Imagine launch Midband Ripwave Replacement - WiMAX

DublineqPL · 06-02-2010 12:10PM

Hi,
it's cloudy and raining now, but the modem still shows 4 lights. Speed hasn't dropped at all - still 7.9Mbps and up - 0.49Mbps.
I was testing yesterday voip ping (skype) and didn't have any problems at all. I had video conference turned on for over an hour and everything was running smoothly. See attached ping test. So far so good. Will see after few days...hope everything will stay the same...

PogMoThoin · 06-02-2010 01:18PM

DublineqPL wrote: »

Hi,
it's cloudy and raining now, but the modem still shows 4 lights. Speed hasn't dropped at all - still 7.9Mbps and up - 0.49Mbps.
I was testing yesterday voip ping (skype) and didn't have any problems at all. I had video conference turned on for over an hour and everything was running smoothly. See attached ping test. So far so good. Will see after few days...hope everything will stay the same...

Thats with no other users, wait till they over subscribe

07-02-2010 09:07PM

I'm in Maynooth, I posted earlier in this thread about having "Breeze" 2mb and that I was called about upgrading to Wimax. I declined, but was then forced to upgrade since they switched it off without notice. Anyway, a week passes and I now have Wimax 7mb (outdoor antenna). I insisted on the outdoor antenna but that's not relevant to this discussion.

Here's the info you need, well first, a speed test

Insane right? My expectations were very low for this mid/broad... band. But I've been pleasantly surprised.

I play xbox live, FPS (Modern Warfare 2) and since my downloads and Sky player streaming was working really well, I thought that the FPS gaming would be the defining test, because if that works flawlessly then that's all I want, plus it's cheaper than the "breeze" I was made to switch from (by one euro, ha).
So to summarize, it works great for me. So before you tell everyone it's awful, or classify it as "midband" perhaps it's better to get some experience of it. That being said, I'll see how it goes over the next few weeks and report back. The week I was jerked around for with my connection being disconnected without notice was unacceptable and I hope some of the people involved got roasted by upper management.

copacetic · 07-02-2010 09:22PM

be very interested in how you go in the future, especially as more people start using it in your area.

07-02-2010 09:28PM

@copacetic Agreed, however it's worth saying that everyone in the Maynooth area that had "Breeze" was forced to move to "Wimax" so there should be as many people using "Wimax" as there was "Breeze" in my area.

07-02-2010 09:46PM

good to hear its going well where you are - the true test is always when more users are signed up - in relation to breeze still its disgraceful that they cut you off without any notice tho (breeze isnt a bad product either - alot of its bugs have being ironed out in comparison to wimax)

08-02-2010 10:35AM

@warlikedave, yeah I think they literally got their wires crossed. But at the moment it's performing very well. Though I can't access the router configuration page because they didn't give me the password and the default ones won't work I can't forward ports for Xbox Live and such (Xbox tells me my NAT is "moderate") but it still works as before when with "breeze" my NAT was said to be "open" which is what you want. So I might give them a ring to see if I can have the password.

Another comparison to Breeze, housemate watched the entire superbowl lastnight while downloading constantly on the Xbox Sky player, it never once stopped to begin "buffering" on highest quality. While on breeze highest quality was always stopping and starting.

ShevY · 08-02-2010 12:42PM

Good to see some positive feedback about this product. I'm looking to switch the parents off eircom and onto a broadband&calls bundle with imagine if its decent.

The 3mb adsl from eircom has been unusabe recently. They could save a fortune if this was anyway steady. They arent gonna be gaming or anything. The mast is quite close with good line of sight so reception shouldnt be a problem:

Only problem is they havent put their gear up yet.

08-02-2010 03:07PM

I'm really not sure this should be classified as midband. Here's some points to consider;

-It is similar to Ripwave due to one option of connecting to Wimax is with an indoor Antenna.
However it also has the option of a fixed outdoor antenna.

-It operates in the 3.5Ghz spectrum, same as Breeze, which was classified as Broadband.

-Neither Antenna type is mobile, as it always needs to be powered by a household socket. Unlike most of the "midband" products under the midband heading like, 3g, vodafone, O2, meteor and so on....

Is there a definite spec for midband or did someone who just didn't like the sound of Wimax put it in here? As the link that was quoted in the first post has the heading "Broadband initiative may see 200 jobs created" while also mentioning nothing about it being a replacement for Ripwave.

Marlow · 08-02-2010 03:23PM

sacramento wrote: »

I'm really not sure this should be classified as midband. Here's some points to consider;

-It is similar to Ripwave due to one option of connecting to Wimax is with an indoor Antenna.
However it also has the option of a fixed outdoor antenna.

The outdoor fixed antenna solution only seems to be supplied, when you are too far from the mast. Indoor units use more radio-time and as the same sector services indoor and outdoor units, you don't get the optimum on the outdoor fixed antenna's either. The other issue is, that with people moving their mobile units, you never know, how many are in the same area. So unknown contention, unless the provider has set a maximum subscribed units to a sector and refuses any connections beyond that.

sacramento wrote: »

-It operates in the 3.5Ghz spectrum, same as Breeze, which was classified as Broadband.

3.5 GHz has nothing to do with, if it's broadband or midband. Ripwave is also in the 3.5 GHz band, while Breeze also has been deployed in 5 GHz. Clearwire is also 3.5 GHz.

It's the way you deploy your product and it's technology, that makes it midband or broadband, not the frequency.

sacramento wrote: »

-Neither Antenna type is mobile, as it always needs to be powered by a household socket. Unlike most of the "midband" products under the midband heading like, 3g, vodafone, O2, meteor and so on....

The dongles also need power, they are just powered over the USB socket. It's just how they are designed electrically. The indoor antenna is mobile, because you can move it, while you can't (without hassle) move a fixed outdoor antenna easily.

sacramento wrote: »

Is there a definite spec for midband or did someone who just didn't like the sound of Wimax put it in here? As the link that was quoted in the first post has the heading "Broadband initiative may see 200 jobs created" while also mentioning nothing about it being a replacement for Ripwave.

There is no spec for midband or broadband in Ireland. The midband section was created to make people aware, that midband type products do not perform as what many would expect from broadband. They are most often mobile products with limited use.

The danish equivalent to Comreg (IT og Telestyrelsen) defines broadband as minimum 10 mbit/s, if you want a definitive figure from an official body.

The irish government seems to be of the opinion, that 1 mbit down/128 kbit up, 48:1 contention and rate-adaptiveness is the minimum for broadband (for example on schools-broadband tenders). Most likely it's because that's the smallest package Eircom sells and they wouldn't know what else to specify. Just my 2c. I wouldn't even call 128 kbit at 48:1 contention and rate-adaptiveness dial-up.

/M

thebman · 08-02-2010 04:18PM

Yes its a midband product because its results will vary heavily due to the mobile users on the network.

Unknown contention will mean if they do get a lot of users it will reduce to midband speeds just like O2/Vodafone. Already the inconsistency is obvious from this thread. Unless Imagine can show that the fixed version is different then it all has to be lumped in as midband I think as mobile users will vary the speeds significantly. Also I didn't see any mention of maximum contention or minimum speeds on their website so the use of the upto <insert speed here> would seem to be a good calling sign of a midband product.

08-02-2010 04:56PM

Ok, well that's cleared up I suppose. I was told by technicians and sales alike that the contention ratio is 24:1 max, so they must limit each spectrum. If they were telling me the truth that is. From my Wimax's performance though i have no reason to believe they aren't. It is performing better than my Breeze product had been, bar upload speeds.

Edit*
As you all say, it's too early to judge so we'll see.

thebman · 08-02-2010 05:39PM

hmmm I don't know if its manned anymore but it appears Imagine have a support knowledgebase/forum.

https://my.imagine.ie/support/index.php

I presume its still manned as it is linked to from the group website link at the bottom of the new wimax homepage:
http://www.imagine.ie/index.php

Maybe its just for DSL users though. I think if they have these resources they should be a lot more open and engaging with customers a bout this Wimax launch more there.

I mean I'm interested in the service they are saying that a fixed wimax service would be suitable for gaming but I don't see any of this information on their site. Of course I don't see anything on their site really. Wimax marketing and an older version of the site I don't know if it is even in use or not anymore.

From googling, the 24:1 contention ratio is for DSL. I'm not sure it applies to the Wimax. Engineer could have just said that as it was for DSL and maybe doesn't know for Wimax or there is no max contention ratio for Wimax.

The whole thing is very confusing because of conflicting information from imagine about it.

PogMoThoin · 09-02-2010 07:55AM

sacramento wrote: »

Ok, well that's cleared up I suppose. I was told by technicians and sales alike that the contention ratio is 24:1 max, so they must limit each spectrum. If they were telling me the truth that is. From my Wimax's performance though i have no reason to believe they aren't. It is performing better than my Breeze product had been, bar upload speeds.

Edit*
As you all say, it's too early to judge so we'll see.

You cannot control the contention on a nomadic product, to do so You have to stop users connecting when the sector is full .........................which stops it being a nomadic product

09-02-2010 02:19PM

PogMoThoin wrote: »

You cannot control the contention on a nomadic product, to do so You have to stop users connecting when the sector is full .........................which stops it being a nomadic product

Is it possible that they do that? So as to prevent people moving it to wherever they like? I'm sure it's possible.

thebman · 09-02-2010 02:30PM

sacramento wrote: »

Is it possible that they do that? So as to prevent people moving it to wherever they like? I'm sure it's possible.

I doubt it, otherwise some people wouldn't be able to connect at all and when do you decide when that is? Its more likely they just let their equipment max out on the number of connections it can handle and hope everyone is using the connection for very little I think and that speeds will still be good enough.

I imagine if they did stop you using it in certain areas if there were too many users, it would be mentioned in their terms and conditions.

But again we don't know because they haven't said and that is part of the problem with this Imagine product. I can't tell if its what I want so I can't buy it. I'm not going to trust some sales persons word of mouth. I want it written down so I can go back later and say this is how you said the service operates.

There is no transparency on their website and you really don't seem to know what your signing up for other than what they hope to give you and how much it will cost. Same as all the other midband products. Its why I avoid them like the plague and warn everyone off them.

candlewax · 09-02-2010 06:37PM

Would any of you folk recommend Dublin based fixed WiMax over Imagine's 7.6Mb DSL package? I like the lack of a cap for €50 more (activation fee). I'm not gaming, but I'd like a constant connection...

09-02-2010 08:32PM

I would NOT recommend WiMax from Imagine to anybody!!

Stick with DSL.

Nothing to do with speed:
I canceled over a month ago and I got a bill today. Rang them and the product wasnt canceled but there was a request put in to cancel it. The customer service person was helpful though.

C'mon, there couldn't only be 3-4 users of wimax on this forum. Why is no one else giving feedback on the service?

Also one last thing. The internal hub only has 1 8P8C (ethernet cable) port and 1 phone jack. Which means my sky boxes cant be connected up and I have to disconnect my PC to play my xbox.

I'm happy still been with Eircom for their service but the prices are crazy!

LeBash · 11-02-2010 05:20PM

I just got WiMax in today and I am keeping it for a 1 week trial before i make my mind up.

Im paying for 7mb down and getting nearly 9, although its still early

.

I have .5mb upload which is exactly what is on offer

I was on pingtest.net and that is down or its so bad it can't measure it.

dmalone · 12-02-2010 05:40PM

I decided to try their Wimax because their DSL line speed was so slow at 300 kbs. They wrote saying WIMAX was available. Then I called. They said the letter was a mistake and should not have been sent !!!! (after they heard I was a DSL customer)

I've been paying these guys top dollar for a sub standard service that bears NO resemblance to their advertised speeds. Finally one of their staff said, 'yeah we're slow but it's Eircom's poor quality copper that's the cause'

Can you believe it?

Now I'm switching to Magnet and hoping ...

thebman · 12-02-2010 06:01PM

dmalone wrote: »

I decided to try their Wimax because their DSL line speed was so slow at 300 kbs. They wrote saying WIMAX was available. Then I called. They said the letter was a mistake and should not have been sent !!!! (after they heard I was a DSL customer)

I've been paying these guys top dollar for a sub standard service that bears NO resemblance to their advertised speeds. Finally one of their staff said, 'yeah we're slow but it's Eircom's poor quality copper that's the cause'

Can you believe it?

Now I'm switching to Magnet and hoping ...

He/She was right though, its eircoms line that your paying the line rental for of 25 euro something (one of the highest line rentals in the world) and your lines crap and eircom won't do anything about it.

Imagine can't do a thing about eircoms infrastructure being crap. Switching to Wimax will bring its own problems anyway especially if the network gets oversubscribed.

dmalone · 12-02-2010 06:10PM

thebman wrote: »

He/She was right though, its eircoms line that your paying the line rental for of 25 euro something (one of the highest line rentals in the world) and your lines crap and eircom won't do anything about it.

Imagine can't do a thing about eircoms infrastructure being crap. Switching to Wimax will bring its own problems anyway especially if the network gets oversubscribed.

I think it's Imagine's contention ratios and not Eircom copper. Also ComReg ruled earlier this month LLU charges Eircom charge Imagine and the others ... "ComReg concludes in this decision that the maximum monthly rental for LLU is €12.41" this is down from €16.43

So Imagine and others should be dropping prices ....

iMax · 12-02-2010 06:32PM

They sent me a bill this morning for €57 after the free trial... They can go whistle

thebman · 12-02-2010 06:50PM

dmalone wrote: »

I think it's Imagine's contention ratios and not Eircom copper. Also ComReg ruled earlier this month LLU charges Eircom charge Imagine and the others ... "ComReg concludes in this decision that the maximum monthly rental for LLU is €12.41" this is down from €16.43

So Imagine and others should be dropping prices ....

There are ways to check line quality. Usually on your router I think. Line attenuation I think is what you need to check and noise on the line (those could be the same thing, I don't have landline BB so don't pay much attention to those terms).

bealtine · 12-02-2010 07:04PM

dmalone wrote: »

I think it's Imagine's contention ratios and not Eircom copper. Also ComReg ruled earlier this month LLU charges Eircom charge Imagine and the others ... "ComReg concludes in this decision that the maximum monthly rental for LLU is €12.41" this is down from €16.43

So Imagine and others should be dropping prices ....

A few points, contention will only be noticeable at peak times, that's why lots of people are complaining of slow downs in the evening times. The speed of your line is down to quality of the line and distance from the exchange.

Imagine use a thing called bitstream and not LLU so the price of LLU has no relevance to what they are charging...only a few providers use LLU and only a few exchanges are LLU enabled.

Antoh · 14-02-2010 04:08PM

I've been using wimax since november. Speeds are always over what im paying for. No problems at all. uTorrent works better than ever. PS3 perfect. pings do be a bit high but bearable. Only issue I had was at the start getting ports opened but I called customer care and after that never a problem. I was checking it out all the time during the bad weather and even then it was running very smoothly. so needless to say im very happy with the switch.

FYI: Pingtest.net dublin server hosted by digiweb. Not reliable for testing as its a rival isp. tested from Galway server

People · 14-02-2010 09:14PM

Does anyone know when it will be available in cork?

thebman · 15-02-2010 01:26AM

I'm thinking of moving to this but will have to email them to see can they guarantee ping times and the like. I'm not going to move to a service where ping times range from 50-600ms as I like to play games and I want to play them when I want to and not when Imagine's service can handle it and there aren't many users are online and the planets are in alignment.

I don't mind moving as long as I can cancel if they fail to meet the above.

Oh and I thought I'd point out they have a massive ad campaign under way in Maynooth. Booklet in the door today about it and it was mentioned (should say advertised) in one of the Sunday papers that they are launching and NUI Maynooth will be the first University to be covered by WiMAX apparently. At least the first to brag about it :P

Hammer of Thor · 15-02-2010 02:39PM

/mines coming this friday, wexford town, will report over the first few days! Better be bloody good!

When the guy rang to offer me the opportunity to order I was quick to find out what my latency would be around. I told him I'd previously been told by Imagine that it would be in and around 130ms, I wanted to make sure that was assured from sales rep. The reply was "Oh no, it'll be around 160ms, but I play online with PS3 and Xbox Live and I've no issues!". I told him that couldn't be right, lag would have to be a problem of sorts at 160ms. He asked what ping I'd be happy with. I thought I would be fair so I told him 100ms or less. "Hold on, just going to talk to one of the technicians"........."Great news, your ping will be 100ms."

Am I right in calling bull****e?

IrishTonyO · 15-02-2010 02:42PM

Hammer of Thor wrote: »

/mines coming this friday, wexford town, will report over the first few days! Better be bloody good!

When the guy rang to offer me the opportunity to order I was quick to find out what my latency would be around. I told him I'd previously been told by Imagine that it would be in and around 130ms, I wanted to make sure that was assured from sales rep. The reply was "Oh no, it'll be around 160ms, but I play online with PS3 and Xbox Live and I've no issues!". I told him that couldn't be right, lag would have to be a problem of sorts at 160ms. He asked what ping I'd be happy with. I thought I would be fair so I told him 100ms or less. "Hold on, just going to talk to one of the technicians"........."Great news, your ping will be 100ms."

Am I right in calling bull****e?

I reckon so, what part of Wexford town you in? The Imagine mast is located on the telecoms building by Tesco, how far are you away from this and are there obstructions in the way, buildings and the like?

Imagine launch Midband Ripwave Replacement - WiMAX

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