Wimax - Thoughts?

ironclaw

Hi Folks,

Thinking about moving over to Imagine WiMax, as all told it seems to offer the best deal. 7MB for €35 per month plus a €50 connection fee. So thats roughly €40 per month. I'm not moving the phone for the moment, just broadband.

Does anyone have any experience with them? Service? Speeds etc?

ironclaw

jor el

Moving from what? Imagine's Wimax is not broadband, it's a half assed semi-mobile system for Internet access. Cannot be compared to DSL, cable or proper wireless (like Metro or fixed Wimax).

Feidhlim

Was in Castleknock where their website says coverage is excellent.

Customer service confirmed it was excellent

Received modem in post. No signal.

Customer service advised they would do fixed antenna for me which is what I wanted. Someone would be out to collect modem in a week and installation guys would be out in a week too.

No sign of either.

Rang back. "Oh - you went through to our processing department and they confirmed no signal"
-"Why wasn't I told?"
-"Oh, I don't know, need to check that and get back to you"
-"When are you picking up this useless modem"
-"Should have been done, I'll get the team on it"


That was 3 months ago. They didn't call me back until recently.

They had the nerve to demand their modem, but it was done in a way as though I was at fault. I explained the problems but told them no problem, I would be available saturday morning for them to pick up. That didn't suit them so I said they had better come up with a better idea that suits me. Since they shafted me.

I think I'll put the modem on adverts.ie

ironclaw

Thanks for the replies folks. Seems to echo the research I've been doing this morning. Its amazing how when you actually get down to it and work the numbers, they are all the exact same price.

jor el

Feidhlim wrote: »

Customer service advised they would do fixed antenna for me which is what I wanted.

The fixed antenna will probably improve things a little bit, but the whole system is still a mobile one. Proper fixed Wimax would have no mobile units on the network.

Feidhlim wrote: »

That didn't suit them so I said they had better come up with a better idea that suits me.

Tell them you're leaving it outside the door, and they can collect it any time they want.

BEASTERLY

Since Imagine are marketing their Wimax as a mainly home product why the hell did they make the infastructure mobile , is there vast amounts of mony to be saved.If they made it a good fixed service , with their prices they could have wiped 3G out all together.

Would I be likely to see a performance increase over my o2 , I usually get 1mbps up and down. I am in a rural area so contention should be better than in towns , or am I wrong?

On their website they are also saying they have fixed and mobile wimax in my area , is this false?

watty

Fixed costs €100 to €250 more per customer to install.

Good Infrastructure in long terms vs. Beancounter and Marketing short term and overall profits short term and long term.

If they can get the customers the cheap poor engineering option is up to €250 cheaper per customer acquired.

BEASTERLY wrote: »

Since Imagine are marketing their Wimax as a mainly home product why the hell did they make the infastructure mobile , is there vast amounts of mony to be saved.If they made it a good fixed service , with their prices they could have wiped 3G out all together.

Would I be likely to see a performance increase over my o2 , I usually get 1mbps up and down. I am in a rural area so contention should be better than in towns , or am I wrong?

Wrong. In Towns you have lower mast, more masts. In country they serve a large area with a single mast. The signal can be as poor due to trees as a buildings.

BEASTERLY

watty wrote: »

Fixed costs €100 to €250 more per customer to install.

Good Infrastructure in long terms vs. Beancounter and Marketing short term and overall profits short term and long term.

If they can get the customers the cheap poor engineering option is up to €250 cheaper per customer acquired.


Wrong. In Towns you have lower mast, more masts. In country they serve a large area with a single mast. The signal can be as poor due to trees as a buildings.

Ok thanks , so they are a very greedy crowd who only care about their short term profits! But If they did make a fixed service they would have a nationwide monopoly over rural broadband.

Have they left the door open for LTE to come in and destroy Wimax's future in ireland , roll on the digital switchover!

Do you think I am better staying with my 3G , maxing out at 1mb up/down?

jor el

If your 3G connection meets your needs, then there's probably not a lot of point in switching. If 3G start to fail you, then you should look for alternatives.

BEASTERLY

jor el wrote: »

If your 3G connection meets your needs, then there's probably not a lot of point in switching. If 3G start to fail you, then you should look for alternatives.

I could do with a bigger cap and better pings , could wimax provide this , or will I hang in there in the hope that LTE won't be long.

jor el

From the main Wimax thread, it looks like the pings are sometimes better than 3g pings, but also sometimes a lot worse. You're not going to be able to count on it, and it may well be as reliable/unreliable as 3g connections.

BEASTERLY

jor el wrote: »

From the main Wimax thread, it looks like the pings are sometimes better than 3g pings, but also sometimes a lot worse. You're not going to be able to count on it, and it may well be as reliable/unreliable as 3g connections.

Ah , I wont bother so if there is no garuntee of getting a better service there is no point. LTE can't come soon enough , atleast the tests are underway now.

watty

Unless massive spectrum (not available) and a higher density of bases (not economic) then LTE won't be Broadband.

It's only going to be much better than 3G if they have a single wholesale operator using loads of 20Mhz channels rather then the three separate 5MHz channels all four 3G operators have now.

shoutman

Got a Wimax self install modem yesterday but got no coverage anywhere in the house despite being in an excellent cover area.
Getting it cancelled tomorrow.