If you are in Athlone and weighing up whether to leave Sky or Virgin Media, the sensible move is to test the thing before paying for it. The Athlone trial runs 24 hours, needs no card, and works on the telly you already have. That is long enough to check Westmeath in the championship, Athlone Town in the League of Ireland First Division, plus every Premier League and Champions League night.
Local viewing guide
Athlone Town are the oldest club in the country and play at Athlone Town Stadium, which gives the town a League of Ireland identity that predates most of the league. Westmeath provide the GAA, with the county having had real success in the Tailteann Cup in recent seasons. Sitting on the Shannon in the middle of the country, Athlone is a genuine midlands hub rather than a satellite of anywhere, and it draws support and custom from both Westmeath and Roscommon. Fibre coverage in the town is reasonable. As with most of the midlands, the further out from the town you go, the more the National Broadband Ireland rollout determines what is actually possible.
Athlone straddles the Shannon in the middle of the country and functions as a proper regional hub rather than a satellite of anywhere, drawing from both Westmeath and Roscommon. Fibre coverage in the town is reasonable, and the usual midlands pattern applies once you head out towards Moate, Ballinasloe or into rural Roscommon, where the National Broadband Ireland rollout determines the outcome. The town has a substantial student population through TUS on short leases. For a household here the useful test is an ordinary busy weeknight at your own address rather than anything staged, because the midlands pattern of a decent town line and a variable rural one means the only measurement worth having is the one taken where you actually live.
Spend the 24 hours on what you would genuinely miss. For Athlone that means Westmeath in the All-Ireland championship and Athlone Town in the League of Ireland First Division. Load the guide early, find the channel, and be sitting down at throw-in rather than judging it on an afternoon repeat. It will never be Athlone Town Stadium, though on a good line it comes closer than you would think.
Connection check
Worth knowing before you start: midlands town straddling the Shannon, well served in the centre. Reckon on 10 Mbps for HD and 25 Mbps for 4K. SIRO and Eir fibre. If the house in Athlone is streaming on three devices at once, that is the moment to check your speed.
Setup
The usual worry in Athlone is the setup rather than the price. There is no dish, no engineer visit and no new box to buy. It runs on the smart telly, Firestick or Android box already in the room, and a real person walks you through it on WhatsApp while you do it.
Send a WhatsApp with your name and number. No card details are asked for.
We reply with your login, usually inside a few minutes.
Someone talks you through the setup on whatever device is already in the room.
You get 24 hours to judge it. Nothing auto-renews, because we hold no card.
No. The 24-hour trial never asks for card details. You send your name and WhatsApp number, we send a login back, and you watch. Decide against it and nothing happens, because there is nothing on file to charge.
No. It runs over your existing broadband, so there is no dish, no aerial and nobody calling to the house in Athlone. If you have a smart telly, a Firestick or an Android box, you already have everything you need.
The library includes GAA championship coverage and the League of Ireland First Division, so if a Westmeath or Athlone Town game falls inside your 24 hours you can check it properly. Fixtures and rights move around, which is exactly why we would rather you test it on a real match night than take our word for it.
About 10 Mbps for HD and 25 Mbps for 4K. Midlands town straddling the Shannon, well served in the centre. Test during the evening peak rather than the middle of the day, because that is when the line is under load.
Nothing happens unless you ask it to. With no card stored there is nothing to renew. Carrying on is a one-off payment: €100 for The Taster and 10 months, or €300 for The Owner and lifetime access on one device, both with a 90-day money-back promise.
The same free trial applies wherever you are. If one of these is closer, start there.
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No card. Nothing to cancel.
A full day on your own telly in Athlone, no card taken and nothing to cancel. If it does not suit, you walk away having spent nothing at all.
Channel and event availability changes over time, so nothing here guarantees any given match. Use the trial to check your own must-have channels before paying. If you continue, The Taster is €100 once for 10 months and The Owner is €300 once for lifetime access, both with a 90-day money-back promise.
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