Best broadband provider for Carlow?

foxinsox · 08-02-2010 4:30pm #1

I'm currently using Vodafone Mobile Broadband..

It is not working out good at all. So I am now looking at changing to home broadband or a wireless option that works. I have been using http://www.speedtest.net to check speeds.

I would appreciate if any of you that are in or around the town would do a speedtest and maybe let me know how much your broadband is costing you and your experience with whatever provider you are with.

I would like to hear the opinions of others, see the speed tests and then it might be easier to make a decision.

Thanks in advance for your input

Here's mine:

Vodafone Mobile USB stick
€9.99 per month
Up to 7.2 Mbps

:rolleyes:

tommycahir · 08-02-2010 4:39pm

Hi Fox
TBH dial up would be faster than than that VF connection, have you tried any of the other mobile providers?

some of the items that will very much influence the decision on what providers to recommend are:

- Do you have an existing telephone line?
- Any objections to getting one installed?
- Do you have a 3g signal or is it only GPRS around where you are located?
- Any issues on getting a dish\panel installed on the outside of the building you are in?
- Do you currently have NTL\Chorus in your house\home?
- What part of town are you located in?
- do you have a limit as to what you are willing to spend on

1. Installation
2. Monthly fees

Also just to compare this is the speed I am getting at the moment outside Ballon from Aptus.ie

foxinsox · 08-02-2010 4:45pm

tommycahir wrote: »

Hi Fox
TBH dial up would be faster than than that VF connection, have you tried any of the other mobile providers?

some of the items that will very much influence the decision on what providers to recommend are:

- Do you have an existing telephone line?
- Any objections to getting one installed?
- Do you have a 3g signal or is it only GPRS around where you are located?
- Any issues on getting a dish\panel installed on the outside of the building you are in?
- Do you currently have NTL\Chorus in your house\home?
- What part of town are you located in?
- do you have a limit as to what you are willing to spend on
1. Installation
2. Monthly fees
Also just to compare this is the speed I am getting at the moment outside Ballon from Aptus.ie

That's fast ^ :rolleyes:

Thanks for your reply tommy,

I have a landline.
VF is getting 3G and hops to HSDPA both badly!
No objection to dish on house.
Don't have Chorus but did years ago so wires are there?
I did look at upc.ie so thinking about that.

Cheap and cheerful would be nice €€€ Price would be a factor..
Doesn't have to be super fast, but at the moment it is so slow.
I'm a mile outside the town.

There are so many different providers I find it confusing

tommycahir · 08-02-2010 6:03pm

If you already have a landline then it might be worth looking at eircome packages
http://www.eircom.net/broadband/

Another good side for reference is the callcosts.ie one link-> http://callcosts.ie/broadband/Broadband_Calculator.175.LE.asp

Any of the providers that have to install a dish on your house usually charge from €150 - €250 for installation and anywhere from €25 - €50 a month after that. Which is why it is worth looking at eircom and some of the lads here have already recommended them as a the service around town seems pretty OK.

UPC are also decent around town but not sure on their costs for installs or if you only want broadband without the channels.

hopefully I have helped with these and not muddied the water more.

krustydoyle · 08-02-2010 6:42pm

http://www.speedtest.net/result/710083993.png

im using chorus on green lane, its alright but not sure if its as fast as it should be???

patrickc · 08-02-2010 6:48pm

Hey Fox

heres my stats with utv 7.6 mb package, taken just now so a little slower at peak times

I pay 25.36 line rental per mth the standard and 23.99 for broadband per month.
thats for the 7.6mb package and gives free calls to ireland and the uk after 6 and at weekends.
I've been with UTV for about 5 years and think their service is top notch to be honest, some may disagree. I've had 2/3 outages in that time and never for more than a few hours so am well impressed.

Patrick

foxinsox · 08-02-2010 6:57pm

krustydoyle wrote: »

http://www.speedtest.net/result/710083993.png

im using chorus on green lane, its alright but not sure if its as fast as it should be???

9.66 Mbps is high as far as I know, though I suppose it depends what package you are paying for.

How much do you pay a month for that?

foxinsox · 08-02-2010 7:02pm

Thanks to all of you for your replies so far. I'll leave this thread run while I do my research. The reason the mobile USB stick was even an option is when you add up all the household bills adding another €40 or €60 a month is a lot! :rolleyes:

Suppose I have to decide whether I want to get rid of the landline with Eircom, maybe go with someone else or get rid altogether.

I'm now looking at TV-landline-broadband bundles! The mind boggles

Anyway I've lots of surfing and reading to do now! Thanks

foggy_lad · 09-02-2010 12:03am

have you tried the o2 mobile broadband or even three mobile broadband? i would not recommend the meteor service in the tullow road area at the moment as there are issues with their 3g signal on mobiles so presumably it will be the same for mobile broadband

also i have 3mb broadband with 40gb download allowance and free off peak calls and some free vodafone mobile minutes with vodafone for €40 a month

foxinsox · 09-02-2010 12:21pm

foggy_lad wrote: »

have you tried the o2 mobile broadband or even three mobile broadband? i would not recommend the meteor service in the tullow road area at the moment as there are issues with their 3g signal on mobiles so presumably it will be the same for mobile broadband

also i have 3mb broadband with 40gb download allowance and free off peak calls and some free vodafone mobile minutes with vodafone for €40 a month

hi foggylad

I tried 3 before but it was really bad and I returned it within 7 days, but that was when it first came out so maybe its improved. Have not tried O2 either. Am looking into it.

^^^ Is that mobile broadband you have? Or home broadband sorry if it's stupid question?

Is that €40 inc vat?

thanks:)

DarrenMSP · 09-02-2010 1:02pm

UPC - 10mb BB and TV - 59€ a month plus VAT.

foggy_lad · 09-02-2010 1:59pm

foxinsox wrote: »

hi foggylad

I tried 3 before but it was really bad and I returned it within 7 days, but that was when it first came out so maybe its improved. Have not tried O2 either. Am looking into it.

^^^ Is that mobile broadband you have? Or home broadband sorry if it's stupid question?

Is that €40 inc vat?

thanks:)

i had o2 for 8months and it was very good untill they started selling their student offer then i had to get rid of it as speeds were awful but this might have improved? also three may have improved, you could always try them both out for 7 days?

Bob_Harris · 09-02-2010 7:15pm

Aptus Duo (Fixed Wireless Access).
€34.99
3Mbit download
384K upload
20GByte monthly cap

A solid 2Mbit isn't bad for 6.10pm (peak time). The vast majority of the time it's up at the 3Mbit mark.

krustydoyle · 10-02-2010 12:15am

foxinsox wrote: »

9.66 Mbps is high as far as I know, though I suppose it depends what package you are paying for.

How much do you pay a month for that?

hey foxinsox

im playin 46 euro a month for it and that includes my home phone. im currently running
with the 20 mg package, like there tellin us its goin up to 30mg speeds now but i dunno??

http://www.speedtest.net/result/711606438.png

this is what it tested at around this time.. what u think?? am i gettin value for my money??

RealistSpy · 12-02-2010 12:57am

Digiweb €34.99
8MB DLOAD
1MB UPLOAD

foxinsox · 12-02-2010 8:40am

krustydoyle wrote: »

hey foxinsox

im playin 46 euro a month for it and that includes my home phone. im currently running
with the 20 mg package, like there tellin us its goin up to 30mg speeds now but i dunno??

http://www.speedtest.net/result/711606438.png

this is what it tested at around this time.. what u think?? am i gettin value for my money??

Hi krusty

Value for money?? To be honest it doesn't seem great if you are paying for 20Mb and 9Mb is average speed..

Look at some of the others here and maybe in hte boradband forum. I am not an expert at all.

I was comparing your 9.6 Mb download to my average of .16Mb or .60Mb so no wonder I was impressed :rolleyes:

foxinsox · 12-02-2010 8:47am

RealistSpy wrote: »

Digiweb €34.99
8MB DLOAD
1MB UPLOAD

^^ This is looking good.

Hi RealistSpy

Do you mind me asking is that €34.99 inc vat and is that just for broadband? Do you have landline or anything on it?

Thanks

SIX PACK · 13-02-2010 10:03pm

Have 3 wireless broadband living in graiguecullen its pretty fast No complaints, €20 pm

RealistSpy · 15-02-2010 9:54am

I am paying 34.99 because I am an old customer for new customer its 39.99 8mb with vat already added.

You get a free phone voip so you can call any country if you don't use they dont charge. Final point its free call to other digiweb phone line which is brilliant for me.

jay93 · 02-03-2010 8:36pm

chances are fox meteor are not in your area they are currently in mine tough all 3G providers are around here from my experiance ive used vodafone like yourself and had the same problems speed never went over 0.99mb just to check do you have a green or blue light on the modem when its connected i had a blue (3G) and still speeds were so bad it was unusable i shall test out the speed on a o2 modem tomorrow and post it for you heres my 3 speed test im currently using this modem please note this was taken at peak times!!

also note these speeds cannot be guarenteed in your area but im sure 3 broadband will be alot more stable than your current vodafone connection ill test the o2 modem for you and see what i get

:D

patrickc · 02-03-2010 9:09pm

mine again, turns out they hadnt the full 7.6mb activated so this is it now

foxinsox · 02-03-2010 9:52pm

patrickc wrote: »

mine again, turns out they hadnt the full 7.6mb activated so this is it now

show off :rolleyes:

foxinsox · 02-03-2010 9:55pm

hi everyone

thanks for all the responses.. I got some credit from vodafone and at the moment am busy and just haven't had time to research the others.

Thanks Jay93, I did try 3 before it was terrible coverage in my area.

I've a whole thread in vodafone forum about my woes. I've had every colour light available at one stage or another. It's doing the basics for now, but as soon as I have time I'll get something sorted.

jay93 · 03-03-2010 5:08pm

foxinsox wrote: »

hi everyone

thanks for all the responses.. I got some credit from vodafone and at the moment am busy and just haven't had time to research the others.

Thanks Jay93, I did try 3 before it was terrible coverage in my area.

I've a whole thread in vodafone forum about my woes. I've had every colour light available at one stage or another. It's doing the basics for now, but as soon as I have time I'll get something sorted.

awhh thats crap no 3 signal in your house

:( just tested the o2 modem

seems fairly fast in my experiance vodafone wouldnt even go anwhere near the speeds of o2 and 3 if its working for the basics now then thats ok i just found it annoying to use as i stream a good bit of video which vodafone seriously struggled with even bringing the modem outside made no differance to the signal only 2 bars in vf connect software and the mast was only 1km away from me dissappointed with vf alot :mad::mad:

threein99 · 06-03-2010 12:34pm

Im seriously thinking of switching over to Aptus , can anyone tell me what there wireless connections are like ? sick of Eircoms slow speeds every single night

J_Wholesale · 09-03-2010 1:24pm

Digiweb Metro is consistently good - no slow times of day. Telephone is included, so no line rental.

threein99 · 09-03-2010 3:52pm

J_Wholesale wrote: »

Digiweb Metro is consistently good - no slow times of day. Telephone is included, so no line rental.

How much does that cost you per month ?

J_Wholesale · 09-03-2010 4:04pm

threein99 wrote: »

How much does that cost you per month ?

€40.

No line rental. So it's €40 + phone calls.

threein99 · 09-03-2010 4:15pm

J_Wholesale wrote: »

€40.

No line rental. So it's €40 + phone calls.

That sounds pretty good I might look into that , whats the wireless service like ?

J_Wholesale · 09-03-2010 4:27pm

threein99 wrote: »

That sounds pretty good I might look into that , whats the wireless service like ?

The internet and phone connection are flawless. If by wireless you mean your PC's wireless connection, that's down to your router/wireless card. Nothing to do with your provider.

threein99 · 10-03-2010 12:07am

J_Wholesale wrote: »

The internet and phone connection are flawless. If by wireless you mean your PC's wireless connection, that's down to your router/wireless card. Nothing to do with your provider.

Sorry I ment do they provide you with a router ? like the same as eircom with the router plugged into the phone line ?

Best broadband provider for Carlow?

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