ICE Broadband in Murroe, Co. Limerick

bdoolan

ICE Broadband have just stuck a sign up announcing their presence in the village of Murroe, Co. Limerick. They are offering a wireless broadband service via a locally positioned mast. While this is fantastic news for a small, but growing village, I'd like you hear from anybody who has had some experience with ICE. I am particularly interested in finding out how VPN works on their network. Thanks.

martin84

Do a search for ICE Broadband here and you will find some threads about them. They are mainly providing services in Kildare. Feedback here hasn't been too good.

Sponge Bob

It could be satellite backhaul (an Ildana legacy)

Get a categoric assurance in writing that this is not a sat backhaul system with a wireless front end before you even consider it.

These are the schemes Ildana had funding for in Limerick
Limerick Askeaton, Foynes & Shanagolden, Co. Limerick Askeaton, Foynes & Shanagolden Broadband Ildana Teoranta FWA/Sat
Limerick Ballingarry & Croagh, Co. Limerick Ballingarry Community Council Ildana Teoranta FWA/Sat
Limerick Bruff & Lough Gur, Co. Limerick Bruff Broadband Ildana Teoranta FWA/Sat
Limerick Croom, Co. Limerick Croom Broadband Ildana Teoranta FWA/Sat
Limerick Killmallock, Co. Limerick Killmallock Traders Association IldanaTeoranta FWA/Sat
Limerick Rathkeale & Ardagh, Co. Limerick Rathkeale Chamber of Commerce & Community Council Ildana Teoranta FWA/Sat

thegills

ICE have backhaul from e-net in Limerick. Most likley a radio hop from Riverpoint to local mast near Murroe.
thegills

watty

I've never heard anything good. What technology are they using?

bdoolan

thegills wrote:

ICE have backhaul from e-net in Limerick. Most likley a radio hop from Riverpoint to local mast near Murroe.
thegills

Thanks for all your responses, much appreciated. Gave ICE tech support a quick call (at 10.52am the call was answered straight away by a techie who knew what he was talking about (I assume!) so A+ for their phone support) and he told me that it was a wireless product and not satallite. Latency issues could crop up depending on how far from the mast I was, obstructions etc. But he sounded confident that it should be OK. Will check with the engineers when they come to install (approx 2 weeks so they say) and I'll be happy to report back on my success or lack thereof. So far, so good.
Famous last words!!

thebman

I think the engineers that call out are the best source of information as they talk the least BS.

When my da's house was being surveyed, he said that we could get a signal but that it wasn't stong enough for it to be worth our while paying for the service.

I think they are mostly contractors that do this so they tend to be a little more honest than the people you talk to on the phones.

watty

Almost nobody even has Technicians that call out, much less Engineers. They are installers.

mrplop

See this thread;

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055114497&referrerid=&highlight=ice+broadband

You have been Warned!

old boy

was there not a guy from that locality taking a signal from the e.s. substation at ballysimon and distributing it.

L1011

watty wrote:

I've never heard anything good. What technology are they using?

Alvaereon base stations, alvereon and motorola consumer units, from what I've been told/seen (friend works for them).

s_wrenn

ICE have signs up in Fedamore and Bruff now. I rang up to find out if I could get it (I‘m living in Grange, IE in between Bruff and Fedamore) I was told that the mast for bruff was being erected next week, and that they would send someone around to my place for a signal test two weeks after that.

I’d like to know where exactly the mast is being put up, because there is one on grange hill which is perfect for the service.
Does anyone know about the bruff mast?

bdoolan

bdoolan wrote:

Thanks for all your responses, much appreciated. Gave ICE tech support a quick call (at 10.52am the call was answered straight away by a techie who knew what he was talking about (I assume!) so A+ for their phone support) and he told me that it was a wireless product and not satallite. Latency issues could crop up depending on how far from the mast I was, obstructions etc. But he sounded confident that it should be OK. Will check with the engineers when they come to install (approx 2 weeks so they say) and I'll be happy to report back on my success or lack thereof. So far, so good.
Famous last words!!

I had my signal test and it failed due to some trees in the distance that apparently blocked the signal. With my hopes of getting broaddband dashed I resigned myself to dial up for the foreseeable future. The 2 days later I spotted a neighbour 2 doors away with an ICE mast pointing in a totally different direction!! I checked the locations of our respective houses and came to the conclusion that had the installers pointed the mast in the same direction as my neighbour I should have had no problem getting a signal - no trees in the way, no tall buildings. I called ICE again to get them to re-test but was not impressed with their phone service - when you can't get an answer on a Sales line what hope is there. Finally got a person to talk to and it was a case of "Computer says No!". I patiently explained the whole direction thing and eventually got them to put me on the list for re-testing. In the meantime MY NEXT DOOR NEIGHBOUR!! (not 20 feet away) has a mast pointing in the same direction as my other neighbour (nowhere near the direction of the offending trees that failed my first test). Aaaarrrrggghhh!!! Lets just see what the second test reveals but my love affair with ICE is wearing off quickly.

However, to quote Yoda (?) "There is another".

daveharnett

My connection in murroe went down in the early hours of saturday morning. Support says it's a physical problem with the local antenna, and it'll be sorted today (monday) >48 hours after the problem began. I'll report later as to whether it is actually fixed

daveharnett

daveharnett wrote:

My connection in murroe went down in the early hours of saturday morning. Support says it's a physical problem with the local antenna, and it'll be sorted today (monday) >48 hours after the problem began. I'll report later as to whether it is actually fixed

It got fixed monday afternoon. No major complaints once it doesn't hapen again

bdoolan

daveharnett wrote:

It got fixed monday afternoon. No major complaints once it doesn't hapen again

I had the same problem - I believe it was a result of the lightning on Saturday. The static build-up effected several antennas. Anyway, back on line now thank god.

In general how is your connection and what speeds are you getting?

daveharnett

bdoolan wrote:

I had the same problem - I believe it was a result of the lightning on Saturday. The static build-up effected several antennas. Anyway, back on line now thank god.

In general how is your connection and what speeds are you getting?

Depends on contention: as low as 60kB (500kb) during peak time (after work) and about 340kB (2.7Mb) at night.

tony1212

hi guys, listen im living around the 5 cross roads, im with a broadband company called westnet, its not a great service, im not getting my promised 1 meg download speed, so im thinking of giving ice broadband a try, im pretty sure that eircom are NEVER gona get broadband in murroe, :rolleyes:

oscarBravo

tony1212 wrote:

hi guys, listen im living around the 5 cross roads, im with a broadband company called westnet, its not a great service, im not getting my promised 1 meg download speed, so im thinking of giving ice broadband a try, im pretty sure that eircom are NEVER gona get broadband in murroe, :rolleyes:

WestNet haven't offered service in the Limerick area for well over a year now. Whoever it is you're not happy with, it's not us.

xo_CHEWY_ox

Sorry to bump such an old thread but i just came across this. if westnet are not providing in the limerick area anymore,you did not do a very good job of shutting down. westnet has been interfering with my wireless broadband since i got it installed.its very annoying so please do your job properly and get rid of westnet FULLY.

jbkenn

xo_CHEWY_ox wrote:

Sorry to bump such an old thread but i just came across this. if westnet are not providing in the limerick area anymore,you did not do a very good job of shutting down. westnet has been interfering with my wireless broadband since i got it installed.its very annoying so please do your job properly and get rid of westnet FULLY.

I have sent you contact details in a pm, if you have issues please contact me

jbkenn

MDR

So does anyone else think that the ICE broadband service in Murroe is appalling?
I have complained loudly about this to the company, who say that there is no problem. The problem appears to be capacity, its ok out of hours but at peak times service level slows to a crawl. The VOIP phone that came with the package is a joke.

Anyone share my experience ?

MrTimewalk

I agree. I have had BB from ICE for over a year. It was perfect when I got it first (4mb) I'm lucky to get 200k at peak times. I am sick of ringing their "helpdesk". Here's the selection of excuses

"engineers are looking at the problem"
or
"they have had no contact back from their engineers"
or
"they are building a new base station in county Limerick"

I eventually got a free months BB from them which was great considering I spent way more than a months BB on phone calls.

I was told at one stage Tough Luck, you're getting 200k that's all your entitled to it's 20:1 contention

MDR

Sounds like I had more luck,

I am Performance Engineer for a living (I test Network Performance among other things), I ran a 7 day test from Murroe to a server in Dublin, recording the bandwidth achieved at half hourly intervals.

The results showed that duing peak times (5pm - 2am) bandwidth and latency spiked, performance dropped to intolerable levels. I completed this test more than six months ago, but would be interested in doing it again to see if the situation has gotten any better.

I sent the results off to the key persons in the company Fran Rooney, his daughter (the chairwoman) and the head of Customer care. I also included my occupation and the fact I was an ex-Ireland Offline committee member.
Their "head of customer care" called me to tell me that this issue was at my house (it wasn't), but I allowed an engineer to inspect the equipment (there was no issue). The conclusion was I caused an awful lot of flap, but my speeds still suck (VOIP is a joke).

I think I need to repeat this work, maybe at a few sites and send the results to the IT and RTE. To see if things get any better ....

MrTimewalk

The PrimeTime programme on RTE last night was about customer service, it talked about a number of Broadband providers (I didn't see it all so I'm not sure if ICE was mentioned). Without exception the companies involved jumped liked scalded cats and remedied the problems when they were named. I think we should do exactly the same with ICE.

MDR

I watched the program last night, ICE wasn't mentioned anywhere which bothered me.

Where are you in Murroe are you, I'll drop around a copy of the last set of results.

MrTimewalk

From that programme it appears that the squeaky wheel gets the oil, here's what I recommend.

I rang comreg recently they said you need to ring your service provider and state that you wish to make a formal complaint about the service, you need to get the name of the operator you're dealing with (which scared the bejasus out of the operator when I did it, they hung up on me) and have them take down an official complaint. if they do not action it within 2 weeks, comreg will chase it for you. TBH I don't think it makes one bit of difference to them BUT if enough people from murroe did it it might get them moving on improving the service.

MDR

I agree, but we need data.

A complaint of it feels bad, doesn't carry much weight. We need data to back it up. I know at least one more ICE Broadband subscriber in murroe, I don't we will have a problem find names to tag onto a complaint.

321654

MDR wrote: »

I watched the program last night, ICE wasn't mentioned anywhere which bothered me.

Where are you in Murroe are you, I'll drop around a copy of the last set of results.

As i said in the other thread. Ice were to be in that program but were removed to make room for Jackie Skelly.

They will be in a program specifically about boadband companies.

Cant tell you when it will air though.

MunsterCycling

321654 wrote: »

As i said in the other thread. Ice were to be in that program but were removed to make room for Jackie Skelly.

They will be in a program specifically about boadband companies.

Cant tell you when it will air though.

Source?

daveharnett

As i said in the ICE megathread, I only recently discovered that there is an alternative ISP available in murroe. Feel free to PM me for details.