Life after 3 USB nightmare thanks to o2

Xcellor

Well after being on o2 for a couple of weeks now I can honestly say it is so close to being real broadband (apart from latency) when fixed comes I might not even bother moving. Actually even the latency is not bad I've got 76 ms which is very respectable and an average below 100ms.

It might not reach 3.6 but have a look at my max speed and upload. I managed to download a gig and I wasn't even trying.

Because o2 give you an IP each I was able to remote control my p2p app from work. Classic.

Anyone who is waivering between o2 and 3. Dont waste your time on 3 they are a bunch of chancers.

X

Random

O2 Broadband is brilliant. I've cancelled 3 and I've found problems with Vodafone broadband having the chance to try it out again over the last few days.

There is no comparison. It's just quality.

I'm in Dublin 15 and my opinion is based on coverage in this area.

Xcellor

Xcellor wrote: »

Well after being on o2 for a couple of weeks now I can honestly say it is so close to being real broadband (apart from latency) when fixed comes I might not even bother moving. Actually even the latency is not bad I've got 76 ms which is very respectable and an average below 100ms.

It might not reach 3.6 but have a look at my max speed and upload. I managed to download a gig and I wasn't even trying.

Because o2 give you an IP each I was able to remote control my p2p app from work. Classic.

Anyone who is waivering between o2 and 3. Dont waste your time on 3 they are a bunch of chancers.

X

I should mention that I am Longford/Newtownforbes area.

Xcellor

Forgot to attach. doh.

conjamuk

70 ms is an awesome ping and 2.7 mbps :eek: with 70 ms ping that nearly as good as dsl which is 40 ms, good for you thats better than some dsl lines.

watty

Xcellor wrote: »

Actually even the latency is not bad I've got 76 ms which is very respectable and an average below 100ms.

How are you measuring that? It sounds better than physically possible with HSDPA. Maybe no-one else uses the mast and it uses IP backhaul instead of TDM?
You didn't leave a zero out? The lowest I've ever seen is 160ms (limerick) and never below 700ms in Dublin. O2 HSDPA.

dlambirl

i'm thinkin about getting usb broadband, stuck between vodafone and o2. i am gonna try out o2 next week coz they give you a week trial and if it doesnt work i'm gonna try out vodafone. i go to college in dublin but travel home to the cavan/monaghan border at the wkends so i wanna see will it work there. o2 is more expensive but more Gb's than vodafone (vodafone cap 5Gb, o2 cap 10Gb) and vodafone tie you in with a 18 month contract while o2 is only 12months. lets hope it works at home!!

watty

<pedantic>
It's not USB Broadband.
USB is just one kind of modem Interconnect.
It's 3G/HSDPA MOBILE Internet, which can connect via WiFi, ethernet, USB, PCMCIA, Mini-PCI or ExpressCard depending on Modem bought/Supplied.
</pedantic>
The OECD does not add it as Broadband statistics except in special cases. (Managed Fixed service with outdoor aerial in one Country).

Xcellor

watty wrote: »

How are you measuring that? It sounds better than physically possible with HSDPA. Maybe no-one else uses the mast and it uses IP backhaul instead of TDM?
You didn't leave a zero out? The lowest I've ever seen is 160ms (limerick) and never below 700ms in Dublin. O2 HSDPA.

This is a 4 packet ping I did earlier. Sometimes it spikes but unless im downloading the ping below would be normal.

C:\Documents and Settings\Russell>ping www.boards.ie

Pinging www.boards.ie [89.234.66.107] with 32 bytes of data:

Reply from 89.234.66.107: bytes=32 time=102ms TTL=58
Reply from 89.234.66.107: bytes=32 time=92ms TTL=58
Reply from 89.234.66.107: bytes=32 time=91ms TTL=58
Reply from 89.234.66.107: bytes=32 time=91ms TTL=58

Ping statistics for 89.234.66.107:
Packets: Sent = 4, Received = 4, Lost = 0 (0% loss),
Approximate round trip times in milli-seconds:
Minimum = 91ms, Maximum = 102ms, Average = 94ms

smellslikeshoes

That ping has shocked me a little, that really isn't that far from Dsl. Would love to see pings from other O2 users to see are they using something a little different from the other providers or is Xcellor a bit of an exception to the norm

Random

another one wrote:

Microsoft Windows XP [Version 5.1.2600]
(C) Copyright 1985-2001 Microsoft Corp.

C:\Documents and Settings\zero>ping boards.ie

Pinging boards.ie [89.234.66.107] with 32 bytes of data:

Reply from 89.234.66.107: bytes=32 time=109ms TTL=53
Reply from 89.234.66.107: bytes=32 time=115ms TTL=53
Reply from 89.234.66.107: bytes=32 time=115ms TTL=53
Reply from 89.234.66.107: bytes=32 time=115ms TTL=53

Ping statistics for 89.234.66.107:
Packets: Sent = 4, Received = 4, Lost = 0 (0% loss),
Approximate round trip times in milli-seconds:
Minimum = 109ms, Maximum = 115ms, Average = 113ms

C:\Documents and Settings\zero>ping boards.ie

Pinging boards.ie [89.234.66.107] with 32 bytes of data:

Reply from 89.234.66.107: bytes=32 time=102ms TTL=53
Reply from 89.234.66.107: bytes=32 time=99ms TTL=53
Reply from 89.234.66.107: bytes=32 time=99ms TTL=53
Reply from 89.234.66.107: bytes=32 time=99ms TTL=53

Ping statistics for 89.234.66.107:
Packets: Sent = 4, Received = 4, Lost = 0 (0% loss),
Approximate round trip times in milli-seconds:
Minimum = 99ms, Maximum = 102ms, Average = 99ms

C:\Documents and Settings\zero>

Here's another ..

watty

DSL is about 3x better, or should be:

C:\Watty>ping www.boards.ie

Pinging www.boards.ie [89.234.66.107] with 32 bytes of data:

Reply from 89.234.66.107: bytes=32 time=32ms TTL=61
Reply from 89.234.66.107: bytes=32 time=26ms TTL=61
Reply from 89.234.66.107: bytes=32 time=43ms TTL=61
Reply from 89.234.66.107: bytes=32 time=39ms TTL=61

Ping statistics for 89.234.66.107:
    Packets: Sent = 4, Received = 4, Lost = 0 (0% loss),
Approximate round trip times in milli-seconds:
    Minimum = 26ms, Maximum = 43ms, Average = 35ms

kaiser sauze

O2 provide a fantastic service. I had only just said this in the 3 thread a while ago.

It is the best of this type of BB option on the market, by a long way.

Bulmers

as per Wattys previous posts on this regarding number of suscribers etc, o2 is only new, 3s was great at the start aswell and obviously as suscribers increased, speeds went down.

O2 backhaul is the same as 3, TDM so I'd wait and see. Only thing that might make o2s more resilient to more users would be that I would expect they would have more basestations than 3..time will tell.

smellslikeshoes

watty wrote: »

DSL is about 3x better, or should be:

C:\Watty>ping www.boards.ie

Pinging www.boards.ie [89.234.66.107] with 32 bytes of data:

Reply from 89.234.66.107: bytes=32 time=32ms TTL=61
Reply from 89.234.66.107: bytes=32 time=26ms TTL=61
Reply from 89.234.66.107: bytes=32 time=43ms TTL=61
Reply from 89.234.66.107: bytes=32 time=39ms TTL=61

Ping statistics for 89.234.66.107:
    Packets: Sent = 4, Received = 4, Lost = 0 (0% loss),
Approximate round trip times in milli-seconds:
    Minimum = 26ms, Maximum = 43ms, Average = 35ms

You're right obviously Watty, But compared to the normal 180-300ms provided by hspda it isn't too far away from Dsl, and on the same level as a lot of fixed wireless providers here in Ireland.

watty

The only explanation I can think of is that that particular O2 mast does not use TDM but real native IP backhaul. I didn't think below 120ms possible on HSDPA with TDM backhaul.

It's still 3 times PROPER DSL or Wireless. Above was Metro wireless at Busy (i.e. high pings) time. Ripwave I've seen run to 1760ms!

I think bitstream eircom do some sort of interleaving that makes latency worse and VOIP worse. I'm not sure. Anything that's really Broadband should be < 50ms always to local servers. I can get as good as 20ms to my own Dublin hosted server from Limerick but my US server is typically 160ms. Add 150ms to both those for O2 from here.

AlmightyCushion

watty wrote: »

Ripwave I've seen run to 1760ms!

:eek: Carrier pigeon would be quicker than that.

watty

Actually pigeons with SD cards have been tested.

Pros:
Beats almost all Broadband for speed. (how long does it take you to download 16Gbytes?)
No Cap

Cons:
Latency Dublin to Limerick is Hours, or in bad weather, Days
Packet loss is total if there is interference (hawks, shotguns, cats etc)
The link condition must be reset by shipping the carrying medium back to source by road or rail.

AlmightyCushion

It could work out pretty cheap as well. I doubt it would cost that much to keep a pigeon. There are workarounds for some of those problems. Packet loss can be reduced with pigeon-sized bullet-proof vests. Latency could be reduced greatly with little rocket packs for the pigeons.

On topic: As long as o2 don't oversell this it should do well. That has been the main problem with 3's service. It started getting crap for people and they kept selling it regardless.

Sponge Bob

watty wrote: »

The only explanation I can think of is that that particular O2 mast does not use TDM but real native IP backhaul. I didn't think below 120ms possible on HSDPA with TDM backhaul.

A standard o2 mast has way more backhaul than a 3 mast , 10s of mbits as against either 2 4 or 8 mbits for 3 . Even some of the 2g EDGE/GPRS only masts have 10s of mbits of backhaul

Bulmers

Sponge Bob wrote: »

A standard o2 mast has way more backhaul than a 3 mast , 10s of mbits as against either 2 4 or 8 mbits for 3 . Even some of the 2g EDGE/GPRS only masts have 10s of mbits of backhaul

no, they dont, they dont have IP backhaul from sites either ( nearly 100% on that, i dont think all IP will be in 3G networks until UMR8.0, i think current release is 5/6.0. 3GPP has docs on all this so I stand to be corrected.)

No way o2 have any more than 2/3 2Mb per site, i know this for fact. o2 have the advantage of more sites, more cells etc but their backhaul wouldn't be too different from 3s i'd expect.

The only place operators have large backhaul is from their collector sites back to the datacentre but still most cell sites only have 1 or 2 2Mb for the majority.

Sponge Bob

I don't think a Typical O2 cell is 2mbits backhaul any more although all operators were typically 2mbit until about 2005 .

efb

i have 03 broadband in bogger ireland, and i luv it!

emaherx

watty wrote: »

Actually pigeons with SD cards have been tested.

Pros:
Beats almost all Broadband for speed. (how long does it take you to download 16Gbytes?)
No Cap

Cons:
Latency Dublin to Limerick is Hours, or in bad weather, Days
Packet loss is total if there is interference (hawks, shotguns, cats etc)
The link condition must be reset by shipping the carrying medium back to source by road or rail.

In the words of the great Watty that wouldn't be "real" Broadband at all more of a Download accelerator.

watty

Brilliant And more friendly than a SkyDSL dish.

bigdawg

I posted this on another thread.

I will also post here for people who are looking at going with a broadband provider.

My advice: you have a 14 day return period for all operators so try them all and find what works best in your locality. In my case, that happened to be 3 .

I just want to post that I got 3 wireless broadband last week and after much teething to get the software installed and working, I couldnt be happier with the speed and coverage in my area (Tralee). I dont think you can label one provider good or bad or whatever. Its all about how good or bad it is in YOUR area. Thats all that matters. FWIW, I am getting 3.6mbps nearly all the time at home.

For those of you that have had problems loading the 3 modem software or getting it to run properly, I attach below a fix that i typed up to help other users. I had trouble loading it on my (DELL) laptop but with the help of the 3 technicians we figured out it was a conflict with 3rd party software.

There are two main problems that will stop the 3 modem working on a PC.

1. The software for the modem (HSDPA screen) fails to load onto the PC at the first time of asking. It’s meant to load automatically but it often doesn’t due to a software conflict.
2. If the software loads but a connection still does not work, it’s because other applications are conflicting with the software and these need to be disabled.

This fix shows you how to disable all non-Microsoft applications so that the software for the modem can operate correctly.

Fix for both:

• Go to Start, Run, type MSCONFIG
• From the general tab, select ‘Selective Start up’
• Then from the Services tab, check the box ‘Hide all Microsoft applications’ and then click the ‘Disable All’ button.*
• The PC will ask to be restarted. Restart the PC.
• When it boots up again, you will get a dialog box saying certain applications have not loaded, just tick the check box so that this message doesn’t appear again.
• You should now be getting new messages saying ‘New hardware found’ etc and the software attached to the modem should load automatically.
• Once loaded, click on the HSDPA icon which is now on your desktop. It will find the modem and the CONNECT button will turn to blue. Click on this to start the connection.
• Hopefully it connects after this.

*This will disable all of the third party softwares that boot up with your PC such as Anti-virus, Roxio, google desktop etc. Some of these come pre-loaded on your PC and you may never use them anyway but obviously the anti-virus is one of the important ones. The object of this exercise is to disable them all, and then add them back sequentially at a later stage giving you a process of elimination which tells you which one is conflicting with your modem software.

And by all means, you can reverse the whole process by enabling them all again if you so wish.

Potential-Monke

Could someone tell me how to do that ping thing ye are on about, and if i post up the results will ye tell me if it's good or bad? I'm with 3.

bigdawg

Go into Start, Run, type MS DOS.

At the prompt, type Ping 'space' followed by the IP address.

eg. Ping 172.15X.12.X

you should get a reply within seconds if it can talk to the other server. if not you will get a 'request timed out' or 'connection failed' message. Something like that.

smellslikeshoes

bigdawg wrote: »

I posted this on another thread.

I will also post here for people who are looking at going with a broadband provider.

My advice: you have a 14 day return period for all operators so try them all and find what works best in your locality. In my case, that happened to be 3 .

I just want to post that I got 3 wireless broadband last week and after much teething to get the software installed and working, I couldnt be happier with the speed and coverage in my area (Tralee). I dont think you can label one provider good or bad or whatever. Its all about how good or bad it is in YOUR area. Thats all that matters. FWIW, I am getting 3.6mbps nearly all the time at home.

Right so, bang up some speed tests.

Xcellor

smellslikeshoes wrote: »

Right so, bang up some speed tests.

Yes... put some print screens of the dialer with the top speed or speedtest.

I don't think it's possible to get anywhere near 3.6 mbs with 3. Perhaps you mean you are getting connecting at 3.6 which is normal but it doesn't mean you get download speeds of that.

X

boopolo

Don't understand how you guys make out the latency is near to dsl. This is my first try to ping board.ie from my dsl:

Microsoft Windows XP [Version 5.1.2600]
(C) Copyright 1985-2001 Microsoft Corp.

C:\Documents and Settings\boopolo>ping boards.ie

Pinging boards.ie [89.234.66.107] with 32 bytes of data:

Reply from 89.234.66.107: bytes=32 time=14ms TTL=57
Reply from 89.234.66.107: bytes=32 time=16ms TTL=57
Reply from 89.234.66.107: bytes=32 time=16ms TTL=57
Reply from 89.234.66.107: bytes=32 time=16ms TTL=57

Ping statistics for 89.234.66.107:
Packets: Sent = 4, Received = 4, Lost = 0 (0% loss),
Approximate round trip times in milli-seconds:
Minimum = 14ms, Maximum = 16ms, Average = 15ms

C:\Documents and Settings\boopolo>

Having said that, the figures given here are very impressive from O2. Hurry up O2 with an affordable 5gb or 10gb data package addon for mobile phone users.

Boopolo