TV/Satellite/Internet Advice

JOHNPT

Hello All - I am moving into a new house and intend to buy a laptop & TV during the next week. What would the best most cost effective package for both - I dont need a lot of TV stations just RTE and BBC would be great and for internet just as long as I can video Skype- should i install a dish or just go for something like UPC?

Thanks in advance

Cantona's Collars

Buy a combi box aerial & dish for Saorview & FTA all in one,it's a once off payment with NO monthly bill.Check terrestrial forum for details on combi boxes.

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2056557642

It depends on your location for getting UPC,they have an address checker on their site,don't bother with the tv package & just get the broadband & phone package. You don't need to ever plug a phone into it but taking the phone option actually lowers your bill a bit.

Check the broadband forum for options in your area if you can't get UPC.

All in all you'll just pay for broadband each month and after the initial outlay you'll have free tv for life.

cjt156

I ditched UPC and Eircom broadband a few years back. Went with a Saorview compatible TV with attic antenna, a Freesat box and dish, and 3 mobile broadband.

Now I'm lucky in that I have excellent coverage with 3, I'm in direct line of sight of Three Rock for Saorview and I've a flat garage roof over a south facing garden for the dish. I did the whole lot DIY & now have no TV costs, and light usage Internet for 15 Euro a month.
I've made a few converts along the way, too. If you can put up a shelf & wire a plug you can do this no problem.

watty

No Mobile is Broadband.

BionicRasher

watty wrote: »

No Mobile is Broadband.

How do you mean? are you saying mobile broadband dongles are not broadband?

I had a similar set up in an old house and was getting great speeds from my Meteor dongle once I had it in the right area in the house and it was only costing €9.99 per month. Also went the route of a FTA dish and no no TV bills (bar the licence fee each year)

watty

"Great speeds" doesn't mean Broadband.
There is no assurance of speed. It could be 1/10th as fast just with 5 new users in your area. or not connect at all.


It's simply a lie to call Mobile Broadband,

Look at name of this Forum
http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/forumdisplay.php?f=1147


http://www.techtir.ie/forums/internet-faq
http://www.techtir.ie/comms/mobile-vs-fixed

2) Midband.

These are all the services that are sometimes faster than Narrowband, but sometimes poorer than ISDN, but not Broadband.

Examples of Midband products are EDGE/3G/HSPA etc from Meteor, O2, Vodafone and Three. These all simply use Spare Mobile Phone Network capacity. They are not Broadband and never will be.

3G/HSDPA (based on W-CDMA Mobile phone system)

Not always on. It's a form of quick dialup, like ISDN is. It may not connect if the sector is full or the sector has shrunk (CDMA breathing).
Speed quoted is TOTAL peak for all users in a sector. It's not economic to build sectors for just one person. Total Cell throughput (according to Vendors) is 1Mbps to 2Mbps for a typically loaded sector. That is shared between users, so at an economic level of use the speed is under 150kbps. It can easily be 50kbps or simply not connect.
Latency is 80ms at best. Realistic latency is 120ms for a few users and rises to over 2000ms for a loaded sector.
Not a dedicated connection. Shared with phone traffic which has priority.

3) Broadband

Always On
Minimum High Speed ( 512k, 768k, 1Mbps or 2Mbps depending on Authority/ Country)
Low latency (< 80ms, typical is 10ms to 60ms)
Dedicated IP connection.

Mobile is none of these.

Examples of Broadband can be

Fixed Wireless, but not Mobile. (Why?). Performance depends on system and number of users.
Cable (DOCSIS) shared with Cable TV. Performance depends on number of users sharing cable feed.
DSL (ADSL, ADSL2+, SDSL, VDSL) ( Limitations). Performance depends on Distance, line quality and number of users (crosstalk) in a Multipair.

See also http://www.techtir.ie/comms/dsl-limits

Typically contention is 50:1 or less.

Cap can be 15Gbyte to 240Gbyte or more depending on package.

LTE / 4G isn't and won't be Broadband either.

OECD and EU don't count Mobile users as Broadband connections.

BionicRasher

watty wrote: »

"Great speeds" doesn't mean Broadband.
There is no assurance of speed. It could be 1/10th as fast just with 5 new users in your area. or not connect at all.


It's simply a lie to call Mobile Broadband,

Look at name of this Forum
http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/forumdisplay.php?f=1147


http://www.techtir.ie/forums/internet-faq
http://www.techtir.ie/comms/mobile-vs-fixed






LTE / 4G isn't and won't be Broadband either.

OECD and EU don't count Mobile users as Broadband connections.

OK point taken but lets not be pedantic - Broadband is really anything that operators say can carry data etc quicker than dial up and is normally a wide sweeping term used for anything that will fall in to that category even though speeds are not guaranteed. So technically not Broadband but it is Broadband! Its like not all vacuum cleaners are Hoovers but that's what most people call them!

Anyway on the OPs question

By far the cheapest way would be FTA and a Mobile 'Internet' dongle if the house was in a good area for speeds (most providers give you a 7 day money back trial on these things I think so no harm in trying it out.)
We had an old sky box an a dish on the house (you would pick one up on adverts.ie for small money) and an 'Internet' dongle for 9.99 a month giving us 3mb+ speeds and a 10GB allowance
You may get a package from UPC if you can get the service or you could go the Sky and Eircom route but you still need a landline for that. These will cost way more and if you just want the basics and don't want to have a fixed land line bill also involved then go for the FTA and an 'Internet' dongle

cjt156

watty wrote: »

No Mobile is Broadband.

Well, speedtest showed it at a steady 3.6Mbps as opposed to less than 2.0Mbps I had with Eircom's DSL service for years at twice the price. Good enough for me; I used Skype video regularly & that's the standard the OP was looking at, call it Broadband, middleband, or dribbleband :rolleyes:

OldRio

If no mobile is broadband why the hell are eircom charging me a fortune when my speeds are slower than an old retired racing pigeon, with a poorly wing??
And God help me when the next farm turn their computer on, An Post is quicker.

If only i could recieve via a dongle. Then I could ditch these robbing/lying t@%$

*lies down in a cold dark room whilst wiping froth from mouth*

muffler

OldRio wrote: »

If no mobile is broadband why the hell are eircom charging me a fortune when my speeds are slower than an old retired racing pigeon, with a poorly wing??
And God help me when the next farm turn their computer on, An Post is quicker.

If only i could recieve via a dongle. Then I could ditch these robbing/lying t@%$

*lies down in a cold dark room whilst wiping froth from mouth*

Take 1 three times daily and you'll be better in no time