10k from exchange

ShaunC

I live approx 10k from Mullingar exchange and was going to enquire about getting BB. Am I wasting my time, what average speeds can I expect, should I just stick with my mobile BB

advertsfox

It will never happen, some people struggle at 4-5KM to even get 1MB. Consider fixed wireless from Imagine (Breeze). Satellite has painful latency and really is a last resort.

Alternatively... Move home

ShaunC

Eircom have tried to sell "up to 24mb BB" to my parents who live near me, 9k from the exchange several times, so are they purely chancing their arm or could the lines have been upgraded, I know I'm clutching at straws but my clan seem to live on the interweb and I have a miserly 30gig cap

bealtine

ShaunC wrote: »

I live approx 10k from Mullingar exchange and was going to enquire about getting BB. Am I wasting my time, what average speeds can I expect, should I just stick with my mobile BB

There are a few FWA providers around there that might be worth asking, Bounce Broadband is one that comes to mind

ED E

You sure you're actually 10Km from the exchange? Just because Mullingar is the biggest one nearby does not mean you're connected to it.

ShaunC

Afraid so:(. I was talking to a Rep. today and he offered me connection on condition I was "happy" with the BB service, after initially saying anything over 1meg is all they have to provide, with 7 days to cancel if not, so I might let them install and see (he did also point out that I may not be able to get ANY service).

RangeR

ShaunC wrote: »

Afraid so:(. I was talking to a Rep. today and he offered me connection on condition I was "happy" with the BB service, after initially saying anything over 1meg is all they have to provide, with 7 days to cancel if not, so I might let them install and see (he did also point out that I may not be able to get ANY service).

You may be 10Km from the exchange but I can pretty much guarantee that it's much more than 10Km of copper in that distance. It winds around many obstacles. I'd be very surprised if you get a sync more than 512Kb. Then you might have high packet loss.

It may not be your cuppa tea, but try PAYG mobile broadband for a little. You can get up to about 5 to 7Mb but not sustained. Some days you will get nothing. It will still be better than the DSL you'll get. If you have an old [unlocked] smartphone, use that as your modem and turn on the hot spot.

ShaunC

I'm on mobile BB at the moment and it's a poor substitute for real broadband, I'd be happy with a stable 3meg now:rolleyes:

lucernarian

I very much doubt somewhere in flat terrain would have a longer than 10 km line length in this country. Even going on the next generation ethernet website where exchange boundaries are drawn on a map, including Mullingar the maximum radius within the geographical area of a serving exchange is very rarely more than 6km. Though Mullingar's area is a little bigger than normal at its largest radius. Oftentimes roads extend out somewhat radially from nearby larger towns which mitigates against the line being particularly long.

If the line is literally 10 km long, it would be difficult to get even 512 kbps. Over such a distance, there's also more chances to have line faults develop that are hard to diagnose and eircom with all their caveats may not be willing to do much work on intermittent faults.

uncle_sam_ie

Go with what bealtine suggested and see if there is a FWA provider in your area. I had an Eircom 2mb line but it's so congested now that it has become utterly useless. I'm now with Novabroadband and am getting 20mb with super fast ping which is great for gaming. One thing to note is FWA is not the same as mobile BB. Which is why I think a lot of people mistake it as not being very good.

pm.

hi im about 15kms from mullingar and using ripplecom with no probelms in the last year at all, as stated above try bounce they dont seem to ave a 70gb cap per month like ripplecom