Why should I keep my landline

Ispin

Is there any reason I should be paying for a landline these days? What's the mobile broadband like for Internet usage, ie what kind of download speeds is it possible to get? As far as I can see the only reason for a landline is for Internet usage. Any experiences much appreciated

watty

You can in theory get 21Mbps, or even 200Mbps eventually on Mobile. But zero assurance of a connection or more speed than 0.1Mbps.

Mobile isn't Broadband. http://www.radioway.info/comparewireless/

More here http://www.techtir.ie/comms

hare05

Do you download a lot? Landline.
Do you play games? Landline.
Do you spend hours on youtube? Landline.
Do you have a desktop and no laptop? Landline.


Do you regularly need internet outside the house? Mobile.
Does your daily internet usage consist of an email check and catching up on the news? Mobile.

Those are the options.

funnyname

would you consider wimax to be in the same bracket as mobile?

I ask because I have a landline but am over 10km from the exchange (and eircom confirmed the service they could offer would be poor) so I was looking at wimax (4/1 for €40pm) as a better alternative.

bigpaddy2004

hare05 wrote: »

Do you download a lot? Landline.
Do you play games? Landline.
Do you spend hours on youtube? Landline.
Do you have a desktop and no laptop? Landline.

All that can be done with a good fixed wireless connection without the landline.

watty

bigpaddy2004 wrote: »

All that can be done with a good fixed wireless connection without the landline.

Yes, any good fixed wireless, including WiMax.

But not "Imagine WiMax" as it isn't Fixed Wireless, even though some users get fixed aerials. Not Mobile, even though some users get more than 5Mbps to 10 Mbps.

I've been on Fixed Wireless over 5 years. Mine is Broadband I have two phone "lines" on it and it work for fax.

chughes

This is something I would be very interested in.

Can anyone tell me what fixed wireless setup they have and how they find it from a speed point of view.

Also, if it's not too cheeky a question, how much per month is it ?

Nollog

chughes wrote: »

This is something I would be very interested in.

Can anyone tell me what fixed wireless setup they have and how they find it from a speed point of view.

Also, if it's not too cheeky a question, how much per month is it ?

You'd have to look around in your own area for prices and services available.

MASTER...of the bra

/\/ollog wrote: »

You'd have to look around in your own area for prices and services available.

bonkers.ie good place to start.

chughes

If you have fixed wireless, will this only allow one device to connect to the internet or can you have 2 or 3 devices connected at the same time ?

jor el

You can add a router to pretty much any Internet connection, and connect multiple devices from there.

lucernarian

Mobile internet compared to fixed line internet in towns and cities will on average work slower, speedtests here suggest that connnections often exceed 1 mbps which is fine for browsing and occasional downloading but it suffers heavily from contention and is much more likely than eircom or UPC to hit very low speeds in the evenings.

If you don't need to game online or use the internet for "mission critical" work or need to download large amounts of video etc, and the overriding priority is to save money then mobile internet is the way to go but expect an unreliable service (particularly if you live in a town or city). Straightforward browsing is tolerant of less speed. Many people I know in Dublin seem to manage with it and any slowdowns so long as they're only browsing the web.

Gadgetman496

hare05 wrote: »

Do you download a lot? Landline.
Do you play games? Landline.
Do you spend hours on youtube? Landline.
Do you have a desktop and no laptop? Landline.

Those are the options.

All the above can be done through UPC with no landline?

lucernarian

I expect the OP has no access to UPC (like the majority of Ireland) as otherwise going to UPC would have been an easy and obvious way to save money on landline internet costs.

chughes

To_be_confirmed wrote: »

I expect the OP has no access to UPC (like the majority of Ireland) as otherwise going to UPC would have been an easy and obvious way to save money on landline internet costs.

I live in North County Dublin and although I have UPC, it's delivered through MMDS so there is no cable. I contacted UPC and they have no plans to cable this area.

I currently have an eircom broadband package but I'd like to find out if it's possible to have a broadband service that doesn't use the phone line that I can use my laptop, my son can use his xbox online, and my daughter can use her wii online.

dpe

chughes wrote: »

I live in North County Dublin and although I have UPC, it's delivered through MMDS so there is no cable. I contacted UPC and they have no plans to cable this area.

I currently have an eircom broadband package but I'd like to find out if it's possible to have a broadband service that doesn't use the phone line that I can use my laptop, my son can use his xbox online, and my daughter can use her wii online.

Your kids won't thank you for moving to wireless if they're into games. Xbox live needs a steady connection and the lowest latency you can manage. Online games can usually tolerate an internal wifi connection (providing too many people aren't sharing it at the same time) but if you add an external wifi connection to that, its going to suck. (online gaming on Xbox Live is generally P2P so its affected by the slowest person in the game - guess who that will be?) Personally I won't even use my wireless-n connection for gaming and everything is wired.

lucernarian

chughes wrote: »

I live in North County Dublin and although I have UPC, it's delivered through MMDS so there is no cable. I contacted UPC and they have no plans to cable this area.

I currently have an eircom broadband package but I'd like to find out if it's possible to have a broadband service that doesn't use the phone line that I can use my laptop, my son can use his xbox online, and my daughter can use her wii online.

North County Dublin isn't great for internet choices. Very few fixed wireless providers. I should clarify, I meant you had no access to UPC broadband. The majority of people can get access to their TV service but not their internet service. Moving to UTV or Vodafone for DSL (phoneline) internet may be the best option really.