Irish Internet Service Providers
Mac Information reviews some of the Internet Service providers in Ireland
Beware of Irish broadband providers. In our experience broadband companies have very poor customer service. The wait time for a call to customer support at Eircom or Vodafone can be lengthy. Always do the following when corresponding with a telecoms company:
- take the name of the person you are dealing with
- get a reference or order number
- log the time and date of your call
- if in doubt, talk to ComReg (the Communications Regulator for Ireland). They have a very helpful support service [see here].
Landline: Eircom.net, O2 and Vodafone Ireland:
Eircom, O2 and Vodafone provide a number of internet services-- Dialup access: you can either sign up for a subscription account or use a free account. The difference lies in the per minute rates. A free account will be charged at a standard local phone rate, whereas a subscription account is charged at a per minute reduced rate. If you need quick access, set your dialup setting to dial this number: 1892150150. You don't require a login and you will be charged at a local rate.
- Broadband: Both providers offer a range of broadband services for home and business use. The things to look out for are the speed (usually starting at 1 or 2 mbps- this is the download speed of the connection) and the contention ratio (this is how many other users in your area you share your connection with). Contention ratio has an impact on your speed as, especially during peak hours, when your internet speed will slow considerably. For example, if you have a 1:20 ratio it will be slower than a 1:8 ratio. The latter is better as you only share your connection with 7 other users instead of 19!
- Support: Eircom offers some useful Macintosh support documents on its support section of the website. Be warned; if you get the Broadband home starter kit or if you have a free dialup account, you will be charged at a premium rate if you want to call Eircom's support line. Check out support.eircom.net for tech information online. You won't get detailed information but they do cover the basics.
- Bundles: all companies offer bundle packages where your broadband and calls are bundled into one monthly price. This generally works out better. However they are unlikely to phone you to tell you this, so keep an eye on the rates and switch accordingly if the prices change. All we will say is stay on top of what is out there and what you are being charged! In our experience, customer service in telecoms is very poor.
- Other providers include Magnet, Host Ireland,
TV line:
UPC have changed over the years. Leaving aside the poor customer service history (when they were NTL) they are now by far the fastest broadband provider in Ireland, with speeds up to 100 mbps in parts of Dublin. Their coverage areas are at the best patchy, but as they roll out their coverage, more areas should see fast speeds.
If you can get their high speed network in your area- go for it. Vodafone, O2 and Eircom and other landline based providers can even get close.