Not getting advertised broadband speed

Under the EU open-internet rules that Irish providers must follow, a fixed-broadband contract should set out a maximum (usually the advertised figure), a normally available (typical) speed, and a minimum speed, for download and upload. The ad’s “up to” number is the ceiling. Typical is what you should see most of the time on a working line. Minimum is the floor they have to take seriously. 5G and satellite are estimated and more variable — treat their “up to” as marketing, not a wired guarantee.

No. “Up to” is the maximum, not a mean. Wi-Fi, an old laptop, a busy Virgin node, a 5G cell and a copper tail will all sit under it. ComReg still expects advertised speeds to be realistically achievable for a significant share of customers on that product — not a fantasy. Evidence a complaint with wired tests against the typical and minimum in your contract, not against a billboard. Wider diagnosis: slow broadband.

Because Fibre on the Broadband Checker is FTTP (glass to the premises). Part Fibre is FTTC — fibre to the cabinet, copper to the door, typically around 100 Mb. That is still sold as broadband and sometimes still called fibre in ads. You cannot squeeze a 500 Mb FTTH result out of that pair. Labels: FTTH vs FTTC vs cable. Check the Eircode: check broadband by Eircode.

Wired Ethernet, VPN off, other devices quiet. Several tests across morning, afternoon and evening, over a few days. Screenshots with timestamps. The contract’s typical and minimum figures next to those numbers. Then a fault ticket. A single phone test on Wi-Fi at 9pm is what they dismiss — fairly, if the line itself is fine.

Inside 14 days of a distance sale you can cool off. After that: if the service does not meet the contract’s minimum / normally available speeds and they cannot fix it in a reasonable time, you may have a right to a remedy — including ending the contract — under consumer and open-internet rules. That is fact-specific; keep the log. A Contract Change Notification is a separate penalty-free window. An ETF still applies if you simply prefer a different logo. Process: how to switch.

Not if the bottleneck is FTTC copper, Wi-Fi, or a laptop NIC. Same wholesale socket, same physics. A new retailer can give you a newer router and a different upload profile on FTTH (Sky 500 is typically 500/100; some SIRO/NBI plans are symmetrical). It cannot turn Part Fibre into full fibre. Change network when the checker says you can; change shop when the contract is the problem.

Advertised download on cable can look like FTTH on a quiet afternoon. Evening contention on a busy node is the known trade-off, and upload on 500 Mb / 1 Gb plans is 50 Mb in the August 2026 plans we track — that is the headline, not a fault. Compare typical/minimum in the Virgin contract, test wired at peak, then decide if SIRO or Open Eir FTTH is the better product where it passes. Virgin Media review.

No. It is a radio ceiling. Evening cell load and walls decide what you get. There is no glass profile to “repair” up to 500. Use 5G when wired checkers are empty; switch when they are not. Three and Imagine are honest as a mast product, not as FTTH.

Both, if you can, on Ethernet. Their tool is what they cannot easily call “the wrong server”. An independent test is what you keep. Agreement between the two is useful. A huge gap is itself a clue (VPN, Wi-Fi, or a busy test server). Do not mix a wired ISP test at noon with a phone test at midnight and call it a trend.

Then you are probably getting the product and wasting it in the air. That is not an advertised-speed complaint. Fix coverage — Wi-Fi dead zones — before you threaten to leave. ComReg is not going to make stone walls thinner.

Need is a household question — what speed do I need? — and 500 Mb on full fibre is the usual family default. Buying 1 Gb because the landing tests at 80 Mb wireless is paying for megabits the radio cannot carry. Upgrade the plan when the wired test already fills 500 and the extra gig is cheap.

Use their published complaints process first (they must have one). Keep ticket numbers and the speed log. ComReg’s consumer line and online complaints path are the backup for unresolved disputes — including switching and, in some cases, speed. This page is general information for Ireland, not a substitute for the letter in your contract. Prices and plan speeds here are dated August 2026; trust the live checkout if they disagree.