Aptus Rural Broadband

Sonk

So our household was recently contacted by an Aptus representative. They came out to our house, marketing their rural broadband service.

We've decided we'll give it a shot, they'll be here in 10 days to test the connection.

However, what I'd like to know beforehand, is if anyone here has Aptus, or knows anyone with it.

A few things I'd like to know.

Stability? -- How stable is it?
Speed? -- Do you get their offered speed? The person we spoke to said in our area we may only get 5mbps.
Latency? -- What's the latency like?


And any other information you can provide.

I'd be very grateful if anyone could give me some more insight concerning their service.

AlanS181824

I don't have Aptus but my friends do and here's what I know about it.
There is a €99 installation charge which I'm sure you're aware of and I think the packages are €35+ but I'm sure you're aware of all this already. Aptus is Carlow town based so I'm not sure what their coverage would be like given you're in Laois. My friends has the 5/1 package and it recently got upgraded to 6/1. Their gaming pings are apparently very good, lower than mine on Sky ADSL and lower than my friends on UPC. The packages themselves seem alright barr the 40Gb monthly allowance which you sure be aware of as I think they charge €1 per Gb over.
Hope this helps.

Sonk

The package they're offering us is 80gb a month for €59 with a landline included.

I DO want to do some gaming, low ping is GREAT. I'm using 3 Mobile broadband, and at the best of times, it is just below 100ms. However, disruptions of service are frequent and many and really prohibit and extended gaming.

However, as you may know, 3 Mobile Broadband, isn't very reliable, nor is it stable.

If you could find out how stable the service is, if it has any interruptions, etc., I'm be in your debt.

Mostly what I'm concerned about is stability and latency. (for gaming)

AlanS181824

Sonk wrote: »

The package they're offering us is 80gb a month for €59 with a landline included.

I DO want to do some gaming, low ping is GREAT. I'm using 3 Mobile broadband, and at the best of times, it is just below 100ms. However, disruptions of service are frequent and many and really prohibit and extended gaming.

However, as you may know, 3 Mobile Broadband, isn't very reliable, nor is it stable.

If you could find out how stable the service is, if it has any interruptions, etc., I'm be in your debt.

Mostly what I'm concerned about is stability and latency. (for gaming)

They have the 40Gb no landline package for either €35 or €45 and they've told me that Aptus actually prevent changing anything in the router, so changing the SSID, password, login details are all off limits although do take that with a grain of salt. They have their own router running DDWRT so it doesn't affect them but just a heads up. Yeah it is very stable from what I've heard and it apparently has only went down during severe severe weather similar to how a Sky Dish is affected by bad weather. For example on a server myself and all my friends would play on (Located in America) I would get around 170+ with Sky, my friend with UPC would get around 180+ sometimes lower and my friends with Aptus would get around 140-150+
Hope this helps you get some idea.

Sonk

Well you've given me some hope at least. I was very sceptical.

I guess we'll see how the service fairs in my area when they arrive here in 10 days.

Thanks for the information, buddy!

AlanS181824

Sonk wrote: »

Well you've given me some hope at least. I was very sceptical.

I guess we'll see how the service fairs in my area when they arrive here in 10 days.

Thanks for the information, buddy!

No problem! Glad I could help, oh and also, the IP on Aptus is static so it won't change but that doesn't matter to most people. Please let me know how it goes when you're up and running!

cabledude

Does this work on line of sight to a certain transmitter or what's the deal?

Sonk

cabledude wrote: »

Does this work on line of sight to a certain transmitter or what's the deal?

Honestly no idea. Their website isn't exactly informative. What I do know is that they're installing a satellite dish (not satellite broadband) for the connection, as well as a router.

That's the limit to my knowledge.

AlanS181824

cabledude wrote: »

Does this work on line of sight to a certain transmitter or what's the deal?

I believe so yes, a satellite type device is attached to your roof and it connects to a mast somewhere in Carlow town, or they may have others jotted around the South East.

Sonk

AlanS181824 wrote: »

No problem! Glad I could help, oh and also, the IP on Aptus is static so it won't change but that doesn't matter to most people. Please let me know how it goes when you're up and running!

Oh, dear..

cabledude

Sonk wrote: »

Honestly no idea. Their website isn't exactly informative. What I do know is that they're installing a satellite dish (not satellite broadband) for the connection, as well as a router.

That's the limit to my knowledge.

Thanks. I've had a few companies out and I do not have LOS to the mast.

IO must give them a call and see what the deal is.

I wonder do they give you a WIFI router?

AlanS181824

cabledude wrote: »

Thanks. I've had a few companies out and I do not have LOS to the mast.

IO must give them a call and see what the deal is.

I wonder do they give you a WIFI router?

I'm just going by what my friends have told me but I think they do.
It's a white TP-Link one.

AlanS181824

Sonk wrote: »

Oh, dear..

Yeah I know it isn't great but it shouldn't affect you too much unless you're worried about security or the like.

Sonk

AlanS181824 wrote: »

Yeah I know it isn't great but it shouldn't affect you too much unless you're worried about security or the like.

Hehe, it shouldn't be much of an issue now. However if it were a year or so ago, it would have. Running in the wrong circles and such.

Thanks for the info.

AlanS181824

Sonk wrote: »

Hehe, it shouldn't be much of an issue now. However if it were a year or so ago, it would have. Running in the wrong circles and such.

Thanks for the info.

Just obviously don't give your IP out or other silly stuff like that and you'll be grand!

Sonk

AlanS181824 wrote: »

Just obviously don't give your IP out or other silly stuff like that and you'll be grand!

An IP can be obtained very easily with the right knowhow. :P

AlanS181824

Sonk wrote: »

An IP can be obtained very easily with the right knowhow. :P

Indeed it can but thankfully most people don't have that knowhow :L
Aptus is a great alternative to what you already have and I'm sure you'll love having it.

Sonk

AlanS181824 wrote: »

Indeed it can but thankfully most people don't have that knowhow :L
Aptus is a great alternative to what you already have and I'm sure you'll love having it.

Well I'll be keeping the 3 Mobile Broadband, too. Unless Aptus turns out to be great, then I'll just cancel the 3.

And you're right, we should be thankful most people don't. Although you can't do much with just an IP. Need other tools, too.

AlanS181824

Sonk wrote: »

Well I'll be keeping the 3 Mobile Broadband, too. Unless Aptus turns out to be great, then I'll just cancel the 3.

And you're right, we should be thankful most people don't. Although you can't do much with just an IP. Need other tools, too.

Yeah maybe keep both until you get into the swing of things with Aptus.
You're right about the IP thing but we'll have to leave it at that in case we breach some Charter.
Off Topic but I have a question about your post count/reg date, did you regsiter on Boards and then just forget about it :P

Sonk

AlanS181824 wrote: »

Yeah maybe keep both until you get into the swing of things with Aptus.
You're right about the IP thing but we'll have to leave it at that in case we breach some Charter.
Off Topic but I have a question about your post count/reg date, did you regsiter on Boards and then just forget about it :P

Forgot about it. Had no need to use the account. :P

AlanS181824

Sonk wrote: »

Forgot about it. Had no need to use the account. :P

Haha Let me know how you get on anyway with Aptus. Best of luck with it.

Sonk

AlanS181824 wrote: »

Haha Let me know how you get on anyway with Aptus. Best of luck with it.

Thanks, man. Appreciate it.

HurlyBurly

Same here, also in Laois (south/sw) and they've recently been around offering their service. They are the first provider I've found offering service in this area, it's currently mobile only, which is decent quality in my case but the monthly allowances are too low @15gb. So the potential for 80gb is brilliant.

Checked them out before and by all accounts they seem to offer a good service.
I'm very interested to see how they get the connection to their transmitter, if we're that far away can't be great but you won't know until they come out and try install.

Sonk

Got Aptus today. I haven't used it much, but so far it seems great. I have had a couple disruptions in the service, brief pauses, lapses in the internet that last about 10 seconds or so.

The downloads speeds are fine.

Here's a speedtest/pingtest.





So far I'm pretty darn happy.

AlanS181824

Sonk wrote: »

Got Aptus today. I haven't used it much, but so far it seems great. I have had a couple disruptions in the service, brief pauses, lapses in the internet that last about 10 seconds or so.

The downloads speeds are fine.

Here's a speedtest/pingtest.





So far I'm pretty darn happy.

Nice! It looks as if it's working great for you.

Sonk

AlanS181824 wrote: »

Nice! It looks as if it's working great for you.

Sure is!

cabledude

I called Aptus. Not available in South Wexford

But I did a speedtest just now and here are the results



My speed is excellent, for mobile broadband in any case. But I have 15Gb fo €20 per month or 30Gb for €35 per month.

I would like more capacity for my money.