LTE Rural Broadband

thehorse

Hi All,
I live in Knockavilla, Tipperary and we don't have efibre currently. We are connected to the local Exchange in Dundrum (which has efibre), and is about 1.5 miles up the road but for some reason, eircom don't seem to have any interest in connecting my village with fibre.
I see many providers like ripplecom are offering LTE....what is this like and does anyone have any exp with them ?.
I work from home a lot so I need a consistent stable connection. I have DSL with eircom at the moment but only have 3.5mb and need something faster.
Secondly, if anyone in my area knows of anything relating to efibre, if they could post, that would be great...
Thanks

ItHurtsWhenIP

eFibre is range limited. From an exchange, eir/vodafone/etc. will not connect you if you're telephone line is more than 1.5KM from it. If it was a cabinet, the range is 2KM.

I don't know if Imagine cover your area with their LTE product (don't consider the Wimax, as they are ceasing that), but you might want to check with them.

According to this map (drop the marker on your house and tick Wireless ISPs on the left) you may be covered by Celtic Broadband, Choice Rural Broadband, Munster Broadband, Nova Broadband and maybe Ripplecom Broadband.

I'm with Munster Broadband over in Rearcross. Their service has been stable for me, but it's limited to 3Mbps (no data cap). You may be able to beg a 5Mbps connection off them for a bit more cash, but I don't think they'll go any higher.

I can't comment on the others, though Ripplecom do seem to have a poor customer service reputation - have a search in this forum about them.

thehorse

thanks very much for your reply. I have 4mb on DSL with eircom at the moment and while is very stable and consistent, its not fast enough.
I'll have a look around and really appreciate the info you have given me.

thegills

Call Ripplecom on 061 500250 with your Eircode and they will confirm very quickly if you are within coverage.

Check out their new website www.ripplecom.net. Packages available up to 12Mb and many happy customers. No harm in asking!

thehorse

thegills wrote: »

Call Ripplecom on 061 500250 with your Eircode and they will confirm very quickly if you are within coverage.

Check out their new website www.ripplecom.net. Packages available up to 12Mb and many happy customers. No harm in asking!

Ripplecom are completely useless. They can't guarantee service , only offer 5mb and have no idea where their antennas are located, I wouldn't go near them with a barge pole

thegills

If you are not a Ripplecom customer on what basis are you making those statements?
Just to balance this up there are thousands of Ripplecom customers who would only have complimentary things to say about them.

thehorse

thegills wrote: »

If you are not a Ripplecom customer on what basis are you making those statements?
Just to balance this up there are thousands of Ripplecom customers who would only have complimentary things to say about them.

I know this cause:
1. I have spoken with them and their customer support is hopeless
2. I work with a guy who used to work for them and he has explained in detail what type of service they offer.

I am giving my opinion of them based on discussions I have had with them.

This thread isn't about ripplecom and how good or bad they are so stop trolling and spoiling this thread or I will report you to the mods

End of....

smelly sock

FYI,

Stay as far away from Imagine as you can.

I had awful trouble with them including overcharging, lack of service and throttling their network during peak time.

They are to be avoided for LTE.

jnk883

I'd agree about ripplecom - waste of time. I called them, they said they could provide me service, the map also shows that they could. After 3 weeks waiting they came out, went up on the roof said they couldn't get a strong enough signal to the tower so couldn't provide me their service. And I still had to pay a call out charge. Waste of three weeks and cheeky to still charge me a call out charge when they couldn't provide me the service. And I had to chase them for my refund for the deposit that had to be paid.

Their map still says they can provide service in my area, they won't change it.

tsue921i8wljb3

smelly sock wrote: »

FYI,

Stay as far away from Imagine as you can.

I had awful trouble with them including overcharging, lack of service and throttling their network during peak time.

They are to be avoided for LTE.

Nonsense.

smelly sock

Bradley Long Yard wrote: »

Nonsense.

No it's not. I speak from experience.

morgana

I was with Ripplecom for many years, since way back when it was a local provider called Amocom (never had better service). Their service varied over time, was steady enough. But if there was a problem, especially at the weekend, you were on yer own. Their price/cap/speed ratio is poor - only go for them if you have absolutely no other option.
I've been with Imagine now for a year, and while it had its ups and downs, in my experience their service has been good overall and their support is fair. Things seem to have settled down pretty much since mid last year when they had peak speed issues. Judging from the Imagine mega thread, the main gripe people seem to have is, for certain masts, the time from sign up to install and lack of communication of timelines. Others had just a few days between sign up and install. Seems very mast dependent.

tsue921i8wljb3

smelly sock wrote: »

No it's not. I speak from experience.

You speak as a former customer from five or more years ago that used a completely different product. The reality is now Imagine LTE is the best alternative to a VDSL or FTTH connection and it may even outperform the VDSL depending on distance. You may not like that but it is the truth.

smelly sock

Bradley Long Yard wrote: »

You speak as a former customer from five or more years ago that used a completely different product. The reality is now Imagine LTE is the best alternative to a VDSL or FTTH connection and it may even outperform the VDSL depending on distance. You may not like that but it is the truth.

I'm not really denying that though am I?

From a customer services/ billing perspective they were a disgrace. I am perfectly entitled to give the OP that view from a disgruntled ex customer. As you Navi are entitled to give them your point of view as a happy customer.

tsue921i8wljb3

smelly sock wrote: »

I'm not really denying that though am I?

From a customer services/ billing perspective they were a disgrace. I am perfectly entitled to give the OP that view from a disgruntled ex customer. As you Navi are entitled to give them your point of view as a happy customer.

Perhaps I misconstrued your quote "They are to be avoided for LTE". Look I know they can be incompetent from a CS point of view but I think by warning people off you could be condemning them to a worse service when a better one is available. You're free to post what you want though.

OverRide

smelly sock wrote: »

FYI,

Stay as far away from Imagine as you can.

I had awful trouble with them including overcharging, lack of service and throttling their network during peak time.

They are to be avoided for LTE.

Absolute Rubbish
You were warned off the Imagine Lte thread for peddling that out of date crap
The consensus now on the imagine LTE thread here which the OP should read is they're very good speeds,slow at times in answering the phone

I'm getting 60's and 70 Mb downloads in the evenings,I got 97 at lunch
People further out are reporting 40Mb
All very useful ,it's 10 times faster than the OP gets and uploads are in multiples of megabytes versus pithy rural dsl lines

flutered

thehorse wrote: »

Hi All,
I live in Knockavilla, Tipperary and we don't have efibre currently. We are connected to the local Exchange in Dundrum (which has efibre), and is about 1.5 miles up the road but for some reason, eircom don't seem to have any interest in connecting my village with fibre.
I see many providers like ripplecom are offering LTE....what is this like and does anyone have any exp with them ?.
I work from home a lot so I need a consistent stable connection. I have DSL with eircom at the moment but only have 3.5mb and need something faster.
Secondly, if anyone in my area knows of anything relating to efibre, if they could post, that would be great...
Thanks

i had serious trouble with celtic broadband, i was on their 35 euro package at the time, i could not run a cline which is not heavy on resourses, their pr guy or owner is full of it, quotes figures like a tds promises at election time, their tech guy is nearly as bad, walked into the room and tokd me my tv was schit, that he had to send back a batch of them as they were useless, its still working, he then asked for my fone to ring base as he was on three, with no signal, i was on three with an 087 prefix, he got through fine, all i wanted it for was web browsing and a cline, i then got a three data sim, then i got a three in one sim and have not looked back since

flutered

i see an lte sign at the end of my road, i am kind tempted, but i am very happy with what i have, i do not need anything really fast, my speed varies between 3.3-7.0 down

thehorse

i now see that imagine are advertising LTE in my area. Eir are showing that FTTH is due to be rolled out in my area in the 2nd half of this year but as always with Eir, nothing is ever what is should be.
I need a consistent, reliable connection as I work from home a lot, so based on the info people have provided, would I be wasting my time going with imagine until I get FTTH ?.
thoughts welcome...
Thanks

OverRide

It's probably going to be a lot faster than Eir at the moment
If you're working from home during the day,your speeds could easily be anything from 40 to 80 Mb download
You'll really notice the upload,consistently in the several Mb range compared to dsl

It's an 18mth contract but they let you out of that for €100
If your high site is not active yet ,you could be looking at weeks before you're connected
If it is active,then maybe as soon as a day or two

thehorse

can anyone who has the imagine LTE product tell me if it's affected by weather conditions such as wind, rain,snow etc.....

OverRide

It's not affected by any of those things
If there's a 10ft blizzard and your pole falls down or there's no power at the high site,then you could have trouble but so would Eir
If the pole is badly put up strong winds might be a problem but realistically the box on the pole is so light,there's no load

I've had all those weathers and no issues
No blizzard but it did snow

thehorse

Thanks for your reply override.

I'd like to go for it but I had wireless broadband years ago and jaysus it was terribly unreliable, any type of rain , wind etc would **** it up. I hope the LTE is a lot better !

€60 a month ain't cheap either so am trying to weigh up the pros & cons

thehorse

Final question......ive been told I can keep my existing home phone number ? If so, how do you use this ? Is there an app for your mobile or do they give you a voip phone or what ?

OverRide

You can just plug in your existing phone to their router
I'm using a dect phone on a 10 mtrs lead from the router
They can port your existing landline but remember once it's winter them it won't work if there's a power outage

You get voicemail emailed to you
There's no app yet

heavydawson

thehorse wrote: »

Hi All,
I live in Knockavilla, Tipperary and we don't have efibre currently. We are connected to the local Exchange in Dundrum (which has efibre), and is about 1.5 miles up the road but for some reason, eircom don't seem to have any interest in connecting my village with fibre.
I see many providers like ripplecom are offering LTE....what is this like and does anyone have any exp with them ?.
I work from home a lot so I need a consistent stable connection. I have DSL with eircom at the moment but only have 3.5mb and need something faster.
Secondly, if anyone in my area knows of anything relating to efibre, if they could post, that would be great...
Thanks

Well thehorse, I'm not a million miles away from you (near Monard) and I was in the same boat with 3Mb Eir DSL. Switched to Nova Broadband in early Jan and haven't looked back. I have been making enquiries about Imagine since they texted my about availability yesterday, but if you wanted to have another option to consider, I can recommend Nova (so far).
The installer was telling me their mast (Novas) is actually on the wind turbine site in Upperchurch, so its practically on top of you :-)
My biggest gripe with Eircom was the ping times which varied between 40ms to 400ms depending on the time of day (I used www.rte.ie as my reference ping)
Nova has reduced my ping for rte.ie to 14->17ms, and I'm regulary getting 16-18Mbps even though I'm 18km from their mast (and it needs line of sight).
They use the Ubiquiti gear, so I see some scope for the speeds to increase if they use the newer AC Ubiquiti models.
I video conference with the west coast of the US daily and had been having plenty of latency-related drops with Eir, but no problems at all since the move. Hope that helps