Best Broadband?

cson

Right, moved up to Dublin for the next 7 months and I'm gonna need broadband for that time. I'm thinking asking the experts in here before jumping into a contract might be wise. Basically gonna be two people using it; pretty light use - emails/facebook/youtube/shopping and it'd be used for maybe 2hrs each evening by the both of us. We're looking for the dirt basic cheapest package available. In other words; who should we look at? Eircom looks pretty attractive from what I've read of the blurb on theirs, UPC and clearwire's websites. Any help would be greatly appreciated!

CS Hasuki

Magnet are good. Have had them for a while now and no complaints. You get much better quality BB.

jor el

I'm pretty sure that every broadband provider will require a 12 month contract, so that could be a problem for you if you're only there for 7 months.

The first thing you need to do though, is find out what is available at the house you'll be in. Is there a phone line currently installed? Is DSL available in the are? Is UPC, Digiweb or Imagine Breeze an option?

Clearwire, Imagine Wimax, Ripwave, etc are all midband products, and may not be much good for your needs. Your limited time may force something like that on you though.

angel01

I have UPC and I can't recommend it enough, really stable & great speeds. Wouldn't dream of switching

shamonemofo

you're gonna have to check out providers with small contract periods... don't think anybody will give you less than 12 months now.... If it's DSL get Smart... if not then your probably gonna get wireless.. Imagine wimax is meant to be good... not rolled out everywhere though...

cson

Thanks for all the replies so far, much appreciated.

Regarding the contracts; I'm sure they all operate minimum notice cancellation policies? i.e. I could cancel at the end of August without any major hassle?

I'd have no problem signing a 12 month if I knew the contract could be cancelled with a months notice.

The area we're living in is glasnevin btw.

jor el

cson wrote: »

Regarding the contracts; I'm sure they all operate minimum notice cancellation policies? i.e. I could cancel at the end of August without any major hassle?

I'd have no problem signing a 12 month if I knew the contract could be cancelled with a months notice.

If you cancel in month 7, for example, then they'll usually charge the remainder of the 12 months, or apply some fixed termination fee (100 euro maybe). It will not be as simple as giving 1 month's notice, and then not paying any more than that. The penalty will vary depending on the particular ISP.

macross

Don't go with clearwire. Internet coverage sucks in Glasnevin and customer service is atrocious

cson

Quick question regarding download limits; how much stuff/how quickly would you get through a 40gb limit with two people using it?

jor el

I all depends on what they're doing.

At 7Mbps, for example, you could download 3.1GB an hour, if running at full speed. Your 40GB limit would then last about a day. No home broadband is designed, no ever intended, to be used 24/7 at max speed though.

You'll just need to monitor your own usage when you have it. Or limit yourselves to about 1GB a day between you. P2P applications, which constantly upload, could eat up this limit if you don't keep it in check.

Moonbeam

If you are a student just get an o2 dongle.
They are fine for light use and by far the cheapest option.

yoyo

I'm with UPC in city centre, have to say, cannot fault it! Excellent service, internet seems so slow when using my parents Eircon 7.6meg connection when I'm out there (Think line only syncs @ just over 5meg there due to the crappy phone line infrastructure in this country)

Nick

D'Peoples Voice

think this story is appropriate in this thread.....

must admit this surprised me somewhat

Magnet ranked Ireland's fastest Internet

Tuesday, April 09 12:13:12

Irish ISP, Magnet.ie, has been ranked the fastest internet service provider in Ireland for a second month in a row, according to the Netflix ISP Speed Index.

The monthly index, released today for March, sees Magnet.ie beating all other competitors and delivering an increase in its speed to 2.2 Mbps, a significant 0.42 Mbps faster than its closest rival UPC.

source: http://www.businessworld.ie/livenews.htm?a=3052175

This thread is more appropriate than posting in these threads in my opinion
http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?p=50586979
http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?p=2108477
http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?p=79015379
http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?p=76359328
http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?p=74045546
http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?p=72801031
http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?p=71397935

bk

D'Peoples Voice I don't believe that survey is accurate.

The thing is Magnet has a small number of customers who are on fibre to the home/building in a couple of developments around the country and who can get 100mb or greater.

But the reality is the majority of Magnet customers are on "up to" 24mb.

UPC offer between 50 and 150mb and offer it to a far greater number of people then Magnet.