UPC alternative?

Newport81

What is the alternative broadband to rival UPC?

coylemj

It depends on where you live. In most parts of Dublin you can get ADSL (phone line) broadband from Eircom or Vodafone and nether of them can match the UPC service.

The other (over the air) BB services available in Dublin are crap if you're to believe the feedback from other posters.

I'm not sure there's much that can rival them, Magnet maybe, but you'd need to be in an area they can serve. Anything else is either tied to Eircom in some way or else wireless (such as Digiweb Metro). Imagine WiMax and 3G products are not broadband and never will be.

kirving

Well, it's not crap. It's the laws of physics. :pac:

UPC have a better, faster system which eircom can't afford to match. That said, my UPC connection is woeful compared to my previous eircom one.

who is this

Karsini wrote: »

I'm not sure there's much that can rival them, Magnet maybe, but you'd need to be in an area they can serve. Anything else is either tied to Eircom in some way or else wireless (such as Digiweb Metro). Imagine WiMax and 3G products are not broadband and never will be.

They will eventually catch up (LTE etc.)

BUT everyone getting all excited about wireless possibilities forget that cable's technology will obviously advance too.

Wired products will always have some kind of inherent advantage, even if wireless manages to close the gap a bit better. Though at the moment they're not even close to closing the gap

who is this

who is this wrote: »

They will eventually catch up (LTE etc.)

BUT everyone getting all excited about wireless possibilities forget that cable's technology will obviously advance too.

Wired products will always have some kind of inherent advantage, even if wireless manages to close the gap a bit better. Though at the moment they're not even close to closing the gap

WiMax itself is fine, it's just Imagine's implementation of it, nomadic/mobile rather than fixed.

Newport81

coylemj wrote: »

It depends on where you live. In most parts of Dublin you can get ADSL (phone line) broadband from Eircom or Vodafone and nether of them can match the UPC service.

The other (over the air) BB services available in Dublin are crap if you're to believe the feedback from other posters.

Galway

lucernarian

Karsini wrote: »

WiMax itself is fine, it's just Imagine's implementation of it, nomadic/mobile rather than fixed.

This is an awkward point but not every instance of Imagine's wimax would inherently make a b***s of supplying broadband. Some areas (NOT Dublin of course!) will nearly entirely use outdoor CPEs which have proper directional aerials, much like the former breeze service as the base station will be on some hill in a mainly rural area or at least well outside the nearby town.

Certainly, UPC and the odd place where Smart/Digiweb/Magnet have fibre in the estate/apartment block (And casey cablevision in Dungarvan) are in their own league for broadband speeds. Only a tiny minority of phone lines will get close to the internet speeds UPC typically bundle these days (25 mbit/s) None of the wireless providers (Imagine or even anyone with a proper wireless deployment) I've seen offer over 12 mb/s anywhere in Ireland and nothing over 8 mb/s for residential packages.