Options for rural areas

Phil_321

I live out in the country, five miles from the nearest broadband town - too far. I think we need an extra landline as the internet is on so much that the existing one is blocked. And it would be great to have an always-on reliable connection with faster speeds too.

I'm wondering what are my options - is there any kind of satellite broadband available yet for rural areas; what about ISDN; are there any other options available?

Sponge Bob

http://www.irishwan.org/ , relay a DSL connection out of town using cheap wifi kit !

VeeEmmy

I have ISDN - rural Wexford. It is not great, but it is adequate. I've given up on WAN as they appear to prefer working with geeks. I only rate at nerd level (sorry. BKehoe is a lovely person, so no slur intended).

The ISDN connection claims to be 64Kbps, but it lies. But it's so much better than 16.8, I'm willing to put up with it.

It is very nice to have the telephone available to use as well. It's not outrageously expensive, though I HATE HATE HATE giving €ircon one extra cent for anything extra, ever. The ISDN is a workable, though still unacceptable, solution to a ridiculous problem.

If we'd just quit assuming that we are actively participating in the 21st Century, our attitudes might be better. ha. (please detect biting sarcasm)

Ban

Phil_321

Well, I'm getting 56k on dial up at the moment. I thought ISDN was supposed to be 128kps?

How much are the call charges with it, I'm on Eircom anytime at the moment, so I pay 30 or 40 a month and can go on anytime for free up to 150 hours. Is this available with ISDN?

Cryos

Phil_321 wrote:

Well, I'm getting 56k on dial up at the moment. I thought ISDN was supposed to be 128kps?

How much are the call charges with it, I'm on Eircom anytime at the moment, so I pay 30 or 40 a month and can go on anytime for free up to 150 hours. Is this available with ISDN?

ISDN can be connected @ 64kbps or 128kbps however if you connect at 128kbps your costs will double as your making two calls.

SkepticOne

I think Eircom are the only ISP that will allow you to combine two subscriptions to get 128k. This will cost 60 in total + ISDN line rental for 150 hours. This is why it is such a popular option............with Eircom.

wiredup

I don't think ISDN is worth the money.
You have to pay for two phone lines + your isp costs which is X2 if you want some speed from your Internet connection. Its a right rip off like so many things in this country (I love Ireland though ).

I am a heavy user. I moved from the UK where I had an always on ADSL connection to a rural area here in Ireland. The best deal I have found is with utv. Compared with Eircoms best deal you get 180 hours instead of 150 and it is 24.99 not 29.99. You also get weekend and evening calls free to Ireland and the UK.

I have been desperately trying to find out about a wireless connection where I am (Mayo) but its like banging your head against the wall.

I can only hope things change in the next year or two. God I miss Braodband

Morgoth

ISDN may be a substandard solution compared to even this country's meagre DSL and other broadband offerings, but it's a pretty good deal compared to an ordinary analog phone line when you can get nothing else. As in, you get two digital lines which are guaranteed to work at 64k for far less than the price of two inferior analog lines. Maybe it's only a good deal because of the outrageously high price of analog line rental we pay here, but it's still a stable, reliable service.

Fair enough, even though it's cheaper than 2x analog lines it's still €37.50 a month plus €27 in my case for net access with IOL (which of course is time limited), but at least I'm not paying more than most broadband customers (DSL at least) for my net access, albeit way slower.

Oh yeah... and ISDN is symmetric. So there.

edit: To answer the poster's other question, you can get satellite pretty much anywhere in Ireland although I believe it requires a dialup connection capable of at least 28k upload speed, plus you obviously need room for the dish, etc. To the best of my knowledge though, apart from the obvious latency problems with satellite it really expensive in terms of the ISPs data transfer caps and installation and so forth, not to mention that you'll probably need to pay for a dialup connection anyway in order to upload, unless you get a bi-directional satellite connection, which costs a lot! :eek:

eircomtribunal

wiredup wrote:

I have been desperately trying to find out about a wireless connection where I am (Mayo) but its like banging your head against the wall.

Whereabouts in Mayo are you?

P.

Cryos

SkepticOne wrote:

I think Eircom are the only ISP that will allow you to combine two subscriptions to get 128k. This will cost 60 in total + ISDN line rental for 150 hours. This is why it is such a popular option............with Eircom.

As far as i know you can only get one flat rate package on your isdn line.

Eircom are the only isp that support isdn with their flat rate packages according to the respective telco websites.

eircomtribunal

Blitz wrote:

Eircom are the only isp that support isdn with their flat rate packages according to the respective telco websites.

You can use the so-called flat-rate packages (FRIACO) with ISDN with all the providers, as far as I know.
Eircom's 150 hour package is the most expensive of them all – and they still have the contract booby-trapped in the terms and conditions, despite the ODCA having asked them to take out the clause since a good while now.

P.

damien

eircomtribunal wrote:

despite the ODCA having asked them to take out the clause since a good while now.

Didn't the ODCA rule that the Terms and Conditions were perfectly legal. if a little tricky? They can ask all they like and eircom can be eircom and tell them to take a hike unless they rule that the T&Cs are wrong.

eircomtribunal

damien.m wrote:

Didn't the ODCA rule that the Terms and Conditions were perfectly legal. if a little tricky? They can ask all they like and eircom can be eircom and tell them to take a hike unless they rule that the T&Cs are wrong.

The latest info I got from the ODCA says that they "have, in the interests of consumers, requested eircom to remove Clause 9.3." And "are still in discussion with eircom on this issue."

That is back from begin of April.
P.

wiredup

eircomtribunal wrote:

Whereabouts in Mayo are you?

P.

Hi
I am between Westport, Ballinrobe & Castlebar.