Comparing eircom and Utv Broadband

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sherib

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I’m trying to figure out the difference between Utv and Eircom for Broadband. If Utv are charging €99 connection fee after their free trial, that’s the equivalent of two and a half months of rental charged by Eircom. Therefore, what is the gain if one doesn’t include the free off-peak telephony calls with Utv + a 10% reduction in peak call charges? Especially if the downside is a much slower speed with utv or an undependable one. Not positive but don't think eircom make that connection charge after their trial.

While subscribers here have mentioned a fall off in speed with Utv recently, no one using Eircom has made that observation. I haven’t been able to discover if the contention ratios are still the same (48:1) with both of these providers; so, if Eircom is in fact maintaining a higher speed, is there a possible technical explanation for this? Could Eircom possibly have the edge on utv?

Clicksilver Plus is €45 (contention radio 24:1) compared to €39.99 for both Eircom’s Home Starter and Home Starter Plus. Those latter figures are on Eircom’s site updated 7 June. It doesn’t make sense to me that these two Eircom services are exactly the same price. Has anyone any idea why this is? Eircom states hours spent ‘surfing the net’ are 112 hours/week with Home Starter and 168 hours/week with Broadband Plus. If cost is the same why would anyone choose the former rather than the latter? I’m puzzled.

[QUOTE from Eircom's site]
If you are an existing eircom broadband home starter customer, you can migrate to eircom broadband home plus for free.

If you are an existing eircom broadband home plus customer, you can migrate to eircom broadband home starter for free for a limited time. A downgrade charge will be introduced this year.
[/QUOTE]
 
OK ... I did something similar before but here goes again...

On cost it seems to me that UTV wins out when comparing both operators' "basic/starter" packages (I think that these figures are correct but I'm not 100% sure and it's late!):

eircom

  • Installation charge: €0
  • "Free" trial period: 2 months
  • 12 month contract @ €39.99 p.m.
  • Total cost: €479.88 for 14 months
  • Cost per month: €34.28
UTV
  • Installation charge: €99
  • "Free" trial period: 3 months
  • 12 month contract @ €29.99 p.m. (1st month "free")
  • Total cost: €428.89 for 15 months
  • Cost per month: €28.59
The contention ratio is the same for both according to [broken link removed]. I think that their download caps are out of date and both are now 8GB p.m. If the contention ratio is kicking in and affecting speed then this will affect eircom just as it may affect UTV (and this has not been established as fact as the cause of intermittent variable throughput yet) since UTV merely resells the eircom iStream wholesale ADSL package and both use the same exchange equipment.

Clicksilver Plus is €45 (contention radio 24:1) compared to €39.99 for both Eircom’s Home Starter and Home Starter Plus. Those latter figures are on Eircom’s site updated 7 June. It doesn’t make sense to me that these two Eircom services are exactly the same price. Has anyone any idea why this is? Eircom states hours spent ‘surfing the net’ are 112 hours/week with Home Starter and 168 hours/week with Broadband Plus. If cost is the same why would anyone choose the former rather than the latter? I’m puzzled.
Click to expand...


I suspect that this is an error on the eircom website. According to IrelandOffline eircom's enhanced product is c. €55 p.m.
 
Thanks for that explanation ClubMan. That's great technical information to have - that Eircom's speed can't outpace Utv's and that on cost terms utv definitely has the edge while not including the free calls. I'm convinced. Thanks.

I wouldn't be 100% that there is an error though it does seem obvious and you're most probably right. Is it not possible eircom are trying to combat the falloff in customers? Why are they offering free migration up or down from one package to another and would they actually charge for that migration normally? I have that price comparison from IrelandOffLine but wonder could it be out of date - 2004. Couldn't find a later one.
 
sherib said:
Thanks for that explanation ClubMan. That's great technical information to have - that Eircom's speed can't outpace Utv's and that on cost terms utv definitely has the edge while not including the free calls. I'm convinced. Thanks.

I wouldn't be 100% that there is an error though it does seem obvious and you're most probably right. Is it not possible eircom are trying to combat the falloff in customers? Why are they offering free migration up or down from one package to another and would they actually charge for that migration normally? I have that price comparison from IrelandOffLine but wonder could it be out of date - 2004. Couldn't find a later one.
Click to expand...

I wouldn't have thought that there would/should be a cost to migrate from one package to another, as it isn't much different from changing your mobile phone price plan? I would have thought that there would be a difference in the monthly cost of one package vs. another.

One concern I would have about using UTV is if you have issues that require line maintenance. I presume that this is still eircom's responsibility, but would they be slow to act given that you are no longer a direct customer?
 
In follow up to my cost analysis above, obviously it would make sense to do the same sort of number crunching for other packages on offer (e.g. BT, Smart etc. and maybe other non ADSL packages). Once the cost issues are understood the technical issues (as far as they are known) can be assessed. Boards.ie is worth checking for first hand experiences of different packages.
 
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