ADSL in Dublin - Do Smart/Digiweb have best offer?

mrcheez

I've done some research of the various options available to me for ADSL in Dublin (I can't get fibre or fixed mobile) and summarise my findings below...

(my requirements are for unlimited (or at least 250Gb) download/month)

Sky - €40/month + need to get Sky Talk apparently
UTV - €26/month (not clear if line rental included?)
Eircom - €45/month
Vodafone - €35/month + €29.99 for the modem
Smart/Digiweb - €29.95/month (incl modem and line rental)

Digiweb support is easy to access whereas Vodafone kept me waiting about 15 mins just so I could talk to a sales rep!

I'm not sure if line rental is included in UTV's offering but overall it seems Smart/Digiweb offer the best deal at the moment.

Anyone had bad experiences, or anything else I'm missing?

bealtine

mrcheez wrote: »

I've done some research of the various options available to me for ADSL in Dublin (I can't get fibre or fixed mobile) and summarise my findings below...

(my requirements are for unlimited (or at least 250Gb) download/month)

Sky - €40/month + need to get Sky Talk apparently
UTV - €26/month (not clear if line rental included?)
Eircom - €45/month
Vodafone - €35/month + €29.99 for the modem
Smart/Digiweb - €29.95/month (incl modem and line rental)

Digiweb support is easy to access whereas Vodafone kept me waiting about 15 mins just so I could talk to a sales rep!

I'm not sure if line rental is included in UTV's offering but overall it seems Smart/Digiweb offer the best deal at the moment.

It's all the same stuff really, all delivered over your phone line so the only real difference is price and congestion (busy time slowdowns).

Around Dublin if you can get UPC that's currently the best bet

Finally there's no such thing as fixed mobile it's all the same HSDPA so it might work or it might not:) Perhaps you mean Fixed Wireless?

Mr. G

Remember that digiweb do a 30 day rolling cap, which runs differently to how it would with other providers.

There's not much of a difference. If you can, get UPC that's the best bet

mrcheez

Mr. G wrote: »

Remember that digiweb do a 30 day rolling cap, which runs differently to how it would with other providers.

There's not much of a difference. If you can, get UPC that's the best bet

Whoops i left out "cable" in list of services I can't get. Just Adsl I'm afraid.

What's the 30 day rolling cap? (edit: hmm seems to b a punishment if u go over your monthly download allowance? Theirs is 350gb so I'm unlikely to exceed that!)

Also how does congestion differ based on provider? Is that different to contention ratio?

mrcheez

How does congestion differ based on provider? Is that different to contention ratio?

bealtine

mrcheez wrote: »

How does congestion differ based on provider? Is that different to contention ratio?

http://www.kitz.co.uk/adsl/contention.htm

mrcheez

ok so the congestion is nothing to do with the provider, but only to do with the exchange?

That's fine, so I guess I go for the cheapest offering if they all are the same. Cheers.

bealtine

mrcheez wrote: »

ok so the congestion is nothing to do with the provider, but only to do with the exchange?

umm some providers have their own backhaul in the exchange so yes congestion does affect them, some use eircom backhaul and then congestion becomes a big problem

mrcheez

bealtine wrote: »

umm some providers have their own backhaul in the exchange so yes congestion does affect them, some use eircom backhaul and then congestion becomes a big problem

ok so is there anyway of knowing the congestion situation for a particular provider, or is this something they wouldn't (couldn't?) reveal.

Is it just luck of the draw if I pick a provider with bad congestion?

I think it's clear what I'm getting at

mrcheez

Just chatting to a Smart Telecom rep there and she said they've installed an LLU on my local exchange. Despite it being on the eircom backhaul she said "The Smart broadband service is uncongested".

Mountjoy Mugger

FWIW, I had Smart BB for years, until UPC became an option. I had one issue in all that time. I found them great.