If given the choice between Vodafone or Eir, who would you choose?

porqueno

I'm hoping I don't need to go this route as currently with Digiweb and while we've had a few wobbles I find their customer care excellent.

But it now turns out there are issues with bends on the ducting coming into the house (in a rental) and the KN engineers tell me that if we'd been with another provider they would cover all or some of the cost of the work outside the home to get it connected. But that Digiweb isn't part of this scheme.

So who would you choose?

I'm going to quote for the work (with a local builder) in case it's not too much and I could eat the cost myself, I would honestly prefer to stick with a provider I know I can contact if there are issues in the future. But the auld budget will only stretch so far.

Got a good recommendation from a chap working with KN to ask our current provider if they will help with the cost, so will try that too.

Also, is there a support channel for the madness-making of this whole process! Every other person/org I speak to sent me in more circles before I finally started to figure a way out myself! I slightly felt like I was in a secret murder mystery game, but one that involves ducting and fibre optic cables!

TinCanMan

I've been with Vodafone for years and never really had any issues. I've recently switched to the 512Mbps fibre package which is excellent. As for Eir they don't do customer service so if you have any issues you'll have some fun trying to get through to them.

theguzman

Eir are a shower of useless liars and spoofers, the word customer service is not in their lexicon. If EIR's service works it is great and really one of the best but if you have any issues you will soon be on a first name basis with half the staff in that other great behemoth of uselessness ComReg.

kaizersoze

porqueno wrote: »

I'm hoping I don't need to go this route as currently with Digiweb and while we've had a few wobbles I find their customer care excellent.

But it now turns out there are issues with bends on the ducting coming into the house (in a rental) and the KN engineers tell me that if we'd been with another provider they would cover all or some of the cost of the work outside the home to get it connected. But that Digiweb isn't part of this scheme.

So who would you choose?

I'm going to quote for the work (with a local builder) in case it's not too much and I could eat the cost myself, I would honestly prefer to stick with a provider I know I can contact if there are issues in the future. But the auld budget will only stretch so far.

Got a good recommendation from a chap working with KN to ask our current provider if they will help with the cost, so will try that too.

Also, is there a support channel for the madness-making of this whole process! Every other person/org I speak to sent me in more circles before I finally started to figure a way out myself! I slightly felt like I was in a secret murder mystery game, but one that involves ducting and fibre optic cables!

I have to say I never heard of such a 'scheme' and get the feeling the KN guy was bullsh!tting. Did you ask Digiweb to confirm?

Is this an NBI or OpenEir install btw?

alan4cult

OP, that sounds like BS from KN.
I had similar issue with KN, asked for another engineer via Digiweb and duct issue was fixed.

porqueno

alan4cult wrote: »

OP, that sounds like BS from KN.
I had similar issue with KN, asked for another engineer via Digiweb and duct issue was fixed.

Alan was that ducting on your property or on the main road?

Just off the phone with Digiweb and they said they can't do anything, that I'll have to fix it. Spoke to someone else from KN end of last week who advised that only some of the ISPs are involved, he knew Eir and Vodafone were but wasn't sure who else.

porqueno

kaizersoze wrote: »

I have to say I never heard of such a 'scheme' and get the feeling the KN guy was bullsh!tting. Did you ask Digiweb to confirm?

Is this an NBI or OpenEir install btw?

Open Eir, how I wish it was NBI bc at least you can get them on the phone!

porqueno

porqueno wrote: »

I'm hoping I don't need to go this route as currently with Digiweb and while we've had a few wobbles I find their customer care excellent.

But it now turns out there are issues with bends on the ducting coming into the house (in a rental) and the KN engineers tell me that if we'd been with another provider they would cover all or some of the cost of the work outside the home to get it connected. But that Digiweb isn't part of this scheme.

So who would you choose?

I'm going to quote for the work (with a local builder) in case it's not too much and I could eat the cost myself, I would honestly prefer to stick with a provider I know I can contact if there are issues in the future. But the auld budget will only stretch so far.

Got a good recommendation from a chap working with KN to ask our current provider if they will help with the cost, so will try that too.

Also, is there a support channel for the madness-making of this whole process! Every other person/org I speak to sent me in more circles before I finally started to figure a way out myself! I slightly felt like I was in a secret murder mystery game, but one that involves ducting and fibre optic cables!

Is there no-one else you can choose? Sky maybe?

Im with DigiWeb and love them.

My mobile is with Vodafone and the minute my contract ends, I'll be gone. They updated their website and app a while back and its almost unusable. It's illogical, hard to navigate and very confusing. They've also basically stopped doing customer service.

Eir. Well most people have a story about Eir.

porqueno

Deleted User wrote: »

Is there no-one else you can choose? Sky maybe?

Im with DigiWeb and love them.

My mobile is with Vodafone and the minute my contract ends, I'll be gone. They updated their website and app a while back and its almost unusable. It's illogical, hard to navigate and very confusing. They've also basically stopped doing customer service.

Eir. Well most people have a story about Eir.

I'm going to quote the work with a local builder, but unless it's far cheaper than I expect if I want to get it installed that's the route. I'm hoping I get some clarification from the Dept of Comms on what the scheme is and what's covered, also which providers are using it.

Ya, I'm loathed to leave Digiweb because I know so many people who have struggled with Eir, if I do need to move I'm thinking Vodafone might be the lesser of two evils going off people's feedback here.

Thanks for the input all!

Ah-Watch

Maybe I'll look back on this in 6 months time and say what the hell was I thinking but if I was to sign to up FTTH I'd go with Eir. Its very rare you see anyone complain about eir FTTH because it seems they very rarely have an issue with the FTTH product. I've been a Vodafone customer, be it mobile or broadband for about the last 15 years and to be honest I'm looking to switch from them broadband wise. Their support, while mannerly and pleasant are almost useless, their website is dire, the modem isn't great and all round a poorer experience than would have been say 10 years ago.

Pure is also a great option in my opinion. Their customer care team is based in Ireland and are so helpful, cheaper than many other providers too. Personally if I had the option of FTTH right now I'd be going with Eir or Pure

porqueno

Ah-Watch wrote: »

Maybe I'll look back on this in 6 months time and say what the hell was I thinking but if I was to sign to up FTTH I'd go with Eir. Its very rare you see anyone complain about eir FTTH because it seems they very rarely have an issue with the FTTH product. I've been a Vodafone customer, be it mobile or broadband for about the last 15 years and to be honest I'm looking to switch from them broadband wise. Their support, while mannerly and pleasant are almost useless, their website is dire, the modem isn't great and all round a poorer experience than would have been say 10 years ago.

Pure is also a great option in my opinion. Their customer care team is based in Ireland and are so helpful, cheaper than many other providers too. Personally if I had the option of FTTH right now I'd be going with Eir or Pure

Thanks for that, I hadn't really been looking at Pure but doing some digging on their customer service feedback etc now.

I've had some more clarity on what I thought was a scheme, it's actually a contract that some of the providers take out with KN regarding clearing duct blockages on the property. Eir, Vodafone and Sky are free to the customer, Pure is €125, Digiweb just don't have a contract with them so unless I were to cover the costs then I'm moving provider.

porqueno

Lol, wow what an experience, just been on the phone, first up, Vodafone! I'll add what I've learned for anyone else in this situation, I asked them about connection/upfront fees and charges for ducting issues.

A very slick chap (I worked in a call center before so I know the type of conditions they work under, so I place the blame on the company in how they do things), he offered me a "one-off" deal when I said I need to shop around - 500MB, 12-month contract, should have been €40 per month but offered me €30. Connection fee of €50 and no charge to clear ducting issues on premises. Of course I was told I need to go with it now, but when I said I needed to discuss it with the household he told me to phone him back later! So total cost for the year: With the deal: €410 - Without the deal: €530

Now Eir - nice guy, way less knowledgable (I know their staff issues and think it's horrendous how they have treated staff and customer), so I'm not sure I got the most legit info on this call, he didn't really know the prices for packages but I did learn that there is a cost to fixing ducting issues (which means the chap in KN was misinformed), it's €120 and they spread it out over the 12 month contract, so you pay per month. He was very uncertain around the connection/activiation cost, but thought it was around €40 - they do a 24 month contract at €39.99 for 500MB. No talk of deals but I suspect I might need to try someone else to get anything like that: Rounding up to €40 for the monthly charge the cost for a year ( but you'll still be in contract for another year after!) €640

And now Pure telecom, thanks to Ah-Watch for the recommendation. I don't expect them to be amazing, but decent enough customer service and good service is fine for me. This was a totally different experience, more like what I'm used to with Digiweb, in getting through to a human and having a conversation. Really straight forward pricing structure, 500MB FTTH for 12-month contract = €35 for 12 months and €50 thereafter (he said talk to them closer to the contract ending and we'll sort something), 1000MB FTTH 12 month contract = €40 for 12 months (I didn't even ask what it was after, feels like over kill for my needs, hope I don't regret this in the future!). No upfront connection cost, no charge for fixing ducting issues on the property, but here comes the potential issue, he couldn't tell me how long it might take to resolve the issue. He just said that waiting times could be a week or two, up to two months. I was just about ready to put the phone down then and there but he said that they will send someone out and give feedback on how long it should take to resolve and I can step away if the wait time is too long. So for their 500MB package that's working out at €420. So I've started the process with them, here's hoping it works out well.

Oh and I got an approx price from a local builder to do the work on the ducting (of course this was total ball park figures) but he said it easily could be €200-€350 depending on the issue. I'm not in a position to do any of that work myself so this was the other option rather than moving provider.

kaizersoze

porqueno wrote: »

Lol, wow what an experience, just been on the phone, first up, Vodafone! I'll add what I've learned for anyone else in this situation, I asked them about connection/upfront fees and charges for ducting issues.

A very slick chap (I worked in a call center before so I know the type of conditions they work under, so I place the blame on the company in how they do things), he offered me a "one-off" deal when I said I need to shop around - 500MB, 12-month contract, should have been €40 per month but offered me €30. Connection fee of €50 and no charge to clear ducting issues on premises. Of course I was told I need to go with it now, but when I said I needed to discuss it with the household he told me to phone him back later! So total cost for the year: With the deal: €410 - Without the deal: €530

Now Eir - nice guy, way less knowledgable (I know their staff issues and think it's horrendous how they have treated staff and customer), so I'm not sure I got the most legit info on this call, he didn't really know the prices for packages but I did learn that there is a cost to fixing ducting issues (which means the chap in KN was misinformed), it's €120 and they spread it out over the 12 month contract, so you pay per month. He was very uncertain around the connection/activiation cost, but thought it was around €40 - they do a 24 month contract at €39.99 for 500MB. No talk of deals but I suspect I might need to try someone else to get anything like that: Rounding up to €40 for the monthly charge the cost for a year ( but you'll still be in contract for another year after!) €640

And now Pure telecom, thanks to Ah-Watch for the recommendation. I don't expect them to be amazing, but decent enough customer service and good service is fine for me. This was a totally different experience, more like what I'm used to with Digiweb, in getting through to a human and having a conversation. Really straight forward pricing structure, 500MB FTTH for 12-month contract = €35 for 12 months and €50 thereafter (he said talk to them closer to the contract ending and we'll sort something), 1000MB FTTH 12 month contract = €40 for 12 months (I didn't even ask what it was after, feels like over kill for my needs, hope I don't regret this in the future!). No upfront connection cost, no charge for fixing ducting issues on the property, but here comes the potential issue, he couldn't tell me how long it might take to resolve the issue. He just said that waiting times could be a week or two, up to two months. I was just about ready to put the phone down then and there but he said that they will send someone out and give feedback on how long it should take to resolve and I can step away if the wait time is too long. So for their 500MB package that's working out at €420. So I've started the process with them, here's hoping it works out well.

Oh and I got an approx price from a local builder to do the work on the ducting (of course this was total ball park figures) but he said it easily could be €200-€350 depending on the issue. I'm not in a position to do any of that work myself so this was the other option rather than moving provider.

So you reckon Pure will deal with the ducting issue?

porqueno

kaizersoze wrote: »

So you reckon Pure will deal with the ducting issue?

SO! Turns out that their sales guy over promised me and told me that it was covered. I had received my welcome email etc last week but not other signal of what next steps were so I picked up the phone (as an aside, how companies don't think of customers sitting at home wondering "what happens next" and doing something about it slightly blows my mind).

A lovely woman in customer care said, oh yes, you'll be due for the enigeers to come out, I explained there was a ducting issue and she said, ok, there will be a cost associated and I explained that wasn't what I was told. Very well handled by her all throughout, she asked for 15 mins to review, came back and said that because they had made the promise that they would cover the cost. So the engineers are due today, we are missing the modem but there is another one here and I'm about to educate myself further on all that jazz.

If I remember correctly there is a €120 charge associated with fixing the issue but I won't need to cover that. I was sorry to leave Digiweb but this is also working out cheaper even without the waving of that charge and I've found Pure Telecom to be excellent to deal with so far.

kaizersoze

porqueno wrote: »

SO! Turns out that their sales guy over promised me and told me that it was covered. I had received my welcome email etc last week but not other signal of what next steps were so I picked up the phone (as an aside, how companies don't think of customers sitting at home wondering "what happens next" and doing something about it slightly blows my mind).

A lovely woman in customer care said, oh yes, you'll be due for the enigeers to come out, I explained there was a ducting issue and she said, ok, there will be a cost associated and I explained that wasn't what I was told. Very well handled by her all throughout, she asked for 15 mins to review, came back and said that because they had made the promise that they would cover the cost. So the engineers are due today, we are missing the modem but there is another one here and I'm about to educate myself further on all that jazz.

If I remember correctly there is a €120 charge associated with fixing the issue but I won't need to cover that. I was sorry to leave Digiweb but this is also working out cheaper even without the waving of that charge and I've found Pure Telecom to be excellent to deal with so far.

Good stuff & good luck with the install.
On a side note, I don't trust Pure and wouldn't touch them with a 40ft pole but YMMV.
The modem should be straight forward if you have an Eir F2000 to hand. They basically resell a white label Eir product and that's what they supply. Only difference is Pure stickers over the Eir ones. Everything else like wifi SSID etc are what you'd find on an Eir branded one.

porqueno

kaizersoze wrote: »

Good stuff & good luck with the install.
On a side note, I don't trust Pure and wouldn't touch them with a 40ft pole but YMMV.
The modem should be straight forward if you have an Eir F2000 to hand. They basically resell a white label Eir product and that's what they supply. Only difference is Pure stickers over the Eir ones. Everything else like wifi SSID etc are what you'd find on an Eir branded one.

:eek: I'm going to live in denial for the time being.....

On the modem note I have a Fritzbox 7530 here too, I've been trying to research modems (with my limited knowledge) but finding it hard to get specs on this HG659b and wondering if it would be better to use the fritzbox instead of the modem they're sending? Cheer all

kaizersoze

porqueno wrote: »

:eek: I'm going to live in denial for the time being.....

On the modem note I have a Fritzbox 7530 here too, I've been trying to research modems (with my limited knowledge) but finding it hard to get specs on this HG659b and wondering if it would be better to use the fritzbox instead of the modem they're sending? Cheer all

Fritzbox 7530 is what i have as well and there is a space to edit the connection settings but I doubt Pure will support it. You'll also need to get the Pure username/password for their connection and they may not give it. Someone here might know it though. It might even be the Eir log-in they use.

Xithus

Never ever give Vodafone money. They are utterly useless. I've no recent experience with Eir to comment but I hear they aren't much better. Go with Sky, Digiweb or Airwire.

dmcg90

Vodafone have been atrocious. Left me without internet for 5 days so far due to a line error, no rush on their side to get an appointment booked in to fix it (compared to when they wanted to install they were begging me daily to get it installed quicker).

Support has been utterly woeful and downright wasted my time in terms of keeping me waiting an hour to hear the exact same thing again.

Thankfully I'm in my cooling off period so I'm going to move back to Virgin Media but if I was to move back to SIRO powered broadband I'd probably go Digiweb. They seem to have a good mix of decent price, support and tech.

KaneToad

I have been a customer of Vodafone, Eir, Digiweb, Pure.

The only one I didn't have problems with were Pure - I'm currently with them so it remains to be seen if they maintain their good standing.

The issues with the others weren't insurmountable although I did contact Comreg in relation to Vodafone. They all suffer from the same problems, continuity of customer care. Issues get escalated but go off track and end up back at square 1...

kaizersoze

@porqueno

How did it go?

porqueno

kaizersoze wrote: »

@porqueno

How did it go?

So, it's been really good. And I kinda messed up with the router myself (having a particularly tough week with a family member who is really unwell, so decision-making hasn't been a strong point).

I asked the KN guys to use the router that digiweb sent out (yes anyone could see where this was going and digiweb did ask for it back). So the install was great, KN guys used that router.

And today I was able to get the same model router and I swapped them out (without really knowing what I needed to do to get the new router working). I phoned tech support with Pure and she was great, walked me through getting it hooked up, so it's all sorted (it took a minute to get the right settings). Digiweb get their router back, I don't get charged for making a bad decision and have a really helpful tech person put up with my lack of brainpower.

Next thing to tackle is do I shell out for a sparky to run an ethernet cable from the router......or do I try to McGyver it myself?!

alec76

kaizersoze wrote: »

Good stuff & good luck with the install.
On a side note, I don't trust Pure and wouldn't touch them with a 40ft pole but YMMV.
The modem should be straight forward if you have an Eir F2000 to hand. They basically resell a white label Eir product and that's what they supply. Only difference is Pure stickers over the Eir ones. Everything else like wifi SSID etc are what you'd find on an Eir branded one.

I believe Pure uses 2 backhauls : Eir’s ( this is yours scenario) or BT Ireland ( probably not as good as Eir’s, especially in crowded areas )

kaizersoze

porqueno wrote: »

So, it's been really good. And I kinda messed up with the router myself (having a particularly tough week with a family member who is really unwell, so decision-making hasn't been a strong point).

I asked the KN guys to use the router that digiweb sent out (yes anyone could see where this was going and digiweb did ask for it back). So the install was great, KN guys used that router.

And today I was able to get the same model router and I swapped them out (without really knowing what I needed to do to get the new router working). I phoned tech support with Pure and she was great, walked me through getting it hooked up, so it's all sorted (it took a minute to get the right settings). Digiweb get their router back, I don't get charged for making a bad decision and have a really helpful tech person put up with my lack of brainpower.

Next thing to tackle is do I shell out for a sparky to run an ethernet cable from the router......or do I try to McGyver it myself?!

Great stuff. Sorry to hear about your family member...not easy.

They got over the ducting issue obviously.:)

Log into the Fritz & on the left column click system and backup.
It will back up the current modem settings to a file on your pc. Handy to restore if you ever need to go back to factory.

On the Cat6, run the cable yourself then get someone to make off the ends if you're not confident.

porqueno

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117263369#Comment_117263369

I realised I haven't updated in a bit so thought a follow up might help, great point on this kaizer, I'm not sure if I got lucky with the support staff member who I phoned when I hit some hurdles in getting the fritzbox setup but she spent 45+ with me and was so patient. So the fritzbox is powering away and the other router is still in the box.

My experience has been really good to date (hate saying that in case I jinx it). I phoned tech support again during the week, really helpful, while he didn't directly solve the issue he helped me figure out a solve. It was a basic changing of channels for the wifi, I'm learning all the time, my wifi signal had disimproved and I remembered a lady in digiweb changing the channels to improve the signal, she said the neighbors might have gotten a new device that was interupting it.....ps excuse my lack of tech knowledge if I'm totally butchering this. I'm comfortable enough to log into the dashboard for the router so I realise that others might not have done that before and in there I was able to get the wifi settings and see which channels were being used mostly by other devices and then I cycled through the most common channels (found an article) and kept testing the signal until it improved. I also split the wifi naming for the 2.4ghz and 5ghz signals to make it easier to choose which one to use on a mobile device. Turns out the least used was the 5ghz and I can't remember which channel, but I'm back up and running.

So long story short, I'm pretty happy with them, it's €20 cheaper per month than Digiweb and I lucked out when they made their mistake and covered the €120 cost of fixing the ducting issue.

My neighbours are having hell with sky so I gave them the full story, they said they'd be happy to take on the €120 just to get connected, sky are telling them that it's not possible to fix their ducting which seems bizarre to me bc KN just cut into the path to reach the ONT and ran the ducting through the grass (dug a small trench which they covered with grass seed after too, I thought that was a nice touch) and a small drilling into the house, it would be the same for next door but sky are telling them no...... I hope they get sorted.

So that's my story, maybe I lucked out with two really sound tech support people, honestly from the sales guy to the admin lady who I spoke to when she realised the mistake he'd made in promising the ducting issue was solved for free, they have all been good to deal with. Ya, I would say Digiweb were a bit better but I would have had to privately solve the ducting issue to stay as a customer with digiweb and a local builder priced that at about €300, so that wasn't an option.

I still can't believe what an excrement show the whole thing is, the lack of communication among the team in KN is mind-boggling, some tried to be helpful, one guy was lovely but gave me terrible advice and I ended up ripping out skirting board that never should have been removed (cue me with the poly filla and paint for a day). When I still didnt' fully understand which org was over what part of the rollout I got a very kind and informative call with national broadband Ireland and learned that they handled the rural scheme, but the guy still gave me great advice and took the time to chat. I nearly had my head bitten off when I reached out to comm-reg, someone didn't have their wheatabix that morning, I was asking genuine questions but it didnt' go down well.....And then I also reached out to the dept of comms, they have been lovely but I only received a follow up email this week which reminded me to come back here and document the journey :P - so they're certainly understaffed around this whole thing.

Good luck to others and thanks to the community members here for the advice and help.

porqueno

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117297871#Comment_117297871

And again, thanks Kaizer, just created a backup. Now to watch some YT videos on running cable! I've been grand on wifi but might be working on some heavier data stuff in a while and it would be great to have a solid setup. Much appreciated on the knowledge!

Ah-Watch

Delighted you got sorted in the end and are happy enough.

I will eat my words here too. I was recommending Eir to you. I tried to make the switch to them recently and they gave me 4 dates for installation and not one of them were completed. Not once did they call out and not once did they make contact with me about it- I always had to contact them to see why no one turned up. None of the emails I sent to their CEO were answered either nor any of the tweets. I'll eat my previous recommendation for anyone reading this now. Do not go with Eir. They're utterly useless!

porqueno

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117729755#Comment_117729755

Ah sugar, so sorry to hear this. Honestly, I think there's an element of luck in people's experience with the various ISPs and that's just not how it should be, from my pov I would have thought that comm reg were the ones doing the oversight, but maybe I have the wrong end of the stick. It's so frustrating to know that the whole thing could be run much better. Hope you get sorted soon too, I'll say a prayer to communication gods for you!

PJtharsaile

I recently faced this choice for 4G service. Have used Vodafone and Eir, each for several years. Eir's customer service is very poor. Vodafone's is OK. A friend is on Eir and is getting 25Mb/26Mb up/down on his 4G link. I went with Vodafone and during trial period got friend to bring his router over for a side by side speed test -- from afternoon to later in the evening. Vodafone was consistently better, though both antennas are close together, however the best speed I managed was 12Mb down with Vodafone. As result I kept it instead of switching to Eir (despite known poor customer service).

If bandwidth matters there's no substitute for actually running a side by side test. If uptime matters customer service is important.

Subsequent speed tests with Vodafone didn't change much.

Three also has an antenna adjacent to both Eir'a and Vodafone's and I have used their network in the past. However, I consider the company unethical and will never do business with Three again.

Imagine.ie also provides service in the area but couldn't be bothered to reply to an email as to whether they can offer a static IP so didn't pursue further.

porqueno

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117759547#Comment_117759547

Second you on the side by side test. I wish more folks were comfortable with how to test their internet speeds just so they know what they're working with.

I went from my previous FTTH (fibre to the home.....expanding context for folks that might look at this thread in the future) which topped out at 30mb down and now it's closer to 300-400mb depending on how solid my wifi signal is.