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Imagine WIMAX

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  • 21-08-2011 1:24pm
    #1
    exterminator447
    Registered Users Posts: 32 ✭


    Does anybody have Imagine WIMAX and what the service is like. I am thinking of getting there service and would like to know what the pros and cons are of the service


«1

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  • Options
    #2
    bealtine
    Registered Users Posts: 4,051 ✭✭✭bealtine


    exterminator447 wrote: »
    Does anybody have Imagine WIMAX and what the service is like. I am thinking of getting there service and would like to know what the pros and cons are of the service

    Check out the threads in the midband forum, Imagine Wimax barely qualifies as broadband.

    http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/forumdisplay.php?f=1147


  • Options
    #3
    jor el
    Closed Accounts Posts: 16,713 ✭✭✭✭jor el


    Moved to Midband, where you'll find plenty of threads about Imagine WiMax, none of them very good.


  • Options
    #4
    ArklowHoop
    Registered Users Posts: 156 ✭✭ArklowHoop


    Stay Clear Of It!...

    its terrible!!

    constantly disconnects!

    phoneline doesnt work half the time!

    cant wait for my contract to expire!!


  • Options
    #5
    corazon
    Registered Users Posts: 114 ✭✭corazon


    I have it now for about 3 months in Longford. I am fairly happy with it as it is much better than the 3 dongle. I am about 2 miles from the mast and it has never gone down.


  • Options
    #6
    skimpydoo
    Registered Users Posts: 4,868 ✭✭✭skimpydoo


    I live in Dublin 2 and I have Wimax since December 2009. A couple of times my broadband has gone but that was around 2 in the morning so not to bothered about that. I get between 6 and 8 MB download which I think is pretty good and also no cap as such. I pay €30 a month for this and I have no problems using xbox live.


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    #7
    smelly sock
    Closed Accounts Posts: 6,820 ✭✭✭smelly sock


    Had it for a year in MAynooth. Shocking service altogether. If you just want to browse the web your better off gonig eircom or vodafones basic pack.

    I wanted to download 700 mb + files but they throttled torrents for large periods of the day.

    I had the 7meg package but only ever got in or around 4 megs.

    There customer service is also dreadful.

    IF YOU WANT TO DOWNLOAD OR GAME ONLINE DO NOT TOUCH IMAGINE WIMAX.


  • Options
    #8
    ddlong
    Registered Users Posts: 29 ✭ddlong


    corazon wrote: »
    I have it now for about 3 months in Longford. I am fairly happy with it as it is much better than the 3 dongle. I am about 2 miles from the mast and it has never gone down.
    Corazon, we're also in Longford, also a couple of miles from the mast but too far from the exchange to get Eircom DSL so having to look at other options. We were looking at WiMax but are being put off by all the negative stuff on here. Can I ask what problems you had with the 3 dongle - was it slow or did the connection drop ? Also, were they they only 2 options available in that area ? Thanks !


  • Options
    #9
    eezarthegreat
    Registered Users Posts: 353 ✭✭eezarthegreat


    smelly sock wrote: »
    Had it for a year in MAynooth. Shocking service altogether. If you just want to browse the web your better off gonig eircom or vodafones basic pack.

    I wanted to download 700 mb + files but they throttled torrents for large periods of the day.

    I had the 7meg package but only ever got in or around 4 megs.

    There customer service is also dreadful.

    IF YOU WANT TO DOWNLOAD OR GAME ONLINE DO NOT TOUCH IMAGINE WIMAX.

    This man speaks the truth


  • Options
    #10
    smelly sock
    Closed Accounts Posts: 6,820 ✭✭✭smelly sock


    Look,

    It's going to be better than the 3g dongle. Dial up is nearly better than that non sene in some areas.


  • Options
    #11
    Walshclan
    Registered Users Posts: 16 ✭Walshclan


    Don't touch them witha six foot bargepole! They sell you "unlimited use" and then enforce "reasonable download limits" that are totally unreasonable. Always threatening to cut off your sevices, blocking tour Internet access with a message that FORCES you to agree to their terms, or you cannoit get to the Internet. This is one company that you do NOT want to get involved with.


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    #12
    Irish Steve
    Moderators, Motoring & Transport Moderators Posts: 6,521 Mod ✭✭✭✭Irish Steve


    Maybe I am the exception, but as far as I am concerned, Imagine Wimax gives me the same level of service as I was getting from wired broadband, (8 down 512 up) and the pings are in the 70 ms range, which is acceptable for the use I make of it.

    I've got an ongoing issue with VOIP which we are almost sure is a switchboard related issue, not the Wimax, but it is working.

    Tech support have been good as far as I'm concerned, and have spent quite some time working with me on resolving a couple of the issues mentioned above, with some success, and they have been responsive. My background is computers for a long time, and I'm happy that the support people I've been working with know what they are doing, and what the kit can and cannot do.

    There are a good few settings on the CPE that if changed can well and truly mess up the connection, and some that if abused will brick the device. There are also quite a few specific settings for VOIP, and if they are wrong, all manner of problems will be caused.

    OK, long term, I would love DSL via Fibre so that I can get good upload speeds and run some of the work I want to off servers here, but that's not going to happen any time soon in any areas outside of metropolitan Dublin, unless the tooth fairy arrives this Christmas, but in the meantime, Imagine is OK for my needs, and gives me a service that is cheaper than the rest of the providers in my area, which is why they got my business.

    And before someone asks, no I don't work for Imagine, or any related company. I also have experience with Eircom, Ripplecom, Vodafone mobile, 3 and UTV internet, so have had to deal with all of them at one time or another, and at this moment, Imagine have shown that they know their system well, and are prepared to be responsive to a better degree than some of the others I've just mentioned.

    Steve

    Shore, if it was easy, everybody would be doin it.😁



  • Options
    #13
    smelly sock
    Closed Accounts Posts: 6,820 ✭✭✭smelly sock


    Irish Steve,

    Yes I think you are the exception to the rule.

    I had nothing but hassle and hardship. It ranged from bad service to shocking and inept customer services to being charge for 3 months after my 12 month contract had ran out even though I told them I was not renewing.

    DO NOT GET INVOLVED WITH THEM.

    The product is worse than a 3g dongle.

    Wh ywould anyone need 8 - 10 mgb connection if there not going to download files.


  • Options
    #14
    Irish Steve
    Moderators, Motoring & Transport Moderators Posts: 6,521 Mod ✭✭✭✭Irish Steve


    Whywould anyone need 8 - 10 mgb connection if there not going to download files.

    Depends what you mean by downloading files. There's no alternative to downloading files these days even if it's only to keep the OS and associated files for Adobe, Java, Firefox and the like safe and up to date, and some of the downloads are larger per month than the entire operating system used to be not that long ago. Even browsing a forum like this is effectively downloading, especially if there's graphic content as well.

    What's sadly lacking, and likely to remain so for a long time to come is the ability for small business outside of the metropolitan hub to be able to UPLOAD at fast speeds. If you are on a 24 mb link, but my server is only on a 512 Kb link, my server is going to take nearly a minute to upload the data that you can download in one second, so unless you have the patience of a saint, after getting maybe 10 or 20% of the page, you're going to say something unprintable, and click return, and go and find a site that will download at a sensible speed.

    Anyway, that's off topic. I've been with imagine for close on 5 years, we had wired broadband until Feb 10, then Wimax arrived in Ashbourne, and to save at least €10 a month, if not more, I've moved over to the wireless service, and so far, 9 months down the line, I've not had cause to regret moving, we saved money each month, and the wireless service is as fast and as good a ping time as the wired service was.

    It can be hard sometimes to get through to the right level of Tech support, but that's true for all broadband suppliers, the trick, if that's the right word, is to put the problem in terms that gets the attention of the more experienced support people, and if that happens, then the higher up levels are good, know what they are talking about, and will work with the customer to resolve the issue, or at least, that's been my experience, but that may also be because I too understand the technology because I work with it all the time, and can see where things are going when we're working through the issues.

    Wimax was problematic in the early days, there were other companies using the same technology without using that name, and they also oversold it's capabilities, and it ended up killing several companies. It also takes time to get to know exactly how the combination of hardware, software and geography works, and it's not static, weather, temperature and even atmospheric pressure levels can all affect how an individual site works, I'm sure you've seen occasions when due to atmospherics, Italian TV pictures end up interfering with Irish channels, and Wimax is no different, a change of weather can completely upset the operation, or upset certain locations, but there is no way to predict that type of situation, and in the same vein, while there are similarities between hardware platforms, there are also enough minor differences between even supposedly identical hardware that can make massive differences to the performance of a PC, and while the differences may affect the broadband performance, they are not the responsibility of the ISP, and resolving those sorts of issues is a nightmare for both the user and the ISP, especially if the end user is not completely computer savvy.

    If that sounds like I'm defending Imagine, I'm not, but I suppose I am recognising that the computer industry in general, and it's visible usage, via the web, is a lot more complex and variable than most users are aware of, and in that respect, Imagine have been better than some, and yes, worse than some in terms of how they have dealt with that situation. They have also been coping with a significant increase in their numbers of users, and that's never easy, as the connection end of the system is only a small part of the total package, and as they can't tell what each user will use the broadband system for, getting the balance right is not always easy, heavy torrent users can badly disrupt the throughput for a large number of users, not just on the local mast, but in some cases, also on routers and servers in the complex.

    A good while ago now, I was at a hotel in Trim, and a number of us were trying to access a specific UK site as part of a training course, but the responses were dire in the extreme. It was only when we started digging we found out why. There were 2 situations that had combined to totally swamp the cross channel links to the UK, the first was the volcanic ash problems, which were causing massive loading issues for the airline sites, and Gerry Ryan's funeral was being broadcast live on the web, and the server hosting that was also in the UK, which resulted in almost all the cross channel UK links going into close to meltdown.

    Predicting that sort of scenario is practically impossible, but when it happens, a lot of users will blame the ISP, but it's very likely that it was nothing to do with them, they just happened to be at the end of the chain that showed up the problem.

    So yes, I may have been lucky with Imagine, but if I'm honest, I don't think so. as I have had to deal with almost all of the ISP's over the years.

    The worst, by orders of magnitude, was undoubtably ICE, and they paid the price for their incompetence and are now part of Ripplecom, who have been better, albeit they are not as good just at the moment for some reason.

    Eircom is Eircom, and when they are good, they are good, but when they are bad, they're a disaster. One time, I had a stand up row with a techie, and it took close on a week after that to get through to them what the problem was, and in the end, I was right, and they did have a corrupted server on their static site that was providing static information for things like E-bay, to save dragging the same information across the Atlantic 500 times an hour. It took them 2 days to rebuild that server after they found the fault, the only good thing to come out of that debacle was that I then had a direct contact number for the data centre manager, and was able to short circuit a lot of the aggravation subsequently. I did also get an apology, which was a first

    Vodafone's broadband is about as reliable as a kick in the teeth, and getting a sensible response from them is very hard to do, if you can get to the right person, you may, but getting to the right person is a lottery

    I could go on, but hopefully by now, you've got the picture, If you can get to the right person, it will get sorted, if you can't, you may end up frustrated and annoyed, possibly seriously so. At the end of the day, we all have to evaluate the potential suppliers, cost their packages, look at the reports here and in other places, and make a decision that may well have to be lived with for 12 months. It's not always easy. At the moment, I could move off Imagine next Feb, but right now, I see no reason to do so, I'm getting a viable, reliable and acceptable quality of service from them, and no one is offering me a better all round package, either in terms of cost or overall service levels. As I mentioned before, if I could get a faster DSL package for a reasonable price, I would look at it if only to be able to bring in house services that I have to contract out to a hosting site at present, but that would be the only reason at the moment for changing. In all other respect, the overall package from Imagine is giving me what I want for a very attractive package price, and it's very comparable in terms of price and quality of service to anything I can get on wired service at the moment, and I am close enough to the exchange that in theory, I'd be getting a very high speed on wired service, but they are not offering it at the moment.

    Steve

    Shore, if it was easy, everybody would be doin it.😁



  • Options
    #15
    smelly sock
    Closed Accounts Posts: 6,820 ✭✭✭smelly sock


    Irish Steve wrote: »
    Depends what you mean by downloading files. There's no alternative to downloading files these days even if it's only to keep the OS and associated files for Adobe, Java, Firefox and the like safe and up to date, and some of the downloads are larger per month than the entire operating system used to be not that long ago. Even browsing a forum like this is effectively downloading, especially if there's graphic content as well.

    What's sadly lacking, and likely to remain so for a long time to come is the ability for small business outside of the metropolitan hub to be able to UPLOAD at fast speeds. If you are on a 24 mb link, but my server is only on a 512 Kb link, my server is going to take nearly a minute to upload the data that you can download in one second, so unless you have the patience of a saint, after getting maybe 10 or 20% of the page, you're going to say something unprintable, and click return, and go and find a site that will download at a sensible speed.

    Anyway, that's off topic. I've been with imagine for close on 5 years, we had wired broadband until Feb 10, then Wimax arrived in Ashbourne, and to save at least €10 a month, if not more, I've moved over to the wireless service, and so far, 9 months down the line, I've not had cause to regret moving, we saved money each month, and the wireless service is as fast and as good a ping time as the wired service was.

    It can be hard sometimes to get through to the right level of Tech support, but that's true for all broadband suppliers, the trick, if that's the right word, is to put the problem in terms that gets the attention of the more experienced support people, and if that happens, then the higher up levels are good, know what they are talking about, and will work with the customer to resolve the issue, or at least, that's been my experience, but that may also be because I too understand the technology because I work with it all the time, and can see where things are going when we're working through the issues.

    Wimax was problematic in the early days, there were other companies using the same technology without using that name, and they also oversold it's capabilities, and it ended up killing several companies. It also takes time to get to know exactly how the combination of hardware, software and geography works, and it's not static, weather, temperature and even atmospheric pressure levels can all affect how an individual site works, I'm sure you've seen occasions when due to atmospherics, Italian TV pictures end up interfering with Irish channels, and Wimax is no different, a change of weather can completely upset the operation, or upset certain locations, but there is no way to predict that type of situation, and in the same vein, while there are similarities between hardware platforms, there are also enough minor differences between even supposedly identical hardware that can make massive differences to the performance of a PC, and while the differences may affect the broadband performance, they are not the responsibility of the ISP, and resolving those sorts of issues is a nightmare for both the user and the ISP, especially if the end user is not completely computer savvy.

    If that sounds like I'm defending Imagine, I'm not, but I suppose I am recognising that the computer industry in general, and it's visible usage, via the web, is a lot more complex and variable than most users are aware of, and in that respect, Imagine have been better than some, and yes, worse than some in terms of how they have dealt with that situation. They have also been coping with a significant increase in their numbers of users, and that's never easy, as the connection end of the system is only a small part of the total package, and as they can't tell what each user will use the broadband system for, getting the balance right is not always easy, heavy torrent users can badly disrupt the throughput for a large number of users, not just on the local mast, but in some cases, also on routers and servers in the complex.

    A good while ago now, I was at a hotel in Trim, and a number of us were trying to access a specific UK site as part of a training course, but the responses were dire in the extreme. It was only when we started digging we found out why. There were 2 situations that had combined to totally swamp the cross channel links to the UK, the first was the volcanic ash problems, which were causing massive loading issues for the airline sites, and Gerry Ryan's funeral was being broadcast live on the web, and the server hosting that was also in the UK, which resulted in almost all the cross channel UK links going into close to meltdown.

    Predicting that sort of scenario is practically impossible, but when it happens, a lot of users will blame the ISP, but it's very likely that it was nothing to do with them, they just happened to be at the end of the chain that showed up the problem.

    So yes, I may have been lucky with Imagine, but if I'm honest, I don't think so. as I have had to deal with almost all of the ISP's over the years.

    The worst, by orders of magnitude, was undoubtably ICE, and they paid the price for their incompetence and are now part of Ripplecom, who have been better, albeit they are not as good just at the moment for some reason.

    Eircom is Eircom, and when they are good, they are good, but when they are bad, they're a disaster. One time, I had a stand up row with a techie, and it took close on a week after that to get through to them what the problem was, and in the end, I was right, and they did have a corrupted server on their static site that was providing static information for things like E-bay, to save dragging the same information across the Atlantic 500 times an hour. It took them 2 days to rebuild that server after they found the fault, the only good thing to come out of that debacle was that I then had a direct contact number for the data centre manager, and was able to short circuit a lot of the aggravation subsequently. I did also get an apology, which was a first

    Vodafone's broadband is about as reliable as a kick in the teeth, and getting a sensible response from them is very hard to do, if you can get to the right person, you may, but getting to the right person is a lottery

    I could go on, but hopefully by now, you've got the picture, If you can get to the right person, it will get sorted, if you can't, you may end up frustrated and annoyed, possibly seriously so. At the end of the day, we all have to evaluate the potential suppliers, cost their packages, look at the reports here and in other places, and make a decision that may well have to be lived with for 12 months. It's not always easy. At the moment, I could move off Imagine next Feb, but right now, I see no reason to do so, I'm getting a viable, reliable and acceptable quality of service from them, and no one is offering me a better all round package, either in terms of cost or overall service levels. As I mentioned before, if I could get a faster DSL package for a reasonable price, I would look at it if only to be able to bring in house services that I have to contract out to a hosting site at present, but that would be the only reason at the moment for changing. In all other respect, the overall package from Imagine is giving me what I want for a very attractive package price, and it's very comparable in terms of price and quality of service to anything I can get on wired service at the moment, and I am close enough to the exchange that in theory, I'd be getting a very high speed on wired service, but they are not offering it at the moment.

    Steve


    I'm not suggesting for a minute that your work for Imagine. But do you?

    Are you getting paid a gratuity?


  • Options
    #16
    Walshclan
    Registered Users Posts: 16 ✭Walshclan


    In fairness - their help desk is pretty good and I get to talk to someone in Ireland and not India. (For now anyway, untill they go the same way as the others ..,, and when that happens I will change again ... if there is anyone left by then ....). I have worked my way through almost all of the major service providers, Eircom, Vodafone, BT (when they were still here), etc. They were all DIRE! Imagine is the best of a bad bunch so far, but they seriously annoy me with this download issue. I hate being lied to - their downloads are not unlimited and the limit is set too low (I am told it is only 30Gb per month). I recently "threatened" them about the download notices, now I suspect that my downloads are being throttled, so I am out to prove it. I have recently installed ThinkBroadband's tbbmeter and I will be monitoring my line now 24*7 and if I am not getting the service I am paying for, I will be taking them to task again.


  • Options
    #17
    zg3409
    Registered Users Posts: 6,594 ✭✭✭zg3409


    Hi,

    I am just off the phone to imagine so I said I'd share my experience.

    I was on "Irish Broadband" (part of imagine) 3Mb up and down wireless with 24:1 contention and about a year ago I decided to "upgrade" to Wimax.

    They said they had not the equipment installed in my area but they would contact me when it was ready. After months of delays (which I believe was common at the time) they installed me. It broke the next day and was down for 4 or 5 days. Since then, January 2011 it has been fairly OK. Speed varies up and down (they say contention is 4:1 but I can't be sure)

    I noticed speed very slow lately. The max speed EVER in a whole 24 Hours was 380Kbits/s or 0.38 Mbps so I rang them. (I have my own equipment which monitors/logs the speed)

    I got through to a very helpful (as much as he could) technical support rep. (irish)

    I explained my problem and he said connect wired to their router. While I was about to do this he said "ahhh you have reached the limit and we are throttling you"

    They advertise "unlimited" but they have acceptable usage policy. I also understand Wimax is radio technology that shares the speed between multiple users and if one person is a "bad guy" and downloads 24/7 it will affect the speed of the average home user.

    Without losing the head I attempted to get as much info from him on the "unlimited" cap

    He explained I had downloaded 210Gigs (presumably 210Gb) since the 1st of the month. I share my connection with 6 people so we all download a lot. In particular we download a lot at night-time. (We use Sky anytime online to download movies from Sky and TV etc)

    When I signed up to the service I thought it was the best in my area (which it probably still is), and I suspected we would reach the hidden limit eventually.

    I asked him what the limit is. He said there is no hard fixed limit (which I find hard to believe) but that he has seen people limited for downloading 140Gigs.

    He said I should have been notified by a message that appears in my browser. Apparently they warn you twice by re-routing traffic to a page saying you have been using too much "unlimited!" bandwidth and be good. You need to press the accept button before your internet works again. I never noticed this happen, but others who I share the connection with probably just clicked accept and never mentioned it. -However as the bill payer they do not email you, nor send you a letter, so the only way I noticed was very slow speed.

    He said the speed will return on Thursday (1st of the Month) so I only have a few days of slow speed. (PS I think this is a bit silly as everyone will be on full speed for the first few weeks of every month, and then everyone throttled will all be slow together at the end, other providers have a "rolling 30 day window" which seems fairer for everyone)

    So I asked him when I could get out of the contract and he said Jan 2012 or pay 100 Euro early cancellation.

    My only alternative providers (which offer a greater "unlimited" download package) is UPC. As far as I know their limit is 500Gb, but I too am concerned in the future our demands will outgrow this too. Their service is unavailable where I live, but they are in the process of upgrading at the moment. I am thinking of waiting for their service to launch, give them a few months to sort out any teething problems and then sign up. I intend on having both providers for a month or two as last time I switched it broke straight away.

    I am considering a commerical business package using the landline, but I am not sure what speed my line will cope with and true unlimited business packages don't come cheap. I would like contention free browsing with good upload speed which UPC can't really provide.

    Anyway for others considering Imagine take into account:

    1) Do you download 100Gb in a calendar month or may you start to do so within a year. (Netflix may launch a streaming service in Ireland)

    2) Can you accept a contention of 4:1 where the speed can jump around at peak times etc.

    3) What alternatives are available, and what are their catches.

    If you are a heavy user, and you have multiple computers, it is worth having some equipment in-line that measures the amount you are using so you can stay on the right side of "unlimited"

    I hoped this helped some make up their mind
    PS I have their phone service, but never used it once.


  • Options
    #18
    pretentiouslad
    Closed Accounts Posts: 109 ✭✭pretentiouslad


    zg3409 wrote: »
    Hi,

    I am just off the phone to imagine so I said I'd share my experience.

    I was on "Irish Broadband" (part of imagine) 3Mb up and down wireless with 24:1 contention and about a year ago I decided to "upgrade" to Wimax.

    They said they had not the equipment installed in my area but they would contact me when it was ready. After months of delays (which I believe was common at the time) they installed me. It broke the next day and was down for 4 or 5 days. Since then, January 2011 it has been fairly OK. Speed varies up and down (they say contention is 4:1 but I can't be sure)

    I noticed speed very slow lately. The max speed EVER in a whole 24 Hours was 380Kbits/s or 0.38 Mbps so I rang them. (I have my own equipment which monitors/logs the speed)

    I got through to a very helpful (as much as he could) technical support rep. (irish)

    I explained my problem and he said connect wired to their router. While I was about to do this he said "ahhh you have reached the limit and we are throttling you"

    They advertise "unlimited" but they have acceptable usage policy. I also understand Wimax is radio technology that shares the speed between multiple users and if one person is a "bad guy" and downloads 24/7 it will affect the speed of the average home user.

    Without losing the head I attempted to get as much info from him on the "unlimited" cap

    He explained I had downloaded 210Gigs (presumably 210Gb) since the 1st of the month. I share my connection with 6 people so we all download a lot. In particular we download a lot at night-time. (We use Sky anytime online to download movies from Sky and TV etc)

    When I signed up to the service I thought it was the best in my area (which it probably still is), and I suspected we would reach the hidden limit eventually.

    I asked him what the limit is. He said there is no hard fixed limit (which I find hard to believe) but that he has seen people limited for downloading 140Gigs.

    He said I should have been notified by a message that appears in my browser. Apparently they warn you twice by re-routing traffic to a page saying you have been using too much "unlimited!" bandwidth and be good. You need to press the accept button before your internet works again. I never noticed this happen, but others who I share the connection with probably just clicked accept and never mentioned it. -However as the bill payer they do not email you, nor send you a letter, so the only way I noticed was very slow speed.

    He said the speed will return on Thursday (1st of the Month) so I only have a few days of slow speed. (PS I think this is a bit silly as everyone will be on full speed for the first few weeks of every month, and then everyone throttled will all be slow together at the end, other providers have a "rolling 30 day window" which seems fairer for everyone)

    So I asked him when I could get out of the contract and he said Jan 2012 or pay 100 Euro early cancellation.

    My only alternative providers (which offer a greater "unlimited" download package) is UPC. As far as I know their limit is 500Gb, but I too am concerned in the future our demands will outgrow this too. Their service is unavailable where I live, but they are in the process of upgrading at the moment. I am thinking of waiting for their service to launch, give them a few months to sort out any teething problems and then sign up. I intend on having both providers for a month or two as last time I switched it broke straight away.

    I am considering a commerical business package using the landline, but I am not sure what speed my line will cope with and true unlimited business packages don't come cheap. I would like contention free browsing with good upload speed which UPC can't really provide.

    Anyway for others considering Imagine take into account:

    1) Do you download 100Gb in a calendar month or may you start to do so within a year. (Netflix may launch a streaming service in Ireland)

    2) Can you accept a contention of 4:1 where the speed can jump around at peak times etc.

    3) What alternatives are available, and what are their catches.

    If you are a heavy user, and you have multiple computers, it is worth having some equipment in-line that measures the amount you are using so you can stay on the right side of "unlimited"

    I hoped this helped some make up their mind
    PS I have their phone service, but never used it once.

    Pretty well balanced review... Their "unlimited" thing is a joke, it clearly isn't unlimited, it varies depending on your site, you could get throttled if you download anything from 40gb to 600gb (that includes uploads)...

    On the plus side, once you reach whatever the limit may be, you won't get charged extra or cut off, you get under half a mb/sec which should be grand for browsing wiki or facebook!

    Definitely go with UPC when you can though, I had them for a year, lived with 4 guys, we downloaded heavily and never reached any limit, never had any technical issues that couldn't be sorted by turning the system off and on again either!


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    #19
    Walshclan
    Registered Users Posts: 16 ✭Walshclan


    For the last 10 days or so, ever since I got their warning message, I am lucky if I get 100 kbps on download. This makes it virtually unusable for me. I work a lot from home, my wife runs her business from home and the Internet is critical for her and for me. My son is at college and being tranined as a software developer, he needs to download and have fast access. What they are doing now is making it difficult for us to earn a living and I am sure there is a legal position there - but who has the money for lawyers - there is no one in Ireland who can afford that overcharging bunch. Most expensive legal system in the world - and that is a documented fact!

    I am also waiting for UPC who are not yet in my area. I can then bundle digital TV and broadband and phone. So, I will be an ex Imagine customer on of these years. Until then I have to put up with their crap as the others are just as bad, if not worse.

    The message here is: if you are a casual user, Imagine will do. If you are a heavy user or have several high usage people in the same house - look around bacause the Imagine service becomes unusable as the month progresses.

    The bottom line is that I expect to a pay a reasonable price for what I need. I took their package because it says it is unlimited, I could get rid of my overpriced Eircom rental charge - and the price was right. Now I find it is far from unlimited and my service is purposely throttled with no correspondence or engagement with me at all. For truly unlimited use and a decent speed, I would be prepared to pay a little extra - but the truth is that right now, they sell you untruths.


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    #20
    Irish Steve
    Moderators, Motoring & Transport Moderators Posts: 6,521 Mod ✭✭✭✭Irish Steve


    smelly sock wrote: »
    I'm not suggesting for a minute that your work for Imagine. But do you?

    Are you getting paid a gratuity?

    Simple answer to both, No, and No.

    I may be lucky in that having spent better part of 40 years working in all sorts of areas of the computer industry, I can usually manage to get a reasonable rapport with the tech people, and that helps considerably.

    The only time it goes wrong is if the tech is clueless, which unfortunately does happen occasionally. The rest of the time, I usually get people that are interested in sorting out what is happening, so that it does work.

    Steve

    Shore, if it was easy, everybody would be doin it.😁



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    #21
    Jagle
    Closed Accounts Posts: 870 ✭✭✭Jagle


    Walshclan wrote: »
    For the last 10 days or so, ever since I got their warning message, I am lucky if I get 100 kbps on download. This makes it virtually unusable for me. I work a lot from home, my wife runs her business from home and the Internet is critical for her and for me. My son is at college and being tranined as a software developer


    sorry but if your wife is running a business shouldn't be an a residential connection? pretty sure your breaking your t and c there


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    #22
    Walshclan
    Registered Users Posts: 16 ✭Walshclan


    Not really, she is a photograher and struggling. In this economy who can afford premises in an upwards only rental review situation? One has to try and survive to feed the kids - and wimax are just making it harder for us to survive. Do you ever work from home using your home broadband? A huge amount of people do, just to keep there jobs, in the private sector anyway. I do, all the time. Maybe we need to tell all these people that they should stay at the office and work there, bacause working from home is breaking the Wimax T's and C's? Let me tell you about the Wimax T&C's - they sold me UNLIMITED broadband. It is none of their business what I use it for. My usage is NOT excessive, it it was I would be more understanding. 30Gb a month is a rediculous limit, I can get 250GB from other providers and they are honest about the limits. Anyway, unlimited means unlimited, not 30GB!


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    #23
    Walshclan
    Registered Users Posts: 16 ✭Walshclan


    Let me tell you about yesterday's experience. Once again, I got their "excessive usage" message. Once again, it locked my Internet until I replied thet I "understand" their position, giving me no option to say that I disagree. I had no option but to "agree" to get my Internet connection back. So, I contacted them to remind them that they sold me an UNLIMITED connection. This is the reply I got:

    "Wimax is a shared network. It is our responsibility to provide all customers on the highsite with equal access to the service. If one customer is excessively downloading, it can effect the service of other customers. Customers are sent our warnings before their service is limited."

    Bugger the fact the we sold you unlimited downloads - we are going to limit your access and throttle your speed and you can go and get stuffed. Screw that fact that our network is so crap that we cannot provide you with what we sold you. We do not have enough bandwidth, so screw you Mr. Customer - accept our limits and get lost! Of course, if you try and cancel before your contract ends, we will sue you.

    Great company this one.

    I repeat, I need unlimited downloads. I am prepared to pay for what I require, but I do not want to be lied to and sold false promises.


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    #24
    smelly sock
    Closed Accounts Posts: 6,820 ✭✭✭smelly sock


    Irish Steve wrote: »
    Simple answer to both, No, and No.

    I may be lucky in that having spent better part of 40 years working in all sorts of areas of the computer industry, I can usually manage to get a reasonable rapport with the tech people, and that helps considerably.

    The only time it goes wrong is if the tech is clueless, which unfortunately does happen occasionally. The rest of the time, I usually get people that are interested in sorting out what is happening, so that it does work.

    Steve

    That's fair enough. I suppose that one happy customer out of tens of thousands is bound to be happy.

    STAY AWAY FROM IMAGINE.


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    #25
    smelly sock
    Closed Accounts Posts: 6,820 ✭✭✭smelly sock


    When I had the Imagine Wimax product I could never download between the hours of 07:00 to 00:00. I needed to download large files and had a supposedley 8meg connection. (Lucky to get 3). They tell you there wimax is able to things it simply can't to sell there product. For me they didn't throttle torrents for the first two weeks until after the cooling off period was up. Once the two weeks were over they throttled the hell out of them. Now that's just sneaky. Of course they denied this.

    Imagine are not obviously looking at the long term market just a quick money making scheme. They have p****d so many people off at this no one will touch them.

    Once they start to throttle you the product is just a step above dial up.


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    #26
    delma_s
    Registered Users Posts: 43 ✭delma_s


    hello everyone.
    I saw you have problems with imagine donwload limit is well, I talk with imagine support by email and I got the answer, which is more than funny :D



    There is no Limit on our service. It is subject to a Fair Usage Policy and Acceptable Usage Policy that you have read and is clearly printed below for you.
    We will limit your service if we feel that you and others' usage is having an effect on the network. We cannot say that your limit is 20Gb or 50gb or 100gb or 500gb because it depends on the usage on that particular site and is not accurate for the whole country so our service is unlimited to all residential customers depending on usage to that particular site.

    Who are they??? that they may feel when I use too much internet, and how they know how much I need it, I chose imagine because they declared that there is no download limit

    is someone know good solicitor in Cork area, which is working with IT cases?

    P.S I am just watching TV online, and is happens about 60GB/month


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    #27
    Walshclan
    Registered Users Posts: 16 ✭Walshclan


    I have has several days of "banter" with this crowd of shysters. Here is an example of statements by three different agents:

    "No system has unlimited resources, and we expect you to act responsibly when consuming resources on our system. If you consume excessive resources on our system we may suspend your access at any time without prior notice. You must comply with all current bandwidth, download, and other allocations on the service established by Imagine. Use of Network bandwidth is expected to be reasonable and moderate." My comment: Um, sorry, but you sold me "unlimited"? They say they do not set limits - of course they don't - they call them "allocations"!!! :mad:

    "On your own usage our network operations have determined that the level of download to date is 84GB download and 8 GB upload required a warning message, as it was determined it was having a negative impact on the shared service. This was just a warning and rate limiting was not actually put into place". My comment: So based on the other statement above, 84GB in a month is considered "excessive"? If "rate limiting" was not put into place, them why am I getting a download speed about the same as a 64k modem? Damn, I was sure I had "unlimited? :mad: I must have been mistaken ...

    Then, from a third agent: " We do not charge for excessive downloading like other providers, and sufficient warning is sent out before speeds are cut". My comment: Aha! Finally! an admission that the DO throttle your line!! :eek: Shock! Horror!

    So, now I have been threatened with "we may suspend your access at any time without prior notice" and "sufficient warning is sent out before speeds are cut" - all just because my downloads for November reached 84GB? I am now confused because I was sure I was sold "unlimited"? I guess I must be wrong ...

    Of course, I constantly get this line : "We do not have a set limit. We don't say you can only have 20 GB or 50 GB or 100 GB but we warn you if you are making other people have slow connections. We want to have a fair service that everyone can use". So, basically, it's the luck of the draw. If my contention rate is 5 to 1 - I need to hope that the other 4 never download! If I end up with 5 gamers on my "highsite", I am totally ****ed! :confused:

    STAY AWAY FROM THESE GUYS!!!!!!!


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    #28
    smelly sock
    Closed Accounts Posts: 6,820 ✭✭✭smelly sock


    delma_s wrote: »
    hello everyone.
    I saw you have problems with imagine donwload limit is well, I talk with imagine support by email and I got the answer, which is more than funny :D



    There is no Limit on our service. It is subject to a Fair Usage Policy and Acceptable Usage Policy that you have read and is clearly printed below for you.
    We will limit your service if we feel that you and others' usage is having an effect on the network. We cannot say that your limit is 20Gb or 50gb or 100gb or 500gb because it depends on the usage on that particular site and is not accurate for the whole country so our service is unlimited to all residential customers depending on usage to that particular si

    Who are they??? that they may feel when I use too much internet, and how they know how much I need it, I chose imagine because they declared that there is no download limit

    is someone know good solicitor in Cork area, which is working with IT cases?

    P.S I am just watching TV online, and is happens about 60GB/month


    Ufortuantely in Ireland the law always favours the big companies over the consumer.

    All we can do is warn as many people to steer clear of these shower.


  • Options
    #29
    delma_s
    Registered Users Posts: 43 ✭delma_s


    smelly sock wrote: »
    Ufortuantely in Ireland the law always favours the big companies over the consumer.

    All we can do is warn as many people to steer clear of these shower.

    it is good web link http://irelandoffline.org/2010/06/when-is-unlimited-not-unlimited/ ireland still is in EU union , so all directives must working in it :V
    directive in all members languages http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=CELEX:32005L0029:EN:NOT
    the 6 chapter is about it


  • Options
    #30
    Walshclan
    Registered Users Posts: 16 ✭Walshclan


    Before you choose these guys, search these boards so that you make a wise decision! Stay away from them!


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    #31
    c0c
    Registered Users Posts: 12 ✭c0c


    I also got a notice that I'd exceed my unlimited download activity a month or two after I had switched to Wimax from Irish Broadband Breeze. I was shocked at the time since we have no heavy downloaders in our house. I wrote them a snotty mail at the time and was never throttled again. I suspect they throttled us by mistake and not that my snotty email made them see the error of their ways.

    To all those advising people to avoid Wimax like the plague I ask you - what is the alternative? There's no UPC outside the main cities.

    Wimax is pretty crap and there's no way you could use it to run a small business, but it is better than any of the alternatives, unless you live in Dublin. I would switch to UPC in a heartbeat if I had the option. This is really a 3rd world country when it comes to such infrastructure.


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