Rural Wifi

mmc2010

Hi All, I just wanted to see if anybody had experience of this company. I have very slow satellite broadband, which is pretty painful. I have a long commute and could work from home much more often, if my broadband was reliable. I've exhausted a number of options at this stage and am getting desperate! Thanks in advance

westyIrl

Hi mmc,

My first stop would be to call into a three store and get a PAYG sim and top it up by €20 which gives you 28 days of all you can eat data. Rural WiFi if I recall correctly piggybacks on the three network but someone else might clarify if I'm mistaken. Test this out in your phone (speed tests etc) over a period of a couple of days at different times of each day in both 3G & 4G to get an idea of service.

If all well and good, go ahead and purchase a Huawei B525, B593, E5186 unlocked router or similar from ebay/amz/adverts and pop in the sim and position it in the best location based on signal strength.

If you have a relatively good signal strength but poor speeds it indicates that the mast you are connected to is congested with other people using it for data also. There is nothing you can really do about this except try other mobile operators..Vodafone/Eir which have lower but reasonable enough data caps last time I checked. https://editorsean.com/articles/large-4g-plans-home-broadband-ireland/ is a very useful resource.

If, on the other hand, you can only receive a weak signal keep in mind that the routers like mentioned above have superior antennas to that on a phone, can be placed in more ideal locations such as attic etc. and also allow connection of an external Antenna such as those sold by Poynting if you are in a fringe reception area.

If you're lazy, check online coverage maps for the three main operators: 3, Vodafone & Eir and get top up sims from each to trial. If you can borrow, buy to resell one of the above routers and position it as high as possible in your house and trial, it gives you the best shot of success with least expenditure.

It really is a trial and error process. I'm not saying this is the only way but it is the way I went about it and am just sharing that. Let us know how you get on.



Jim

ItHurtsWhenIP

Also try this map:
https://irelandoffline.org/map/#!/map

Drop the marker on your house and tick Wireless ISPs. You should get an idea of how many Fixed Wireless operators cover you (if any). They would be better job than mobile.

mmc2010

Hi WestyIrl & ItHurtsWhenIP, thanks very much to both of you for your feedback.
My mobile reception isn't great in my house either and it is Three I'm with, so I can assume my broadband with RuralWifi wouldn't be great if it is being hosted by Three. I have Eir mobile broadband at the moment as well as satellite, and that's pretty brutal.

ItHurtsWhenIP - I looked up that coverage map and contacted a couple of the relevant ISPs, unfortunately they don't cover my area. So, back to the drawing board I think! I guess, I'll just have to wait until the NBP is finally rolled out to my area.
Thanks again for your help.