eircom is becoming a joke--help me find a better isp

BloodSugarSex

im on a 2mb connection and im only getting half of that, its been really slow the last few weeks, plus my ping is on average 250ms-400ms which is absolutely dreadful, i play on xbox live and i keep getting disconnected and i always get my ass handed to me on shooting games because everyone else is a few seconds ahead of me, so can anyone help me out and recommend me a good isp that wont keep disconnecting me and that will have a decent ping? oh by the way NTL is out of the question because i dont live in dublin

WellyJ

You really need to be more specific,

Whereabouts in Ireland are you?

There are thousands of people that would kill to have 2mb from Eircom as bad as you might find it.

It may be your only option as i cant see any other ISP using DSL from Eircom being any better.

Its more likely your line that's causing the problem.

hottstuff

I'd say it's area dependent mate.
I have Eircom 3mb for the last 4 years and have had not one complaint.
Line is always great and never have any XBox Live problems.

WellyJ

hottstuff wrote: »

I'd say it's area dependent mate.
I have Eircom 3mb for the last 4 years and have had not one complaint.
Line is always great and never have any XBox Live problems.

Exactly the same story here. Maybe longer than 4 years though.

thebman

BloodSugarSex wrote: »

im on a 2mb connection and im only getting half of that, its been really slow the last few weeks, plus my ping is on average 250ms-400ms which is absolutely dreadful, i play on xbox live and i keep getting disconnected and i always get my ass handed to me on shooting games because everyone else is a few seconds ahead of me, so can anyone help me out and recommend me a good isp that wont keep disconnecting me and that will have a decent ping? oh by the way NTL is out of the question because i dont live in dublin

Well if your only getting 1Mbps then can you downgrade your package so you only pay for 1Mbps?

Like others said, it could be line quality as most eircom customers seem pretty happy with the service. I'd give eircom a call and complain about it and if they don't do anything then ask to be put on a 1Mbps package.

Ask them to do something about the ping times too if they can and say your using Xbox Live which you've subscribed to but now can't use because of the bad quality of the line. They might be able to help you get it sorted if they know you need it or are aware of the problem.

Otherwise your probably going to need a new ISP and it'll probably have to be a fixed wireless ISP if you want to play online.

Grommet

As WellyJ and Hottstuff say - you need to be more specific about the area. If you let me know what exchange you are on, I can check with my sources for you if there are any local issues.

Grommet

CyberGhost

WellyJ wrote: »

Exactly the same story here. Maybe longer than 4 years though.

Hey Welly, is eircom charging for exceeding the cap? I'm asking you cause I remember you posting a screenshot with an insane amount of data downloaded.

WellyJ

CyberGhost wrote: »

Hey Welly, is eircom charging for exceeding the cap? I'm asking you cause I remember you posting a screenshot with an insane amount of data downloaded.

Nope, still going WAY over the cap every month

CyberGhost

WellyJ wrote: »

Nope, still going WAY over the cap every month

LOL!

Do you have the top package?

hottstuff

WellyJ wrote: »

Nope, still going WAY over the cap every month

Agreed.I think they realise why some customers prefer their service.
Either that or they cannot tell as was alleged long ago.

WellyJ

CyberGhost wrote: »

LOL!

Do you have the top package?

Have the 3mb Home package.

I think it's the top home package.

Though my friend is on 2mb and he has never been charged either.

peteballagh

With eircom does 2MB stand for megabyte or megabit?

I've got 1MB broadband from bt, but i rarely get a download speed of above 100 kilobytes per second. the fastest i've ever got was 350 kbps. I reckon i should be getting up to 1000kb/s ( one megabyte ). I asked bt, and they say the MB stands for megabit which is 100 kb, but it can't be, because I sometimes get up to 350 kbps.

eircom say 1 MB is 20 times as fast as dialup - that would mean 20x50 = 1000 kbps, which is ten times what i'm getting with bt.

can Anyone explain this please?

coady

one word answer


contention!

WellyJ

peteballagh wrote: »

With eircom does 2MB stand for megabyte or megabit?

I've got 1MB broadband from bt, but i rarely get a download speed of above 100 kilobytes per second. the fastest i've ever got was 350 kbps. I reckon i should be getting up to 1000kb/s ( one megabyte ). I asked bt, and they say the MB stands for megabit which is 100 kb, but it can't be, because I sometimes get up to 350 kbps.

eircom say 1 MB is 20 times as fast as dialup - that would mean 20x50 = 1000 kbps, which is ten times what i'm getting with bt.

can Anyone explain this please?

Your BT is 1mb

Megabit, not Megabyte.

The theoretical max of 1mb is 128KB

Though it is more likely that you will get around 100KB as you have described.

When Eircom say 1mb is 20 times faster than dial up they are correct.

Dialup standard is 56kiolbit not Kilobyte.

Therefore its theoretical max is 6.4Kilobyte.

And 20x6.4 = 128, what 1mb is equal too.

auggie2k

And if he's only capable of 1MB on his line then the contention is killing his connection.

BTW, Eircom own everything - they won't charge you for going over the limit.

WellyJ

auggie2k wrote: »

And if he's only capable of 1MB on his line then the contention is killing his connection.

BTW, Eircom own everything - they won't charge you for going over the limit.

Contention isn't an issue for him as far as i can see,

He is on the 1mb package,

And he seems to get 100KB/s.

This is pretty much as good as it gets without being in the exchange.

coady

yeah damn lucky to get that much , I have to wait till the wee small hours for mine to get anyway fast enough to play xbox online,

CyberGhost

WellyJ wrote: »

Have the 3mb Home package.

I think it's the top home package.

Though my friend is on 2mb and he has never been charged either.

Thanks Welly!


Oh btw, back to the topic: I think ntl is becoming a joke, they suspend your account for atleast 2 weeks of you go even a bit over the limit.

peteballagh

WellyJ wrote: »

Your BT is 1mb

Megabit, not Megabyte.

The theoretical max of 1mb is 128KB

Though it is more likely that you will get around 100KB as you have described.

When Eircom say 1mb is 20 times faster than dial up they are correct.

Dialup standard is 56kiolbit not Kilobyte.

Therefore its theoretical max is 6.4Kilobyte.

And 20x6.4 = 128, what 1mb is equal too.

If the theoretical max is 128 kb, then why do i sometimes get up to 350 kb?

auggie2k

WellyJ wrote: »

Contention isn't an issue for him as far as i can see,

He is on the 1mb package

Eh hem :-)

BloodSugarSex wrote:

im on a 2mb connection and im only getting half of that

CyberGhost

peteballagh wrote: »

If the theoretical max is 128 kb, then why do i sometimes get up to 350 kb?

Caaause... you don't touch yourself at night?

WellyJ

auggie2k wrote: »

Eh hem :-)

Oh, we are talking about different people

WellyJ

peteballagh wrote: »

If the theoretical max is 128 kb, then why do i sometimes get up to 350 kb?

Where do you see this speed?

Its physically impossible to get 350Kilobytes/s through a 1mb connection.

Are you sure its not 350kilobits that you get sometimes.

I think you are confusing the two.

hottstuff

WellyJ wrote: »

Its physically impossible to get 350Kilobytes/s through a 1mb connection.

.

With the ISP's here and the service they provide with contention ratios , the same can almost be said of 3mb connection.;)

auggie2k

WellyJ wrote: »

Oh, we are talking about different people

Ah grand stuff.

peteballagh

WellyJ wrote: »

Where do you see this speed?

Its physically impossible to get 350Kilobytes/s through a 1mb connection.

Are you sure its not 350kilobits that you get sometimes.

I think you are confusing the two.

just where it says download speed when i'm downloading a file through windows default download manager. It sometimes says download speed 350kbps
and it normally says 100 KBPS.

It doesn't say bits or bytes, just KBPS. So I can't be confusing the two.

Also, when I had dialup connection from eircom, it said 40 KBPS. so it's just been increased by 60 KBPS , not twenty times faster at all.

WellyJ

peteballagh wrote: »

just where it says download speed when i'm downloading a file through windows default download manager. It sometimes says download speed 350kbps
and it normally says 100 KBPS.

It doesn't say bits or bytes, just KBPS. So I can't be confusing the two.

Also, when I had dialup connection from eircom, it said 40 KBPS. so it's just been increased by 60 KBPS , not twenty times faster at all.

Yes the answer is in there,

Highercase (KBps) is Kilobytes per second.

lowercase (kbps) is kilobits per second.

When you were on dialup you were getting 40kbps,now you are getting 100KBps

So it is actually 20 times faster.

peteballagh

But what about the 350 KBps?

It's definitely 3 times faster than my average speed, for example if i'm downloading a file, it might start out at 350KB, and it says 7 minutes remaining. But if I download the same file at 100KB, it says 20 minutes remaining. So 100 KBps is not my max speed.

I spoke to a friend who works in the telecoms business and he said my connection was extremely slow, and i should be getting about 7 or 8 times as much.

WellyJ

peteballagh wrote: »

But what about the 350 KBps?

It's definitely 3 times faster than my average speed, for example if i'm downloading a file, it might start out at 350KB, and it says 7 minutes remaining. But if I download the same file at 100KB, it says 20 minutes remaining. So 100 KBps is not my max speed.

I spoke to a friend who works in the telecoms business and he said my connection was extremely slow, and i should be getting about 7 or 8 times as much.

What do you get when you try this,

http://www.irishisptest.com/runmyspeed.php

auggie2k

PeteBallagh wrote:

But what about the 350 KBps?

It's definitely 3 times faster than my average speed, for example if i'm downloading a file, it might start out at 350KB, and it says 7 minutes remaining. But if I download the same file at 100KB, it says 20 minutes remaining. So 100 KBps is not my max speed.

I spoke to a friend who works in the telecoms business and he said my connection was extremely slow, and i should be getting about 7 or 8 times as much.

When a download starts off first, it starts high (speed burst) and then levels out to your actual connection.

When your set on say... a 2MB connection... it's not fixed exactly at 2MB cos it needs a bit of flexibilty... on a 2MB connection your speeds should vary from 160KB/s to 250KB/s.

WellyJ

auggie2k wrote: »

When a download starts off first, it starts high (speed burst) and then levels out to your actual connection.

When your set on say... a 2MB connection... it's not fixed exactly at 2MB cos it needs a bit of flexibilty... on a 2MB connection your speeds should vary from 160KB/s to 250KB/s.

The speed burst you refer to is not dues to a flexible connection,

It is due to the fact that Internet Explorer starts the download BEFORE you click Save/Save as.

So when you DO click it the file has already partially downloaded. So the KB/s reading is inaccurate because you may have downloaded 1000KB for example, before you click save. So if the file is 2000KB and your connection is 100KB/s it will only report it as 10 seconds to download the file and the average will come out as 200KB/s in Internet Explorers info. Even though it never actually went above 100KB/s.

Confusing but the truth.