MBits for 24eur (+6eur per month for "unlimited" usage).

_Sidhe_

none wrote: »

Cheers for that, _Sidhe_! Cool that UPC have pdf bills, I love it:) Do they also have an online usage meter where you can see download/upload data per month?
I also have a DECT so subject to potential power cuts but they are rare.
I'm just near the East Pier so not sure how close to the exchange but never had issues with either BT or Eircom DSL. And as I said, I only learned today that UPC can serve me too.

They don't have the online meter unfortunately.
One of my main gripes with them.
You have to monitor it yourself with either 3rd party firmware on your router, or a D/U meter on your computer.
They do send you out a letter if you go over it seems, and ask you to cut back the next month.

J-blk

_Sidhe_ wrote: »

They don't have the online meter unfortunately.
One of my main gripes with them.

Yep, this is one of the disappointing things with UPC at the moment but on the other hand, they have a pretty generous "fair use" cap for the 10/20Mbps products and even if you go over once, you'll probably just get a standard warning letter from them to cut back, before anything else is done about it.

You can monitor bandwidth more or less with third party software, though it wouldn't be as accurate as having something provided by the ISP.

And as Sidhe said, the quality of UPC's connection can be very good, though it largely depends on where you are. I'm in Stepaside now and it's very, very good - consistently high speeds but when I lived in the city center, there were times at peak hours where it would simply crumble. It's hard to predict how it'll be where you are, unless someone here happens to be very close to you.

I'd still recommend UPC over any other ISP in Ireland though - been with them for several years now and still happy with the service.

none

OK, went with UPC eventually Not lastly because of this offer. Still didn't get the Netbook as Carphone is a bit unclear what is exactly on offer and at what price but I'll get back to this in the other thread.

UPC itself is grand so far. Ordered on Friday (20091211) and got it installed on Tuesday (20091215), yesterday. Checked the speed and it was 12-16Mb in the evening on 20Mb package so I guess it's not too bad. Checked the phone and it also seems fine. Well done, UPC!

Just a few notes on my dealings with UPC so far.

Despite the fact that their site doesn't indicate the Internet coverage in Dun Laoghaire, they do in fact provide it. Not sure why they don't advertise it. About five years ago I called them to enquire and they said they're planning to cover it soon. After that I never called them again, just checked their site which in fact lied. Foolish on their part, I think. I would probably have signed up a long ago had they let it known properly. Without much hope, I sent a query from their site last week and next day they called back to confirm availability. Strange strategy. Are they relying on the word of mouth of what? Even if so, nobody even mentioned to me that using UPC Internet in DUn Laoghaire.

Another thing is that porting the existing phone number is probably not worth it. I got an impression it can take from 1 to 2 months during which I need to keep paying the line rental to the current provider which is stupid. Obviously, Eircom (or any other company to that matter) will do anything they can to delay the switch over as much as possible. Anyway, I decided to use a new number UPC allocated to me and forget about the porting.

And the last thing. People here mentioned some issues with new Cisco all-in-one solution EPC2425 so I explicitly asked about the older tandem (Scientific Atlantic EPC2203 Modem + Netgear WGR614 Router). While the email support flatly refused it, the installation guy did it without any question.

Happy days:) Well, if I manage to get the right price from Carphone for their Netbook offer