suggestions for broadband Drogheda area

ingen

hi folks, looking for suggestions for a DSL broadband provider, Drogheda area.

the main ones are really voda or eircom as the rest dont give decent download allowances or am i missing some?

any suggestions

thanks

lucernarian

That's pretty much it in a nutshell. Digiweb Metro starts with a 5mbps package but a poor data allowance of 20GB. That's only about 8 hours of good quality IPTV.

Eircom (And Vodafone, but there's a lot of dissatisfaction with them currently) are probably the most reliable choices if you need a bigger cap, that aren't so expensive.

There's a wireless outfit called Net1 but I think that only some of Drogheda would be able to receive it. They explicitly say that they do not impose caps but the install cost is in the region of €150. Service quality is good but expensive for the speed you receive.

If you live on the northside of Drogheda or just across the bridge of Peace (e.g. Rathmullen Road etc) or near the Donore Industrial Estate then you should get decent DSL speeds. Out towards the Dublin Road, the lines become increasingly long and you'll be lucky to get even 3 mbps in Wheaton Hall or Five Oaks etc.

ingen

To_be_confirmed wrote: »

That's pretty much it in a nutshell. Digiweb Metro starts with a 5mbps package but a poor data allowance of 20GB. That's only about 8 hours of good quality IPTV.

Eircom (And Vodafone, but there's a lot of dissatisfaction with them currently) are probably the most reliable choices if you need a bigger cap, that aren't so expensive.

There's a wireless outfit called Net1 but I think that only some of Drogheda would be able to receive it. They explicitly say that they do not impose caps but the install cost is in the region of €150. Service quality is good but expensive for the speed you receive.

If you live on the northside of Drogheda or just across the bridge of Peace (e.g. Rathmullen Road etc) or near the Donore Industrial Estate then you should get decent DSL speeds. Out towards the Dublin Road, the lines become increasingly long and you'll be lucky to get even 3 mbps in Wheaton Hall or Five Oaks etc.

i had 6mb with eircom, before my current disaster with vodafone.
i am 4.5km from exchange dublin rd. normally had pings of 11ms.

i am waiting to hear from vodafone.

they are the 2 main DSL suppliers really, digiweb are not at the races with their tiny data allowances.

LpPepper

you'll be lucky to get even 3 mbps in Wheaton Hall or Five Oaks etc.[/QUOTE]

My grandparents live in Wheaton Hall and get 6mbps

lucernarian

There's other posts on boards about people having serious line speed and stability issues in Wheaton Hall. This post for example. Besides, wasn't this a thread on the options available to Drogheda residents, not a "what's the fastest speed in Wheaton Hall" thread?!

I've never heard of a line nearly 3 miles long (which they would be in Wheaton Hall) capable of 6 mbps. 6 mbps with an attenuation of around 55dB?? Eircom didn't even sell 512kbps broadband to people living at 4.5km or more until around 2006. Can you post the line stats of that connection?

Ingen, if you've narrowed it down to just eircom and Vodafone, I'd stick with eircom. Too many customer service issues with Vodafone right now. What are the line stats on that connection? That will give an indication if your line can handle any faster speeds.

ingen

To_be_confirmed wrote: »

There's other posts on boards about people having serious line speed and stability issues in Wheaton Hall. This post for example. Besides, wasn't this a thread on the options available to Drogheda residents, not a "what's the fastest speed in Wheaton Hall" thread?!

I've never heard of a line nearly 3 miles long (which they would be in Wheaton Hall) capable of 6 mbps. 6 mbps with an attenuation of around 55dB?? Eircom didn't even sell 512kbps broadband to people living at 4.5km or more until around 2006. Can you post the line stats of that connection?

Ingen, if you've narrowed it down to just eircom and Vodafone, I'd stick with eircom. Too many customer service issues with Vodafone right now. What are the line stats on that connection? That will give an indication if your line can handle any faster speeds.

here are the current line stats


downstream
sn margin 10
attenuation 51

upstream
sn margin 14
attenuation 31.5


well the plan was to stick with eircom but vodafone still completed an order that they told me was cancelled!! and took my broadband even though they mailed me and confirmed all orders were cancelled and my service would stay with eircom.


what i have noticed with vodafone broadband is that youtube videos are jittery and delays in loading webpages.

lucernarian

Looks like that line isn't capable of any more than 3 mbps, unless the line's in need of repair. 3 mbps at 51 dB attenuation is par for the course, I doubt you could get much more out of that. 3.5 mbps is probably your top speed before you start running into problems with more frequent disconnects.

UTV are another option. Caps are somewhat small but you have the option of unlimited usage for an extra €6 per month. They have a fair usage policy (which isn't actually another word for a cap at least) which restricts speed between 6pm and 11pm for "extremely heavy users" who use P2P filesharing and the likes.

Fair usage policy here: http://www.utvinternet.com/Residential/ClicksilverBroadband/PDFs/ROI_DSL_Res_FUP_27_Jan_06_onwards.pdf

ingen

To_be_confirmed wrote: »

Looks like that line isn't capable of any more than 3 mbps, unless the line's in need of repair. 3 mbps at 51 dB attenuation is par for the course, I doubt you could get much more out of that. 3.5 mbps is probably your top speed before you start running into problems with more frequent disconnects.

UTV are another option. Caps are somewhat small but you have the option of unlimited usage for an extra €6 per month. They have a fair usage policy (which isn't actually another word for a cap at least) which restricts speed between 6pm and 11pm for "extremely heavy users" who use P2P filesharing and the likes.

Fair usage policy here: http://www.utvinternet.com/Residential/ClicksilverBroadband/PDFs/ROI_DSL_Res_FUP_27_Jan_06_onwards.pdf

before vodafone took the broadband i had a rock solid 6mb with 10-11ms pings, never any disconnects!!
but that was with eircom and cost €73 per month incl line rental and no calls. however it had unlimited
download

lucernarian

As it stands with those line stats that line is not going to reach 6 mbps in a month of sundays. I don't know what could have changed with Vodafone owning the line, but hopefully whatever changed will revert when eircom receive control of the line again. Have you lodged a complaint with Vodafone? Get a case number off Vodafone and go to ComReg with it.

We had to wait some 3 months to order DSL on a line which eircom wholesale flagged to Perlico as having an order "in process" with another company. I had to chase up Perlico every time and after the 3rd attempt at ordering failed, I went to Comreg. I had to wait another 3 weeks to find out what company was behind this "phantom order" and apparently it was BT. I contacted BT and eventually was put through to senior management who said they've no record of the phone number or our name or any order ever being placed. Needless to say, BT promptly told Comreg and eircom wholesale to sort out this mystery order. Then after another 3 weeks, the DSL signal finally went live on our line.

If Vodafone aren't prompt about sorting out your line, the sooner you get ComReg involved the better.

jay93

To_be_confirmed wrote: »

That's pretty much it in a nutshell. Digiweb Metro starts with a 5mbps package but a poor data allowance of 20GB. That's only about 8 hours of good quality IPTV.

Eircom (And Vodafone, but there's a lot of dissatisfaction with them currently) are probably the most reliable choices if you need a bigger cap, that aren't so expensive.

There's a wireless outfit called Net1 but I think that only some of Drogheda would be able to receive it. They explicitly say that they do not impose caps but the install cost is in the region of €150. Service quality is good but expensive for the speed you receive.

If you live on the northside of Drogheda or just across the bridge of Peace (e.g. Rathmullen Road etc) or near the Donore Industrial Estate then you should get decent DSL speeds. Out towards the Dublin Road, the lines become increasingly long and you'll be lucky to get even 3 mbps in Wheaton Hall or Five Oaks etc.

my friend lives in donore and the max his line can handle is 80kb/s download and 6kb/s upload it very dismall and also there is no 3G signal in his house they only can get vodafone 3G and it was that bad they had to get rid of it so not alot of options where he is !!

ingen

To_be_confirmed wrote: »

As it stands with those line stats that line is not going to reach 6 mbps in a month of sundays. I don't know what could have changed with Vodafone owning the line, but hopefully whatever changed will revert when eircom receive control of the line again. Have you lodged a complaint with Vodafone? Get a case number off Vodafone and go to ComReg with it.

We had to wait some 3 months to order DSL on a line which eircom wholesale flagged to Perlico as having an order "in process" with another company. I had to chase up Perlico every time and after the 3rd attempt at ordering failed, I went to Comreg. I had to wait another 3 weeks to find out what company was behind this "phantom order" and apparently it was BT. I contacted BT and eventually was put through to senior management who said they've no record of the phone number or our name or any order ever being placed. Needless to say, BT promptly told Comreg and eircom wholesale to sort out this mystery order. Then after another 3 weeks, the DSL signal finally went live on our line.

If Vodafone aren't prompt about sorting out your line, the sooner you get ComReg involved the better.

did anyone notice eircom laying fibre this morning, along the dublin rd in Drogheda? spotted them at glanbia connecting fiber cables in some sort of workshop on a trailer.
earlier on they were up at stameen area. few vans.

watty

Probably part of their backhaul upgrade. Some exchanges have 20 year old ATM backhaul.

lucernarian

watty wrote: »

Probably part of their backhaul upgrade. Some exchanges have 20 year old ATM backhaul.

They've already supposed to put improved backhaul around January in the main Drogheda exchange. I'd be suprised if they're carrying out backhaul replacement after the so-called "NGB" upgrades were carried out. But the exchanges in Deepforde and Grange Rath are out that direction, and they haven't had the improved backhaul upgrade yet even if they are both new exchanges.

But early on a Sunday morning? Sounds like unscheduled work, unless eircom engineers have significantly changed their work practices to minimise any disruption?:pac:

ingen

To_be_confirmed wrote: »

They've already supposed to put improved backhaul around January in the main Drogheda exchange. I'd be suprised if they're carrying out backhaul replacement after the so-called "NGB" upgrades were carried out. But the exchanges in Deepforde and Grange Rath are out that direction, and they haven't had the improved backhaul upgrade yet even if they are both new exchanges.

But early on a Sunday morning? Sounds like unscheduled work, unless eircom engineers have significantly changed their work practices to minimise any disruption?:pac:

ah i just realised, they are installing my new connection FTTH 100mb sync
10TB monthly download allowance , €9.99 per month. :p

somewhere is getting cabled for fiber. how are normal land lines cabled back to the exchange? is it

from the house to a cab on the street via copper cable.

and then from the cab by fiber back to the exchange?

watty

Only in N.I.

eircom did do a couple of trial cabinets. But virtually all cabinets are copper pairs. Any fibre you see eircom with is "trunks"/backhaul.

lucernarian

ingen wrote: »

ah i just realised, they are installing my new connection FTTH 100mb sync
10TB monthly download allowance , €9.99 per month. :p

somewhere is getting cabled for fiber. how are normal land lines cabled back to the exchange? is it

from the house to a cab on the street via copper cable.

and then from the cab by fiber back to the exchange?

In the case of Grange Rath and Deepforde, the exchange is in a roadside cabinet (fibre-fed). Though I think Grange Rath now has an exchange building. I haven't been in the area recently. Everywhere else along the Dublin Road is purely copper-fed from what I can tell.

ingen

To_be_confirmed wrote: »

In the case of Grange Rath and Deepforde, the exchange is in a roadside cabinet (fibre-fed). Though I think Grange Rath now has an exchange building. I haven't been in the area recently. Everywhere else along the Dublin Road is purely copper-fed from what I can tell.

grange rath has its own exchange across from the shopping centre,
small bungalow, surrounded by metal fencing.

no exchange in deepforde.

i am connected to main drogheda exchange however the grangerath exchange is far closer to me ... so if i got connected to that exchange i could get better speed?

lucernarian

There is an exchange (called an RSU in eircom-speak) in Deepforde. Two Grey cabinets, larger than the normal green ones. Just behind the entrance wall. One is for DSL and one is for voice I assume.

http://www.broadbandatoz.ie/news-article.asp?id=59

It won't be possible to connect you to the grange rath exchange unless you either paid eircom a LOT of money to lay underground wiring from where you are to grange rath, or lived along the Colpe road itself or perhaps where the old europa hotel is. Anything including new ducting could be needed. Then you'd probably be forced to accept a 9818xxx number unless they were nice and ported your number from Patrick St. to Grange Rath.

Probably nothing will be done about line lengths along the Co.Meath boundary until eircom do something that resembles a proper FTTC rollout.

watty

Don't hold your breath.

ingen

watty wrote: »

Don't hold your breath.

think i have hit a brick wall at the eircom end but i will know tomorrow for sure.

got a price for a dedicated 2mb sym connection €600 per month (microwave) , with full 24x7 SLA. install cost €1500-3000. but not 100% sure that I have clear LOS to their high site.

also waiting on pricing / availability on symphonyATM from Eircom, and they said they have a cost effective ethernet internet service, also, waiting on the details.

watty

What they mean is that it is cheaper than the Lease Lines they sell. You'll Blanche.

ingen

watty wrote: »

What they mean is that it is cheaper than the Lease Lines they sell. You'll Blanche.

no joy with eircom. they will do nothing. im staying put so.