500Mb Broadband Deals Ireland (October 2026)
Prices updated 11 October 2026
What is the cheapest 500 Mbps broadband deal?
The cheapest 500 Mbps plan we track is Fibre 500Mb from eir, at an estimated €319.88 over a first year and €32.82 a month averaged across its 24-month contract. 6 plans from 4 providers are sold at this speed.
Advertised pricing as of 11 October 2026. Availability varies by eircode — confirm with the provider before ordering.
Every 500 Mbps broadband plan compared
All 6 plans advertised at 500 Mbps download, ranked by estimated first-year cost with setup fees added and one-off credits deducted. To compare across speeds, use the full broadband comparison.
| Provider | Plan | Technology | Opening rate | Then | Term | First year | Avg/month |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| eir | Fibre 500Mb | Full fibre | €34.99/mo × 24 | €75.99/mo | 24 mo | €319.88 | €32.82/mo |
| Sky | Broadband Ultrafast Plus (24-month offer) | Full fibre | €33/mo × 24 | €67.50/mo | 12 mo | €396 | €33/mo |
| Sky | Broadband Ultrafast Plus (12-month offer) | Full fibre | €35/mo × 12 | €67.50/mo | 12 mo | €420 | €35/mo |
| Virgin Media | Full Fibre 500Mb Broadband (12-month) | Cable | €35/mo × 12 | €70/mo | 12 mo | €420 | €35/mo |
| Vodafone | Fibre 500Mb | Full fibre | €35/mo × 6 | €40/mo | 12 mo | €450 | €37.50/mo |
| Virgin Media | Full Fibre 500Mb Broadband (24-month) | Cable | €40/mo × 24 | €70/mo | 24 mo | €480 | €40/mo |
Cheapest 500 Mbps plan from each provider
If you already know which networks reach your address, this is the shorter read: one row per provider, showing its best plan at this speed and whether it raises the price mid-contract.
| Provider | Best plan | First year | Avg/month | Mid-contract rise |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| eir | Fibre 500Mb | €319.88 | €32.82/mo | +€4/mo a year |
| Sky | Broadband Ultrafast Plus (12-month offer) | €420 | €35/mo | No annual rise |
| Virgin Media | Full Fibre 500Mb Broadband (24-month) | €480 | €40/mo | No annual rise |
| Vodafone | Fibre 500Mb | €450 | €37.50/mo | No annual rise |
500Mb Broadband in Ireland
A 500 Mbps connection is the tier most Irish households should be shopping in. It is fast enough to run several 4K streams, a games console downloading in the background and a working-from-home video call at the same time without anybody noticing, and because every major provider sells one, the competition at this speed is fiercer than anywhere else on the price list.
The practical difference between 500 Mbps and a gigabit is smaller than the numbers suggest. Very little of what a home actually does is limited by the line: streaming services cap out around 25 Mbps for 4K, video calls use a fraction of that, and a large game download is usually throttled by the game store rather than by your broadband. What 500 Mbps buys you over a slower connection is headroom for everything happening at once, and that headroom is generous.
Watch the shape of the deal rather than the headline. Introductory pricing at this tier is aggressive and short: several plans here open around €35 a month and then step up to €70 or more, which means the second year costs roughly double the first. The first-year and average-monthly columns in the table below both account for that, along with any setup fee, one-off bill credit, and contractual annual price rise where the provider applies one.
Upload speed is the specification worth checking before you order. Full-fibre plans generally offer a symmetric or near-symmetric upload, while cable connections deliver a much smaller upload than download. If you back up to cloud storage, upload video, or host calls rather than joining them, the upload figure will matter more to you than the download headline does.
500Mb Broadband questions
What is the cheapest 500 Mbps broadband deal in Ireland?
The cheapest 500 Mbps plan in our data is Fibre 500Mb from eir, at an estimated €319.88 over a first year — €34.99 a month for 24 months, then €75.99. That figure adds any setup fee and deducts any one-off new-customer credit. Availability is decided by your address, so check the provider's eircode checker before ordering.
Which providers sell 500 Mbps broadband in Ireland?
4 providers in our data sell at this speed: eir, Sky, Virgin Media, Vodafone. That is who advertises it nationally, not who can deliver it to you — fixed broadband is sold address by address, and the networks that reach any given house are a matter of where the fibre or cable was built.
Do I actually need 500 Mbps broadband?
Half-gigabit fibre and cable plans — comfortably enough for a family home, and usually the best value tier in the market. As a rule the number of people using the connection at once matters far more than what any one of them is doing: a single 4K stream needs around 25 Mbps, and a video call rather less. If your connection only feels slow at particular times of day, that is contention between devices, and more headroom helps. If it is slow all the time on one device, the problem is more likely Wi-Fi or the router than the line.
Why is the first-year cost different from the monthly price?
Because almost every plan at this speed is sold on an introductory rate that expires. The first-year column adds twelve months of whatever you actually pay — opening rate while it lasts, standard rate afterwards — plus any setup fee, less any one-off new-customer credit. 1 plan here carries such a credit. The average-monthly column also applies the contractual annual price rise that 1 of these plans carry, from the first anniversary onwards.