Imagine launch Midband Ripwave Replacement - WiMAX

MrVestek · 11-11-2010 09:55AM

daffy_duc wrote: »

Come now, as an ex-IBB employee you would know that they keep a very close eye on backhaul capacity. If anything, the contention is on the access part of the network. Which they can "fix" by increasing cell density now that they've freed up the spectrum that Ripwave was using. At least... thats what I'd do if I were Imagine.

You'd know Daffy... having worked for them at some point.

Yes network resources will be reallocated but all that's going to happen there is that they're going (or at least try their best) to move customers from Ripwave to WiMax... so the system is going to be oversubscribed with overtaxed base stations all over again.

Even if they start using the freed up spectrum for WiMax it's only going to cause the end user for hassle in the end.

When I worked for IBB I had a Breeze connection and I was tremendously happy with it as it was a well maintained network and installers would regularly fail people if the install metrics didn't meet IBB's standards.

No such luck with Wimax.

MrVestek · 11-11-2010 09:57AM

smelly sock wrote: »

Imagine use traffic shaping software to throttle torrents.

Yes, yes they do.

21-12-2010 05:23AM

watty wrote: »

The Mobile stuff (Imagine WiMax) works even LESS well. 3.6GHz IMO is a Near Line Of Sight frequency. Should only be used with outdoor aerials. Further away you need bigger aerial on taller poll. You can't beat physics.

Even the lower 2.6GHz MMDS has a hard time without near LOS.

Imagine are using a system designed for 700MHz to 2.6GHz on 3.6GHz. Even above 1.8 GHz things get poorer. That's why the phone people want to run their 2.1GHz 3G on 900MHz. (0.9GHz).

I'm over 12km from a mast. Latency is 20ms to 30ms, speed 7.5Mbps to 8Mbps on an 8Mbps package. 10.6GHz. LOS. If they don't get a rain proof signal, they don't install.

The problem isn't WiMax, the problem is the wrong kind of rollout on the wrong band. Mobile WiMax has features that Imagine can't even use with their lack of National licence and a frequency that allows true mobility. It's just going to give them and the technology a bad name.

Well I see Intel is now investing in LTE, so in a few years Mobile WiMax will be dead. Only the Fixed WiMax will survive as the mobile version can't compete with LTE or 3G/HSPA.

HSPA at this moment in time struggles to match the speed and latency consistantly but once the upgrades are done and HSPA+ networks are online for all networks wimax might well struggle indeed - cant wait to see how good LTE will be though

this is my average HSPA speed and latency usually....

MyKeyG · 21-12-2010 06:52AM

warlikedave wrote: »

HSPA at this moment in time struggles to match the speed and latency consistantly but once the upgrades are done and HSPA+ networks are online for all networks wimax might well struggle indeed - cant wait to see how good LTE will be though

this is my average HSPA speed and latency usually....

I think that's the crux of the matter Dave. HSPA looks like taking over. My brother has a Vodafone dongle and while it doesn't work everywhere it's extremely fast and consistant when it does. The problem is there are four laptops in my house. Is there any such thing as a HSPA hub or at least a common contract rather than all four of us having to get seperate ones? This is Imagine Wimax in Ennis at the moment though I have no doubt it will drop later in the day.

watty · 21-12-2010 08:53AM

You can put HSPA dongle on a window sill and connect it do a Dovado or other 3G Router with WiFi.

It's not Broadband, but on average appears to be better than "Imagine WiMax" and as it's 2100MHz and really National, gives far better coverage than Imagine's 3600MHz, which are only specific locations (no National Licence, only per site) and a terrible frequency for a Mobile system ( "Imagine WiMax" is technically a Mobile system, they should be exclusively using Fixed outdoor aerials and Fixed Wimax, They are doing the current system to save install cost)

OVERTONE69 · 21-12-2010 12:56PM

PogMoThoin wrote: »

You may understand WiMax and the way it works, but what You may not understand is that real fixed WiMax (not this mobile self install Imagine stuff) on 3.5Ghz with a proper external reciever does not work very well without perfect line of sight. That is the problem here, some customers very close to the mast people get great signals, others get weak signals making the base station work harder, bandwidth isn't the problem, its latency

i logged into my unit there and it says its on a 10mhz site?

3.5mhz is wifi, not wimax.
dont quote me on that though

OVERTONE69 · 21-12-2010 01:21PM

smelly sock wrote: »

Imagine use traffic shaping software to throttle torrents.

curious as to how you found that out? Ive heard of many people being rate limited because of torrents, and as far as i know, if they put that software in to disable peer to peer networks then wouldnt they be in the courts pretty quick?

OVERTONE69 · 21-12-2010 01:28PM

warlikedave wrote: »

You spoke your mind and that is fair - and so did the other dude - but there are limits to the manner in portraying a point for both argument and that goes for the technology too....its limited.

I have good 3g only because my cell is rural and i get 5 bars...it seems that wimax seems to operate on a similar grounds in terms of conjestion (wimax cells dont shrink with high user numbers tho i think). A very valid point has being made really in this....its not about providing quality conncetions to dethrone eircom. it seems that companies for the most part are happy to provide a similarly inadaquate service based on quantity rather than qualityand it has being a massive failure on the part of the regulator in regards to lax enforcement and the government for equally inept legislation governing marketing abd broadband guality in this country

broadband in other nations are at a lavel far superior in latency and speed while so many resources have being squandered by private and public departments and companies....shocking

if ye have access to UPC - use it seem to be the only service that has any future potential and a base of quality - they have used the right business model and porvided an quality infrastructure and developed it accordingly - the same cant be said for any other provider with exception to the breeze product really

all this is my humble opinion by the way so dont shoot me :P :P :P

not gonna argue with upc. my uncle works for them and i have a huge respect for the scale of what their doing. where their falling down is the mobility. its taking them a long ass time to get around. same as magnet.

Imagine have got as far as clare and galway, upc arent even out of dublin.

if they'd ever get to my area id gladly go with them. I must be the only luck sun bitch who got a decent connection of imagine because all i hear is bad things.

They've got some 10mhz upgrades going on and apparently thats made a decent whack at latency, but i dunno if its nationwide yet.

gotta agree with you on the law side of things. there should be such harder enforecments in place for quality, given were 55th int he world for broadband.

But there is one thing ill argue with you, people should never EVER use speedtest.net.

Its in america! to get to america from here, it goes from dublin to london, london to paris, paris to leoon and leon to somewhere in us, then somewhere to new york. just far too many points of failure for my liking.

try upc's imagines, or magnets speedtests.

And heres a quick hint, use both wifi and wired connections. wifi always seems to give bad readings (with the exception of some vgood wireless n routers)

lastly, very good way to make a point dude. very fair and to the point

21-12-2010 10:01PM

watty wrote: »

You can put HSPA dongle on a window sill and connect it do a Dovado or other 3G Router with WiFi.

It's not Broadband, but on average appears to be better than "Imagine WiMax" and as it's 2100MHz and really National, gives far better coverage than Imagine's 3600MHz, which are only specific locations (no National Licence, only per site) and a terrible frequency for a Mobile system ( "Imagine WiMax" is technically a Mobile system, they should be exclusively using Fixed outdoor aerials and Fixed Wimax, They are doing the current system to save install cost)

some routers have sim card slots s well mate....plus remember you are sharing that speed between four people..it could get conjested on your local network with a max speed of 7.2 shared between 4 people :P without even considering the external network performance

21-12-2010 10:08PM

OVERTONE69 wrote: »

not gonna argue with upc. my uncle works for them and i have a huge respect for the scale of what their doing. where their falling down is the mobility. its taking them a long ass time to get around. same as magnet.

Imagine have got as far as clare and galway, upc arent even out of dublin.

if they'd ever get to my area id gladly go with them. I must be the only luck sun bitch who got a decent connection of imagine because all i hear is bad things.

They've got some 10mhz upgrades going on and apparently thats made a decent whack at latency, but i dunno if its nationwide yet.

gotta agree with you on the law side of things. there should be such harder enforecments in place for quality, given were 55th int he world for broadband.

But there is one thing ill argue with you, people should never EVER use speedtest.net.

Its in america! to get to america from here, it goes from dublin to london, london to paris, paris to leoon and leon to somewhere in us, then somewhere to new york. just far too many points of failure for my liking.

try upc's imagines, or magnets speedtests.

And heres a quick hint, use both wifi and wired connections. wifi always seems to give bad readings (with the exception of some vgood wireless n routers)

lastly, very good way to make a point dude. very fair and to the point

speedtest is actually hosted as it says on the site...ive checked it because i was intersted in hosting a speedtest system on my own server in dublin...so it is accurate enough plus ive done file downloads in firefox just after the test and that confirmed the rate of transfer

well ive used wifi and wired and noticed no differenc in terms of internet speed and quality but the only difference is when you want to transfer files between machines on the local wireless or wired network (thats teh only time ive noticed wired as more efficient)...this of course can be router dependent and settings dependant :P

-=al=- · 23-12-2010 08:03PM

Did Irish broadband (imagine) completely take the fixed wireless breeze 2mb and 4mb packages off the market?

http://www.irishbroadband.ie/products.php

I was previously on the old breeze 2mb package (which they took off the site) which they shut off, then sent us a letter about wimax, which isnt available in the area...

i rang for the second time about swapping to breeze 4mb which is available on their updated website and told all the breeze services have been shut off!?

1890 929007 was the number i rang which is different to the Irish broadband website of 1890 56 44 56 (Lines closed at this point in time and didn't try yet)

but yeah its all still advertised, anyone know any more on this!?

the old breeze 2mb stuff is all set up and ready here, if it is still available is it a case of just switching it on without an engineer etc?

upaho · 28-12-2010 05:27PM

the_real_dave wrote: »

People should not be put off Imagine by this thread. I've been through many ISPs, Eircom, Perlico, Vodafone, O2, 3 and now Imagine, and so far, Imagine are on top. The service and support are great for me.

If someone was put off by this post I'd be very surprised. It seems to me you're evangelising for them.

As for Wimax, I'm getting "excessive usage" dialogue pages from the suggesting I change my browsing habits. I found Richard on the support line hopeless not to mention arrogant, condescending and patronising. Their whole system lacks joined up thinking, their password and username reminders don't seem to work. While I've no problem with the signal I feel it's outrageous to hide download limits in the T&Cs

bealtine · 28-12-2010 06:09PM

upaho wrote: »

If someone was put off by this post I'd be very surprised. It seems to me you're evangelising for them.

I hope people ARE put off by this thread as it's a fair warning that mobile Wimax is terrible and this needs to be pointed out over and over.

MyKeyG · 28-12-2010 10:29PM

upaho wrote: »

If someone was put off by this post I'd be very surprised. It seems to me you're evangelising for them.

As for Wimax, I'm getting "excessive usage" dialogue pages from the suggesting I change my browsing habits. I found Richard on the support line hopeless not to mention arrogant, condescending and patronising. Their whole system lacks joined up thinking, their password and username reminders don't seem to work. While I've no problem with the signal I feel it's outrageous to hide download limits in the T&Cs

Completely agree. They sent me an email warning that they were going to cap my download limit. They gave me some crap about ensuring 'that all customers benefit from the very best that WiMax has to offer by ensuring fair usage of data across the WiMax Network.' The salesman said 'no limits'. It's disgusting that government legislation allows such a statement BUT they can enforce a fair usage policy. Streaming movies for $1 instead of paying €6 to Xtra-vision is the way of the future and Imagine are not on board just because their poxy network can't handle the customer base.

moceri · 01-03-2011 11:15AM

Broadband operator Imagine Networks is suing communications technology giant Motorola for €90m for alleged breach of agreements in relation to the intended rollout of WiMax services in Ireland.

http://www.siliconrepublic.com/comms/item/20648-imagine-sues-motorola-for/

OVERTONE69 · 01-03-2011 11:27AM

MyKeyG wrote: »

Completely agree. They sent me an email warning that they were going to cap my download limit. They gave me some crap about ensuring 'that all customers benefit from the very best that WiMax has to offer by ensuring fair usage of data across the WiMax Network.' The salesman said 'no limits'. It's disgusting that government legislation allows such a statement BUT they can enforce a fair usage policy. Streaming movies for $1 instead of paying €6 to Xtra-vision is the way of the future and Imagine are not on board just because their poxy network can't handle the customer base.

apparently this is happening with a lot of people. and i dont just mean wimax. Had a big chat with lecturere about it and he even showed me UPCs t and c. They have a limit stated in them! but the ad says unlimited.

The excuse their throwing around is that your connection slows down, it dodesnt cut off. So it is unlimited. Still doesnt feel fair though. I think its mostly to deter torrent users but apparently torrents do a real number on any isp's speeds and the only way they can control it is this?

needs a better solution imho.

Biggins · 01-03-2011 11:35AM

OVERTONE69 wrote: »

...I think its mostly to deter torrent users but apparently torrents do a real number on any isp's speeds and the only way they can control it is this?

needs a better solution imho.

The thing is though and I have checked this - even though I GENUINELY do NOT use torrents - they block the use of torrents most of the time till around 1.30am in the morning.
Between 1.30am and 7/8am you get a decent speed. After that is back to little or nothing.

So if they try now and say that its currently torrent during the day that is effecting their service, I'd take their words with a pinch of salt as the saying goes.
And IF it was still torrents, then the bandwidth that they are possibly using is little or nothing as Wimax have blocked the ports during the day anyway!

thebman · 01-03-2011 12:24PM

Imagine's type of WiMAX was discontinued by the providers so I imagine this is why they are not getting the rest of the base stations and won't be able to improve the network.

The service has got worse for me since an "upgrade" message I got one day while using it.

It is now more erratic than ever especially in regard to ping times.

OVERTONE69 · 01-03-2011 12:34PM

Biggins wrote: »

The thing is though and I have checked this - even though I GENUINELY do NOT use torrents - they block the use of torrents most of the time till around 1.30am in the morning.
Between 1.30am and 7/8am you get a decent speed. After that is back to little or nothing.

So if they try now and say that its currently torrent during the day that is effecting their service, I'd take their words with a pinch of salt as the saying goes.
And IF it was still torrents, then the bandwidth that they are possibly using is little or nothing as Wimax have blocked the ports during the day anyway!

blocking ports at certain times each day seems totall youtside their scope. thats almost paranoid. But that is quite weird after 1:30.

First guess would be that its not peak times but it might be an idea to get some vids together. Im with vodafone now but ive been watching the isp's for a while.

apparently were 55th in the world between vietnam and macedonia.

Edit: oh and theres no ****in way they said they capped you. They can slow your speed; cap your usage. everywhere does it

Biggins · 01-03-2011 12:43PM

OVERTONE69 wrote: »

...apparently were 55th in the world between vietnam and macedonia.

I wonder when will we get to match South Korea's 1 gig speed (http://lnw.me/hUQ2NH) that they will trying to have for every home by the end of 2012! LOL

Don't hold your breath folks!

Sponge Bob · 01-03-2011 06:54PM

When did Motorola exit the Mobile Wimax 802.16e market ?? I know they are being taken over by a company that exited the Mobile Wimax 802.16e market in 2009, that is Nokia Siemens Networks .....which takeover is not quite the same thing.

I wonder if the Huawei - Motorola spat has anything to do with this ??

01-03-2011 09:57PM

Sponge Bob wrote: »

When did Motorola exit the Mobile Wimax 802.16e market ?? I know they are being taken over by a company that exited the Mobile Wimax 802.16e market in 2009, that is Nokia Siemens Networks .....which takeover is not quite the same thing.

I wonder if the Huawei - Motorola spat has anything to do with this ??

Could also be the fact that nokia semiens are one of the main developers of LTE. It could spell the end of wimax decelopement in ireland but we will have to see

PogMoThoin · 01-03-2011 10:42PM

warlikedave wrote: »

Could also be the fact that nokia semiens are one of the main developers of LTE. It could spell the end of wimax decelopement in ireland but we will have to see

But fixed only wimax on 3.6Ghz works very well and can be better than Dsl, not low cost self install mobile shíte Imagine chose to use.

Further to that, Comreg's plans for LTE is to aution out the spectrum to the mobile phone companies for them to waste as they feel fit without any control. It will fail also

01-03-2011 10:54PM

PogMoThoin wrote: »

But fixed only wimax on 3.6Ghz works very well and can be better than Dsl, not low cost self install mobile shíte Imagine chose to use.

Further to that, Comreg's plans for LTE is to aution out the spectrum to the mobile phone companies for them to waste as they feel fit without any control. It will fail also

True but its a money thing. Most mobile networks will upgrade to LTE and since there are far more mobile networks in comparision to wimax networks globally so the future investment will be in lte in comparision to wimax and nokia and erricson will gain the most from this.

Am suprised the regulators signed off on the aquisition of that devision of mortorola by nokia/siemens. They now have a far bigger say in wimax developement and thay are also one of the main developers and future distributors of wimax,s biggest competitor - LTE

Wimax needs a far bigger market share in order to garentee any future investment and/or rollout.

Thats my opinion anyways

Sponge Bob · 02-03-2011 12:16AM

warlikedave wrote: »

Wimax needs a far bigger market share in order to garentee any future investment and/or rollout.

Mobile wimax does, Fixed wimax is fine.

02-03-2011 05:32AM

Sponge Bob wrote: »

Mobile wimax does, Fixed wimax is fine.

Fixed and nomadic need it i think especially looking at the amount of mobile broadband services coming online across the deceloping world especially. Ill have to find the figures again but from memory mobile browdband services are far more readily available in comparision to any form of wimax with exception of russia and a few other developed markets.

Ill need to find the info again and ill post it up if ican find it

OVERTONE69 · 02-03-2011 11:28AM

THey had fixed bb in irelands called Breeze (not breezemax) and it was awesome!

But no one used the bloody thing. so its on us i guess.

6mb up 6mb down with 4:1 contention guarenteed is a lot better than wimax. nomadic wimax was just there for casual use, not torrent users who chose not to read the fair usage crap.

Seriously, if you want to laugh your ass off; pick a random isp and read their policies.

MrVestek · 02-03-2011 02:17PM

OVERTONE69 wrote: »

THey had fixed bb in irelands called Breeze (not breezemax) and it was awesome!

But no one used the bloody thing. so its on us i guess.

6mb up 6mb down with 4:1 contention guarenteed is a lot better than wimax. nomadic wimax was just there for casual use, not torrent users who chose not to read the fair usage crap.

Seriously, if you want to laugh your ass off; pick a random isp and read their policies.

I had the same and it was a good connection offered by Irish Broadband... who are now owned by Imagine. This service has since been discontinued as they're trying to use the same mast space for Wimax installs.

Domas · 17-03-2011 08:27AM

daithicarr wrote: »

and how much of that amazing 8 mb would you actually get since id imagine its up to 8 mb and not 8 mg guaranteed for each customer.

and what are they comparing with their 15 times faster.
with no technical information and just some prat spouting rubbish over and over , it looks like this is just a big old hype.

Our glorious leader was quotes about life on the radio saying this would make is the envy of Europe in the broad band field. i wonder what places in Europe's he was referring too.

I wonder too. BTW happy St. Patricks Day.

watty · 17-03-2011 01:03PM

warlikedave wrote: »

True but its a money thing. Most mobile networks will upgrade to LTE and since there are far more mobile networks in comparision to wimax networks globally so the future investment will be in lte in comparision to wimax and nokia and erricson will gain the most from this.

Am suprised the regulators signed off on the aquisition of that devision of mortorola by nokia/siemens. They now have a far bigger say in wimax developement and thay are also one of the main developers and future distributors of wimax,s biggest competitor - LTE

Wimax needs a far bigger market share in order to garentee any future investment and/or rollout.

Thats my opinion anyways

Fixed WiMax doesn't compete with LTE, it's for a different market.
Mobile WiMax is dead. Really only Clearwire is left (in USA, and they are in trouble and have looked at switching to LTE). Imagine's may be the last Mobile/Nomadic WiMax to roll out. The Big Russian network switched from mobile WiMax to LTE.

[ See http://www.theregister.co.uk/2011/03/13/customers_clobber_clearwire/ ]

Intel was the driving force behind WiMax. They only cared about Mobile version, with idea of putting the chip in all netbooks/notebooks/laptops/gadgets. They have basically abandoned that and switched to supporting LTE. They "jump started" the "Imagine WiMax" rollout with a big investment. They will not be putting more into it.

Only Intel really ever cared about Mobile WiMax and now they don't. Fixed WiMax is a small Niche market. Few places in the world rely as much as Ireland for Fixed Wireless. The competitor for Fixed WiMax is DOCSIS over Wireless (what UPC uses for Cable Broadband and is also in modified form used on WildBlue, Tooway and Ka-Sat), not LTE.

Imagine launch Midband Ripwave Replacement - WiMAX

Comments