Magnet broadband

con1982 · 08-12-2006 1:07am #1

Has anyone had good/bad experience with magnet broadband?

sham69 · 08-12-2006 3:51pm

I have it about a month and have had no problems.
It hasnt dropped and the speeds are really good, I initially signed up for the 8mb but dropped down to 4mb and it's flying. Its a bit pricey but thats the only thing I can complain about, havent been billed yet but hopefully everything will be in order.
Recommended.

JNive · 08-12-2006 5:06pm

ive got it now about a week and a half, no problems yet, not a single slowdown reported from 5mbps on the 4mbps package. only 2 minor issues to date.

1) wednesday morning from about 6am to noon, their DHCP server seemed to malfunction resulting in no connectivity ( considering the time frame, it may have been routine or planned )

2) Using azureus on with vista seems to choke the modems ability at making outgoing connections, unsure whether its specific to azureus, its settings, bittorent in general, or that im using vista though

For reference, im on Magnet Entertainment Intro, No TV

the5th · 31-12-2006 1:37am

I've had the equipment for about 2 weeks but only got up and running today.

After a terrible experience with aNoTher L big service provider I called Magnet and they were very pleasant on the phone, and called me back when they said they would etc.

When I got the equipemt though I couldn't get online and I found the technical support call centre to be MOST unhelpful. It turns out the problem was on my end, with the wiring of my phonelines around the house, but I had to work this out myself after no-one really seemed interested in actually halping me when I called.

Having said that the internet is very fast, but the TV isn't yet working, I was told that they are having technical difficulties with new customers that won't be fixed until at least tuesday (2nd JAn 07).

It's wierd though, I'm using azureus and I had the ports and IP all set up with my last provider. So i was going to do the same and I asked Magnet on the phone today could I configure a pinhole in this modem, and they told me no, that the manufacturers don't allow it, but talks about it are are ongoing. I was dismayed, thinking that I wouldn't be able to use torrents, but I find that with a dynamic IP and no port forwarding azureus seems to work OK. The NAT and DHT are green. The tracker I use tells me that although I'm generally connectable, there's one or two torrents that I'm not. Can anyone shed any light on this??

bk · 31-12-2006 2:16am

the5th wrote:

Having said that the internet is very fast, but the TV isn't yet working, I was told that they are having technical difficulties with new customers that won't be fixed until at least tuesday (2nd JAn 07).

Magnets TV service doesn't work very well due to the limitations of IPTV over DSL. Don't expect much from it and it will also slow down your broadband. Better to go with Sky or NTL for TV.

the5th wrote:

It's wierd though, I'm using azureus and I had the ports and IP all set up with my last provider. So i was going to do the same and I asked Magnet on the phone today could I configure a pinhole in this modem, and they told me no, that the manufacturers don't allow it, but talks about it are are ongoing. I was dismayed, thinking that I wouldn't be able to use torrents, but I find that with a dynamic IP and no port forwarding azureus seems to work OK. The NAT and DHT are green. The tracker I use tells me that although I'm generally connectable, there's one or two torrents that I'm not. Can anyone shed any light on this??

Complete bull by Magnet, Magnet have complete control over the routers and could either allow you to forward ports or do it for oyu, but they choose not too.

Paulj · 31-12-2006 2:38am

i have the 2mb 30euro dsl only package and i am quite happy with it. The only main complaint is the lack of being able to setup port forwarding on the router. Why they dont allow this puzzles me. I'd imagine for most people though this shouldn't be a problem.

There were one or two occasions over the past 6 months where it went down for a couple of hours also. But all in all, i'd recommend them, they have very good prices for people who have a lot of downloading to do.

JNive · 31-12-2006 8:36am

if you are one of the entertainment packages but without the TV, you will get the wireless telsey modem. THis is only a 4-port modem switch and not a router, so there is no forwarding required. Im not sure what equipment people get if they get the TV service also, or if they are on the teh Magnet basic 2mb service

IvanGrozny · 09-01-2007 1:58am

Paulj wrote:

i have the 2mb 30euro dsl only package and i am quite happy with it. The only main complaint is the lack of being able to setup port forwarding on the router. Why they dont allow this puzzles me. I'd imagine for most people though this shouldn't be a problem.

There were one or two occasions over the past 6 months where it went down for a couple of hours also. But all in all, i'd recommend them, they have very good prices for people who have a lot of downloading to do.

I did manage to set NAT port forwarding and much, much more, but it absolutely wasn't a straightforward process.

I have the Magnet base package, 2Mb/s, no TV/phone. The router I got is a pretty decent one from 2Wire, it even has two phone sockets which in my case are sitting idle because the package doesn't include an additional VoIP phone.

Anyway, I discovered the router configuration page on http://192.168.1.254 , but it wouldn't let me change anything firewall-related without entering an (non-disclosed by magnet) admin password first.

At first I tried to contact the Magnet customer support, who were very un-supportive - when I asked if it is possible to change router parameters, the answer was an empathic "NO", they were adamant that the router has already been pre-configured by their staff and that I have no business fiddling with it.

Theoretically, I could hard-reset the router, which would reset its admin password, but this would have a nasty side-effect: Magnet username and password for adsl access would also be reset, and Magnet has decided that the adsl password is another piece of info that has to be kept secret.

Never taking "no" for an answer, I began googling for a 2Wire technical support number. Apparently there are none in Ireland, but I found one in the US. I cannot remember the exact number right now, as all this was happening 6 months ago, but the 2wire tech support guy from the US was extremely attentive, competent and helpful, especially after he heard what kind of treatment I was getting from the ISP using their router.

He asked for the 20-digit code displayed by the router when I chose the "I still can't remember the password" link, and he immediately gave me a temporary password, which has enabled me to unlock the router and choose my own password.

Azureus works like a charm, and the general broadband access too. The connection has never gone down over these 6 months, and the router is very stable, not a single freeze (I had to reset my old LinkSys router at least once-twice a month)

In short: don't give up. Don't expect any help from Magnet tech support - go directly to your router's manufacturer.

JNive · 09-01-2007 8:30am

OK, Magnet base does provide a VoIP line as a second line in addition to the Existing Eircom line (Shared LLU). If you plug a normal phone into voip port 1 you should be able to use it as normal.

Also, indeed, the Magnet Base Package comes with the 2wire router ( which is an actual router with NAT etc ). Also no provider is breaking any user access issues here as they generally all ( even eircom ) define the customer access point as the ethernet ports on the LAN side of the router ( if the router etc is supplied by them, otherwise its the WAN port )

The Magnet 4mb and 8mb packages however have the telsey modem which is not a router, and provides each connected device with its own public IP. The TV service is optional with the 4mb packages.

Also as stated, any of the packages can have your existing eircom number ported over via the Shared LLU / GLUMP process. This will result in you line requiring a dsl filter just like the normal eircom dsl products to seperate DSL and Voice on your side. ( Warning: you NEED to request this with your initial signup and it CANNOT be done after eircom process the unbundling order )

kin9pin · 17-01-2007 12:45pm

JNive wrote:

Also as stated, any of the packages can have your existing eircom number ported over via the Shared LLU / GLUMP process. This will result in you line requiring a dsl filter just like the normal eircom dsl products to seperate DSL and Voice on your side. ( Warning: you NEED to request this with your initial signup and it CANNOT be done after eircom process the unbundling order )

Help.......
Finally got my phone back to Eircom. Rang Magnet and asked about the potential problem of VOIP with Sky multiroom. The cs rep on the phone (after asking her supervisor a few times) promised me that the Telsey?? modem provided would allow sky callbacks. She then said I would have to pay €99 for an engineer to come out and activate my old Eircom extensions in order that I could use them.
I then asked about shared LLU/GLUMP. She didn't seem to know what I was talking about, but said that I could only get the 2Mb service if I wanted to keep my Eircom line.
Any ideas what I should do? If Magnets VOIP definitely works with Sky multiroom then I'll go with them, but I don't want to have to buy new phones etc. to connect to the modem....or pay another €99 for an engineer.

Thanks
Confused

JNive · 17-01-2007 9:28pm

When i was onto Philip Clapperton, Sales Manager i was informed that the Sky Boxes should work, however since i had 2 Boxes plus phones etc, he said id need a small external ATA device which he would send out to me and connect the sky boxes to that.

Once we get back onto the Magnet Service and are rid of Chorus, yet again, ill update people with the results, should the extra ATA device get sent out.

WillyFXP · 01-10-2007 10:18am

kin9pin wrote:

Help.......
Finally got my phone back to Eircom. Rang Magnet and asked about the potential problem of VOIP with Sky multiroom. The cs rep on the phone (after asking her supervisor a few times) promised me that the Telsey?? modem provided would allow sky callbacks. She then said I would have to pay €99 for an engineer to come out and activate my old Eircom extensions in order that I could use them.
I then asked about shared LLU/GLUMP. She didn't seem to know what I was talking about, but said that I could only get the 2Mb service if I wanted to keep my Eircom line.
Any ideas what I should do? If Magnets VOIP definitely works with Sky multiroom then I'll go with them, but I don't want to have to buy new phones etc. to connect to the modem....or pay another €99 for an engineer.

Thanks
Confused

It's extremely easy to wire the magnet telsey modems for ALL of your existing telecom equipment INCLUDING sky boxes, however many you have. Connect the modem to the dsl in socket directly from the eircom master socket and make sure you disconnect any extensions from this socket, then simply connect your existing extension loop to the phoneline 1 socket in the back of the modem, so that it feeds your existing equipment. I really don't know why magent are charging 99 euro for this, it's a very easy setup.

lookinggoodson · 02-11-2007 12:21pm

Hi,

Does anyone know what settings magnet use for there broadband. I want to use my own wireless N adsl router. Magnet point blank refuse to give me any of the settings. I really dislike their telsey modem. I cant even find the access IP for the modem never mind the username and password. I dont understand why they dont allow users to know the settings. Any help on this would be greatly appreciated. Email me if you want (lookinggoodson@gmail.com). Please dont say switch to anther provider as this will take at least 3 weeks and I need my net connection. And to the question why I chose magnet in the first place, well I didnt, it was already active in the house when I rented the house. Catch 22 I think.

Thanks in advance

Daniel

doninosq · 23-11-2007 3:17pm

Hi guys i want to get magnet broadband, recently i suspect NTL is throtelling bit torrents... is magnet a good isp if you are downloading?

kin9pin · 23-11-2007 8:38pm

doninosq wrote: »

Hi guys i want to get magnet broadband, recently i suspect NTL is throtelling bit torrents... is magnet a good isp if you are downloading?

Yes. I'm on the 4Mb package and it flies for me on any torrent and it's 100GB limit pm which I never get anywehere near. Pings are decent for me on xbox live so all in all I'm happy I switched from NTL.

doninosq · 24-11-2007 12:47am

thanks is that the one that goes via the phone line right?

kin9pin · 24-11-2007 12:56pm

doninosq wrote: »

thanks is that the one that goes via the phone line right?

Yep, only hassle I had was in the initial set up as it's VOIP. I had to put the modem downstairs at the main phone point and then run my extensions off the modem. If you don't have sky multiroom then you could put it anywhere and use DECT phones, but I needed a wired connection to my sky boxes

fyi I haven't had any problems with the VOIP service.

doninosq · 24-11-2007 4:18pm

But isnt magnet providing a wireless service so why would you need to provide extenstion cable from downstairs to up stairs if the computer is upstairs?

kin9pin · 24-11-2007 5:58pm

doninosq wrote: »

But isnt magnet providing a wireless service so why would you need to provide extenstion cable from downstairs to up stairs if the computer is upstairs?

It is wireless and I use that for my pc upstairs. I'm talking about the phone extensions for the sky boxes.

congo_90 · 24-11-2007 6:41pm

Hi, i have the full service. Telephone, Broadband (4mb) and Tv. The let down is with tv. To stay on topic: Never have any issues with the broadband service. Though once or twice the DHCP renew took quite an amount of time. Its fast and reliable. Our house is in a new estate where all the houses come ready wired for magnet in every room with at least two LAN sockets. I also have a wireless router. Sweex something, bought from Petes. I connected it up because was sick of wires. Even thoughin my house its literally a wire going into the walll and back to laptop.

Would recommend it to everyone. I used to have NTL and Clearwire. Both were a let down form what they originally advertised.
:cool:

bricks · 26-11-2007 1:02am

lookinggoodson wrote: »

Hi,

Does anyone know what settings magnet use for there broadband. I want to use my own wireless N adsl router. Magnet point blank refuse to give me any of the settings. I really dislike their telsey modem. I cant even find the access IP for the modem never mind the username and password. I dont understand why they dont allow users to know the settings. Any help on this would be greatly appreciated. Email me if you want (lookinggoodson@gmail.com). Please dont say switch to anther provider as this will take at least 3 weeks and I need my net connection. And to the question why I chose magnet in the first place, well I didnt, it was already active in the house when I rented the house. Catch 22 I think.

Thanks in advance

Daniel

As far as I'm aware the reason you can't config anything is because there is no config in the box. It pulls down a very simple config that includes the WEP key and probably some telephone settings etc from a remote server at their end at power on. They will probably disable the wireless if you ask them also.

There's no need to configure the usual port forwarding becuase they give a public IP to everything plugged in.

When I had magnet I used to just plug a router into one of the ports and configure all my stuff on there.

I got full speed all the time and I could see no evidence of any contention or traffic shapping, unlike this crap NTL/UPC connection I'm stuck with at the moment.

Some people have mentioned that they are expensive, I'm starting to think that its maybe because they are actually providing the proper service.

JNive · 26-11-2007 11:32pm

I really dislike their telsey modem. I cant even find the access IP for the modem never mind the username and password. I dont understand why they dont allow users to know the settings.

There isnt anything to configure with the Telsey Modems. Each device that gets connected to it, whether its wireless or wired, gets its own public IP (often from different subnets etc). Also, the IPs are either static or long-term DHCP (at least a year) as ive had the same IP on my router since ive had magnet (havent changed the mac address on the router, and have rebooted the modem plenty)

the Telsey modem looks like an 'ADSL Router' but has all the router components disabled, making it more of a switch than anything.

bertisevil · 27-11-2007 1:08am

bricks wrote: »

As far as I'm aware the reason you can't config anything is because there is no config in the box. It pulls down a very simple config that includes the WEP key and probably some telephone settings etc from a remote server at their end at power on. They will probably disable the wireless if you ask them also.

There's no need to configure the usual port forwarding becuase they give a public IP to everything plugged in.

When I had magnet I used to just plug a router into one of the ports and configure all my stuff on there.

I got full speed all the time and I could see no evidence of any contention or traffic shapping, unlike this crap NTL/UPC connection I'm stuck with at the moment.

Some people have mentioned that they are expensive, I'm starting to think that its maybe because they are actually providing the proper service.

Anybody care to comment on how Magnet are getting away with using WEP on these wireless modems?

JCDublin · 09-01-2008 11:17pm

Anyone tried setting up Airport Extreme wireless router on Magnet? Am considering using Manget for Broadband but just want to check that it all works first...

Also, does anyone use a Slingbox on Magnet? I am curious whether Magnet Customer support will be helpful if I call looking for assistance in setting this up, given that it probably uses quite a lot of bandwidth.

Thanks

sainf · 03-04-2008 2:00am

all the technology geeks and not a clue....

Run network through electricity easy and safe being doing it for two years and no problems run wires here run wires there i dont lift finger just plug here and there tv , video, music and telephone anywhere in house

sainf · 03-04-2008 2:03am

need port forwading for sling and magnet wont allow unless you just use for house use then it is easy. but for port forwading or adding nat adress there is a way

TouchingVirus · 03-04-2008 2:28am

sainf wrote: »

all the technology geeks and not a clue....

Run network through electricity easy and safe being doing it for two years and no problems run wires here run wires there i dont lift finger just plug here and there tv , video, music and telephone anywhere in house

Try your posts again, perhaps with proper english

Grammar is a wonderful thing :pac:

banquo · 01-06-2008 4:23am

Thinking of getting the 4mb connection out in maynooth, Kildare. What kinda speeds are people getting on that line? I've heard good things - mostly in this thread - but looking for specifics. Is full speed the proper 4-600Kbps? And as a constant? If it is that good then I'm sold, screw the expense. totally worth it.

Magnet: Rory · 08-06-2008 7:31pm

Unfortunately i don't think Magnet are available in Maynooth. Sorry to be the bearer of bad news.

ruamire · 14-07-2008 4:12pm

Hey,

Anyone with experiences of Magnet in Dublin South City Centre? The speeds look good on paper but is it really zero contention? How do they manage that?!

Cheers

Bohrio · 14-07-2008 4:29pm

ruamire wrote: »

Hey,

Anyone with experiences of Magnet in Dublin South City Centre? The speeds look good on paper but is it really zero contention? How do they manage that?!

Cheers

I have them and their service is excellent... low latency and very good speeds too.

If you have the option of FTTH (Fibre to the Home) I dont think you can get a better service here in Ireland, although I have never tested Smart's FTTB but all I can say is that its way better than ADSL2+, 3G and wireless, specially if you consider the total theoretical bandwidth (~1 gB)

Remember that on Fiber, you will be getting a synchronous speed (same download and upload) and you can't get that with ADSL2+ nor 3g (wireless can do it).

There is no contention but you could find congestion, specially on their international circuits.

Pings inside ireland wont take longer than 2 ms on average, sometimes less.

Pings to UK no more than 6-7 ms depending on the day.

They offer a true 1:1 connection afaik only for FTTH, not for ADSL2+ (although it could be possible too dont take my word for it)

So far I am very happy with the service (broadband related TV is not the best), and I will be happier when they decide to introduce new speeds (24 mb and 50 mb) sometime soon.

Can't say anything about their billing system only about their physical service. No complaints with billing either but I have only been with them for 1 month...

Magnet broadband

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