Imagine LTE Rural Broadband

9726_9726 · 08-07-2016 7:07pm

long_b wrote: »

Sales guy said I didn't need LOS.

Ugh. This needs to stop.

diarmuid05 · 08-07-2016 7:40pm

Couple of peak time speeds

long_b · 08-07-2016 7:49pm

marno21 wrote: »

LOS isn't 100% necessary but it strongly helps. Without LOS you have a lesser chance of attaining the 30Mbps needed to signup (if that's still a rule of theirs.)

9726_9726 wrote: »

Ugh. This needs to stop.

This is why I'm confused. Some people say LOS necessary, some say it's not.

ED E · 08-07-2016 8:34pm

long_b wrote: »

This is why I'm confused. Some people say LOS necessary, some say it's not.

If LOS is interrupted by a bush, no biggie. If its interrupted by a grove of 200 trees then odds are not in your favour.

long_b · 08-07-2016 9:17pm

ED E wrote: »

If LOS is interrupted by a bush, no biggie. If its interrupted by a grove of 200 trees then odds are not in your favour.

Thank you ED E - not the first time I've benefited from one of your explanations.

I'm afraid there may be a hill in the way

We'll see when the time comes I guess.

If anyone gets connected to the Old Kilcullen mast can they give a shout here please?
Ta!

/* Starts waiting */

Chef-1st · 08-07-2016 10:01pm

Be cool if everyone who has Imagine LTE broadband sign up to OOKLA/Speedtest (and Testmy.net as backup if you want), record your speed tests and post the results link on this thread.
Just to see what the general average is in terms of service performance over the next few weeks. Maybe it's just a few of us who have it bad right now for other unknown reasons. We can't tarnish it all with the same brush as they say. As Morgana's results are excellent so far. My first week or two I was very happy with the speeds too, so give it a while before you go nuts speaking godly of imagine's holy grail of broadband, renouncing all other wired fibre optic gods, and never taking thy imagine's name in vain.

Just in case it was missed (doubtful though) -here's my results link
http://www.speedtest.net/results.php?sh=ca0743c0b8cf444e2d91bc3118335acd&ria=0

Chef-1st · 08-07-2016 10:13pm

diarmuid05 wrote: »

Couple of peak time speeds

I just noticed the ISP name has been changed from Imagine to 'FIBER CONNECT'.
Was it always that or am I imagining things? No pun intended!
Its not even real fiber. I do wonder how do the advertising legal teams get away with it in Ireland? Sure in France the term has been banned on improper use.

Johnfred · 08-07-2016 10:18pm

Very slow again this evening. 7 down 3 up.Does fog affect the signal. Very foggy on Forth Mountain tonight.

Chef-1st · 08-07-2016 10:29pm

Johnfred wrote: »

Very slow again this evening. 7 down 3 up.Does fog affect the signal. Very foggy on Forth Mountain tonight.

Well that is one of the downfalls of wireless broadband, weather can affect it.
It could well be the fog, but to be honest, you were getting around that same speed last night weren't you? There must be something wrong with your connection also. I'm on the Wexford mast too, but from the Tagoat (Rosslare direction). I don't think the fog is affecting mine, as I'm getting the same peak time speeds I usually get....poor!

Wing126 · 08-07-2016 10:36pm

No Chef, it was not always Fiber Connect. I noticed the change earlier today aswell!

tsue921i8wljb3 · 08-07-2016 10:36pm

Chef-1st wrote: »

Be cool if everyone who has Imagine LTE broadband sign up to OOKLA/Speedtest (and Testmy.net as backup if you want), record your speed tests and post the results link on this thread.
Just to see what the general average is in terms of service performance over the next few weeks. Maybe it's just a few of us who have it bad right now for other unknown reasons. We can't tarnish it all with the same brush as they say. As Morgana's results are excellent so far. My first week or two I was very happy with the speeds too, so give it a while before you go nuts speaking godly of imagine's holy grail of broadband, renouncing all other wired fibre optic gods, and never taking thy imagine's name in vain.

Just in case it was missed (doubtful though) -here's my results link
http://www.speedtest.net/results.php?sh=ca0743c0b8cf444e2d91bc3118335acd&ria=0

I mentioned it before but if SamKnows are still taking applications I would highly recommend it. It tests your connection at the same times every day. You just log into your web account where graphs are available for lots of metrics.
http://www.samknows.ie/

editorsean · 08-07-2016 10:36pm

Chef-1st wrote: »

Be cool if everyone who has Imagine LTE broadband sign up to OOKLA/Speedtest (and Testmy.net as backup if you want), record your speed tests and post the results link on this thread.

This is another suggestion for anyone heading off for the day (e.g. wedding), the following is an automated speed test one can set up to run unattended on TestMy.

For any automated test to work, sleep and hibernation need to be temporarily turned off:

Right-click the Start button, then 'Power Options' and then click 'Change plan settings' for the ticked option.
Set 'Put the computer to sleep' to 'Never' for the 'Plugged In' column.
Click 'Change advanced power settings'.
Go into Sleep -> 'Hibernate after' and and set 'Plugged in' to 'Never'.

Now set up an automatic speed test on TestMy:

Connect your computer with an Ethernet connection and switch off its Wi-Fi (if present)
Go to http://testmy.net/auto
Ensure it says 'Testing London, GB' at the top-right. If not, go into 'Test Servers' to set it.
Tick 'Combined' and set the 'every' drop-down to '30 Minutes'
Set 'Minimum Download Size' drop-down to 50MB and tick 'nfw'.
Set the 'Repeat' drop-down to at least double the number of hours you'll be away, e.g. 25 times for noon to midnight.
Click 'Start Automatic Test', switch off the monitor (if a PC) and head off.

Once the automatic test is complete it'll show a graph similar to Ookla's speedtest graph, but in this case it'll be in 30 minute increments over the course of the day. If 6pm to midnight looks like a valley, it no doubt busts the 'no contention' myth.

Chef-1st · 08-07-2016 10:43pm

editorsean wrote: »

This is another suggestion for anyone heading off for the day (e.g. wedding), the following is an automated speed test one can set up to run unattended on TestMy.

For any automated test to work, sleep and hibernation need to be temporarily turned off:
Right-click the Start button, then 'Power Options' and then click 'Change plan settings' for the ticked option.

Set 'Put the computer to sleep' to 'Never' for the 'Plugged In' column.

Click 'Change advanced power settings'.

Go into Sleep -> 'Hibernate after' and and set 'Plugged in' to 'Never'.

Now set up an automatic speed test on TestMy:
Connect your computer with an Ethernet connection and switch off its Wi-Fi (if present)

Go to http://testmy.net/auto

Ensure it says 'Testing London, GB' at the top-right. If not, go into 'Test Servers' to set it.

Tick 'Combined' and set the 'every' drop-down to '30 Minutes'

Set the 'Repeat' drop-down to at least double the number of hours you'll be away, e.g. 25 times for noon to midnight.

Click 'Start Automatic Test', switch off the monitor (if a PC) and head off.

Once the automatic test is complete it'll show a graph similar to Ookla's speedtest graph, but in this case it'll be in 30 minute increments over the course of the day. If 6pm to midnight looks like a valley, it no doubt busts the 'no contention' myth.

Yeah I agree with using testmy.net, seems a much more robust accurate test. Just be careful of how big the file is you want to test if anyone's doing a lot of auto tests. It usually does +170M each run if the speeds are reasonable.

I think I've pretty much debunked and wrapped up the "no contention" myth at this stqge now, as the past few weeks, my speed results only ever dip in the evening times. Without fail, next morning, they go back up to decent speeds.

Take today for instance,
9.30am - 85Mb/s.
9.30pm - 16Mb/s.

Surely that says it all.

Chef-1st · 08-07-2016 10:54pm

Wing126 wrote: »

No Chef, it was not always Fiber Connect. I noticed the change earlier today aswell!

If you think of it, that's impressive. It's absolute genius in fact.
Try google search 'fiber connect broadband provider review'.
Never in a million hits would you get anything referring to Imagine.
And thinking of everything to push this 'fiber' wording even further. Brilliant!

mailburner · 08-07-2016 11:22pm

anyone else here on the abbey mast yet bar chris?
has anyone got an install date?

want to get an idea as to when I might be next given it was april when I gave them what they wanted

BrokenMan · 08-07-2016 11:32pm

I was called about being installed last week but am away. Am supposed to be connected end of next week now. Drop them an email and ask would be your best bet.

Wing126 · 08-07-2016 11:42pm

Chef-1st wrote: »

If you think of it, that's impressive. It's absolute genius in fact.
Try google search 'fiber connect broadband provider review'.
Never in a million hits would you get anything referring to Imagine.
And thinking of everything to push this 'fiber' wording even further. Brilliant!

Well now it'll pull up this thread :pac:

9726_9726 · 08-07-2016 11:47pm

Wing126 wrote: »

Well now it'll pull up this thread :pac:

They launched the product as Imagine Fibre Connect in North Cork. After a while they changed it to Imagine LTE.

Looks like they filled out their RIPE allocation as Fibre Connect and that's finally coming through. Even though it is already out of date!

df_h · 09-07-2016 12:35am

mailburner wrote: »

anyone else here on the abbey mast yet bar chris?
has anyone got an install date?

want to get an idea as to when I might be next given it was april when I gave them what they wanted

I am, I posted few pages back, got installed few days ago, here are results, funnily enough its after midnight now and its down to 60ish after being 75-85 all evening, go figure

http://www.speedtest.net/results.php?sh=c97693cb25f42f9b316193caa3291d9d&ria=0

editorsean · 09-07-2016 1:11am

Chef-1st wrote: »

Yeah I agree with using testmy.net, seems a much more robust accurate test. Just be careful of how big the file is you want to test if anyone's doing a lot of auto tests. It usually does +170M each run if the speeds are reasonable.

Thanks for the suggestion - It's been a few months since I tested a connection faster than 60Mbps, so didn't realise how high the test blocks it chooses with faster connections. So I edited the post to mention setting the minimum block size to 50MB and ticking 'nfw'. 50MB should still provide reasonably good accuracy for tests under 100Mbps and the 'nfw' option prevents it scaling to larger block sizes.

AyJay · 09-07-2016 9:38am

Has anyone else noticed that the advertising has changes from 'fibre based' to 'fibre speed'? Do they not have a fibre back haul everywhere? Also there was a post on their page yesterday about Cavan saying that Phase 1 was limited to 400. Sounds like they're just gonna rack and stack as many as they can. Now that they've been dumped from NBP looks like they're dumping their 30Mbps alleged guarantee.

9726_9726 · 09-07-2016 9:48am

AyJay wrote: »

Has anyone else noticed that the advertising has changes from 'fibre based' to 'fibre speed'? Do they not have a fibre back haul everywhere? Also there was a post on their page yesterday about Cavan saying that Phase 1 was limited to 400. Sounds like they're just gonna rack and stack as many as they can. Now that they've been dumped from NBP looks like they're dumping their 30Mbps alleged guarantee.

Like all similar networks, fibre will backhaul between cities, but out in the sticks, microwave backhaul is used.

Specifically, these are what Imagine use on LTE sites (cheaper than Ceragon):

http://www.aviatnetworks.com/products/microwave-radios/split-mount-radios/high-power-odu-600/

Also, these tend to be mountain sites, so no, no fibre backhaul.

Brannaman · 09-07-2016 9:52am

Gwynston wrote: »

Anyone know what phone packages are available? All I can find on the Imagine website is €59.99 for the LTE package including national and local calls.

I currently have an Eir broadband bundle that also includes International calls (I have family in UK and Canada). It's more expensive, but do Imagine have an equivalent International call offering?

Signed up two days ago in Mayo. Similar situation to above, substitute Near Europe for Canada. Initially I was told "no extras" but on sign-up I pushed it and got 3c to U.K. and 5c to Near Europe. The CR man made a point of telling me that he was confirming the prices and had no bother confirming that they could be repeated. He also cut a deal on out of state mobiles but I did not take note so I'll not chance a guess

df_h · 09-07-2016 10:36am

Well looking at a sample traceroute (to amsterdam, one of my servers on 10gbit fiber in datacenter)

                                          My traceroute  [v0.86]
vm1 (0.0.0.0)                                                                     Sat Jul  9 09:30:43 2016
Keys:  Help   Display mode   Restart statistics   Order of fields   quit
                                                                  Packets               Pings
 Host                                                           Loss%   Snt   Last   Avg  Best  Wrst StDev
 1. 192.168.22.1                                                 0.0%   154    0.8   0.7   0.5   1.8   0.1
 2. CPE.lan                                                      0.0%   154    1.8   1.8   1.4   2.3   0.0
 3. ???
 4. DN07-ae4-442-ibis-gw-1.irishbroadband.ie                     0.0%   154   22.1  28.5  20.0  43.1   5.9
 5. ae7-511.dub40.ip4.gtt.net                                    0.0%   154   35.7  31.4  19.5  82.3  10.4
 6. xe-2-0-7.lon11.ip4.gtt.net                                   0.6%   154   47.8  39.4  29.8  72.2   7.2
 7. be3008.ccr21.lon01.atlas.cogentco.com                        0.0%   154   39.0  40.1  30.3  57.5   6.0
 8. be2868.ccr41.lon13.atlas.cogentco.com                        0.0%   154   46.0  39.9  30.1  58.1   6.8
 9. be12194.ccr41.ams03.atlas.cogentco.com                       0.0%   153   48.4  47.0  37.2 100.2   7.5
10. be2795.rcr21.b047839-0.ams03.atlas.cogentco.com              0.0%   153   40.2  47.5  38.4  80.1   6.9
11. ****                              0.0%   153   40.4  48.4  38.6  80.6   7.2
12. ****                                                  0.7%   153   56.4  48.8  37.0  76.7   7.2

Some thoughts

~2ms spent going from the WN-600 to the antenae on roof, why so long?
~28ms to mast at abbey and then onto Galway city, microwave link?
~3ms onto Dublin from there, great!
from then on they are using GTT which is great

BTW same traceroute/mtr from Virgin Media Business connection in Galway city (Why the hell are they 5-6 years on still routing via US East Coast

)
Also beside the strange way it routes via New York and London notice the 89ms Galway to Dublin, wtf?! I see transatlantic pings lower than this

                                          My traceroute  [v0.86]
backup (0.0.0.0)                                                                  Sat Jul  9 09:40:40 2016
Keys:  Help   Display mode   Restart statistics   Order of fields   quit
                                                                  Packets               Pings
 Host                                                           Loss%   Snt   Last   Avg  Best  Wrst StDev
 1. 192.168.1.1                                                  0.0%    63    0.3   0.2   0.2   0.4   0.0
 2. 10.100.43.1                                                  0.0%    63   14.0   9.3   5.4  41.4   4.6
 3. 109.255.254.126                                              0.0%    63   20.6   9.7   4.1  69.2   9.6
 4. ie-dub01a-ra4-ae23-0.aorta.net                               0.0%    63   89.7  89.8  86.5 103.1   2.8
 5. ???
 6. 84.116.140.174                                               0.0%    63   94.5  95.4  92.6 114.3   3.0
 7. us-nyc03a-ri1-ae10-0.aorta.net                               0.0%    63   92.3  90.9  88.8  95.5   1.1
 8. nyk-b3-link.telia.net                                        0.0%    63   91.1  92.5  89.1 113.7   3.3
 9. be1299.ccr21.jfk04.atlas.cogentco.com                        0.0%    63   95.7  94.6  93.0 102.5   1.5
10. be2324.ccr41.jfk02.atlas.cogentco.com                        0.0%    63   94.0  92.2  90.0  98.0   1.3
11. be2317.ccr41.lon13.atlas.cogentco.com                        0.0%    63  163.5 164.7 161.7 173.0   2.0
12. be12194.ccr41.ams03.atlas.cogentco.com                       0.0%    62  174.2 173.3 170.8 179.7   1.8
13. be2795.rcr21.b047839-0.ams03.atlas.cogentco.com              0.0%    62  172.9 172.1 170.4 176.0   1.1
14. ****                              0.0%    62  172.1 173.0 170.3 178.8   1.3
15. ****                                                  0.0%    62  170.6 172.4 169.6 182.4   2.1

So latency wise Imagine are doing something right! Congratulations there for now

But yes it be nice if they clarified what will the contention ratios be on each mast and what bandwidth is available to each.

Dero · 09-07-2016 12:43pm

long_b wrote: »

Thank you ED E - not the first time I've benefited from one of your explanations.

I'm afraid there may be a hill in the way

We'll see when the time comes I guess.

If anyone gets connected to the Old Kilcullen mast can they give a shout here please?
Ta!

/* Starts waiting */

Hey long_b.
I'm signed up for Old Kilcullen also. I don't think anyone will actually be set up before the end of August, but if and when I am, I'll update accordingly.

I'm not sure exactly where your house is, but assuming that this is the mast they'll use (and I don't know of any other in Old Kilcullen), then you should be fine in terms of hills. Not sure about trees though.

Also, taking Andy's Bikes as a reference, you're ~3km from that mast. Using this and this site, LOS should be no problem.

Ruffty^ · 09-07-2016 1:54pm

AyJay wrote: »

Has anyone else noticed that the advertising has changes from 'fibre based' to 'fibre speed'? Do they not have a fibre back haul everywhere? Also there was a post on their page yesterday about Cavan saying that Phase 1 was limited to 400. Sounds like they're just gonna rack and stack as many as they can. Now that they've been dumped from NBP looks like they're dumping their 30Mbps alleged guarantee.

I was told by installer; 'each "sector" on the mast can take 400. Nothing to stop them adding more "sectors".

Dero · 09-07-2016 2:31pm

A question of those who have their router in bridge mode:

Does it require admin access to the router, and if so, has that been disabled for all current installs? I presume CS can bridge it if asked? I have Ripplecom currently and they bridged the Mikrotik CPE for me and I use my own router/firewall/DHCP/DNS. I would like to continue this if I get Imagine LTE, but I don't know if they allow it. I'll hound them to the ends of the earth if they don't...

Basically I just want them to present me with an ethernet connection with my (static) external IP which I can connect to my own network. Has anyone done this?

ED E · 09-07-2016 2:44pm

Ruffty^ wrote: »

Nothing to stop them adding more "sectors".

Yes there is.

Lets say imagine own 9 channels worth of spectrum. If they deploy three sectors at Site A then there are only 6ch that can be used at Sites B, C, D in the surrounding areas. If they go up to 5 sectors at A then there they only have 1 sector per other site.

This means either limiting sectors per site(thus speeds) or spreading out sites with lots of guard zones reducing your overall footprint.

Do we know how many channels they have per band allocation 9726_9726?

Dero wrote: »

Basically I just want them to present me with an ethernet connection with my (static) external IP which I can connect to my own network. Has anyone done this?

It was mentioned that if you request a static from them then bridging is permitted. Its somewhere in the thread.

Waffleon · 09-07-2016 2:44pm

Dero wrote: »

A question of those who have their router in bridge mode:

Does it require admin access to the router, and if so, has that been disabled for all current installs? I presume CS can bridge it if asked? I have Ripplecom currently and they bridged the Mikrotik CPE for me and I use my own router/firewall/DHCP/DNS. I would like to continue this if I get Imagine LTE, but I don't know if they allow it. I'll hound them to the ends of the earth if they don't...

Basically I just want them to present me with an ethernet connection with my (static) external IP which I can connect to my own network. Has anyone done this?

I've just connected my existing router. I didn't need to change anything. I simply set my " second router" to factory defaults, that set default IP address to 192.168.1.1. Imagines router is set up on a different segment of 192.168.22.1, so no conflicts there. I simply connected from lan of imagine router to Wan of my "Second router". It's working fine and I have two wirless networks available if I need them. No config of Imagines router required.ðŸ˜€

Dero · 09-07-2016 7:51pm

ED E wrote: »

It was mentioned that if you request a static from them then bridging is permitted. Its somewhere in the thread.

yep, the sales guy already confirmed the static IP, I was more interested in how flexible they are interfacing with an extant network.

Waffleon wrote: »

I've just connected my existing router. I didn't need to change anything. I simply set my " second router" to factory defaults, that set default IP address to 192.168.1.1. Imagines router is set up on a different segment of 192.168.22.1, so no conflicts there. I simply connected from lan of imagine router to Wan of my "Second router". It's working fine and I have two wirless networks available if I need them. No config of Imagines router required.ðŸ˜€

Hmm. That implies double NATing though, and I want to avoid that at all costs.

I can do all the network stuff on my end. I have my own routing/firewall/DHCP/DNS/wireless AP and that's how I want it to stay. All I need from any provider is an Internet connection, I'll do the rest. Does anyone know if it uses PPPoE?

None of this would be a deal-breaker of course, but I think most ISP routers allow bridging these days (not sure about Virgin/UPC, don't think there's any within 20km of here so have never used it).

Imagine LTE Rural Broadband

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