Best broadband for rural Ireland

What is rural broadband?

Rural broadband simply refers to broadband that’s available in more rural parts of Ireland.

It can sometimes lack the reliability and speed of broadband in larger urban areas, mainly because it’s more difficult to reach these areas with the cabling required.

What are your broadband options in rural Ireland?

Here are the main types of broadband you can choose from if you live in a remote part of the country:

• ADSL 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.
• Satellite broadband is set up in a household by installing a satellite dish. It can provide an internet connection to any home, even very remote properties.
• Mobile Broadband is provided through a mobile phone signal. It uses the same technology as your mobile phone, so many networks offer mobile broadband via mobile dongles and 4G/5G SIMs.
• Fibre Broadband uses fibre optic cables. It may not be an option for people in rural areas, but it’s worth checking SIRO or Fibre rollout in your area because it’s being added to new counties all the time.

Our guide on the rural broadband options in Ireland explains your choices in more detail.

What is SIRO?

SIRO is a joint venture between ESB and Vodafone that’s working to deliver a 100% fibre-to-the-building (FTTB) broadband network, using the existing ESB network.

It’s being rolled out to regional Ireland first, here are the counties in the planned roll out.

SIRO is offered on an open-access basis to all telecoms retailers in Ireland and can deliver speeds up to 1,000Mbps.

Compare superfast SIRO broadband plans