Fibre Broadband Deals

Superfast fibre internet, or fibre optic broadband plans, uses fibre optic cables to send data at much higher speeds compared to the traditional ADSL connections that they are replacing all throughout Ireland. The speeds can vary from provider to provider, with some able to offer speeds up to 200 Mbps, while the average speeds are closer to 100 Mbps. ADSL, on the other hand, offers average speeds from between 10 to 40 Mbps. Some hyperfast providers like Virgin Media can even go as high as 362 Mb with their highest speeds at high prices. It’s important to note that all speeds are affected by different things, such as bandwidth usage and mobile wireless connections.

There is a network of physical fibre optic cables made of very thin plastic or glass that are built, able to deliver data over great distances throughout the whole of Ireland, including more and more spots in rural Ireland and you can check the availability of these speeds in your area. Data travels at literally the speed of light through these internet cables, offering some of the best average download speeds around.

The length of your installation usually depends on whether you have had a fibre broadband connection before or are close to a fibre network. If so, it should take around 5-10 working days, but it can take longer to deliver and install if you haven’t had a fibre connection before. This also depends on if fibre has access availability in your area, of course. Other parts of the service, such as mobile services, will go active around the same time usually

This differs depending on the fibre optic set up within the area. Traditionally, there’s a fibre optic cabinet in the area with cables that connect to it from homes across the neighbourhood, establishing a network. In most cases, an engineer will deliver fibre to your home by switching out the copper wire connecting you to traditional broadband to the fibre cabinet instead.

The kind of speeds you can expect will largely depend on your provider and choice of broadband plan. On average, many of the top providers in Ireland offer average speeds of 100 Mbps. However, some superfast fibre providers (also known as ultrafast) can offer speeds of up to 362 Mbps, too. Mobile devices will experience different average download speeds based on mobile wireless connection strength.

There are six primary broadband providers in the Republic of Ireland at the time of writing. They are eir, Sky, Digiweb, Virgin Media, Pure Telecom, and Vodafone. Each network provider has its own offers with their own prices, which can include TV, phone, and mobile services, as well as access availability. All providers in Ireland must be approved by ComReg.

There is an on-going effort to roll out the superfast fibre optic broadband network across the breadth of Ireland. When you can expect your area to be connected depends on where you live, but there are online Rollout Maps that let you search by address or eircode on the fibre checker to find the exact answer. Different providers like Pure Telecom and Virgin have their own fibre broadband checker pages, too.

The Fibre Broadband network is not yet available to access in every area throughout Ireland. However, an easy way to find out whether or not you can get fibre optic broadband is to look at the fibre broadband checker available at Fibrerollout.ie. The rollout map shows all areas that have it, including rural connections, allowing you to search for a direct answer by inputting your address or eircode.

The best way to get Fibre Broadband is to compare the different deals available from fibre providers and see if they are currently available in your area. Each provider offers different deals, including superfast broadband only and broadband with line rental deals, so it’s crucial to check and compare prices and bundles. Bundles can also include home phone, mobile, and TV packages.

Fibre Broadband providers in Ireland offer, on average, speeds of 100 Mbps, though this can differ depending on deal and location. To put this in perspective, 100 Mbps is fast enough to stream high-quality videos from Netflix, YouTube, Hulu, and other streaming services on devices that aren’t mobile. The speeds experienced are affected by your bandwidth, too, i.e., how many people are using the internet at the same time. Once more, using fibre with a wireless mobile connection may affect speeds.

Traditionally, Fibre broadband is more expensive than the traditional ADSL connection. However, there are many deals that can help you cut the costs of broadband from a variety of providers. For instance, Vodafone offers an online-exclusive Broadband Only package that costs a monthly price of €22 month at the time of writing. For higher speeds and bundles with more features, such as mobile deals and multi-device connections, you should check for higher costs, of course. Other factors that might affect costs are introductory offers for new customers before standard pricing begins, and term lengths, such as whether you’re on a 12-month contract, 14-month contract, or rolling contract.

The vast majority of fibre broadband providers in Ireland require your home to already have a phone line in order to set up a connection to the home. However, there are some providers that offer cable fibre, also known as Fibre-to-the-Home, which doesn’t utilize a phone line. These providers are eir, Sky and Virgin Media. These services are not available in some areas of rural Ireland, however, so be sure to check. Usually, the monthly price of these services is lower since you don’t have to pay for line rental. Other types include Fibre-to-the-Building, Fibre-to-the-Cabinet- and Fibre-to-the-Premises, each working a little different from the others.