Broadband in Broadford Ballinteer options or only wireless?

MAJJ

Hi,

I live in Broadford, Ballinteer and am looking to get a basic broadband service for email, modest downloads, little or no gaming,minimal downloads,streaming internet radios stations and possibly voip (Blueface) or a phone option. Not all at the same time!

The house has an old phone line but I am not a Eircom customer and don't wish to become one. An old NTL connection is present but they don't supply broadband in the area.

I believe that this limits my choices to a number of wireless broadband suppliers :

Namely digiweb, clearwire and irish broadband.

Am I correct in this belief. What would you suggest?

Thanks ,
MAJJ

irlrobins

Irish Broadband (IBB) can be hit and miss. I have it and it works perfectly (on RTE mast). Good upload and download speeds with low ping. Friend of mine who lives where you do has it as well. I'll ask her what her experience of it is. Think you're on the Three Rock mast if you get it in Balinteer.

I'm sure someone will post here saying IBB is crap and to avoid. But as I said it works fine for me and some other people I know. Some areas are over subscribed though and don't work well. Limerick for one. I'll get back to you.

Blaster99

I'm pretty sure they have a mast in Ballinteer actually. Wouldn't recommend IBB to my worst friend, but there you go.

MAJJ

Hi Folks, thanks for the feedback.

irlrobins - it would be great to here back from your friend and have a local perspective!

Am I correct in my assumption that these 3 wireless option are my best bet given my criteria?

Thanks,
MAJJ

irlrobins

Well you normally have four options:
DSL - requires phoneline and to be on a broadband enabled exchange
Cable - NTL in Dublin, but not all areas covered.
Fixed Wireless - IBB, Clearwire, Digiweb
Satellite - Expsensive and crap, only used as last resort.

You say you have a phoneline? Who are you with?

Blaster99

Small point, but Clearwire is not fixed wireless. Nor is it available in Ballinteer. Nor would you want it.

irlrobins

Blaster99 wrote:

Small point, but Clearwire is not fixed wireless.

It is, have a read of their site. But yes, Ballinteer is just out of coverage.

Dr4gul4

IBB masts are all closed now for the moment so you're only hope is Digiweb, and you just missed the free install offer im afraid.

i'll let you know what there like nxt week my install date is monday morning

Blaster99

It's fairly irrelevant in the scheme of things, but fixed wireless refers to an aerial in a fixed position that's pointing to a mast somewhere. Roaming is not possible. Clearwire uses NLOS technology that works like mobile phones and you can, in theory, use the service anywhere within their coverage area.

irlrobins

Dr4gul4 wrote:

IBB masts are all closed now for the moment

Source?

irlrobins

Blaster99 wrote:

It's fairly irrelevant in the scheme of things, but fixed wireless refers to an aerial in a fixed position that's pointing to a mast somewhere. Roaming is not possible. Clearwire uses NLOS technology that works like mobile phones and you can, in theory, use the service anywhere within their coverage area.

Ah, I use the term fixed wireless as a general term to describe wireless connections that aren't of the 802.11 variety. But think OP got my drift.

Foxwood

MAJJ wrote:

I live in Broadford, Ballinteer and am looking to get a basic broadband service for email, modest downloads, little or no gaming,minimal downloads,streaming internet radios stations and possibly voip (Blueface) or a phone option. Not all at the same time!

The house has an old phone line but I am not a Eircom customer and don't wish to become one. An old NTL connection is present but they don't supply broadband in the area.

I believe that this limits my choices to a number of wireless broadband suppliers :

Namely digiweb, clearwire and irish broadband.

Am I correct in this belief. What would you suggest?

With BT's broadband+lineRental bundles, you'd get broadband for the same price as any of the wireless operators (the €20 ripwave style offerings don't really count as broadband, especially for VoIP), and the general concensus is that it'd be far more reliable.

BUT. I know a couple of people who live in broadford, and their phone numbers don't pass on netsources linechecker, so you should look up your neighbours phone number, and check it for yourself. If it passes, give strong consideration to the DSL route.

You should have no difficulty finding some IBB Breeze customers in your neighbourhood, just by walking around and spotting the antenna on the chimney. The last time I looked, they weren't hard to spot in Broadford.

MAJJ

Hi,

Your responses have been great and so quick. Just moved in and the phone line is present but is their is no dial tone. So lucks like as Dr4gul4 says only option may be Digiweb.

Dr4gul4 - can you let me know what you think?

Thanks again to everyone. I am new to this forum and very grateful and impressed. Hope to feedback my findings once I follow through.

MAJJ

Foxwood

MAJJ wrote:

Just moved in and the phone line is present but is their is no dial tone.

If you know the name of the people who used to own the house (ask your neighbours!), look the number up in the phone book.

Eircom have a special offer on at the moment where they'll reconnect an existing phoneline for free, so if neighbouring lines pass a line checker, it'd be worth getting the line re-activated, and going with BT's Linerental and broadband bundle.

irlrobins

right my friend just back to me there with speed test results (from irishisptest.com)

On a 1mbps Breeze:
Download: 963 Kbps
Upload: 958 Kbps
QoS: 99%
Round Trip Time: 7ms
Max Pause: 75ms

Near perfect connection in otherwords!

Dr4gul4

irlrobins wrote:

Source?

The big thread above with people saying how they were cut off and not reconnected.

any my own experience last week when i moved house only by half a mile and was told sorry all sector's are closed untill the mast's are upgraded.


Ohh yea Majj i'll post back on tuesday or monday night either way once i get the firewall rebuilt.

Just on another note, i applied last friday for digiweb and got a call on tuesday asking could they install on thursday..that alone was impressive

irlrobins

Might only be certain areas. I know Limerick is full so to speak. But I'd be very surprised if they stopped taking customers altogether... And very worried if I was an investor!

Edit: Quick flick thru last 3 pages of that thread and only one person was cut off. Prob due to line of sight issues.

Dr4gul4

irlrobins wrote:

Might only be certain areas. I know Limerick is full so to speak. But I'd be very surprised if they stopped taking customers altogether... And very worried if I was an investor!

well im only going with what i was told..im sure there still offering ripwave :rolleyes:

Blaster99

It's a turn of events as IBB used to very happily keep connecting customers even though their sectors were oversubscribed.

irlrobins

Indeed. Hopefully it will improve performance if they manage their numbers and system better.