In recent weeks, various customers have reported issues with their broadband connections where it can disconnect intermittingly throughout the day. The problem may only even manifest itself on certain days creating huge difficulties in narrowing down its cause. Obviously this creates a huge strain on the working day and we’ve only recently managed to find the cause. We found that peer-to-peer software such as uTorrent, Bitcomet, Bearshare and Limewire have been the primary source of the problem. In all cases, the software was not even in use. This means that simply by having the software on the pc can impact the stability of your network.

There are also different symptoms of having this software installed such as fluctuations in the actual speed of your internet access. Again, this can all occur without even using the software.  The fact that it’s running in the background chewing up bandwidth is one thing but the number of ‘open connections’ it creates are ultimately being persecuted by the Internet Service Provider. For each of the symptoms there are varying fixes, such as patches to the software, tweaks to its configuration and modifications to the port settings on the router. None of which will be suggested here.. The only fix on offer here is to remove the software from your pc.  

Once removed, your network stability will return to normal. For more information regarding this topic, we have posted the solution to I Found A Fix.

I hope you too have Found A Fix.

Why not prevent this at source? You can simply enable web filtering at the broadband level and remove access to specific sites instantly. You can choose from a range of categories such as ‘Gambling , ‘Social Networking’, or ‘Violence’, etc and block all such sites at once. If a website has been included by mistake, you can specify that it never be blocked. Say Goodbye to IrishJobs.ie or Daft.ie and setup Web Filtering today! No Server required, we only need to change your internet settings on the company router, setup your account and implement your criteria for future web browsing in the workplace.

Eircom is working on repairing its DNS Servers after  they confirmed outage across their system. Users are currently experiencing slow load times for web pages, erroneous redirects and general inability to surf the web properly. We’ve posted the following fix which should get you up ad running very quickly;

By using OpenDNS instead of Eircom, you will be able to use their DNS Servers for web access. To do so, change your broadband DNS addresses to 208.67.222.222 and 208.67.220.220. You can follow the steps here.

Sending large file attachments over e-mail is usually an issue for businesses who generally use software such as Autocad for technical drawings or large PDF documents for marketing campaigns or even movie files, music files and high resolution images in day-to-day activities. Most email systems simply don’t cope very well when transmitting such files. They are usually not configured properly, have necessary limits in place (as they should) or their broadband package simply can’t meet these demands.

Thankfully, there are now 3rd party websites which can send large files on your behalf. One of these companies, Dropsend allow you to send files up to a massive 1GB to your intended recipient. You Send It is another alternative. 

Note: We usually recommend not to send any attachments to colleagues internally. Instead, you should be copying the files to your shared folders and hyperlinking as required.

The business workplace is changing. More and more business professionals are working from home and the workplace has transformed into a mobile reality. Broadband has been the catalyst and Internet Service Providers have become big players in the marketplace as a consequence.

If this is true, why do these same companies enforce their customers (us) to use their outgoing mail servers?

If you don’t know what I mean, then I’ll try to explain. If I am using a mail client such as Microsoft Outlook to send mail, my outgoing mail server is set as mail.pctechnix.ie. Eircom for example, has no problem with this. Slap yourself on the back Eircom.

Other Irish Broadband Providers are not so straightforward. Irish Broadband will only allow you to use smtp.irishbroadband.ie and NTL enforce smtp.upcmail.ie. Perlico also have a confusing list of ones you can use. There are more providers that can be added to the guilty list but I’d like to stick to my main point.

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The Irish Broadband Service Providers generally irritate me. As a small Irish Company providing IT Solutions, we are often asked to recommend to our clients where they should get their broadband from. I would love nothing more than to be able to say, “Try X Company – They are brilliant!”

The reality is much different. My current home broadband provider is from Eircom. I wanted to switch as I don’t need a house phone and I don’t like Line Rental. The idea of renting a phone line is ludicrous. So when I noticed that ICE Broadband were in my area I decided to give them a try. On paper it seemed like a good idea;

No line rental:   No download limit: Speed offering of 3mb download and 1mb upload

Installation Fee is €0 if you take a 24 Month Contract. Price per Month €37.99

I made the call. By the end of the week I was genuinely impressed that the Engineer was on my roof installing the Broadband Aerial. The aerial itself is a bit oversized and indiscreet but overall the installation was professional. When it came to checking the quality of the service however, this is where ICE Broadband couldn’t deliver. Read the rest of this entry »