Hi Shelley,
In my case it was the lesser of two evils.
Had 3 mobile broadband and it was beyond terrible.
I am in Dunshaughlin, Meath (I saw you location as Meath) and couldn't get UPC Broadband there.
Opted for Eircom over Vodafone because I heard a lot more noise about Vodafone problems than Eircom. Plus the fact (willing to be corrected on this one) that Vodafone are using Eircom's lines so they would have to go to them anyway if there was a problem.
Got Eircom 7mb package and I have to say, delighted with it. I may be close to the exchange which may help, but I have never had any problems with it, hits more or less top speed when I'm using. Great for videos, and online gaming.
It might sound like I'm affiliated, I'm not! Just really happy with it. Its getting a free upgrade to Next Gen Broadband plus Allowance increased from 60gb to 250gb.
Other people will have their own stories but for me, very happy with the service.
We got a Wireless box, it took them about 10 days from order to startup for it to happen. We would have iPhones, PC's and XBOX attached and it flies along.