Toggling broadband provider

[Cold]

I switch insurance company, electricity company, and gas company every year so may well change broadband provider too. Virgin is increasing pricing so I can exit my contract and go for something else like SIRO for a year and then switch back again etc. Is anyone doing this? Any downsides? I think I'll get better speeds (supposedly) with SIRO as well for all that matters. I think maybe if being picky I will struggle to do these services back to back and the overlap cost will no doubt negate any cost savings but no harm in sticking it to the man every so often.

[Tristan]

Do you save much by switching everything?
I find my providers will usually match any other price I find. Not always, but usually.

[Cold]

I've gotten the odd price match but usually it pays to move. With electricity and gas it's mostly a sham anyhow as they all eventually increase their prices but I'll take a few months of lower price if it's available. At this stage I think everything is a commodity anyhow, be that electricity or broadband (at least wired broadband) or whatever.

[davkav]

I do the same. Shop around every year for all services. I maintain a spreadsheet too to track the costs each year. I think Bord Gais have matched any electricity quote I have gotten elsewhere for about 3 years in a row, but this year they were nearly the dearest going, for new customers as well.

I'm with Digiweb myself at the moment and have been for the past 3 years. Fibre To The Home, 1Gbps for €59 per month. I could easily see 1.5Gbbps most times of the day. The service is excellent, I have never had an outage.

I recently started looking for a new BB provider for my mother. She is with Virgin at the moment. €49 pm for 250Mbps I think? Shopped around and she can now get FTTH from Sky for €35 pm month on a 12 month contract, so in the middle of switching her over.

Virgin had it wrapped up for so long. Most households could only get either BB over the phone line (Sky, vodafone etc.) ~100Mbps or Virgin over the coax ~500Mbps, so Virgin was the better choice for years. Their service was great but their customer service is shocking. I'm still trying to cancel my mothers account. With FTTH or FTTC even, I'd avoid Virgin now like the plague.

This is me right now:
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[Cold]

You can get the €35 deal from Vodafone also. I’ve heard Sky can be very hard to cancel. It sounds like Virgin is the same.

[miller]

You can get the €35 deal from Vodafone also. I’ve heard Sky can be very hard to cancel. It sounds like Virgin is the same.

Sky is very easy to cancel. Wait until out of contract, call them up to close and if they send you round the houses just close your DD at source. Simple

[Cold]

Right but let’s say you want to keep the TV and not the broadband. Given that there is no cost benefit may as well keep the BB separate with Vodafone and fight separate cancellation battles.

[miller]

Right but let’s say you want to keep the TV and not the broadband. Given that there is no cost benefit may as well keep the BB separate with Vodafone and fight separate cancellation battles.

Still cancel everything outright. Easier to start again as a new customer.

Each year I do the same, ask to be put straight through to the cancellation team. Either I get the new customer pricing or benefits or i close off and start again. Sky will always relent and deal you the benefits.

[Smythy411]

I have Sky internet and TV. It is expensive, but it's fibre broadband and they brought the fibre cable right into the back of the TV. In the near 2 years of having it, the internet has only dropped once, and they were out to fix it within a day. Honestly can't complain about their internet, which was imported for my girlfriend who has been working from home all this time... TV with them is another story though

[Cold]

Does anyone see any challenges with a BB switch, eg Virgin to Vodafone/SIRO? I have my own network so will just plug their router into mine.

A potential problem is that my existing extensive and very good network is tied to a cable port (Virgin) and I'm guessing SIRO comes through the phone line which is in a different part of the house. Or can I tell SIRO to enter the house wherever I want?

[GeeTI]

SIRO utilises a fibre optic cable routed from the telegraph pole via the electricity meter box and into the house (to the nearest available power outlet, where a separate ONT box is located). From there you can run a network cable to wherever you want the router to be situated. That was the case for my install.
I've the 1Gb SIRO via Vodafone since it became available in the area. Only issue I had in the last few years was a faulty modem, which was replaced within 24hrs of it being reported. The router that Vodafone use hasn't great WiFi, unfortunately, and if you need the landline service it's difficult to run your own router/ wifi mesh.

[Cold]

Hm... nearest power socket would be in the hall where the phone jack is basically. I think I will suck up paying a bit more for broadband to avoid having to deal with that. Thanks for the info.

[davkav]

Sky is very easy to cancel. Wait until out of contract, call them up to close and if they send you round the houses just close your DD at source. Simple

Where do we stand with the likes of Virgin. They state that you must give them 30 days notice of cancellation, even if you are out of contract. Can they come after you?

[davkav]

Hm... nearest power socket would be in the hall where the phone jack is basically. I think I will suck up paying a bit more for broadband to avoid having to deal with that. Thanks for the info.

Could you pull a cat5/6 cable to the hall?

Our fibre was pulled in the same conduit that is used for the ESB line from the road to house. They pulled it out just below the meter box on the side of the house and mounted a new Fibre specific wall box. They then mounted another box on the inside of the house directly in line with the outside box, drilled a hole through and installed the Fibre ONT there. Luckily I have a network point just beside it.

My neighbor across the road had them pull the fibre down the side of the house to his Utility Room where he had network point, so that might be an option for you Cold.

[Johnny_Limerick]

Virgin is the only show in town in my area (D6W) that I can get broadband of a reasonable speed.
The are increasing it by €4. So I can now cancel without a cancellation fee.
Is there anyway I can renegotiate. (I did the last time but got very little out of them.) Id say the know that I have no access to anything else.