Trying to find out which provider uses this antenna

rh555

Hi,

I just moved to an apartment in Sligo and the previous tenant used wireless internet. He left the antenna here and i am trying to find out which provider it belongs to. There are only 2 wireless internet providers (besides Vodaphone and Three) in Sligo which are Digiweb and Fastcom. I contacted Digiweb and they sent someone after only 1 week. He was new and he said it wasn't Digiwebs antenna and they have only one access point in Sligo which was blocked in my case. Funny thing was that he said there is only one person connected to Digiweb in Sligo so if u have line of sight u should get great speed.
Anyways, so I figured the antenna belongs to fastcom which operates in the Northeast. They have steep installation prices (€149) so I figured if its their antenna maybe all they have to do is to reconnect the Network cable and I'll save the installation fee. So the guy from Fastcom checks out the antenna and says its not theirs either. Now i am really curious who's antenna that is. Maybe it actually is digiwebs and the new guy just didn't know because they now use a different antenna.

I'll post a picture of the antenna which i took today. If anybody has any insight into whom it may belong to please let me know.

Thanks

Sponge Bob

That is obviously an alien spacecraft and not an antenna at all .

( are IBB not also in Sligo and a crowd called High Speed )

byte

Yeah, IBB are in Sligo anyway.

kc66

Looks like a Digiweb antenna. I know at least two people with the same Digiweb connection in Sligo so not sure what he was on about.

daffy_duc

I think thats a Last Mile antenna...

lucernarian

That would indeed be a Digiweb FWA antenna as seen on my roof.

But mabye some other company also uses the same airspan equipment? Unlikely though.

Edit: it's Airspan WLL equipment. And that aerial signifies that regardless of company, they're using 3.5 GHz. Which would imply they have a license. There's some pdf or website on Comreg.ie which shows the 4 licenseholders for each 3.5 GHz mast in Ireland but I'd need to hunt it down.

s_gr

Thats an Airspan WLL aerial, most likely digiweb as they have a 3.5Ghz basestation in sligo.

Sponge Bob

he may never have installed 3.5ghz ...only metro

rh555

thanks for all the replies. I would really would want the digiweb metro service if it would be available but as I said the new digiweb guy insisted that this wasn't their antenna. Then again maybe because he just started he didn't know. He also told me their was only one access point for metro in Sligo and it was blocked. Considering they have not built any high buildings anywhere around my apartment building and indeed it is a digiweb antenna the new guy either didnt know about different access points or digiweb had at one time more access points but took them down for some reason.
I guess I'll just contact digiweb and see if they had someone using their service at my address before. Only reason I didn't do it was that the guy said thats def. not a digiweb antenna.

I also checked Irish Broadband but there seems to be no service in Sligo town at all at least thats what their coverage Check says.

One other question. Does it say on the back of the antenna who it belongs to? Maybe I should climb up their and check it out. Have to get a ladder though

jor el

Maybe I'm wrong, but I think what people are saying is that's not a Metro aerial, but it's from Digiweb's other wireless service. In that case, the guy who was out may only be aware of Metro aerials and might not even know the other service exists in Sligo. Metro could well be blocked for you but the other one looks like it's available. You should ring Digiweb and ask them about their Wireless service (not Metro). It's not a very cheap product though, low speeds, low cap, high contention and more expensive than Metro.

watty

There are possibly several people using Airspan gear. Nor is it all 3.6GHz either. It can even be 5.x GHz ISM band, though not 802.11a compatible.

Comreg licences 3.5GHz here (But 5.x may not be on Comreg site):
http://www.comreg.ie/industry/35_map_cha.4.246.html
http://www.comreg.ie/industry/35_map_chb.4.247.html
http://www.comreg.ie/industry/35_map_chc.4.248.html looks like Digiweb in Sligo
http://www.comreg.ie/industry/35_map_chd.4.249.html

Unfortunately the Comreg maps are a little small and hard to read the company.

Also the Comreg maps don't show real coverage. Digiweb has Metro, Wireless, Satellite and DSL in different parts of Sligo. It may not be Digiweb's aerial. It could be an ISM band for something that doesn't even exist anymore.

rh555

Ok, I talked to Digiweb customer service and this antenna indeed seems to belong to them. The previous tenant who used the antenna was still in their customer system and he was using the Metro service. They told me that they have now a 'brandnew' system with a different antenna but if the old one worked I shouldn't have a problem with the new system which according to them works much better. All their access points should be still in place he also said.

I just asked him about the installer who came by and told me that there wouldn't be any access to their system and they said I would be contacted by the head engineer of the Sligo/Northwest region tomorrow. So we'll see what happens.

I guess metro is a pretty decent service from what I read. I know there is a cap. of 30gb/month but i am not a big file sharer so I shouldn't have any problems. Also I would get at least 3Mbit connection which still hurts after using a 15/2 connection in the U.S. for years but is still better than the 2Mbit I get from fastcom. However they have no cap. + upload is also 2Mbit.
My advantage with Metro is also the 6month contract while fastcom is 1 year. At least I know there should be two different services available in case one totaly sux.

Thanks again for all your help

Sponge Bob

better get him out instead of the other installer

watty

Nobody has no cap.
Either there is Fair Use (unknown Cap that changes to suit operator) or the system is so slow that a cap is pointless (dialup & ripwave). If there is a cap it usually implies the system can deliver speed and the operator has done the sums in advance rather than moving the goal posts as more users are added.

They must have taken the Metro antenna back. Because the one in the photo isn't Metro.

lucernarian

On a side point: if there was a different frequency in use, would the aerial/radio unit not look different?

It's possible to get higher speed Metro packages, but it may be costly.

rh555

I talked to the head engineer for digiweb today and he told me that this antenna belongs to them. However it was not used for the metro service but for their basic wireless service which is pretty damn expensive with low speeds + low cap. He said he would send someone tomorrow to remove the antenna and check again if I can get the metro system.
Funny thing is that I may actually have a line of sight from my roof but the installer last time said he couldn't go higher than 3 stories because of the union he is in. I live in a 3 story building but the roof should add another 3 meters or so + the chimney should be enough, but I guess if something happens to him he wont be covered because his union stipulates he cant go higher than 3 stories.
The head engineer also confirmed that there is only one access point for Metro in Sligo. I guess those towers are pretty damn expensive.

So I guess I'll have to go with Fastcom. They have more access points and they said it shouldn't be a problem but one never know.

As for the no cap. policy of fastcom. I am pretty certain that they wont allow u to download 1Tb/month but I don't think they cut u off after 100Gb/month either. The guy said they pay a fixed amount for the line which includes 'unlimited' data.
Thats the thing that bothers me a bit bc. I guess there are some ppl downloading stuff all day long and slow down the whole system. I think I'll find out unless the Metro guy actually decides to get up on the roof tomorrow for some reason.

watty

To_be_confirmed wrote:

On a side point: if there was a different frequency in use, would the aerial/radio unit not look different?

It's possible to get higher speed Metro packages, but it may be costly.

The actual aerials inside the box do look different. But for that make it is behind the plastic and you can't see which frequency it is. There is usually a label.

you can get a 2.4Ghz omni (2400MHz) that looks identical to a 144MHz aerial on the outside. Inside the fibreglass tube not remotely the same.