For anybody who fancies a laugh at my piss poor internet connection here are some statistics to take a look at. The graph is based on data collected using SpeedTest from Blacknight (thanks Blacknight for providing this utility!). I’m using the USB Modem from 3 Ireland for my internet connectivity. They refer to it as ‘broadband’ but I won’t be – because the product just isn’t broadband. To give you some background, I’m currently living at my parent’s place in Roscommon and although we’re about 5km from Strokestown (ADSL enabled exchange) the line length is apparantly 10km (10.25km is the Eircom measured distance I think) which means no ADSL. Also, the telephone line quality isn’t fantastic for dial-up and we’re the last house on the line. We’re surrounded by trees for the most part so we don’t have ‘Line of Sight’ for Lastmile – not that it’s easy to get a straight answer from them on what options we do have. This means internet connectivity is mobile. If you look at the ComReg site (Search for Scramoge in County Roscommon) you’ll see that there are very few 3g enabled masts nearby. So 3 is the only viable provider – O2 might be possible but I think we have too many hills and such between us and Longford or Roscommon where they have 3g enabled masts.
Anyway, feast your eyes and feel smug if you have a faster connection or luxury of luxuries: A choice of providers