Kilmessan Broadband (Again)

Slaanesh

Not my usual rant ...

Some ****er in my village has eircom broadband.
He is an eircom engineer. I've only found out through someone else.
His phone number fails the test just like mine. I got a friend to check to see if broadband was actually on that number and he said it was eircom broadband.

It could be some experiment to see if lines in Kilmessan can handle DSL being 6 miles(ish) away from the exchange in Tara. I might call up to where the guy lives and hold him at gun point(maybe knife, no gun) and ask him how he got it.

There could be hope yet.

crawler

Metro MAY be available in Kilmessan - let me check and get back to you

Slaanesh

crawler wrote:

Metro MAY be available in Kilmessan - let me check and get back to you

hehe doubt it, unless you have a mast on tara hill.

crawler

Coverage map for kilmessan and Tara not 100% but indicative.

Slaanesh

wtf?

Are you telling me that Kilmessan is covered and I didn't know? Where is the mast, I can't see how Kilmessan would be covered.

Cheers for the info.

crawler

Will PM you - not fair to do the whole commercial thingy on this forum

zugvogel

Hi Crawler,
Do digiweb plan to have any coverage in the Nurney area of Kildare. I see you're in Naas, and Athy. What sort of range has your wireless service got? I'd be interested in the phone and broadband package.

Cheers,
Zug

watty

Up to the Comreg Limit of 10km. Line of sight (At least a small pole on your Chimney has to see the mast)

rahtkennades

watty wrote:

Up to the Comreg Limit of 10km. Line of sight (At least a small pole on your Chimney has to see the mast)

The digiweb q&a says not more than 4km from the mast. Is this overkill to ensure good service or something?

crawler

rahtkennades wrote:

The digiweb q&a says not more than 4km from the mast. Is this overkill to ensure good service or something?

4km is for our other wireless system (Airspan) - Metro will work up to 10km with good line of sight, more if license conditions change or are modified.

Have to go now. Mods might get cross

lucernarian

Using Airspan equipment here at a bit over 9 km:)

crawler

That is coz you are special!

With perfect LOS 9km is possible on airspan - with partial it's 4km or less.

We tend not to over promise...

Slaanesh

Incredibly fast installation time by digiweb. Ordered yesterday, attempted install today. Unfortunately no line of site to Kilmessan, even though I knew the chances were slim i'm totally gutted.

Oh well

crawler

Me too

Altreab

Slaanesh wrote:

Incredibly fast installation time by digiweb. Ordered yesterday, attempted install today. Unfortunately no line of site to Kilmessan, even though I knew the chances were slim i'm totally gutted.

Oh well

Time to get the chainsaws and bulldozers to work until you Do get a clear line of sight

watty

Yep I went and got permission from my Farmer to cut off his limbs.

(on lower bits of two trees).
Aerial only about 2m above ground at back door.

rjbir

So Lads, are there any other alternatives, i also live in Kilmessan (not in the town)and need broadband, is there anything we can do collectively.

BTW - did digiweb buy out Tarawan?

Cheers
Bob

Slaanesh

You could try a 'Three' 3g datacard depending where you are in the village. I held the laptop right up to the apex of the house in my attic and managed to obtain a 3g signal for about 10 seconds. Not really suitable for my needs.

There is satellite but that's not worth talking about and isn't considered broadband. An eircom technician in the village has eircom broadband, and I am yet to figure out how (trial?). Digiweb did a LOS for my house but got no signal (I live in bective lodge).

Put it this way, I wouldn't hold your breath.

niallb

rjbir wrote:

So Lads, are there any other alternatives, i also live in Kilmessan (not in the town)and need broadband, is there anything we can do collectively.

BTW - did digiweb buy out Tarawan?

Cheers
Bob

Tarawan was disorganised from the start.
The guys meant well, but wanted to treat it as a business
rather than a community scheme.
A business needs to communicate, and they don't.
They managed to locate an excellent site for a mast,
and there's still signal coming from it, with a TARAWAN essid.
Other than that, I don't know. They don't respond to questions on their forum.

I live just between Kilmessan and Dunsany, and have a Vodafone 3G card.
PM me where you are, and I'll do a test run for coverage for you if you like.
I'm receiving my signal from Navan, so you're nearer than I am.
Depending on what you want broadband for, it might be your best bet.

Don't give up on Digiweb though. Describe your location to them as
"near Kilmessan" and see if they give you an independent LOS test.

NiallB

rjbir

NiallB
Cheers for that, i also have a 3G card and its pretty useless, the 2.5G signal comes and goes. i have had tarawan in for a LOS test last year to no avail. Is your 3G signal coming from Navan? if it is decent enough you could consider HSDPA from Vodafone (3.6Mb) it is a pretty good product.

Cheers
Bob

Slaanesh

Now that crawler works for Eircom ... who knows what could happen for Kilmessan :P

niallb

I don't understand what you mean by "consider HSDPA".
It's the same service as the ordinary 3G from vodafone,
it just depends on availability and your hardware.

I had the USB HSDPA modem from vodafone, and could persuade it to work with a satellite dish (Search "Dunsany" and "3G" on flickr).
It never worked above 384k anyway, so I moved to a PCMCIA card, which gives me a more reliable signal.
I have both the older Option 3G card, and the newer one with 1.8M capability.
The older card has a better receiver, and I've had fewer problems with it.
It gives me 384k where the "faster" card gives me 60k.

What card do you have? Does it have an external antenna?
Have you moved it systematically around your house looking for the best signal?
I'd have no service at all if my card was just plugged in on my desk.
Don't give up!

rjbir

Niallb,
As you know HSDPA is an application that runs over 3G but where traditional 3G is only offered up to 384K. (this sounds like the speed that you are subscribed to) HSDPA, however can run up to 1.8Mb, 3.6Mb etc (this sounds like you are not subscribed to any HSDPA service) not sure about Vodafones offering but O2 are launching soon their 3.6Mb offering.

I managed to get my hands on a Nokia 3G test handset, i am planning to crawl around my attic tonight looking for the best 3G reception. when i find it i will place a HSDPA "Home Gateway" 3G box in situ and wireless down to my office. Thats the plan anyway.

Cheers
Bob

rjbir

Hi All,
just spoke to a techie in Digiweb, apparently the coverage map in this thread is way out and Kilmessan etc is not covered at all, from their mast in Navan they can only reach as far as Robinstown!
they have 20 new mast sites going up soon but i couldnt find out where they are going up, if anybody knows could they let me know pls.

Cheers
Bob

Slaanesh

rjbir wrote:

Hi All,
just spoke to a techie in Digiweb, apparently the coverage map in this thread is way out and Kilmessan etc is not covered at all, from their mast in Navan they can only reach as far as Robinstown!
they have 20 new mast sites going up soon but i couldnt find out where they are going up, if anybody knows could they let me know pls.

Cheers
Bob

Now that 'Crawler' (Our informant) works for eircom I don't know how we'll get this information

watty

Digiweb web site?

smellslikeshoes

rjbir wrote:

Niallb,
As you know HSDPA is an application that runs over 3G but where traditional 3G is only offered up to 384K. (this sounds like the speed that you are subscribed to) HSDPA, however can run up to 1.8Mb, 3.6Mb etc (this sounds like you are not subscribed to any HSDPA service) not sure about Vodafones offering but O2 are launching soon their 3.6Mb offering.

Theres no separate 3g/hspda packages. His problem is his more recent hspda card doesn't receive signal as well as his older conventional 3g card (which is only capable of 384k. So he uses the older one so he can receive 384k max instead of not getting signal with his hspda card.

cgarvey

watty wrote:

Digiweb web site?

Are there coverage maps online somwhere? (Other than this of course!)

niallb

How'd the crawl around the attic go last night?
You might be better sticking an antenna to a north facing window.
When you're looking for a 3G sweet spot, you need to leave the receiver
in the same spot for up to 30 seconds to see if it locks on.

What network are you trying to connect to?
I'm curious what Nokia 3G test handset you're using.
Very few of them will have HSDPA capability, but for example the 6680
has better reception than the Vodafone USB modem.

rjbir

Niallb,
3G reception not so good, got weak signal overall, I was testing for any good 3G signal O2, Vodafona, whatever. the handset is a Nokia 3G diagnostic piece of kit, i work in the mobile telecoms business.

Cheers
Bob

Shad0r

Ah pants...tbh I didnt expect to be able to get broadband in Kilmessin but I suppose with Digiweb in Dunshaglin and eircom dsl in Dunsany I thought it might be possible...