Eircom to roll out 1Gb/s FTTH to 66 towns

mobil 222 · 02-05-2015 2:15pm

http://www.mccanncablingsolutions.com/

these lads are doing lots of work down in Mayo the last 2 weeks

godskitchen · 02-05-2015 4:08pm

mobil 222 wrote: »

http://www.mccanncablingsolutions.com/

these lads are doing lots of work down in Mayo the last 2 weeks

Where abouts in mayo?

yuloni · 02-05-2015 4:44pm

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bk · 02-05-2015 5:00pm

yuloni wrote: »

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Haha, yes :P

Realistically I expect it is too early to start pulling copper out of the ducts between the FTTC cabs and exchanges.

They first need to get far more people on VDSL and also probably enable voice and ADSL2+ from the cabs for those stuck on these technologies first. They are probably still a few years from decommissioning this copper.

However it absolutely makes sense to decommission trunk fiber running between exchanges when the exchange has been upgraded to fiber backhaul.

yuloni · 02-05-2015 7:09pm

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SpaceTime · 04-05-2015 12:54am

Fibre aggregation nodes are actually quite bulky. The buildings and sites are very useful assets. It would be crazy to sell them off.

They're also useful for housing mobile network equipment, routers etc etc

It would have been a Renault transporter from Bandon ... The eircom exchanges up that way were / are all Alcatel gear.

The switching systems for a major node were like a data centre. Still are.

The eircom network will still need somewhere to connect all the fibre to. You're just replacing a copper MDF with a fibre equivalent.

yuloni · 04-05-2015 1:07am

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SpaceTime · 04-05-2015 5:38am

All of those networks were upgraded bit by bit over the years. There is likely older iterations of various equipment that was replaced and may never have been removed.

The idea of selling off buildings that are basically solid, secure data centres built at the centre of an underground duct network would be completely crazy though.

Hopefully we are over the insane property boom era nonsense.

Many of those buildings were built decades ago, some even almost a century ago at this stage (especially in city centres).

Outside of many central Dublin and maybe the other cities, most of them would be relatively worthless too. Certainly rural / small town exchange buildings would be totally worthless. There are loads of far more saleable buildings around!

They've been through many generations of networking equipment and will definitely be very useful for fibre.

I've seen large FTTH installations elsewhere and you most definitely do need the exchange building as in most cases they basically duplicate the old copper network with fibre. It means a lot fewer fibres but You still need somewhere to bring all the fibre back to, to funnel it into the core network, hand over data to other operators etc etc

Eircom is also stuck with copper for a long time to come too. Comreg won't let them just abandon it while it's still hosting competitive services. One of the biggest holdup on FTTC was coming up with an acceptable solution to allow multiple operations to continue to exist. One or two actually delayed the rollout or attempted to because they'd spent a lot of money on LLU.
At least with FTTH we can basically just repeat the model being used for Efibre wholesale.

Unbundling fibre services is difficult because of the network topology. It would become a lot more difficult again without exchange buildings.

Unbundling a UPC style network for example is probably nearly impossible.

That being said, LLU was a bit of a disaster in Ireland anyway because even the traditional POTS network is high distributed (lots of small local exchanges). It even runs on equipment in street cabinets in some places. More like an old-school version of Efibre cabinets.

The existing voice network will inevitably disappear though. The big shift to being a data company instead of a phone company is well underway at this stage.

Interesting few years ahead though as this stuff really starts to take off!

bk · 04-05-2015 11:07am

I agree with SpaceTime, I don't think they will sell off most of their exchanges.

Perhaps they won't be able to resist selling off one or two exchanges in very high property value areas, like Crown Alley in Temple Bar, assuming the close by exchanges in Ship Street and the GPO can handle all the Fibre gear.

They might also be able to do deals with property developers where they continue to have exchange space in the new building, but reduced to just what they need for Fibre and with the developer using the rest of the building. For instance at Crown Alley, Eircom could use the top floor while the ground floors are redeveloped into valuable bar space.

lucernarian · 04-05-2015 3:22pm

bk wrote: »

I agree with SpaceTime, I don't think they will sell off most of their exchanges.

Perhaps they won't be able to resist selling off one or two exchanges in very high property value areas, like Crown Alley in Temple Bar, assuming the close by exchanges in Ship Street and the GPO can handle all the Fibre gear.

They might also be able to do deals with property developers where they continue to have exchange space in the new building, but reduced to just what they need for Fibre and with the developer using the rest of the building. For instance at Crown Alley, Eircom could use the top floor while the ground floors are redeveloped into valuable bar space.

Just an FYI but there's no exchange in the GPO, the North Main exchange is not far off O'Connell St. but near the pro-cathedral. I reckon the Beggar's Bush exchange could also sell for a pretty penny but it's quite a small site in comparison to even Crown Alley.

mobil 222 · 06-05-2015 8:50pm

godskitchen wrote: »

Where abouts in mayo?

Killala,ballycastle

PeadarB · 11-05-2015 3:54pm

http://pressroom.eircom.net/press_releases/article/eircom_sets_out_1gigabit_vision_for_rural_ireland/

eircom, Ireland’s largest telecommunications provider, today launched its proposed solution to the upcoming National Broadband Plan to bring best in class high-speed broadband to rural Ireland, that will use more than 90,000km of fibre optic cable. Showcasing broadband speeds of 1Gb with Fibre to the Home (FTTH) technology, a series of events took place in the small, rural farming community of Belcarra, Co Mayo to demonstrate the transformative impact the service has had on the area.

19 of the 66 towns previously mentioned will be ready to go from the end of August. ESB/Vodafone must be spooking them!!!

Johnboy1951 · 11-05-2015 4:28pm

Is the fact that they used the Balla Livestock Mart as an example, an indication that the original promise to have FTTH for all rural dwellers (not just those in larger communities and villages) is still on the table?

It seems to me that over the past while there has been little mention of individual houses/farms/etc and mostly mention of towns & villages. It looked like (to me) a pull back from that promise.

Hopefully this can be taken as an indication that those hill farmers, and others, miles from any settlement will still be able to avail of FTTH (in the long term).

PeadarB · 11-05-2015 4:58pm

Johnboy1951 wrote: »

Is the fact that they used the Balla Livestock Mart as an example, an indication that the original promise to have FTTH for all rural dwellers (not just those in larger communities and villages) is still on the table?

http://www.eircomwholesale.ie/belcarra-pilot/

The new Belcarra link on the eircom wholesale page shows the application of FTTH in a rural environment, mart, farms, community centre, school etc. They say they have 1.4million poles that they can use countrywide. If each current cab has the potential to serve 640 homes/businesses with FTTH/B it seems possible. This is their pitch at the National Broadband Plan and they seem keen to play a major role in it's implementation.

BandMember · 11-05-2015 6:04pm

mobil 222 wrote: »

Killala,ballycastle

You don't happen to know what they were up to, do you? I have no faith in those areas (or a lot of Mayo) being covered by Eircom as promised. I've a feeling that they will concentrate on the bigger towns elsewhere and then everything else will be scrapped or left to wait for the Government's new NBP....

Manc Red · 11-05-2015 7:13pm

Additional transatlantic capacity being added:

Microsoft Invests In 3 Undersea Cable Projects To Improve Its Data Center Connectivity - http://techcrunch.com/2015/05/11/microsoft-invests-in-3-undersea-cable-projects-to-improve-its-data-center-connectivity/

http://azure.microsoft.com/blog/2015/05/11/microsoft-invests-in-subsea-cables-to-connect-datacenters-globally/

Microsoft also today announced deals with Hibernia to offer faster connectivity between Canada, Ireland and the U.K., and AcquaComms to use its upcoming AEConnect cable between Shirley, NY and the West Coast of Ireland (with backhaul connections to the U.K.).

The Hibernia Express cable, the first new transatlantic cable in twelve years, will launch in September. It’s partly optimized for very low-latency operations (the promise is under 60 milliseconds between New York and London) and will be able to handle up to 10 Tbps per cable pair once it is fully operational.

ED E · 11-05-2015 7:35pm

Meh, 10Tbps, theres another route in the works for 80Tbps to cork.

MajesticDonkey · 11-05-2015 8:52pm

ED E wrote: »

Meh, 10Tbps, theres another route in the works for 80Tbps to cork.

The new AEConnect one will be 130Tbps if I'm not mistaken...

mobil 222 · 11-05-2015 9:41pm

BandMember wrote: »

You don't happen to know what they were up to, do you? I have no faith in those areas (or a lot of Mayo) being covered by Eircom as promised. I've a feeling that they will concentrate on the bigger towns elsewhere and then everything else will be scrapped or left to wait for the Government's new NBP....

Mc Canns are working for KN so the work to these exchanges are for Eircom

BandMember · 11-05-2015 9:51pm

Interesting. They're hardly rolling it out already are they? I wonder if it means that they will have the service up sooner rather than July 2016, at the earliest? No point in asking the Eircom reps here as they won't tell you or be able to tell you and the maps are a disaster...

ED E · 11-05-2015 10:06pm

MajesticDonkey wrote: »

The new AEConnect one will be 130Tbps if I'm not mistaken...

I mixed up my announcements. Artic fibre is a mere 24Tbps.

Utilising the latest optical technology of 130 wavelengths x 100 Gbps per fibre pair coupled with a control plane based on innovative Software-Defined Networking (SDN) technologies, AEConnect will provide Microsoft with scalable connectivity to address growing bandwidth demands for applications

Thats only 13Tbps.

BandMember wrote: »

Interesting. They're hardly rolling it out already are they? I wonder if it means that they will have the service up sooner rather than July 2016, at the earliest? No point in asking the Eircom reps here as they won't tell you or be able to tell you and the maps are a disaster...

They're probably doing groundwork for VDSL/NGA. Or just doing repairs/copper work, they do nearly everything.

BandMember · 11-05-2015 10:11pm

It's probably the latter I'd imagine... I mean, it'd hardly take a year to lay the groundwork for it........would it?

ED E · 11-05-2015 10:18pm

BandMember wrote: »

It's probably the latter I'd imagine... I mean, it'd hardly take a year to lay the groundwork for it........would it?

Killala
APT Reach Nodes (WSEA)

Killala looks to be a legacy exchange. They could well be running backhaul to it so they can make it NGN first, as that preps it for fibre next year. That'd give everyone in the area a nice performance boost while they wait for the real upgrade.

BandMember · 11-05-2015 10:22pm

Ah right. None of the exchanges in that area offer any sort of landline broadband and I think that some of them were the last in the country to be able to direct dial without going through their local post office switch so that makes sense! lol While it's encouraging to hear, I still wouldn't hold my breath - there's a lot of bigger places that will probably be ahead of them on the list and if Eircom don't get the NBP contract, I can see a lot of their plans abandoned in smaller areas throughout the country.......or am I just too pessimistic?

P.S. Eircom reps, if you're reading this, please prove me wrong and get it sorted!!

yuloni · 12-05-2015 3:17am

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murphaph · 12-05-2015 7:28am

I didn't read Moat's comment like that at all, quite the opposite actually. Seems they are really intent on serving rural one off and ribbon development with FTTH with the exception of really isolated premises.

MajesticDonkey · 12-05-2015 1:16pm

"Right out at the margins, you know if you are living on the top of a mountain, getting fibre to the home to you, it may be too expensive but there will be other technologies which can be used in conjunction with it, such as mobile for example or fixed wireless where it will mean that everybody will get that access. That is the government's vision and that is our vision too,” said CEO of Eircom Richard Moat.

Why are these ****ing idiots talking about something they know nothing about?

murphaph · 12-05-2015 1:21pm

MajesticDonkey wrote: »

Why are these ****ing idiots talking about something they know nothing about?

If 99% of premises were on FTTH then 4G or 5G or whatever would be a perfectly good solution for those 1% of premises where the civils cost would be extraordinarily high. 4G is fast....if the whole bandwidth isn't being hogged by customers who really need a proper wired connection.

BandMember · 12-05-2015 1:33pm

murphaph wrote: »

If 99% of premises were on FTTH then 4G or 5G or whatever would be a perfectly good solution for those 1% of premises where the civils cost would be extraordinarily high. 4G is fast....if the whole bandwidth isn't being hogged by customers who really need a proper wired connection.

When the biggest 4G allowance that you can get is 60GB a month, that is never going to be a solution compared to an unlimited fibre (or even fixed) connection.....

Plus, the very people who are considered "too remote and isolated" to get fibre, are the very people who are unable to get any sort of 3G or 4G coverage at the moment and are dependent on satellite broadband.

yuloni · 12-05-2015 1:36pm

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MajesticDonkey · 12-05-2015 1:37pm

murphaph wrote: »

If 99% of premises were on FTTH then 4G or 5G or whatever would be a perfectly good solution for those 1% of premises where the civils cost would be extraordinarily high. 4G is fast....if the whole bandwidth isn't being hogged by customers who really need a proper wired connection.

No, because at that stage, every mobile phone will be 4G enabled, which will be using the bandwidth, and most people that I know don't bother using WiFi when there is 4G reception.

Mobile broadband is, as the name implies, mobile, and it should be for mobile devices only. It's not a solution for broadband - period. Fixed wireless, on the other hand, is.

Johnboy1951 · 12-05-2015 1:42pm

"Right out at the margins, you know if you are living on the top of a mountain, getting fibre to the home to you, it may be too expensive but there will be other technologies which can be used in conjunction with it, such as mobile for example or fixed wireless where it will mean that everybody will get that access. That is the government's vision and that is our vision too,” said CEO of Eircom Richard Moat.

If that 'someone' on the top of the mountain is not within an existing wireless service ...... and a lot are not ..... then it seems that FTTH will be the cheaper option.

Of course that wireless service, based on present offerings, would not be in any way comparable to FTTH.

yuloni · 12-05-2015 1:53pm

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gctest50 · 12-05-2015 2:03pm

yuloni wrote: »

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not exactly svalbard here though really

In Bjørndalen, Norway, a Small Cabin Enjoys Some of the World's Fastest Internet
Svein Nordahl Has No Running Water, but Quick Access to the Web; More Polar Bears Than People

http://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424052702303325204579467542262163298

http://www.svein-nordahl.com/svalbard/?p=508

bit nearer home - up and running now though .............

.

yuloni · 12-05-2015 2:07pm

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Danny Boy · 13-05-2015 12:29pm

eircom are finally getting with the times, at least they'll let us know when they've updated the maps

https://twitter.com/eircomwholesale

ED E · 13-05-2015 12:38pm

Senior eircom engineer mapping manholes near me this morning. Could be repairs, could be gpon.... DDM service area.

PeadarB · 13-05-2015 1:47pm

ED E wrote: »

Senior eircom engineer mapping manholes near me this morning. Could be repairs, could be gpon.... DDM service area.

Though I'm only 170 - 180 metres from the cab my estate (built 1983 -85) is not served by eircom ducting. Phone line comes in from a central pole feeding 10 - 12 houses. The manhole beside the pole has the ancient "P&T" markings. Speaking with an eircom lad recently he said that eircom would not be providing FTTH via "drops." I find this strange!!!

Looking at the setup in Belcarra it seems to me that most of the FTTH connections are via "drops" from eircom poles.

At least the ESB mini-pillar is at my front door and I can get FTTH from that when the time comes, hopefully in the not too distant future.

cunnijo · 13-05-2015 2:31pm

It has been announced that 19 towns will receive the new service by August. Is there any confirmation of what the 19 towns are?

ED E · 13-05-2015 5:48pm

PeadarB wrote: »

Though I'm only 170 - 180 metres from the cab my estate (built 1983 -85) is not served by eircom ducting. Phone line comes in from a central pole feeding 10 - 12 houses. The manhole beside the pole has the ancient "P&T" markings. Speaking with an eircom lad recently he said that eircom would not be providing FTTH via "drops." I find this strange!!!

Half the country is done via DP poles. If theres any truth to what he said (was he just a regular faults lad?) then that would imply theyre only starting with modern housing estates.

PeadarB · 13-05-2015 6:08pm

ED E wrote: »

Half the country is done via DP poles. If theres any truth to what he said (was he just a regular faults lad?) then that would imply theyre only starting with modern housing estates.

ED E I suspect he was a regular eircom techie. The more I think about it though the more I am convinced that the pre-existing infrastructure lends itself to whatever rollout protocols they put in place. Gpon will lend itself to whatever plans they have.

Listening to one of their videos I'm sure I heard one of the linesmen say that they were pulling 96 fibre line with each fibre capable of serving 32 premises. There was plenty of chat about their 1.4 million poles!!

ED E · 13-05-2015 6:44pm

They have GFAST in trials, DDM had some of the original Alcatel cabs (not our side of the footprint though), I wonder if they'd try it out with us.

Wish I'd had time to stop for a chat now.

Deagol · 13-05-2015 7:18pm

cunnijo wrote: »

It has been announced that 19 towns will receive the new service by August. Is there any confirmation of what the 19 towns are?

I live in Ennis and haven't seen any sign of any works here so I don't think we are one of the 19

I did notice on the eircom wholesale map that some exchanges that where announced as one of the 66 has a statement saying it's a planned 1gb/s FTTH exchange while others don't. I guess it's possible the ones with that note are the 19?

PeadarB · 13-05-2015 7:28pm

http://www.huawei.com/en/solutions/broader-smarter/hw-364940.htm

Eircom have conducted test labs along with Huawei and a multitude of other operators using G.Fast but it is only a stop gap. FTTH all the way.

loyatemu · 13-05-2015 8:42pm

Deagol wrote: »

I live in Ennis and haven't seen any sign of any works here so I don't think we are one of the 19

I did notice on the eircom wholesale map that some exchanges that where announced as one of the 66 has a statement saying it's a planned 1gb/s FTTH exchange while others don't. I guess it's possible the ones with that note are the 19?

the first 16 are listed here

Deagol · 13-05-2015 10:29pm

loyatemu wrote: »

the first 16 are listed here

Apologies to others living in places not listed in that list but.....WOOOHHOOOOOOO!!

Though I can't figure out how they could be working on this without me noticing. I've been deliberating taking detours to pass as many cabinets as possible on my way home

Praetorian · 14-05-2015 12:49pm

One point I'm not to sure about.

In places where there are already cabs, I assume no extra work needs to be carried out since they have the backhaul fiber already sorted. So from August I assume a customer orders FTTH, they come out on a schedule and blow the fiber through to your house, a new socket is installed & you get new CPE and that's it?

ED E · 14-05-2015 12:53pm

They need to run it up into manholes outside premises first, then feed up to the houses from there. Id say they'll do areas or estates in one go, then come back to the appointments as a separate works order.

swoofer · 14-05-2015 1:38pm

out of interest, i know the access point for eircom cabling is along the back of a line of houses ie there is a small access point in each garden. The copper cable runs to the NTU on an outside wall , the box is neatly fitted into wall so that the existing cable comes down the cavity into box!! I have cable running up one cavity from a room used as an office, into and across attic and into cavity to NTU. Does this mean the fibre will be spliced at NTU and I will need to run it across attic??

Nickindublin · 14-05-2015 1:41pm

It seems that Eircom have enabled E Fibre in the cabinet beside us. When i enter the numbers on the Eircom site for business's beside us and across the road they say it has been enabled But when i put in our number it says its not been enabled. Would that have anything to do with us having our business landline with Three? The business right beside us is an Eircom customer and they are fibre enabled.

Eircom to roll out 1Gb/s FTTH to 66 towns

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