has anyone got eircom NGB and is it any good??

swoofer

I was expecting a loads of posts saying NGB is superb, best thing ever etc but I can't find a single post on the blither!!

Someone say its great!!! or ....????


gbcullen

watty

It's mostly just re-marketing of their existing DSL, including older ADSL rather than newer ADSL2+

They are addressing exchange backhaul, which is 8 years overdue, and migrating backhaul from IP over ISDN/TDM/ATM legacy systems to "native" IP systems. This reduces latency (ping) and contention (congestion).

The other main difference is volume of data used charging rather than speed charging.

So it makes no difference to your line quality or how fast your line goes. If your line can only do 1 or 3Mbps (or whatever), the "8Mbps" makes no difference at all. If you are on ADSL exchange with typical line quality you need maybe < 1km, if you are on ADSL2+ exchange you need maybe < 3km to get 8Mbps. Very good lines with few pairs running DSL in the multicore will run further distances at 8Mbps and very poor lines maybe 50% less distance.

Eircom quote "raw" speed. Your actual transfer speed could be less than 7.6Mbps on eircom's definition of 8Mbps.

The worst congestion has in the past been in Munster, especially Limerick. They have not addressed this yet. The "NGB" packages have been launched 1st in Dublin where the only effect is to reduce latency (ping) somewhat and increase cost for heavier users and users only on 1Mbps.

VERYinterested

Well it was so good that I finally moved over to UPC! We got NGB mid May, speed tests showed it was 3.2 mbps, up from my previous speed of 2.8mbps, we are on the 3 meg package. We also were going too close to the 30gig download allowance each month for comfort so I jumped ship.

I think it's just a cynical ploy to finally start charging people for going over their cap. UPC is a tenner cheaper, 5 times faster and I can make 400 minutes of international calls each month as well as all my local calls, bit of a no brainer in the end. The hassle of changing was what was delaying me, but I'm glad I did it now.

Ranicand

GBCULLEN wrote: »

I was expecting a loads of posts saying NGB is superb, best thing ever etc but I can find a single post on the bblither!!

Someone say its great!!! or ....????


gbcullen

I do not take sides competition is a good thing.

However Eircom is years behind this.

conor.hogan.2

With NGB coming does this mean Eircom will start enforcing download caps?

watty

yes. That is the main point of it. It's not really Next Generation as it doesn't involve upgrade to Fibre to Home, Kerb or Cabinet. In fact many exchanges are original ADSL.

swoofer

thanks all, in relation to UPC I would say eircom is many many light years behind those speeds and I dont see them catching up.......... EVER!!

I am a long way from Dublin and cant see UPC upgrading the analogue cable as they have gone for over the air digital tv and phone where I am.

I would just like a consistent speed for now and not crawling along in the evenings like it does now.

gb--

Ranicand

GBCULLEN wrote: »

thanks all, in relation to UPC I would say eircom is many many light years behind those speeds and I dont see them catching up.......... EVER!!

I am a long way from Dublin and cant see UPC upgrading the analogue cable as they have gone for over the air digital tv and phone where I am.

I would just like a consistent speed for now and not crawling along in the evenings like it does now.

gb--

Sorry to say money rules and the likes of UPC and Magnet are only going to invest in high population areas.

Eircom was the state company it was a disgrace it was sold off.:(

Peanut

Just switched to the regular NGB package and pretty happy with it, although the line is getting almost the full 8Mbit so I can understand if you were on a more borderline connection it wouldn't be so great.




In the sense that just about a year ago I was paying €110 a month for a 3MB business package from BT, it's great, but then again no UPC available in the area.

gooch2k9

See the way them speed tests display speed in Mb per second, so the MB speed would be the result shown divided by 8 yes?

watty

6.6Mbps is not great on 8Mbit.

JohnC.

watty wrote: »

It's not really Next Generation as it doesn't involve upgrade to Fibre to Home, Kerb or Cabinet.

Luckily for eircom, their ad showing fibre and strings of light all over the country has got a lot of people who don't know much about these things thinking it is actually fibre to the home and considering moving to it. Almost as if it were planned that way. Almost.

Peanut

watty wrote: »

6.6Mbps is not great on 8Mbit.

Getting 8000Kbps sync at the moment instead of the full 8192Kbps,
so 6.6Mbps isn't far off considering an estimated loss of 13% on overheads.

watty

8Mbps package Digiweb Metro

Peanut

One of the positive changes with NGB in my opinion is a substantial fair usage allowance of 250GB on the top package.

Used to be the case where you had to have an expensive business package with most of the DSL providers before you were on "unlimited" (or something half decent). Although for most customers 30/40GB is probably still OK.

yomamasflavour

Peanut wrote: »

One of the positive changes with NGB in my opinion is a substantial fair usage allowance of 250GB on the top package.

Used to be the case where you had to have an expensive business package with most of the DSL providers before you were on "unlimited" (or something half decent). Although for most customers 30/40GB is probably still OK.

How is imposing a cap a positive change?

As it stands Eircom do not enforce (although they do have the right to)
their measly 10, 30 and 50GB caps.

This is widely known and makes up to a small extent for the ridiculous pricing and slow speeds that they offer.

With the rollout of "NGB" they will start implementing these caps, In effect providing less, and charging more for it.

Peanut

No such thing as a free lunch - they have charged people in the past for breaking the cap excessively or asked them to move to a higher package.

I'm not sure what the Eircom "hidden cap" was, but for BT it was 100GB before they started throttling.

They're being more open about their fair usage terms now (and presumably enforcing them), although I agree if you were previously using between 50-100GB per month, or can only get 1Mbit on your line, then it doesn't represent a good deal.

Still, they probably couldn't commercially justify raising speeds to the up to 8Mb package across the board without enforcing the caps.

rob808

Kahless wrote: »

Luckily for eircom, their ad showing fibre and strings of light all over the country has got a lot of people who don't know much about these things thinking it is actually fibre to the home and considering moving to it. Almost as if it were planned that way. Almost.

I know that ad should be pulled because FTTH in Ireland that a big joke like eircom is has anybody got magnet bitstream broadband and if so any good plus can you get nat 1 on ps3 because think of leaving eircom thanks.o yea in the ad they say uncongested fibre based broadband?what hell that mean are they put in fibre in at a later stage.

Solair

Smart Telecom and Magnet have had this kind of service in unbundled areas since they launched.

I have a 10mbit/s Smart Telecom line in suburban Cork and I'm getting :



Their ping seems to have become less fast since Digiweb took over though.

LpPepper

I'm on the most expensive eircom NGB package and they say that "all my line can handle is 7mb" , Though at least im getting it.

Zatoichi

Just got the letter about NGB. "If you feel you could benefit from a package will (sic) gives you unlimited usage, perhaps you should consider upgrading to our up to 8Mb NGB Advanced product, which will give you unlimited usage for less than €10 per month extra." If I'm on the 3Mb Home Plus and I'm auto-upgraded to 8Mb NGB regular does that mean the price of my internet is going to be "auto-upgraded" too? Or are they just claiming to increase the speed as compensation for enforcing the d/l cap? Just another quote: "Once your line has been upgraded to NGB, any usage over your allowance will incur an excess charge. However, eircom has now reduced this excess usage rate from €10 per GB to just €2 per GB." Am I imaginging things or did I read elsewhere that the maximum they can charge you for over-use is €25? If I only have to pay €10 more than what I am currently paying and "upgrade" to the 8Gb Advanced product with "unlimited usage" it would be cheaper than paying the excess charge, even if it is capped at €25. Am I wrong on this?

watty

It's a strange use of "Unlimited". But Imagine and Vodafone do this too.

It's not unlimited, or if it is, it has limitless extra charges. No domestic Broadband is unlimited. 8Mbps 24x7 is Unlimited, which is maybe 9,600 Gbyte a month. Will they allow even half a Terabyte a month never mind nearly 10? I doubt it.

userod

watty wrote: »

It's a strange use of "Unlimited". But Imagine and Vodafone do this too.

It's not unlimited, or if it is, it has limitless extra charges. No domestic Broadband is unlimited. 8Mbps 24x7 is Unlimited, which is maybe 9,600 Gbyte a month. Will they allow even half a Terabyte a month never mind nearly 10? I doubt it.

By my calculations an 8Mbps line=1MBps and 2592000 seconds in a 30 day month (30days*24hours*60minutes*60seconds) gives you 2,592 Gbytes or approx 2.5 TBs per month if you were to run the line at full potential.

So for their NGB Unlimited Package you're only allowed to use it at it's full potential for just less than 10% of the time you pay for it...

And for the NGB Regular Package you're only allowed to use it at it's full potential for just over 1% of the time you pay for it....

Maybe I'm not giving the product a fair representation? But I think this is ridiculous....

Oh hang on, I just saw the excess charges cap... not too bad I guess

watty

You're right 2,592 Gbyte, not "maybe 9,600 Gbyte a month." I don't know where I got the extra x3.7 factor

Still either way.. Nothing like unlimited.

Excess charges on Mobile can be 820 euro a gigabyte!

Doylers

So how do I know what speed my line can hadle? I just signed up to 7mb NGB yesterday.

userod

watty wrote: »

You're right 2,592 Gbyte, not "maybe 9,600 Gbyte a month." I don't know where I got the extra x3.7 factor

Still either way.. Nothing like unlimited.

Excess charges on Mobile can be 820 euro a gigabyte!

Wouldn't you think the advertising commission (can't think of their names) would put a stop to them being able to boast these speeds if you can only use that speed for 1%/10% of the time you pay for it at the advertised prices.

Especially aswell for contended broadband, that used drive me mad that they could get away with advertising 'Up to 15mb download speeds' and just throw you into a pool of 47 other users sharing a 15mb line (at least I think that's what it was). RIDICULOUS.

watty

ASAI.
Some say less use than a chocolate teapot. It's a sort of Quango. They refused to ban 3 from claiming they are selling Broadband. 3 sent a rebuttal that used "Fixed Wireless" (which can of course be very much Broadband), ASAI did not appear to seek independent advice as to validity of 3's claim. Difference between Fixed and Mobile Wireless here. (ASAI not interested)

ingen

watty wrote: »

It's a strange use of "Unlimited". But Imagine and Vodafone do this too.

It's not unlimited, or if it is, it has limitless extra charges. No domestic Broadband is unlimited. 8Mbps 24x7 is Unlimited, which is maybe 9,600 Gbyte a month. Will they allow even half a Terabyte a month never mind nearly 10? I doubt it.

it has a fair use policy of 250GB. that 250gb is, made up of your upload and download added together. one thing to notice is that it has high interleaving, for the most part, low interleaving only available at speeds over 7.6mb.

does anyone know what the difference is between NGB home broadband advanced and eircom business starter?

briany

Even though we got a letter over two months ago that our area would be upgraded within two months, it hasn't happened yet. I don't live in an area with high congestion anyway so the one real advantage of their upgrade is of no use to me because my line can only handle around 2.5 mbps anyway. It just means they'll let me go over my download cap in less than half the time than usual.

Cantona's Collars

The former head of Eircom was on The Last Word with Matt Cooper today-he even agreed Broadband in Ireland wasn't up to scratch.In fact we have the 3rd most expensive service in the OECD and the worst service in Europe.
NGB me hole!! I have a lot of time for Matt Cooper-the lack of decent broadband infrastructure in Ireland is one of the things that gets him going and god help anyone that goes on his show trying to tell us it's fine.

vibe666

eircom next generation broadband was only 'next generation' 2 generations ago.

it might be next gen for them, but not for everyone else. as usual they are dragging their heels due to lack of funds.