Skytel 2MB connection

[Tom Ross]

Have been connected to Skytel in Wexford for some time. When it's fast it's very fast but it can be extremely slow at times. Contention rate should be 14:1. Surely I could expect better performanceAny other Skytel users out there?

[nolan.derek]

Hi Tom,

I live outside Wexford town and have had similar experience, I have noticed that my speeds (using the Speedtest on this site) are considerably different depending on what time of day I measure the performance. I would leave any major downloads until after 7pm if you want to get them down quicker.

[irishbear]

Originally Posted by nolan.derek

Hi Tom,

I live outside Wexford town and have had similar experience, I have noticed that my speeds (using the Speedtest on this site) are considerably different depending on what time of day I measure the performance. I would leave any major downloads until after 7pm if you want to get them down quicker.

I do not think that these tests are very accurate. I have tried then a good few times, and it was showing me that I was only getting a download speed of 1mb but each time I went to a site where I do downloads from and when I do a E.G. 30mb download I am downloading at 220 to 250KB/s and this is very consistent. I have tried other tests at other sites and get completely different results. My Satellite wireless connection is 2mb down and 512KB/s up. I am with National Wireless Broadband. Welcome Page I am in the Ferns area.

[Daragh_OBrien]

Just thought I'd link this orphan thread in here... Skytel Broadband

I'm using skytel as well and in the early days all was lovely. Now it is up and down like the bishop's trousers and connection speeds are at times slower than dial-up on my mobile.

Over the weekend I had an upload of less than 7k. It took nearly an hour to download a 7MB file.

Things were good in the beginning (last summer) but have slipped a lot since.

[irishbear]

Originally Posted by Daragh_OBrien

Just thought I'd link this orphan thread in here... Skytel Broadband

I'm using skytel as well and in the early days all was lovely. Now it is up and down like the bishop's trousers and connection speeds are at times slower than dial-up on my mobile.

Over the weekend I had an upload of less than 7k. It took nearly an hour to download a 7MB file.

Things were good in the beginning (last summer) but have slipped a lot since.

They have started to canvas our area in Ferns now, but they have very little hope with the good service we are getting from National Wireless Broadband

[nolan.derek]

I agree, the service leaves a lot to be desired. Sometimes my speeds are excellent and other times it just crawls along, the latter being more the norm. I never know what to expect when I switch on my pc and its making my online experience so frustrating. Shame on Eircom for not upgrading their smaller exchanges, I spoke to the area manager some time ago and he told me the exchange in Kilmore Quay is not even on his schedule for the next year and beyond because there are less than 400 lines connecting here.
The following is a sample from the speedtest on this site and I think its quite accurate for me as it closely follows the speeds I get when downloading files from the net.

02/05/2007 215 86 kbps (11 KB/s) 120 kbps (15 KB/s)
24/04/2007 04:52 4105 kbps (502 KB/s) 2366 kbps (289 KB/s)
23/04/2007 20:46 313 kbps (39 KB/s) 325 kbps (40 KB/s)
23/04/2007 20:40 35 kbps (5 KB/s) 100 kbps (13 KB/s)

As you can see from this....most of the time I would be better off on a dial up connection.

[Daragh_OBrien]

Skytel has been down all morning in Castlebridge. i found out when one of my neighbours (who works from home full time and relies on her broadband connection for trivial things like paying the mortgage) knocked on my door this morning.

Rang their offices - they didn't seem to be aware that a whole area was off line. Apparently I will be phoned back. If this is a backhaul outage again or another unannounced maintenance outage I'll be more unimpressed then I am at the moment.

I suspect that if any other operator in the area offered to waive or reduce their installation charge for people who switch from Skytel there would be an exodus. A year ago they were the only real provider into Castlebridge but now...

I'm really peeved as I had had great hopes for them initially as they seemed to be on the ball. Have they expanded too fast with a focus on getting new business rather than sustaining and supporting existing customers? If so then their business model won't last.

[ei2jp]

Originally Posted by Tom Ross

Have been connected to Skytel in Wexford for some time. When it's fast it's very fast but it can be extremely slow at times. Contention rate should be 14:1. Surely I could expect better performanceAny other Skytel users out there?

I have only been using SkyTel for a week now as it took them a month to admit that the original installation was botched.. My speed tests to the Rosslare Harbour base station:

29/05/2007 1905 1059 kbps (130 KB/s) 943 kbps (116 KB/s) 90 % 54 ms 485 ms
29/05/2007 1409 1215 kbps (149 KB/s) 1090 kbps (133 KB/s) 80 % 40 ms 963 ms
28/05/2007 1911 787 kbps (96 KB/s) 548 kbps (67 KB/s) 32 % 54 ms 787 ms
28/05/2007 1319 706 kbps (87 KB/s) 361 kbps (44 KB/s) 26 % 51 ms 1141 ms

I spoke to Garret about the poor performance and he said he'd do a few "tweaks" which pushed my speeds up into the first two lines above. I am sharing the Rosslare Harbour VLAN with 12 other users.

Personally, I am pleased with the service now that it is actually running. However, I think the 2Mbit claim is really stretching the truth a bit.. I'm going to run a speed test in the wee hours of the morning and see if there is any difference. I'll bet there won't be much. Garret claimed it was contention but I reckon that the 2Mbit figure is around 100% "generous". I note for the 59 euro monthly fee the contention has gone to 18:1 from 14:1.. :-(

More to follow,

Ron