Mobile Broadband in Galway

RiverOfLove

I'm in rural Galway. What is mobile broadband like around the county?

I used to have a vondafone dongle but a mast was taken down nearby and that went. I then switched to o2 and couldn't pick up a reception. Then I went to 3 and that's ok but not the very best. It can be slow and sometimes it drops and during the xmas with the winds it wasn't working for me much at all. My sister went to meteor at one stage and they were crap too.

Has mobile broadband improved?
What's emobile like?

I want to buy concert tickets tomorrow morning and I'm having all sorts of strokes this morning. My 3 is dropping and slowing this morning.

biko

Mobile broadband isn't great in the rural areas.
For three, as soon as you leave the city it pretty much drops to nothing.

TheHappyChappy

Moving to south Galway (rural) no landline broadband option & only option is three.ie that can literally stop in the evening, very annoying.

RiverOfLove

Thanks Biko and TheHappyChappy.

I'm with 3 and like you, TheHappyChappy, it is crap. I was considering on heading to town today to pick up a back up mifi device/dongle thing but I won't bother now because I doubt I'll have any luck with it.

ScumLord

Did you get the booster box off 3? They have a special receiver that you can fix outside to boost the signal. If you can fit that up high it should help.

biko

You'll find several providers in the Talk To forums.
You could ask them about your particular location and see if they have a solution you can work with.

aido76

What part of rural Galway are you in?
Did you check to see if you are in the National Broadband scheme (NBS) area?
I am with 3 and the signal was crap when I got my dongle first. Because I am in the NBS area they sent me out an internal booster but this was no better. I had to ring their customer care service a few times with my connection issues and they finally sent out an engineer to set up an external booster box on my aerial pole. This has improved the signal significantly, but it can be slow at times and also drop signal from time to time. As long as you don't want to download movies then it's fine.

Have you inquired about landline broadband in your area? If it is available, I know a guy at work was on to Vodafone and they will install the landline free and it's €30 a month (€27 if your a vodafone customer). I think contract is 18 months but I could be wrong. The speed would be much better than the mobile broadband and more reliable.

TheHappyChappy

Firstly, don't trust what the service providers will tell you.
Secondly, don't trust what the service providers will tell you.

We spent months getting lied to by all available providers, returning 'dongles' with the hassle that goes with it.

The only 'dongle' that worked for us for three, ok during daytime, but comes to a stop every evening.

we now get a steady speed of .85 (yes .85) through our landline & thats as good as we can ever expect after lots of empty promises.

Long story short - Be ware

aido76

TheHappyChappy wrote: »

Firstly, don't trust what the service providers will tell you.
Secondly, don't trust what the service providers will tell you.

We spent months getting lied to by all available providers, returning 'dongles' with the hassle that goes with it.

The only 'dongle' that worked for us for three, ok during daytime, but comes to a stop every evening.

we now get a steady speed of .85 (yes .85) through our landline & thats as good as we can ever expect after lots of empty promises.

Long story short - Be ware

Are you in a NBS area?

TheHappyChappy

No

Galwaythomas

HI
I am living just outside Tuam I have landline but only getting 0.5 mbs paying for 3mbs with Vodafone landline. Was looking for Wireless broadband maybe Airwire has anybody in Tuam using wireless Broadband if so are they any good? Wimax tell me i am not in coverage .

TheHappyChappy

ScumLord wrote: »

Did you get the booster box off 3? They have a special receiver that you can fix outside to boost the signal. If you can fit that up high it should help.

A neighbour was told that previously and gave it go.......

Had pole with bracket fitted to old cottage chimney (no easy task) after being told 'fit it up as high as possible to work' & had the best cable available fitted for low loss, all done professionally as she just get 'booster' in box & they left it up to an elderly widow to crack on with it.......

After all that time & euro - not any change in signal

Was eventually told after months of hassle by three tech support guy (off the record) - stop wasting time & money

if there is little or no signal, a little box aint goin to work magic

Proxy

Galwaythomas wrote: »

HI
I am living just outside Tuam I have landline but only getting 0.5 mbs paying for 3mbs with Vodafone landline. Was looking for Wireless broadband maybe Airwire has anybody in Tuam using wireless Broadband if so are they any good? Wimax tell me i am not in coverage .

I'm in Tuam town (just on the edge) and I use WiMax without trouble. It's not the fastest, but it's been fine for browsing, remote working, YouTube (as good as YT can be), and Netflix. If i'm torrenting anything I just queue it up overnight so it doesn't eat my working bandwidth.

Galwaythomas

HI
Thanks for you the help i just got wimax in yesterday after they told me i can now get it . It seem ok i can get up to 9 MBS right now about 4 miles from Tuam hope i can keep getting this speed . Does bad weather affect your service or has it slowed down over time ?