Imagine LTE Rural Broadband

irishchris

Hococop wrote: »

You might have mentioned already in this thread but what were your speeds before this installations

Was with three prior to this. Their usage caps were my main reason for moving but taking some hit in speeds today with imagine. My main worry is if this is what speeds are like with me as the first customer of this mast what will they be like with 399 more users of this mast
Here is my most recent tests with my old setup

http://www.speedtest.net/my-result/a/2017512197
http://www.speedtest.net/my-result/a/1978541635

ItHurtsWhenIP

irishchris wrote: »

Here is some pictures of the setup as promised

The external is pretty tight to your soffit. Don't know about you, but I'd have preferred a few cms gap.

Where is the cable running into the house? Back up over gutters, or through the wall underneath the mounting bracket?

ItHurtsWhenIP

irishchris wrote: »

Was with three prior to this. Their usage caps were my main reason for moving but taking some hit in speeds today with imagine. My main worry is if this is what speeds are like with me as the first customer of this mast what will they be like with 399 more users of this mast
Here is my most recent tests with my old setup

http://www.speedtest.net/my-result/a/2017512197
http://www.speedtest.net/my-result/a/1978541635

Oh crap - you are definitely right to be concerned. Thems pretty decent speeds. I foresee a lengthy CS call with Imagine tomorrow!!!

irishchris

MMFITWGDV wrote: »

The external is pretty tight to your soffit. Don't know about you, but I'd have preferred a few cms gap.

Where is the cable running into the house? Back up over gutters, or through the wall underneath the mounting bracket?

Totally agree in there should have been couple cm gap left. Wouldn't like to see it with expansion when sun is off it on hot day (not that we get too many of them)
Also thought they would run it down and under plint but they have looped out above unit and into gutter and dropped it down further along wall and stapled it finally drilling it into the wall next to power socket

Hococop

irishchris wrote: »

Was with three prior to this. Their usage caps were my main reason for moving but taking some hit in speeds today with imagine. My main worry is if this is what speeds are like with me as the first customer of this mast what will they be like with 399 more users of this mast
Here is my most recent tests with my old setup

http://www.speedtest.net/my-result/a/2017512197
http://www.speedtest.net/my-result/a/1978541635

Ah I see, thinking of ringing up about it, do they ask for your location and ring you back to let you know what speeds?

My head says I will be like scoop, I won't get it because of the speeds they could only offer, like you scoops if they gave 15mb I'd gladly join, been on 1.5mb for years

irishchris

MMFITWGDV wrote: »

Oh crap - you are definitely right to be concerned. Thems pretty decent speeds. I foresee a lengthy CS call with Imagine tomorrow!!!

Not looking forward to the call but not putting up with poor standard that it has been today. Doesn't seem the norm for imagine thankfully from reading other users experiences here so hoping it is a problem their end which can be fixed

irishchris

Hococop wrote: »

Ah I see, thinking of ringing up about it, do they ask for your location and ring you back to let you know what speeds?

My head says I will be like scoop, I wouldn't get it because of the speeds they could only offer, like you scoops if they gave 15mb I'd gladly join, been on 1.5mb for years

When you ring them they will ask for your eircode and let you know there and then if you are in coverage. Until they do a site survey though they won't be able to tell you speeds

irishchris

ED E wrote: »

Its not the cabling, its the manhours. It takes time to properly install a longer run.


If your house is prewired just backfeed it from the existing socket, its not really a huge issue. If you need access in its room too place your router with theirs and then put an 8/16 switch in your comms cab/whatever.

I had a void area upstairs which I was going to go in and feed the cable through to router for them and holes predrilled for them too so would have used maybe 6 or 7 mins longer for install but installer wouldn't do it unfortunately as said too far for signal but from reading the specs online this evening it says can go up to 30 metres!

Hococop

irishchris wrote: »

When you ring them they will ask for your eircode and let you know there and then if you are in coverage. Until they do a site survey though they won't be able to tell you speeds

Yeah saw the map, can't zoom in so hard to see if I'm covered think I am, site survey take long and did it cost anything?

Last question ha, as far as gaming is concerned is there a delay, was always told there is a second or 2 delay with satellite broadband or is that just a lie? Not sure if you game Chris but if anyone else on the thread knows?

ItHurtsWhenIP

Hococop wrote: »

Yeah saw the map, can't zoom in so hard to see if I'm covered think I am, site survey take long and did it cost anything?

Last question ha, as far as gaming is concerned is there a delay, was always told there is a second or 2 delay with satellite broadband or is that just a lie? Not sure if you game Chris but if anyone else on the thread knows?

With satellite connections there is horrible delays of nearly a second. This LTE stuff is wireless (not satellite) and seems pretty decent (10-50ms delay).

editorsean

I'm not sure if it's just the photo - It looks like they don't have the antenna aimed high enough (appears a little below vertical), especially if the mast is at a significantly higher elevation than the house.

When I adjusted the external directional antenna for my Three connection, there was a fair difference in the maximum speed I could achieve between having the antenna vertical (going by the spirit level) and slightly elevated as the Three mast is at a higher elevation than our house.

On the other hand, that doesn't quite explain why the speed dropped so much compared to earlier, especially if there are few others on that mast.

irishchris

Hococop wrote: »

Yeah saw the map, can't zoom in so hard to see if I'm covered think I am, site survey take long and did it cost anything?

Last question ha, as far as gaming is concerned is there a delay, was always told there is a second or 2 delay with satellite broadband or is that just a lie? Not sure if you game Chris but if anyone else on the thread knows?

You pay 100 euro when reserving spot then if your mast is active I would say two weeks for survey. My mast wasn't active and I waited nine weeks! But wouldnt say that wait time is the norm

irishchris

Hococop wrote: »

Yeah saw the map, can't zoom in so hard to see if I'm covered think I am, site survey take long and did it cost anything?

Last question ha, as far as gaming is concerned is there a delay, was always told there is a second or 2 delay with satellite broadband or is that just a lie? Not sure if you game Chris but if anyone else on the thread knows?

That is the one thing I am very impressed with. Ping times average around 20ms around Ireland. Hadn't tried for while but put xbox on there and for once couldn't blame lag for losing lol very smooth and lag free connection

irishchris

editorsean wrote: »

I'm not sure if it's just the photo - It looks like they don't have the antenna aimed high enough (appears a little below vertical), especially if the mast is at a significantly higher elevation than the house.

When I adjusted the external directional antenna for my Three connection, there was a fair difference in the maximum speed I could achieve between having the antenna vertical (going by the spirit level) and slightly elevated as the Three mast is at a higher elevation than our house.

On the other hand, that doesn't quite explain why the speed dropped so much compared to earlier, especially if there are few others on that mast.

I honestly expected speed around the 70-80 mb/s that they have been pushing on Facebook and that others such as morgana are getting. Mainly because I am the only one off the mast. But even when the installer tested it was max 46ms. You could have a point as one of the installers who only recently joined imagine was tightening the antenna after I had been showed the speedtests. but whilst tightening the bolts it did definitely tilt more downwards whilst was talking to him. Didn't really remember that until you mentioned the angle. Cheers

Hococop

irishchris wrote: »

You pay 100 euro when reserving spot then if your mast is active I would say two weeks for survey. My mast wasn't active and I waited nine weeks! But wouldnt say that wait time is the norm

So I ring up, they say I am in their map area, pay 100 for them to survey the house,( 2 week before a call out) and does it take long eg an hour to inspect?

irishchris

Hococop wrote: »

So I ring up, they say I am in their map area, pay 100 for them to survey the house,( 2 week before a call out) and does it take long eg an hour to inspect?

They were able to tell me after about 15 mins that the signal was perfect then two hours to get the work done. But this was in heavy rain and bit of issue getting the phone line sorted

MrLucidLJ

irishchris wrote: »

Was with three prior to this. Their usage caps were my main reason for moving but taking some hit in speeds today with imagine. My main worry is if this is what speeds are like with me as the first customer of this mast what will they be like with 399 more users of this mast
Here is my most recent tests with my old setup

http://www.speedtest.net/my-result/a/2017512197
http://www.speedtest.net/my-result/a/1978541635

Three didn't remove their caps but had an offer on a 4G router where you get 250GB a month which is a bit limited but 4 times more then their best package at 60GB. RRP is €70 but if you sign up for 6 months you get it for €35 which is reasonable I think. And did they run initial speeds on your line before full installation. There was the other guy on here saying that they could only offer 15mbps and they couldn't install because they had to give at least 30mbps?

MrLucidLJ

irishchris wrote: »

I had a void area upstairs which I was going to go in and feed the cable through to router for them and holes predrilled for them too so would have used maybe 6 or 7 mins longer for install but installer wouldn't do it unfortunately as said too far for signal but from reading the specs online this evening it says can go up to 30 metres!

Did they leave you short on the install then and not do the best possible job they could have?

irishchris

MrLucidLJ wrote: »

Three didn't remove their caps but had an offer on a 4G router where you get 250GB a month which is a bit limited but 4 times more then their best package at 60GB. RRP is €70 but if you sign up for 6 months you get it for €35 which is reasonable I think. And did they run initial speeds on your line before full installation. There was the other guy on here saying that they could only offer 15mbps and they couldn't install because they had to give at least 30mbps?

Was on that 250gb plan and thought would try imagine as were ten euro cheaper and initial reports from people looked promising.
They temporarily placed it on a long pole leaning against my house and tested signal and speeds on their laptop in their van to check before proceeding with going ahead with the install.

MrLucidLJ

irishchris wrote: »

I honestly expected speed around the 70-80 mb/s that they have been pushing on Facebook and that others such as morgana are getting. Mainly because I am the only one off the mast. But even when the installer tested it was max 46ms. You could have a point as one of the installers who only recently joined imagine was tightening the antenna after I had been showed the speedtests. but whilst tightening the bolts it did definitely tilt more downwards whilst was talking to him. Didn't really remember that until you mentioned the angle. Cheers

Very good point about the antennas not being in a fully vertical position, but as you said and others have it seems a big drop off from only a few hours difference.

irishchris

MrLucidLJ wrote: »

Did they leave you short on the install then and not do the best possible job they could have?

To be honest not impressed at the way it was installed. Don't get me wrong the install of the antenna is very neat and non obtrusive looking and they were tidy internally also but really disappointed that as I built my house only few years back I future proofed and put cat 5 cabling before plastering and brought all the cables to a meeting point at my desk upstairs. Over the years this has always been the positioning for my routers from the early days of eircom to threes broadband. Unfortunately where they left the router is just useless for connecting around the house and the range of their wn600 router is very poor. If they were to come again I would insist on it being placed upstairs and shown if it actually did degrade the signal as I was told by the installer today

irishchris

MrLucidLJ wrote: »

Very good point about the antennas not being in a fully vertical position, but as you said and others have it seems a big drop off from only a few hours difference.

The speeds I was shown were before the other installer tighyened the antenna. Whilst tightening the antenna it definitely seemed to lower with each turn. Didn't test again until I got home at which point the speeds are very poor. Would be delighted if this was the only reason as would be simple for them to correct

MrLucidLJ

irishchris wrote: »

Was on that 250gb plan and thought would try imagine as were ten euro cheaper and initial reports from people looked promising.
They temporarily placed it on a long pole leaning against my house and tested signal and speeds on their laptop in their van to check before proceeding with going ahead with the install.

And what kind of speeds were you getting from that service. That seems a fair procedure they did to test the speeds I guess but dissapointing they are not up to scratch. I know someone on three who gets between 30-40mbps which is more then enough for their needs.

MrLucidLJ

irishchris wrote: »

To be honest not impressed at the way it was installed. Don't get me wrong the install of the antenna is very neat and non obtrusive looking and they were tidy internally also but really disappointed that as I built my house only few years back I future proofed and put cat 5 cabling before plastering and brought all the cables to a meeting point at my desk upstairs. Over the years this has always been the positioning for my routers from the early days of eircom to threes broadband. Unfortunately where they left the router is just useless for connecting around the house and the range of their wn600 router is very poor. If they were to come again I would insist on it being placed upstairs and shown if it actually did degrade the signal as I was told by the installer today

So the quality of the install with cables was fine but the positioning of the router is just letting you down. I saw others on here saying that you should invest in a better router with a wider range might resolve the problem perhaps?

irishchris

MrLucidLJ wrote: »

And what kind of speeds were you getting from that service. That seems a fair procedure they did to test the speeds I guess but dissapointing they are not up to scratch. I know someone on three who gets between 30-40mbps which is more then enough for their needs.

Speeds with three were between 55-75 mb/s. But this was after installing an external Antenna and investing in low loss heavy duty cable.
With three kids and herself using it in evening I would like to keep speeds as high as possible :-)

MrLucidLJ

irishchris wrote: »

The speeds I was shown were before the other installer tighyened the antenna. Whilst tightening the antenna it definitely seemed to lower with each turn. Didn't test again until I got home at which point the speeds are very poor. Would be delighted if this was the only reason as would be simple for them to correct

It could be a simple issue of just putting the antenna rods in the correct position to increase the speeds?

MrLucidLJ

irishchris wrote: »

Speeds with three were between 55-75 mb/s. But this was after installing an external Antenna and investing in low loss heavy duty cable.
With three kids and herself using it in evening I would like to keep speeds as high as possible :-)

And damn you were getting great speeds. Was the only reason you switched because of the 250GB cap especially with having a family of five? And you would get around 2.5 times more with Imagine. How much was the external antenna was it similar to the one Imagine provides?

irishchris

MrLucidLJ wrote: »

So the quality of the install with cables was fine but the positioning of the router is just letting you down. I saw others on here saying that you should invest in a better router with a wider range might resolve the problem perhaps?

I bridged the router to my tplink one this evening and whilst range better, speeds are still pretty poor. Unfortunately as their router supplies power to the antenna you have to have theirs always connected and add your own router after it

irishchris

MrLucidLJ wrote: »

And damn you were getting great speeds. Was the only reason you switched because of the 250GB cap especially with having a family of five? And you would get around 2.5 times more with Imagine. How much was the external antenna was it similar to the one Imagine provides?

Speeds were excellent with three but primary reason was to get larger allowance and not be hit with charge for going over. External Antenna was 70 euro from Germany. Made big difference. Similar to the imagine one but different connections - 2 n type connections as opposed to one ethernet connection from the imagine antenna

irishchris

MrLucidLJ wrote: »

It could be a simple issue of just putting the antenna rods in the correct position to increase the speeds?

Hopefully, will give them call tomorrow in relation to it and see can I get installer back out