Flexible Internet options for a rental property

[PoundMan]

I am a first-time tenant moving into a rental property in phases from June until moving in permanently in August. I rely upon decent quality of internet as I will be working remotely from home two days per week, and attending online courses two evenings per week. There doesn't appear to be any existing or prior broadband at the property, so I am seeking a flexible solution as opposed to paying for a permanent installation. I'm not entirely certain how long the tenancy will last as both the landlord and myself have remained fairly flexible on this. I have checked the eir code of the property on the ComReg coverage website and it would appear that Eir have the best quality signal as it is classed as 'Very Good' across 2G, 3G, 4G and 5G. I have my own Huawei mobile broadband router which has a SIM card slot. Would my best option be to look for a SIM-only plan? Perhaps one that included data only since it will be going into a router as opposed to a mobile phone. I'm also wondering if 4G would be sufficient or if I'd need to consider paying extra for 5G.

 

[elcato]

Does your router support 5G ? I was thinking of doing something similar by buying a GoMo or Sim only all you can eat data plan. I have heard that unlimited really means limited so I guess it depends how much you use. I use about 120GB which is steep enough I believe. The pros here should be able to help.

 

[outofmymind]

We live in an area with pretty poor 4G mobile coverage, no 5G and no fibre. Until a month ago we used a GOMO sim, which is on the Eir network. It is €14.99 per month. Was adequate - I worked from home for several years including during Covid. Fine for Zoom/Teams calls, fine for general emails etc. Could just about stream RTE player with some occasional buffering but not worth paying for netflix etc and that was with just an indoor aerial where we got about 2.5mb download and a crawl upload. More recently with an external aerial we got 25mb down and 2.5mb upload. Gomo gives 120GB per month which was fine. Previously they gave 80GB which was a bit tight, after that it is technically unlimited but they crank back your speed to a crawl. Stand outside the new house, or better still in the living room with your mobile phone and do a speed test using an eir or gomo phone to try it out. You can find a speed test by googling them - it is free to do.

A month or so ago we got Starlink - it is now down to around €50 per month, having started at three times that price. Gives 250mb download and 25mb upload - so ten times as fast. The unit is mobile - you can fix it to the roof/outside wall or e.g. put it on the lawn on the stand provided. Obviously much better speed and we are thinking about Netflix (happy days!)

 

[PoundMan]

Does your router support 5G ? I was thinking of doing something similar by buying a GoMo or Sim only all you can eat data plan. I have heard that unlimited really means limited so I guess it depends how much you use. I use about 120GB which is steep enough I believe. The pros here should be able to help.

Probably not actually now that you mention that. Would 4G not be sufficient? My father only has a 4G broadband router and he has various network connected devices in his home including a CCTV system.