Spotlight IT Ramblings Blog: August 2005

New BuyandSell.ie website

I see Buy and sell has got a revamp, not sure about the new functionality though, the old usernames and passwords didn't come across and the search seems to bring back results completely unrelated to the terms entered.

Importing cars from the UK to avoid VRT

Like so many of my grand and devious plans for world domination…foiled…

http://www.revenue.ie/services/vrt/vrt_3.htm

Need to have it for 6 months in UK ownership, when way too much evidence of living abroad required, and can’t sell it for 12 months afterwards

Irish Revenue VRT calculator here…

https://www.ros.ie/VRTEnquiryServlet/showVRT

Have a drool http://www.gtccar.co.uk and understand the meaning of the expression “Rip Off Ireland”. Compare some of the prices on the UK site to a comparable Irish one like www.carzone.ie

Broadband Packages

I have been looking into various broadband packages available as I am usually asked to recommend one over the other.

BT broadband is still the one I would recommend because of quality of service for the connection. The customer support can be lousy though (I'm waiting 4 months to get caller ID enabled on the line, BT blame Eircom etc.) and sign up can take months to get enabled (My Uncle had ISDN and took 3 months to sign him up through various mistakes on their part, I have a full log which I might post later if anyone is interested)

Factors in choosing a connection are:

- Cost: Including Line Rental
- Type: Cable Vs ADSL Vs Wireless
- Service: Connection uptime and connection availability
- Contention Ratio: i.e. 48:1. This is the number of other broadband users in your area using broadband over the same exchange wire. The lower the better, business broadband packages usually offer 24:1 or lower, home user packages can be 48:1
- Contract Term: 6-12-24 Months
- Download Limit: i.e. 8GB, Monthly allowance of data you can download, usually not a problem unless you download movies or a LOT of Music over the connection.

Current BT costs are €40 per month including line rental (€25 per month for the first four months).

When comparing other packages standard Line Rental is usually approx €19 per month. All offer single billing now so you don't get a bill from Eircom for line rental and another for broadband services from BT.

Imagine broadband has recently come along. They are offering Always-On Broadband for €19.99 per month + Line Rental
Type: ADSL

Smart broadband is cheaper but just become available if you signed up early in the year. I know someone that just got switched on, but they signed up in March 05.
Cost: €35.00 per month (including line rental for 1st 100,000 customers, they don't tell you how may they have already though.)
Contract: 12 Months
Type: ADSL

IrishBroadband have a wireless product that requires Line-Of-Sight with one of their antennas (usually on a mountain somewhere). It is cheaper at €25 per month, as it doesn't use a phone line there are no line rental charges required. No minimum contract either. I tried to get this installed for a friend who lives within the catchment area and he could not get a signal so had to send it back, when it does work there can be dropped connection problems etc
http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=283302
Type: Wireless

Only posted the options and costs involved as I have them to hand. I am on a 6 month contract with BT so can change to some of these others if not happy with their service after that time.