Reasons not to get IBB Ripwave

inigo

Hi all,
I'm thinking of getting broadband at home at the cheapest possible price. I don't have a landline and don't want it for gaming, movie/music download, just for plain browsing, email, listening to radio, webcam, so nothing too demanding in terms of speed, I suppose, but I don't want to even hear of basic phoneline connection either. IBB Ripwave seems a good option (24.99EUR per month, free connection, no cap, no phoneline needed,...).

Can anybody think of any reason why I shouldn't get this? Would anybody please share their experinces with IBB and Ripwave? Any better options? BTW, I live in rented accommodation, so I can't install any kind of aerials/antennae...

Thanks!!

SkepticOne

I have had it since September of 2004. It has improved a lot for me since I first got it. Overall it beats dial up. There were a lot of outages at first. Support was bad. I don't know if support has improved because I haven't contacted them since January. Generally speeds are close to advertised for me these days. I get the signal from Three Rock.

An alternative, if there is a phone line in the house (although not yours) would be to arrange to pay for broadband over it with the holder of that line.

inigo

Thanks SkepticOne

spooky donkey

Ripwave sounds like the idea choice for you then asuming you are close enough to a transmitter to get it. Though their tech support still leaves a lot to be desired.

Sparky

The IBB rep once told me that Ripwave is more for the likes of students in rented places than for home users, but i have one and im not living in a rented place.

Like posted above it depends where the transmitter is located, they say the modems are nomadic for the first few hours of setup then it locks on the strongest signal, i had to ring up to tell them what was the best one because it hopped from signal to signal every 10 seconds.
Id would'nt be 100 % sure of ripwave for QOS.

petes

Do you not have to put up an antennae/receiver even for the ripwave. I live in rented and getting breeze.Rang the landlord about it. tbh I dont even think he knw wtf I was talking about. He said "yeah yeah work away put up whatever you like".

Ciaran500

With Ripwave you just get a modem that you put on your window sill.

inigo

Ciaran500 wrote:

With Ripwave you just get a modem that you put on your window sill.

Does it need a clear line-of-view to the transmitter like a satellite dish or is it more like an FM radio/TV receiver?

zap

inigo wrote:

Does it need a clear line-of-view to the transmitter like a satellite dish or is it more like an FM radio/TV receiver?

there would be an extremely slim chance of getting line of sight with a ripwave modem.

inigo

zap wrote:

there would be an extremely slim chance of getting line of sight with a ripwave modem.

To be honest, that's what I thought, but I've never come across one of these before. So before getting one, I'd rather ask what I don't know...

By the way, thank you all very much for all the replies.

inigo

petes wrote:

Do you not have to put up an antennae/receiver even for the ripwave. I live in rented and getting breeze.Rang the landlord about it. tbh I dont even think he knw wtf I was talking about. He said "yeah yeah work away put up whatever you like".

It's not a house I live in, but an apartment. So I'd have to ask permision to 11 landlords plus mine! Chances are 1 will say no and that'll be it. Besides I don't need too fast a connection and I'd rather pay less.

By the way, all modems etc. remain property of IBB. Now connection and installation are free before 30th June. When subscription is cancelled who and how is all the equipment returned? Who would get the antennae/receiver off the roof and who would pay for it?? But maybe this is a topic for a new thread...

Red Alert

Check if anybody around you has ripwave, as it's a right pain in the ass to send it back. Some places like where I live have a clear line of sight to 3 rock and it still didn't work for me. Oh, and ask for the Ethernet version, not the USB, as it's easier to upscale to two or more computers later on when using Ethernet.

weeslip

its grand for everyday stuff and some light downloading. I can see three rock from my window and its been working grand for the last couple of months with no hassle. You just stick it in the window , fire it up and your gone. It is just like the tv or radio.

good luck with it.

inigo

Red Alert wrote:

Check if anybody around you has ripwave, as it's a right pain in the ass to send it back. Some places like where I live have a clear line of sight to 3 rock and it still didn't work for me. Oh, and ask for the Ethernet version, not the USB, as it's easier to upscale to two or more computers later on when using Ethernet.

Nice one. I've also heard the ethernet version will work with linux, unlike the USB, which would be very interesting since I use linux myself. However, I don't know how reliable this information is.

GiMiC

The ethernet will work fine with Linux.

kenmc

it's true that the ethernet one works with linux. dunno about the USB but I doubt it's trivial.

Jokah

I have IBB Ripwave in Blackrock. No complaints. I don't game so I do not worry about the lags etc..

For downloads, its very fast, I have never experienced a problem. 30 euro a month is great, NO LINE rental, NO MONEY TO EIRCOM B**TA**S...

Never had to use their Technical support - no complaints. One thing, Have it near a window or up high on a 2nd floor near a window. I moved the modem from the back of the sitting room to the front and the red light on the modem went from being constantly red to constantly orange...Speeds were still good at red.

Very happy with it, we had it out in the back garden with a laptop and the connection was excellent, and also in the car at one stage at blackrock dart station. Very handy..

Stark

I like the fact that it has no cap (for the pay monthly version anyway, for some reason the cheaper prepay version has a cap).

NTL are also a good choice if it's available in your area. Chances are the place you're staying in already has NTL points.

inigo

Stark wrote:

I like the fact that it has no cap (for the pay monthly version anyway, for some reason the cheaper prepay version has a cap).

Hmm, which cheaper prepay version? I never saw that one in their website. Did I miss it? I only saw the no-cap €24.99 per month including VAT...

muckwarrior

inigo wrote:

Did I miss it? I only saw the no-cap €24.99 per month including VAT...

Any idea when it changed to €25 from €30? I got my bill 2 days ago and i was still charged 30.
To answer your question, when I first got it (Sep) I was very happy with it. Then roughly around the start of this year speeds got increasingly worse and service would often cut out for a few minutes every hour or so. The last few weeks it's gotten a bit better but I'd still go for somethin else if I had the choice. 512k (more like 350k) is pretty slow by current standards, but if speed or latency isn't important to you then it's not bad for 25 quid I suppose.

Edit: I'm on the Guiness mast.