Any reliable way to find providers in specific areas?

iwb

I would really like to find out quickly what sort of coverage is available in any given area of the country. While DSL isn't too difficult, ideally, I would need a phone number to test it which I don't usually have.
Wireless is a different matter though as I usually find that someone is in the area after a long search. IBB for example has inaccurate and out of date coverage maps, while Digiweb has none.
The Governments site is worse than useless.
Any other suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks, iwb.

kaizersoze

www.getbroadband.ie is another.
Can be very inacurate but lists cable, wireless, DSL and wireless (no maps though).

iwb

Thanks kaisersose. I forgot to mention that site. I assume though that they only feature providers they have a deal going with. Is this correct? I don't see any of the smaller guys listed there but maybe I haven't looked hard enough.

Sponge Bob

Comreg has county by county stats and will be as forthcoming as always if you just ask nicely

The DCMNR noticed that Zone BB is VSAT I see

...and welcome back, long time no hearski

iwb

Hey Sponge Bob. Yes, it has been a while, hasn't it. I'm not sure I would be any better off calling Comreg than Digiweb, IBB or any of the others to be honest. It is very time consuming sometimes, particularly when I often find out by sheer dogged determination that someone does offer a service but they don't know it!
Wireless guys are terrible for this (along with many other things besides)

iwb

I just noticed your post count at 3,999. Like watching the odometer on the car turning over to the next thousand kms:)

Sponge Bob

you would have to name the county you want data for at least, the only accurate national coverage map of any sort is this recent Bitstream DSL one from April which assumes that telephone lines are a bit crooked so it assumes 4km radius of coverage from any given exchange.

http://www.mulley.net/2006images/4kmExchangesEnabled.png

a smattering of exchanges were added since, maybe 10

Dempsey had a canary when he saw it

damien

Maybe the newly discovered eircom FWA locations should be added?

Sponge Bob

with a range of traditional 4km of course, they use omnis not sectors .

Metro coverage which uses sectors is about 12km range centered on the illegible 10.5ghz licence areas on the Comreg site

Lastmile is 7km from their licence area centres in 3.5Ghz

Permanet is 12km from the centres of their 3.5Ghz areas

Blaster99

If you're in New Ross, Brendan Kehoe's network is still around albeit run by some commercial crowd. Some details are on irishwan.org I believe. It's not exactly a carrier-grade service.

iwb

Thanks Guys. It was definately more of a general question, as I have no need at the moment for anywhere in particular.
I have done some serious research in the last few months to find a provider in a particular area. Take Riverstick in Cork for example. After many, many phone calls, I did finally ascertain that IBB has coverage, although limited. It turns out that they can cover the location I need though which was a positive result.
Kilcoole was a strange one, as part of it is covered by DSL from Greystones and part from Newtownmountkennedy. I just happened on an eircom technician one day there and he filled me in.
In any case, detailed info is long, long overdue and it is frustrating to have to call 20 numbers to find the info.
Brendans network is now operated by Callidus Telecom and sold locally by IFA Telecom. I don't need service in New Ross right now, but thanks for your help Blaster.

bminish

Sponge Bob wrote:

The DCMNR noticed that Zone BB is VSAT I see
i

Albeit with that nice new shiny faster than the speed of light kit
Quoted latency as 300msec +- 50 mSec here
follow the zone broadband link at the bottom of this page
http://www.broadband.gov.ie/bbinfo/ServiceListWF.aspx

Whereas poor auld medasat haven't been able to get hold of any of this new Faster than light kit and are stuck with a much more honest latency figure of between 610 (Theoretical minimum ) and 810 (optimistic but realistic figure for VSAT)

.brendan