Best mobile operator for broadband?

seligehgit

Any recommendations re Vodafone,O2,Meteor or 3 for best broadband in Castlebar area?Current broadband provider's contention ratio appears to be very high?Not sure about signal quality,was considering getting an Antenna embedded home repeater?Bit dubious about the difference they make,got the lend one.I do not think they make any difference as I think my main problem is the high contention ratio and less so the signal???

soterpisc

seligehgit wrote: »

Any recommendations re Vodafone,O2,Meteor or 3 for best broadband in Castlebar area?Current broadband provider's contention ratio appears to be very high?Not sure about signal quality,was considering getting an Antenna embedded home repeater?Bit dubious about the difference they make,got the lend one.I do not think they make any difference as I think my main problem is the high contention ratio and less so the signal???

Really depends on the Area. My parents live in rural Ireland. But Three have great reception there.

afatbollix

Ya 3 is the best at my folks place.

Bring a couple of sims down And test the 3G signal.

ciaran67

seligehgit wrote: »

Any recommendations re Vodafone,O2,Meteor or 3 for best broadband in Castlebar area?Current broadband provider's contention ratio appears to be very high?Not sure about signal quality,was considering getting an Antenna embedded home repeater?Bit dubious about the difference they make,got the lend one.I do not think they make any difference as I think my main problem is the high contention ratio and less so the signal???

I had Vodafone in Crossmolina and it was mostly good. Only problem was the signal dropped off for 3 to 4 weeks, we depended on it for work, and i had to bombard them with emails on their website and their messageboard on boards.ie. They refused to acknowledge there was a problem until i got an O2 dongel and proved it was them, which drove me insane! O2 had a really bad signal in Crossmolina but good in Ballina. Customer care is abysmal. I would imagine all have good signals in Castlebar.

Pappacharlie

Have you considered fixed wireless options. WestNet provide a great service. I have been with them since 2006 and have had a fantastic true broadband service. Well worth looking at. Www.westnet.ie

ciaran67

Pappacharlie wrote: »

Have you considered fixed wireless options. WestNet provide a great service. I have been with them since 2006 and have had a fantastic true broadband service. Well worth looking at. Www.westnet.ie

Isnt it 35 euro for 1mb and 100 for installation! Mental prices.

Samhain

Quote:
Originally Posted by Pappacharlie
Have you considered fixed wireless options. WestNet provide a great service. I have been with them since 2006 and have had a fantastic true broadband service. Well worth looking at. Www.westnet.ie

Isnt it 35 euro for 1mb and 100 for installation! Mental prices.

My parents have been westnet customers for 5+ years, may be higher than mobile broadband prices but the service is much more reliable and you actually get the advertised speed due to the lower contention ratio (number of customers on the same connection). Most mobile operators in my experience advertise "up to x mb" but in reality you only get a fraction of that.

Best thing to do is to do a speedtest (www.speedtest.net) with the various mobile operators and compare the results. Bear in mind that traffic varies throughout the day and you may not get the same results at 3pm than at 8pm.

ciaran67

Samhain wrote: »

My parents have been westnet customers for 5+ years, may be higher than mobile broadband prices but the service is much more reliable and you actually get the advertised speed due to the lower contention ratio (number of customers on the same connection). Most mobile operators in my experience advertise "up to x mb" but in reality you only get a fraction of that.

Best thing to do is to do a speedtest (www.speedtest.net) with the various mobile operators and compare the results. Bear in mind that traffic varies throughout the day and you may not get the same results at 3pm than at 8pm.

Am I missing something but cant you only speedtest your own IP address/connection?

It also to do with how far away from the exchange that sending out the broadband.

Samhain

The distance from the exchange is irrelevant with mobile operators though. What i had suggested is to borrow or get a 1 week free trial of some of the mobile BB dongles and do the speedtest while at the location.

ciaran67

Samhain wrote: »

The distance from the exchange is irrelevant with mobile operators though. What i had suggested is to borrow or get a 1 week free trial of some of the mobile BB dongles and do the speedtest while at the location.

Sorry, thought you were talking about the broadband not mobile that last message. Only trouble with dongles is the low cap. VF were 5 gig per month.

yop

Would agree that Westnet is a better option than the mobiles. I have tried the mobile as a backup to the Westnet but never found them as good.

PogMoThoin

The trouble with mobile is that they work today, but there is no guarantee about tomorrow, especially now with every man, woman, teenager and dog getting smartphones, it's the same network. The speeds quoted are only achievable with only a single user connected in a controlled environment. There is no control over contention like a fixed network has and they cannot control roaming (other than blocking you which defeats the purpose of mobile).
Rule of thumb with mobile is, if you get a good service, tell your neighbour it's shíte

ColeTrain

I would recommend Westnet too. Fair enough the prices are high compared to the deals you can get living urban but there isn't much of an alternative if you want a decent and reliable connection.

bandit197

Go for Westnet if you have the option. Great service, the connection is solid and consistent. It is real broadband not midband which the mobile operators are pushing. It handles VOIP, gaming, video streaming etc very well. You will also be helping to support local jobs.

shortys94

Just wondering whether westnet has plans to upgrade the speeds of their existing packages?

oscarBravo

shortys94 wrote: »

Just wondering whether westnet has plans to upgrade the speeds of their existing packages?

Yup. There's a fair bit of logistics and stuff involved, but bear with us: we'll be announcing something shortly.

shortys94

Cheers Oscar, good news, been such a great reliable service over the years, looking forward to the future developments! Any time scale on when to expect news?

oscarBravo

Can't put a definite timeframe on it just yet, sorry. We're actively testing though, so it shouldn't be long now.

bifl

I like my gaming and ping what is this like with Westnest

shortys94

The ping time is very low, it is perfect for gaming, even with a 1mb connection one can use it for gaming, no problems with my ps3, my parents are big into netflix and have had no problems streaming using westnet, great service and support, big saving when you consider losing line rental payments and using VOIP

yop

oscarBravo wrote: »

Can't put a definite timeframe on it just yet, sorry. We're actively testing though, so it shouldn't be long now.

Only thinking that during the week there, will be great to hear the announcement.

Neworder79

Avoid mobile, I've been through them all and it's not broadband, should't be allowed to market it as so. You can live with slow speed if you get a reliable steady connection (steady O2 Edge network often beats jumpy 3G connection on my phone). But bursts of 6mb followed by 10 minutes of nothing will drive you crazy and lead to download failures and endless fiddling with the modem positioning and head scratching every time you use the net. It's not worth it even with the low headline prices.

Recently had a terrible time with 3 where I got next to no service between 6-12, despite being between 3 of their masts with full HSDPA/WCDM reception. Network seems saturated and talk of 24mbit is laughable, couldn't use Skype, Gmaps, basic web apps, even at off peak times. Getting off contract after 1 week "trial" was a nightmare of long phone calls and endless excuses. I never got the modem cost refunded either :mad:

You may get short bursts of hight speed at certain times of day, but when you really need it you can be stuck waiting with congestion, modem hopping modes, and masts down for service.

I went with Digiweb fixed line in the end, and can use Netflix and any other broadband service without worry. The difference is like night and day.

HarryPotter41

Neworder79 wrote: »

Avoid mobile, I've been through them all and it's not broadband, should't be allowed to market it as so. You can live with slow speed if you get a reliable steady connection (steady O2 Edge network often beats jumpy 3G connection on my phone). But bursts of 6mb followed by 10 minutes of nothing will drive you crazy and lead to download failures and endless fiddling with the modem positioning and head scratching every time you use the net. It's not worth it even with the low headline prices.

Recently had a terrible time with 3 where I got next to no service between 6-12, despite being between 3 of their masts with full HSDPA/WCDM reception. Network seems saturated and talk of 24mbit is laughable, couldn't use Skype, Gmaps, basic web apps, even at off peak times. Getting off contract after 1 week "trial" was a nightmare of long phone calls and endless excuses. I never got the modem cost refunded either :mad:

You may get short bursts of hight speed at certain times of day, but when you really need it you can be stuck waiting with congestion, modem hopping modes, and masts down for service.

I went with Digiweb fixed line in the end, and can use Netflix and any other broadband service without worry. The difference is like night and day.

Yet I am a three customer who has been very happy with their mobile broadband and regularly stream material both at home and in Castlebar where I work. Each to their own.

runawaybishop

oscarBravo wrote: »

Yup. There's a fair bit of logistics and stuff involved, but bear with us: we'll be announcing something shortly.

You'd win back at least one customer if you do this

shortys94

Any update on progress with speed tests?

shortys94

Is there any news on this update?

yop

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