What's an acceptable download speed??

fennor72 · 05-05-2020 10:24PM #1

Hi all
Just had the latest result of a complaint I made to three about my download broadband speed, they stated that my average download speed of 1mbps was adequate enough for general browsing.
For starters my download speed is nowhere near 1 mbps, the last few speed tests have been 0.34, 0.39, 0.28.
What can I do? Is there a minimum download speed I can't find it on the website, and the operator I spoke to could not find it either. I told them I wasn't happy with the outcome and the supervisor is contacting me tomorrow.
I was going to ring comreg in morning to see if they have any guidelines that could help.
It's an obsolute pain in the ass, kids can't do homework, browse, wife can't work from home, etc, it's useless

ednwireland · 05-05-2020 10:27PM

sorry comreg wont care

fennor72 · 05-05-2020 10:28PM

ednwireland wrote:

sorry comreg wont care

So who is the broadband regulator

Aaargh123 · 05-05-2020 10:31PM

What does your contract say it will provide? (Bearing in mind they all say "up to..")

And 1Mbps is crap. Not much better than dial-up.

I can manage with 10Mbps, but with several of us online at same time, it becomes unstable.

We're virginmedia 'up to 240 Mbps'. Have *never* got that - 120Mbps max when direct connection to ethernet. Usually it's 10-15 Mbps on wifi.

There are some guidelines for this - probably on Comreg - basically what % of max is acceptable for average daily use

Aaargh123 · 05-05-2020 10:32PM

What does your contract say it will provide? (Bearing in mind they all say "up to..")

And 1Mbps is crap. Not much better than dial-up.

I can manage with 10Mbps, but with several of us online at same time, it becomes unstable.

We're virginmedia 'up to 240 Mbps'. Have *never* got that - 120Mbps max when direct connection to ethernet. Usually it's 10-15 Mbps on wifi.

There are some guidelines for this - probably on Comreg - basically what % of max is acceptable for average daily use

ednwireland · 05-05-2020 10:37PM

fennor72 wrote: »

So who is the broadband regulator

there isnt one, fought and fought many years ago finally got connected but my download is 3mb and upload .2mb fibre stopped a few hundred yards away, cant see imagines wireless mast.

with 2 working from home i've rigged a second 4g link wich isnt quick either into the network so one one works on that and one works on the landline.

as far as i know there is no speed broadband providers have to guarantee, just had a quick look at comreg no mention of speeds anywhere

https://www.comreg.ie/ga/eolas-tomhaltora/idirlion/service-issues/

Broadband Speeds

The advertised broadband speed is the maximum attainable speed. It may not be guaranteed that you will receive that speed, please always refer to the terms and conditions of your contract where this should be outlined.

If you are experiencing poor broadband speeds you can lodge a complaint with your service provider and allow the service provider 10 working days to respond. ComReg can then intervene after this period to find out if anything can be done to improve the service for you.

A number of factors often determine the quality of a broadband service a consumer will receive including:

• The number of devices connected to the broadband service (for example laptop/ computer/mobile phones/iPads/TV etc);
• Congestion on the line (particularly at busy hour periods);
• The distance from the exchange;
• The processing speed of the consumer’s computer and router or modem;
• The speed of the connection between the computer and modem or router;
• Whether the connection is wired or wireless as this will impact speed even if the other users are not using the Wi-Fi.

i wouldn't hold my breath expecting them to do anything

fennor72 · 05-05-2020 10:46PM

Aaargh123 wrote:

What does your contract say it will provide? (Bearing in mind they all say "up to..")

I can't find it in the contract, but I complained in January about the same thing and was told my speed was above the acceptable limit of 1.8 mbps now its 1 mb so they are clearly changing the requirements.
I tried everything, I spent a lot of time, and money last summer, finding the best signal and put up an external antenna which worked OK for about 4 months then the signal kept getting weaker and disconnecting. So I've disconnected that system and have positioned the router where we can get a signal. What even more frustrating is I can get a great signal outside on rare occasions but it never last for more than a couple of minutes

fennor72 · 05-05-2020 10:48PM

ednwireland wrote:

with 2 working from home i've rigged a second 4g link wich isnt quick either into the network so one one works on that and one works on the landline.

ednwireland wrote:

as far as i know there is no speed broadband providers have to guarantee, just had a quick look at comreg no mention of speeds anywhere

What we had to do is get a second broadband package from eir just for my wife to work from home

Aaargh123 · 05-05-2020 10:54PM

Ah - are you on mobile wifi already? Apologies if I missed that.

I don't know if Sky would be any better? I *think* they use dishes.

Either way, 1Mbps is crap. Sorry if ComReg think it isn't. I've heard that squeaky wheel tweeting about shoddy service can yield results. Hsbevyiu tried that yet?

fennor72 · 05-05-2020 11:00PM

Aaargh123 wrote:

Ah - are you on mobile wifi already? Apologies if I missed that.

Sorry if I wasn't clear, our area is clearly a bit of a blackspot, for mobile and broadband coverage. The only other provider advertising in the area is imagine and I've heard from neighbours that they have been told they can't get adequate coverage from them.
Eir is poor but good enough to do general browsing

shaveAbullock · 06-05-2020 01:09AM

Awful predicament but unfortunately you can't expect a broadband company to supply you with a service at a significant financial loss.

The National Broadband Plan should be in place already but of course the government made a balls of it

ED E · 06-05-2020 01:20AM

What are you hoping for? If you want to cancel the contract complain a few more times and they'll release you. They can't and won't do anything to improve it.

touts · 06-05-2020 01:29AM

If this crisis has shown anything it is that the National Broadband plan must become the top priority after the return to work. Other projects like the Metro and the second Dublin Airport Runway are now pointless vanity projects. Broadband is essential to a safe economy and has the advantage of spreading people out of Dublin into rural Ireland thus easing the housing crisis.

Of course it won't because a Metro to the airport is just too cool.

orm0nd · 06-05-2020 09:06AM

fennor72 wrote: »

Hi all
Just had the latest result of a complaint I made to three about my download broadband speed, they stated that my average download speed of 1mbps was adequate enough for general browsing.
For starters my download speed is nowhere near 1 mbps, the last few speed tests have been 0.34, 0.39, 0.28.
What can I do? Is there a minimum download speed I can't find it on the website, and the operator I spoke to could not find it either. I told them I wasn't happy with the outcome and the supervisor is contacting me tomorrow.
I was going to ring comreg in morning to see if they have any guidelines that could help.
It's an obsolute pain in the ass, kids can't do homework, browse, wife can't work from home, etc, it's useless

I presume that's mobile broadband. Try changing your router to 3G only, has improved it for some.

Henry Ford III · 06-05-2020 09:10AM

You'd want 10mbps anyhow.

ednwireland · 06-05-2020 10:44AM

who are you getting service from at the moment ?

have you tried a router, external aerials ?

is that the only provider you can use - ( i recently switched from vodafone to gomo and get much better coverage with gomo)

e.g

https://www.freetv.ie/cctv/ip/routers-antennas/

fennor72 · 06-05-2020 01:19PM

ED E wrote:

What are you hoping for? If you want to cancel the contract complain a few more times and they'll release you. They can't and won't do anything to improve it.

This is my 4th complaint since January,.
I just want the option to be able to find a better alternative provider if there is one

petes · 06-05-2020 01:21PM

fennor72 wrote: »

This is my 4th complaint since January,.
I just want the option to be able to find a better alternative provider if there is one

Official complaint?

fennor72 · 06-05-2020 04:46PM

Yes, January came back with adequate speed, logged another ticket with them in early March, after 2 week's ringing was told they could see I logged a complaint but couldn't see a result so advised me to log another ticket, at which point I heard no more.

fennor72 · 06-05-2020 06:24PM

orm0nd wrote:

I presume that's mobile broadband. Try changing your router to 3G only, has improved it for some.

Thanks, I tried that a couple of weeks ago but it's no better

ED E · 06-05-2020 11:14PM

What do they say when you try to cancel?

jimmycrackcorm · 06-05-2020 11:26PM

shaveAbullock wrote: »

Awful predicament but unfortunately you can't expect a broadband company to supply you with a service at a significant financial loss.

The National Broadband Plan should be in place already but of course the government made a balls of it

The government haven't made a balls of it. They were criticised for it because of the expense, but now we see exactly how essential it is going to be.

For now you can't fault the Govt for the benefit of someone living in a house with acres of garden instead of nice wired urban broadband.

As for the Ops predicament, he should buy a directional antenna setup that will boost the signal to a mast that provides the best available connection.

shaveAbullock · 06-05-2020 11:48PM

jimmycrackcorm wrote: »

The government haven't made a balls of it. They were criticised for it because of the expense, but now we see exactly how essential it is going to be.

They have, it was announced in 2012. 2020 was the original date announced for completion.

fennor72 · 07-05-2020 12:11AM

ED E wrote:

What do they say when you try to cancel?

They will not cancel the contract as they deem 1mb an acceptable download speed.

fennor72 · 07-05-2020 12:16AM

jimmycrackcorm wrote:

As for the Ops predicament, he should buy a directional antenna setup that will boost the signal to a mast that provides the best available connection.

I do have an external antenna set up, as I said its signal has gradually gotten worse over the last few months.
I might spend tomorrow evening measuring the speed at various spots outside the house to see if there is a newer stronger signal.

07-05-2020 12:20AM

Look online for your nearest mast - get a directional antenna and point it towards that mast, connect same antenna to your router.

Example directional antenna: https://www.freetv.ie/4g-antenna/

fennor72 · 07-05-2020 01:01AM

65535 wrote:

Look online for your nearest mast - get a directional antenna and point it towards that mast, connect same antenna to your router.

Thanks for that, I know where my nearest mast is, it's actually only a couple of miles away, the problem being I'm situated at the bottom of a large hill which is between me and the mast.
Intermittently I can get 15 - 20 mb down pointing at that mast but the signal doesn't last and goes back down to 1mb.
Do.you think that type of aerial would help with that problem.

07-05-2020 01:21AM

fennor72 wrote: »

Thanks for that, I know where my nearest mast is, it's actually only a couple of miles away, the problem being I'm situated at the bottom of a large hill which is between me and the mast.
Intermittently I can get 15 - 20 mb down pointing at that mast but the signal doesn't last and goes back down to 1mb.
Do.you think that type of aerial would help with that problem.

Try and put the antenna on a pole - 20 ft aluminum pole might do - the higher the better - if you do get 'line of sight' to the tower then you have a better chance of getting a usable signal.

Even if you could put it on your roof/chimney then you would have a better chance of getting a better signal.

The antenna is a directional one so point it towards the local mast.

the_syco · 07-05-2020 01:37AM

65535 wrote: »

Look online for your nearest mast - get a directional antenna and point it towards that mast, connect same antenna to your router.

Example directional antenna: https://www.freetv.ie/4g-antenna/

fennor72 wrote: »

Thanks for that, I know where my nearest mast is, it's actually only a couple of miles away, the problem being I'm situated at the bottom of a large hill which is between me and the mast.

Than it's not the nearest mast.

I'll rephrase the question; what is the nearest mast that you have line of sight of, from anywhere in your house? Including the theoretical line of sight from your chimney (as you can hook up something off it).

Have a look at the Poor Mans WiFi; http://www.exe64.com/mirror/wokfi/

65535 wrote: »

Try and put the antenna on a pole - 20 ft aluminum pole might do - the higher the better

If he's in a remote area, higher may not be better; higher may end up being a lightening conductor that will fry a load of things. But you do have the right idea. OP; get two poles; one 5 feet taller than the other, so lightening hits that one.

Marlow · 07-05-2020 01:52AM

fennor72 wrote: »

Sorry if I wasn't clear, our area is clearly a bit of a blackspot, for mobile and broadband coverage.

First of all, mobile internet is not broadband. You never know, how many people are in the same cell as you, so you can not be guaranteed a minimum speed or a contention ratio. Bandwidth usage for most providers have doubled in these times, so your 1.8 Mbit/s acceptable minimum probably is just under 1 Mbit/s now. The capacity on these mobile cells simply isn't there for general broadband use.

That would be different with a provider, that has no customers moving around. Like a fixed wireless operator. Important there is just to find one, that doesn't oversubscribe their network to hell.

Secondly .. just wait until the anti-5G crowd sets the nearest mast to you on fire. Then you've got nothing. Just saying.

/M

John mac · 07-05-2020 09:57AM

have you tried changing to 3g ? sometimes it can be faster than 4g.

What's an acceptable download speed??

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