Key Post: Best Internet Service Providers for home use.

M

Marion

Guest
This was originally posted by Anonymous

Can anyone recommend the most efficient / cost effective ISP available for a regular user for personal use.

Also what package is better: Outlook Express or Eudora?

Thanks
 
....

Might also be worth asking what service is cheapest ...

I think I saw an add for Ireland online (?) offering access at 1cent per mintute - anyone confirm this / comments pls ?
 
Internet

Hi, I would definitely recommend UTV Internet
[www.utvinternet.com]
Look up their website to either order a CD, sign online, or check their ISP address to set up manually (my preferred option as it does not interfere with other ISP providers you might use)
Support is at normal rates - not the 50p (oops!) per minute some other IPS charge.

Can I also recommend the use of Opera
[www.opera.com]
as a browser alternative to IE. I have been using Opera for about 6 years, paid my $30 for version 4, got a free upgrade for version 5, and a discounted price of $15 for version 6. Money well spent. It's small, it's fast, the cache is brilliant and it's very flexible and easy to customise for your own preferences - download and install Java, it's a once off process, which does not need to be repeated for further upgrades.
I thought everybody knew about Opera but looking throught he Fool's message board, I realised this is not the case!
Regards
Bubbles
 
Re: Best Internet Service Providers for home use.

I use either UTV or IOL from home. I generally prefer UTV, but I did find some quirks on their service. I found it difficult to login for periods of a few days over the past few weeks. Also, I couldn't seem to get through to some specific sites (e.g. www.buyandsell.net/classifieds/), though it is actually working fine this morning, as it happens.

I've only recently installed the IOL option, to get around the problems with UTV listed above. I'll see the price difference on my next phone bill.

Just one note of caution - There is a bit difference between the weekend/evening rates and the Mon/Fri daytime rates for most of the providers. My post-Xmas phone bill which had a load of Internet access time during 'business hours' over the holiday period was scary.

Check out [broken link removed] site for a good comparison of the various providers and a nice explanation of the choices between the subscription services and the 'free' services.

Regards - RainyDay
 
ISPs

<!--EZCODE BOLD START--> I think I saw an add for Ireland online (?) offering access at 1cent per mintute - anyone confirm this / comments pls ?<!--EZCODE BOLD END-->

I think that may have been esat Fusion - I saw some poster ads in town claiming €0.01 per minute internet access but when I went looking on their website I could find no details. If this offer does exist then I would cynically assume that there is a catch. For what it's worth I use UTV internet with eircom.net as a backup (both non subscription accounts - i.e. call charges only but no 1891 (?) internet access "discount"). I have UTV internet on my eircom Circle of Friends discount list. Also - I tend to set up dial-up accounts manually rather than using an ISP's CD installer or the "INS" files generated by their web registrations. It's a bit fiddly and requires a little technical knowledge but it avoids the pitfalls of each ISP trying to "take over" your settings unilaterally (e.g. killing other dial-up accounts, rebranding the browser etc....).
 
Re: Best Internet Service Providers for home use.

Surely People are forgetting the only real free internet access......

If you subscribe to NTL's cable tv/telephone/ internet package.....you get totally free internet at weekends...thats free Dialup included.....

so from 12am saturday to 12pm sunday totally free and fast internet.

The connection is as fast as any of the other tortoises......

If you download stuff frequently, its the only one to choose......
 
Not quite free Johnny!

According to this link, it's definitely not free! (especially if you are not interested in ntl for the television services...)



ps great site Rainyday!
 
Re: Best Internet Service Providers for home use.

Well if you go through NTL for your telephone, tv and internet its free.....

If you spend 40 hours a month online at weekends....its cost you nothing.....

thats a saving of €30, so why would you care about paying 3/4 euros extra a month for their tv services....

If you do alot of downloading, you save alot of money.....
 
Re: Best Internet Service Providers for home use.

I went for that deal about a year ago - and it was the worst thing I ever did.

Connection speed was ridiculously slow - when I switched to iol, downloads took only a third of the time

I have found the NTL phone service to be extremely unreliable. Unfortunately, you have to take this to get the internet access.
All in all, it is not a good deal, as the free access is countered by the poor service, crackling phone line and slow downloads.

I find IOL free to be the best of a bad bunch really. If you will be using the internet a lot during the day, Eircom net's paid service gives you access via a 1891 phone number for cheaper than local-call charges.

Have fun!
 
Re: Best Internet Service Providers for home use.

I've never had any problems with NTL (Phone or internet)!!!

Their service is fine. I have never had to log on more than once (i.e. lines weren't busy/oversubscribed). I have downloaded probably 10-15 gigs of music over the last year and not had any problems. The download speeds are normally fine at about 4.55-4.8k per second (which is all you can expect). I was with IOL and they were about the same.

As for the crackling phone line.....dunno if you can blame NTL for that!!

Again, if you are a serious downloader, there is no other alternative.....

Whilst there are problems with NTL's prices changes, their internet service has been perfect for me....

and as a footnote....it doesn't matter if you have broadband/DSL/Dial Up at peak times.....if the americans are on line, it WILL be slower....
 
Re: Best Internet Service Providers for home use.

Glad to hear that they were good to you Johnny!

I am sure that there may have been a bit of Eircom messing with the phone line (as I still paid them rental). My download speeds were about half those you are getting.

At the end of the day, these problems only existed when I had NTL as my CPS operator. AS soon as I changed back to Eircom, all was perfect.

Irrespective of who was actually at fault, the problems only ocurredwhen I was an NTL customer. All I am saying is - beware of the potential pitfalls.Even if NTL were really good, and offered free service, it may still take you two or three times as long online to download something. And if your general phone service deteriorates, it is not really worth it.
 
Re: UTV Internet Vs IOL

I just got my monthly phone bill (Esat Fusion) and compared the costs of IOL Vs UTV Internet, and I'm pretty shocked at the results. For weekday evening access, the IOL calls are working out about 0.85c per minute, which is about what I expected. However, the UTV weekday access calls (via 1890 number) are working out about 2.25c per minute. This is almost double the rate quoted on the [broken link removed] and the [broken link removed] website.

I'm going to query this with both UTV & Esat Fusion - Anyone got any ideas why I've been paying double the price!

Regards - RainyDay
 
Re: UTV Internet Vs IOL

It's my understanding that using Esat Fusion as your telephone service provider also provides you with internet access for €0.01/minute (off peak) and €0.04/minute (peak) - see here. Local calls (including calls to other ISPs) are charged at €0.0381/minute (peak), €0.0253/minute (off peak), €0.0127/minute (weekend) - see here. As far as I know a 1890 number is not the same as a 1891 number in that the latter is a discounted internet access number - so I guess 1890 calls are simply treated as local calls. I get the impression that UTV internet's ROI pricing guidelines are based on eircom's call charges.

Not sure how your calculations tally with this information!
 
Re: UTV Internet Vs IOL

The real issue seems to be an anomoly in Esat Fusion's pricing. Their off-peak charge per minute for local calls is 2.53c (which is double the equivalent Eircom charge) but their weekend off-peak charge is 1.27c per minute. So, as CM suspected, I'm paying the standard 'local call' charge for access to their 1890 number. I just didn't realise that the weekday evening charge was double their weekend charge. I'll be switching to the IOL service for the foreseeable to benefit from the lower charges, I think.

Regards - RainyDay
 
EsatFusion/IOL

Sounds to me like it's a no brainer to use IOL for internet access if you're with Esat Fusion for your telephony services - €0.01/minute off peak access is hard (impossible?) to beat for dial-up access (assuming a reasonable quality of service - e.g. high modem:p eople ration, few disconnects etc.).
 
Re: Best Internet Service Providers for home use.

Besides NTL's phone/cable TV/internet package, are there any other services where you can pay a flat rate per month and it covers all the phone charges for evening + weekend access?
I'm sure I've heard of people having this service before.
 
Re: Best Internet Service Providers for home use.

I see that UTV have released their [broken link removed] package, which covers ROI & NI. I think this is a first in the Irish market, and is a long overdue development. The price seems reasonable at €30 per month - The only 'catch' is that you HAVE to sign up for their telephony service also.
 
Re: Check the small print

Hi Rainyday

I had a look at ITV's website and it does seem like good value.

However, at the bottom of their list of charges they mention that all calls are subject to a set up fee of 3.87 cent. They also say that no discount is given on calls to mobile phones.

If you allow for the discount available on eircom's gold options plan, I wonder would the telephony service actually work out dearer with UTV? Has anyone any experience of using their service or is there a cost comparison out there?

Regards
Homer
 
Re: Check the small print

According to [broken link removed] there's also a once off €30 set-up fee.
 
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