Damien Mulley

290 Responses to “Broadband choices and options in Ireland (Updated Oct 2009)”

1. Iarfhlaith Kelly - Code agus Craic » Blog Archive » The Ultimate Consumer Power says:

   May 27, 2008 at 1:57 pm

   […] mortgages, etc.). Using different metrics makes it impossible to directly compare each product. The same goes for broadband. It’s hard to directly compare pricing […]

2. Penny says:

   June 2, 2008 at 12:37 pm

   WARNING: I’ve had VODAFONE 3G broadband for over a year now so contract should be able to be cancelled, but I’ve done all they told me to do to get it cancelled. Of course I had to send it in writing. I’ve rang and e-mailed, no response. They are still charging me. I haven’t used the internet in a couple of months, I don’t even live in the country anymore. I don’t know what to do. No matter what, don’t ever do direct debit with any company. I thought Vodafone was a serious company, but it’s all a scam. 40 euro a month is expensive for internet anyway, but especially when you’re not using it. Very upsetting!

3. molie says:

   June 4, 2008 at 11:30 am

   Hi me again. Just worked out phone line will remain the same but nbb give you a new phone number and use the existing line. So therefore you have to stay with them to keep your landline! The new number belongs to them and you cannot transfer it. (difficult if you change address in the future for the next occupant). I guess this must mean that they buy the right to the phone line from eircom for a set time. Any one know any more? Thanks for the vodafone info re 3g I still haven’t renewed mine yet as Im still trying to find an affordable replacement to it. One more thing worth mentioning nbb offer 200 or 300 free minutes per month but no international numbers.

4. Sharon says:

   June 30, 2008 at 12:38 pm

   Hi Mollie. How come you still need to have a phone line? Isn’t the whole premise of satelite internet that you don’t need landline? If you want to keep your old number try just renting it from the exchange and putting a divert on it to the new number that NBB give you. I used to do similar when I had my business landline number diverted to a mobile when I moved house a few years ago. Then you could cancel your connection to house. As far as I remember it cost about €15 per bi-monthly period and of course, there was no line rental to deal with.

   I am also sussing out NBB as it goes. Am moving to a rural location where I think I’ll have to resort to satelite. Sounds like might not be good option to go with the TV bundle? Pity, so annoying to have to put up seperate sky dish also. Would love to hear how you got on with NBB, I’ll let you know if I find out anything more myself.

5. Michelle says:

   August 7, 2008 at 3:43 pm

   Hi there. Just came across this website – very informative. I have recently moved to Wicklow Town and am trying to decide on the best broadband package to get. Here at work we are on Eircom, which in general is very reliable, but I am aware that is as a business customer. I don’t presently have a landline in my flat, and am not that pushed on getting one and paying the line rental. Can anyone recommend the best option? Is wireless broadband without a phone line reliable, or am I best to opt for broadband via a fixed line?

6. Sophie Fenwick says:

   October 22, 2008 at 2:10 pm

   I am living in the Burren, county Clare. I am looking to get broadband, but can’t get it via local radio wave co. , have poor mobile phone coverage and am left with sattelite as my only option. I have already contacted Digiweb, but would like to know about other companies to contact to compare costs. Many Thanks.

7. joe griffin says:

   November 10, 2008 at 11:12 pm

   has anyone had problems in trying to get a phone upgrade with 02
   i’ve had problems with them lately
   i was given two different dates for a upgrade
   the first was february 2009
   and the second was to check back some this month

8. Ivan says:

   January 3, 2009 at 10:04 am

   We have been using digiweb for over a year in Cabra and are happy, 35 euro including a phone connection. BUT they charged us for a whole year after 12 months tho so we didn’t get to shop around. Also tried going down to the one meg connection before but had problems. seem cheaper than BT and Eircom tho.

   NB: Three seem to be by far the cheapest/fastest 3G option – I just checked the website and the modem is now free on an 18 month contract or only 50 euro on the 12 month.

9. Mickelodian says:

   February 21, 2009 at 2:06 pm

   BT Ireland Support

   I’ve been with BT for 18 months… about a month ago they increased my speed and lifted the cap. I’d never gone over the cap anyway so it wasn’t any real bonus. The speed increase was though.

   Three days ago BT Ireland decided to restict my broadband speed to 10k per second citing their ‘Fair Usage’ policy. There was no warning, no call, no email..

   They use outsourced indian support which having used this before I have to say…it really stinks to high heaven…If you are thinking of broadband and are a novice then remeber this… as you’ll find yourself saying ‘sorry can you repeat that ” incesantly during a support call….the support person is ONLY interested in getting you off the phone and chalking up another resolved issue (wheter its resolved or not)…

   my GF told me when I got home from work after complaining that some Indian lady had called and had assured her ecverything was now okay.

   However she also said she wasn’t sure though as due to the general language barrier she could barely make out what the lady was saying and had to ask her to repeat herselagain and again… see what I mean. The lady seemed to be in a hurry to end the call now that my GF had accepted that all was back to normal. There was no talk through, and the speed was certainly NOT okay. This lady representing BT Ireland had lied to a customer.. an outright lie too!

   What I don’t understand though is why they can’t give a warning. BT Irelands autoresponder seems to have no problem communicating with me… so whats wrong here?

   I haven’t received an actual cap (and they won’t reinstate one) or tell me what the word ‘reasonable’ means. They won’t give a date when service will resume, which basically means they are attempting to bully.

   Now I work in search marketing and I estimate that each negative blog or comment loses them .5 of a signup… so 1,000 blogs and aritcles…here I come! small fry indeed! And welcome to the impact of the blogosphere BT.

   So I’ll do what the rest of you should do… you are small compared to BT Ireland but the support guy doesn’t want customers leaving because of him. So, I’ll cancel the direct debit on Monday, and I’ll email them to tell them it will be reinstated when I get my speed back (I have a ‘fair usage policy’ on my bank account ) and we’ll see what happens next whilst sorting out another supplier…. and if everyone restricted their money during a support issue… things would move a s*&t load faster I can tell you…

   So BT Ireland… get your sh*t together … or get lost! (that’s a technical term) we’ll call this 999 left to go shall we… an article counts for 3…okay! BTE Damien…keep up the good fight ehh?

10. Stan says:

    March 4, 2009 at 10:45 am

    Belated thanks for this no-nonsense guide. I found it very useful a couple of years ago when I was trying to choose a provider.

11. Thomas says:

    April 7, 2009 at 1:38 pm

    The best wireless 3G option is, from my opinion O2.
    I have it for 8 months and had never had any problem. The speed is very high (7.2Mb/s).
    I tried three during 1 week before getting O2 and that was very low.
    O2 is more expensive (25 euros per month with 7.6Gb data allowance) but is a lot better.

12. joemc says:

    April 16, 2009 at 9:16 pm

    hi am just wondering if i can get a company to install a DSL cable and pay for it so ill have faster broadband speeds, is there any one who knows a company i would love to hear.

13. Emmanuelle says:

    April 17, 2009 at 7:32 pm

    We’re trying to get a house in Teeranassig, near Inchigeelagh but we really need broadband and our only option is the satellite. Could someone with experience of satellite broadband tell me if it really works? What company is best? We don’t mind the starting cost but we really need a fairly good and reliable broadband, otherwise we won’t be moving there.
    Cheers.

14. John Brown says:

    April 21, 2009 at 12:07 am

    I am living in the midlands and don’t have access to land-line broadband. I have been using the internet through a phone line and the download speeds are very slow. Recently I subscribed to 02 Mobile Broadband because I thought that I would get close to broadband speeds.
    In actual fact the download speeds are slower, even though the signal that I am receiving is nearly always “good” or “very good”. Has anyone else experienced this problem and is there anything that I can do about it?
    I noticed that Thomas (post April 7th 2009) is getting speeds of 7.2 mb/s. I would be happy with even half that speed. Any suggestions? Cheers.

15. mickelodian says:

    April 23, 2009 at 8:01 pm

    @John Brown

    John, the reason (and primary reason) your speed is slow and will probably remain slow for the forseeable future is one of location.

    O2’s service runs on microwave (just like mobile phone technology). My guess is you probably get a crappy mobile signal too.

    With ADSL you are in no better shape. ADSL requires that you are a safe (with 3km) of the exchange. Again my guess is that you fall outside this.

    If you have a large bank balance you might think about satalite? or failing that what about wireless from ice broadband or Irish broadband… asuming you have good line of sight with the transmitter.

    Otherwise I’m afraid you physical location is the issue and not the technology in question. It is frustrating but unfortunately there doesn’t seem to be any way around this.

    mickelodian

16. Terry says:

    May 18, 2009 at 12:00 am

    Thanks for this Damien – great idea.

    Could you update your prices to mention that the 20 euro option is no longer available from Digiweb (only 35 euro for 5M now).

    They upped our payments without an option of going back – so happily using Imagine now… Could you also update the free modem peice mentioned above for 3 Ireland?

17. colm says:

    August 31, 2009 at 6:56 pm

    i live in baldoyle. i am intending getting rid of my phone line . at presant i am paying €50 each month for Phone AND broadband. and €35 foe tv. I need to merage all and with exception of phone. can any one help me out. COLM

18. Graham says:

    September 25, 2009 at 2:24 am

    I would advise anyone to think very long and hard before even considering to use Ice Broadband….

    could be you’ll get great reception… or, you could be like me…. the Murroe hub in Co. Limerick has seen massive downtime throughout the year, July being the worst of it, where I was online for maybe 10 days out of the month…. Due to “technical issues” at the hub… these issues appear to have been ongoing since and outages lasting 3 days or more have become common… I am presently looking for another broadband provider. Their customer service leaves a lot to be desired as well

19. kevin says:

    November 4, 2009 at 10:32 pm

    on the 7 th of august i changed from 3 meg eircon to 7 meg smart telecom,up until 2 weeks ago my service was excellent,it never ran under 5.5 megs,and that was at peak time,most of the time i recieved a solid 6 meg speed.i use my internet alot,from playing ps3 online to downloading torrents.anyway,2 weeks ago my net went down,i called smart and they said eircom are having trouble with the lines in my area[to those who dont know,eircom own all the phone lines in ireland,other companys just rent the lines,so if eircom go down,everyone goes down]since this happened my net has been terrible at night,i know there is a contention ratio,but im gettin half a meg all evening,and it was never like this before,the slowest contention i suffered was low as 5.5 megs.whatever eircom have done in my area they have ruined my service from smart,its like my contention is 200:1.neither smart or eircom have been helpfull.i informed smart today that if it is not resolved by monday i will be making a complaint to the ombudsman.recieving a good service in this country is a joke,the internet service has been ruined by eircom,it really is a joke.im thinking my only option now will be digiweb or sattellite broadband to ensure i recieve a good service 24/7…

20. rachel says:

    November 26, 2009 at 10:26 pm

    im currently living in kildare and have recently purchased 3G mobile broadband. it was 50 euro plus 20 euro a month contract and found it really really slow. sometimes it would not even conect for me. it was taking 15 minutes to download one song. i had to bring it back and get my money back. just make sure if your returning the stick you hav all the packaging or they wont refund your money.

21. simon says:

    January 8, 2010 at 12:49 pm

    eircom has by far the worst customer support ever i ordered eircom broadband it was an offer of i dont remember now but it said line rental was included right so im waiting for my modem i waited 1 week and i rang them up and they said that it will be there in a few days and they said i have to pay for it even tho i wasnt using it and when i said ok i will pay they added 25 line rental i mean WTF they dont know what is on their website so im going to try ice because i live in dunshaughlin in meath.

22. Ivan says:

    January 8, 2010 at 11:48 pm

    We found out after ringing that we could get faster broadband with a better download limit for cheaper after ringing up Digiweb recently.

    Was a bit taken aback because the only reason we found out was because I threatened to leave for another operator. Somewhat underhanded by Digiweb but it’s still a good offer and worth putting up here.

    20 euro a month for 3Mb per/sec – 15G usage per/month and a landline. Usually only for new customers.

    Very cheap if you combine it with a Skype dualphone and free european landline calls (inc Ireland) for a fiver a month.

    Combine this again with a freesat satelite dish & DVB-S decoder (if you’ve had a Sky dish you can use is) attached to your house – a lot of people in this country could save a lot of money. Pass this around and help disrupt the virtual monoploy of Sky and UPC…

23. Peter says:

    February 2, 2010 at 3:06 pm

    I had Irish Broadband and a lot of problems with disconecting. I had breeze pack and the antena is still on the roof of the house which I left already! They replied they would send someone to take if from the roof, and it’s still there after 2 months! Really annoying company! Same as UPC – I am trying to connect over two weeks – they left modem and connected me to cable tv, internet is still not avaliable… Cheaters! I will not pay for that as I can cancel direct debit in my account. If you have any problems with ISP I recommend you to do the same!

24. karin eve says:

    February 5, 2010 at 1:31 am

    this is a great blog …can anyone help here… im living in wicklow town .. im on Upc TV signed up almost 1 yr ago now .. WHICH IS RUBBISH !!! looses connection up to 30 times daily… i was going to get the broadband/phone package from them also but 1: now after being told it would be a matter of weeks of it comming to wicklow town ,,well its almost a year on and nothing available still.. besides prob be as rubbish as the tv ..so im on the vodafone 3g still .. which is soooooo slow only made for the desperate … has anyone any suggestions of a reliable company for wireless modem without landline required that isnt mental money .. idealy i would have loved a 3 in 1 deal but i guess that asking a bit much ;-))) big thanks karin-eve

25. karin eve says:

    February 5, 2010 at 1:44 am

    oh … just wanted to add ..peter i had same issue with irish broad band … even after i returned all the equipment after 3 days as it didnt connect where i was living at the time in sandyford (wud have thought that was fairly safe bet on signal… but it was apparently in a dip ) ????????
    they continued to take money out of my account and said regardless id signed up for a 12mth contract … i said that id returned and made several phone calls 1hr after it was installed … anyway after a shocking long battle with them i explained to the bank wat had happened and they canceled it and then i got letter after letter from irish broadband and thier debt collectors letter ,which i inturn sent them a solistors letter which cost me !! but they eventually dropped it …. they are ROBBERS ….

26. Ivan says:

    February 6, 2010 at 12:08 pm

    Try Digiweb, if they’re in your area the 20 euro a month for 3Mb p/s and 15G download is a great offer.

    Smart are bastards by the way – got them for my mam and they won’t reply to my emails – we’re getting just 15K downloads for a 2Mb package.

27. Stan says:

    February 7, 2010 at 6:16 am

    irishbroadband.com the worst ever!!!! It’s like jojo 2 days work 3 days not, the last time it didn’t work for 2 weeks, support slow in reply and mostly do not reply at all. I have to be connected to friends around my house to get online. Don’t go with them!!!!!!!!

28. Ivan says:

    March 4, 2010 at 12:30 pm

    Sorry, I meant to put this up some time ago – Smart Telecom are actually very good. The reason my mam was getting slow speeds was (strangely) because we didn’t have a splitter on the downstairs line.

    She could lose the phone line and Digiweb and NTL didn’t service her area – however it was only 9 euro extra on top of what she was paying for her Eircom landline – for 2Meg broadband (with okay contention ratio) and a landline with cheaper calls.

    Cmon guys – spread the word, get your families and neighbors to use some of the much cheaper options than Eircom. Some good competition should drive prices down even further. (I’d remove the comment two spots above about Smart – but I don’t think we’re able).

29. Ivan says:

    March 4, 2010 at 12:37 pm

    Sorry, I meant to put this up some time ago – Smart Telecom are actually very good. The reason my mam was getting slow speeds was (strangely) because we didn’t have a splitter on the downstairs line.

    She couldn’t lose the phone line and Digiweb and NTL didn’t service her area – however it was only 9 euro extra on top of what she was paying for her Eircom landline – for 2Meg broadband (with okay contention ratio) and a landline with cheaper calls.

    Cmon guys – spread the word, get your families and neighbors to use some of the much cheaper options than Eircom. Some good competition should drive prices down even further. (I’d remove the comment two spots above about Smart – but I don’t think we’re able).

30. Kevin says:

    March 4, 2010 at 12:43 pm

    I use u.tv internet and get 8mb for 30 euro a month with unlimited download and upload. I’m based in Donegal and never had any problems with service, never had a down day once. I consider it one of the best ISPs available in Donegal but i’m always on the look out for faster speed. Does anyone know of similar priced service with faster speeds?

31. Ivan says:

    March 4, 2010 at 8:31 pm

    Jaysus Kev, that sounds fairly lethal – I doubt you’d get much better value than that at those speeds? Actually, come to think of it, you could try Smarttelecom.ie. They have like 12M for 36 quid a month. I don’t think it includes line rental though – you have to have a phone line in the house too (I think).

    The UTV website only seems to show prices in pounds – do you know if they sell in Dublin and if a landline number is included with that price? If so I could be tempted to switch over from Digiweb myself.

32. Brendan says:

    March 20, 2010 at 8:16 pm

    Anyone know what to do in Tramore, Co. Waterford for serious Broadband.

    I am used to 10MB download speeds and use internet for work constantly from home.

    Really lost. Seems Eircom 7mb is all thats out there.

    Brendan

33. doug says:

    April 13, 2010 at 11:57 am

    hi im trying to pick a broadband package with good speeds and unlimited download im starting my own internet business in a few months so will need it but i cant get any clear pricing and availability im living in kerry so options seem limited any advice???

34. Richard says:

    April 29, 2010 at 4:10 pm

    I need short term broadband (6 months or less). Eircom did it last year but not any more. Does anyone do it?

35. Brian says:

    June 12, 2010 at 4:18 pm

    I signed up with Imagine broaband for €15.06 a month in May and didn’t want the phone line with them. The phone is patchy and cracking all the time. I now ended up with a bill for €68.23 God know how. I have tried sending email but they don’t reply back to me. I have phoned them. I’m put on to sales department etc.

    The worst thing I did was signed up with them. I was with Irishbroadband.ie for five years and had no problems till Imagine took it over

36. nazish says:

    July 5, 2010 at 1:02 am

    hi the utv do have a an irish website if you go google and search utv ireland they will show you irish pricing the only thing i love about them is no matter what bundle you want they let you go unlimited for only 6 euros or something which is great for a heavy user like have no trouble with them am with them for six years and i’ve found their service very reliable . i dont think anyone offers unlimited anymore smart used to they were the top contenders neck to neck but now i think they have stop doing it any ideas??

37. Brian says:

    July 5, 2010 at 1:19 pm

    Thank Nazish for that information about UTV. Update on imagine.ie they have been updating their server for the last two day. So for three days we didn’t have broadband. What I need is a broadband that is cheap for me to do my online courses with fas etc. Because of Imagine doing so called work the phone didn’t work. Honest it like third world broadband in this country. We must be the laughing stock of the rest of the EU.

38. Anna says:

    July 7, 2010 at 9:12 am

    UPC Fibre Power Broadband 30Mb
    # 30Mb downstream; 3Mb upstream
    # No usage limit ??????????

    Really ?

    Although UPC (Chorus/NTL) advertise their broadband as being unlimited, as with all ‘unlimited’ packages, it is subject to a fair usage policy. This means that although there is no official limit and you will not be charged any extra for the ammount you download, your speed may be reduced and in extreme cases there have been reports of threats of disconnection. In reality unlimited downloads simply do not exist and if you go over 250Gb with UPC broadband they will be on your back. In order to breach this 250Gb limit the broadband user would have to download round 1Gb every 3 hours for a whole month. A broadband fair usage policy is put in place in order to prevent certain broadband users taking up the bandwidth, slowing others down.

39. Jack says:

    July 11, 2010 at 1:25 pm

    I have been with Smart Broadband since day one back in 2005 and always thought they were good value. They had little problems but nothing major once I rang them. But in the last 12 months they have gone to total sh*te. I have been on to then by phone at least 90 times (no exaggeration). They have even sent out an engineer. The final straw now is that they have been cutting out on Fridays and by the time i get in from work they are closed so I cannot not ring them to reactivate my line. The result is that I have had no internet for around 12 weekends in the last 6 months.
    Would anyone advise an alternative with a similar deal to what Smart should be giving me??

40. Jane says:

    August 30, 2010 at 3:05 pm

    Hi

    I live in a rural location which is surrounded by hills and trees. I cannot get satelite broadband or wireless due to the topography. However, I do live close to a DSL enabled exchange and most of my neighbours on my road on both sides of my house have access to eircom broadband through their telephone lines and are happy with the speeds and the service. Anytime I have contacted Eircom, they say I cannot receive broadband and say my line has not been updated. My closest neighbours have it and they are only four hundred yards up the road. I’ve been doing some research and wonder if I am perhaps on a “carrier” line? Eircom customer service won’t give me any additional information. If anyone has any information on this or been in the same situation as me, I would love some advice.

    Thank you