I've had Permanet since December 2005. The problems have certainly stabilised on my end, haven't had any downtime for quite a while now. Using Blueface VoIP on the system too, no problems at all. Although Permanet haven't billed me in ages!
In response to a previous question, the aerials look similar to MMDS mesh aerials for TV but can be distinguished as Permanet aerials have a white LNB and a large transceiver on the back - an MMDS aerial usually has a black LNB and either no box on the back or a small one.
They also use a square flat panel aerial in some cases. Initially they used a lot of flat panels but they seem to have decided on the mesh aerials for new customers in the area (Listowel, Co. Kerry). I've had both, but after a poor signal they replaced the panel with the mesh. It didn't help much since my signal was being blocked by a tree, but that's been sorted now and my signal is excellent.
The cable modem is an Arris CM450W.
If anyone's curious, go to
http://192.168.100.1 in a web browser to check signal strength. Here's mine:
Downstream
Freq/Power: 258.000 MHz 5 dBmV
Signal to Noise Ratio: 30 dB
Modulation: QAM16
Upstream
Freq/Power: 24.000 MHz 31 dBmV
Channel Type: DOCSIS 1.x (TDMA)
Symbol Rate: 2560 kSym/sec
Modulation: QPSK
The connection will drop out if the downstream power drops to around -15 dBmV. The SNR should be around 25-30, the higher the better. I've never gotten above 30 on my system but it is possible.
The upstream power will be determined by your distance from the transmitter site. The maximum it can go is 58 dBmV, if it does then you have a problem with your signal and should get it looked at.