BT Vs Eircom

speedbird1

I am not too familar with broadband and seek advice for the Ennis (065) area.
Eircom and BT seems to be the main suppliers. Eircom have offered €29.99 a month for what they call a home starter pack. The following are details :::

Eircom Broadband home Starter[/U] [/B]also gives you
Monthly downstream / upstream speeds: 1mb downstream and 128k upstream.*
Monthly megabyte allowance: 8 GB download / 1 GB upload.
Technical support number: 1890 260 260.**
Always on connection: delivers super fast speeds and the ability to work online without disruption.
*These speeds are not guaranteed as eircom broadband is rate adaptive i.e. a distance dependant technology.
**Calls are charged at local rates. VAT is quoted at 21%.

Is this a decent deal? or is the download allownace of 8 GB too small for normal usage and is that the catch.???
Any advice appreciated
Thank you

Monty Cantsin

I'm in Ennis and on BT's 1mb package.

Bear in mind that you'll have €24 a month line rental on top of that €29.99 with Eircom.

With BT, you can get the same 1mb/128kb connection with bigger caps (12 GB upload and 12 GB download) for €40 a month total - line rental included. So you'd be saving €14 a month, and getting a bigger cap to boot. To me that's a better deal. There's also a deal at the moment of 4 months @ € 25.

If you take BT's "with line rental" package, you have to take your phone calls with them too. BT's call charges are also less than Eircom's (you get 32 county calls at local rate, and mobile and international charges are at a better rate too) if that's of any interest to you. BT also do straight broadband for €30 where you pay full line rental to Eircom, thus saving nothing over Eircom's offering.

The only points where Eircom beats BT is in connection charge (€9.99 vs €50) and Eircom give you a wireless router/modem instead of BT's ethernet/USB one. Whether these are worth €14 a month extra is up to you.

As for the cap, it depends on your usage. I'm currently working from home and spending a lot of time browsing the web with a bit of downloading here and there. So far since the beginning of August I've only downloaded 5.85 GB and uploaded .48 GB, so I go nowhere near the cap. If you do a lot of downloading, obviously you'll use a lot more, I'd say you could surf 24 hours a day and not break 8 GB a month, let alone 12GB

curiosity

BT (or UTV, Digiweb etc) are just buying product wholesale from Eircom, so if you can get it from Eircom then you can get it from plenty of other providers.

As for BT vs Eircom, both are €30/month, BT have a bigger cap (12gb).
Eircom have a signup fee of €10, BT €50.
BT do give a €15/month discount for first 4 months.

If line rental is part of the issue, then be aware that BT give a €15 discount if you take calls from them as well.

Check out both sites and see.

dahamsta

I'd go with BT if I was you. Their service is just as stable, it's cheaper, and you're putting less money in the pocket of an abusive corporation (ok, a more abusive corporation). Just make sure you check your bank/credit card statement every month to see you're being charged the correct amount, and threaten to leave if you're not. BT's billing is awful.

adam

OfflerCrocGod

Bt.bt.bt.

speedbird1

Thanks for the info. it is much appreciated. I will probably go for BT but I see from postings that Eircom make it a difficult and long process to change over.
I reckon to be abut 2 kms from the main exchange here in Ennis and wonder if that will effect the speed. At present I use Onspeed on dial up and find it very good.
I understand it can also be used on broadband to boost the speed.
Thanks again

Monty Cantsin

You should have no trouble if you're signing up for broadband for the first time. I ordered broadband/line rental/calls from BT on the 27th of July (I just had an Eircom phone account). Modem arrived on the 10th of August and I was up and running that day. I can't remember off hand exactly when the calls and line rental were switched over, but it was around the same time and completely seamless.

If you were switching broadband providers, there would be some downtime.

2 km from the exchange should be no problem once you pass the line test.

rogue-entity

BT BT and I say it again BT, Eircoms broadband is 39.99 vs BT's 30, so you save a tenner. Plus BT give you a better deal when you transfer both phone and broadband to them, best part of that deal is eircon get nothing from you.

dahamsta

rogue-entity wrote:

best part of that deal is eircon get nothing from you.

Of course they do. At worst they get a massively overpriced unbundling charge. At best, and much more likely, they get a huge portion of the cost as rental fees, since BT is basically just reselling an Eircom product. If only it were that simple...

paulm17781

speedbird1 wrote:

Thanks for the info. it is much appreciated. I will probably go for BT but I see from postings that Eircom make it a difficult and long process to change over.

Not if you are ordering for the first time with a reseller (BT). It is company's like Smart who sell their own products that really have the difficulty and delays.

speedbird1

If u give phone to BT can one still keep original number. ???

dahamsta

speedbird1 wrote:

If u give phone to BT can one still keep original number. ???

Yes.