Irish Broadband is a

telecommunications Telecommunication is the transmission of information by various types of technologies over wire, radio, optical, or other electromagnetic systems. It has its origin in the desire of humans for communication over a distance greater than that fe ...

company in

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

providing

wireless broadband Wireless broadband is telecommunications technology that provides high-speed wireless Internet access or computer networking access over a wide area. The term comprises both fixed and mobile broadband. The term broadband Originally the word ...

services. In April 2008,

Imagine Communications Imagine Communications is an Irish internet service provider and telecommunications operator, who provide WiMAX, wireless broadband and resell Eircom telecommunications wholesale packages. The company operates in Ireland, the United Kingdom, the ...

Group acquired Irish Broadband from

National Toll Roads NTR plc is an Irish renewable energy company founded in 1978. Today, NTR is an investor in wind energy, focused on Ireland, France, Sweden and the UK. NTR previously held stakes in infrastructure interests including Celtic Anglian Water, Greensta ...

and Kilsaran Concrete. They are now the second largest provider of broadband in the

Republic of Ireland Ireland ( ga, Éire ), also known as the Republic of Ireland (), is a country in north-western Europe consisting of 26 of the 32 Counties of Ireland, counties of the island of Ireland. The capital and largest city is Dublin, on the eastern ...

after Eircom, with over 115,000 customers. The company provides wireless broadband services for residential and business customers, including up to 4Mb symmetric DSL links (4:1 contention ratio). Services are provided by means of transmitters located on high points (e.g. tall buildings or hills). these are located in the main cities in the

, providing local services in those urban areas. Trading as NTR Broadband the company also provide broadband services in

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ga, Tuaisceart Éireann ; sco, label= Ulster-Scots, Norlin Airlann) is a part of the United Kingdom, situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, that is variously described as a country, province or region. Nort ...

Services

Breeze is a fixed wireless service, providing 2Mb, 3Mb and 4Mb speeds. Ripwave is a "broadband in a box" service, providing speeds of 1Mb and 2Mb. However, most customers never get these speeds. It has also been plagued with problems regarding the quality of its signal. Irish Broadband and Imagine also resell

ADSL Asymmetric digital subscriber line (ADSL) is a type of digital subscriber line (DSL) technology, a data communications technology that enables faster data transmission over copper telephone lines than a conventional voiceband modem can provide. ...

connectivity on the Eircom Bitstream network, offering ADSL speeds from 1Mb up to 12Mb.

Criticisms

Company representatives have stated that problems resulting in low service levels arose from rapid growth in customer numbers, with an increase of 1000% in one year. More recently, the company has increased the numbers of customer service agents employed in response to the increase in demand on the call centre. The company's

backbone network A backbone or core network is a part of a computer network which interconnects networks, providing a path for the exchange of information between different LANs or subnetworks. A backbone can tie together diverse networks in the same buildin ...

has also been redesigned for scalability.{{citation needed, date=September 2014

References

External links

Irish Broadband homepage

Imagine homepage
Internet service providers of the Republic of Ireland