Rural Broadband

What is rural broadband?

Rural broadband is broadband that’s available in more rural parts of Ireland. It can sometimes lack the reliability and speed of broadband in larger urban areas, primarily because it’s more difficult to reach these areas with the required cabling.

What is SIRO?

SIRO is a joint venture company between ESB and Vodafone which is working to deliver a 100% fibre-to-the-building (FTTB) broadband network using the existing ESB network offering 1Gb download and upload speeds.

SIRO is offered on an open-access basis to all telecoms retailers in Ireland - Airwire, Vodafone, Sky, Digiweb, Carnsore Broadband, Rocket Broadband, WestNet and Kerry Broadband have all partnered with SIRO to offer services to customers. So far, over 120,000 premises are covered with SIRO’s network.

What is the cheapest rural broadband broadband deal?

Vodafone currently have the cheapest rural broadband package - its their Simply Broadband 24Mb & Talk plan which costs €30 for the first 12 months, and €55 thereafter.

What is the fastest rural broadband broadband deal?

The 24Mb Broadband & Off-Peak Calls + eir sport plan from eir has speeds of up to 24Mb.

I live in rural Ireland - what are my options?

ADSL Broadband

• Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Line broadband uses an existing home phone line to provide an internet connection of up to 24Mb.
• Your distance from the nearest telephone exchange and the quality of your phone connection could impact your speed.
• ADSL broadband providers include Digiweb, eir, Pure Telecom, Sky, and Vodafone.

Satellite Broadband

• Satellite broadband is set up in a household through the installation of a satellite dish.
• Satellite broadband can provide an internet connection to any home
• Packages will have a cap on downloads - ranging from 8-50GB P/M.
• bigblu is one of the main providers.

Mobile Broadband

• Is provided through a mobile phone signal.
• The technology is the same as the one that lets you use your mobile phone, so many network carriers offer mobile broadband via mobile dongles and 4G SIMs.
• If your mobile phone signal is bad, you’ll likely get poor mobile broadband signal, too.
• Data allowances can be quite low, and the charges for going above the limit tend to be steep.

Fibre Broadband

• Fibre broadband may not be an option for people in rural areas, but check what’s available where you live, as providers like Virgin Media and eir are rolling out in more and more places.

Can I add TV or phone?

If you want to go for a deal that includes phone and/or TV with your broadband, you will be able to do this with some packages.

This will depend on the provider you opt for, and the type of broadband connection - for example, as ADSL broadband runs through phone lines, you will usually be able to include home phone as part of an ADSL package.