Imagine LTE Rural Broadband

Chef-1st

Chef-1st wrote: »

By the way, I know some of the followers to this thread, like Chris, are actually interested in how LTE is performing, not like the 'eircom master race followers' we've seen bickering. Including mods getting their knickers in a twist yesterday saying how us plebs are all narrow minded idiots.

Well it's going brilliant. Been running tests on Thursday and Friday, mornings and all evenings, in between work.
Averaging 80-90M down, 7 up. Latency averaging 20ms.
The first night was ropey. But Thursday I was getting a steady 90M except for the odd 30M drop.
Yesterday, it never dipped below 60M in the evening. Mostly getting 85M.
Test were mostly on wired, bar the odd few times I was testing the wifi in various parts of the house.
I did get a few low dip moments, at weird times, like 6.45am I was getting 1.5meg. But then after 7am it was back up to 90meg.
Which I mentioned on the phone to tech support when they gave me a courtesy call yesterday to see how I was getting on. I'll let him know again when he calls me Monday to see how the speed monitoring went over this weekend. He seemed genuinely interested in making sure the service was performing well.

Here's a test I just did now...
http://www.speedtest.net/result/5395635727.png

I even turned on the PS4 and PS3 last night after about a year of dust and started updating firmwares and games. About 15G in total, speed never dropped once. Was done in no time. As I told my mate who has UPC/Virgin for years, "this is a world I've never know". So yes, it may not be helping the future, or the NBP, but f**k it, I'm taking the blue pill and living in bliss for the moment. Lets worry about eircoms monopoly on who gets fibre and who doesn't another day. If you can get Imagine LTE, take it. Take the blue pill.

km79

Chef-1st wrote: »

I even turned on the PS4 and PS3 last night after about a year of dust and started updating firmwares and games. About 15G in total, speed never dropped once. Was done in no time. As I told my mate who has UPC/Virgin for years, "this is a world I've never know". So yes, it may not be helping the future, or the NBP, but f**k it, I'm taking the blue pill and living in bliss for the moment. Lets worry about eircoms monopoly on who gets fibre and who doesn't another day. If you can get Imagine LTE, take it. Take the blue pill.

I've an Xbox one and whenever I buy a game it inevitably needs a massive update
Have to travel 30k each way to the in laws to do it
Please imagine come to me

rob808

km79 wrote: »

I've an Xbox one and whenever I buy a game it inevitably needs a massive update
Have to travel 30k each way to the in laws to do it
Please imagine come to me

well just make sure you do the downloads late at night when you get LTE.:)

km79

rob808 wrote: »

well just make sure you do the downloads late at night when you get LTE.:)

That's the plan
IF I get it here

Chef-1st

Could be a bit premature of me though. I've been burned so many times with broadband providers starting off great and then frustratingly going to pot. We just have to wait and see if the service it holds up when each of the masts meets it's max 400 users (and whether they uphold that claim of 400 users - how would we know??).
For instance, I'm not sure how many are on my Wexford mast at present, last I heard it was about 130. Don't know how accurate that is though. Still a good bit off 400 yet. We'll see what the future holds, it may be bright, it may be dark, but it won't be eircom.

Installation engineers say there just aren't enough installers out on the road to meet demand. They're all over Ireland trying to get people connected ASAP. Day before been in Wexford they were in Galway, it's crazy. They're sub-contracting more installers on the road in the next few weeks he said. So anyone waiting, hold tight.

Yeah the 20G a day download is enough for most, but big game downloads might go over it alright. I couldn't see anything in writing on their website T&C's, but I did get it verbally and in writing on webchat that from 12am -7am, 20G cap doesn't come in to play. Not ideal, but what ya gonna do.

rob808

Chef-1st wrote: »

Could be a bit premature of me though. I've been burned so many times with broadband providers starting off great and then frustratingly going to pot. We just have to wait and see if the service it holds up when each of the masts meets it's max 400 users (and whether they uphold that claim of 400 users - how would we know??).
For instance, I'm not sure how many are on my Wexford mast at present, last I heard it was about 130. Don't know how accurate that is though. Still a good bit off 400 yet. We'll see what the future holds, it may be bright, it may be dark, but it won't be eircom.

Installation engineers say there just aren't enough installers out on the road to meet demand. They're all over Ireland trying to get people connected ASAP. Day before been in Wexford they were in Galway, it's crazy. They're sub-contracting more installers on the road in the next few weeks he said. So anyone waiting, hold tight.

we have to wait till June 2017 to see who win NBP but imagine LTE will do for the people waiting on it.There going to need alot of mast to meet demand and like 7000 in total for NBP.

Chef-1st

Can't see them ever getting it myself. Too many masts, variables (like line of sight required and weather), and huge cost. No one wants hundreds of masts dotted around the countryside.
All imagine are doing is utilising the current masts, where most rural areas rely on poor performing fixed wireless broadband or slow poor phone lines.
This is just a faster version of what we already have. I dont know if they are erecting new masts in remote rural areas are they??
Fibre lines along roads and ESB lines the only viable option really.
But yeah, for now, it's a stop-gap, I can game and stream in bliss. May even go back in to the PC master race this year!

irishfeen

Still very impressive from Bweeng mast, this is the result over wifi (non wired connection).

Chef-1st

irishfeen wrote: »

Still very impressive from Bweeng mast, this is the result over wifi (non wired connection).

I must have a lot of wifi interference around me. My wifi tests have been poor and mixed using their router. I do recommend anyone who can, use the powerline adaptors. I've been running tests through one, absolutely no drop in speeds and no extra latency. Good job for anyone who can't run long ethernet cables throughout the house.

irishfeen

Chef-1st wrote: »

I must have a lot of wifi interference around me. My wifi tests have been poor and mixed using their router. I do recommend anyone who can, use the powerline adaptors. I've been running tests through one, absolutely no drop in speeds and no extra latency. Good job for anyone who can't run long ethernet cables throughout the house.

Yeah I do find the wi-fi can be very variable even from a few feet apart... we have ethernet run to 4 separate parts of the house so its great for us!

Honestly (and I don't work for them I assure anyone) I cannot fault them one bit - excellent service. even HD IPTV - not once had we a problem streaming.

Kristopherus

Chef-1st wrote: »

Can't see them ever getting it myself. Too many masts, variables (like line of sight required and weather), and huge cost. No one wants hundreds of masts dotted around the countryside.
All imagine are doing is utilising the current masts, where most rural areas rely on poor performing fixed wireless broadband or slow poor phone lines.
This is just a faster version of what we already have. I dont know if they are erecting new masts in remote rural areas are they??
Fibre lines along roads and ESB lines the only viable option really.
But yeah, for now, it's a stop-gap, I can game and stream in bliss. May even go back in to the PC master race this year!

Is there a chance Imagine could use the Mobile providers' masts. There's certainly enough of them around.

ItHurtsWhenIP

Jack Killian wrote: »

Don't want to give any personal stuff away but there's a massive 2 mile circumference circle completely blank on the map.

I'm in that.

No blue green or anything - just the map's own route.

Ironically the backbone to Dooradoyle runs straight through it

I've got you beat on that my friend. X marks the spot (roughly). The nearest blue line is approx 8 miles away. :(:(

Jack Killian

Kristopherus wrote: »

Is there a chance Imagine could use the Mobile providers' masts. There's certainly enough of them around.

3 / O2 surely had loads of duplicates when they merged ?

ED E

Jack Killian wrote: »

3 / O2 surely had loads of duplicates when they merged ?

Currently they're dual stacked, o2 masts are starting to come down this month apparently.

Mobile operators won't own many high sites though, space isnt really an issue, its money. They rent space off providers and its not cheap. Getting capacity to the sites is the big challenge.

Chef-1st

Chef-1st wrote: »

Yeah the 20G a day download is enough for most, but big game downloads might go over it alright. I couldn't see anything in writing on their website T&C's, but I did get it verbally and in writing on webchat that from 12am -7am, 20G cap doesn't come in to play. Not ideal, but what ya gonna do.

I tell a lie... it is in the T&C's. Well sort of, at imagine's discretion, I'm not sure if that means it will be assessed individually or not.

8.4 LTE Broadband Package(s) have a monthly data usage allowance, with a daily usage limit. If you reach your daily limit your service will be restricted until midnight of the same day. At the beginning of the next day, your service and usage will be reset. We apply these limits to ensure quality of service and a fair and level playing field for all customers. It’s not the intention to restrict user’s enjoyment of the service including downloading games as may be required on an occasional basis. At imagines discretion, occasional usage above your daily limit and during the hours of 12am to 7am will be allowed. If we notice continual, disproportionate
or abnormal download or upload usage patterns, we reserve the right, upon due notice to, terminate the provision of your LTE Service(s).

Jack Killian

MMFITWGDV wrote: »

I've got you beat on that my friend. X marks the spot (roughly). The nearest blue line is approx 8 miles away. :(:(

They might provided to a "rare" cross or two up that way sometime.....

KOR101

Chef-1st wrote: »

Fair play to them. Fair play to Mr. Bolger in seeing a market, shedding the crap he was once serving out with Breeze and WiMax, and going all in for this LTE.

Imagine is a €50m punt on winning a NBP contract. You would have to say they are unlikely to be short listed, or, given their size, to be able to win an EU complaint. Where does that leave Mr Bolger?

It is worth considering when you sign a contract. What do you think Imagine will do if they do not get a NBP look in? I wouldn't want to be one of thier customers then.

irishchris

Ifs, buts and maybes in the future. Let's enjoy what is there now as even if imagine plummeted speeds in distant future to 5mbs itwould still be over five times what I can get with eircom. Can't see it happening but if it did I could either switch to a better option if it was available in future and if not it would still be an improvement on what eircom can offer me.
Would love to see less of the doom and gloom eircom merchants here and keep this thread to what is happening now with imagine and how their service is rolling out and helpful posts on experience of the service from many users like chef.
Come on guys let's lighten the mood again in here and get back to discussion on how the service is going

Chef-1st

KOR101 wrote: »

Imagine is a €50m punt on winning a NBP contract. You would have to say they are unlikely to be short listed, or, given their size, to be able to win an EU complaint. Where does that leave Mr Bolger?

It is worth considering when you sign a contract. What do you think Imagine will do if they do not get a NBP look in? I wouldn't want to be one of thier customers then.

Honestly....I don't give a f**k.
I'll cross that bridge if or when it happens. What's the worst they could do?
I mean really...what is the worst they could do? What are you really on about?? Actually, who cares!
If they get out of the market, or muck up the service, so what, I'll jump ship to the next best thing until fibre broadband does eventually come to my home, probably in another 5 years time! Most likely they'll just continue to provide fast fixed wireless service to those willing to may the premium.

You ever hear this before?? - 'make hay while the sun shines'. Look it up.

jd

There may be another bridge to cross next year, it could be interesting
http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?p=99672451
We are considering this for the family house in Wexford, but are sitting tight as there are a few things going on.

Chef-1st

virtual high-five to Chris there for saying what I said. I mean what's with all these negative dismal eircom lovers?

Peak time on a Saturday evening and I'm getting 50M with 15ms ping. Something I can definitely work with. This is broadband I've never known before. Would have been lucky to get 1m with at least 100ms ping on a Saturday evening! Long may it last.

http://www.speedtest.net/result/5396402127.png

ItHurtsWhenIP

Chef-1st wrote: »

virtual high-five to Chris there for saying what I said. I mean what's with all these negative dismal eircom lovers?

Peak time on a Saturday evening and I'm getting 50M with 15ms ping. Something I can definitely work with. This is broadband I've never known before. Would have been lucky to get 1m with at least 100ms ping on a Saturday evening! Long may it last.

http://www.speedtest.net/result/5396402127.png

Just to be clear - I ain't no eir lover - if you notice in the map I posted a few hours ago they ain't anywhere near me.

What I am a supporter of is the NBP and that is what I want to see delivered to where I live as it will guarantee a sustainable and future proofed (for decades) solution that will mean that Broadband is, like electricity and wate ... wait ... I'm not going there ... like electricity is a utility that is just there and works. I am of course presuming that NBP will deliver FTTH.

I'm on a 3Mbps FWA connection for the last 8 years. I would dearly love Imagine LTE to come here, if I didn't suspect that it would remove my locality from the NBP intervention area. In much the same way that eir is looking to remove the 300,000 most profitable homes from the NBP with their FTTH rollout. Fortunately for those areas they are getting FTTH for their trouble. :rolleyes:

gctest50

MMFITWGDV wrote: »

Just to be clear - I ain't no eir lover - if you notice in the map I posted a few hours ago they ain't anywhere near me.....

"Available in 1 year" !!!! spose you've heard that one a few times

http://imgur.com/kJpXIvp

morgana

Lol lots of stuff going on in here when I wasn't looking :P
I'm with those who are saying, don't care what's happening in 3 years' time, at long last I don't feel like an outcast with piddling speeds.
I do not work for Imagine nor am I affiliated with them in any way, just a happy pragmatic customer.
Imagine has brought usable broadband where there was very little before. For that I applaud them. On top of that, their customer service has been faultless. I've had a few issues, and both were dealt with speedily and satisfactorily. They call back and even check up if things are ok. Come on, where do you get that nowadays?
So LTE is not fibre, we get that. However, I am not willing to wait for an undermined number of years still paying over the odds for bad broadband for maybe being included in the NBP. After all, its a failure of politicians to make it happen properly before, and I do not trust them to make it happen in a timely manner now either.

And please, keep the thread friendly and provide the connection and ongoing speed info so that people can make an informed decision.
I also queried the midnight to 7 am not counting for the daily cap thing with a rep and was told there is no formal entitlement to go over the cap, however, they will not take action if it is not a common occurrence. So occasional game downloads should not be a problem.

TireeTerror

morgana wrote: »

I also queried the midnight to 7 am not counting for the daily cap thing with a rep and was told there is no formal entitlement to go over the cap, however, they will not take action if it is not a common occurrence. So occasional game downloads should not be a problem.

That is totally different to what I was told. When I asked if there was a download limit, or fair use policy as I want to be able to torrent to my hearts content. I was told "There is a fair use policy of 20GB per day, which is reset at midnight. Between midnight and 7am you can download as much as you want and it will not affect you."

This is not at all what they are saying based on the comments in here. I do not want it for the odd game download, I want to download 4K blurays and 1080p blurays every night. I even said to the rep "So I could schedule utorrent to startup and shutdown between 12 and 7 and have no concerns about the 20GB limit?" and he agreed with me. I was also told that even if I did go over my limit before 12, they would not shut me off, it would just reduce to approx 5Mb.

Chef-1st

TireeTerror wrote: »

That is totally different to what I was told. When I asked if there was a download limit, or fair use policy as I want to be able to torrent to my hearts content. I was told "There is a fair use policy of 20GB per day, which is reset at midnight. Between midnight and 7am you can download as much as you want and it will not affect you."

This is not at all what they are saying based on the comments in here. I do not want it for the odd game download, I want to download 4K blurays and 1080p blurays every night. I even said to the rep "So I could schedule utorrent to startup and shutdown between 12 and 7 and have no concerns about the 20GB limit?" and he agreed with me. I was also told that even if I did go over my limit before 12, they would not shut me off, it would just reduce to approx 5Mb.

This is what I was told before I purchased too. By the sales guy both on webchat and on the phone. 12-7am is limitless download.
But that's not what it says on the T&C's it seems.
It seems they will be monitoring regular big downloaders. Might be worth querying their customer service on this for something definitive in writing.
If you're a big downloader, with massive 4k movies, this probably isn't the service for you. I suspect they won't like you constantly hogging the bandwidth.

TireeTerror

Chef-1st wrote: »

This is what I was told before I purchased too. By the sales guy both on webchat and on the phone. 12-7am is limitless download.
But that's not what it says on the T&C's it seems.
It seems they will be monitoring regular big downloaders. Might be worth querying their customer service on this for something definitive in writing.
If you're a big downloader, with massive 4k movies, this probably isn't the service for you. I suspect they won't like you constantly hogging the bandwidth.

Tell that to 3, I've been battering the life out of their AYCE data for 7 months since I moved to Donegal. Giving up my 360Mb Virgin was difficult!

Chef-1st

I'd say it was alright. I can only imagine what's it's like to have real fibre speed AND to have unlimited download cap!
You're gonna have to iron out this with Imagine before you sign up. I'd say you'd stay off their radar if it wasn't every night,
but regular downloads over the cap and past 12am torrents might get you singled out alright.

Worth investigating. I might email them tomorrow to get something in writing on what their conditions are regarding the 12-7am zone.
If you get any info on it, let us know.

ED E

Morgana feel like running Networx one day and abusing the hell out of your connection to see when their QoS kicks in?

marno21

MMFITWGDV wrote: »

I've got you beat on that my friend. X marks the spot (roughly). The nearest blue line is approx 8 miles away. :(:(

That's in the middle of the Silvermines mountains?

Population around there is too disperesed for the blue lines. Maybe if your friend put a CPE on top of Keeper Hill he would have a choice of any ISP within a 100 mile radius.