Switching to DSL/Fiber

U_Fig

A little background I live in Arklow... I do not have a phone line coming into my house and for certain reasons I could not get one installed until recently.. So because DSL was not an option.

I've been using Imagine Wimax 7Mb. Overall I've found it pretty good.. Download speeds are generally fairly fast as is browsing at off peak times but peak times it can get a little sluggish where streaming a YouTube video at 480p takes a considerable buffering time and HD is not an option .. this has not been a major problem as most of my usage up to now has been off peak times (bit of a night owl).. Online gaming is terrible with lots of latency issues but it's expected of a Wireless broadband . Also the fact that torrents only work between 01:00 and 08:00 is beyond me. The unlimited (250GB/Month fair usage) usage is good as some months My bandwith usage can be in excess 100GB

So basically now that I can finally get a phone line installed i'm looking to upgrade to DSL or Fiber if it ever becomes available to me.. I've been checking the roll out and even tho i'm less than 500m from an active fiber exchange i still cannot get it occording to the eircom site (although I'm to believe that they are a little slow at updating)

So i'm looking for advice on what my options are.. I was looking at eircom, Sky, Vodafone, Magnet and UPC... does anyone have any input to aid my desicion..I'm currently with sky for my tv so a package might be option

Edit: I seem to be drawn towards magnet as they have no contract as I may be moving abroad close to the end of the year.. I'm currently not tied down to any contract more that 30 days notice away.. and would ideally like to keep it that way

ED E

If you can get UPC, get UPC. No question.


If not, you need a phone line. To get this I'm pretty sure you have to go eircom for 12 months to have it fitted.

crawler

ED E wrote: »

If you can get UPC, get UPC. No question.


If not, you need a phone line. To get this I'm pretty sure you have to go eircom for 12 months to have it fitted.

Nope - most providers will reconnect a line for you - Vodafone certainly do, not sure about others.

cunnijo

Hi

Firstly fibre is available in Arklow and has been for a while now according to Eircom. Their rollout map shows it as live. So if you want to go the landline route then there you go.

If however you do want a phone line there there is the option of fixed wireless. Digiweb Metro is also available there and currently offers download speeds up to 30MB (with up to 100MB down the track). See http://www.digiweb.ie for more details.

U_Fig

Thanks for the replys did a bit of enquiring today UPC Is not available in my house although other parts of the town can get it.. I talked to magent they can offer me 24Mb with no contract with €58 to connect a line

I already have fixed wireless.. The problem is the weather affects it quite a bit and for gaming the ping times cause latency.. A fixed line would give a more stable connection.. Like ping times are over 200ms

cunnijo

U_Fig wrote: »

Thanks for the replys did a bit of enquiring today UPC Is not available in my house although other parts of the town can get it.. I talked to magent they can offer me 24Mb with no contract with €58 to connect a line

I already have fixed wireless.. The problem is the weather affects it quite a bit and for gaming the ping times cause latency.. A fixed line would give a more stable connection.. Like ping times are over 200ms

Hi

Imagine Wimax unless you have their outdoor hub/antenna to receive it would not be considered as fixed wireless. It would be more like what you would get from a 3G mobile dongle. Metro on the other hand requires an outdoor antenna that feeds into a wi-fi modem/router. Ping times are usually in the 10 - 55 ms range and latency is usually low especially as you are probably fairly close to the Arklow base station. Below is what I am getting from them here in Naas.



As for the telephone line I am very surprised with Magnet. It seems their fibre option is not rolled out there yet. Vodafone and Eircom surely do but will probably committ you to a 12 month mininum contract.

U_Fig

I have the outdoor antenna for Wimax on my chimney the indoor signal was too weak. my house is in a bit of a black spot tho i get feck all phone covrage and even radio is hard to get in my house.. It's not all that bad I took a speed test about an hour ago
http://www.speedtest.net/my-result/i/612851354 ping time is aweful and doesn't get all that much better tho..

I forgot to ask magent if I get an upgrade to fiber when it becomes available.. 24Mb is dsl I'd imagine.. I just think in the overall scheme of things DSL is a better option

cunnijo

U_Fig wrote: »

I have the outdoor antenna for Wimax on my chimney the indoor signal was too weak. my house is in a bit of a black spot tho i get feck all phone covrage and even radio is hard to get in my house.. It's not all that bad I took a speed test about an hour ago
http://www.speedtest.net/my-result/i/612851354 ping time is aweful and doesn't get all that much better tho..

I forgot to ask magent if I get an upgrade to fiver when it becomes available.. 24Mb is dsl I'd imagine.. I just think in the overall scheme of things DSL is a better option

Hi

24Mb is either DSL or next generation ADSL+ (depending on the exchange) and the offering generally is "Up To" and usually never gets close to it. As for your Imagine connection those speeds are very good for a 7Mb connection but the ping times are really awful. Have you a laptop/pc that you can connect directly to the Imagine router to see if the pings drop?

U_Fig

the ping did drop by half connected via ethernet... i use powerline adapters generally when i game so i would expect a fairly similar connection.

ping times are still not great tho but speed wise everything is good

Via Ethernet directly to the router ( my tp link router)



via Wifi


i'd be hoping for ping times about half of that at the very highest and ideally lower

i think until the fiber becomes activated in my area i prob won't change provider tho. from what i'm lead to believe it should be up and running in the next couple of months

dazdrog

cunnijo wrote: »

Hi

Firstly fibre is available in Arklow and has been for a while now according to Eircom. Their rollout map shows it as live. So if you want to go the landline route then there you go.

If however you do want a phone line there there is the option of fixed wireless. Digiweb Metro is also available there and currently offers download speeds up to 30MB (with up to 100MB down the track). See http://www.digiweb.ie for more details.

aye digiweb with upto 100mb in track lol they would wanna sort out the 30mb pack first! Stay clear from digiweb in my eyes, this speed test was done around 12am last nite, all this from a so called 30mb connection, and if you go over 100GB a month digiweb defo aint for you as they have a rolling cap, so say if u used the full 100gb in 1 day, you would have your speeds reduces to 512kbps for the remaining 29 days of their 30 day rolling cap



and this is what im gettng at the min, and yet with all this so called speed and power, im still gettin page time outs and videos refusing to load

cunnijo

Hi

To the OP It seems by connecting directly to the modem or using the powerline adapters your ping times have considerably dropped and the speeds increased some what as against WIFI. So stick with that until fibre services are available to you and then switch if you so wish. In the mean time it might also be worth trying a different server rather than Dublin(especilly Eircom) on Speedtest.net to see if the ping times drop any further.

As for Digiweb Metro it would be interesting to see if someone from Arklow responds with their experiences with the service in the area.

dub45

ED E wrote: »

If you can get UPC, get UPC. No question.


If not, you need a phone line. To get this I'm pretty sure you have to go eircom for 12 months to have it fitted.

crawler wrote: »

Nope - most providers will reconnect a line for you - Vodafone certainly do, not sure about others.

I remember checking this out a while ago - apparently a new arrangement was introduced some time ago whereby if you do not have a line you order it from the isp that you wish to order your bb from. Some isps do not seem aware of this arrangement and have referred prospective customers to Eircom.

However if your order though Eircom then you will find yourself in a new contract with them. Prior to this new arrangement you ordered your line from Eircom and then left them to go to whichever isp you wanted to go to.

Edit: I just came across this on the Comreg website:

If you want a phone and broadband service for the first time Simply contact the provider that you would like to provide the service. - See more at: http://www.askcomreg.ie/tell_us/switching_fixed_telephony%28landlines%29___exercise_your_choice.232.LE.asp#sthash.csOGTg6U.dpuf

ED E

This is where the whole Eircom split confuses a lot of people. All of the lines are put in by Eircom(and owned by them), but its Eircom Wholesale. Whoever you order from, be it Eircom Retail, Vodafone, Sky, have to pay Eircom Wholesale to have it done(along with any repair callouts). Eircom retail certainly pay for these installs, but I've heard of other providers refusing. That could be their sales staff being twats or it could be policy(its cheaper to port than to provision).