Best mobile broadband?

toby2111

Hi,

Just finished my 1 year contract with O2 mobile broadband(€20/month).Usual problems,very slow at times while other times it was fine.I use the net for downloading music and general browsing so mobile broadband suits me fine.Just wondering if there are better providers out there?Or should I stick with O2-they seem to have a new mobile modem which might increase speeds.

none

I don't think new modems will increase the speed as it's low on the network level. Most modern modems offer HSDPA 7.2Mbps but I doubt Irish networks will provide it. I actually also consider going mobile but without contracts so the only options for me Meteor and Three.

con1982

I am 5 months into a mobile broadband package with Meteor. I live in rathmines and the service is terrible. Most evenings i get disconnected at least once. General speeds are between 20 - 40 kb/sec....... If you log on at 4am on a Wednesday morning you might get 80kb/sec. I have been in touch with Comreg and hope to rid myself of Meteor shortly.

probably switching to UPC......wish me luck

CG

toby2111

Con1982-is UPC a mobile internet provider?I wonder could I get it in Dundalk?O2 is actually not too bad for me,drops out at times but mostly stays connected.Can also be slow at times but I imagine metoer/three/vodafone are the same?Plus my computer is old,only have 9% free space on my C drive,ran disk clean up and defragmenter but no improvement.Anyway let us know if UPC is a better option,good luck!

con1982

UPC/NTL would be fixed broadband. I didn't have the choice originally so i went for mobile broadband

DK47

i've tried vodafone, o2 and a friend has meteor. i moved to 3 in july and its the best, the customer service is not great, but my signal very rarely drops, can only recall once, on the other providers the speed would drop at peak times, with 3 its not as noticeable, i wont say there isnt a diferance, but its still a good speed. plus they are rolling out the national broadband scheme and are upgrading there networks, the girl in the 3 store told me i will me able to get up to HSDPA 7.2Mbps in around 2 months, we will see:D

Ricky91t

DK47 wrote: »

i've tried vodafone, o2 and a friend has meteor. i moved to 3 in july and its the best, the customer service is not great, but my signal very rarely drops, can only recall once, on the other providers the speed would drop at peak times, with 3 its not as noticeable, i wont say there isnt a diferance, but its still a good speed. plus they are rolling out the national broadband scheme and are upgrading there networks, the girl in the 3 store told me i will me able to get up to HSDPA 7.2Mbps in around 2 months, we will see:D

LOL

Unless you'll be right next to the mast and the only person using it you might get it...If not then you won't,The maximum speed given out is 7.2mbps I am yet to see a speed test from an Irish mobile broaband company of someone getting the quoted speed

AlmightyCushion

Too many variables. Someone in one area could have great speeds but with the same provider in another area you could get rubbish speeds. Plusjust because it's great in that area now, doesn't mean that it will still be great in a few months time.

jor el

DK47 wrote: »

i've tried vodafone, o2 and a friend has meteor. i moved to 3 in july and its the best, the customer service is not great,

In general, Three is the worst, but for some users it may be the only thing that works. For someone changing provider, they should put Three at the end of the list.

Sephiroth_dude

I have 3 and it aint too bad.

Walkman

DK47 wrote: »

i've tried vodafone, o2 and a friend has meteor. i moved to 3 in july and its the best, the customer service is not great, but my signal very rarely drops, can only recall once, on the other providers the speed would drop at peak times, with 3 its not as noticeable, i wont say there isnt a diferance, but its still a good speed. plus they are rolling out the national broadband scheme and are upgrading there networks, the girl in the 3 store told me i will me able to get up to HSDPA 7.2Mbps in around 2 months, we will see:D

The girl in the 3Store obviously doesn't know what she is talking about. 3's network is already HSDPA 7.2mbps but don't expect to ever get that speed cause you won't.

patmac

So O2 is very popular at the moment in Athlone i won't be able to get a modem till the weekend, so should I avoid O2 as it will be the most popular, and not sign up to the 18 month contract as it is the cheapest?

monty_python

patmac wrote: »

So O2 is very popular at the moment in Athlone i won't be able to get a modem till the weekend, so should I avoid O2 as it will be the most popular, and not sign up to the 18 month contract as it is the cheapest?

any1 know what mobile broadband option would be best for the lucan area?
i was considering a 12month contract with 3 but from this thread they seem to be the worst!

jay93

looks like in my village my cousin is the only person using 3 speeds are at constant 3mbps exactly as advertised im signing upto 3 next week and we will see from there how they go ...thumbs down for vodafone really makes my temp boil trying to use it :eek:

Capt'n Midnight

priority is given to voice calls
what ever is left over is shared between the data users
if another user connects from from further away then they will connect at a lower speed, this means you have to wait for their packets to pass, even though they will take up far less bandwidth , they may take more time slices than someone with a faster connection

the only good news is that there may be more than one antenna on a mast

siteviewer on comreg site will show a map of masts and whether they are 3G or not

rebel.ranter

Capt'n Midnight wrote: »

siteviewer on comreg site will show a map of masts and whether they are 3G or not

Way, way out of date. Not recommended to see the most reliable information.

My advice is to take up the free trials offered by the network providers to see which gives the best service for your particular location.
One network may be the bees knees in one area but not so hot in another.

Mobile network operators are in a funny place at the minute, the customer base is growing a bit faster than they can provide adequate capacity for. Eventually they will have a more stable growth & will be better able to cope with demands, data traffic growth has been exponential & they faced similar issues with voice 10-12 years ago. The voice network is stable now.

Both the O2 & Vodafone networks in the UK (London specifically) recently fell over due to a massive increase in demand for mobile data traffic largely driven by the BBC mobile iPlayer.

Sponge Bob

That is the simplest explanation. Mobile netwok operators will always be in a funny place.

It depends entirely on

1. where you are
2. which network is busiest in your area

So take up the free trial offers and note, particularly, what the network is like between 7 and 10 pm.

Also remember that Meteor/eircom have feck all customers right now but that the situation will change quite soon.