Lastmile

Highway61

Any one have any dealing with this crowd ?
http://www.lastmile.ie/
A wireless internet providor in the midlands that doesn't appear to answer Email :-( .
I'm trying to find out will the wireless they have set up in Kinegad reach my place (about 5 or 6 Km as the crow flies ) .We are kind of isolated here and I don't expect the local exchange will be BB enabled before I get the bus pass :mad:
HW

djmarkus

I have a freind that uses them from mullingar, he hasn't much complaints about the service, he's a boards user so i'll let him tell you the story.

Laguna

5-6km is cool for wireless BB, as long as you have line of sight to the mast. LastMile are pretty good from what I've heard, good few Boardsers use them from what I've seen.

viking

Highway61 wrote:

I'm trying to find out will the wireless they have set up in Kinegad reach my place (about 5 or 6 Km as the crow flies ).
HW

Try ringing LastMile instead you might get a better response that way.

Highway61 wrote:

I don't expect the local exchange will be BB enabled before I get the bus pass :mad:
HW

Funny you mention it but its actually been enabled within the last week, try your phone number on the eircom checker.

Viking

eirlink

I using it right now and have been for over 2 months now.I find it brilliant,as i cannot get land line bb i have no choice however i must say their service is great and i have no bother when i ring them,as i had to one one occasion where i was down but the prob was at their end.(the had me back as we spoke on the phone.

I find the speed very good ( getting average 480k down/115k up )

I would have no hesitation reccommending them but do your business by phone!

happy 2006 to everyone

Highway61

Thanks for the advice guys...
I tried the line checker but I think it's the Kinegad exchange that's been enabled recently :-( WE are nearer the Killucan end . Makes perfect sense ...they go to the bother of setting up Wireless and then upgrade the exchange ,where else would you get it I'll give the Lastmile guys a call in the morning ...you never know we might get lucky ..watch this space

Longfordian

I had last mile out today to hook up wireless broadband in Longford but I am too far from the transmitter to get a strong signal. They are expecting to have a new transmitter on Cairn hill by the end of January and if this doesn't work they have told me they will install a high gain antennae which boosts the signal. My landline is failing even though my local exchange has been upgraded, so it is Last Mile or else no BB.

Brendan

uncle_sam_ie

Longfordian wrote:

I had last mile out today to hook up wireless broadband in Longford but I am too far from the transmitter to get a strong signal. They are expecting to have a new transmitter on Cairn hill by the end of January and if this doesn't work they have told me they will install a high gain antennae which boosts the signal. My landline is failing even though my local exchange has been upgraded, so it is Last Mile or else no BB.

Brendan

How far are you? Wireless is my only hope and I'm six miles from the Tower. Is that close enough? Man, getting broadband access is really a desperate situation in this country.:(

nilhg

I'm more than 10 miles from their tower and have a rock solid service ( I have great LOS though). The only problem I have had in the last 15 months or so was actualy caused by interference from their tower in Kinnegad!! Alls well since then though. One slight annoyance is the lack of support if there is a problem out of normal business hours (most of the time these problems are not on their network and dont last very long). They will shortly have to look at their pricing structure an/or access speeds, DSL looks very competitive if you can get it.

jwt

I'm about 5 miles from Kinnegad tower and getting a good signal albeit having paid extra for an extended height aerial to clear rooftops.

Out of hours support is an issue especially as the outages appear to always occur out of hours

Their wireless gear is good for up to 15 miles LOS, Kinnegad tower is being fed off Edenderry mast AFAIK.

More likely than being to far away is obstructions such as trees etc cutting the signal down

Ask Viking about his opinions on the pros and cons of evergreen trees as effective RF shielding


John

viking

With direct LOS, wireless will extend to about 15kms without affecting bandwidth. You can go further but then bandwidth starts dropping.

Trees will have an affect as the branches will scatter the signal and increase the error rate. I'm encountering a problem with trees (evergreen and ordinary) blocking LOS to a certain degree, its not so bad in winter as there are no leaves on the ordinary trees but its more noticeable in spring/summer. I remember when it snowed last year, the snow sat on the evergreen trees and compressed the branches which completely cutoff the signal from the tower.

I'll need to get up on a ladder and raise the antennae to see if that helps things... when are you free JWT???

Viking

jwt

sheesh, I suppose next you'll want me to bring my own double ladders


FWIW i'm on the 1m/512K package typically download at 105-110k but on occasion this drops to 50k. Despite some clown in eircom trying to connect to a non existant POP server (port 110) at my IP address about 100 times a minute 24/7.


This package has no cap and a static ip address .
John

uncle_sam_ie

So line of site is the key here. I could be ok, but I might need to invest some money in a chainsaw and balaclava.:D

jwt

Rumour has it that a good feed of diesel to the roots of the trees in question does wonders for LOS issues and doesn't damage the delicate bark of the trees in question.



John

Pingpong

Like everything else, when it's working ok it's fine, but when it's not.......Ha! It's denied by Lastmile.
What do you mean Outages!!!!!! WHAT Outages! we don't have outages, there must be something wrong with your computer? "oh yea, I have three PCs, Hmmmm and they all don't develop the same problem at the same time, even when one PC is off?". They haven't used Sunspots as an excuse yet, but I'm sure they will.
Their customer care is nonexistence and they blame everything and everyone for problems, and they even go as far as denying any other users are having issues with their BB service, that's wrong, wrong, wrong. I know I'm not alone with outage issues, I've spoken to other users and they all say the same "Last mile deny everything unless you can catch them out, then their story changes". I signed up to Lastmile BB just days before eircom enabled the BB in Rochfortbridge, I'm tied to them for a year now, well September 06 anyway, and after that i'll swing in with UTV or eircom. But if they're your only option, well what can you do? other that sign up and hope things work out.

jwt

hmmmm


I know that early in 2005 there were serious issues but tbh I haven't had a noticeable drop out in months.

That said , their out of hours support doesn't exist. But when I have have had to ring they have never denied having an issue, in fact when I was having trouple with packet loss they were able to query my antenna/router and confirm that there was no packet loss between me and the base station.

I make a point of leaving a continuous ping running if I suspect there is an issue, that way I can mail them the results which allows them to compare times and outages.

All that aside you are not the first person here to complain about Lastmile so I wonder if it's dependant on the base stations? Or maybe the person you get through to? Probably helps that myself and Viking tend to ring each other if we think the network is down before ringing them. A few times it has been the antenna/router that locked up. Power off power on fixed it.

John

Pingpong

The problem I’m having is this: On occasion while using the net I get a message something like this; “Sever not responding”. So at this point I check my wireless router is functioning, and then I check other applications like E-mail & G-talk, you get my drift so far? Then I re-boot the PC, W-Router and Lastmile’s Hardware (Antenna / Router). After all this I still have “error messages as above” and yet I have never lost contact with Lastmile’s Server, before or after re-booting (strange but true).
I bypass the wireless router and connect the PC directly to the Lastmile Ant/Rout and the statues quo remains as above. I have a successful connection to Lastmile, but alas cannot precede any further to access the Net. The BB system returns to normal after a few hours, just as it went (now it’s On, now it’s Off), my neighbour has identical issues. I will ping their server the next time it happens and forward a Print Screen image to them as proof, “something I should not have to do” if their Customer service was up to? Well any level. I refused to talk with the Guy on the phone because of his attitude and asked to speak with one of the Directors, which I did, two days later.

Another Neighbour was having connection problems and they told her it was the PC. She spent a small fortune on the PC’s help-line and still no connection. To make a long story short, I checked out her settings, and they were OK. I tried connecting with my Laptop using my own and her settings, nothing! I brought her PC to my house and guess what? Yea you’re right, it WORKED! She e-mailed Lastmile from my house and received an apologue via phone the next day. Her rooftop antenna was faulty and was replaced four days later. But just look at the hoops she had to jump through to get some service. Sorry for been so long winded, but I left some stuff out that you just wouldn’t believe?

jwt

Fair enough, that sounds horrible.

What did the directors have to say about this?

suprised about your neighbour and the antenna being faulty, they can easily query the box itself. Complain in writing, copy to DCMNR if your in a GBS area.

Follow up 10 days letter with second letter if nothing happens, with copies to DCMNR, Comreg and National Consumer Agency http://www.oasis.gov.ie/consumer_affairs/consumer_complaints/how_to_make_a_consumer_complaint.html

Your not complaining about the service being down, thats covered under T&Cs but raqther the lack of resolution, help and courtesy.

John

Pingpong

jwt wrote:

What did the directors have to say about this?

He listened to what I had to say, but said he couldn't understand the cause of the problem.
I said I'd ping the server if and when it happens again and send him the PS Image.

jwt wrote:

Complain in writing, copy to DCMNR if your in a GBS area.
Follow up 10 days letter with second letter if nothing happens, with copies to DCMNR, Comreg and National Consumer Agency http://www.oasis.gov.ie/consumer_affairs/consumer_complaints/how_to_make_a_consumer_complaint.html

Yes I will do that. I have already mentioned Comreg & Dept of Communications to them.
I'm full sure It's not the end of the saga yet? But wouldn't it be nice if it was.

Whoops! there goes a Flying Pig by the window:)

VINNIEB

Got Lastmile broadband just before christmas week,(Tullamore Base Station, Arden Hill) working great,
Has anyone tried VOIP with 512/128, would love to tell Eircom to
Feck Off. As far as contacting anyone at last mile you have to be patient,
my antenna had to be replaced took the approx a week to do it, i understand
the installers are flat out busy.:D

viking

VINNIEB wrote:

Has anyone tried VOIP with 512/128

Have used Skype with Last Mile's 512/128 and tbh the quality is absolutely fine, however if I try to view a webpage or download some email then the connection goes dodgy and the other caller has to ask me to repeat what I said.

But then again my experience may not be that of the majority of Last Mile customers since I know that I have some tree/LOS issues.

Viking

Pingpong

I have used Skype and Google Talk, both work fine.
BTY, I'm working off Croghan Hill.

uncle_sam_ie

Has anyone tried video VOIP. Getting iChat AV to work on my Mac will be first thing on my list to try when I get connected.

jwt

I'm using a Vigor 2100v router, have the ordinary handsets connected to it and works fine.


What I'm looking round for is a voip fax service (Foip) thats a reasonable price. Blueface are looking for 34.95 plus vat http://www.blueface.ie/products/business.aspx for a fax service, I might as well go back to paying line rent for that.


John

Gone West

last mile should be your last option.
avoid at all costs.
they dont want nor need residential customers, apparently.

mayhem#

Highway61 wrote:

Any one have any dealing with this crowd ?
http://www.lastmile.ie/
A wireless internet providor in the midlands that doesn't appear to answer Email :-( .
I'm trying to find out will the wireless they have set up in Kinegad reach my place (about 5 or 6 Km as the crow flies ) .We are kind of isolated here and I don't expect the local exchange will be BB enabled before I get the bus pass :mad:
HW

If they don't even answer your emails I would forget about them straight away...

E.

viking

FuzzyLogic wrote:

they dont want nor need residential customers, apparently.

How do you know this FuzzyLogic?

Gone West

viking wrote:

How do you know this FuzzyLogic?

Apparently infers that it is in my (considerable) experience with this company.
Not stated as fact. But I stand by it.
I won't go in to any further detail, because I see no reason to.

TouchingVirus

Longfordian wrote:

I had last mile out today to hook up wireless broadband in Longford but I am too far from the transmitter to get a strong signal. They are expecting to have a new transmitter on Cairn hill by the end of January and if this doesn't work they have told me they will install a high gain antennae which boosts the signal. My landline is failing even though my local exchange has been upgraded, so it is Last Mile or else no BB.

Brendan

Any hope on Cairn Hill? It's off the google map. I need Cairn Hill because i can't see any other of their spots...

VINNIEB

Thanks guys, I will try VOIP soon.

spuddy77

Lastmile have recently installed a base satation in Edenmore Hill (Colmcillie/Dromard) servicing surrounding areas. I have sent in my sign up form. Expecting download improvement on ISDN. Price will be the same. Hopefully support and problem resolution will improve.


Anyone around that area currently using it? There was a launch in Drumlish and Gowna recently. I guess the more that signs up the more contention...the slower the link will get. :mad: