Rural broadband options westnet??

fonzy1

Happy new year to all!

I have a few questions regarding Westnet's fixed wireless BB.
The main usage will be from light web brousing and online gaming.
Ping is very important for most online games and i was wondering what i could expect if i were to go ahead give westnet a call and get it installed.

According to their website they say it is suitable for online gaming but i would like to hear from people that actually have it installed and if they could recommend westnet for online gaming.

Fixed line is not available in my area and probably will not be available for years to come, i gave Westnet a call before xmas and found out their nearest reciever is about 1/2 mile away, in fact i can pretty much see it from my house so i don't think LOS will be a problem.

Also they offer a 1/256mb and 2/564 package, which one could you recommend?

Last question, are there any other providers in the Mayo area that could be an alternative to Westnet??

Thanks in advance for any help.

fonzy1

Justa little thread bump, only got about a week left of current mobile device, i don't want to start a "new month".

Any info would be greatly appreciated.

liamnojo92

i've been using westnet for around six months now and i know the frustration mobile broadband can cause,i'd really recommend westnet (although i can get quite bad ping when it's snowing) and the speed are also very reliable unlike mobile bb i get constant 1-1.5 Mgbs here are some pings from just a second ago.
Pinging samhain.heanet.ie [193.1.219.57] with 32 bytes of data

Reply from 193.1.219.57: bytes=32 time=26ms TTL=56
Reply from 193.1.219.57: bytes=32 time=29ms TTL=56
Reply from 193.1.219.57: bytes=32 time=18ms TTL=56
Reply from 193.1.219.57: bytes=32 time=19ms TTL=56

Ping statistics for 193.1.219.57:
Packets: Sent = 4, Received = 4, Lost = 0 (0% loss),
Approximate round trip times in milli-seconds:
Minimum = 18ms, Maximum = 29ms, Average = 23ms

Westnet: Paul

fonzy1 wrote: »

Also they offer a 1/256mb and 2/564 package, which one could you recommend?

Um. Actually, we offer 1/0.5M and 2/1M packages. Just FYI.

liamnojo92

1 meg is fine for gaming but double the speed for a tenner is a great price.
edit:ping is being a bit unreasonable atm averaging 200ms for the last hour

zt-OctaviaN

Hey fonzy,

I would definately reccomend westnet!
Ive been with them for about 3 or or 4 years nearly its very stable e.g. never ever drops.
You can even get rid of your phone if you really wanted to and get an IP phone or just use Skype.

Below are my results I took back in October i had sent on too mates of mine whom are on 9Mb Magnet and UTV connections in Dublin they were surprised to say the least!! hehe on the same servers they got 45 - 65 :eek:

FWA is better for gaming if its done from the right ISP!

:cool:
http://www.pingtest.net/result/1201591.png

Im about 3.5 miles from Cbar i could get 1Mb DSL but I have 2Mb Westnet connection and its definately stable and very responsive for gaming

For PC gaming it is normally in between 30 - 40 but very stable.

@Paul I know there is a huge cost but any plans at all for Wimax 4G?
and 4Mb or 8Mb+ packages?

Best regards,
Nick

liamnojo92

does anyone know what affects ping because mine has been pretty terrible during the afternoon for a few days now

but is always perfect at night ?

Westnet: Paul

zt-OctaviaN wrote: »

@Paul I know there is a huge cost but any plans at all for Wimax 4G?

Sounds more like a marketing term than a technology.

There are two types of WiMAX technology available at the moment: fixed and mobile. We're using the fixed type, which we think is the only sane way to deliver broadband at 3.5GHz. Others are using mobile. We don't plan to - 3.5GHz doesn't do mobile very well.

...and 4Mb or 8Mb+ packages?

Not anytime soon. We'd rather do what we're doing and try to do it well, than push big speeds that most people don't need or want and do it badly.

liamnojo92 wrote: »

does anyone know what affects ping because mine has been pretty terrible during the afternoon for a few days now

but is always perfect at night ?

Can you PM me your details? I'll look into it for you.

fonzy1

Thanks for your replies.
I've heard and read loads of good reviews from Westnet customers i just wanted to get an idea of the sort of ping times i could expect with this service,
The above poster with linked speedtest, thanks for that, that's a good result and i would say it's equal if not better than what a lot of people get from DSL

liamnojo92

ping atm is better but it is the middle of the night

fonzy1

liamnojo92 wrote: »

ping atm is better but it is the middle of the night

Thanks for that, could you ping a server in the U.K. and one in the U.S. if it's not too much bother, thanks in advance:)

nikon1000

If one has Westnet 1mb and wants to upgrade to Westnet 2mb, can it be upgraded remotely or do you need an engineer to do a home visit?

Westnet: Paul

nikon1000 wrote: »

If one has Westnet 1mb and wants to upgrade to Westnet 2mb, can it be upgraded remotely or do you need an engineer to do a home visit?

It can be upgraded remotely, it's just a configuration change at the base station.

fonzy1

Got my connection in last week and i'm very happy with the low latency and stable speeds.

I am experiencing a slight problem though, when i play xbox live i get randomly disconnected, it can happen every 10 minutes or sometimes it will go for a few hours without disconnecting.
I can re-connect straight away, now i've tried with and without a router makes no difference.

I'm not sure how much this affects my disconnecting but i ran a few ping tests and it reported packet loss, sometimes none at all and at worst 4% average packets sent 300.
Would this be enough to disconnect me from xbox live??

I have'nt totally ruled out an xbox hardware issue but i'd just like to check things over on my connection before i shell out 300 quid on another xbox.
Any help would be appreciated.

fonzy1

Thread bump

Could this have anything to do with how i'm assigned an IP address??
I think i have a dynamic IP so is it possible that i'm being given a new IP address during a session which would cause me to disconnect??

jw297

Hi,
Sorry I'm asking more questions rather than answering yours... do you mind me asking whereabouts in Mayo you are? I'm looking into a Westnest connection, and according to the coverage map the house would be quite close to the edge of coverage, so I'm not sure how much that would affect it.
Thanks in advance!

shortys94

Great broadband service, had it for a few years now.

callow

I have been with Westnet for 5 years and since Christmas the service has been dreadful, many times no service at all.

To download a 800mb movie takes 2 days.

They won't reply to emails or calls and I am totally fed up with them.

Anybody else having problems?

Marlow

fonzy1 wrote: »

I am experiencing a slight problem though, when i play xbox live i get randomly disconnected, it can happen every 10 minutes or sometimes it will go for a few hours without disconnecting.
I can re-connect straight away, now i've tried with and without a router makes no difference.

No, the dynamic IP doesn't change that often, so it's definatly not the cause.

Xbox is not running of central servers. The games itself are hosted by one of the gamers that you are playing against (on his xbox). So you never know, what your latency to them will be and funny things can happen.

Disconnects like that can also be caused by your own router. I've seen examples of a bug in the way the firewalling was implemented in DD-WRT, that caused hourly disconnects on all connections (for example vpn. etc.)

/M

Westnet: Paul

callow wrote: »

I have been with Westnet for 5 years and since Christmas the service has been dreadful, many times no service at all.

To download a 800mb movie takes 2 days.

They won't reply to emails or calls and I am totally fed up with them.

Anybody else having problems?

Hi - can you PM me your details and I'll look into it?

Thanks.

minstrel_boy

Im also experiencing very poor service from Westnet. The service regularly drops out and even when it is working it can be extremely slow at times.

For some reason, the service is considerably worse when I use my I phone
( I have a wireless router and I use laptop and I phone)

I dont think I have ever managed to watch a youtube clip on the iphone due to extremely slow loading speeds ( even when it will load at a reasonable speed on the laptop)

It's a complete waste of money to be honest. I have PMed the guy on this forum last week but have not received a reply

Westnet: Paul

minstrel_boy wrote: »

Im also experiencing very poor service from Westnet. The service regularly drops out and even when it is working it can be extremely slow at times.

For some reason, the service is considerably worse when I use my I phone
( I have a wireless router and I use laptop and I phone)

I dont think I have ever managed to watch a youtube clip on the iphone due to extremely slow loading speeds ( even when it will load at a reasonable speed on the laptop)

It's a complete waste of money to be honest. I have PMed the guy on this forum last week but have not received a reply

I missed the notification of that message for some reason.

I've had a quick look, and your signal looks perfect. I'll get tech support to give you a call.

chebonaparte

im with regional broadband

they are reasonable as only 24£euro month after install fee

originally i was with 3broadband was £20 pm but if u go over 15gb limit they screw you !

i got 1 bill over 200£Euro 1month after i started using the Skype cams!

Regional way cheaper and no limits

however lately they keep going "local"

i think they are swamped with lots new customers and they are updating the old boxes hoepfully this shoud fix it

minstrel_boy

minstrel_boy wrote: »

Im also experiencing very poor service from Westnet. The service regularly drops out and even when it is working it can be extremely slow at times.

For some reason, the service is considerably worse when I use my I phone
( I have a wireless router and I use laptop and I phone)

I dont think I have ever managed to watch a youtube clip on the iphone due to extremely slow loading speeds ( even when it will load at a reasonable speed on the laptop)

It's a complete waste of money to be honest. I have PMed the guy on this forum last week but have not received a reply

UPDATE

An update on the situation. I have to say, Westnet have been extremely helpful since thier representative here noted my problem.

First off, the i-phone problem had nothing to do with Westnet. After hours of trawling the internet I figured out that it is a router configuration issue. After I realised that, I spent ages trying to access the config menu of my router. (with no success)

In the meantime, the Westnet guy called me and offered to look at our reception aerial and he also sorted us with a new linksys router.

The new router has sorted the Iphone issue immediately so a big Thank you for that.

With regards to the inconsistency of the signal, well it's been pretty much perfect since I posted the complaint on here. (demonstration effect in reverse). I suppose I cant expect any further investigation while the performance is as it should be!

Anyways, Thanks for help!

jw297

Just wanted to add that I'm very happy with the WestNet service, had it for a few months now and no problems yet. Obviously streaming videos or whatever can slow things down a bit, but it has been very reliable so far.

liamnojo92

I Seem to be having more problems again especially in the evening with loads of dropped packets, It seems everytime they try and fix something a new problem arises, I will probably call them tomorrow hopefully i'll have more success then usual and get a reply from one of the engineers.

Kinky Slinky

Do westnet throttle downloading, I know its unlimited but realistically how many Gb is it. I'm on a 1Mb package if I go to 2Mb will my downloading speed increase 2x im at about 120kb/s max. Do westnet have any plans in increasing packages to 8Mb/24Mb

liamnojo92

I've never had any throttling of my connection and i do quite a lot of streaming off sky player and gaming so i'd imigane the only way you would see throttling is if you constantly downloading huge files and abusing the service.

Westnet: Paul

Kinky Slinky wrote: »

Do westnet throttle downloading, I know its unlimited but realistically how many Gb is it.

We don't throttle downloads, but we have been known to have a word with people who continuously download at full speed 24x7.

I'm on a 1Mb package if I go to 2Mb will my downloading speed increase 2x im at about 120kb/s max.

Yes, you should see double the download speed on the 2Mb package.

Do westnet have any plans in increasing packages to 8Mb/24Mb

Not anytime soon, I'm afraid.

liamnojo92

Is anyone elses internet gone today, I'm losing like 35% of packets i had the same problem when they were doing upgrades earlier in the year so hopefully that's what's happening now.If you could get back to me paul and tell me what's going on that would be great.

Westnet: Paul

There seems to be a problem with one of our fibre uplinks. We've agreed a maintenance window after midnight tonight for the fibre operator to do some loopback testing - hopefully we'll have some more info once they've completed the testing.

I'll see if we can do anything about the flakey connection in the meantime. We might have to confine all traffic to our alternative fibre link for the moment, but that could mean some temporary congestion.

liamnojo92

Westnet: Paul wrote: »

There seems to be a problem with one of our fibre uplinks. We've agreed a maintenance window after midnight tonight for the fibre operator to do some loopback testing - hopefully we'll have some more info once they've completed the testing.

I'll see if we can do anything about the flakey connection in the meantime. We might have to confine all traffic to our alternative fibre link for the moment, but that could mean some temporary congestion.

Thanks a lot for replying so quickly, I can deal with for a couple of days anyway i've also seen a huge in dropping packets at peak times so thanks for that too:D

fonzy1

I'm still having problems with lag spikes, it been going on for a number of months now.
I've PM'ed Paul from Westnet a number of times with the promise that he was looking into it, months later still no fix or in fact even a reply.

Primary use of this connection is for online gaming etc. these random lag spikes make it fustrating to say the least, and i'm getting pretty fed up of it to be honest.

It worked correctly for the first couple of months, there has to be a reason why it stopped working properly.

I'm posting this in the hopes that someone from Westnet or infact other customers from around the Castlebar/Balla area can shed some light on the situation.

Anyone else having the same problems as me??

terryduff12

i know when i got my connection it didnt work to good from the start had to do lot of calling and emailing main problem was getting disconnected from xbox live had engineer out telling me more or less it was grand knew it wasnt myself but i was persistant and manage to get in touch with the boss who said he`d sent someone out to replace box and wat do you know never had a problem since just goes to show they dont know everthing. keep calling them and get them to sort it out. your paying for a service that they say works on there website.

liamnojo92

I'd say call the customer support and ask for one of the engineers numbers as when I called they never replied I also posted here and paul was nice enough to reply with what was going on, I haven't had a problem over the past few weeks now.

Westnet: Paul

fonzy1, I've an engineer scheduled to visit Wednesday.

fonzy1

Thanks Paul, appreciated.

NullZer0

liamnojo92 wrote: »

ping atm is better but it is the middle of the night

Contention?

liamnojo92

iRock wrote: »

Contention?

24:1 if that's what you mean lol
Here's a test from the evening time

fonzy1

@Paul(Westnet)

Can you check your PM's when you get a chance Paul, thanks.

AirBiscuit

A couple of questions rather than making a new thread:

.1) Is the installation fee still €200?

.2) Is it suitable for Xbox LIVE (Does it have little amounts of lag, or limited speeds etc.)

.3) I've checked the map and it does look like I can get it, but is it reliant on a line-of-sight with the transmitter?

Thanks.

Marlow

Botulism wrote: »

.1) Is the installation fee still €200?

Dunno. Call them and ask them. If the website says so, it probably is.

Botulism wrote: »

.2) Is it suitable for Xbox LIVE (Does it have little amounts of lag, or limited speeds etc.)

Xbox live is a pile of crap. Nothing is suitable for it. Basically Xbox live is hosted de-centralised (not on servers), so whoever is hosting a game is hosting it on their Xbox. That way it might work at times and it's crap most of the times.

In general, yes it will work, but there's nobody in the world, that can guarantee you it'll work and it stays working. Bug Microsoft to make a better product if you want a guarantee.

Botulism wrote: »

.3) I've checked the map and it does look like I can get it, but is it reliant on a line-of-sight with the transmitter?

Yep. It does need line-of-sight. Even the WiMAX gear works best with LoS, but has better chances/performance. So any tree in the way, cut it down

I do not work for Westnet, but I have a fair clue. Take it as that.

/M

AirBiscuit

Marlow wrote: »

Dunno. Call them and ask them. If the website says so, it probably is.

Checked the site, it's 100 now after a few years waiting!

Marlow wrote: »

Xbox live is a pile of crap. Nothing is suitable for it. Basically Xbox live is hosted de-centralised (not on servers), so whoever is hosting a game is hosting it on their Xbox. That way it might work at times and it's crap most of the times.

In general, yes it will work, but there's nobody in the world, that can guarantee you it'll work and it stays working. Bug Microsoft to make a better product if you want a guarantee.

Can't get much worse than with a Vodafone 3G dongle...

Marlow wrote: »

Yep. It does need line-of-sight. Even the WiMAX gear works best with LoS, but has better chances/performance. So any tree in the way, cut it down

Crap, There's a hill in the way!

terryduff12

you mite be okay with the hill as long as its not moving the trees are more of a problem because they swap over and back where the hill doesnt. get them to come out and have a look well worth it if it works for ya

fonzy1

@Paul(westnet)

Did you get the PM i sent last week??

fonzy1

Botulism wrote: »

A couple of questions rather than making a new thread:

.1) Is the installation fee still €200?

.2) Is it suitable for Xbox LIVE (Does it have little amounts of lag, or limited speeds etc.)

.3) I've checked the map and it does look like I can get it, but is it reliant on a line-of-sight with the transmitter?

Thanks.

I've had it in for about 9 months or so, i have had a few teething issues but generally they have been prompt to call out and investigate and fix any problems.

As for xbox live, this is primarily what i use the connection for, now although like i said i am having a few problems of late, but when it is working it is as good if not better than any fixed line broadband i've seen.

On P2P based games i regularly host lobby's without problems, the down/up speed is constant with very low pings.

I don't know if there has been any drop in the connection fee, when i got it in about 9 months ago it was E200, it may or may not have come down since.

From what i gather, line of sight is very important, but your best bet is to contact Paul or one of the engineers(Paul is active on this site) they will be able to tell you if it's viable.

I'm fortunate enough to live on top of a hill, so i can actually see the nearest base station from my house!
I've also been told that stationary objects such as buildings or hills don't mess up the signal nearly as much as moving objects in the line of sight such as trees.

Hope that helps a little.

Westnet: Paul

Replied to your PM fonzy1, sorry about the delay.

Westnet: Paul

Botulism wrote: »

Can't get much worse than with a Vodafone 3G dongle...

Crap, There's a hill in the way!

Give the office a call and get someone to call out and do a survey. You'd be surprised what you can see from a roof.

fonzy1

Sorry to bump an old thread but...

Paul(Westnet) could you check your PM's cheers.

fonzy1

I've been having major problems for 4 maybe 5 months at this stage.

I'm on the residential + package which is advertised as 2Mb down 1Mb up.

At peak times it is unuseable, peak times being from 3pm to 1am inclusive.

I've sent numerous e-mails and plenty of phone calls over the past few months to be told the problem is being worked on.
I've been more than patient, but my patience it's not limitless.
Below is the kind of results i have on a nightly basis.

These tests are not cherry picked, they are an average example.

Anyone else having severe issues in the central Mayo area??


http://www.speedtest.net/result/1189342162.png

http://www.pingtest.net/result/36300097.png

Microsoft Windows [Version 6.0.6002]
Copyright (c) 2006 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.

********>ping www.google.ie -t

Pinging www.l.google.com [209.85.143.99] with 32 bytes of data:
Reply from 209.85.143.99: bytes=32 time=55ms TTL=56
Reply from 209.85.143.99: bytes=32 time=161ms TTL=56
Reply from 209.85.143.99: bytes=32 time=117ms TTL=56
Reply from 209.85.143.99: bytes=32 time=75ms TTL=56
Reply from 209.85.143.99: bytes=32 time=81ms TTL=56
Reply from 209.85.143.99: bytes=32 time=48ms TTL=56
Reply from 209.85.143.99: bytes=32 time=34ms TTL=56
Reply from 209.85.143.99: bytes=32 time=111ms TTL=56
Reply from 209.85.143.99: bytes=32 time=112ms TTL=56
Reply from 209.85.143.99: bytes=32 time=38ms TTL=56
Reply from 209.85.143.99: bytes=32 time=63ms TTL=56
Reply from 209.85.143.99: bytes=32 time=69ms TTL=56
Reply from 209.85.143.99: bytes=32 time=27ms TTL=56
Reply from 209.85.143.99: bytes=32 time=48ms TTL=56
Reply from 209.85.143.99: bytes=32 time=64ms TTL=56
Reply from 209.85.143.99: bytes=32 time=168ms TTL=56
Request timed out.
Reply from 209.85.143.99: bytes=32 time=195ms TTL=56
Reply from 209.85.143.99: bytes=32 time=19ms TTL=56
Reply from 209.85.143.99: bytes=32 time=21ms TTL=56
Reply from 209.85.143.99: bytes=32 time=100ms TTL=56
Reply from 209.85.143.99: bytes=32 time=149ms TTL=56
Reply from 209.85.143.99: bytes=32 time=46ms TTL=56
Reply from 209.85.143.99: bytes=32 time=24ms TTL=56
Reply from 209.85.143.99: bytes=32 time=138ms TTL=56
Reply from 209.85.143.99: bytes=32 time=17ms TTL=56
Reply from 209.85.143.99: bytes=32 time=11ms TTL=56
Reply from 209.85.143.99: bytes=32 time=113ms TTL=56
Reply from 209.85.143.99: bytes=32 time=242ms TTL=56
Reply from 209.85.143.99: bytes=32 time=174ms TTL=56
Reply from 209.85.143.99: bytes=32 time=16ms TTL=56
Reply from 209.85.143.99: bytes=32 time=38ms TTL=56
Reply from 209.85.143.99: bytes=32 time=37ms TTL=56
Request timed out.
Reply from 209.85.143.99: bytes=32 time=83ms TTL=56
Reply from 209.85.143.99: bytes=32 time=19ms TTL=56
Request timed out.
Reply from 209.85.143.99: bytes=32 time=72ms TTL=56
Reply from 209.85.143.99: bytes=32 time=21ms TTL=56
Reply from 209.85.143.99: bytes=32 time=51ms TTL=56
Reply from 209.85.143.99: bytes=32 time=235ms TTL=56
Reply from 209.85.143.99: bytes=32 time=18ms TTL=56

Ping statistics for *********:
Packets: Sent = 42, Received = 39, Lost = 3 (7% loss),
Approximate round trip times in milli-seconds:
Minimum = 11ms, Maximum = 242ms, Average = 79ms
Control-C

liamnojo92

Fonzy I'm the same as you, bad ping quite a lot of packet loss around(5%) and been bad for the past few months.
I gave them a ring a few weeks and back and they said one of there station things was damaged by the strong wind,called them today and they said they'd get Pete to ring me,hopefully I'll get a call in the next few days and find out what's happening.