Three speeds in Limerick area

MichaelR

Hello,

WHat are the typical Three speeds in the Limerick area these days? (I mean places where they do claim "inside" coverage).

And, does the modem type really affect the speed?

watty

It's not the whole area that counts, only your mast. Every mast is separate.

Also capacity is SO low that even if you get a good speed (though latency is never good) when you sign up, it can easily be Dialup speed or even regularly not connect 4 to 6 months later.

The "indoor" coverage is about 1/2 the distance from mast for a window facing mast and about 1/10th of the distance for a window not facing mast.

See http://www.radioway.info/comparewireless/CompareHSPAandFixed-v4.html as to why your question can't be sensibly answered.

One person in Limerick replying could be always seeing 2Mbps to 7Mbps. (120ms Latency, about 400m from mast) another only 10km away on a different mast with poorer reception from it (2km) might only ever see 50Kbps to 700kbps and 200ms to 1200ms latency, with frequent disconnects.

Jitter and speed varies enormously with usage as the capacity is so small compared with potential number or users.

MichaelR

watty wrote: »

It's not the whole area that counts, only your mast. Every mast is separate.

Also capacity is SO low that even if you get a good speed (though latency is never good) when you sign up, it can easily be Dialup speed or even regularly not connect 4 to 6 months later.

The "indoor" coverage is about 1/2 the distance from mast for a window facing mast and about 1/10th of the distance for a window not facing mast.

OK - is there any way to find out where masts are? I mean one can see a lot of masts but which of them are Three?

Ice and Three seem to be the two bugbears of boards.ie

cowboy1981

MichaelR wrote: »

OK - is there any way to find out where masts are? I mean one can see a lot of masts but which of them are Three?

Ice and Three seem to be the two bugbears of boards.ie

The mobile operators are obliged to register every mobile mast with ComReg who are required to publish this information on their website.

http://www.askcomreg.ie/mobile/siteviewer.273.LE.asp

You can search the map for your local area and see where all the mobile masts are located.

rebel.ranter

cowboy1981 wrote: »

The mobile operators are obliged to register every mobile mast with ComReg who are required to publish this information on their website.

Yea, but how up to date is it? It is miles behind, I don't think ComReg have updated the lists in years!

watty

Also since a mast is overloaded with 10 people running torrents and Phone calls get priority and reduce capacity for data (shared spectrum W-CDMA signal), simply knowing where the mast is isn't entirely helpful.

If there is NO mobile mast nearby, then you can assume coverage is bad. 3, Vodafone, O2 and Meteor each have their own coverage maps too. Though some are very optimistic.

Even a nearby mast (< 900m) is no assurance of good speed. With O2 in and area with four real broadband suppliers, and about 850m from mast I never got better than 150ms Latency and typical peak speed was 700kbps down and 60kbps upload. Perfect signal (full bargraph). Rural Co. Limerick. I'd not call that Broadband.

My Fixed Wireless Broadband (Digiweb Metro) from Mast about 13km away.

Typically even LTE in 5 years time would only guarantee about 1Mbps to 2Mps at less than 2km on an economically loaded sector. 3G / HSPA can never provide real Broadband.