Digiweb Coverage Query

EKayI

Quick question on Digiweb coverage, namely the base station location...

I'm moving house this week to a place between Newtown & Donadea, 15km outside of Maynooth, Vodafone claim to offer 24meg broadband in the area, but given my distance from the exchange (about 7km via road) I highly doubt it's possible, unless they have extra DSL Cabinets in the area...

So I was looking at the Digiweb Metro service, 30meg connection. I can see that most of the neighbours have Digiweb antenna's on their roofs so the area has Digiweb coverage, but I'm wondering where the base station that serves this area might be located? We are on a hill, so behind the row of houses there is clear run of country side for miles in to Enfield, about 5-7km as the crow flies, I can also see a large mast about 5km away, but this might just be a telephone mast.

So to summarise:

1) Does anyone know if it's possible to pick up Digiweb's Metro 30meg BB in this area? (Just outside of Newtown on the border of Donadea.)

2) If so, does anyone know where the base station that serves this area is located? (To make sure I have LOS)

Thanks!

anfirrua

Hey,

I have recently moved into the same area, I am <1km from Knockanally.
I would be grateful for any additional information around wireless in this area.
I went with ADSL from Eircom. The exchange is outside the gates of Donadea forest. I paid for the 8MB connection however the best I get is around 2.8mb/sec from the eircom speedtest. That wouldn't be a big problem for me so long as it was consistent. On occasion I get crazy response times and dropped packets from pinging an eircom address. I am setting up smoke ping now to beat them accross the head with an potentially get them to take the service out.

cunnijo

EKayI wrote: »

Quick question on Digiweb coverage, namely the base station location...

I'm moving house this week to a place between Newtown & Donadea, 15km outside of Maynooth, Vodafone claim to offer 24meg broadband in the area, but given my distance from the exchange (about 7km via road) I highly doubt it's possible, unless they have extra DSL Cabinets in the area...

So I was looking at the Digiweb Metro service, 30meg connection. I can see that most of the neighbours have Digiweb antenna's on their roofs so the area has Digiweb coverage, but I'm wondering where the base station that serves this area might be located? We are on a hill, so behind the row of houses there is clear run of country side for miles in to Enfield, about 5-7km as the crow flies, I can also see a large mast about 5km away, but this might just be a telephone mast.

So to summarise:

1) Does anyone know if it's possible to pick up Digiweb's Metro 30meg BB in this area? (Just outside of Newtown on the border of Donadea.)

2) If so, does anyone know where the base station that serves this area is located? (To make sure I have LOS)

Thanks!

Hi

Digiweb have a Metro base station in Maynooth, which seems to cover Celbridge and Clane (with a spill over from the Naas base station). As you say you live on a hill then line of sight with the Maynooth base station should not be a problem, as the range for each base station is about 10 miles (15km approx). So confirm with Digiweb to be sure.

You also mention that some neighbours have the Metro service. Have you spoke to them about the quality of service they're getting? It will be interesting to see their resonse(s).

anfirrua

Will be very interested in your Digiweb findings EKayl.
As I said I choose the ADSL option and only time will tell if it is successful.
The Eircom exchange I am on is the exchange beside donadea forest gates and it is approx 5km cable distance.

EKayI

cunnijo wrote: »

Hi

Digiweb have a Metro base station in Maynooth, which seems to cover Celbridge and Clane (with a spill over from the Naas base station). As you say you live on a hill then line of sight with the Maynooth base station should not be a problem, as the range for each base station is about 10 miles (15km approx). So confirm with Digiweb to be sure.

You also mention that some neighbours have the Metro service. Have you spoke to them about the quality of service they're getting? It will be interesting to see their resonse(s).

I was in contact with Digiweb, they said that at 12km from the Maynooth mast I'm within distance, but with various obstacles such as tree's/other houses, the quality of service wouldn't be great, so that was a no from them.

I also asked around about the fixed wireless masts on houses pointing in the Enfield direction, they were for the old IBB mast in Enfield that has since been switched off, sadly - it's perfect line of sight at about 5km One of the neighbors has Imagine WiMAX stuck to a poll outside his house - but I wouldn't even give them the time of day!

There is no active phone in the house, but I gave a neighbors number to check for ADSL and was quoted a line capability of 1.5mb/s!

So where did that leave me? I'm currently using my 3 Broadband out here, to be honest it's going grand, get about 4mb/s line.

Hopefully that will see me through until something better comes out this way, like they pop up a DSL Cabinet down the road! :pac:

cunnijo

EKayI wrote: »

I was in contact with Digiweb, they said that at 12km from the Maynooth mast I'm within distance, but with various obstacles such as tree's/other houses, the quality of service wouldn't be great, so that was a no from them.

I also asked around about the fixed wireless masts on houses pointing in the Enfield direction, they were for the old IBB mast in Enfield that has since been switched off, sadly - it's perfect line of sight at about 5km One of the neighbors has Imagine WiMAX stuck to a poll outside his house - but I wouldn't even give them the time of day!

There is no active phone in the house, but I gave a neighbors number to check for ADSL and was quoted a line capability of 1.5mb/s!

So where did that leave me? I'm currently using my 3 Broadband out here, to be honest it's going grand, get about 4mb/s line.

Hopefully that will see me through until something better comes out this way, like they pop up a DSL Cabinet down the road! :pac:

It's a shame that Digiweb could not provide Metro to you even though you are well within the range of their base station in Maynooth. As you are not far from Clane I'd really like to know how they can get the service and you can't. So trees and houses is only an excuse. Another option for you to consider could be Ripplecom (http://www.ripplecom.net) According to their coverage map your area is well covered and they too offer a phone service as part of the package. Worth investigating.

Regards

EKayI

They tried to sell me their Satellite broadband then, no thanks!

Ripplecom is an option, I'm well within their coverage, but after reading some experiences here that people have had with them I stayed clear as I work from home at times I need a reliable connection.

But in saying that, I have just checked out their business packages, and they seem pretty good. 8mb for 60 quid isn't too bad, if it was a solid connection....

Has anyone had any experiences with their business packages? I would need a connection that can keep a solid VPN connection throughout the day when working from home.

anfirrua

Sorry to bring this back up but interested if you went with Ripplecom or still using you 3g dongle?

I am pretty close by near to Knockanally and my Eircom experience is getting worst. Dropping packets and crap bandwidth!

EKayI

Still using 3! Get a solid 5-10mb connection, and don't seem to be effected with congestion, so I'm staying with them for now!

potatogrids

Still using 3! Get a solid 5-10mb connection, and don't seem to be effected with congestion, so I'm staying with them for now!

I'm at Ladychapel and using a 3 dongle, and can't get anywhere near 10Mbps. It's on HSDPA with three bars and afaik, it defaults to the Taghadoe transmitter - the best I have ever gotten in about two years was 7Mbps in the small hours of the morning, and it was a one-off outlier as far as the average goes. It normally hits ~2 Mbps but it can be next-to-useless at peak times.

Have exhausted all other avenues in an attempt to get acceptable BB out here (not like it's the dark side of the moon, though I sometimes have to wonder) and this seems to be the only viable option given all the LOS/distance from exchange hassles that rule out any other services, so I want to get the most out of it.

I'd love to hear what it is you're doing to get that sort of speed! What dongle are you using and have you an idea about which mast it's picking up? Have you got an additional antenna to boost the signal?

THEFRIDGE

Gonna drag up an old topic but looking for some advise re the same.
We have recently moved to Donadea and Eircom is in the house. the house is not on the fibre line yet.
Just wondering what my best option for broadband or is my online gaming career over ??

Thanks in advance