Imagine LTE Rural Broadband

deadl0ck

Nalz wrote: »

Aye... No here's 10 euro off your next bill. Words are cheap, especially automated messages!

In fairness - even if it was down for 6 hours, which is quarter of a day, and it costs 60 Per month you'd only be due back 50c

Nalz

deadl0ck wrote: »

In fairness - even if it was down for 6 hours, which is quarter of a day, and it costs 60 Per month you'd only be due back 50c

Nothing to be said about what you're doing when it goes down, or what time it goes down at then? In fairness.

Nalz

Apologies third post in a row, but I've noticed something strange since yesterday. My connection from tp link to TV drops, says no connection from ethernet.

Wired directly and WiFi is fine though.

I tested different devices, different cables etc and same result.

Eventually I just unplugged the router and back in again and it picked it up.

This has happened three times today, maybe my to links are on the blink.

richardw001

Tommy Lagahan wrote: »

If you go over the limit more than twice they permanently limit you yeah. Typical WISP behaviour.

You are talking about the 1TB limit right ?

Tommy Lagahan

Yeah the 1TB limit. Basically nothing with a house full of kids stuck at home.
I hit 800GB regularily alone, granted 200GB of that is in off peak steam updates usually.
One of the kids hit "update all" instead of just updating 1 game on the Xbox and that was the end of it.

Nalz

Tommy Lagahan wrote: »

Yeah the 1TB limit. Basically nothing with a house full of kids stuck at home.
I hit 800GB regularily alone, granted 200GB of that is in off peak steam updates usually.
One of the kids hit "update all" instead of just updating 1 game on the Xbox and that was the end of it.

Ah surely they can let him off, given the circumstances.

Dero

Nalz wrote: »

Ah surely they can let him off, given the circumstances.

Not a hope. I went through the same thing with them last April/May. They were adamant that the 1mb limit was permanent and irrevocable.

In my case they only relented when I showed that they were mis-calculating my usage (adding ~10GB per day). That (and a Comreg complaint) got them to reverse it.

They were/are the the most horrible company I have ever dealt with. Not an ounce of decency or humanity given the circumstances (first lockdown; everybody at home all of a sudden).

richardw001

Dero wrote: »

Not a hope. I went through the same thing with them last April/May. They were adamant that the 1mb limit was permanent and irrevocable.

In my case they only relented when I showed that they were mis-calculating my usage (adding ~10GB per day). That (and a Comreg complaint) got them to reverse it.

They were/are the the most horrible company I have ever dealt with. Not an ounce of decency or humanity given the circumstances (first lockdown; everybody at home all of a sudden).

So sorry to harp on about it - but that 1TB is offpeak + peak usage? (Reason I ask is I came within 10 Gbs of it last night - as you say not hard with school MS teams video streams and wfh)

Quin_Dub

richardw001 wrote: »

So sorry to harp on about it - but that 1TB is offpeak + peak usage? (Reason I ask is I came within 10 Gbs of it last night - as you say not hard with school MS teams video streams and wfh)

It's Peak only..

My combined usage for February was ~1300GB , 700 Peak and 600 Off-Peak

Gav_96

I got a call from Imagine today offering upto 150mb fixed wireless as they are constructing a new mast in my area with half price installation if I sign up before they are finished constructing apparently.

I'm currently with vodafone for another month on 7mb profile, I use around 500gb max a month at the moment but with faster speeds I don't think I would hit much more as the pc is on most of the time anyway.

would you reckon my best course of action would be to go to imagine until NBI upgrades my area? (not til 2023+)

richardw001

GavoTrav wrote: »

I got a call from Imagine today offering upto 150mb fixed wireless as they are constructing a new mast in my area with half price installation if I sign up before they are finished constructing apparently.

I'm currently with vodafone for another month on 7mb profile, I use around 500gb max a month at the moment but with faster speeds I don't think I would hit much more as the pc is on most of the time anyway.

would you reckon my best course of action would be to go to imagine until NBI upgrades my area? (not til 2023+)

I have mixed feelings about them - we moved to them a couple of years back.
Firstly at the moment - we find the service fast during the day (> 40Mbps) - but slow in the evening (can go down the 1-2 Mbps).

The things to consider - If you get a smart TV (or 2) then 1TB isnt as huge as you would think - also the cost is quite expensive for what it is (approx 60 euro a month). They don't guarantee a minimum speed btw so buyer beware :-)

If I were only using a pc - for internet access I would seriously consider just a mobile hotspot - with a three or vodafone unlimited data sim.

Overall - Imagine are not the worst provider out there by a long shot - esp for people stuck in intervention areas (like us) - but they are expensive - and don't expect 140Mbps broadband esp in the evenings

daraghwal

GavoTrav wrote: »

I got a call from Imagine today offering upto 150mb fixed wireless as they are constructing a new mast in my area with half price installation if I sign up before they are finished constructing apparently.

I'm currently with vodafone for another month on 7mb profile, I use around 500gb max a month at the moment but with faster speeds I don't think I would hit much more as the pc is on most of the time anyway.

would you reckon my best course of action would be to go to imagine until NBI upgrades my area? (not til 2023+)

If you're getting 7mb on vodafone without having full signal with them a better option would be to get a 4G router and antenna and an unlimited data sim. I did this for someone in a remote area that had no coverage at all without the antenna and this is the result. The speed fluctuates a lot due to usage but always stayed high enough for video streaming etc.

https://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showpost.php?p=114688084&postcount=309

Tommy Lagahan

daraghwal wrote: »

If you're getting 7mb on vodafone without having full signal with them a better option would be to get a 4G router and antenna and an unlimited data sim. I did this for someone in a remote area that had no coverage at all without the antenna and this is the result. The speed fluctuates a lot due to usage but always stayed high enough for video streaming etc.

https://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showpost.php?p=114688084&postcount=309

I ran a similar setup on Three for a long time. 4G is too contended locally unfortunately but locking the modem to 3G netted a fairly consistent 30-40Mbit because most people leave their gear on default settings leaving 3G mostly uncontended. I used a pair of these from amazon:
https://poynting.tech/antennas/lpda-92/

I might have to hook up the antennas over at the brothers house now while hes stuck on 1Mbit imagine.

The one thing I will say about imagine compared to three is that it seems to have much less buffer bloat and a lower latency (in my low contention area), probably due to the fiber to the mast?

Also anybody who got their imagine gemtek router bridged, how did you go about contacting imagine to get it done; just the normal support line?

Quin_Dub

Tommy Lagahan wrote: »

I ran a similar setup on Three for a long time. 4G is too contended locally unfortunately but locking the modem to 3G netted a fairly consistent 30-40Mbit because most people leave their gear on default settings leaving 3G mostly uncontended. I used a pair of these from amazon:
https://poynting.tech/antennas/lpda-92/

I might have to hook up the antennas over at the brothers house now while hes stuck on 1Mbit imagine.

The one thing I will say about imagine compared to three is that it seems to have much less buffer bloat and a lower latency (in my low contention area), probably due to the fiber to the mast?

Also anybody who got their imagine gemtek router bridged, how did you go about contacting imagine to get it done; just the normal support line?

I have mine done , although I did need to get a newer version of the router as the model I had didn't support Bridge mode.

You just call them and ask - They got me to send them an email saying the following

To whom it may concern I wish to request that my modem be set to Bridge mode so that I may use my own Router equipment.

I recognise and accept any security related risks that may occur as a result of this change.

My Account number is XXXXXXXXXXX

If you need a new router , then it's a €100 engineer charge and they replace the router and the external kit.

Tommy Lagahan

Quin_Dub wrote: »

I have mine done , although I did need to get a newer version of the router as the model I had didn't support Bridge mode.

You just call them and ask - They got me to send them an email saying the following

If you need a new router , then it's a €100 engineer charge and they replace the router and the external kit.

Cheers, I must get on to them. Running out of lan ports on my RT-N56u thats in access point mode and figured if I'm going to upgrade that I might as well try getting the new router into bridge mode.

I only got Imagine in late 2019 there so hopefully the modem I have is the latest one with bridge mode.

joujoujou

Tommy Lagahan wrote: »

[...] Running out of lan ports on my RT-N56u [...]

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B07PWHGQSS/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Got one myself a month ago, less than 30 euro delivered, no additional VAT or other charges, works a treat!

Tommy Lagahan wrote: »

[...] hopefully the modem I have is the latest one with bridge mode.

Excuse me my ignorance, but what do you need the bridge mode for?

Tommy Lagahan

joujoujou wrote: »

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B07PWHGQSS/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Got one myself a month ago, less than 30 euro delivered, no additional VAT or other charges, works a treat!

Excuse me my ignorance, but what do you need the bridge mode for?

Cheers, I'll need something with wifi though.


I'm basically already using the asus router for everything, dont use the wifi and only use 1 port on the imagine router to connect the 2 routers. Might as well cut out the middle man. Plus better port forwarding etc on your own router.

Edit: actually did you run into any issues ordering off amazon uk? Havent used it since brexit kicked in. Took a week for stuff to come from caseking vs scan which was always 2 days -_-

Gav_96

richardw001 wrote: »

I have mixed feelings about them - we moved to them a couple of years back.
Firstly at the moment - we find the service fast during the day (> 40Mbps) - but slow in the evening (can go down the 1-2 Mbps).

The things to consider - If you get a smart TV (or 2) then 1TB isnt as huge as you would think - also the cost is quite expensive for what it is (approx 60 euro a month). They don't guarantee a minimum speed btw so buyer beware :-)

If I were only using a pc - for internet access I would seriously consider just a mobile hotspot - with a three or vodafone unlimited data sim.

Overall - Imagine are not the worst provider out there by a long shot - esp for people stuck in intervention areas (like us) - but they are expensive - and don't expect 140Mbps broadband esp in the evenings

I think as most of my usage will be from 8pm - 5am offpeak will help me pretty good? I have vodafone ADSL at the moment on the 7mb profile no chance of going higher (even though I was on 14mb profile before vodafone changed it and said it was locked they couldn't put it back)

I do plan to limit the usage, my housemate uses his hotspot from 48 (does him about 20 days of the month) The rest would be me, and I do stream things but have the option to use low quality/ turn off autoplay :pac:

daraghwal wrote: »

If you're getting 7mb on vodafone without having full signal with them a better option would be to get a 4G router and antenna and an unlimited data sim. I did this for someone in a remote area that had no coverage at all without the antenna and this is the result. The speed fluctuates a lot due to usage but always stayed high enough for video streaming etc.

https://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showpost.php?p=114688084&postcount=309

I get around 20 to 70 down on the hotspot with 48, so three does have decent signal here but it does drop off almost completely in the evenings.

My whole area is mostly covered by siro and eir so I think the contention with Imagine should be low. I assume that's why we are so far back on the NBI list as most of the area is already connected well and its a new mast(I assume after the dates for NBI were updated their plans went ahead?).

joujoujou

Tommy Lagahan wrote: »

[...]
I'm basically already using the asus router for everything, dont use the wifi and only use 1 port on the imagine router to connect the 2 routers. Might as well cut out the middle man. Plus better port forwarding etc on your own router.

Same here. Have my own router set in cascade with Imagine one (LAN-WAN), proper set up would have no issues with port forwarding etc.

Tommy Lagahan wrote: »

Edit: actually did you run into any issues ordering off amazon uk? Havent used it since brexit kicked in. Took a week for stuff to come from caseking vs scan which was always 2 days -_-

That was the one and only purchase I made on Amazon since brexit day. Went quickly and smoothly.

Happy_Harry

Just wondering if anyone can share experience of cancelling ?

I have sent them an email yesterday, basically stating I am terminating, this is my 30 days notice so I expect the agreement to cease at 4 April- and therefore I expect to see very little in terms of April invoice. And they should let me know how/when they collect the gear.

Obviously that email went unanswered today. I have no intention of further chasing them as their T&Cs says cancellation in written form.
What should I expect - will it be a case where they ignore and I end up cancelling Direct Debit (yes I actually have DD on my bank account, no on my card)

Just for the record- I am cancelling not because of very bad service. It is just Eir Mobile broadband has worked out more stable for me the last 9 months with consistent low pings. I am taking an additional subscription at 30 quid a month and cancel Imagine at 60 per month.
With Eir you also have full control of the router/modem and they (seem to) have no silly throttling policy that you need to have a maths degree for to understand. In 9 months not throttled once and definitely have gone over 20GB a day for sure.

If the Eir service degrades over time, I think I may be back as there is no alternative - at least not for me until 2024 or so.

rodge123

Happy_Harry wrote: »

Just wondering if anyone can share experience of cancelling ?

I have sent them an email yesterday, basically stating I am terminating, this is my 30 days notice so I expect the agreement to cease at 4 April- and therefore I expect to see very little in terms of April invoice. And they should let me know how/when they collect the gear.

Obviously that email went unanswered today. I have no intention of further chasing them as their T&Cs says cancellation in written form.
What should I expect - will it be a case where they ignore and I end up cancelling Direct Debit (yes I actually have DD on my bank account, no on my card)

Just for the record- I am cancelling not because of very bad service. It is just Eir Mobile broadband has worked out more stable for me the last 9 months with consistent low pings. I am taking an additional subscription at 30 quid a month and cancel Imagine at 60 per month.
With Eir you also have full control of the router/modem and they (seem to) have no silly throttling policy that you need to have a maths degree for to understand. In 9 months not throttled once and definitely have gone over 20GB a day for sure.

If the Eir service degrades over time, I think I may be back as there is no alternative - at least not for me until 2024 or so.

If you sent it to one of their customer care or support emails then I’d say chances of your email been read are slim.
Didn’t respond to a single email from me over space of a month.
When I created a case with comreg they responded alright!

When my day to cancel comes (NBP) I’ll be 100% just cancelling my DD, wouldn’t trust them at all to cancel it.

Quin_Dub

It seems that the National Broadband site has had an update.

The Rollout plan pages are much more detailed and it seems that a lot more sites have been added to the details.

If you haven't checked it recently , probably worth another look.

I'm still ~18 months away from getting it according to the site (June-Dec 2022 Target) but I wasn't even listed last week , let alone considered as "Survey underway".

Make sure to check the "townlands" section , as the area I'm actually listed under is not an area I would have connected my address to particularly - If it's near you (even if not in your county) click through and double check.

Tommy Lagahan

My townland still isnt listed They have finally listed Letterkenny in there though, they announced surveying work up that direction back in october. Id say the initial work that Eir did for their own FTTH rollout could be actually slowing NBI down lol. Good amount of houses near me got it but they stopped at the end of our road.

Called Imagine today to get bridge mode set up (new router arrived), got the same instruction to send them an email about it. Just sent on the same one as yours with my account number in it.
Did you send it to support@imagine.ie aye?
I asked if I'd be getting the credentials for the modem but they said no that they'd set it up.
Sitting twiddling me thumbs waiting for them with the router setup page open on the other machine lol.

Gav_96

rodge123 wrote: »

If you sent it to one of their customer care or support emails then I’d say chances of your email been read are slim.
Didn’t respond to a single email from me over space of a month.
When I created a case with comreg they responded alright!

When my day to cancel comes (NBP) I’ll be 100% just cancelling my DD, wouldn’t trust them at all to cancel it.

I asked when they gave me a call last week and they said to me €100 euro cancellation fee if in contract.

Quin_Dub wrote: »

It seems that the National Broadband site has had an update.

The Rollout plan pages are much more detailed and it seems that a lot more sites have been added to the details.

If you haven't checked it recently , probably worth another look.

I'm still ~18 months away from getting it according to the site (June-Dec 2022 Target) but I wasn't even listed last week , let alone considered as "Survey underway".

Make sure to check the "townlands" section , as the area I'm actually listed under is not an area I would have connected my address to particularly - If it's near you (even if not in your county) click through and double check.

I've been checking it frequently but its good news to see its updating, I would love to know a rough estimate of a date however far away but they will say nothing :rolleyes:

motley

Happy_Harry wrote:

Just for the record- I am cancelling not because of very bad service. It is just Eir Mobile broadband has worked out more stable for me the last 9 months with consistent low pings. I am taking an additional subscription at 30 quid a month and cancel Imagine at 60 per month. With Eir you also have full control of the router/modem and they (seem to) have no silly throttling policy that you need to have a maths degree for to understand. In 9 months not throttled once and definitely have gone over 20GB a day for sure.

Happy_Harry wrote:

Just wondering if anyone can share experience of cancelling ?

I cancelled a few weeks ago. Why not just phone them? I did and it was arranged over the phone in mid-January with 40 days notice. They took DD for the whole month of February but am getting refund for the two weeks of the month wasn't using Imagine. BTW I was out of contract.

motley

motley wrote:

Leaving Imagine next month for Lighnet after being with them for over 3 years in east Galway.

motley wrote:

First two years had no issues but the last year especially the last three months, it has gotten very bad.

motley wrote:

Bad download speeds, connection time outs. Sometimes it just randomly drops, sometimes it shows full strength wifi but pages won't load. The tech support are good but you're waiting to talk to them for over an hour sometimes. I suspect adding more connections to towers has really affected our own connection. There are only two towers in my area and 1 is blocked by hills. An engineer came out to look at what could be done and he said my only option was to try cut trees down in hedge to get a better line of sight for signal.

motley wrote:

Hopefully Lighnet will be better and at least that will be one less connection on a tower for others.

Said I would share an update after leaving Imagine for Lightnet in February so here it is.

Download speeds are not as good with Lightnet. Average 18-20 mbps with Imagine and 8-10 mbps with Lightnet but wouldn't notice much fona difference.

Big difference in upload speeds. About 1 mbps with Imagine vs 8 mbps with Lightnet. Makes the difference working from home and for video calls. Also ping is much better with Lightnet.

Plus is I can edit and access the router unlike with Imagine. The only difference with router is the WiFi signal is much stronger with the Imagine router. There are no drop-outs with signal at all which was common with Imagine. Overall happy to have made the move. I'm in east Galway btw.

Happy_Harry

motley wrote: »

I cancelled a few weeks ago. Why not just phone them? I did and it was arranged over the phone in mid-January with 40 days notice. They took DD for the whole month of February but am getting refund for the two weeks of the month wasn't using Imagine. BTW I was out of contract.

Because their t&c say to write to them. You may well be right that it may be easier to call them as well to avoid any hassle later on. Just don't fancy waiting in a long queue.

Tommy Lagahan

Tommy Lagahan wrote: »

I asked if I'd be getting the credentials for the modem but they said no that they'd set it up.
Sitting twiddling me thumbs waiting for them with the router setup page open on the other machine lol.

So in the end up i just called them back, they sorted it then and there once they saw the email. Router is working grand now but the WAN IP that it is picking up is just a DHCP supplied IP on the modems 15.x LAN range.

Usually these ASUS routers grab the WAN IP grand (no problem bridging the old F1000 Eir VDSL modem) but since its getting that 15.x address I'm stuck on moderate NAT on everything now.

Is that the same behavior that you're getting in bridge mode Quin_Dub?

motley wrote: »

Said I would share an update after leaving Imagine for Lightnet in February so here it is.

Cheers for following up, whats the contention at peak times like with lightnet? What kinda numbers are ya getting for ping? My only real problem with Imagine lately is the 16-20ms ping jitter.

Quin_Dub

Tommy Lagahan wrote: »

So in the end up i just called them back, they sorted it then and there once they saw the email. Router is working grand now but the WAN IP that it is picking up is just a DHCP supplied IP on the modems 15.x LAN range.

Usually these ASUS routers grab the WAN IP grand (no problem bridging the old F1000 Eir VDSL modem) but since its getting that 15.x address I'm stuck on moderate NAT on everything now.

Is that the same behavior that you're getting in bridge mode Quin_Dub?



Cheers for following up, whats the contention at peak times like with lightnet? What kinda numbers are ya getting for ping? My only real problem with Imagine lately is the 16-20ms ping jitter.

I'm not seeing that issue - I have full NAT functionality and my router is showing the correct external IP address (89.xx.xx.xx).

I have a Netgear Orbi RBR50 setup

Tommy Lagahan

Quin_Dub wrote: »

I'm not seeing that issue - I have full NAT functionality and my router is showing the correct external IP address (89.xx.xx.xx).

I have a Netgear Orbi RBR50 setup

Thanks, I might just have to try and get the modem login from them and sort it out myself, could take ages going back and forth on the phone.
Did you have to jump through many hoops to get them to give it to ya?