Is wimax better.

fabo1thecross

My contract with my super fast 3 internet is nearly up and im wondering if wixmax would be better. I use the internet for gaming mostly. I cant get eircom so that rules that out. I know a person over the road that has wimax and i done a few ping tests and none of them were real bad. Better than what i had anyway. So if anyone has any advice please free to share.

cgarvey

Luck of the draw! Assuming you mean Imagine's WiMax service (there are many providers of WiMax, and some are providing a decent service). As with Three, Imagine WiMax is a nomadic, non-line of sight technology. This almost always means contention is a big issue (and it certainly is for most, if not all, Three areas, and vast areas of Imagine's WiMax coverage). WiMax itself can offer decent broadband (decent enough for realtiine gaming). However, Imagine's implementation of it is, at best, a mixed bag. If you can't get a free trial from Imagine (don't think they offer that now?), I'd be going back to the person up the road and checking peak time pings over a couple of weeks. Or give him a bottle of wine to run some ping tests every few hours for a week, etc. Contention (which obviously affects speed/throughput, but can affect pings as well), is a big problem on Imagine's WiMax, and they seem happy to install even in poor signal areas.

Two and a half snippets of advice.
1) Don't believe a word an Imagine sales rep tell you, without getting it in writing.
2) Do a lot more testing on your close-by friend's connection. That's probably the best indicator you'll get before having to lump up some cash.
2.5) Although there aren't many other WiMax providers in Ireland, there are some; it's unfair to lump them in with Imagine. Blame the company, not the technology, in this case.

fabo1thecross

Cheers for the reply. I have read a bit now about this imagine and i must say it is not all good. I am getting the person to do daily speedtests and i really must say there not bad. None over the 100ms anyway. Something else came up i found out i can get lastmile/Ripplecom to. Ripple is a small bit dearer than imagine but if it works itl be worth it. Has anybody ripplecom and is it any good for gaming.

witnessmenow

I know ripplecom offer a phone service, which is VoIP so it must be pretty decent

fabo1thecross

Does wimax not offer a phone line.I was talking to ripple a while ago and she was saying on account of the gaming i would need to get 8mg and not the 2mg. Now i think i would like 2mg that works over 3.ie mobile bb anyday. Does gaming need that much.

fabo1thecross

Got a ping of 71 on the wimax a while ago. Not great but better. I know another petson that has ripplecom so i think il have to ask him.

witnessmenow

fabo1thecross wrote: »

Does wimax not offer a phone line.I was talking to ripple a while ago and she was saying on account of the gaming i would need to get 8mg and not the 2mg. Now i think i would like 2mg that works over 3.ie mobile bb anyday. Does gaming need that much.

Needing more bandwidth for gaming is a bit of myth, it's more about ping/latency. 2 would probably be grand

I'd imagine its the same kit for 2mb as 8mb so you can probably upgrade, I'd ask about it first

witnessmenow

fabo1thecross wrote: »

Does wimax not offer a phone line.I was talking to ripple a while ago and she was saying on account of the gaming i would need to get 8mg and not the 2mg. Now i think i would like 2mg that works over 3.ie mobile bb anyday. Does gaming need that much.

Needing more bandwidth for gaming is a bit of myth, it's more about ping/latency. 2 would probably be grand

I'd imagine its the same kit for 2mb as 8mb so you can probably upgrade, I'd ask about it first

fabo1thecross

I got another person that has ripplecom to do a test last night at ten o clock. It was 42ms and he was on wifi doing that to. Now i would be a few miles away from him so i wonder would that matter. As the crow flys id be about five miles with clear line of sight. Will this be to far.

fabo1thecross

Just play xbox and mw3 and my internet went real bad. Ping was 856ms. Not good. Never went that high before in all fairness. Roll on Pat on his broadband in the country. Cant wait for 30meg. Will my ping be as bad.