BB and line rental for just €20

bk

Digiweb have just introduce a new package, Metro Lite which gives you 1m/256k wireless BB, plus a phone line for just €19.95

And they are now giving free installation also.

They have also dropped the prices of their other packages:
Metro 3m/512k €34.99
Metro Plus 5m/1m €78.65
Metro Xpress 8/2m €163.35

All prices include Vat and free install.

Nice work lads, keep up the good work.

crawler

If it is ok with the Mods I will provide full details tomorrow but there is more to this also :-

Our STANDARD (Homewave) wireless customers (not Metro) are getting a free upgrade from 512Kbps to up to 1Mbps (signal strength will dictate the exact upgrade per customer) and a new 512Kbps lower cost option is now available. Upgrades will happen automatically over the coming week or two.

http://www.digiweb.ie/athome_broadband_wireless_index.asp?i=2&i2=5&i6=32

A NEW 1MB DSL Lite option is now introduced @ 22.95 (NOT time based!!!)

http://www.digiweb.ie/athome_broadband_dsl_index.asp?i=1&i2=4&i6=34

People on the existing standard metro packages will have the price reductions AUTOMATICALLY applied.

Metro's top package has gone to 8Mbps (from 6Mbps) downlaod and 2Mbps upload

FAQ's on Metro Lite here

http://www.digiweb.ie/broadband_metro_faq2.asp

Metro LITE comes with a 10GB download allowance BUT an additional 10GB can be had for €4.99 extra per month.

cgarvey

crawler wrote:

Metro LITE comes with a 10GB download allowance BUT an additional 10GB can be had for €4.99 extra per month.

Interesting move.. seems a good compromise between the desired "no cap" moaned about here, and the realistic control an ISP needs.

Will the 4.99 charge be applied automatically, or will it have to be pre-applied to the account to avoid overage charges?

I assume that higher transfer customers, will be recommended to take a higher Metro product (rather than blanket restriction?), as you don't charge excess transfer fees, do you?

Good product, well done!

1 word of warning to potential customers: if you cancel Metro Lite (which is a higher 12 month contract) you're liable for the remainder of the contract. With the other Metro products, you're liable for 3 months only, and they are 6 month minimum contracts). So if you cancel Metro in month 2, you're liable for €199.50! Not sure will Digiweb charge that, but you are liable for up to that (your statutory rights not being affected, of course)!

.cg

crawler

Good Q CG...

On the Cap - no, unlikely to be automatic, people will be advised if they are going over the cap and given the option to take the extra capacity or to upgrade. The maximum with metro lite is 20GB, if 30GB is reqired then they can upgrade from Lite to Metro and get the extra allowance and faster speeds...

We felt this was fairest for all but people will have their own views I am sure

lucernarian

The cap idea is a good move. One of the most original ideas used for a download limit, though it will need to be strictly enforced for it to be successful.

When will we (the FWA customers) know when their connection has been upgraded, or if the upgrade was tried but the signal too weak or if the connection has been looked at yet? From a personal point of view, I'm about 9 km from the base station so I'm not sure if we could get the upgrades.

Their phone service will need to really improve on the initial performance it had Metro is to be seriously considered as a replacement to a landline, especially to those who are used to a reliable house phone since the days of the p&t...

Has the phone QoS been sorted out?

Sparky

Whens this HDTV coming out, I'd be very interested in it.

watty

To_be_confirmed wrote:

< ... snip stuff ... >

Their phone service will need to really improve on the initial performance it had Metro is to be seriously considered as a replacement to a landline, especially to those who are used to a reliable house phone since the days of the p&t...

Has the phone QoS been sorted out?

With a good phone handset the phone on mine is now perfect, I'm somewhat further away than the recommended 10km.

HDTV content is a bit thin on the ground.

It should be stressed that the BBC HD starting today is actually not a real service, but a 12 month Trial.

FTA Receivers that actually work with the BBC service as of today = 1
PC Satellite Card DVB-S2 solutions that work properly with BBC HD, or that you actually get delivered to you = 0.

Number of systems promising delivery soon, or upgrades to allow all the nuances used by BBC etc = ALL.

I'd plan on watching the World Cup in Standard Defintion unless in Germany using the Premiere pay TV system. SkyHD is not public Debugged yet (only releases next week) and the Telewest HD system is a bit buggy still.

Watch this space.

lucernarian

Yeah I saw your post in the IOFFL forum watty, I was wondering if you were the exception or the rule as I remember Digiweb went to a bit of trouble to fix up your modem firmware and all that.

What is the maximum speed the Metro equipment can do? HDTV will need much more than 3 mbits won't it? I guess web browsing won't be possible while the HDTV is in use.

watty

I'd guess Metro BB won't be affected at all by TV or HDTV.

More than 14Mbps probabily for HDTV. 5.5Mbps is needed for MPEG2 at decent quality.

I think I was nearly the last in the country to get my phone fixed

Blaster99

Apart from die hard fans like watty, what's the Metro service like these days? A lot of complaining a while ago but it's been quiet for a while. Is it all singing and dancing now?

Sparky

Speed seems constant lately, even though im -21db, Ive been doing tests for an engineer to get better signals, which I can.

blue banana

Is it neccessary to change your telephone number, to avail of this metro package?

Chaz

blue banana wrote:

Is it neccessary to change your telephone number, to avail of this metro package?

Nope, it has nothing to do with your existing phone service to receive Metro service.

Sponge Bob

Not quite Chaz , he will have to port his eircom number to digiweb or to a voip operator to keep his eircom number while releasing the eircom line and saving €24 a month in dead money line rental. As he is not LLUing he can do so. This is an advantage of going Metro instead of going LLU.

Porting is the process of moving your eircom number elsewhere.

For those who wish to keep their eircom number and get metro.

1. See if you can get metro, order.
2. Start porting your eircom number, fill forms etc.
3. Metro is installed.
4. about 1-2 months after the port starts the port is finished. Your eircom number is live 'elsewhere'
5. Cancel eircom line now the number is 'safe' , you should not have to pay a large whack every month to keep it either.

The Digiweb site should have a porting section by now with an outline explanation.

When you go LLU to Magnet or Smart eircom have designed the process so that you simply cannot take your number once the LLU order is placed. With Metro there is no LLU order so eircom cannot block that port for spurious 'technical reasons' or else they are in breach of their USO obligations.

crawler

I think you will find it does SB

http://www.digiweb.ie/pdf/Porting_form.pdf

Also in the Metro LITE FAQs ( http://www.digiweb.ie/broadband_metro_faq2.asp ) you will see we DONT allow porting for the LITE product - not because we are bad, horrible people, but because the maximum ports that can be processed with eircom in one day is so low(24 I think?)....and metro lite is a high volume product...

We do allow porting with all other Metro products but IT DOES TAKE TIME to port a number.....no loss of service though....

With all Metro products we do provide a normal geographic number (01 Dublin, 021 Cork etc) anyway....lots of people just take this number and tell people, then cancel their old number once people know...

Sponge Bob

Ye have so many feckin products nowadays and only one website

Even if you do not allow porting for lite, I can see why the admin overhead is disproportionate and have no issue with it by the way, there is nothing to stop the poster from porting his eircom number that he seems to wish to keep over to a VoIp provider such as smart076 or blueface .

I am not sure exactly when he can drop his eircom line...ie I am not sure when the port request is accepted by eircom and when cancelling the eirocm line will not cost him his number.

He can then use VoIp over Metro Lite to make and take calls on his old eircom number once it eventually shows up on his chosen VoIp provider .

Unlike LLU there is no obstacle to keeping your number but the procedure for keeping your number is entirely separate from metro lite provisioning . Metro lite will also provide you with a new local number . It may be possible to ask a VoIP operator to forward calls permanently to that 'new' number form the 'old' number at a reasonable pence per minute rate thereby saving you from getting a VoIP adapter at home.

ShiverinEskimo

Blaster99 wrote:

Apart from die hard fans like watty, what's the Metro service like these days? A lot of complaining a while ago but it's been quiet for a while. Is it all singing and dancing now?

Mine was put up in the winter (November) and started acting up lately so I made a call and they arranged for an engineer to come out. (10 days after the problem was reported. :mad:)

Turns out my Metro Broadband is seasonal - some trees in the distance had since foliated and hence blocked my signal. I can still get a connection if its not windy or rainy. The engineer said it should never have been put up that they should know to watch out for bare trees during installation.

I've ordered their DSL Xtra product because my phone line has since been enabled for dsl. I'll miss the upload and higher cap of metro though and am pissed off with the grief this has caused.

I have to say though - during the winter when the trees weren't affecting my LOS the service was generally top notch. (never used the phone tho).

crawler

ShiverinEskimo wrote:

Mine was put up in the winter (November) and started acting up lately so I made a call and they arranged for an engineer to come out. (10 days after the problem was reported. :mad:)

Turns out my Metro Broadband is seasonal - some trees in the distance had since foliated and hence blocked my signal. I can still get a connection if its not windy or rainy. The engineer said it should never have been put up that they should know to watch out for bare trees during installation.

I've ordered their DSL Xtra product because my phone line has since been enabled for dsl. I'll miss the upload and higher cap of metro though and am pissed off with the grief this has caused.

I have to say though - during the winter when the trees weren't affecting my LOS the service was generally top notch. (never used the phone tho).

It needs LOS, no getting around that...slap for the installer that put it in! Sorry about that but glad we had another product for you...

dyslexixboy

ShiverinEskimo wrote:

Mine was put up in the winter (November) and started acting up lately so I made a call and they arranged for an engineer to come out. (10 days after the problem was reported. :mad:)

Turns out my Metro Broadband is seasonal - some trees in the distance had since foliated and hence blocked my signal. I can still get a connection if its not windy or rainy. The engineer said it should never have been put up that they should know to watch out for bare trees during installation.

I've ordered their DSL Xtra product because my phone line has since been enabled for dsl. I'll miss the upload and higher cap of metro though and am pissed off with the grief this has caused.

I have to say though - during the winter when the trees weren't affecting my LOS the service was generally top notch. (never used the phone tho).

Same here when its windy my connection goes to ****e, however when its not dl speeds usually dont go below 2.8mb, uploads dont seem to be affected always around 480Kb/s

JimmySmith

I'm having trouble finding out exactly how much Eircoms line rental is for a normal residential user (inc Vat).
Can anyone tell me? Eircoms website is useless.
I'm trying to work out the savings for the phone line my sister if she goes with Metro lite. BB is a bonus to her.

Blaster99

Sponge Bob wrote:

I am not sure exactly when he can drop his eircom line...ie I am not sure when the port request is accepted by eircom and when cancelling the eirocm line will not cost him his number.

There's some info on this in Blueface's FAQ if I recall. The whole process is so shoe string-ish that I don't remember the ins and outs of it, but it requires a couple of secret handshakes and a bit of luck with the timing. Pretty amazing how something as simple as a number port can be made so difficult.

I incidentally find the whole excuse for not supporting number porting on Metro Lite a bit weak. If it costs you too much money just say so or charge for it. That's assuming the phone service works and is supported in a meaningful way. Otherwise there's no point in using it or indeed porting.

Sponge Bob

If you install metro between now and the end of october this is not an issue anymore because it will be known to work WITH the leaves on the trees. You only have to be careful from 1st November to end May .

In a way Digiweb should somehow push Metro sales around their cell peripheries during the summer when the obstacles are at the max because if it works then it certainly will work in the winter . Even better, do the LOS when its windy and when 'that ' tree in the distance is swaying ...and especially if its breezy and showery

Line rental is €24.20 a month incl Vat BTW

Mutant_Fruit

More than 14Mbps probabily for HDTV. 5.5Mbps is needed for MPEG2 at decent quality.

God no! Thats the beauty behind HDTV, it uses a better compression algorithm. Depending on the resolution they choose, (i.e. 480p - 1080p) you can get good quality HDTV streams from 2-3mbps upwards. For 1080p (the highest resolution allowable) i believe about 10mbps-14mbps would be required, depending on source complexity.

HDTV codecs are a LOT more efficient than MPEG2. A 1080p MPEG2 stream might need 25mbps or more to look decent.

EDIT: Just for comparison... MPEG2 dvd's are at a resolution of 720x480 (or 720x576) pixels, top range HDTV is at 1920x1,080.

Sponge Bob

is that the Mpeg4 AVC codec MF ??

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/H.264

a very good one page explanation of 'flavours' thereof here.

http://forum.doom9.org/showthread.php?t=96059

and 2005 Codec Shootout Here

http://www.doom9.org/index.html?/codecs-main-105-1.htm

HTH

watty

When I went to Chorus Wireless phone Eircom wouldn't port the number...
When it closed due to loss of licence Eircom wouldn't give me back the old number or port the new 061 number from the closing Chorus service

When Metro enabled it got a new 061 number. So if I don't port I will be on 4th 061 number at this address, and if I do port, I'll be at 3rd number.

Either way I'm cancelling the Eircom line.

watty

Mutant_Fruit wrote:

God no! Thats the beauty behind HDTV, it uses a better compression algorithm. Depending on the resolution they choose, (i.e. 480p - 1080p) you can get good quality HDTV streams from 2-3mbps upwards. For 1080p (the highest resolution allowable) i believe about 10mbps-14mbps would be required, depending on source complexity.

HDTV codecs are a LOT more efficient than MPEG2. A 1080p MPEG2 stream might need 25mbps or more to look decent.

EDIT: Just for comparison... MPEG2 dvd's are at a resolution of 720x480 (or 720x576) pixels, top range HDTV is at 1920x1,080.

Er no...
Yes the codec is nearly twice as efficent for standard deviation.

Hence good quality Standard TV in MPEG2 is 5MBps to 6MBps and about 3Mbps in MPEG4.

1920 x 1080i is about FIVE TIMES the data of standard defintion 720 x 576 (ITV uses 544 x 576 on satellite). Hence 10Mps is lower end of quality and 14Mbps is a fair estimate for HDTV. Maybe up to 15Mbps.

Very little Standard TV (other than DivX, xDiv and WME9 stuff) is in MPEG4 transmission, but that is likely to change as the idea of 1/2 the spectrum or twice as many channels is too attractive. ITV Digital/On Digital as a Pay TV system would have been much more viable with twice as many channels, but of course setbox MPEG4 chips not available then.

720 line is "entry level" HDTV, good if you on 480 line NTSC, not such an upgrade for 576 line PAL viewers. 1080 line is the prefered HDTV.
480p is "enhanced" Digital TV. Not HDTV at all, only solves comb artifact issue of 3:2 pull down from Film 24fps to 480i (interlaced).

For European (non-NTSC, non-30fps) systems "i" or "p" is not an issue. Fast moving sport might be slightly better in 720p (Progressive) and everything else better in 1080i.

For watching on a PC monitor obviously US 480p is hugely better as PC monitors don't go at 25i or 50p.
But in Europe any 720p is 50fps, not 60fps. There will be no 576p or 480p transmissions. 480p (60fps) is essentially a US market mode, especially useful as a marketing ploy on Terrestrial Digital as many Americans think it is HDTV.

Sponge Bob

I am not sure about a requirement for eircom to port a number to another operator before July 2003. It may have applied to business customers only.

I am sure that they must port a number since the USO came into being in July 2003. I am equally not sure if this obligation extended to Chorus nor if eircom were obliged to takle a number originally assigned to Chorus as distinct from take their 'own' original number 'back' .

I am absolutely certain that if you emailed Comreg who are supposd to be in charge of all this that you will find that they cannot provide clarity either

As there is a Comreg consultation closing on the USO, TOMORROW, you may feel it necessary to make a submission to Comreg on the matter of number portability to retailconsult@comreg.ie

watty

Sponge Bob wrote:

If you install metro between now and the end of october this is not an issue anymore because it will be known to work WITH the leaves on the trees. You only have to be careful from 1st November to end May .

In a way Digiweb should somehow push Metro sales around their cell peripheries during the summer when the obstacles are at the max because if it works then it certainly will work in the winter . Even better, do the LOS when its windy and when 'that ' tree in the distance is swaying ...and especially if its breezy and showery

Line rental is €24.20 a month incl Vat BTW

Get permission from owner to cut any branches in the way. You need council permit to actually cut down any tree over 5 years old, as well as owner permission.

With a really big tree, better LOS often low down on house "shining" under the tree boughs. As the tree gets bigger it won't get worse either.

Chaz

Sponge Bob wrote:

Not quite Chaz , he will have to port his eircom number to digiweb or to a voip operator to keep his eircom number while releasing the eircom line and saving €24 a month in dead money line rental. As he is not LLUing he can do so. This is an advantage of going Metro instead of going LLU.

Porting is the process of moving your eircom number elsewhere.

For those who wish to keep their eircom number and get metro.

1. See if you can get metro, order.
2. Start porting your eircom number, fill forms etc.
3. Metro is installed.
4. about 1-2 months after the port starts the port is finished. Your eircom number is live 'elsewhere'
5. Cancel eircom line now the number is 'safe' , you should not have to pay a large whack every month to keep it either.

The Digiweb site should have a porting section by now with an outline explanation.

When you go LLU to Magnet or Smart eircom have designed the process so that you simply cannot take your number once the LLU order is placed. With Metro there is no LLU order so eircom cannot block that port for spurious 'technical reasons' or else they are in breach of their USO obligations.

Sorry, I explained this on the basis 'do i need a phone line to use metro lite' - and the answer is no. I wasnt getting into number porting or anything related.

bk

Mutant_Fruit wrote:

God no! Thats the beauty behind HDTV, it uses a better compression algorithm. Depending on the resolution they choose, (i.e. 480p - 1080p) you can get good quality HDTV streams from 2-3mbps upwards. For 1080p (the highest resolution allowable) i believe about 10mbps-14mbps would be required, depending on source complexity.

HDTV codecs are a LOT more efficient than MPEG2. A 1080p MPEG2 stream might need 25mbps or more to look decent.

Sorry, not a chance.

SD using MPEG2 varies from about 4m to 8m
SD using MPEG4 varies from about 2m to 5m
HD using MPEG2 is over 20m
HD using MPEG4 is about 10m to 14m

blue banana

Line rental with eircom is E24.18 inc vat, I think!