What is a girl to do?

WiseMona

Hello,
I need some advice please. I am moving into a house at the end of the month and need to have broadband. I recently contacted eircom and although there is not an active landline currently being used in this residence, the line is there and they have activated it for me. THey told me to order Broadband online to save myself the 29 euro fee.
When I got on line, apparently there is no broadband available in my area :mad:. Apparently the line is of bad copper quality and they cannot give me what I need. SO, my question is this - what are the other dependable and affordable options out there for me to sign up with?
(obviously not phone line. I called chorus ntl and digital tv is available in my area but not digital phone or broadband). I am based near Claregalway, County Galway.
Thank You,

Anti

wireless or satelite broadband or 3g bradband. Digiweb do wireless, satelite is too expensive to be honest. o2, vodafone and 3G all do 3g broadband. Check them out online.

PogMoThoin

Try Airwire, I think they're in your area, You'll need line of sight to one of their access points.

Brad C

WiseMona wrote: »

Hello,
I need some advice please. I am moving into a house at the end of the month and need to have broadband. I recently contacted eircom and although there is not an active landline currently being used in this residence, the line is there and they have activated it for me. THey told me to order Broadband online to save myself the 29 euro fee.
When I got on line, apparently there is no broadband available in my area :mad:. Apparently the line is of bad copper quality and they cannot give me what I need. SO, my question is this - what are the other dependable and affordable options out there for me to sign up with?
(obviously not phone line. I called chorus ntl and digital tv is available in my area but not digital phone or broadband). I am based near Claregalway, County Galway.
Thank You,

Ah, yes, the old Eircom Shuffle. Same thing happened to me in County Leitrim, so I've been forced to rely on a Vodafone 3G wireless modem. Eircom has a different story every time I phone about when they're going to put broadband in the area, but I suspect we'll be the last place on the island that's hooked up!

snaps

cheapest option a 3g wireless option to be honest. It also depends when and what you need to use it for. Ive no real problems with my three 3g (Gets slow in the evening) but i understand this is the problem with all 3g providers.

watty

3G is Mobile Internet, at between ISDN (3x dialup) to Broadband speeds at high to very high latency. If there is any other fixed Wireless Alternative than 3G, go for it. There is also Clearwire and Ripwave, they are similar performance to the 3G/HSDPA, but not mobile.

Wireless products differ hugely from slightly faster than dialup (50K, 240k) to 10x basic DSL (Up to 10Mbps), thats a 200:1 difference in performance between differing products/technology.

WiseMona

Brad C wrote: »

Ah, yes, the old Eircom Shuffle. Same thing happened to me in County Leitrim, so I've been forced to rely on a Vodafone 3G wireless modem. Eircom has a different story every time I phone about when they're going to put broadband in the area, but I suspect we'll be the last place on the island that's hooked up!

So how is the Vodafone 3G wireless? Is it dependable, affordable?
Thanks for your response.

PogMoThoin

Vodafone 3G wireless is not broadband, its mobile internet that sometimes gives broadband speeds. A 512/512kbps from a reputable fixed wireless provider would be far better than this, don't let the Vodafone advertised speeds fool you, you rarely get these speeds and when you do its at off peak times like 2 o'clock in the morning

WiseMona

PogMoThoin wrote: »

Vodafone 3G wireless is not broadband, its mobile internet that sometimes gives broadband speeds. A 512/512kbps from a reputable fixed wireless provider would be far better than this, don't let the Vodafone advertised speeds fool you, you rarely get these speeds and when you do its at off peak times like 2 o'clock in the morning

Ok................normally I live an admittedly confused life and have no shame admitting stupidity when it comes to this topic, Please feel free to tell me what the best option for me would be. I need to be online 24/7 and it needs to be at least 3mb speed or higher and now I suppose wireless is not an option, eircom cannot offer broadband, NTL does not offer broadband, satelite is just too expensive. I have looked at Airwire and wouldn't you know they are 'working' on Claregalway as a new location but it is not yet active and there is a hefty 200 euro installation fee :eek:.
I work from home - hence the panicked message to Boards.ie today. No internet at home means no money..............., so what would you do?

PogMoThoin

You say you need a 3mbit or higher, may I ask what you need this for. Your going to have to settle for the best available option in your area and Airwire would be miles better than Vodafone as the speeds would be consistent. Email Airwire with your exact location, they say its coming to your area, maybe its nearly there.

Edit; I've pm'ed Marlow for you, he owns Airwire

WiseMona

I appreciate your response. I know, I will have to take what I get. I write. I do a lot of research on line and upload a lot of pics. and manuscripts.
Dial up would be a nightmare. I did email someone from Airwire and they already emailed me back (this evening). It sounds like a good option.

PogMoThoin

What you need is a good upload speed. Airwire offer symmetric speeds, ie 512kbps upload and download. 512kbps upload is what Eircom give with their 7.6mbit home professional package, Eircoms 3mbit only gives 384kbps upload.

You say you work from home, I wouldn't do anything until you've heard back from airwire and certainly don't settle for Vodafone if there's other options in your area. €200 installation might seem expensive, but its better than tieing yourself in2 a 12month contract with something that isn't good enough for your work needs. These 3G modems give very little upload speed, would break your heart.

WiseMona

Again, you are so kind to offer this advice. Once online typing at breakneck speed sitting with my laptop infront of my lovely turf fire.............I will toast your kindness with a lovely hot whiskey.;)

bk

Have you called Eircom to check if your line really can't get BB?

The site isn't always accurate, specially after your line has just been reconnected, it can take up to a month for the site to get the correct info.

WiseMona

Yes, I called initially to place the order and was told it was indeed available and they would have placed the order over the telephone right there and then, but as there is 'no fee' to order it on line, I choose to log in later myeslf to choose a bundle package and save myself the 29 euros;). That is when I found out it was not available in my area according to the website. I could not believe my eyes...........so Eircom's customer service is open on Saturdays until 6pm I decided to give them a ring and ask if they could clarify this message. They 'then':rolleyes: confirmed that the copper wiring on the line is inadequate and could not service broadband.:eek:

bk

I recommend not calling again, not saying anything about your previous attempts and simply order the BB.

You would be surprised, often it will arrive and work. If it doesn't then Eircom might send an engineer out to try and fix it. Either way if it doesn't work, you'll get your money back.

Dennis the Stone

I have a quick question; a similar type of situation;

I am going to order a phone line in from Eircom; I asked the landlord and he said that there was a phone line in the main hall of my apartment block a few years back. So I assume that there is already line work in place in the building.

Will this have an impact upon the quality of the line I get, i.e. them just using the existing line and connecting me up to that versus a completely new line?

WiseMona

bk wrote: »

I recommend not calling again, not saying anything about your previous attempts and simply order the BB.

Considering I already tried to order it online and it would not allow me to as it shows ´unavailable´ for my phone line.....................and you recommend not calling again, is there another way of ordering broadband from Eircom? I appreciate your advice...................and it is getting down to the wire so I am getting a little panicky...........thanks.

DECEiFER

Call them up again, not mentioning any previous attempts. You could have been unlucky before when calling, as the operator could have been stupid and/or lazy.

It's worth a shot!

WiseMona

DECEiFER wrote: »

Call them up again, not mentioning any previous attempts. You could have been unlucky before when calling, as the operator could have been stupid and/or lazy.

It's worth a shot!

Good advice. Gone are the days when we can assume people would just do their jobs................

Marlow

Hi,

Airwire does cover locations around Claregalway. We're working on a base in Claregalway, but we're matter of fact already covering places like the Corporate Business Park outside Claregalway, Carnmore etc. and Caherlistrane and Glenncorrib bases also cover part of that area.

There will always be the option of getting a connection to other basestations.

In regards to your need of a minimum of 3 mbit broadband, then I'd say, speed is widely over-rated. 7.2 or 3.6 mbit on 3G is very often less than 1 mbit in the cities and often just above 300 kbit in the country-side, if not dial-up like speeds. The reason for this is, that the 3.6 mbit is the total speed in the cell and shared between all users that are in the same cell. Compare that to approx 20-30 mbit on a fixed wireless sector.

A lot of customers choose us because of no limit and symmetric speeds, because they want to work from home and need to VPN to work. 1.5 mbit is more than plenty for that. 512kbit is plenty for average browsing, video-clips on youtube, email, etc.

Kind regards,
Martin List-Petersen
Technical Manager
Airwire