QUCIK QUESTION ON BROADBAND OPTIONS IN CARLOW !

sunny2004

My cousin is living in RATHOE county Carlow !

He is using Digiweb, but the service is so bad hes just cancelled it...
~A neighbour is on Optimus... again the reports are dismal....

Is there any other options out there ?

Thanks
*can I add, phone line internet is not an option for him ....

Villain

Reach broadband covers that area and is pretty good, Aptus is another.

Super-Rush

I moved to Aptus a few months back.
Excellent service.

tommycahir

Been using Aptus outside Ballon for last 5 years and have absolutely nO complaints, great service and great reliability.

Deliverance XXV

Same here - Aptus for the last two years, a few miles outside Bagenalstown. Absolutely no issues or problems with large data and streaming (ie. Netflix, XBox Live and <100ms ping). Uptime is pretty amazing apart from a rare glitch a few weeks back for two nights.

Also, I have to say that the supplied router has given no problems in the two years and I have been with Eircom and UPC in the past (Kilkenny) and went through several routers with both - better uptime too.

Real Life

I use aptus, its not too bad. not as fast as UPC and maybe a bit more expensive but its pretty much the only one that will work where i live at the moment

racso1975

Yup aptus 2 same as deliverence 2 years and no problems

mosesgun

Been using Aptus for a almost a year now. Customer service is excellent. Really nice people. Only downside is the monthly download limits. If you've Netflix and a few people in the house streaming your monthly bill will go through the roof.

Owryan

mosesgun wrote: »

Been using Aptus for a almost a year now. Customer service is excellent. Really nice people. Only downside is the monthly download limits. If you've Netflix and a few people in the house streaming your monthly bill will go through the roof.

Was just about to ask about their d/l limits, they dont appear v generous if you are going to be doing a lot of streaming. Are the rigid on enforcing the cap or do they offer any leeway ?

mosesgun

Owryan wrote: »

Was just about to ask about their d/l limits, they dont appear v generous if you are going to be doing a lot of streaming. Are the rigid on enforcing the cap or do they offer any leeway ?

They are rigid about enforcing it. You pay for 100% of what you use. No discretion or leeway whatsoever. I think ultimately they will have to rethink this policy. If I had a viable alternative with better download limits I'd be gone straight away, as I'm sure would many of their customers.

tommycahir

I had a quick look at some of the other rural broadband providers and they have lower download limits (65GB vs 80gb for similar price and speed package) than what aptus have and are charging €3 per GB over that limit.
I even looked at Eircom's efibre advance (I know I could never get that in the sticks) and @ €45 a month they only allow a 30GB cap.
I know there are nuances here in terms of contention ratios and debates over whether anybody ever got the promised speeds from eircom etc but for the price points the d/l caps all seem to be similar.
*I know I have compared some apples and oranges here in terms of providers

I guess the issue here is one of usage of the connection as we move away from the traditional download of torrents, p2p etc and on to a streaming service like netflix, nowtv, rte player ( as content on them gets better and device compatibility is now nearly 100%) etc the demand for bandwidth is increasing and from my perspective there is a gap in the market for packages that cater to those looking for streaming eg having a standard package as most providers have now but also having one with same download speeds, contention ratio etc but higher download caps for for an additional price eg an additional 40GB for €20 euro

*I have no affiliation with the company just have been using them for years and have been listening to a number of tech podcasts on this very subject for a while.

sunny2004

Optimus I think is what my neighbour calls Aptus lol

Ok, I will go with reach and report back in a few months with how the service is working


JUST WANT TO THANK EVERYONE FOR THE INFO !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

sunny2004

This is my thread, so my apologies for bouncing it this late, but I'm just asking if there is any update for Rathoe for LANDLINE BROADBAND !

oscillating wildely

There is this press release by eir:

https://www.eir.ie/pressroom/eircom-Expands-Fibre-Broadband-Investment-in-Carlow/

but no timeline.

sunny2004

oscillating wildely wrote: »

There is this press release by eir:

https://www.eir.ie/pressroom/eircom-Expands-Fibre-Broadband-Investment-in-Carlow/

but no timeline.

its a matter of waiting, thanks

Deliverance XXV

I only looked recently a few weeks back myself for Rathoe. No DSL or cable providers which is surprising considering there is quite a few houses around the village.

Only options were fixed wireless providers Aptus and Reach. I went with Reach as they advertised higher speeds and decent download caps - since then it has been mixed results with high latency and low speeds at peak times, which isn't great for Netflix but fine for general internet usage. Uptime seems pretty decent.

Only got a letter in the door a week or two ago from RegionalBroadband (fixed wireless again) advertising that they now serve the area - looking at their plans, Reach and Aptus will have to up their game! €5 cheaper/month for twice the speed, free install and unlimited download caps...
http://www.regionalbroadband.ie/residential

Package Regional Lite Regional Mid Regional Mid-High Regional High
Download up to: 5Mb 10Mb 15Mb 20Mb
Upload up to: 1Mb 2Mb 3Mb 5Mb
Download Allowance: Unlimited Unlimited Unlimited Unlimited
Installation Fee: FREE FREE FREE FREE
Landline required? No No No No
Price €29.99 €39.99 €49.99 €69.99

mosesgun

Has anyone any experience using this "Regional Broadband"? I was talking to them today and they are happy my area is covered by them. 15mb download and unlimited as opposed to Aptus at 7mb download and capped for around the same price. Definitely think it's worth a shot. 24/1 contention ratio they say which is the same as Aptus if I'm not mistaken.

tommycahir

No experience with them but have seen imagine are advertising an LTE based service with 65-70mb down and 600gb cap for €65 on Facebook at the moment, might be an option for some..

..Brian..

Do imagine work in Carlow? I've moved into a house 6 weeks ago that is 1km from the nearest exchange in Graigue but I've been waiting 6 weeks for eire to connect a landline and I'm still no closer. Decent speeds are important to me but more important is an unlimited / very high download cap.

tommycahir

..Brian.. wrote: »

Do imagine work in Carlow? I've moved into a house 6 weeks ago that is 1km from the nearest exchange in Graigue but I've been waiting 6 weeks for eire to connect a landline and I'm still no closer. Decent speeds are important to me but more important is an unlimited / very high download cap.

You can check the coverage on their site at http://www.imagine.ie/#coverage

Am tempted by this myself but want to wait until they have signed up a few and see what it's like with higher number of users/contention..

..Brian..

Yea filled in the form but will give them a call tomorrow.

..Brian..

Spoke to Imagine about their LTE Rural BB just now. They offer speeds up to 70mb/s but guarantee an absolute minimum of 30mb/s. They have an acceptable usage policy of 20gb per day or 600gb month. They will only allow 400 households per site so contention should not be an issue.

The cost is 59.99 per month with 150 set up charge. 100 payable when signing up, the 50 balance payable on the first bill.

All sounds great tbh! However, it's not available in Carlow just yet but they do expect to be up and running around mid September. The site is up around Rossmore so should provide good coverage throughout Carlow. He said I was approx 6km (just outside Graiguecullen towards Knockbeg) so signal should be excellent. Max distance would be about 14km.

tommycahir

Thanks for posting back some really interesting stuff there, i'm sure that they will get a good bit of interest for that level of speed in rural areas until the government BB scheme rolls out.

mosesgun

I gave my Eircode and they came back to me to say it's not available in my area right now. I live a few Km outside Borris towards Bagenalstown. It looks like a great option. As someone said earlier in this thread, Aptus will have to really up their game and quickly as people will leave in their droves for something like this.

maccored

mosesgun wrote: »

Has anyone any experience using this "Regional Broadband"? I was talking to them today and they are happy my area is covered by them. 15mb download and unlimited as opposed to Aptus at 7mb download and capped for around the same price. Definitely think it's worth a shot. 24/1 contention ratio they say which is the same as Aptus if I'm not mistaken.

im on regional. they were great, went a bit **** with contention, but with an upgrade a few weeks ago, im getting an average of 8mbs down and 2 up on an 10 down, two up link. Ive been with them for about 4 years now - I have no complaints (except when there was contention, of which I did complain and within 2 months the upgrade happened)

SoupyNorman

maccored wrote: »

im on regional. they were great, went a bit **** with contention, but with an upgrade a few weeks ago, im getting an average of 8mbs down and 2 up on an 10 down, two up link. Ive been with them for about 4 years now - I have no complaints (except when there was contention, of which I did complain and within 2 months the upgrade happened)

Wow, this is very interesting indeed. I'm with Aptus, paying 50 a month for a 5mb connection and although I cant fault their uptime Regional are offering 3 times the speed for the same price.

The fear is if I switch and Regional case me hardship but the prospect of getting at least double the speed is pretty nice.


UPDATE:

So I contacted Aptus informing of this new stiff competition but sure low and behold they have revised their packages. I can now get 10mb and keep my 300gb limit for 4 euros less then what I'm currently paying!!!! So I've doubled my speed and reduced my monthly bill in one swoop.

Also worth noting they finally updated their website.

cw girl

mosesgun wrote: »

I gave my Eircode and they came back to me to say it's not available in my area right now. I live a few Km outside Borris towards Bagenalstown. It looks like a great option. As someone said earlier in this thread, Aptus will have to really up their game and quickly as people will leave in their droves for something like this.

I live outside Borris also and have noticed a rapid deterioration in Aptus service in the last couple of months. Their level of customer support is practically non existent. Has anyone switched from Aptus and if so what has your experience been?

tommycahir

cw girl wrote: »

I live outside Borris also and have noticed a rapid deterioration in Aptus service in the last couple of months. Their level of customer support is practically non existent. Has anyone switched from Aptus and if so what has your experience been?

Service is still OK for me between Fenagh and Ballon with a few drops here and there over the last few weeks though which was not the case before.

I agree about their customer service though, I had to ring them on Monday about a connection drop and was frustrating having to repeat the same information numerous times to them.

SoupyNorman

Cant say I’ve had any major issues with them in the last year. The only issue I see for them is Imagine LTE coming online. €59.99 for 70mb connection trounces any offer Aptus have right now.

tommycahir

I see they have upgraded their website lately and now have new packages but still max speed they can provide is 10mb which will be blown out of the water by the imagine service once it rolls out fully and now require you to take their own router.

Have to say those new packages were not very well advertised and even their warning mails about reaching data limit refer to old packages and if you upgrade your locked into a 12 month contract again..


http://aptus.ie/broadband-only/

..Brian..

..Brian.. wrote: »

Spoke to Imagine about their LTE Rural BB just now. They offer speeds up to 70mb/s but guarantee an absolute minimum of 30mb/s. They have an acceptable usage policy of 20gb per day or 600gb month. They will only allow 400 households per site so contention should not be an issue.

The cost is 59.99 per month with 150 set up charge. 100 payable when signing up, the 50 balance payable on the first bill.

All sounds great tbh! However, it's not available in Carlow just yet but they do expect to be up and running around mid September. The site is up around Rossmore so should provide good coverage throughout Carlow. He said I was approx 6km (just outside Graiguecullen towards Knockbeg) so signal should be excellent. Max distance would be about 14km.

Just called Imagine to sign up and book an install for next week only to be told that the Rossmore site is no longer going ahead for some reason! There is however, a new site just down the road but it won't be ready for another month, so mid October is the current time frame.