West connect experiences

topmanamillion

I'm looking into getting broadband from these, I seem to be within coverage according to their website and I'm going to contact them tomorrow.
What are people's experience of them?

Radharc na Sleibhte

Cheaper AND Faster than Fastcom!!!!
Would also love to hear more about these. This is first I heard of them OP but it certainly reads very well.

bennyc

I do a lot of house calls for IT support and have 3 houses using this now, form what I can see, faster and better than fastcom and brilliant customer service.
I plan on moving once I am out of contract with Eir as I can only get 3MB.
No contract also afaik.

shanec1928

If you need port forwarding check in advance if the ports are free.

Radharc na Sleibhte

topmanamillion wrote: »

I'm looking into getting broadband from these, I seem to be within coverage according to their website and I'm going to contact them tomorrow.
What are people's experience of them?

Just wondering if you've gone ahead with them?
Or if anyone else is using them?
Very little advertising considering what they're offering is far above anyone else, rurally at least. I'd never heard of them before this thread.

coolbreeze01

I'm with them since October very pleased with there service
I have the 10 mb package my speeds are always 10.5 mb download
2.5 upload
I'd say i had about 3 incidents where the speed went low, about 3.5mb
which is still faster than i can get from eircom these wouuld be short term as in a couple of hours,

bennyc

coolbreeze01 wrote: »

I'm with them since October very pleased with there service
I have the 10 mb package my speeds are always 10.5 mb download
2.5 upload
I'd say i had about 3 incidents where the speed went low, about 3.5mb
which is still faster than i can get from eircom these wouuld be short term as in a couple of hours,

Any gamers in the house ?

coolbreeze01

bennyc wrote: »

Any gamers in the house ?

I do a bit myself not really online though as i couldnt really when i was with eircom.
i tried the starwars battlefront beta online had no problems but wouldnt be a
good judge.
Anything you would like me to test?

bennyc

coolbreeze01 wrote: »

I do a bit myself not really online though as i couldnt really when i was with eircom.
i tried the starwars battlefront beta online had no problems but wouldnt be a
good judge.
Anything you would like me to test?

FIFA if you have it, I tested FPS and it seemed fine, with FIFA using fastcom there was a slight frame skip every 6 seconds, just a blip, but its the only game I bother much with online, I was in a house with west connect and the lad was playing fifa on XBox and the same frame skip was there , like a .10 second lag and catchup every 6 odd seconds. Although I play on PC now I dont know if the same occurs on that, its enough for it to be a deal breaker for me.
Although if they fix the onlin on PES this wont be an issue

Radharc na Sleibhte

bennyc wrote: »

FIFA if you have it, I tested FPS and it seemed fine, with FIFA using fastcom there was a slight frame skip every 6 seconds, just a blip, but its the only game I bother much with online, I was in a house with west connect and the lad was playing fifa on XBox and the same frame skip was there , like a .10 second lag and catchup every 6 odd seconds. Although I play on PC now I dont know if the same occurs on that, its enough for it to be a deal breaker for me.
Although if they fix the onlin on PES this wont be an issue

What's your friends opinion of west connect in general? Any idea what package he's on?

coolbreeze01

bennyc wrote: »

FIFA if you have it, I tested FPS and it seemed fine, with FIFA using fastcom there was a slight frame skip every 6 seconds, just a blip, but its the only game I bother much with online, I was in a house with west connect and the lad was playing fifa on XBox and the same frame skip was there , like a .10 second lag and catchup every 6 odd seconds. Although I play on PC now I dont know if the same occurs on that, its enough for it to be a deal breaker for me.
Although if they fix the onlin on PES this wont be an issue

sorry Benny just do a bit of fps.

bennyc

Radharc na Sleibhte wrote: »

What's your friends opinion of west connect in general? Any idea what package he's on?

he loves it, on 12MB I think, he was on fastcom and moved, the gamer is 12 and didn't spot the lag I mentioned so I didn't point it out. FPS looks perfect, I know another lad who plays FPS quite a bit and has no issues, maybe my OCD just cant handle a little lag.

Radharc na Sleibhte

bennyc wrote: »

he loves it, on 12MB I think, he was on fastcom and moved, the gamer is 12 and didn't spot the lag I mentioned so I didn't point it out. FPS looks perfect, I know another lad who plays FPS quite a bit and has no issues, maybe my OCD just cant handle a little lag.

Great stuff. I was thinking of going for the 50mb but certainly 25mb package anyway. Paying €50 to Fastcom for 12mb but it's gone to shyte lately.
Can't handle that either. Seems to only ever happen when I've the ball too.

mobil 222

Radharc na Sleibhte wrote: »

Great stuff. I was thinking of going for the 50mb but certainly 25mb package anyway. Paying €50 to Fastcom for 12mb but it's gone to shyte lately.
Can't handle that either. Seems to only ever happen when I've the ball too.

I did not think both the 25 and 50 mg fibre products were available yet

mobil 222

I live outside Sligo and have been waiting a few Months for West Connect to come my way
They are nearly finished testing in Castlegarron so hears hoping for the next week or two.
Does anyone know do they operate in the same way as Fastcom
Also what happens with contention ratio

sligojoek

My 2 lads play FIFA. I'm on 6mb with Fastcom. They were havin trouble with lag on the WiFi. I had to run a cable from the router to the attic and back down to their room. It seems pretty ok now. I'm lucky enough to be just 2Km from the mast as the crow flies so that might be a factor.

I've a year left on my contract. It'll be interesting to see what's available after that. Fastcom will have to up their game to compete with fibre optic when it's rolled out in this area.

red sean

mobil 222 wrote: »

I live outside Sligo and have been waiting a few Months for West Connect to come my way
They are nearly finished testing in Castlegarron so hears hoping for the next week or two.
Does anyone know do they operate in the same way as Fastcom
Also what happens with contention ratio

Similar system using an antenna as fastcom. Time will tell regarding contention, depends how many customers and traffic they'll have.

bennyc

red sean wrote: »

Similar system using an antenna as fastcom. Time will tell regarding contention, depends how many customers and traffic they'll have.

At the moment their USP is to keep contention way down compared to Fastcom although as you say time will tell.

I think I might hold off for a while, I have three on the mobile and get 30+ on 4G so I use that for tethering and have all the devices on the house connected to that so the bit of gaming can be done via DSL. So every other mobile , tablet TV Laptop etc is set to use both Eir and my Phone, when I reboot the Eir box the rest jump over to the mobile, Its awkward but it works.

Radharc na Sleibhte

Really I don't understand it, so is that the crux, the only real reason they're faster than Fastcom is they've less customers? Am I better off where I am so I wonder?

coolbreeze01

When I first contacted West connect (I can't think of his name) he told me that only so many customers would on each reciever.
They own the transmission poles so he just put on another reciever
This is what I was told anyway

Slygo

I would AVOID WestConnect at all costs! Seriously...you will be waiting days and days and days for a response. Where are they when the connection goes down? You can be waiting for almost a WEEK for any response. Staff are also mannerless; at least the ones who I've dealt with. Fastcom has its issues as well but I've found that WestConnect promises a lot but definitely DOES NOT deliver.

Radharc na Sleibhte

Yip, having been and left West Connect I can agree and safely say AVOID. Awful product. Didn't find the customer service too bad but the reliability and speed of the connection was practically zero.

a_noodle_jenny

Any more feedback from West Connect. I just spoke with them there and I'll hear back this afternoon. From what I can see there should be no problem as regards location and suitability. Seems like a small company that can offer a good service (in our case where alternatives are poor and poorer) We can get 1.7Mbps download and 0.2Mbps upload on traditional Eir type service so would have to explore other service offered by Eir such as 3G/4G router options that a neighbour in the area is using.
I'm interested in the higher end packages 25MB / 50MB - theres no contract either so I might try the lower one and see if it is enough.

mobil 222

Just wondering about some of the negative comments on the above company.
I have had their service for well over a year now and am quite happy with what i
am getting from them.
I have reported faults via their Landline and their text service after hours.
Service has normally restored within 4 hours.
On at least 3 occasions this year they have had problems with power caused by a third party which has not been their problem.
The good thing about them is that i have never experienced a contention ratio problem.
I am on their 12 mg package and can work Netflix in HD on two televisions, also can browse at the same time.
The one problem i have is that their packages are expensive but having no contract is a plus, and their unlimited download policy.
Also last year they brought broadband to places that could never be reached in Sligo and Leitrim.
While they are up against big companies like Eir, Vodaphone and Imagine they provide what they advertise not like some who offer up to 70 mgs and when evening comes this can drop to 30 mgs.

Pretzill

I'm with west connect for over a year - I have to say at least I'm getting half decent broadband - and a better, cheaper and unlimited option. I'm 10mpb down - but get between 8.5 and 9 down and 2.5 up -

There have been frustrations recently as the service tends to drop at the most inopportune times and I rely on a connection for work. However I find they are fairly quick to respond if even it's just to let you know it's out for the day!

I did have a couple of bad experiences with rather rude customer service tactics too but probably a mixture of my frustrations and their ineptitude on the issue.

Overall I'm delighted to have a broadband service because eir is only touching 1.5mpb down where I live and is useless.

I do have a nagging feeling that contention issues may worsen with West Connect and to be totally honest if eir rolled out a better service I'd be on it.

Such is the problem with rural broadband - I've heard of lands in Ireland that moan about their 100m
b lines - yis bastards!!

Radharc na Sleibhte

mobil 222 wrote: »

Just wondering about some of the negative comments on the above company.
I have had their service for well over a year now and am quite happy with what i
am getting from them.
I have reported faults via their Landline and their text service after hours.
Service has normally restored within 4 hours.
On at least 3 occasions this year they have had problems with power caused by a third party which has not been their problem.
The good thing about them is that i have never experienced a contention ratio problem.
I am on their 12 mg package and can work Netflix in HD on two televisions, also can browse at the same time.
The one problem i have is that their packages are expensive but having no contract is a plus, and their unlimited download policy.
Also last year they brought broadband to places that could never be reached in Sligo and Leitrim.
While they are up against big companies like Eir, Vodaphone and Imagine they provide what they advertise not like some who offer up to 70 mgs and when evening comes this can drop to 30 mgs.

What is it exactly you're wondering? It depends on what your expectations and perception of value for money are i suppose. Speeds I achieved for 50mb service attached. These were the times it was even half working. More often than not it just shut down in the evenings. They most certainly do not provide what they advertise. Sadly, 99% of people are only with companies like this as they have simply no other option in this country. Its grand if youve no other option. Thats all i can say for it.
Thankfully FTTH saved me and I am now 1000mb down 100mb up.:pac:

a_noodle_jenny

Radharc na Sleibhte wrote: »

What is it exactly you're wondering? It depends on what your expectations and perception of value for money are i suppose. Speeds I achieved for 50mb service attached. These were the times it was even half working. More often than not it just shut down in the evenings. They most certainly do not provide what they advertise. Sadly, 99% of people are only with companies like this as they have simply no other option in this country. Its grand if youve no other option. Thats all i can say for it.
Thankfully FTTH saved me and I am now 1000mb down 100mb up.:pac:

Urgh - I was holding onto hope that's bloody awful... any positive experience out there
My alternative is dire - the 35 speed is from family homestead but it's quite good speeds I'd say 5/6 devices on network prob more at a time and it reads this. 1.76mbps is where we are building

The last two tests are
#1 Netflix running and MacBook just switched on but not in use
#2 wifi turned off on MacBook and Netflix paused
No kids in house able to use internet yet, I'm worse than the kids and those speeds are gonna drive me mental as my current speed is fairly ok but when you throw a few devices on at one time it stops working which is the key difference between B.B. And fibre standard internet
Urgh please I hope there's good news
Manorhamilton area here, Clarification (North Leitrim) ��

a_noodle_jenny

I’ve a date booked for install for west connect
Going with VOIP landline also as our mobile signal is poor and the landline only is quite expensive through Eir or similar
Another local family has west connect and are happy

Constant Curiosity

Slygo wrote: »

I would AVOID WestConnect at all costs! Seriously...you will be waiting days and days and days for a response. Where are they when the connection goes down? You can be waiting for almost a WEEK for any response. Staff are also mannerless; at least the ones who I've dealt with. Fastcom has its issues as well but I've found that WestConnect promises a lot but definitely DOES NOT deliver.

it still sounds like they aren't half as bad as EIR! i got installation with them yesterday, very happy so far, we stream extensively and they were the only alternative in our middle of nowhere

mobil 222

Constant Curiosity wrote: »

it still sounds like they aren't half as bad as EIR! i got installation with them yesterday, very happy so far, we stream extensively and they were the only alternative in our middle of nowhere

I have been with West Connect for two and a half years. I find them ok to deal with. Their 'no contract' policy offered is something that no other company offer

Most of their problems are as a result of third parties and this can be very annoying especially when it may not be a telecoms issue.

I have never had a problem with contention ratio issues
My speed has been constant since day one apart from three occasions which were sorted out within 6 hours.

I have a big issues with their prices and if they want to compete with other Telecom companies, then 79 euro for 50 megs !!! will not run.
Eir are offering 150 megs for less but you are locked into a 18 month contract.

I believe West Connect have new products coming online this year so it will be interesting to see will it involve more packages with a different price structure
Actually would not mind to see them offer 6 and 12 month contracts running parallel with their current offers.

shanec1928

If your going down the WiMAX option your options are fairly limited to that dsl or satalitle. I wouldn’t even bother comparing it to any fibre offerings.