Best package?

comet

A friend of mine is moving into a new house. They work from home so want a high-speed broadband connection with a big download limit, I don't think cost is an issue as work will be paying for it. They also want to go with a provider that will offer free local calls in the evenings and national calls at the weekend. What would your suggestions be?

RangeR

Knowing what area of Ireland would be a big help.

Also, maybe doa quick search in this forum. as this question gets asked all the time and answered many times too.

paulm17781

UTV do free calls but I would recommend against them as their service is awful. My preference would be

1. NTL and VOIP (www.blueface.ie)
2. Smart (if available)
3. BT
4. others

comet

Oh yeah its Cork by the way, they want a fixed line too. Yeah I should have done a search first, i'll have a look now.....

comet

paulm17781 wrote:

UTV do free calls but I would recommend against them as their service is awful. My preference would be

1. NTL and VOIP (www.blueface.ie)
2. Smart (if available)
3. BT
4. others

thanks, ok since line rental isn't an issue i think they want to stick with fixed line. I'm not sure if Smart is available in Cork City so would that leave BT as the best option in this case.

zuma

When you say that a large amount of downloading will take place....how large???

comet

Welll i'm not sure how much they need to download but they wanted more than just the standard home broadband package and a faster connection, i would guess something like 2Mb line and 20/30Gb cap.

By way I can't get search to work, maybe its down at the moment. The UTV free call thing seems good, is the service realy bad.

Dinner

comet wrote:

The UTV free call thing seems good, is the service realy bad.

I havent found them to be particularily bad. No worse then the rest anyway. But if they plan on heavy downloading then best to stay away from UTV. the charge you if you go over the cap.

comet

UTV
€25.99 for first 6 months then €39.99 for each month after
2MB / 16 GB Cap.
Offer includes UTV Talk.
This offer is available to first time subscribers who are connected by 30th September 2005.


Offer seems good, i'll pass it on the info, thanks

zeusnero

are utv the only provider who charge you if you go over the cap?
i've been with them for a year ( i signed up when they still had a good package & decent service) and they literally charge you if you go half a megabyte over the limit

zeusnero

i wouldn't recommend UTV, i'm quitting it - they don't respond to emails anymore and their packages are almost in line with eircoms. I'd advise your friend to check out if smart is available in his are (new exchanges have come online in recent months) otherwise tell him to go for BT
Alternatively NTL have a good cable package with a 3 month, 3mb download & 30gb limit...

JB123

Eircom home plus 55 euro a Month no cap to speak of.... Until Eircom start charging for cap rapeage it's the best.

paulm17781

JB123 wrote:

Eircom home plus 55 euro a Month no cap to speak of.... Until Eircom start charging for cap rapeage it's the best.

How is that better than BT's equivolent which is 5 Euro cheaper including line (30 Euro in total) rental and has a higher cap?

More to the point how is it better than NTL or Smart?

JB123

Eircom don't charge for going over the the cap unless u go insane like 100gigs a month. I know I guy who getz 50 gigs a month since he got it. What im saying is for a heavy user at the moment Eircom makes the most sence.The second they start charging I'll be getting Smart.

paulm17781

NTL have never charged anyone in Ireland. I don't *think* BT have either. Smart say they do not plan on charging. To top it off Eircom have the lowest caps of all, if they all started charging on the same day you would end up paying by far the most with Eircom, on top of their line rental and expensive DSL. This would once again imply Eircom is probably not the best package.

JB123

humm NTL or Smart then if u can get them.

paulm17781

Have BT ever charged people for breaking the cap? If not I would choose them over Eircom too. In a world where caps are enforced they are FAR better value.

comet

Yeah after reading a bit I think I might recommend broadband plus with BT, cap is 24Gb i think it will be plenty anyway. Esatbt also have a Talk Plus option to get all national calls into the deal too.
Thanks for the info guys.

zuma

JB123 wrote:

Eircom home plus 55 euro a Month no cap to speak of.... Until Eircom start charging for cap rapeage it's the best.

WTF!!!
Who in their right mind would choose eircom BB Plus @€;54.45 a month over BT's equ at €40(if you choose not to take their line rental package).
I have BT BB 2Mbit and have not yet been charged for going over the CAP....but the basic 24GB CAP should be more than enough for most and is far better than 16GB and €15 more a month that eircom provide!!!

bk

BTW I believe Smart is available in some exchanges in Cork, worth checking.