Broadband options for Dublin?

ceejay

While the prospect of flat-rate 56k dialup being available in the near future is welcome, what I really want is broadband. I regularly want to download large files - and I mean proper large files, not what Eircom calls large files - and I don't want to wait ages for them. So broadband it is then.

Since I'm living in Dublin, and my line is ADSL capable, I probably have more options than most people. However, what exactly are my options? I want something with low latency, so satellite is out. What I'm left with as far as I can see is either ADSL or wireless.

So, I can see three options:

1. Go with ADSL now from Eircom, and live with the cap.
2. Wait for EsatBT to provide ADSL in Dublin - end of the year?
3. Contact Leap and see if I can get their service - which as far as I know is symmetrical 512kbps (for the entry level product).

Does anyone else know of other viable options? I'm leaning towards the Leap option, but before I leap I wan't to make sure I'm not missing an alternative.

Thanks,

Ciarán.

SkepticOne

The best offer is NTL, but that is only in parts of West Dublin.

Dustaz

Ceejay, i sympathise with your situation, i was in exactly the same one.

I gave up a long time ago on 56k (yes yes, i know its important, just not for me ). As soon as i was offered the trial, i jumped on it for obvious reasons. As soon as the product was launched, i jumped on it regardless of the ludicrous price cos yes, i really want broadband that much.

I also could get leap (not rubbing your faces in it, sorry), and if i wasnt hindered by the minimum contract i have with Eircon, id probably go with it.

With the light visible at the end of the FRIACO tunnel (and im really hoping its not a train), hopefully people will start to look at the broadband situation. If i was in the same situation as i was last year now (and not eligible for leap), id still sign up for DSL and hope things change. Maybe im just an eejit

Of course you could always go down the SlimBand(tm) route, get ISDN'd up and avail of UTV.

Hannibal_12

I can't get DSL, LEAP or NTL and I'm in Dublin 9 in Dublin, the capital of the E-TUB. Its what I've come to expect though so I have just accepted it but will continue to inform people of the abysmal state of the internet infrastructure here.

BoneCollector

what I really want is broadband

www.netsystem.ie
Available all over Europe with upto 1MB download for around €39 a month (i and many others use it all the time)

ceejay

Originally posted by ceejay
I want something with low latency, so satellite is out. What I'm left with as far as I can see is either ADSL or wireless.

As far as I know, netsystem is a satellite-based system (the link seems broken for me), so that's not what I want due to the long latencies, especially if the return path is via dial-up.

Re going for Slimband (nice phrase) ISDN, that's not really going to give me the kind of bandwidth I want. OK, so with dual channel, I would get maybe 3 times the download speed of 56k, but I still don't want to wait that long. How long will a 30MB file take to download over ISDN (dual channel) - quick calculation - over 30 minutes with optimal conditions. With 512kbps download it's just over 8 minutes. That's what I'm talking about.

So, are there any alternatives to Leap for wireless broadband in Dublin?

Ciarán.

spongebob

You're not the first one who had to 'extend' the network a bit.

See here on The Wireless Boards . Lots of these are in Dublin, the Giant Pulsating Heart of the E-Tub of Europe ®©™® .....for some funny reason.

Ya'd think it'd would be a bogger thing ta do on wet nights when the walk to the pub is too much.

Other than that you saw the full list, there is another wireless provider Skynet, in Sandyford and I assume Chorus will promise something is imminent, as usual. Chorus have the distinction of turning OFF the first cable internet service in ireland which ran on the northside for a few years.

M

p2p

Muck , have you any information / media that
was sent out to you about chorus's powernet service ?
Maybe you could scan it in and put it up somewhere ?

The reason being i rang chorus there last week
and they completly D E N I E D ever having such
a service !!!

I couldnt belive it, i was trying to find some
of their powernet blurb around the house
but it must have been thrown out ..

Can you believe a company

a.) Shut down a perfectly good high band cable service
b.) Denys its exsistance now !

crawler

Somone somewhere is telling porky-pies! I just rang them and was told , "yep it exists but only in etc etc....."

spongebob

Powernet exists , but not where it started off.

Other Boards members in Swords and Malahide will confirm that they once had cable broadband but that Chorus flushed it down the E-Tub. A Potted history may be viewed
Here if you wish.

Powernet (its a meta brand for all Chorus data services) now exists as a wireless service in Limerick and as a new Cable service in the Kilkenny/Tipp area.

Chorus customer service is and always has been legendary so they would Deny it, wouldn't they! Part of the legend comes from all the promises they make

Denying a service ever existed is a new one, normally their guff is of the mañana mañana variety.

M

SkepticOne

Originally posted by Muck
Denying a service ever existed is a new one, normally their guff is of the mañana mañana variety.

I remember around the time they were promising a Powernet service from the Three Rock mountain in Dublin, their line was "we are awaiting a release date for the service". I believe people in Cork currently get this line too. I'm still trying to figure out what it means. Is there some central repository of "release dates" that are issued to companies wishing to provide services. Maybe the ODTR can help.

spongebob

Etain Doyle left Dublin one day to come down and to give us a speech in the wesht ...about a year ago.

Here is the specific promise SHE HERSELF made to us down here on behalf of Chorus and its activities.

One of the other broadband FWA licensees is Chorus who applied for and were awarded £17.1 million from the Government’s national development plan to provide FWA services to the regions, in particular the BMW region including Castlebar, Ballina, Sligo, Donegal, Letterkenny and Buncrana. Chorus have started offering their services in parts of the country and are working on the roll out of their network.

Note she said 'parts' of the Country when Chorus only offer FWA
aka Fixed Wireless Access in Limerick.

If the regulator is enthusiastically peddling their lies for them theres no point complaining about their customer services really, is there. And as for that £17.1 million she mentioned!


M

Rags

I think he meant www.netsystem.com
I get speeds from 160k to 1megabit on the satplus and effeto note package, pretty good I think.

Dustaz

rags, hes looking for a low latency solution, which satellite is not.

keithwhir

ya i have netsystem too, pritty good, go to http://www.broadbandsatellite.co.uk for info .

BioHazRd

Originally posted by SkepticOne
The best offer is NTL, but that is only in parts of West Dublin.

I just rang NTL to enquire about their plans and was told that "it was run around the Dublin 24 area as a test, which is going quite well, but because it was so expensive to run, they had no plans to extend this service anywhere else". I was also told "we are looking into other means of delivering internet to other areas"

Looks like the NTL avenue is well and truely stuffed for most of us :mad:

Bio

Hannibal_12

Originally posted by BioHazRd


I just rang NTL to enquire about their plans and was told that "it was run around the Dublin 24 area as a test, which is going quite well, but because it was so expensive to run, they had no plans to extend this service anywhere else". I was also told "we are looking into other means of delivering internet to other areas"

Looks like the NTL avenue is well and truely stuffed for most of us :mad:

Bio

More expensive than any other country or place in the world? My arent we special here in the E-Tub. I have given up on getting broadband for at least the forseeable future or until I emigrate.

timod

Originally posted by BioHazRd


Looks like the NTL avenue is well and truely stuffed for most of us :mad:

You might be interested to know that boards.ie lastest member is called "ntl_information"... with homepage ntl.ie. Not jumping to any conclusions about what this means though...

dahamsta

I'm waiting for Philip_Nolan_Eircom meself. I have a few questions.

adam

spongebob

first sign him up as user

Light_Touch

mail him his password and tell him how to change it.

then tell him to stay out of the 'Personal Issues' forum with a name like that and to lurk in here instead where he can learn something.........even if all he learns is a novel form of Goodwill Accounting that he can brief his internal auditors on.

M

spongebob

SEE

l3rian

please can you tell me about this netsystem?

i have read the site and it seems to easy to be true,

how does it work?
what hardware do you need to buy?
can i keep my nolimits account?

thanks for your help

El_MUERkO

I was just talking to a very helpfull lady from Leap about the availability of their service.

She says they hope to be putting a base station on 3 rock mountain within the next 2 moths with a range of 17 kilometres, I meantioned I lived in glasnevin and she said they were hoping to put a station in the docks within the next two weeks depending on when the equipment arrives.

When I look at my location I think I'm boned though, I'm on a slope down into tolka valley so I dont think I'll get line of sight

LFCFan

Originally posted by BioHazRd


I just rang NTL to enquire about their plans and was told that "it was run around the Dublin 24 area as a test, which is going quite well, but because it was so expensive to run, they had no plans to extend this service anywhere else". I was also told "we are looking into other means of delivering internet to other areas"

Looks like the NTL avenue is well and truely stuffed for most of us :mad:

Bio

I just rang up NTL too and was told that all new estates have 2 way cableing installed and that they will on come online whenever the rest of Dublin does. In other words there will be a Dublin wide service, but only when everywhere is ready. Seeing as they aren't actively updgrading then this could be quite a while.