NBI provider comparison

dannyd20

NBI recently became available to us, yay! Have been browsing but didn't find much in terms of NBI provider/reseller comparisons. NBI website lists 24 potential broadband providers for my address. Have been doing some research and ringing around. Vodafone coming in by far the cheapest but previous experience with Gigabox router on SIRO was painful to say the least. Can I expect anything different with Gigabox on the NBI Fibre Broadband ??

and how does switching providers when out of contract work in practice for NBI connections? any watchouts

if anyone is interested, this is my research for 500MB packages - mixture of online and calls to obtain this info, the unknowns down the bottom haven't called me back. Eir seem to offer 1gb only

snapper365

Interesting comparison - you should apply for a job at bonkers.ie!

I did a similar exercise a few months back, although I didn't research as many providers as you did. I gave up even checking the smaller providers as I found they just weren't able to compete price wise - which is borne out in your numbers too.

The only comparison worth considering is the annualised cost IMO. Digiweb (for example) seems great at first but over the duration of a contract you end up paying a lot more. That said, lots of posters swear by their customer service and may be willing to pay a premium for that. Personally I wouldn't see this as worth paying extra for - it's not that I don't appreciate good service, but given how solid the NBI product is, I simply haven't had any cause to contact my provider regarding the service at all. It's been bullet-proof since day 1.

This is my experience with signup/switching on NBI so far...

I initially signed up to Sky in July 21 when we were able to first order. At that time Sky were offering 500mbps for 35 per month with no install cost. This meant they were - along with VF - the cheapest. It's interesting that they are now charging an install cost.

I must point out at this stage that I don't really care about the equipment that the provider supplies. I have a Deco mesh system so the wifi capability of the router isn't important to me - it basically gets wired from the ONT and then wired directly into the main Deco node. I switch the wifi off on the router as this aspect is handled by the Deco. So with this in mind, Sky's supplied router did the job fine. I would say though that I found it to be poorly designed from a physical perspective, as it seems to have a high and lop-sided centre of gravity which means it topples over onto its front very easily! Bizarre.

Anyway, in July 22 my 12 month contract was up with Sky so I contacted them to see about renewal offers. They were unwilling to go below 45pm so I switched to VF for 35pm. I signed up via webchat so maybe the 30pm you were offered is a recently available offer? It's very competitive and I would say hard to resist.

The VF Gigabox performs as well as the Sky router did for what I need it do. And it doesn't topple over which is nice. I'm not sure what issues you had with it previously with SIRO though and whether these might endure on NBI.

Finally, eir's decision to offer 1GB only is baffling to me... but then a lot of things they do baffle me! Of all the providers listed, they are the one I would most avoid. We had our DSL line with them before NBI arrived and the service was so poor. Not sorry to leave them behind!

snapper365

Oh and I meant to say re: switching...

It was relatively straightforward though it did require a (free) engineer call-out. There was a 15 minute interruption in service while he configured things so no great upheaval. But the process seems very inefficient to me. The engineer brought the VF router with him, but Sky had posted theirs a year earlier so I see no reason why VF couldn't have posted theirs to me too. And I can't believe the configuration work for a straightforward switch can't be done remotely - all the wiring etc was done at the initial install in July 21. I would hope/expect that aspect of the process will be optimised in due course. Personally I'll be shopping around every 12 months and I'd imagine many others will too - if every switch of supplier requires an engineer to call out then I can't imagine that's sustainable!

Gunner3629

Not only is it 49.99e for Eir, its also a 24 month contract and they don’t offer 500megs. Even if there customer service was good (which it isn’t), you wouldn’t choose that over VF or Sky.

dannyd20

Thanks for all the info @snapper365

don marco

Hi, just a quick note if it helps anyone. I am on a Digiweb 1GB plan with home phone and was paying €70 after initial contract period was up. Very happy with Digiweb but better deals available - Sky unfortunately don't accept NBI switches yet and vodafone 1GB was coming in at €55 for similar plan. Rang Digiweb and they offered €50/month for 1GB plan with peak/ off-peak landline and mobile minutes incl. which is pretty good. So if anyone's contract period is up with Digiweb worth giving them a call.