Broadband options in Cork?

Magnet: Rory

thats really stretching it....but im not going to keep arguing this.....mainly because nobody knows what areas UPC cover except UPC (i have tried many times to get a map) and ADSL2+ is, in a huge amount of cases superior to a cable service.

There are around 100 variables at play here (contention, ping speeds, line quality, attainable speed etc.)and saying UPC bb is the best just doesn't add up.

corkstudent

So can anyone tell me exactly what getting cable in would entail?

Magnet: Rory

it depends 100% on the set up you have in your house. If its already wired your fine, if its not it'll be hassle. You have to ring them to find out, broadband might not even be available in that area with UPC.

corkstudent

So what would be the most likely thing I could get in? Does anyone have experience living in rented accomodation and getting stuff like this in?

corkstudent

I'm moving down tomorrow.

How long does it take to get ADSL if I have a telephone line(I doubt it)? How long could Cable take, and how long would wireless take?

admol

corkstudent wrote: »

I'm moving down tomorrow.

How long does it take to get ADSL if I have a telephone line(I doubt it)? How long could Cable take, and how long would wireless take?

When you get to the house try and see if the house is already cabled for chorus. You'll be looking for coaxial cable somewhere near where the tv would be. You could always ring them as already suggested here as they will know from your address. If it is not already cabled they would have to install a coaxial cable in the house and presumably you would need landlord permission for this. Best bet would be to ring them and find out what cabling the house entails. If they mention anything about an MMDS ariel this means they will not be able to supply you with broadband so be weary its via cable only into the house.

Failing that you could get the landline activated in your name and get either Eircom or UTV broadband (6 month contracts) and save yourself the hassle. While UTV would be cheaper in the long run it will take them longer to have broadband set up on your line compared with Eircom. If you do go with UTV you will first have to get Eircom to acvtivate the line for phone only and DO NOT mention to them that you are intending to get broadband from UTV as this may delay your order.

corkstudent

admol wrote: »

When you get to the house try and see if the house is already cabled for chorus. You'll be looking for coaxial cable somewhere near where the tv would be. You could always ring them as already suggested here as they will know from your address. If it is not already cabled they would have to install a coaxial cable in the house and presumably you would need landlord permission for this. Best bet would be to ring them and find out what cabling the house entails. If they mention anything about an MMDS ariel this means they will not be able to supply you with broadband so be weary its via cable only into the house.

Failing that you could get the landline activated in your name and get either Eircom or UTV broadband (6 month contracts) and save yourself the hassle. While UTV would be cheaper in the long run it will take them longer to have broadband set up on your line compared with Eircom. If you do go with UTV you will first have to get Eircom to acvtivate the line for phone only and DO NOT mention to them that you are intending to get broadband from UTV as this may delay your order.

There isn't a TV in the house I don't think, at least not in the living room. Though it could still be wired for cable, just nobody watches TV outside of their room. Unsure if it has a phone, I'd imagine it might do. The Landlady/Agency person said people had gotten wireless internet in before. I'm unsure if that's ASDL with a wireless router or what, there's no mast/aerial on the roof.

admol

corkstudent wrote: »

There isn't a TV in the house I don't think, at least not in the living room. Though it could still be wired for cable, just nobody watches TV outside of their room. Unsure if it has a phone, I'd imagine it might do. The Landlady/Agency person said people had gotten wireless internet in before. I'm unsure if that's ASDL with a wireless router or what, there's no mast/aerial on the roof.

Well look in the front room where the tv would typically be and see if there is a coaxial adapter on the wall. Actually just ring chorus and ask them :rolleyes:

Remember you will be subject to a minimum 12 month contract with chorus and you will have to pay the remainder of the contract once you terminate. Contrary to the ill advice already given here i wouldn't recommend leaving a bill.

DECEiFER

Yeah, bad idea. I shouldn't have mentioned it. Just get a phoneline in and use ADSL. 6 month contract with BT.

Lead time can be up to a month for activating the line and getting broadband. I was lucky, got mine in 2 weeks last September. Line was in the house, and it wad dead. So BT activated it for a fee and 2 weeks later, 3Mb broadband was flowing in it.

corkstudent

admol wrote: »

Well look in the front room where the tv would typically be and see if there is a coaxial adapter on the wall. Actually just ring chorus and ask them :rolleyes:

Remember you will be subject to a minimum 12 month contract with chorus and you will have to pay the remainder of the contract once you terminate. Contrary to the ill advice already given here i wouldn't recommend leaving a bill.

Well, I'd most likely sort something out with the agency/landlord if that happened. I'll probably be keeping it for close to a year and I imagine other people will be using them.

I haven't been around during the day unfortunately so I haven't been able to ring. I looked where the Telly should be(gone at the moment), there'sablack cable coming out of the wall going into a white box, kind of the size of a lightswitch/power socket panel, reminds me a bit of the LAN sockets you see in college, with two aerial cable type thingies coming out of it.

Do you think this might be it? There's a lot of wires seemingly going into the house, but no phone line. I also didn't see an aerial, and there was a an indoors TV aerial there(presumably if it's cable, nobody pays for it).

If it isn't, would I be best off getting wireless? Or would that involve just as many wires as getting cable in anyway? I'm in the front room(though it's a large room and no power socket near the window) if that's any help.

DECEiFER

It seems that you already have a cable line going into your house. UPC wouldn't need to do much do make it theirs.

When you get a chance, 1908 is the number. Free call, even from mobiles.

jArgHA

Hi corkstudent

I have used Chorus (now UPC) in Cork city for the past 2 years or so for my broadband. They are by no means perfect (service has cut out a number of times during the past 2 years, and sometimes for up to 3 days), but generally I was happy enough with them.... until the merge happened between Chorus & NTL => UPC.

It seems that now UPC are trying to fleece their customers who avail of broadband only - I have no interest in subscribing to their TV service, I just want their broadband offering.

The first thing that happened after the merge was they rolled out a €3 per month charge for customers who do not pay by direct debit - I rather paying through my online banking, but now have to cough up an extra €3 per month for their b****** administration charges incurred. So that brought the package that I pay for up to €33 p/m.

The next thing that happened was just today when I got my latest bill - they have now thrown on an extra €6 / month for those customers who opt not to take the TV service. This is absolutely outrageous and is no doubt a sneaky ploy by UPC to try and get customers like myself to subscribe to TV services as well as just broadband. So that brought the original cost from €30 p/m up to the now crazy €39 p/m, and that is for a 1.5mbps cable package.

Doing a test on the actual speed of the connection more often than not shows that the speed is in fact sub 300kbps. I am now seriously considering switching to another provider, but choices are limited as I do not want to install a phone line and would rather not go with a wireless option which are generally more flaky.

Aaaaarghhh UPC are cowboys

edit: it looks like my package was upgraded to 10mbps without me even knowing - but having said this Irishisptest.com tells me my download speed is only 273kbps

DECEiFER

jArgHA wrote: »

Hi corkstudent

I have used Chorus (now UPC) in Cork city for the past 2 years or so for my broadband. They are by no means perfect (service has cut out a number of times during the past 2 years, and sometimes for up to 3 days), but generally I was happy enough with them.... until the merge happened between Chorus & NTL => UPC.

It seems that now UPC are trying to fleece their customers who avail of broadband only - I have no interest in subscribing to their TV service, I just want their broadband offering.

The first thing that happened after the merge was they rolled out a €3 per month charge for customers who do not pay by direct debit - I rather paying through my online banking, but now have to cough up an extra €3 per month for their b****** administration charges incurred. So that brought the package that I pay for up to €33 p/m.

The next thing that happened was just today when I got my latest bill - they have now thrown on an extra €6 / month for those customers who opt not to take the TV service. This is absolutely outrageous and is no doubt a sneaky ploy by UPC to try and get customers like myself to subscribe to TV services as well as just broadband. So that brought the original cost from €30 p/m up to the now crazy €39 p/m, and that is for a 1.5mbps cable package.

Doing a test on the actual speed of the connection more often than not shows that the speed is in fact sub 300kbps. I am now seriously considering switching to another provider, but choices are limited as I do not want to install a phone line and would rather not go with a wireless option which are generally more flaky.

Aaaaarghhh UPC are cowboys

edit: it looks like my package was upgraded to 10mbps without me even knowing - but having said this Irishisptest.com tells me my download speed is only 273kbps

The €6 extra has been there for quite a while, late 2007 at least. Don't know about the €3 for the non-dd payments. I used to get bills in the post for normal post office payments, and saw no €3 admin charge. That said, it was for TV, not broadband.

If your speed is being reported as being as slow as it is, call 1908 and have them look into it. Otherwise, just try different configurations (such as taking the router out of the equation, or putting one into the equation). Also, try using a different PC. Do a speedtest when you try something different. If it's the same, call UPC.

jArgHA

DECEiFER wrote: »

The €6 extra has been there for quite a while, late 2007 at least.

Nope, the €6 charge only started in June 2008 - the most recent bill today outlined the change in billing structure (apparently they had sent some letter out about it a month back which I never got). It is a damn sneaky ploy, plus they are charging me for the broadband express service (supposed to be 10mbps) but I just tried speedtest.net and I'm fairly certain now that I'm still on the 3mbps (broadband value package) which should only be €20 p/m.

Can anyone tell me when the speed increases came in?

DECEiFER

jArgHA wrote: »

Nope, the €6 charge only started in June 2008 - the most recent bill today outlined the change in billing structure (apparently they had sent some letter out about it a month back which I never got). It is a damn sneaky ploy, plus they are charging me for the broadband express service (supposed to be 10mbps) but I just tried speedtest.net and I'm fairly certain now that I'm still on the 3mbps (broadband value package) which should only be €20 p/m.

Can anyone tell me when the speed increases came in?

The newest increases, the 10Mb speed for you, came in July. Before that it was 6Mb, and it depended on whether you contacted UPC and asked for it (which is odd, and a bit useless).

As bad as you might think that €6 charge is, it is clearly marked on the site for potential new customers. However, existing customers should be treated better.

Freddie59

Rorser wrote: »

thats really stretching it....but im not going to keep arguing this.....mainly because nobody knows what areas UPC cover except UPC (i have tried many times to get a map) and ADSL2+ is, in a huge amount of cases superior to a cable service.

There are around 100 variables at play here (contention, ping speeds, line quality, attainable speed etc.)and saying UPC bb is the best just doesn't add up.

I think what Barnicles is trying to say is that the existing phone networks won't support widespread ADSL2+ because of the condition of much of the phone system (I stand corrected if wrong). Whereas I beieve the majority of the UPC network now supports BB?

corkstudent

DECEiFER wrote: »

It seems that you already have a cable line going into your house. UPC wouldn't need to do much do make it theirs.

When you get a chance, 1908 is the number. Free call, even from mobiles.

It won't let me do it without an account number, at least not from a mobile.

DECEiFER

corkstudent wrote: »

It won't let me do it without an account number, at least not from a mobile.

It will if you wait it out. Wait a moment and then it will move on to options. At least, that's how it worked for me when I rang not too long ago.

corkstudent

Yeah, was being impatient.

Very helpful, they're coming around to do it friday. Getting the wireless router too.

Can't wait. Never had a decent connection outside of college before. I'll be able to play TF2 and buy Steam games all I like!

KY

I always found Chorus to be quite good. i am moving to <snip> next month. does any one know of a good cheap wireless provider for there. do you know if o2 or 3g works there. i dont want to get a phone line. any feedback appreciated.

MunsterCycling

Dunno about cheap but airwave service that area

http://www.airwave.ie/eastcork.html

MC