Just can't understand the guy from Irish Broadband

jimbob

Hi all,

I emailed Irish Broadband two weeks ago telling them that i lived in Corbally in Limerick City and was enquiring about their ripwave service.

I got this email back

Thank you for your interest in internet connections from Irish Broadband. We don't have any specific plans to cover the Corbally area at the moment, as we have not had sufficient demand from the region so far.

If we find that demand in your area increases and we get a larger amount of inquiries in the future, it is more likely that we will install a transmitter in the area. Therefore, if you have friends in the area who would like to get connected to our broadband service, please ask them to register this interest with us by e-mail, & Corbally may become a priority area for us to bring into coverage!

My response to this was

"Thanks for your quick response. I'd like to know where abouts your transmitter is in Limerck actually is and how far away from it I actually have to be. I am on the Mill Road side of Corbally and cause of height have views across the whole city."

They replied back to me with

"The sights will be at Killoran and the Clarion Hotel. You would need to be about 5-6kms away."

This confused me even more.

I wrote back saying I was within 2 miles(Whats that 3km?) away from the Clarion Hotel.

I received no more response from the guy at IB. I am not going to name him as I am not a dick. I just can't understand how they cannot cover the corbally area as its well within the city limits and in total no more than 4km.

Can anyone tell me why I could not recieve the product if I am within 2 miles of the transmitter and have line of sight.

Does anybody know if they have gone live in Limerick?

redsupper

Maybee he was'nt aware you wanted broadband!

Blaster99

jimbob wrote:

"The sights will be at Killoran and the Clarion Hotel. You would need to be about 5-6kms away."
[...]
Does anybody know if they have gone live in Limerick?

I think the "will be" might answer your question. I wonder what kinds of sights they're using. Gun sights? Maybe that's why they're limited to 5km's.

optiplexgx270

To be honest with you i cant see the problem here???

It looks like this to me.

1. They dont cover limerick at the moment
2. If demand increases they will concider it
3. IBB are based in dublin and dont know the limerick area that well
4. You are asking for a estimated rollout date? but that was answered in the first reply ("If we find that demand in your area increases and we get a larger amount of inquiries in the future, it is more likely that we will install a transmitter in the area") i.e. if you can answer when the demand will increase then you can answer when the rollout will be planned approx.

If you look here you can see there is no coverage in Limerick afaik http://www.irishbroadband.ie/htmdocs/coverage_maps/areas_live.htm

jbkenn

IBB have the kit installed on the Clarion, with a backhaul link to the ESB fibre at Kilonan ESB sub station on the Tipperary road. They claim they are in a position to offer service in Limerick.

jbkenn

cgarvey

jimbob wrote:

I wrote back saying I was within 2 miles(Whats that 3km?) away from the Clarion Hotel.

...
Can anyone tell me why I could not recieve the product if I am within 2 miles of the transmitter and have line of sight.

If they have gone live, maybe the Clarion site isn't a 360 degree site, and only covers 180 degrees to cover the city side.. but of course that's just pure speculation, as I don't work for IBB.

.cg

jbkenn

There are 4 sectors on the Clarion offering 360 degree coverage

jbkenn

jimbob

jbkenn wrote:

There are 4 sectors on the Clarion offering 360 degree coverage

jbkenn

Surely this has me covered. Considering I am within 2 miles( I drove from my house to the Clarion and that was two miles so I guess the distance is actually less).

Even though I have line of sight to the Clarion, do I need it with ripwave as it looks like the antenna is a small indoor device.

jimbob

redsupper wrote:

Maybee he was'nt aware you wanted broadband!

"Ripwave Service" He knew....

Dero

I was under the impression that IBB would not be using Ripwave outside Dublin? They have a 3.5Ghz FWA license for Limerick, so I presume it will be BreezeMAX they will be using. If that is the case you should be covered, as it is supposed to be NLOS at least for the first 3-4km. On a related point, when they mention putting a transmitter in an area does anyone know if it can do its backhaul via wireless to the main base station? This would make it a lot cheaper to dot additional transmitters around the place within their licensed area.

puma5k

Hi all,

I have applied for broadband in Galway from IBB, and have found them slow to set up there Mast. From what I was told in order to get Ripwave you have to be in general line of sight and be within 3km radius of the mast, however Breeze is different it works by having a Fixed Wireless Access (FWA) to the mast and can be up to 12km line of sight, with there more expensive packages.

I applied for Breeze 1Mbit @ €48.50 contention 24:1 back in December and was told that the Ballybit mast would go live first. But got word last week that the Tonabrucky mast that is west of Galway city went live. The installation engineers called me and asked me where do I live so we can connect you, but I’m East of the city only 2.5km from Ballybrit. No where near Tonabruky mast.

OldTitan

Guys, to be clear:
IBB provides 2 types of services - RipWave and Breeze.

IBB currently covers: Dublin, Cork, Galway, Limerick, Waterford, Dundalk and Drogheda with coverage in 23 towns and cities by end fo 2005. However, in Limerick and Waterford only the RipWave service is available initially and the Breeze service will follow shortly. Limerick first, then Waterford (Waterford has a tower problem taking longer to sort out).

The RipWave service is generally only installed with 1 or 2 sectors, each covering 120 degrees towards where it is estimated the highest residential demand will be. Breeze normally covers 360 degrees.

RipWave is limited to 3Km to ensure good coverage, although technically it can do up to 19km under certain conditions (rural areas). Breeze service used to be provided up to 5km (can technically do 15 to 20km, yes, but it is not good practise). However, with a view to providing VoIP and ultimately VoD, the service radius is being contracted down to 3km in Dublin and Cork. Elsewhere it will remain up to 5km initially.

If you are unclear about coverage and you did not get a clear guideline from Sales, ask them to mail you the coverage map so you can see for yourself if you have doubts. They can be wrong - they are human after all.

Sponge Bob

Is there any difference between the effective range of 3.5Ghz Breeze and 5.nn Ghz Breeze OldTitan and which of those are (to be) deployed in Galway Limerick Cork and Waterford ?

thegills

Hi,
At the e-net event in Limerick a while back, IBB were represented by Paul Richmond. Give IBB a call and ask for him.
thegills

OldTitan

Hi SpongeBob:

[HTML]Is there any difference between the effective range of 3.5Ghz Breeze and 5.nn Ghz Breeze OldTitan and which of those are (to be) deployed in Galway Limerick Cork and Waterford ?[/HTML]

The basic range between the 2 are very similar. The prime difference lies in the fact that in licensed spectrum the Operators have higher power output permitted compared to the unlicensed bands of 5.xGhz. This means that QoS tends to be higher and you do get some in-building penetration of the signal which you cannot get at 5.xGHx when you have bricks, concrete or double glazed windows to contend with. 5.7GHz gives some in-building penetration in the USA where you have timber frame construction, but not in Europe.

IBB deploys both at all sites.