Get up to speed

Which broadband provider package works for you?

Businessman Dan McKeown has saved €300 a year by switching his broadband, and he believes customer loyalty isn’t being rewarded by some companies.

Mr McKeown (41), from Straffan, Co Kildare, who is managing partner at Venture Recruitment, has been working from home since March and said his broadband service is “vital”.

But when his two-year contract for Sky broadband was up, the father of three decided to shop around.

“I was with Sky broadband for two years,” he said. “And I’ve been a Sky TV customer for about two decades. When I talked to Sky at renewal time they told me they couldn’t offer me the service for less than the €50 a month I was paying and in fact, if I had stayed with them, I would have had to pay an extra €5 a month, so I went with Eir.

“Eir is charging €30 a month, and my wife and I got a mobile phone offer with the company for €10 a month, too.

“Companies need to reward current customers as well as new ones. It doesn’t make sense not to replenish loyal customers.

“I’m saving €25 a month by switching. It doesn’t sound a lot of money but it’s €300 a year and my natural inclination is, if I can save anything on broadband, I will. If I then go away and examine my other bills and see I could shop around on those and switch to save, it could mean I end up saving a couple of thousand euro.

“And if I can save that, I can put money back into the business. I have three children, so any savings is great.

A Sky Ireland spokeswoman said: “Sky offers the fastest broadband speeds available in the country, to the widest possible footprint and we’re also very proud that we are the service provider with the fewest number of customer complaints as per Comreg’s most recent report.”

Laura Lynott