Imagine LTE Rural Broadband

ED E

ussjtrunks wrote: »

So which would be better, is the LTE tech more or less reliable. I get a stable 20mb service from Nova atm with the only thing interesting me is better speed.

In general, Imagine should be better. But as its a new product there could be early days teething.

Also with all wireless comms it really depends on where you are. If Nova are working well at that speed I would wait a while and see how Imagine hold up for 6 months.

wuzziwig

Thanks for the replies. Our mast won't be online until August so I'd be very interested in seeing how it works out for you, Irishchris.

I'm going to ask them about the 30Mbps guarantee. If it's just at installation or how long.

Just did a speedtest on my phone via 3 4G connection. Got 2.13Mbps download & 7.29 upload. So 30Mbps would be fantastic if we could get it.

ussjtrunks

ED E wrote: »

In general, Imagine should be better. But as its a new product there could be early days teething.

Also with all wireless comms it really depends on where you are. If Nova are working well at that speed I would wait a while and see how Imagine hold up for 6 months.

Wonder if the cabling is similar I could just switch after awile, though I'm holding out hope nova can carry me along until the lines get fibre however long that'll take.

seaniefr

ussjtrunks wrote: »

Wonder if the cabling is similar I could just switch after awile, though I'm holding out hope nova can carry me along until the lines get fibre however long that'll take.

What are Nova like for full downloads between 6-10pm? Do you get your full allowance or is it reduced?

Oafley Jones

ussjtrunks wrote: »

So which would be better, is the LTE tech more or less reliable. I get a stable 20mb service from Nova atm with the only thing interesting me is better speed.

I'm lucky to get 6ish on a 20mb plan, it'll often fall to 2-3 at peak times. I was told with contention that 8 is the max I'd get at the moment. I was advised to downgrade my plan, but the download limit wouldn't suit me at all. So I'm really curious as to which is the argos walktalkie here.

Edit: Apologies, just saw that it was answered. Surprised, I thought Nova was the better solution. It's not about Imagine, but how will Nova adapt to the competition. Can they increase their speed? Our area just had a cabinet installed (we're too far away) and imagine advertising within days off each other. Isn't Nova 20mb speed make them ineligible for future government schemes?

ED E

ussjtrunks wrote: »

Wonder if the cabling is similar I could just switch after awile, though I'm holding out hope nova can carry me along until the lines get fibre however long that'll take.

One of their subs can confirm but I think the modem is part of the receiver(ethernet to inside router, not SMA antennas) so you woudnt be able to interchange without two sets of kit which they take back upon cancellation if memory serves me.

SCOOP 64

Just reading the past few posts gave Nova a ring said they could provide a better service then Permanet, but why wouldn't they , i know wont be near as good as imagine Lte but no hope of getting that, i know this is a imagine thread, but any more infor on Nova would be helpful. thks

Oafley Jones

SCOOP 64 wrote: »

Just reading the past few posts gave Nova a ring said they could provide a better service then Permanet, but why wouldn't they , i know wont be near as good as imagine Lte but no hope of getting that, i know this is a imagine thread, but any more infor on Nova would be helpful. thks

I've had some of the worst customer care experiences with them. One agent in particular just shouldn't be in the job. I've often been tempted to throw up the email conversations (names removed) I've had with this person. That said I've come across truly excellent people there as well. My feeling is that they're over stretched in terms of support.

SCOOP 64

Oafley Jones wrote: »

I've had some of the worst customer care experiences with them. One agent in particular just shouldn't be in the job. I've often been tempted to throw up the email conversations (names removed) I've had with this person. That said I've come across truly excellent people there as well. My feeling is that they're over stretched in terms of support.

Were the speeds anygood ?

Chef-1st

Just on the topic of peak time speeds and stability, it still has either teething problems, or this is a sign of the future.
Bordering under the 30M again this evening, like the issues I was seeing last week. So inconsistent.
Once it's off-peak it's back up to a solid 80M every time. I don't understand it. I was told the contention ratio is 4:1. Shouldn't be this bad already.
If it's going to get worse in the near future, it is definitely not worth 60 euro a month.

mailburner

Chef-1st wrote: »

Just on the topic of peak time speeds and stability, it still has either teething problems, or this is a sign of the future.
Bordering along the 30M again this evening, like the issues I was seeing last week.
It's like this is what they're cutting us to, just to ensure they're giving people the bare minimum speed advertised.
Once it's off-peak it's back up to a solid 80M every time. I don't understand it. I was told the contention ratio is 4:1. Shouldn't be this bad.
If it's going to get worse in the future, it is definitely not worth 60 euro a month.

another waiting on this, be a few weeks yet

be thrilled to get anything near this given i've been stuck on a 3mb/1up for years (speed throttled also to rub it in)

edit, second one not so great

mailburner

irishchris wrote: »

these are some from this morning and im sure most would agree not up to scratch but hoping to be able to post more positive results later when gets sorted hopefully!





latest whilst better still not reaching minimum speed yet

a few miles away myself
its disappointing to see but still a no brainer for me

Oafley Jones

SCOOP 64 wrote: »

Were the speeds anygood ?

Initially hey were as advertised. 19mb down, 1 up, pings 8ms. We were among the first to get it in the area though. Then after 6ish months it feel apart.

It was unusable for almost a month. Kept being told by this one agent that there wasn't any issue and that everything looked fine. Kept on submitting speed test etc which they'd have an issue with eg. Can't see your IP on it. And then out of the blue got a a call to tell us about interference on the line. They did a rechannel, which helped but the speeds were never as good. It seems like every 6 months it falls apart and you've this headache of dealing with the CS. Latest was owing to a radio station broadcasting out of Nagle which seemed to cause havoc for a number of customer.

Contention seems to be the big issue now. As I said speeds often around 2 at peak times. Currently CS guy is excellent though.

SCOOP 64

Oafley Jones wrote: »

Initially hey were as advertised. 19mb down, 1 up, pings 8ms. We were among the first to get it in the area though. Then after 6ish months it feel apart.

It was unusable for almost a month. Kept being told by this one agent that there wasn't any issue and that everything looked fine. Kept on submitting speed test etc which they'd have an issue with eg. Can't see your IP on it. And then out of the blue got a a call to tell us about interference on the line. They did a rechannel, which helped but the speeds were never as good. It seems like every 6 months it falls apart and you've this headache of dealing with the CS. Latest was owing to a radio station broadcasting out of Nagle which seemed to cause havoc for a number of customer.

Contention seems to be the big issue now. As I said speeds often around 2 at peak times. Currently CS guy is excellent though.

id be no better off then, 1/3mb with Permanet every night.

ussjtrunks

seaniefr wrote: »

What are Nova like for full downloads between 6-10pm? Do you get your full allowance or is it reduced?

They give you 20gb daily allowance on the 20mb package but they dont have a free-download timeslot like imagine have, I get around 12-15mb usually at night and pings are great as I play rocket league alot.

Anyone know if Imagine are on the Nagle Mountains aswell as I can see the masts from here, I suppose thats why I get a decent service. With these services I suppose its just luck based on location really which is a shame.

9726_9726

Chef-1st wrote: »

Just on the topic of peak time speeds and stability, it still has either teething problems, or this is a sign of the future.
Bordering under the 30M again this evening, like the issues I was seeing last week. So inconsistent.
Once it's off-peak it's back up to a solid 80M every time. I don't understand it. I was told the contention ratio is 4:1. Shouldn't be this bad already.
If it's going to get worse in the near future, it is definitely not worth 60 euro a month.

Honestly some of the marketing stuff doesn't reflect the technical reality at all. They said in an email posted a couple of pages back:

"The technology used is 4G LTE which is the fastest wireless system in the world at the moment and Imagine have the sole rights to supply it to residential households."

That is an out and out lie - sole rights on the global Long Term Evolution *standard* ?!

Also 4:1 contention. Ok let's work that out. The Huawei RRU has a total capacity of 100M. 3-sector sites have 400 customers, that's 166 customers per sector. So that's a Committed Information Rate (guaranteed bandwidth) of 100/166 = 0.6M per customer. Sorry but that's 50:1 contention. There must be some serious QOS going on there.

rob808

Chef-1st wrote: »

Just on the topic of peak time speeds and stability, it still has either teething problems, or this is a sign of the future.
Bordering under the 30M again this evening, like the issues I was seeing last week. So inconsistent.
Once it's off-peak it's back up to a solid 80M every time. I don't understand it. I was told the contention ratio is 4:1. Shouldn't be this bad already.
If it's going to get worse in the near future, it is definitely not worth 60 euro a month.

This is one reason why imagine shouldn't be in the shortlist of bidders in NBP but they probably end up in it.

Scruff

Chef-1st wrote: »

Just on the topic of peak time speeds and stability, it still has either teething problems, or this is a sign of the future.
Bordering under the 30M again this evening, like the issues I was seeing last week. So inconsistent.
Once it's off-peak it's back up to a solid 80M every time. I don't understand it. I was told the contention ratio is 4:1. Shouldn't be this bad already.
If it's going to get worse in the near future, it is definitely not worth 60 euro a month.

Unfortunately seeing the same myself at the moment. Deeply dippy...

Chef-1st

Yeah I can't see a 4:1 ratio myself if the speeds are going to drop this much during peak times, it's not on.
That's what I thought too... No way it could be 4:1. I didn't believe him when he said it.
Asked him how they're doing that? He just said that's what it is, wanting to provide a quality service. Hhmm....



Just to prove it, I'll post another speedtest in the morning, to show it going back to normal service.

ED E

We know its 400 / Mast (lets hope its not 400/sector instead) so if we get better details of the network side equipment we can calculate the contention.

A previous poster made reference but searching for it is too tedious :pac:

rob808

Chef-1st wrote: »

Yeah I can't see a 4:1 ratio myself if the speeds are going to drop this much during peak times, it's not on.
That's what I was told too though. No way it could be 4:1. I didn't believe him either.
Asked him how they're doing that? He just said that's what it is, wanting to provide a quality service. Hhmm....



Just to prove it, I'll post another speedtest in the morning, to show it going back to normal service.

Hey maybe check what your download speed like at the time people download a lot.I think it 1am to 7am it be interesting to see what your speed be at them times.

Chef-1st

rob808 wrote: »

Hey maybe check what your download speed like at the time people download a lot.I think it 1am to 7am it be interesting to see what your speed be at them times.

I've done speed tests after the 12am time alright. I'll dig some out of my speed results and post here. They're random speeds. Most good, some not.

http://www.speedtest.net/my-result/5426952411
http://www.speedtest.net/my-result/5429696035
http://www.speedtest.net/my-result/5436326404

Overall it seems for the most part, these cap-free zones are not affected.
It's the main user evening peak that is.

irishchris

rob808 wrote: »

Hey maybe check what your download speed like at the time people download a lot.I think it 1am to 7am it be interesting to see what your speed be at them times.

http://www.speedtest.net/my-result/a/2032795140
This is a test from 6am this morning. Surprisingly one of the best tests for me but that's not saying much as the speed overall has been terrible for me

ED E

Can one of you guys PM me your public IP if its not something you mind divulging. Be interested to see how much one could detect.

Chef-1st

irishchris wrote: »

http://www.speedtest.net/my-result/a/2032795140
This is a test from 6am this morning. Surprisingly one of the best tests for me but that's not saying much as the speed overall has been terrible for me

Well I'd say your speeds will improve when you get the installers out again to lower and re-direct that box. I wouldn't be happy with them speeds considering what we've seem them reach with the service. Something else I noticed from your earlier pic, get him to mount it on the wall with all 4 screws instead of only 2! Poor form from whoever them subcontractors were.

irishchris

Chef-1st wrote: »

Well I'd say your speeds will improve when you get the installers out again to lower and re-direct that box. I wouldn't be happy with them speeds considering what we've seem them reach with the service. Something else I noticed from your earlier pic, get him to mount it on the wall with all 4 screws instead of only 2! Poor form from whoever them subcontractors were.

Fingers crossed improves when they call out in morning. In fairness all the work practically done for them in terms of drilling and ducting to run the cable into. The agent who rang with the booking said they may decide not to do it though as is up to installer on the day. I'm not happy with any aspect of the install and asked for different crew to come tomorrow. Hopefully they will know what they are doing lol
Had quick look at photo of the install as dark out now but seems like the the screw holes which are showing have screws but maybe my eyes lol Either way it was a dodgy install even down to throwing the cable in the gutter instead of pinning it.

Chef-1st

Apologies to the installers if it is fixed with 4 screws, I just had a quick glance at your pics, thought I saw only 1 on either end. My bad.
Anyway it's good they're coming out again. Don't take any excuses. You want the best signal strength you can get. And height for that matter.
Was there no option of installing on the roof chimney breast? My installers gave me that option. Didn't need to though the side wall like yours was sufficient.

Chef-1st

ED E wrote: »

Can one of you guys PM me your public IP if its not something you mind divulging. Be interested to see how much one could detect.

Detect what?

irishchris

Chef-1st wrote: »

Apologies to the installers if it is fixed with 4 screws, I just had a quick glance at your pics, thought I saw only 1 on either end. My bad.
Anyway it's good they're coming out again. Don't take any excuses. You want the best signal strength you can get. And height for that matter.
Was there no option of installing on the roof chimney breast? My installers gave me that option. Didn't need to though the side wall like yours was sufficient.

I wouldn't apologise for slating those installers. Simply not good enough in most regards. I asked originally for it to be put on chimney but he said wouldn't go on roof! The wall it is in had great los though but slightly more to left and would completely miss the neighbours shed so baffles me why they put it where they did.
Going to ensure it is done right tomorrow or I am willing for them to take the equipment back and will return to my previous provider

Chef-1st

He said he wouldn't go on the roof, or the box wouldn't go on the roof?
Was it raining or something? He should be going on the roof first. They have roof ladders. You want decent height, especially in the likes of housing estates or where trees lying in wait.

irishchris

Chef-1st wrote: »

He said he wouldn't go on the roof, or the box wouldn't go on the roof?
Was it raining or something? He should be going on the roof first. They have roof ladders. You want decent height, especially in the likes of housing estates or where trees lying in wait.

Was raining at the time alright hence why this turned out to be a rush setup with the outdoor side of it. He said he wouldn't go up on roof and looked for handiest spot
Am in largely rural area but where they placed it defies logic as all of that side of house has clear Los but where they put it could have bit of signal block from neighbours shed due to where they put it.
Let's see what happens tomorrow and let's hope it doesn't rain :-)

9726_9726

irishchris wrote: »

I wouldn't apologise for slating those installers. Simply not good enough in most regards. I asked originally for it to be put on chimney but he said wouldn't go on roof! The wall it is in had great los though but slightly more to left and would completely miss the neighbours shed so baffles me why they put it where they did.
Going to ensure it is done right tomorrow or I am willing for them to take the equipment back and will return to my previous provider

I have noticed the units installed on walls quite a lot rather than on chimneys, and this is consistent with their Wimax outdoor installs too. Strange, as the usual FWA install style is to put it on the chimney.

ItHurtsWhenIP

@irishchris - I'm just thinking you could get some great data for beating up Imagine if you ran the regular type of speed test that Morgana uses. I think it was mentioned that all you need to do is set up an account with speedtest.net.

Chef-1st

Chef-1st wrote: »

Just on the topic of peak time speeds and stability, it still has either teething problems, or this is a sign of the future.
Bordering under the 30M again this evening, like the issues I was seeing last week. So inconsistent.
Once it's off-peak it's back up to a solid 80M every time. I don't understand it. I was told the contention ratio is 4:1. Shouldn't be this bad already.
If it's going to get worse in the near future, it is definitely not worth 60 euro a month.

BOOM! Back up to advertised "fiber speeds" in the space of a few hours.
Let be honest, it's the peak times that matter to everyone. It is just not an acceptable drop in performance.

gctest50

Chef-1st wrote: »

I don't understand it.

I was told the contention ratio is 4:1.

94 ÷ 4 = 23 -ish

um7y1h83ge06nx

Think I'm going to sit on the fence a bit and see how it holds up over the next few months.

One thing - 20GB a day download limit seems like a lot but if you're a gamer and legitimately purchase a game from Steam, Xbox Live, Playstation Network many of them will be greater than 20GB.

Apart from that it's probably hard to exceed unless you are major torrenting.

Scruff

Chef-1st wrote: »

BOOM! Back up to advertised "fiber speeds" in the space of a few hours.
Let be honest, it's the peak times that matter to everyone. It is just not an acceptable drop in performance.

yup, same here. Back at 80+ this morning.

Here is the worst single speed i recorded last night though the highest was in the 40s. Very inconsistent at peak times alright

TireeTerror

So let me get this straight, they are no longer guaranteeing a 30Mb minimum all day long? It is just 30Mb at the point of install, after that it could drop way down to next to useless levels?

400 connections all on the same base station. What is the maximum bandwidth at the station? I'm thinking this is going to end up just as bad as all the other products out there and its going to be €60.......

The longer this thread goes on, the worse this seems. Has anyone phoned up Imagine and said "I am not getting 30Mb minimum"? If so, what did they say? WHat is their exact answer to that?

kazoo106

Assume that 1Gig feeds each site, and if all 400 go on at the same time this gives an average of 2.56Mb/s - its all physics and hoping not everybody is not on at the same time. If there is no fibre feeding these sites its more likely the backhaul will be less than 700Meg if being fed over microwave - this brings this average down below 2.
You cannot make a silk purse out of a sow's ear

Waffleon

Hi all, I am due for an install today. Living in Berrings Cork, Rylane mast I think..? Going on the speed test results posted here the drop off can be significant and inconsistent especially at peak times. This is true with most providers, although I agree, unacceptable. With all of these people complaining about the low speeds and inconsistency at peak times I assume all of you with speed problems have contacted imagine as well as complaining here..? If so what have imagines cs replied with? As I said I am due for an install today. All going well I will post some speed results and images later. I do however feel that this is a new service and as such there will be constant upgrades, problems, etc as more and more people connect. Give it a few more months and see how this settles down. If your unhappy then just switch back to your previous provider. Imagine are only penalising you 100euro if you decide the product is not up to scratch and cancel.

SCOOP 64

Waffleon wrote: »

Hi all, I am due for an install today. Living in Berrings Cork, Rylane mast I think..? Going on the speed test results posted here the drop off can be significant and inconsistent especially at peak times. This is true with most providers, although I agree, unacceptable. With all of these people complaining about the low speeds and inconsistency at peak times I assume all of you with speed problems have contacted imagine as well as complaining here..? If so what have imagines cs replied with? As I said I am due for an install today. All going well I will post some speed results and images later. I do however feel that this is a new service and as such there will be constant upgrades, problems, etc as more and more people connect. Give it a few more months and see how this settles down. If your unhappy then just switch back to your previous provider. Imagine are only penalising you 100euro if you decide the product is not up to scratch and cancel.

Thanks imagine, but do you know when i will get my deposit back ?
Many Thanks

irishchris

well i had the installers back. in fairness they had no issues moving the cable where i wanted. He even went in the narrow void that i had offered to go into to feed the cable in from outside.
speeds have steadied somewhat but still getting max 53 mbs which for off peak hours is not spectacular and leads me to think peak hours are still not going to be great

irishchris

now not so good



best result yet

Waffleon

SCOOP 64 wrote: »

Thanks imagine, but do you know when i will get my deposit back ?
Many Thanks

Hehe....I have no affiliation with imagine, but you are free to presume what you may. If you want your deposit back then keep annoying imagine for it. There are procedures you can follow if they don't return it... Complaining here isn't going to make it magically appear in your bank account is it..??

SCOOP 64

Waffleon wrote: »

Hehe....I have no affiliation with imagine, but you are free to presume what you may. If you want your deposit back then keep annoying imagine for it. There are procedures you can follow if they don't return it... Complaining here isn't going to make it magically appear in your bank account is it..??

Only joking ye, but his is what boards and threads like this are all about,
to find out about a service before we sign up.

leex

I am seeing similar results to what everyone is experiencing here. Speeds commonly mid to low 20s mbps download at peak times. Speeds are typically mid 50's at off peak times. I was seeing mid 50's at peak and non peak when first connected so it appears to be degrading over time which is likely due to number of connections?

ED E

Chef-1st wrote: »

Detect what?

How many connections are live.

SCOOP 64

This is the problem with Permanet, finally spoke to some about my speeds 1/3mb
" you see the problem is contention ", so you have over subscript to the service. "No its contention" ,so too many customers on the service, "No ,its contention"
"we will send a engineer out",. ok.
Cant see what hes going to do, but will see.

ED E

@Morgana I note your speedwave is gone (would be nice to see your peak/offpeak comparison), personal choice or were you asked?

SCOOP 64

Will they struggle getting 400 per area considering people in towns have other options, just rural areas will be interested ,people like me, but then they cancel service because to far out for good signal, so the contention might not get that bad surely ?