I don't know who your supplier is, but I'd have thought it would be very expensive compared with fibre.

It should work, but there's lots more latency in GSM type connections (by which I mean 3G/4G) so you may have some issues with drop outs, 'can't reach...' type of messages and so on, but again, you may not, it's not something you can usually predict before you try it.

No way, for me, could 4G replace my fibre.  I'd rather suck it up and work with the fibre provider to get it right.

yes well unfortunately they want to increase their charge from €40 per month to €80, landline is included but never used, so 100% cost increase for around 10mbs is a bit of a rip off, plus they're appalling to deal with. I can get a 4G router for €30 fuss free so it's really down to how it performs for steaming in terms of latency etc, I could test using my iphone as a hotspot but I think the dedicated Huawei 4G router with LAN ports would probably work better regardless

Depending on your accomadation requirements you can get an external antenna for certain 4g hubs which can help or eliminate dropouts etc.

Some professional advice might be required on this for set up and installation though.

I find tethering from my iPhone gives slower speeds than just using the phone itself, so I don’t think thus would be a fair comparison of what a 4G router would give you, which would hopefully be more. Still, I suspect Tallguy is right about possible latency issues so I think I would want the option to cancel after a trial if streaming music or TV is unreliable. 

With only 10Mb/s you haven't got fibre.  I suspect its fibre to the local cabinet & copper (or aluminium) into your property,  with only 10Mb/s & if the ISP is calling it fibre,  then I suspect they have gone beyond the distance limits of whats possible.  Have you tried switching ISP,  or talked to another ISP about what they can do to your street address from their FTTP cabinet location  

Whatever I fear going 4G might be risking going from frying pan to fire 

Mike-B posted:

With only 10Mb/s you haven't got fibre.  I suspect its fibre to the local cabinet & copper (or aluminium) into your property,  with only 10Mb/s & if the ISP is calling it fibre,  then I suspect they have gone beyond the distance limits of whats possible.  Have you tried switching ISP,  or talked to another ISP about what they can do to your street address from their FTTP cabinet location  

Whatever I fear going 4G might be risking going from frying pan to fire 

yes correct, fibre to cabinet about a mile away and copper thereafter, I could get an alternative provider but they're a nightmare to deal with in Ireland, sucking you in with a great deal and then screwing you thereafter, the company I'm with are so bad you cannot even get through on the phone to cancel -  just left on hold for hours which I suspect is a strategy rather than incompetence. I eventually got through via a customer care number and told them where to stick it! Anyway I have a month to look at alternatives

Is this Craggy Island Networks (formerly Arse Feck Drink Communications) you are subscribing to? Even EUR40 for 10mbps sounds like daylight robbery. 

Is there a geographical issue limiting you to this provider?

feeling_zen posted:

Is this Craggy Island Networks (formerly Arse Feck Drink Communications) you are subscribing to? Even EUR40 for 10mbps sounds like daylight robbery. 

Is there a geographical issue limiting you to this provider?

That would be it Ted!

We're so spoiled in the States.  Sounds like you have very few options.  What about satellite?? That's somewhat popular in rural areas here.

Last time I checked in the UK, satellite was very expensive, probably due to low demand in a small, densely populated country where you’re never that far from a phone line. Also, I’m told that latency can be very high, so maybe not ideal for streaming. 

I don't think is lack of options,  Ireland has six; Telecom, Digiweb. EIR, Pure, Sky, Virgin & Vodafone.  I suspect that who & how many does depend on location.   People I know have not much to choose from at their house in the Connemara area but can get them all in Dublin.  I have no idea what deals the have & how much they pay.      

I do recognise Mercky's frustration with rip off pricing once they have you hooked,  I just looked at a deals comparison site & the first thing that stood out to me was a Sky deal.   100Mb/s  Unlimited data  12 month contract   €300 off

We've used 4G/LTE as our connection for the last couple of years. In a rural location in the Czech Republic we don't have a lot of choice but fortunately the CR has an excellent 4G network. I think too much emphasis is placed on the speed of the connection when it comes to streaming and reliability is the more important factor. Our connection is limited to 8Mb/s (the system capability is more than this but this is what we pay for) download and it is totally dependable for using Tidal Premium - often when the family are watching HD video in the lounge at the same time.

I use a NUC with 8GB of RAM with Squeezelite and I notice it buffers whole tracks, which must help with reliability. However, we also have a MUSO that doesn't do this trick but it also works fine.

So, mobile networks can deliver what you need in at least some circumstances.

Chris

I connnected my iPhone as a hotspot to the Nova last night as a test and although a bit of a faff it worked pretty well, my phone was only picking up 3G where my Nova is positioned but I can get 4G nearer the window so I can only imagine a dedicated 4G router connected to the Nova with Ethernet via my Cisco switch would probably work quite well. Presumably in a year or two when 5G becomes available it will become a fairly standard way to distribute online services inc tv etc - it has to be the way of the future rather then running expensive fibres and digging up roads etc particularly in more rural areas which don’t have an existing infrastructure 

I opted for an EE 4G Router, I kept buying 15GB data cards as for me it was a stop gap we used at my brothers place, as Virgin left him high and dry for 8 weeks !!!

Admittedly data was no heavy as we wanted it purely for smart cameras, arc, but if you look enough and luck EE do 100GB Data SIMS.

Speed wise it easily hit 50MB, was a doddle to use, pop a data SIM in pair through web app, done.

Three do a deal here for €30 per month with unlimited data, capped at 750gb per month fair usage, and a free Huawei router

ChrisSU posted:

Last time I checked in the UK, satellite was very expensive, probably due to low demand in a small, densely populated country where you’re never that far from a phone line. Also, I’m told that latency can be very high, so maybe not ideal for streaming. 

Satellite broadband in the UK doesn’t need to be expensive, however it can be very congested at peak times unless you pay a very high premium...  there is also the geostationary latency issues which can cause issues with some sorts of internet applications, especially encrypted comms and low latency.. so satellite really is only useful for certain applications.

i wouldn’t focus on GSM or 3G, as that has limited bandwidth, but focus more on 4G which is quite different and can offer very good wireless comms, albeit you may to check which providers cover your area. In the UK there is a major roll out and infill of 4G as it is part of the UK Gov emergency network service infrastructure. 4G Broadband is hugely cheaper than it used to be but you may still find monthly bandwidth limits. Vodafone have 50Gbyes per month for £30pcm for example. The UK has now the best 4G data network infrastructure in Europe now and ranks very high globally, and our 5G network looks like it’s going to be very effective indeed, but apart from a few trials is a few years away yet.

I recommend 4G for those with no effective FTTC or FTTP available. The 4G routers offered are also quite effective, and if necessary can be setup with a small external antenna. Three do an uncapped, but fair usage model, but have a relatively limited network, especially in rural and remote areas. If you have no 4G you can go bonded 3G, but this getting specialised, and if really out on a limb then you do have Satellite Broadband as an option and I believe there are some scenarios where it can be subsidised by UK Gov... even ias a temporary option until you get 4G infill. Plenty of UK satellite broadband offers via Google.

Hmmm, you’ve got me thinking now, Simon. We get a good signal outdoors, often 4G depending on which signal the phone finds, although indoors it’s virtually unusable. I might investigate this while we wait for signs of progress on our FTTP rollout. 

We installed bigger aerials on our indoor 4g router and that was a worthwhile improvement when the local infrastructure wasn’t as good as it is now.

 Chris 

Well gee - I had no idea - ran Speedtest on my iPhone X and 4G LTE sitting in my home (wi fi turned off on the phone) and it downloaded at 131Mbps (uploaded at 16).  

Yes I get good speeds too on 4G but I notice on my speed test app the ping and jitter are considerably higher then over my normal Wifi, I’m guessing this is not ideal for streaming? 

4G great for streaming, just bear in mind most 4G services are metered unlike FTTP and FTTC connections, and can experience greater contention performance degradation. Jitter on Ethernet using TCP is meaningless.. using UDP (used for very low latency and multicast)  it becomes relevant.. but our streaming services use TCP.

I have been using 4G/LTE for three years. I have an extra extern antenna (Poynting XPOL-2) on the router. Inside I use Google Wifi.

Streaming Tidal hifi, hires Qobuz, AppleTV, Netflix, HBO etc. has been very reliable, I get 50mbs. Cost is 45 euro per month here in Sweden (capped to 500Gb).