Broadband Upgrade Query - Drogheda Area

shawpower

Hi guys.

I've had a quick scan of the forum for anything similar to this topic, but couldn't find anything. Apologies if this is a duplicate.

Basically I'm living in Drogheda and my broadband is Digiweb Wireless Metro Home; 8MB d/l and 1MB u/l. But in the past while it's been like a dog. I've run tests via speedtest.net, and basically between 5-11pm I'm getting less than 1MB speeds d/l and it barely finishes the test going upload, with ping times regularly over 80ms. I play a lot of XBox Live, and rarely get better than a 3 bar connection speed anymore, unless I manage to get host in my games. If we're surfing the net, simple stuff like looking at photos on Facebook can be a chore, with them either not loading or taking 20-30 seconds to appear. Videos on youtube? Forget about it. A 10 minute video could take 20 minutes to be playable.

I contacted Digiweb support about it, giving them ping tests from different times of the day, and they came back to say that it's just contention on the line and that nothing can be done. I can expect to suffer from contention a bit in the evenings, but I don't think dropping so badly is acceptable.

So I've two questions for this thread really.

1. What are the alternatives when it comes to broadband in Drogheda area? What have other people used and found good? I do like the wireless package because I don't have to pay rental on landline for my phone, but if a wired connection offers better results, I'm prepared to move.

2. One option in particular I'm looking at is the Eircom NextGen broadband packages (Click me for details. 8MB isn't the best speed around, but they say it's uncontested so is basically 8MB guaranteed. This does strike me as pretty good. So has anyone else used this in Drogheda, or elsewhere for that matter? How do you find it? Do you get the 8MB as promised, and what kind of ping speeds are you getting?

If you think of anything else that is relevant, please post it.

ingen

shawpower wrote: »

Hi guys.

I've had a quick scan of the forum for anything similar to this topic, but couldn't find anything. Apologies if this is a duplicate.

Basically I'm living in Drogheda and my broadband is Digiweb Wireless Metro Home; 8MB d/l and 1MB u/l. But in the past while it's been like a dog. I've run tests via speedtest.net, and basically between 5-11pm I'm getting less than 1MB speeds d/l and it barely finishes the test going upload, with ping times regularly over 80ms. I play a lot of XBox Live, and rarely get better than a 3 bar connection speed anymore, unless I manage to get host in my games. If we're surfing the net, simple stuff like looking at photos on Facebook can be a chore, with them either not loading or taking 20-30 seconds to appear. Videos on youtube? Forget about it. A 10 minute video could take 20 minutes to be playable.

I contacted Digiweb support about it, giving them ping tests from different times of the day, and they came back to say that it's just contention on the line and that nothing can be done. I can expect to suffer from contention a bit in the evenings, but I don't think dropping so badly is acceptable.

So I've two questions for this thread really.

1. What are the alternatives when it comes to broadband in Drogheda area? What have other people used and found good? I do like the wireless package because I don't have to pay rental on landline for my phone, but if a wired connection offers better results, I'm prepared to move.

2. One option in particular I'm looking at is the Eircom NextGen broadband packages (Click me for details. 8MB isn't the best speed around, but they say it's uncontested so is basically 8MB guaranteed. This does strike me as pretty good. So has anyone else used this in Drogheda, or elsewhere for that matter? How do you find it? Do you get the 8MB as promised, and what kind of ping speeds are you getting?

If you think of anything else that is relevant, please post it.

where in Drogheda are you? i guess nth side somewhere? broadband in drogheda is hit and miss for decent DSL speed!
the main exchange is on patrick street, accross from the boyne centre...

shawpower

ingen wrote: »

where in Drogheda are you? i guess nth side somewhere? broadband in drogheda is hit and miss for decent DSL speed!
the main exchange is on patrick street, accross from the boyne centre...

No I'm on the south side. In Millmount Abbey.

I've had the guy in from Eircom doing door to door about the Next Gen bundles. I sent him packing at the time, but after the problems i've experience with the Wireless metro, I'm wondering if it isn't worth paying a bit more for a (possibly) better experience....

ingen

shawpower wrote: »

No I'm on the south side. In Millmount Abbey.

I've had the guy in from Eircom doing door to door about the Next Gen bundles. I sent him packing at the time, but after the problems i've experience with the Wireless metro, I'm wondering if it isn't worth paying a bit more for a (possibly) better experience....

seems like digiweb then may be maxed out on their mast, as they might have over sold connections on it......

keep well clear of those door to door sales men! its better to order online if you wish to go with eircom..


i am not sure what exchange you would be connected to, it would be useful to check with neighbours, if they had DSL and see what speeds they are getting.

i would make an educated guess and say that you could get 10mb speed there, DSL possibly 10240/768

shawpower

ingen wrote: »

seems like digiweb then may be maxed out on their mast, as they might have over sold connections on it......

Yeah, I'd guess so. It really dipped off very badly there a while ago.

ingen wrote: »

keep well clear of those door to door sales men! its better to order online if you wish to go with eircom..

Absolutely. I wasn't considering moving when he came, and would have said no even if he was. But the offers on the website are decent enough.

ingen wrote: »

i am not sure what exchange you would be connected to, it would be useful to check with neighbours, if they had DSL and see what speeds they are getting.

i would make an educated guess and say that you could get 10mb speed there, DSL possibly 10240/768

Well the next gen package gives up 8mb "guaranteed" apparently, as it's uncontested. I'll ask around, but was wondering if anyone else has signed up for the next gen package in Drogheda or elsewhere, and if so what they thought of it.

bealtine

shawpower wrote: »

Well the next gen package gives up 8mb "guaranteed" apparently, as it's uncontested.

No it doesn't...thats marketing spin.
It gives you the max your line will support "upto" 8Mb.

shawpower

bealtine wrote: »

No it doesn't...thats marketing spin.
It gives you the max your line will support "upto" 8Mb.

Sorry. My bad. I was unclear there. What I meant was that if your line will support the 8MB, then you get that uncontested. Which I presume means guaranteed. If your line will only support 5MB, then you get that uncontested.

My read is that you are guaranteed whatever your line will support, with no huge fluctuations due to other people contesting the line when they are downloading their pron/movies etc.

Is that right?

lucernarian

Millmount abbey should be able to get the guts of 8mb, the exchange which covers it is on Donore Road.

Also, there's a Digiweb rep here, I'd like to know what he makes of this report of fairly substantial contention? There's been countless reports of good technical service quality so it's disappointing to see this.


Stop the press, I just checked the eircom "next gen" broadband website and it shows the Donore road exchange as not being "NGB" enabled until at least next year. So why was there a salesman selling NGB products in Millmount Abbey? I'd call bull**** on that, I'd call eircom before doing anything to check availability of NGB for Donore Road exchange or in the millmount abbey estate.

If that's the case, you'll have to get the top rated ADSL package to get the 7.6 mbps speeds. Which will be more pricey, like €56 per month including line rental, going up to €61. Or you can pay for ADSL2+ 24mbps which is at €65 going up to €70 after 6 months, including line rental.