Satellite Broadband in Rural Ireland 2016 Options

fermatstheorem

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Dear Boardies,

Please can you give me some advice.

I've just moved to East Galway (living the dream!) and trying desperately to obtain some broadband. I have an ecommerce site so I really need a decent internet connection so I can get my work done. I'll be doing my work primarily between 8am and 6pm.

So far I've tried the following:
- Eir: no wired broadband in my area, not surprised.
- Vodafone wireless broadband band: totally doesn't work.
- Rural Wifi by fleetnet which is on the Three network: totally doesn't work.
- Light Net (they create access points to create wireless broadband - you need a clean line of sight): No joy, too many trees. However my neighbour has an access point located in his property - about 600-700m away) but the issue is the trees again!

I assume now satellite broadband is my only option?
Are there any other options for someone in rural Ireland where mobile broadband isn't an option?

I've been speaking to Onwave regarding their SES Pro30 package Download(Mbps) 20; Upload(Mbps) 2; Data Allowance(GB) 30. They've promised me up to 20 mbs from 8am - 6pm saying that it can reduce from 6-10pm. As I will be working primarily from 8-6pm I don't mind a dip in performance in the evening.

Onwave have told me that they can extend the cooling off period from 14 days to 28 days and if it's not satisfactory I can cancel. They said a lot of the issues people experience is exceeding their data and instead of being proactive and monitoring their data allowance.

Any advice, guidance, direction or opinion on implementing broadband in those hard to reach corners would be greatly appreciated. Happy to consider all options. I'm fairly desperate at the moment

ED E

Options:

1. Elevate yourself. Get a 4g modem, stick it in a weatherproof box, stick it to a 50ft pole and erect in the garden. Gain LOS. Can also be down for fixed wireless, same principle. Others on here have done this.

2. Go with sat. The problem with satellite is the latency, where as a fixed line connection goes as low as 10ms and mobile hovers around 50-80ms satellite starts at 600ms and rises. Basically you're talking the guts of a second. For email and processing orders itll work, but won't feel snappy at all. No Skype though, no facetime, no whatsapp calls. If you use it only for business, no video watching in the evenings you should be safe regarding the limits.

fermatstheorem

Thanks a mil ED E,

I love the idea of the first option sounds great. Even though I only get a glimmer of 4G at the moment, option 1 could work by just making sure i'm elevated enough?

I did some searches on boards and couldn't find any threads describing the set up. It would be great to get more info. Would an electrician be my best option to get some support to set it up?

chewed

OP, what router are you using for your 4G?

I have a B593 and my local mast (3) is only 3G. I recently purchased 2 antennae for the router (the standard ones that attach to it), put it upstairs facing a router that's 4G, but about 8km away. But now I'm getting an average of 18mbs down and 2.5 up during the day!

I even recorded 24mbps this morning which is a record for me!

fermatstheorem

Hi Chewed,

Thanks for this information, I'm encouraged!

This is great you're getting a fantastic result. I'm assuming you're also fairly remote? Where have you positioned your router? Inside or outside in a weatherproof box?

I got this result this morning by climbing up a step ladder and holding the router close to the roof!
[IMG][/img]

I'm using the D Link router that Rural Wi-Fi sent me which has two antennae. So possibly if i get a better router such as the B593 with 2 antennae and elevate it facing the right direction to the mast I should be able to get a decent signal rather than satellite. Or is there any other equipment that would help me get a better signal?

I also have a vodafone 4G phone set up for internet usage - I didn't get a great signal out of that but I didn't elevate it. Should I give that another go? Or is Three the best network for more remote locations? Or is it all down to my actual location.

Thanks a mil

chewed

fermatstheorem wrote: »

Hi Chewed,

Thanks for this information, I'm encouraged!

This is great you're getting a fantastic result. I'm assuming you're also fairly remote? Where have you positioned your router? Inside or outside in a weatherproof box?

I got this result this morning by climbing up a step ladder and holding the router close to the roof!
[IMG][/img]

I'm using the D Link router that Rural Wi-Fi sent me which has two antennae. So possibly if i get a better router such as the B593 with 2 antennae and elevate it facing the right direction to the mast I should be able to get a decent signal rather than satellite. Or is there any other equipment that would help me get a better signal?

I also have a vodafone 4G phone set up for internet usage - I didn't get a great signal out of that but I didn't elevate it. Should I give that another go? Or is Three the best network for more remote locations? Or is it all down to my actual location.

Thanks a mil

Yes, I'm remote, but near a big town. We have no other broadband options in the area unfortunately.

I have my router inside on the window ledge of my landing upstairs. the antennae are just the 2 standard ones that attach to the back of the B593 router. I bought these on ebay for €15. Even with these I only get 1 bar on router, but still, the speeds are sufficient for me.



You could also go for an external Omnidirectional Antenna and stick it on the side of the house or the roof, which should give you a better signal.

It might be worth your while to try out 3 and get a router to test. You normally have 2 weeks to test out and return if you're not happy with it.
Also check http://www.askcomreg.ie/mobile/siteviewer.273.LE.asp to see where your nearest mast is located and what ISP.

fermatstheorem

Thanks for the info I'm going to try and search for a signal and then if I have to put the 4G modem outside in a weatherproof box, I'll go it. I'll let you know how i get on

ED E

Here's the thread I mentioned:
http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2056698625

Even grabbing a ladder and a decent mobile phone you should be able to DIY "Survey" your premises to see if theres a glimmer of hope.

The antennas on your router may be for 3/4G but they may also be for WIFI, be clear which they are before upgrading them.

fermatstheorem

Thanks a mil ED E, that thread is gold.

I've just gone out with a ladder and got some great signal about 10 feet from the house and up around 10 feet. There are lots of trees around so I'm assuming I should still go up higher as they dont have leaves at the moment.

You're right they're both antennas and for WIFI.

THE ALM

Like yourself we cannot get broadband where we live, on the Offaly/Roscommon border.

Originally we had a 3G/4G mobile dongle (Huawei E3272)encased in a protective cover and had this attached to a powered usb cable which in turn was attached to the 3G/4G router (TP-Link MR3420). This gave us a download speed of approx. 5mb and an upload of approx. 1mb. The signal was 3g from our nearest mast, approx. 2km away.

As the dongle has the ability to attach an antenna to it, I decided to purchase a 4G LTE MIMO one. I could now just plug the dongle directly into the router and then attach the antenna to the dongle. I then attached the antenna to the roof and spent a bit of time trying to get the best signal. The nearest 4g mast to us is about 8-10km away but we managed to get a 2 bar signal and have a download speed of approx. 12mb and an upload of approx. 3mb.

With this setup I don't have to worry about water/condensation getting into the dongle or a router if they are positioned outside.

Although this is serving us well I will look at upgrading the router to one that will take a sim card direct and not have to worry about the dongle, something like the Huawei B593 gets good reviews on here. I could then attach the antenna direct to the router.

fermatstheorem

Thanks THE ALM, very helpful, hopefully I'm getting to the bottom of this.

ok so your set up is an alternative to having the 3g/4G D Link router outside in a protective box?

The 3G/4G D Link router I have has two antenna's screwed on the back. I'm just not sure what type they are.

I could try the following to replicate your set up.

1. Attach 4G LTE MIMO antennas to my 3g/4G D Link router
2. Attach another antenna to the roof after selecting the best location for signal strength

Result the antenna on the roof will send the signal to the antenna on the router.

My original plan was to build a small platform (approx. 15 ft high about 10ft from the house) put the router in a weatherproof box with a weatherproof power cable and Ethernet cables running into the house (i need to drill a hole into my window frame).

Which do you think is the best option?

Thanks

ED E

Dont run power out to the box, use Power Over Ethernet instead. One cable does all the work then, easier to seal and smaller hole in the window frame. Also means you can easily reboot the router from the house in bad weather.

fermatstheorem

hi guys,

I just wanted to give you an update on my progress for anyone who is interested

As you can probably tell I'm non technical but not afraid to get my hands dirty plus very determined to make something work or I have to commute 2 hours in and out of work and that's not why I moved from Dublin to East Galway!

Anyways I've tried a number of services (Eir: wired broadband was never an option):

- Fixed wireless wasn't an option for me because of hills and trees - quelle surprise!
- Vodafone 4G Modem - no joy even though according to ComReg's mast map i'm about 1500m away which is weird, my phone is vodafone and not great
- I then tried https://www.ruralwifi.ie/ (the same people as fleetnet - the WIFI on the buses) which is a Three sim card with a D-Link router. It was really bad at first in the house. Based on advice from Boardies i did a survey outside (thank you! you would be surprised at the number of people that haven't tried this) and bingo fantastic signal about 8ft from my house and about 8ft up. So I've been looking into getting the various bits and bobs to make it work. I was researching flat topped bird tables lols but have decided to make my own giant router bird table about 12-15ft high.

In the mean time I've still been playing around with it in the house building little elevated castles out of books and boxes etc. just to get sometime so I can check email and then BOOM I get a great signal - OK it does fluctuate but it's been fairly steady for the past couple of days.

[IMG][/img]

I'm afraid to touch it - it's on one of my make shift castles propped up against the window. I though maybe a tree fell down with the recent bad weather. Should I just go with this? Or continue with my plans to make my giant bird table? Is this a regular occurrence? I've been onto https://www.ruralwifi.ie/ telling them how bad the signal is and in fairness to them they said just try it out and if it doesn't work I have 30 days o send it back.

Is this normal? Or could the signal have some how been improved? Could https://www.ruralwifi.ie/ boost the signal temporarily?

Any thoughts would be great. Should I go ahead an build my WIFI bird table?

I know you all want me to build a giant bird table and report back ha ha

By the way your help has been great and I've been passing on the knowledge to others offline. It is a scandal how bad broadband is in rural Ireland. I'm a Dub who's always lived about 50m from the exchange and never knew how poor it was up until now.

ED E

There are a few factors at play. Ruralwifi is essentially Three 3/4G. So the same limitations apply.

Sounds like issue #1 for you is that you're on the boundary of where they have coverage so the signal doesnt penetrate the home much but in the window with good positioning you're getting good rates. This may be plenty. Going higher/outside might improve signal a little, but that doesnt always mean more speed. The other consideration here is the trees, in winter deciduous trees lose foliage, you may find that come spring that the signal drops off if they are present in your LOS to the mast.

The other issue with a cellular connection is load. The tower only has a few hundred megs at most to share around. If you try your connection on a friday night it may be a lot slower than at 4AM on a Monday morning. With threes unlimited packages it only takes two or three people with good reception to soak up a load of bandwidth.

To summarize a little, your speed will be the value of the slowest of A. what signal allows and B. what capacity is available at the time of the test.

If I were you I'd keep the plans to hand, use a bit of cat gut to hang the router from the window if you can, and review in spring when leaves are back on the trees. If it stays decent then you're golden and if theres a big drop off you can take out the toolbox.

fermatstheorem

Thanks ED E for more excellent advice and another great idea - cat gut!

As I said I'm sharing the knowledge offline with my neighbours in similar dilemmas. Half of East Galway will have their routers dangling from window frames at the bemusement of American tourists.

I might just build a regular bird table in the mean time.

Again thanks for the advice, it's great to have options. I'm so glad I've persisted with the 3/4G rather than opt for satellite.

I'll report back on any developments.

fermatstheorem

Thanks ED E for more excellent advice and another great idea - cat gut!

As I said I'm sharing the knowledge offline with my neighbours in similar dilemmas. Half of East Galway will have their routers dangling from window frames at the bemusement of American tourists.

I might just build a regular bird table in the mean time.

Again thanks for the advice, it's great to have options. I'm so glad I've persisted with the 3/4G rather than opt for satellite.

I'll report back on any developments.

my3cents

fermatstheorem wrote: »

Thanks ED E for more excellent advice and another great idea - cat gut!

As I said I'm sharing the knowledge offline with my neighbours in similar dilemmas. Half of East Galway will have their routers dangling from window frames at the bemusement of American tourists.

I might just build a regular bird table in the mean time.

Again thanks for the advice, it's great to have options. I'm so glad I've persisted with the 3/4G rather than opt for satellite.

I'll report back on any developments.

I check out all the satellite options about once a year and always end up going back to a slow complicated but cheap 3G connection.

Dongle>3G router>Wireless>Wireless client>Ethernet>Home Plugs>Ethernet>NAT Firewall>Ethernet or Wireless>Client Computers.

mayo.mick

fermatstheorem wrote: »

Thanks ED E for more excellent advice and another great idea - cat gut!

As I said I'm sharing the knowledge offline with my neighbours in similar dilemmas. Half of East Galway will have their routers dangling from window frames at the bemusement of American tourists.

I might just build a regular bird table in the mean time.

Again thanks for the advice, it's great to have options. I'm so glad I've persisted with the 3/4G rather than opt for satellite.

I'll report back on any developments.

Post some photos too if you can. It would be helpful for other posters in a similar position.

I'm not too bad, in the middle of town. Been having some problems with speeds which is well documented over on the speeds test thread. I bought the Huawei B593 router before Christmas. The signal actually decreased where I had it located. Had to move it to another part of the house, problem was then the wifi was poor in the other part of the house! What I did was connected up my old 3G router as an AP connecting the 2 with cat 5. Took advantage too when I had the floorboards up to wire in a wired network! Working like a peach now

nagel

hi, with regard to placing the modem , if you have access to the attic it would be worth a try putting it up there, this has worked for me for a few friends.
with regard to orientation I use siteviewer.ie , its not really up to date, locate the mast then on google maps plot the location using the
option "measure distance" this will give you a los direction to the mast,

is it a dlink dwr 921 that rural wifi supply

nagel

hi, with regard to placing the modem , if you have access to the attic it would be worth a try putting it up there, this has worked for me for a few friends.
with regard to orientation I use siteviewer.ie , its not really up to date, locate the mast then on google maps plot the location using the
option "measure distance" this will give you a los direction to the mast,

is it a dlink dwr 921 that rural wifi supply

fermatstheorem

Unfortunately I dont have access to an attic.

@mayo.mick Here's a photo absolutely nothing special, but if I have to build something outside I'll definitely post some pix. The main take away for people is to persist with 3G/4G. Initially I couldn't get a signal at this window and to be fair it does fluctuation but I left it propped up in the window and nudged it slightly and left it; checked the speed; nudged it slightly, left it, checked the speed and eventually I found a spot where there had been none previously. Its orange right now. I dont know if that could be the weather.

[IMG][/img]

I would also advise people to use a wired connection for any serious work. I also have the disadvantage of very thick stone walls which doesn't help.

Anyways I'll definitely post my experience especially when spring sprungs and all the leaves are back on the trees I'm anticipating issues!

THE ALM

That is quite the balancing act:)

Having initially went this root and then with a dongle in a waterproof container outside I now have an antenna outside connected to a dongle inside, as mentioned previously.

I found this was the best solution and, if you can do so safely, then it is worth a bit of time moving the antenna in various directions to get the best signal as it can vary with just the slightest movement. I also found I get a much stronger signal having an antenna outside and high up on the gable of the house than was possible with anything I managed before. My nearest mast is only 3g but with the antenna I could get a 4g signal from a mast that is miles away.

I have since ordered a new TP-Link 4g router which will do away with the need for the dongle as I will be able to fit the sim directly into the router and hoping this will improve things further. As the router will also not be locked to a particular network it will allow me to try different providers to see if there is improvement to be made there also.

The lengths people out of large towns have to go to to get a broadband signal :rolleyes:

editorsean

One thing worth noting is that many newer buildings or window upgrades include Low-E glass, which is very effective at blocking radio signals.

For example, back in the days of analogue TV, I had a TV in one room with a typical small UHF antenna aimed out the window. It always gave a great picture and avoided having to get a coaxial cable fed down to it. The double glazed window developed a leak and fogged up inside, so we replaced it. To my surprise, every channel either showed pure static or a faint ghost of a picture. I thought the TV mast was down until I turned on another TV and it worked just fine with the antenna in the loft. After getting baffled over why my TV wouldn't work, I decided to try opening the window and holding the antenna outside. Sure enough, the picture came in, but not when aimed through the glass.

It's very similar with mobile signal reception. Our house has very weak 2G reception and 3G requires a directional antenna to pick up (Vodafone & Meteor only, no Three 3G at all.) Before we replaced the glass in the rest of the windows, we always get a 1 to 2 bar signal with the phone in the window, enough to send and receive text messages. Now, our phones only pick up a signal when placed between the glass panes.

my3cents

editorsean wrote: »

One thing worth noting is that many newer buildings or window upgrades include Low-E glass, which is very effective at blocking radio signals.

For example, back in the days of analogue TV, I had a TV in one room with a typical small UHF antenna aimed out the window. It always gave a great picture and avoided having to get a coaxial cable fed down to it. The double glazed window developed a leak and fogged up inside, so we replaced it. To my surprise, every channel either showed pure static or a faint ghost of a picture. I thought the TV mast was down until I turned on another TV and it worked just fine with the antenna in the loft. After getting baffled over why my TV wouldn't work, I decided to try opening the window and holding the antenna outside. Sure enough, the picture came in, but not when aimed through the glass.

It's very similar with mobile signal reception. Our house has very weak 2G reception and 3G requires a directional antenna to pick up (Vodafone & Meteor only, no Three 3G at all.) Before we replaced the glass in the rest of the windows, we always get a 1 to 2 bar signal with the phone in the window, enough to send and receive text messages. Now, our phones only pick up a signal when placed between the glass panes.

I'm not so sure about the glass as when I did some research I discovered they had stopped making the glass with the coating the blocked radio signals but I might have got it wrong and it could have been just one manufacturer that stopped?

fermatstheorem

Thanks again for all the tips.


@THE ALM, I spoke to soon, all i'm getting is red now and very spotty service.
I think I'm going to have to take your advice and get an external antenna. I was getting good signal for about two weeks now it's always red

Can it fluctuate or I just need to find the sweet spot again?

THE ALM

fermatstheorem wrote: »

Thanks again for all the tips.


@THE ALM, I spoke to soon, all i'm getting is red now and very spotty service.
I think I'm going to have to take your advice and get an external antenna. I was getting good signal for about two weeks now it's always red

Can it fluctuate or I just need to find the sweet spot again?

With the antenna I will always get 2 bars pointing at the 4g mast. You will find that the download and upload speeds can vary although this is more likely to do with the number of people connected to that mast than the actual quality of signal. My download speed with vary from about 6-12mbs and upload from about 3-6mbs.

If I was to point the antenna at the nearest mast I would get a solid 5 bars but as it is only 3g my speeds would only be about half what they are on 4g. I can only hope that they upgrade the nearest mast to 4g :rolleyes:

ED E

Is the mast in the direction of those trees we can see Fermat? Have you checked Comregs Siteviewer? If t is I'd definitely look at getting some more elevation, antennas should do it.

Scruff

chewed wrote: »

the antennae are just the 2 standard ones that attach to the back of the B593 router. I bought these on ebay for €15. Even with these I only get 1 bar on router, but still, the speeds are sufficient for me.

Cant see them on ebay for anywhere near €15, care to share specific seller?

mayo.mick

Scruff wrote: »

Cant see them on ebay for anywhere near €15, care to share specific seller?

A little dearer than €15, €25 maybe with current exchange rates?

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Genuine-Huawei-External-Antenna-Vodafone/dp/B00RKMF678/ref=sr_1_7?ie=UTF8&qid=1454368597&sr=8-7&keywords=huawei+b593s-22

nagel

the window if it has the ecoat will kill the signal I tried a b593 with the paddle antennas on the window board nothing but outside on the windowsill 1 bar giving 12m down 2 up. I am now using a pair of poynting lpda-92's they are at a height of about 3 meters and this time of day i'm getting 26 down 6 up, like you I have trees within 50 meters of the antennas and they dont seem to make much difference and i've had this setup since last July, the nearest 4g mast to me is around 15k but its on a good height. Whose sim are you using I have found th
at Vodafone would be the best , next three /idmobile and then meteor

nagel

the window if it has the ecoat will kill the signal I tried a b593 with the paddle antennas on the window board nothing but outside on the windowsill 1 bar giving 12m down 2 up. I am now using a pair of poynting lpda-92's they are at a height of about 3 meters and this time of day i'm getting 26 down 6 up, like you I have trees within 50 meters of the antennas and they dont seem to make much difference and i've had this setup since last July, the nearest 4g mast to me is around 15k but its on a good height. Whose sim are you using I have found th
at Vodafone would be the best , next three /idmobile and then meteor