Imagine LTE Rural Broadband

KildareP

SkepticQuark wrote: »

We aren't talking about "normal times" here though, people *will* be going over allowances right now and throttling them to unusable speeds is counterproductive. Again if the far more greedy US providers are slightly increasing allowances even by 10GB we should be telling our ISPs to do the same. 0 problem being throttled to the speeds I was throttled to during a normal month because I wouldn't use that much in the first place, I do have a problem if you had read my post in the first place rather than picking out a piece of it, with ISPs still strictly enforcing limits when they've been 1) given more radio spectrum from Comreg for ****ing free and 2) a massive increase in people having to work from home and often having to use mobile data because their home networks aren't sufficient during peak times to even video call.

If you're privileged enough to buy more network options you're not grounded in the real world where people are stuck with either their home connection or their data. This is a reality most people face not just in Ireland but also in the US which is why major carriers there slightly upped allowances just to account for the extra usage without making it impossible for people to work during peak times because they were being throttled.

As for GoMo speeds being better, they're more consistent but I would say they're slower overall, the consistency in ping and slightly better upload is the only reason I'll switch to it, it's often not much better in terms of download for me but obviously this is down to geographical location etc. When Imagine becomes unusable most days of the week during peak times it's usually because I can't keep connection to a call without seeing pings of 1000ms to EU servers.

You're missing the point.
Imagine are rubbish because they oversold their network.
GoMo are much better because they manage their network.
Yet you blame GoMo for doing so!

If they allowed themselves to be the fallback to Imagine, they'd quickly end up in the same position as Imagine are. Why would anyone bother with Imagine at all? €10 for the same service you pay Imagine €60 for.

Three have truly unlimited data for duration of Covid-19 for €10 more a month if you like - unsurprisingly their network in unusable for me the last week or so. From typical 40-80Mb during evenings to 0.1-2Mb all this week.

Or 750GB for €30/month on Eir mobile broadband - so exact same network as GoMo.

And let's not use the US as a reference - 70Mb on a speedtest but netflix or youtube capped at 1.5Mb or less.

TopTec

Quin_Dub wrote: »

My problem continues to be upload speeds.

They also told me that they'd only accept speedtest results from their own test portal

http://perf.imagine.ie/

Why am I not surprised that at 8.58 am, the Imagine speedtest gives me 111mbps down and 6.8 up whilst Ookla, seconds afterwards, gives me 22mbps down and 6.45 up. 9am on the Ballina mast!

TT

SkepticQuark

KildareP wrote: »

You're missing the point.
Imagine are rubbish because they oversold their network.
GoMo are much better because they manage their network.
Yet you blame GoMo for doing so!

If they allowed themselves to be the fallback to Imagine, they'd quickly end up in the same position as Imagine are. Why would anyone bother with Imagine at all? €10 for the same service you pay Imagine €60 for.

Three have truly unlimited data for duration of Covid-19 for €10 more a month if you like - unsurprisingly their network in unusable for me the last week or so. From typical 40-80Mb during evenings to 0.1-2Mb all this week.

Or 750GB for €30/month on Eir mobile broadband - so exact same network as GoMo.

And let's not use the US as a reference - 70Mb on a speedtest but netflix or youtube capped at 1.5Mb or less.

Nowhere have I said that GoMo should have the same data caps as Imagine or Three both of which have far more customers than they can feasibly support even before the virus. But sure keep misreading my point.

KildareP

SkepticQuark wrote: »

Nowhere have I said that GoMo should have the same data caps as Imagine or Three both of which have far more customers than they can feasibly support even before the virus. But sure keep misreading my point.

What is your point?!
How much data should GoMo give you before they slow you down?

Marlow

KildareP wrote: »

What is your point?!
How much data should GoMo give you before they slow you down?

Asking that is pointless. One buys a product. If you don't read the fine print, you are a fool. If you read it, you know the limits.

GoMo is a subsidiary and Eir and you can get a larger cap if you buy from them on the exact same network ... at a different price point of course. So there is no argument to be had.

If you don't educate yourself about the product and the company you buy it of, you're a bigger fool.

Chancers will always be chancers. And then there is the entitlement issue in Ireland. But that is another story. It's the same thing about not even considering having a backup.

/M

SkepticQuark

KildareP wrote: »

What is your point?!
How much data should GoMo give you before they slow you down?

During this lockdown all the FUPs should be upped *modestly* (again I used a 10GB example but I think in a case like Imagine if you tweaked it to try and push people to bandwidth usage off peak (game updates etc. that are massive these days) it would help too), if they have to throttle to still usable but slower speeds peak times there's 0 problems with that because you've got to manage bandwidth somehow. TBH I think if you were to temporarily offer bandwidth cap relaxations off peak that would be better cause you shift people doing larger downloads to later during the night etc. These aren't usual times bandwidth wise and the fact everyone seems to be still operating under that fact (Marlow) is pretty ****ing silly really. You can't leverage increased caps in return for more money right now because like I said earlier and Marlow ****ing classically ignored to continue to claim people are just being "entitled", not everyone can afford 3 ****ing network options on top of the ones they normally use like himself, I'm sure he has a great job to pay for that but not everyone has that kind of extra money right now.

SkepticQuark

Marlow wrote: »

Asking that is pointless. One buys a product. If you don't read the fine print, you are a fool. If you read it, you know the limits.

GoMo is a subsidiary and Eir and you can get a larger cap if you buy from them on the exact same network ... at a different price point of course. So there is no argument to be had.

If you don't educate yourself about the product and the company you buy it of, you're a bigger fool.

Chancers will always be chancers. And then there is the entitlement issue in Ireland. But that is another story. It's the same thing about not even considering having a backup.

/M

Point 6.4 of their Terms of Service. Please Marlow since you're being a bit of a prick now, point me to where it *specifically* says what restrictions to service apply after exceeding usage and how they translate to an unusable service after exceeding fair usage. Please also explain again how you believe that people can simply buy *more* network options so freely without any monetary concerns and explain how that can then apply to a time when bandwidth demands are far more higher now than they'd normally be.

Like seriously it'd be helpful if you ****ing read posts but you seem to just swan in to be this know it all and act like everyone else is just "entitled" to be complaining about anything? **** off.

roman0red

thinking about switching to Imagine....Im in the Boyle area in Roscommon ...too far from exchange for eFibre unfortunately. I do have ADSL with Eir now but only getting 2.3mb upload....

Lots of negative comments on here but as someone pointed out ...no one is going to come on and sing their praises....

Id like to try them out for a trial period but they don't offer that ...all or nothing :-(

SkepticQuark

roman0red wrote: »

thinking about switching to Imagine....Im in the Boyle area in Roscommon ...too far from exchange for eFibre unfortunately. I do have ADSL with Eir now but only getting 2.3mb upload....

Lots of negative comments on here but as someone pointed out ...no one is going to come on and sing their praises....

Id like to try them out for a trial period but they don't offer that ...all or nothing :-(

There was a period of grace when we signed up which I'd imagine still is the case. I'd ask about it to just make sure. They shouldn't connect you if you can't in theory connect from your location.

I wouldn't count on getting better than 2.3mbps upload though atm from them as they've definitely been dropping the upload speeds over time. Maybe at 3~4am you'd get over 3mbps in my case (different mast though). Really depends on a lot of variables though that.

KildareP

SkepticQuark wrote: »

During this lockdown all the FUPs should be upped *modestly* (again I used a 10GB example but I think in a case like Imagine if you tweaked it to try and push people to bandwidth usage off peak (game updates etc. that are massive these days) it would help too), if they have to throttle to still usable but slower speeds peak times there's 0 problems with that because you've got to manage bandwidth somehow. TBH I think if you were to temporarily offer bandwidth cap relaxations off peak that would be better cause you shift people doing larger downloads to later during the night etc. These aren't usual times bandwidth wise and the fact everyone seems to be still operating under that fact (Marlow) is pretty ****ing silly really. You can't leverage increased caps in return for more money right now because like I said earlier and Marlow ****ing classically ignored to continue to claim people are just being "entitled", not everyone can afford 3 ****ing network options on top of the ones they normally use like himself, I'm sure he has a great job to pay for that but not everyone has that kind of extra money right now.

Look - you're paying €10 (or €13) for a product primarily aimed as a mobile phone service.

It's not a mobile broadband product.

What's another 10GB or 20GB going to do really if you struggle with 80GB?

You need to be having a go at Imagine for their network being a joke.

Not GoMo, for not being able to give you what Imagine should be giving you in the first place, and on a mobile phone service costing 1/6th of the price.

If there are 500 Imagine users in your area who cottoned on to using GoMo as their backup internet service then the Eir cell is going to be in exactly the same shape as Imagine's is. Another 10GB to you is 5TB of additional data to GoMo across the month, on top of the 40TB that the 500 can get through before being throttled.

But let's carry through the argument - define a usable throttled speed?
1Mb? 500Mb across 500 people, that could be more than the backhaul for the cell.
2Mb? 1Gb across 500 people could be the backhaul for the entire tower.
5Mb? 2.5Gb across 500 people could be the backhaul for an entire group of tower clusters.

No-one is suggesting an ordinary punter needs 3 connections - Marlow does due to his job. I have GoMo as a backup to my main connection - but it's so I have enough bandwidth to run telemetry and a remote desktop connection if my main goes down.

I certainly don't expect to be able to continue to watch Netflix 4K through it for the month and I definitely won't be slating GoMo for only offering 80GB if my main provider cheaps out on their network.

Gonzo

roman0red wrote: »

thinking about switching to Imagine....Im in the Boyle area in Roscommon ...too far from exchange for eFibre unfortunately. I do have ADSL with Eir now but only getting 2.3mb upload....

Lots of negative comments on here but as someone pointed out ...no one is going to come on and sing their praises....

Id like to try them out for a trial period but they don't offer that ...all or nothing :-(

you can't be on ADSL if your getting 2.3 upload? Max upload speed on ADSL2+ is usually less than 2meg, most only get around 1meg. What are you download speeds, they must be close to 24 megs?

If so i'd stick with the ADSL over Imagine as it's a far more reliable service once your getting close to maximum speeds from the exchange.

verizon

Just unusable since about 6pm yesterday in the north Kilkenny area.

roman0red

Gonzo wrote: »

you can't be on ADSL if your getting 2.3 upload? Max upload speed on ADSL2+ is usually less than 2meg, most only get around 1meg. What are you download speeds, they must be close to 24 megs?

If so i'd stick with the ADSL over Imagine as it's a far more reliable service once your getting close to maximum speeds from the exchange.

Thanks for the reply ...it may not be ADSL...I am getting ~2.3MB download and about ~400K upload ...constant ….if I can get on average ~15MB with Imagine then I might give them a try although I do need it to be reliable as I need it for work
Thanks

Quin_Dub

Quin_Dub wrote: »

My problem continues to be upload speeds.

Download is pretty variable , which I can understand to an extent given the extra volume of traffic , but Upload is definitely broken in some way.

Whether I'm getting 80/90Mbps or 5Mbps Download , my upload never waivers from between 0.4Mbps and 0.6Mbps

It's been like that for about 3 weeks solid now.

Multiple calls/chats with Tech Support all initially trying to fob it off as "higher traffic" but yesterday (via Chat) got one to actually accept that something was wrong with the upload, but they told me that they were "trying to connect to my router" and then silence and the chat eventually timed out.

They also told me that they'd only accept speedtest results from their own test portal

http://perf.imagine.ie/

Spent over 90 minutes with Support via chat on Friday afternoon - All the while with them telling me that they could see nothing wrong with any of my settings and that there was nothing wrong on their end.

The chat session then suddenly ended without notice after the rep told him he was "on to Level 2 support".

However , in coincidental and completely unrelated news, shortly afterwards my Upload speeds seem to have fixed themselves and I'm now getting ~4Mbps upload.

Tommy Lagahan

roman0red wrote: »

Thanks for the reply ...it may not be ADSL...I am getting ~2.3MB download and about ~400K upload ...constant ….if I can get on average ~15MB with Imagine then I might give them a try although I do need it to be reliable as I need it for work
Thanks

IMO you'd be mad to switch from a consistent 24Mbit for transient "maybe possibly" 130Mbit. I'd love a 24Mbit landline. Imagine have been holding up for me in the speed department but you dont have to read too many pages of this thread to see that its a very mixed bag. I'm constantly waiting on this to fall apart, as my last 2 WISPs did after they overloaded their networks with contention. If you need more upload for work just use a pay as you go 3 sim as they've temporarily removed the fair usage cap on their all-you-can-eat data.

Don't forget either that the latency on landline is usually rock solid with no jitter (provided you're wired to the router). 4G for me has at least 14ms of jitter and significantly higher averages.

tuxy

Tommy Lagahan wrote: »

IMO you'd be mad to switch from a consistent 24Mbit for transient "maybe possibly" 130Mbit.

I think he means his speed is 2.3Mb/s not 2.3MB/s

Tommy Lagahan

tuxy wrote: »

I think he means his speed is 2.3Mb/s not 2.3MB/s

Ah, in that case then yeah Imagine is more likely to be better then. The Mb/MB distinction is a fecker

user1842

KN guy came out to my parents house to try to connect an Open Eir ADSL line (Imagine has been totally unusable for my parents for the past two weeks, no upload speed).

The KN guy told my Dad that he could not even install an ASDL connection (even though 4 years ago my parents had a 3Mbit ADSL connection). He said that no upgrades had been done to the Open Eir network in the area since the 1980s, there are four poles physical broken and that a portion of underground line is under water. He is not aware of any plans to fix this (directly contradicting what a Eir person in a van told my Dad :rolleyes:).

My parents have now no usable broadband. Maybe in five years they might be able to get the NBP . What a f#*king sad state of affairs.

And they live 1km outside a big west of Ireland town.

Mortelaro

user1842 wrote: »

KN guy came out to my parents house to try to connect an Open Eir ADSL line (Imagine has been totally unusable for my parents for the past two weeks, no upload speed).

The KN guy told my Dad that he could not even install an ASDL connection (even though 4 years ago my parents had a 3Mbit ADSL connection). He said that no upgrades had been done to the Open Eir network in the area since the 1980s, there are four poles physical broken and that a portion of underground line is under water. He is not aware of any plans to fix this (directly contradicting what a Eir person in a van told my Dad :rolleyes:).

My parents have now no usable broadband. Maybe in five years they might be able to get the NBP . What a f#*king sad state of affairs.

And they live 1km outside a big west of Ireland town.

1km is within range of a point to point system

TopTec

Feel for you 1842

The main reason I jumped ship from Eircom to Imagine was after the 16th 'engineer' to visit my place in 5 months admitted that my "up to 8meg BB" could only supply .5 at best due entirely to the local village exchange receiving a low signal from Ballina 8k's away which then went 3k's to me along copper, a lot of it on the ground, wrapped around trees, over broken poles and scores of cut and join repairs. There are no plans for an upgrade.

Then they had the neck to raise the prices to 70 euro a month, but gave me mandatory 'Free' Eir Sport!

My neighbour has Eir on the same network as I did and suffers the same problems even now 3 years later.

Never Eirgain is my motto!

TT

bennyineire

Mortelaro wrote: »

1km is within range of a point to point system

1KM from a town is different that 1KM to and exchange or distribution point/cabinet

Mortelaro

bennyineire wrote: »

1KM from a town is different that 1KM to and exchange or distribution point/cabinet

I'm talking about a point to point system sharing someone else's fibre by radio link
The gear costs less than a cheap smartphone if you know someone who will share
You could offer to pay their broadband bill

bennyineire

Mortelaro wrote: »

I'm talking about a point to point system sharing someone else's fibre by radio link
The gear costs less than a cheap smartphone if you know someone who will share
You could offer to pay their broadband bill

Any links for these cheap point to point systems ?

listermint

user1842 wrote: »

KN guy came out to my parents house to try to connect an Open Eir ADSL line (Imagine has been totally unusable for my parents for the past two weeks, no upload speed).

The KN guy told my Dad that he could not even install an ASDL connection (even though 4 years ago my parents had a 3Mbit ADSL connection). He said that no upgrades had been done to the Open Eir network in the area since the 1980s, there are four poles physical broken and that a portion of underground line is under water. He is not aware of any plans to fix this (directly contradicting what a Eir person in a van told my Dad :rolleyes:).

My parents have now no usable broadband. Maybe in five years they might be able to get the NBP . What a f#*king sad state of affairs.

And they live 1km outside a big west of Ireland town.

Genuine question, would digging a trench with conduit to the 'gate pole' have solved their install problem. Reason i ask is this may be required for their NBP connection when it comes in future if their underground connection is compromised.

If they had someone trench it now they may get that line in right away to bridge the gap between now and NBP installations

user1842

listermint wrote: »

Genuine question, would digging a trench with conduit to the 'gate pole' have solved their install problem. Reason i ask is this may be required for their NBP connection when it comes in future if their underground connection is compromised.

If they had someone trench it now they may get that line in right away to bridge the gap between now and NBP installations

Its not a trench issue as the house is feed directly via a pole. According to the KN guy the whole 1km of line feeding the cluster of houses is not capable of ADSL.

user1842

Mortelaro wrote: »

I'm talking about a point to point system sharing someone else's fibre by radio link
The gear costs less than a cheap smartphone if you know someone who will share
You could offer to pay their broadband bill

Honestly if I lived in the area I would do my best to set this up for them but for an elderly couple they would not know where to start on this. Also this setup may be difficult and they live beside a forest with a hill behind them (hence the poor mobile phone coverage also).

Current speed from Imagine is 0.17Mbps down and 0.005Mbps up.

dam099

user1842 wrote: »

Honestly if I lived in the area I would do my best to set this up for them but for an elderly couple they would not know where to start on this. Also this setup may be difficult and they live beside a forest with a hill behind them (hence the poor mobile phone coverage also).

Current speed from Imagine is 0.17Mbps down and 0.005Mbps up.

A forest and hill probably make it challenging but have you tried all 3 mobile networks? Masts might not all be in the same direction.

If you get even a half decent signal anywhere around the outside of the house from any of them then a 3/4G router with an external antenna (possibly raised on a pole to clear obstructions) might be a possibility.

Mortelaro

user1842 wrote: »

Honestly if I lived in the area I would do my best to set this up for them but for an elderly couple they would not know where to start on this. Also this setup may be difficult and they live beside a forest with a hill behind them (hence the poor mobile phone coverage also).

Current speed from Imagine is 0.17Mbps down and 0.005Mbps up.

I looked into it a few years ago
You'd just need a line of sight to someone with Ftth, in range,people do it up to 5kms I think

user1842

Mortelaro wrote: »

I looked into it a few years ago
You'd just need a line of sight to someone with Ftth, in range,people do it up to 5kms I think

Unfortunately there is zero line of sight to an FTTH premises.

user1842

dam099 wrote: »

A forest and hill probably make it challenging but have you tried all 3 mobile networks? Masts might not all be in the same direction.

If you get even a half decent signal anywhere around the outside of the house from any of them then a 3/4G router with an external antenna (possibly raised on a pole to clear obstructions) might be a possibility.

There is no 4G signal at all from any network. Three and Vodafone do have some 3G coverage but Vodafone is sold out of their mobile routers. Currently investigating Three.