Imagine LTE Rural Broadband

NIMAN · 26-05-2016 12:26pm

polaris68 wrote: »

Best just to ring them (1890 92 92 99) or use the Live Chat on their website.

Tried using LiveChat twice, no one ever appeared to chat to me on it.:rolleyes:

fish fingers · 26-05-2016 1:03pm

I've mine installed in Oranmore in Galway for a week. The lads put it on the old mmds pole. It's running great, I'm delighted.

Quiksilver · 26-05-2016 1:36pm

chris_ie wrote: »

Also, someone was wondering earlier :

From twitter : "Between 12am and 7am you could download and it wouldn't count towards your 20Gb."

Which is great.

Has anyone been able to confirm this, would be great to leave large downloads to be done overnight and not affect your daily limit.

Also has anyone hit the limit yet? I wonder what speeds you get throttled down to.

polaris68 · 26-05-2016 1:38pm

NIMAN wrote: »

Tried using LiveChat twice, no one ever appeared to chat to me on it.:rolleyes:

You're not having much luck getting in contact with them. Doesn't augur well for their customer service if you do sign up with them.

Scruff · 26-05-2016 2:02pm

polaris68 wrote: »

You're not having much luck getting in contact with them. Doesn't augur well for their customer service if you do sign up with them.

i tried them on that live chat as well yesterday but no response. Still no word on install date or why neighbours who ordered a couple of weeks after me got set up first. Happy for neighbours but getting rightly p****d off with imagine before even getting to use the service.
I reckon they completely under estimated the demand in Galway and as such have made a complete balls of the rollout.

leex · 26-05-2016 2:15pm

Scruff wrote: »

i tried them on that live chat as well yesterday but no response. Still no word on install date or why neighbours who ordered a couple of weeks after me got set up first. Happy for neighbours but getting rightly p****d off with imagine before even getting to use the service.
I reckon they completely under estimated the demand in Galway and as such have made a complete balls of the rollout.

Install crew that visited me this morning had 3 installs today in total for the day. This would equate to 15 for a typical week which is not a lot. They did mention that they will have more installers from next week.

I had a sales rep make contact with me initially within a day or two of filling out online form. He was very enthusiastic and followed up with many calls and emails until I signed up. Replies to my emails post sign-up was decent too.

I couldnt fault them YET but will be closely monitoring speeds.

NIMAN · 26-05-2016 2:15pm

I'm not panicking too much as I don't think they are up here in North Donegal yet anyway.

But would still be nice for therm to respond.

TireeTerror · 26-05-2016 2:20pm

I dont think they are anywhere in Donegal right now.

polaris68 · 26-05-2016 2:22pm

I signed up last Friday and got a generic email today telling me that the roll-out to my area is "on schedule" but that "engineers are testing the network and assessing distances, speeds and technical metrics. These are all key things they check before handing the network over to us and allow customers like you to be installed".

They will "in touch again soon to arrange a date for your installation".

Hoki · 26-05-2016 2:31pm

leex wrote: »

Install crew that visited me this morning had 3 installs today in total for the day. This would equate to 15 for a typical week which is not a lot. They did mention that they will have more installers from next week.

I had a sales rep make contact with me initially within a day or two of filling out online form. He was very enthusiastic and followed up with many calls and emails until I signed up. Replies to my emails post sign-up was decent too.

I couldnt fault them YET but will be closely monitoring speeds.

It sure looks that way, you're checking speeds on average every 3 minutes

They are encouraging speeds though - I'd be a bit closer to that mast so hopefully will get similar.

irishchris · 26-05-2016 4:39pm

Hoki wrote: »

It sure looks that way, you're checking speeds on average every 3 minutes They are encouraging speeds though - I'd be a bit closer to that mast so hopefully will get similar.

Hoping those speeds hold up at peak times with galway demand off that mast

leex · 26-05-2016 5:00pm

irishchris wrote: »

Hoping those speeds hold up at peak times with galway demand off that mast

If their claim of keeping each transmitter to 400 clients is true, it should be no worse than any other location. I'll do regular speed tests which should update on the link above. (Away from tomorrow afternoon to Mon evening).

morgana · 26-05-2016 5:09pm

Holding up well on the Bweeng mast which is one of the earliest enabled.

Pious14 · 30-05-2016 10:30pm

Living in patrickswell, limerick. Got a call today offering me the service as its coming live in the next month from a mast on Woodcock Hill. Said its available to first 400 customers only so speeds won't be deteriorated. Hopefully, it works. Said a 20mile radius from woodcock hill will be able to avail of it

ED E · 30-05-2016 10:35pm

400 per tower, interesting. Wonder if its sectored or omni (assume the former).

Chef-1st · 31-05-2016 5:24am

Roughly how long are people waiting to get connected? Are we talking many many weeks? I'm in Wexford. He said it would be no more than 10 days max.

Not been a good start already with Imagine. Signed up over 2 weeks ago, took my 100euro, and then nothing else. Not a word.
I've gone over the 14 day cooling off period now, so if I cancel I'm down a 100euro.
Got on to them just to see how long it would be. He said he would put a call in to tech support and the engineers. He couldn't give me a time-frame, just the usual bull about how the service is now live in my area, and should be soon. Sorry what?? Was it not live before I signed up?
Also asked for a written contract to be sent to my email, as their verbal contract over the phone is all you have with them. You literally have nothing in writing.
Got a text saying something like ... "your issue has been resolved". And that's it! Resolved how? Not a word from anyone. No email. No time-frame. Nothing.
I find this troubling and not a good start. I had similar worries before with another broadband provider a few years ago (yes Ripplecom, I'm talking about you. Probably the worst customer service ever. And the worst broadband). I understand they're probably flat out with new installs. I'm happy for them. But to hear nothing, get no real answer, and say my issue has been resolved is not the best start to an 18month contract.

rob808 · 31-05-2016 8:01am

Chef-1st wrote: »

Roughly how long are people waiting to get connected? Are we talking many many weeks? I'm in Wexford. He said it would be no more than 10 days max.

Not been a good start already with Imagine. Signed up over 2 weeks ago, took my 100euro, and then nothing else. Not a word.
I've gone over the 14 day cooling off period now, so if I cancel I'm down a 100euro.
Got on to them just to see how long it would be. He said he would put a call in to tech support and the engineers. He couldn't give me a time-frame, just the usual bull about how the service is now live in my area, and should be soon. Sorry what?? Was it not live before I signed up?
Also asked for a written contract to be sent to my email, as their verbal contract over the phone is all you have with them. You literally have nothing in writing.
Got a text saying something like ... "your issue has been resolved". And that's it! Resolved how? Not a word from anyone. No email. No time-frame. Nothing.
I find this troubling and not a good start. I had similar worries before with another broadband provider a few years ago (yes Ripplecom, I'm talking about you. Probably the worst customer service ever. And the worst broadband). I understand they're probably flat out with new installs. I'm happy for them. But to hear nothing, get no real answer, and say my issue has been resolved is not the best start to an 18month contract.

I wouldn't had paid them a €100 euro especially since you haven't got the broadband off them yet.I think you should be able to cancel and get your money back.

ItHurtsWhenIP · 31-05-2016 9:00am

Chef-1st wrote: »

Roughly how long are people waiting to get connected? Are we talking many many weeks? I'm in Wexford. He said it would be no more than 10 days max.

Not been a good start already with Imagine. Signed up over 2 weeks ago, took my 100euro, and then nothing else. Not a word.
I've gone over the 14 day cooling off period now, so if I cancel I'm down a 100euro.
Got on to them just to see how long it would be. He said he would put a call in to tech support and the engineers. He couldn't give me a time-frame, just the usual bull about how the service is now live in my area, and should be soon. Sorry what?? Was it not live before I signed up?
Also asked for a written contract to be sent to my email, as their verbal contract over the phone is all you have with them. You literally have nothing in writing.
Got a text saying something like ... "your issue has been resolved". And that's it! Resolved how? Not a word from anyone. No email. No time-frame. Nothing.
I find this troubling and not a good start. I had similar worries before with another broadband provider a few years ago (yes Ripplecom, I'm talking about you. Probably the worst customer service ever. And the worst broadband). I understand they're probably flat out with new installs. I'm happy for them. But to hear nothing, get no real answer, and say my issue has been resolved is not the best start to an 18month contract.

The 14 day notice doesn't start until they deliver the service to you. So you can cancel now, if you want and get your money back.

They are required to record their phone calls and keep them for several years, so your "verbal contract" is as good as a written one. You are entitled to receive the recording or a transcript of it should you be in dispute with them over something.

Scruff · 31-05-2016 12:40pm

Chef-1st wrote: »

Roughly how long are people waiting to get connected? Are we talking many many weeks? I'm in Wexford. He said it would be no more than 10 days max.

Not been a good start already with Imagine. Signed up over 2 weeks ago, took my 100euro, and then nothing else. Not a word.
I've gone over the 14 day cooling off period now, so if I cancel I'm down a 100euro.
Got on to them just to see how long it would be. He said he would put a call in to tech support and the engineers. He couldn't give me a time-frame, just the usual bull about how the service is now live in my area, and should be soon. Sorry what?? Was it not live before I signed up?
Also asked for a written contract to be sent to my email, as their verbal contract over the phone is all you have with them. You literally have nothing in writing.
Got a text saying something like ... "your issue has been resolved". And that's it! Resolved how? Not a word from anyone. No email. No time-frame. Nothing.
I find this troubling and not a good start. I had similar worries before with another broadband provider a few years ago (yes Ripplecom, I'm talking about you. Probably the worst customer service ever. And the worst broadband). I understand they're probably flat out with new installs. I'm happy for them. But to hear nothing, get no real answer, and say my issue has been resolved is not the best start to an 18month contract.

Almost 4 weeks since i ordered and paid the €100. Got a "curtesy call" from a rep last week to say i'd be rang this week. Was told there was phenomenal demand or words to that effect and that they were getting additional installation crews online in the coming weeks. So it just reconfirmed my earlier stated opinion that they have made a balls of this rollout and will probably be waiting a few more weeks...

tvc15 · 31-05-2016 12:57pm

My experience so far as someone in relatively close proximity to one of the masts:

Signed up for first group of installations - they came out and said they would need a longer ladder and never came back which was annoying but no money changed hands.

Eir were still dragging their heels until very recently so gave up with them and spent the €100 with Imagine who sent someone out within 3 days - great but they didn't have the right ladders that day either

2 weeks later they final come back with a new date and will have the right ladders so I wait around all evening until finally get a call that they aren't coming

Now today they were back yet again on the roof and said they can get 50Mb with the receiver on the chimney - great! But 30 minutes after agreeing the install points etc. they no longer feel comfortable on the roof and won't install

Waiting to hear back from the office on the refund etc. but they said loads of houses they go to can't get reception if theres any trees around - hope to god these lads have nothing to do with the national broadband plan if their service requires working on a roof but they won't do it (that said I don't blame the lad installing if he wasn't provided with the correct equipment)

TireeTerror · 31-05-2016 1:24pm

Just had a chat with Lyndsay on Imagine chat support asking why it says on their website that its available in my area, when it is not due to go live until Mid July and this is the reply she gave me.

"The service is live in your area. It is live for presale. The mast is due to be installed Mid July and you can use the LTE service then" and when I suggested they update their website to accurately reflect the fact that it is not actually live at all, she simply closed the chat window down. No goodbye, can I help you with anything else, just closed.

Piss poor crappy customer service. I was going to setup a team selling this product, but not a chance now as I will not have my reputation ruined by offering a service which has such astonishingly low standards of customer service.

I am now contacting the regulator as I believe their website, which I have saved in the event they try and deny it, has been set out to intentionally mislead consumers into believing the service is already available.

bk · 31-05-2016 1:25pm

tvc15 wrote: »

Now today they were back yet again on the roof and said they can get 50Mb with the receiver on the chimney - great! But 30 minutes after agreeing the install points etc. they no longer feel comfortable on the roof and won't install

Waiting to hear back from the office on the refund etc. but they said loads of houses they go to can't get reception if theres any trees around - hope to god these lads have nothing to do with the national broadband plan if their service requires working on a roof but they won't do it (that said I don't blame the lad installing if he wasn't provided with the correct equipment)

Well if they can't supply service to 100% of homes in an area, then this should automatically disqualify them from the NBP IMO.

It is problems like this that Eir ended up deciding that LTE couldn't be used to deliver the NBP and that FTTH was the only solution.

Remember Eir only Meteor, who are one of the three mobile networks and have massive amounts of experience with LTE, far more then imagine.

If Eir and Meteor engineers don't think LTE is good enough for the NBP, then it really isn't. I'm certain Eir would have used LTE if they thought they could get away with it. But it just isn't good enough, too difficult and surprisingly too expensive compared to FTTH!

Johnboy1951 · 31-05-2016 3:08pm

"The service is live in your area. It is live for presale.

Hahahahahahaha That is priceless! hahahahahaha

tvc15 · 31-05-2016 3:36pm

So despite already being on my roof and testing that I can receive the signal they won't provide me with a service, this is after offering to put up scaffolding, hire a cherry picker, do it myself, etc.

I had high hopes that a fixed wireless operator might be usable but between my experience and selling a product as being 'live for presale' they have lost me completely

Scruff · 31-05-2016 4:14pm

tvc15 wrote: »

I had high hopes that a fixed wireless operator might be usable but between my experience and selling a product as being 'live for presale' they have lost me completely

It is sounding more and more like a dodgy kickstarter campaign alright...

polaris68 · 31-05-2016 4:42pm

tvc15 wrote: »

My experience so far as someone in relatively close proximity to one of the masts:

Signed up for first group of installations - they came out and said they would need a longer ladder and never came back which was annoying but no money changed hands.

Eir were still dragging their heels until very recently so gave up with them and spent the €100 with Imagine who sent someone out within 3 days - great but they didn't have the right ladders that day either

2 weeks later they final come back with a new date and will have the right ladders so I wait around all evening until finally get a call that they aren't coming

Now today they were back yet again on the roof and said they can get 50Mb with the receiver on the chimney - great! But 30 minutes after agreeing the install points etc. they no longer feel comfortable on the roof and won't install

Waiting to hear back from the office on the refund etc. but they said loads of houses they go to can't get reception if theres any trees around - hope to god these lads have nothing to do with the national broadband plan if their service requires working on a roof but they won't do it (that said I don't blame the lad installing if he wasn't provided with the correct equipment)

When you say that "they no longer felt comfortable on the roof and won't install" do you mean that they felt that the reception would not be good enough or they were worried that they would fall off your roof!

tvc15 · 31-05-2016 5:12pm

polaris68 wrote: »

When you say that "they no longer felt comfortable on the roof and won't install" do you mean that they felt that the reception would not be good enough or they were worried that they would fall off your roof!

They had a good signal with the test equipment when they were on the roof but decided against bringing up the antenna and fixings to do the installation, again not really the technician's fault if they weren't provided with the correct equipment

polaris68 · 31-05-2016 5:35pm

tvc15 wrote: »

They had a good signal with the test equipment when they were on the roof but decided against bringing up the antenna and fixings to do the installation, again not really the technician's fault if they weren't provided with the correct equipment

Ok, and you've had enough with all this messing around and want to cancel and are looking for a refund of your €100?

tvc15 · 31-05-2016 6:14pm

polaris68 wrote: »

Ok, and you've had enough with all this messing around and want to cancel and are looking for a refund of your €100?

I'd prefer they completed the installation but I don't think there's any issues with refunding me

irishchris · 01-06-2016 1:25pm

tvc15 wrote: »

I'd prefer they completed the installation but I don't think there's any issues with refunding me

What county are you in? I paid deposit over six weeks ago but no word yet from imagine since

Chef-1st · 01-06-2016 1:56pm

irishchris wrote: »

What county are you in? I paid deposit over six weeks ago but no word yet from imagine since

Jesus Chris, that's a long time. You'd want to be getting on to them.
Unless you're in an area that isn't live yet?
It seems Imagine have the 'squeaky wheel gets the oil' customer service going on. I understand that they're busy and might not have enough techs on the road for the demand, but after 6 weeks waiting, I'd be pretty annoyed at no contact from them. They should have been prepared for this if they're going to role out a wireless "fibre" broadband service around rural Ireland.

irishchris · 01-06-2016 2:06pm

Chef-1st wrote: »

Jesus Chris, that's a long time. You'd want to be getting on to them.
Unless you're in an area that isn't live yet?
It seems Imagine have the 'squeaky wheel gets the oil' customer service going on. I understand that they're busy and might not have enough techs on the road for the demand, but after 6 weeks waiting, I'd be pretty annoyed at no contact from them. They should have been prepared for this if they're going to role out a wireless "fibre" broadband service around rural Ireland.

I assumed it was live when I signed up but then was told not live yet at that time. Map shows coverage now in my area so assumed would be contact from them

irishchris · 01-06-2016 7:21pm

I contacted imagine and am so annoyed that after all this time nobody bothered to ring me to tell me it had been delayed by another MONTH. abbeyknockmoy mast is now expected to go live from mid July. I was informed last month that it may be delayed then I got a call to tell me that was nonsense and that it was still scheduled to go live mid June and I would be first connected. Several cases of misinformation has made me doubt the mid July date will even happen now on time. Really annoyed at the way they are handling customers since they have begun to get busy

irishfeen · 03-06-2016 9:11pm

IPTV (inc HD) absolutely no problem for me with this service - very very impressed so far with this LTE service!

TireeTerror · 04-06-2016 12:52am

I drove from Letterkenny to Strabane and noticed they have put up Imagine signs in several places along the main road. All illegal and look like someone knocked them up from old wood laying at the side of the road. I will be removing them later ðŸ˜‚

editorsean · 04-06-2016 1:16am

They also have plenty of advertising on the radio claiming to offer 70Mbps in rural areas across Co. Donegal.

So I'm sure this is all keeping their phones busy with pre-orders and coverage inquiries . . .

polaris68 · 04-06-2016 9:59am

Yeah, I cancelled my order within the 14 day cooling off period. Think I'll wait and see how this rolls out over the summer.

irishfeen · 04-06-2016 10:03am

polaris68 wrote: »

Yeah, I cancelled my order within the 14 day cooling off period. Think I'll wait and see how this rolls out over the summer.

Why had you issues with their service?

polaris68 · 04-06-2016 10:54am

irishfeen wrote: »

Why had you issues with their service?

No I had just pre-ordered. I was supposed to be getting coverage from a new mast which was going live sometime from mid June to late July. I could sense that they weren't too sure about this anytime I spoke to them. A few posts on here give me the feeling that they are struggling to meet demand.

Most likely I'd be ringing them every few days for an update on my installation so I'm going to wait and see now this goes over the next few months.

irishchris · 04-06-2016 1:47pm

polaris68 wrote: »

No I had just pre-ordered. I was supposed to be getting coverage from a new mast which was going live sometime from mid June to late July. I could sense that they weren't too sure about this anytime I spoke to them. A few posts on here give me the feeling that they are struggling to meet demand.

Most likely I'd be ringing them every few days for an update on my installation so I'm going to wait and see now this goes over the next few months.

Which mast were you due to come off?

irishfeen · 04-06-2016 2:00pm

Bweeng still holding up well, I presume by now its very near full capacity.

ItHurtsWhenIP · 04-06-2016 4:18pm

polaris68 wrote: »

Yeah, I cancelled my order within the 14 day cooling off period. Think I'll wait and see how this rolls out over the summer.

The 14 day cooling off period only kicks in when they've actually delivered service to you, not from the order date.

polaris68 · 04-06-2016 6:00pm

irishchris wrote: »

Which mast were you due to come off?

Whitechurch, Co Cork.

Ruffty^ · 07-06-2016 9:33pm

May I ask, do any of you guys play games over LTE (PC/XBOX/PS4)?
Are the pings low and stable? What is your experience?

I had wireless broadband a couple of years ago and weather used to have an effect, I mean heavy rain and wind.
Ping would become erratic, but worse was packet loss. You would probably not notice having a bit of packet loss when browsing and streaming, but packet loss while gaming makes nearly all games unplayable...

Currently I'm on crappy dsl line and only getting ~8meg down/512 up at best. I'm less than 1.3km from nearest efibre box but eir won't even check it for me because... computer says no

LTE looks very interesting.

TireeTerror · 07-06-2016 10:35pm

Ruffty^ wrote: »

May I ask, do any of you guys play games over LTE (PC/XBOX/PS4)?
Are the pings low and stable? What is your experience?

I had wireless broadband a couple of years ago and weather used to have an effect, I mean heavy rain and wind.
Ping would become erratic, but worse was packet loss. You would probably not notice having a bit of packet loss when browsing and streaming, but packet loss while gaming makes nearly all games unplayable...

Currently I'm on crappy dsl line and only getting ~8meg down/512 up at best. I'm less than 1.3km from nearest efibre box but eir won't even check it for me because... computer says no

LTE looks very interesting.

Read the thread, its already been covered.

jcd5971 · 08-06-2016 2:02am

Ruffty^ wrote:

May I ask, do any of you guys play games over LTE (PC/XBOX/PS4)? Are the pings low and stable? What is your experience?

TireeTerror wrote:

Read the thread, its already been covered.

To be fair that was a while back no harm at all in asking for an update on the question, it matters to alot of people who might hope to avail of the service.

Not all posts can be about driving around donegal taking down signs ;-)

morgana · 08-06-2016 8:25am

I am a gamer (mmo) and packet loss is usually 0 % and in game pings (server in Amsterdam) are usually between 50 and 70. No issues gaming at all even with Netflix streaming at the same time on a different device.

Anto73 · 08-06-2016 10:16am

Now I got imagine in last week.So far so good. Speeds perfect on PC,android box and lap top but for some reason ps3/ps4 running at only 10 to 20mbs though wired connection. Anybody know why and how to fix

kazoo106 · 08-06-2016 10:55am

Are they still using the BBC Strabane mast to provide Donegal coverage on 3.5GHz - If so anyone who signs up would be crazy as Imagine do not hold a 3.5 License in the UK

TireeTerror · 08-06-2016 11:45am

jcd5971 wrote: »

To be fair that was a while back no harm at all in asking for an update on the question, it matters to alot of people who might hope to avail of the service.

Not all posts can be about driving around donegal taking down signs ;-)

Illegal signs, littering the beautiful countryside while they peddle lies about the service being live!

I am still getting it of course, because options are unfortunately limited given how utterly sh1te Eir are.

Imagine LTE Rural Broadband

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