What Imagine Wimax Reps WON'T Tell you!

Biggins

Folks, if you know of anyone that has Imagine Wimax broadband and is having problems - or if you know if anyone is thinking of getting it, advise them to read this:

http://bigginsblog.wordpress.com/2013/01/19/imagine-wimax-broadband-a-nightmare-history-of-service-and-speed/

It will tell them why they're getting a crappy service a lot of the time and it will inform them about that the company will refuse to tell them - while continuing to take their money.

(skip to the bottom for the UPDATE short version)

fred funk }{

Why can't you just tell us instead of pimping your blog.

daffy_duc

(1) that there is absolutely NO fault on the system as such (no broken lines, no high interference, no roadworks in the area effecting the system – yes, that one was tried on me also as if I’m stupid not to know – I’m qualified in I.T. by the way also – the broadband signal is sent to my home via a mast and not by road and/or not ground-line cable! DUH!!!)

Sure, and that mast just connects magically to the Imagine network core. Must be expensive using magic for backhaul, as opposed to Fibre in the "road" and/or "ground-line cable"

Which part of your I.T. qualification taught you about magic then?

(2) Imagine Wimax is totally overloading their masts with user connections, failing to inform their customers the real problem but only too willing to take the money constantly for something your not likely to get if your speed is constantly very poor.

And that's called contention. Funnily enough, every provider does this. Typically a contention ratio is around 24:1. That means that for every 1mbit/s of actual bandwidth, there are 24 customers competing to use 1mbit/s.
And obviously, during peak hours, those customers are at home trying to use it, so during peak hours you notice it more.

Doing some quick maths. Eircom had 500000 DSL subscribers in 2007, sure its probably gone up a little, or down. But lets say the average DSL speed for those subscribers is 3mbit/s.
500000x3mbit=roughly 1.4Tbit/s worth of bandwidth.
Do you _really_ believe Eircom has 1.4Tbit/s worth of connectivity from Ireland to the rest of the internet? No, no they don't.

You think you're paying for a 7mbit/s product, but you're actually paying for a chance to get UP TO 7mbit/s.
Check the imagine.ie website, they even say 'Broadband speeds are "up to" and depend on network usage and other factors.'

At the end of the day, it all comes down to getting what you pay for. If you're paying for the cheapest service from the cheapest provider, ask yourself why they're so cheap.
What are the more expensive providers providing that causes their pricing to be higher?

I could sell you 20mbit/s for €2 a month, with a 100GB usage limit. But what I won't tell you (and I'll hide it deep down in the contract smallprint in obscure language), is that it only works between midnight and 2am, and you have to be parked in my office parking lot to use it.

ei9go

I had Wimax for about 18 months and the broadband speed was mostly what I paid for other than at one point I think they cut me to 256k for going over the "fair use" limits.

What was a bigger problem was the awful quality of the phone line. Everyone one we phoned complained about the phone line quality.

The problem was on transmit and receive and they could / would not do anything about it.

If you have Wimax and you are connected to music on hold , you will hear totally phased sound that you cannot even identify is music except when you phone Wimax to complain and it's perfect on their system.

This is not just a VOIP thing as UPC is perfect.

Avoid and get uPC if you can.

hdowney

I can honestly say I have not had any major problems with the wimax in the 12mths I have had it. I think a couple times I noticed the contention on the line, but it would have been at very obvious peak usage times, and seriously I only noticed it a few times at most. I have never gone over whatever their definition of 'fair usage' is, and I download and stream to my hearts content. I think the biggest problem I have with it is it is plugged to the leccy, so when the leccy goes it goes, and it takes me a couple mins to cop, cos my laptop is still plugging away . It is the reboot process that peeves me, it seems to take an age for the modem to be up and running again once unplugged but nope no issues here.

I haven't used the phoneline so cannot comment on that part of it. But for a no landline internet it does the job I want it to do - much to the eircom rep who keeps callings chargrin!

Wotty

Weather conditions can play a large part in the wimax signal which can give speed issues.

It all depends on the wavelength they use and the type of ariel you have.

Sometimes if you move the modem around you can get a better signal, same for if they have mounted the ariel on the roof providing that you are happy with heights (always tie a rope around your waist incase you slip!)

Anyhow, if you are having speed difficulties, have a look and see what the weather is like and see if it is bad.

You could perhaps see if they can offer you a different wavelength so your signal will be less affected by bad weather. Alternatively, ask if they could fit a larger ariel for you. If your tv ariel is pointing in the rite direction you could try connecting to it for a little while to see if your speed improves.