# UTV vs eircom broadband



## yygaurav (26 Jul 2007)

Hi All 

I am in process of getting broadband and i am currently UTV customer. 

Price for eircom is higher as compared to utv ( €41/€46) and eircom is ( €50 /€55) for 1MBPS or 2 MBPS respectively.    

                eircom                1MBPS         = €50 2MBPS          =                   €55 
utv  1MBPS         = €41 2MBPS          =                   €46

*For 1MBPS*

                                   eircom                           download limit                  10 GB contention ratio             12:1  ( any anybody confirm this this contention ratio please ) 
UTV download limit 6 GB contention ratio 48:1


*For 2MBPS*

 eircom download limit 20 GB contention ratio 12:1  ( any anybody confirm this this contention ratio please ) 
UTV download limit 12 GB contention ratio 48:1

I am not a heavy user of BB. But I will be connecting to my office VPN from home.  Any user of UTV or eircom users advise me please. Also would like to watch some movies online. 

Thanks


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## CCOVICH (26 Jul 2007)

Free calls in the evening and weekends with UTV.  Very few techincal issues. Of course, if you want to move house or there is a problem with your line, be prepared for hassle.  I use UTV myself.


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## yygaurav (26 Jul 2007)

Above package mentioned with eircom also includes free calls to any line line in  ireland ( not to UK but thats should be ok) in evening also I don't plan to move house in the near future. 


I am just interested to know if UTV broadband contention ratio makes a big difference as compared to eircom. Does any of UTV customers feels that it is slow as compared to eircom. 

or in general people using UTV, is there any problem with it ?

Thanks a million


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## demoivre (26 Jul 2007)

I 've been using UTV  since June 04. On balance I'm happy overall but there have been a few problems over the years some of which have been covered in previous threads such as this one or this.


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## tosullivan (26 Jul 2007)

ditto on UTV for about 2yrs...no problems


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## ClubMan (26 Jul 2007)

With _UTV _since early 2005. Generally satisfied but have also had a few issues which are probably covered in the threads linked by _demoivre _above.


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## IrishGunner (26 Jul 2007)

Agree with above. Customer Service has improved but not open weekends ?
Download caps pretty good and I avail of their free calls

not sure bout Eircom


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## Thirsty (26 Jul 2007)

I'm on UTV also for  2-3 years (can't recall exactly -sorry) in that time there have been about 2 outages that I've noticed; not too bad a run. Iit's not empirical evidence but anyone I know on Eircom has done nothing but complain


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## ClubMan (26 Jul 2007)

Bear in mind that _UTV _just resell _eircom's _wholesale _ADSL _package.


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## CCOVICH (26 Jul 2007)

IrishGunner said:


> Agree with above. Customer Service has improved but not open weekends


 
Til 5 pm on Saturdays.


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## CCOVICH (26 Jul 2007)

ClubMan said:


> Bear in mind that _UTV _just resell _eircom's _wholesale _ADSL _package.


 

Does this mean that if I have UTV and my neighbour has Eircom, we will be subject to the same contention ratio?


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## ClubMan (26 Jul 2007)

I think that the different packages (usually starter, basic/mid level and advanced) offered by both have the same profile including contention ratio. But don't forget that you might be on a 48:1 contention ratio and your neighbour might be on 24:1. The contention ratio is "implemented" at the exchange or further "back" and not on the local loop as far as I know.


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## tallpaul (26 Jul 2007)

ClubMan said:


> I think that the different packages (usually starter, basic/mid level and advanced) offered by both have the same profile including contention ratio. But don't forget that you might be on a 48:1 contention ratio and your neighbour might be on 24:1. The contention ratio is "implemented" at the exchange or further "back" and not on the local loop as far as I know.


 
As a slight aside, if one lives in a local town (as opposed to a major city like Dublin, Cork etc.) and one went with UTV, would the contention ratio be hypothetical given that UTV might not have 48 subscribers on a particular exchange??


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## yygaurav (26 Jul 2007)

well I live in midlands and I don't think there would be lots of people on UTV ( but reading from above it seems that everybody is on UTV  and happy about it.)

Does any body here on eircom ? Do any person who has eircom bb can confirm that they have a contention ratio of 12:1

Thanks


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## ClubMan (26 Jul 2007)

tallpaul said:


> As a slight aside, if one lives in a local town (as opposed to a major city like Dublin, Cork etc.) and one went with UTV, would the contention ratio be hypothetical given that UTV might not have 48 subscribers on a particular exchange??


Maybe not - the contention ratio may relate not just (or at all?) to the exchange but all the way back through their infrastructure.


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## ClubMan (26 Jul 2007)

yygaurav said:


> Does any body here on eircom ? Do any person who has eircom bb can confirm that they have a contention ratio of 12:1


Odd - I can't see to find anywhere on their website that clarifies the contention ratios that apply to their different home broadband offerings...


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## podd (26 Jul 2007)

Broadband still seems quite expensive in the Republic.

 I'm in Northern Ireland so I use the Talk Talk service which for £20.49/month (about €30.58/month) includes the monthly telephone line rental, up to 8 Meg broadband with a 40GB monthly allowance, and also includes the cost of as many local, national and international (inc USA, Canada, Australia) telephone calls as you want to make up to a maximum of 70 minutes per call.

 [broken link removed]


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## ClubMan (26 Jul 2007)

podd said:


> Broadband still seems quite expensive in the Republic.


9th cheapest of the countries surveyed and cheaper than the _UK _for entry level home broadband according to a recent _OECD _report. See here:

Ireland entry-level broadband charges compared to other countries


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## leex (28 Jul 2007)

With UTV for calls for about 2-3 years and BB since my exchange was enabled in Dec 06. Have been very happy overall. There was some DNS issues on a couple of weekends in the past where UTV couldn't resolve website addresses. I haven't experienced this for a number of months.

I use various forms of VPN for work and it is fine.


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## ClubMan (28 Jul 2007)

CCOVICH said:


> Til 5 pm on Saturdays.


I called them just after 5PM today and they were still there. In spite of my previous gripes about _UTV _support they were very helpful this time. My mother's broadband was refusing to connect (_ADSL _was syncing but the _Internet LED _on the _Voyager 210 _router was not lighting up). Turns out that the router configuration had somehow (either spontaneously or due to my meddling) reset to the _UK _settings. The guy walked me through entering the correct configuration settings and we were back up and running within minutes. He told me that the _Voyager _routers sometimes do this for some reason. He could have been just trying to spare my blushes.


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## tabby (31 Jul 2007)

No Problem with UTV ever...! I have been using it more than 2 years now.


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## Lipstick69 (31 Jul 2007)

Actually UTV resell Cable and Wireless who resell eircom...just switched from UTV myself due to their weird billing.


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## ClubMan (31 Jul 2007)

Lipstick69 said:


> just switched from UTV myself due to their weird billing.


What was your problem?


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## Lipstick69 (1 Aug 2007)

My calls to Australia showing up as Christmas Island.
Calls to an 01 number showing up as to Vodafone
Them not putting the UAN on the bill so you can't switch
Hand't opened up the 15XX number range so I couldn't vote in You're a Star (tragic!)
Also they're not as good value as they used to be because the full line rental increase is passed through (unlike other operators - including eircom if you're on a bundle)


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## ClubMan (1 Aug 2007)

Thanks - interesting comments.


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