Paying for a line

tomasjoez

I live outside Trim. Neighbour down the road, about 1/2 km has full access to eircom broadband. We are still on dialup. Not within the NBS, but registered with RBS and was confirmed to be in that zone.

Thing is, someone from RBS had called me and told me that I'll likely be disappointed with the RBS options, as the data cap will be low and latency will be quite high. While it will be better than dialup, he said it won't be anywhere near as good as a fixed connection. When I asked how they get away with using terms like broadband, rather than midband, he said they use broadband as defined by the EU and then rattled off some definition.

I've heard of some small villages in the US etc doing this, when local companies wouldn't connect their residents, they took it on themselves to get it as a community. In this instance, as having a decent connection is important for me (for recreation and small business purposes), has anyone tried to maybe pay for the infrastructure bit themselves or as a group?

For instance, the neighbours on both side of me, one 1/2 km and the other just under a km, each have eircom. Myself, I'm stuck in the middle without. I've tried and tried and failed. I am not interested in some wireless option with a massive latency and low data cap. That said, I'm not looking for 20 down or anything super fast, as I'd be happy with an "unlimited" data cap (like magnet or some eircom packages), and just a tolerable speed with low latency.

I'm probably dreaming, but I don't know what else to do. My relations live in a rural, one pub village in Omagh, and have a better connection than I could ever hope for. It's shameful.

bealtine

tomasjoez wrote: »

Thing is, someone from RBS had called me and told me that I'll likely be disappointed with the RBS options, as the data cap will be low and latency will be quite high. While it will be better than dialup,

I am not interested in some wireless option with a massive latency and low data cap. That said, I'm not looking for 20 down or anything super fast, as I'd be happy with an "unlimited" data cap (like magnet or some eircom packages), and just a tolerable speed with low latency.

Generally speaking it's not wireless as such it's more likely some crippled satellite midband connection with pathetic caps and extremely high latency.
That's what the Dept of Comms have deemed as acceptable to our rural cousins under the RBS scheme (any old ****e will do them according to Comms)

There are some fixed wireless providers around Trim and these have good latency and ping, on a par with DSL. Fixed wireless is completely different than what the RBS guy was talking about...as he was on about satellite.

I'd suggest contacting www.ripplecom.net/ for instance.

tomasjoez

bealtine wrote: »

Generally speaking it's not wireless as such it's more likely some crippled satellite midband connection with pathetic caps and extremely high latency.
That's what the Dept of Comms have deemed as acceptable to our rural cousins under the RBS scheme (any old ****e will do them according to Comms)

There are some fixed wireless providers around Trim and these have good latency and ping, on a par with DSL. Fixed wireless is completely different than what the RBS guy was talking about...as he was on about satellite.

I'd suggest contacting www.ripplecom.net/ for instance.

Thanks for the recommendation. I'll re-look into ripplecom. I came on here and lurked a few months ago, and saw some fairly negative reviews as it seemed dependant as to which mast you're on. Maybe I can find someone in Trim who has it and see how it goes.

I had, for instance, wimax and it was absolutely terrible. Plus, you can't use skype with it as they intentionally throttle. Fortunately, they let me out of the agreement when I told them I was a skype user and have since put that they don't support skype and are more catered to people who just lightly browse and email.

bealtine

tomasjoez wrote: »

Thanks for the recommendation. I'll re-look into ripplecom. I came on here and lurked a few months ago, and saw some fairly negative reviews as it seemed dependant as to which mast you're on. Maybe I can find someone in Trim who has it and see how it goes.

I had, for instance, wimax and it was absolutely terrible. Plus, you can't use skype with it as they intentionally throttle. Fortunately, they let me out of the agreement when I told them I was a skype user and have since put that they don't support skype and are more catered to people who just lightly browse and email.

By wimax I assume you mean Image wimax?

AS fixed wimax, not the mobile variety that Imagine uses, is usually pretty good and fine for basic broadband

tomasjoez

bealtine wrote: »

By wimax I assume you mean Image wimax?

AS fixed wimax, not the mobile variety that Imagine uses, is usually pretty good and fine for basic broadband

Yes, you're correct it was Imagine - I think that's Sprint or related to them. I do remember it was absolutely bad.

I'll re-look into the other options - I sent a query to Ripplecom, though really I'm looking for something with a moderately good speed, but no absurd data limit or high latency. The phrase "basic broadband" frightens me in that context!

bealtine

tomasjoez wrote: »

The phrase "basic broadband" frightens me in that context!

Basic broadband here means relatively slow speeds aka 4 to 8Mbs.
These speeds are all you will likely get over DSL in any case (if you are lucky)
They are fine for everyday use and some gaming.
It does not refer to satellite features like high latency or pathetic caps...