Broadband in Drogheda Dublin Rd area.

ingen · 22-06-2010 10:40am #1

please only post here if you are in the dublin Rd Drogheda area
( five oaks, stameen, roschoill, longwood, beaubec, wheaton hall, dublin rd area , railway terrance and mcgraths lane) and you have DSL broadband.

1.please indicate what DSL speed you have currently if you have DSL and list provider.

2. would you be interested in having a faster DSL connection? and paying more €?

3. how stable is your current connection?

4. your location (optional)

I will gather results posted and forward to eircom, and local TD's , the more info we get here the better, and so we can get a good picture of what speeds people have.

(mods please leave this thread here as it will get more hits, i rekon thanks)

ingen · 22-06-2010 10:44am

ingen wrote: »

please only post here if you are in the dublin Rd Drogheda area
( five oaks, stameen, roschoill, longwood, beaubec, wheaton hall, dublin rd area , railway terrance and mcgraths lane) and you have DSL broadband.

1.please indicate what DSL speed you have currently if you have DSL and list provider.

2. would you be interested in having a faster DSL connection? and paying more €?

3. how stable is your current connection?

4. your location (optional)

I will gather results posted and forward to eircom, and local TD's

1. 3mb / 384 vodafone
2. yes
3. not sure yet ( only have it 2 weeks)
4. dublin road

R.O.R · 22-06-2010 12:26pm

ingen wrote: »

please only post here if you are in the dublin Rd Drogheda area
( five oaks, stameen, roschoill, longwood, beaubec, wheaton hall, dublin rd area , railway terrance and mcgraths lane) and you have DSL broadband.

1.please indicate what DSL speed you have currently if you have DSL and list provider.

2. would you be interested in having a faster DSL connection? and paying more €?

3. how stable is your current connection?

4. your location (optional)

I will gather results posted and forward to eircom, and local TD's , the more info we get here the better, and so we can get a good picture of what speeds people have.

(mods please leave this thread here as it will get more hits, i rekon thanks)

1. 8MB / Eircom (only getting 3.5meg speedtest though)

2. No

3. Very Stable

4. Roschoill

positron · 22-06-2010 12:34pm

1. 2 mbps, Vodafone, getting about 1.2 mbps.

(Supposed to be 3 mbps, but connection drop every 10 mins at that speed. At 2 mbps, connection still drops during peak hours. Vodafone is offering 8 mbps for the same money, and I am considering asking them reduce my profile to 1 mbps

)

2. Yes and Yes.

I need fast and stable internet access for work. It directly effects me now, and will be even more critical in future. Faster internet is also important for to have the option of telecommuting some days of the week. If I can't have good internet access, I will have to move - it is that important.

3. Very unstable. Disconnects during peak hours even with mere 2 mbps. Disconnects every 10 mins at 3 mbps.

4. Wheaton Hall.

ingen · 22-06-2010 2:00pm

R.O.R wrote: »

1. 8MB / Eircom (only getting 3.5meg speedtest though)

2. No

3. Very Stable

4. Roschoill

the limiting factor here, and that we all face in the area, is the length of the phone lines, that limits the speed of the DSL connection. the only real fix for this is to get a shorter landline, ( fiber to the cabinet, FTTH etc)

alternatively fixed wireless such as digiweb, net1, is available, and from what I hear net1 is available in Roschoill and general area as long as you are not real close to tall trees which block signal. net1 has an antenna in bellewstown which should be a runner.

R.O.R · 22-06-2010 5:12pm

ingen wrote: »

the limiting factor here, and that we all face in the area, is the length of the phone lines, that limits the speed of the DSL connection. the only real fix for this is to get a shorter landline, ( fiber to the cabinet, FTTH etc)

alternatively fixed wireless such as digiweb, net1, is available, and from what I hear net1 is available in Roschoill and general area as long as you are not real close to tall trees which block signal. net1 has an antenna in bellewstown which should be a runner.

I was getting 800+kbps on a 1MB line before the free upgrade so I'm surprised the drop off on the 8MB is so high - expecting around 6MB.

800kb was enough from my usage so I'm delighted with the warp speed 3.5MB

Pretty close to all the tall trees too and have enough trouble getting a decent TV signal through the aerial, let alone whether the atmospheric pressure is too high for the broadband to work.

ingen · 25-06-2010 12:17am

an update for all.

grangerath estate, if you are very close to the shopping centre, you can now get 24mb eircom dsl broadband, i kid you not!!

yet the rest of the dublin road is stuck at a poxy 3-4 mb max speed.

Drogheda town is suffering, yet in meath outside Drogheda town boundary, eircom give grange rath residents vastly superior service and speeds.

now explain that ... total disgrace, that Drogheda town south along dublin road, is stuck at a poxy 3-4 mb.

dont expect anything to change anytime soon, in terms of DSL speed.

further investigation reveals that net1 service is available to certain parts of wheaton hall and roschoill, if you can see to the north
towards clogherhead, speeds up to 6mb. i noticed when i took a spin around roschoill, and castlewood that some houses already have the digiweb/irish broadband breeze / net1 , fixed wireless antennas on the roof... interesting...

so the main part of the dublin road, is being left behind by eircom, by not giving us decent speeds.

:mad::mad::mad:

lucernarian · 26-06-2010 3:06am

Did you have any joy with Net1 yourself?

ingen · 27-06-2010 7:57pm

To_be_confirmed wrote: »

Did you have any joy with Net1 yourself?

yea they came out, had a look and said, erm no joy here, you wont get a signal, too many trees, a chap had a binoculars and went up on the roof, too many trees he said..

I said strange, cause you should have LOS to a mast to the north,, they put together the test gear and up he goes, does a test gets full signal on the middle of the roof! great , however as its in the middle of the roof and not near my aerial pole they need to get a slate bracket, that slides in under the tile and clamps down, to hold antenna in place.

question is, could the slate clamp cause any damage to the roof in heavy wind? never seen any of those type of installs before!!

nice people to deal with,

positron · 28-06-2010 2:29pm

Thanks for the update. Net1's package/prices doesn't look all that good value - but it's better than no internet at all.

I read somewhere here in the past that Magnet.ie might be in Drogheda by end of 2010. Wonder if anyone know any more on this (Project Kevin or something like that)??

ingen · 04-07-2010 11:48am

positron wrote: »

Thanks for the update. Net1's package/prices doesn't look all that good value -

too right. after exhaustive research on broadband I have come to the conclusion that eircom has the best service and offering, all be it more expensive. ( you can get through to them on the phone relatively quickly compared to other isp's)

also if you are on a NGB product you line can most likely take a bit more speed than eircom speed checkers tell you. check your routers line stats to be sure. a quick call to eircom support and they can up your profile to a faster speed.

ingen · 13-07-2010 12:10pm

hi people an update for you, i have looked into broadband speeds, and discovered, that from the esso garage on the dublin road down you can get 10mb broadband speed on DSL.

also the shops over at the bryanstown cross route can also get 10mb dsl broadband, now remember that the bryanstown cross route is less than 1km from wheaton hall, and also well under the 1km range too on the dublin road,
so either they have nice new clean lines or are patched to a different exchange.

in scotch hall you can get 15mb dsl broadband.

also along the main dublin road at southgate you can get 20-24mb DSL broadband!!!

if you are in deepforde you can get 6mb+ DSL.

i rekon if wheaton hall was plugged into the same exchange as bryanstown cross route, then you could probably get 8mb BB in wheaton hall!!!

so it looks like the main residential areas of the Dublin Road, are on old crappy phone lines, and patched to an exhange further away... eircom could do something about it, but i dont think they would bother their, arse. :mad::mad::mad::mad:

positron · 13-07-2010 1:36pm

ingen wrote: »

i rekon if wheaton hall was plugged into the same exchange as bryanstown cross route, then you could probably get 8mb BB in wheaton hall!!!

so it looks like the main residential areas of the Dublin Road, are on old crappy phone lines, and patched to an exhange further away... eircom could do something about it, but i dont think they would bother their, arse. :mad::mad::mad::mad:

I agree. However, there has to be a process that we can try to get the ball rolling? Who should we speak to regarding this, and surely there more than three who posted here uses broadband in this area, how to we reach to them all to get their support?

ingen · 13-07-2010 1:51pm

positron wrote: »

I agree. However, there has to be a process that we can try to get the ball rolling? Who should we speak to regarding this, and surely there more than three who posted here uses broadband in this area, how to we reach to them all to get their support?

we need to hound local TD's , keep on their case , ill send you a pm with the names of the people i spoke to..

on a side note, i have discovered that there is a spare line going past my door to the new exchange in grangerath, CLXA.

a new order for a new line has gone in, to connect me to this exchange as the cable is running past my door. this will reduce my phone line by over 50% to 1.7km so therefore i should be able to get 15mb-17mb speed... fingers crossed!!

Salty Dog · 13-07-2010 2:31pm

ingen wrote: »

a new order for a new line has gone in, to connect me to this exchange as the cable is running past my door. this will reduce my phone line by over 50% to 1.7km so therefore i should be able to get 15mb-17mb speed... fingers crossed!!

If ya don't mind me asking how much is the new order going to cost asuming Eircom don't do freebies

ingen · 13-07-2010 2:44pm

Salty Dog wrote: »

If ya don't mind me asking how much is the new order going to cost asuming Eircom don't do freebies

hi there, its €107, not sure if its plus vat or not. i got the business care centre to organise, with the condition that it be connected to the nearer exchange, the chap in eircom said there shouldnt be a problem.

noelcosgrave · 27-07-2010 3:56pm

ingen wrote: »

1.please indicate what DSL speed you have currently if you have DSL and list provider.

3MB service, at the moment delivering <1MB sync speed.
Digiweb (DSL, not wireless)

2. would you be interested in having a faster DSL connection? and paying more €?

Yes, a much faster and far more reliable connection is becoming vital to my business. I've tried Digiweb's wireless, but the tall trees surrounding the estate mean that one is ruled out, as is any other line-of-sight method.

3. how stable is your current connection?

Very unstable. 18mths ago, this connection was syncing at 2MB, now it struggles to hold a < 1MB sync, particularly during peak hours.

4. your location (optional)

Stameen

noelcosgrave · 27-07-2010 4:02pm

ingen wrote: »

on a side note, i have discovered that there is a spare line going past my door to the new exchange in grangerath, CLXA. a new order for a new line has gone in, to connect me to this exchange as the cable is running past my door. this will reduce my phone line by over 50% to 1.7km so therefore i should be able to get 15mb-17mb speed... fingers crossed!!

I called Eircom this afternoon to see if I ordered a new line could I be connected to the new exchange at Colpe (which is 10 mins walk from me).

The answer was a seemingly definitive NO, almost a "how dare you ask". I was told that I would receive the same two tin-cans and a bit of string service I currently have.

I'd be interested to know where you are, Ingen, so I can compare notes and maybe put a bit of pressure on Eircom. Can you PM me?

noelcosgrave · 27-07-2010 4:10pm

ingen wrote: »

the limiting factor here, and that we all face in the area, is the length of the phone lines, that limits the speed of the DSL connection. the only real fix for this is to get a shorter landline, ( fiber to the cabinet, FTTH etc)

Fibre to the cabinet is the most cost-effective solution. Fibre to the home would be prohibitive. Maybe an innovative solution such as running fibre through the sewer system should be considered, as this has been successfully done in Italy, Japan and more recently, the UK.

As a side note, I've been told by a representative of another ISP that there is likely to be little or no investment in new infrastructure and was reminded that "there's a recession on". On the contrary, a recession is the best time for any reasonably well-capitalised company to invest in infrastructure. You get the labour and maybe even the equipment far cheaper than you would during an economic boom.

ingen · 27-07-2010 6:56pm

noelcosgrave wrote: »

I called Eircom this afternoon to see if I ordered a new line could I be connected to the new exchange at Colpe (which is 10 mins walk from me).

The answer was a seemingly definitive NO, almost a "how dare you ask". I was told that I would receive the same two tin-cans and a bit of string service I currently have.

I'd be interested to know where you are, Ingen, so I can compare notes and maybe put a bit of pressure on Eircom. Can you PM me?

ok here ya go.

despite lengthly research on my part, and eircom confirming that spare cable was running past my door, i measured the distance and it equated to 1.7km, eircom told me what the old phone number was for this old line and i put it in to the eircom speed checker and it gave back a speed of 15mb, which equates to a line length of 1.7km, happy days i thought, boy was i wrong.

anyways eircom took the order for the new line, and booked an appointment, engineer called out to do the job, and i have him all the info he needed to find the cable, and even the old number which eircom had given me..

he called me back a few hours later saying that he could not find the cable at all. i called eircom again, and eventually i decided to throw in the towel.. as the old number is showing up on eircom line checker, and giving a line speed of 15mb, the line has to be there,..

very very very frustrating. how can eircom get away with giving an exchange to one housing estate in east meath, and ignoring one of the biggest towns in ireland? total disgrace!!

ingen · 27-07-2010 6:59pm

noelcosgrave wrote: »

Fibre to the cabinet is the most cost-effective solution. Fibre to the home would be prohibitive. Maybe an innovative solution such as running fibre through the sewer system should be considered, as this has been successfully done in Italy, Japan and more recently, the UK.

As a side note, I've been told by a representative of another ISP that there is likely to be little or no investment in new infrastructure and was reminded that "there's a recession on". On the contrary, a recession is the best time for any reasonably well-capitalised company to invest in infrastructure. You get the labour and maybe even the equipment far cheaper than you would during an economic boom.

it truely is a disgrace. eircom are a joke, how can they call a poxy up to 8mb, next generation, in 2010.... now thats a joke.

ingen · 27-07-2010 7:07pm

noelcosgrave wrote: »

I called Eircom this afternoon to see if I ordered a new line could I be connected to the new exchange at Colpe (which is 10 mins walk from me).

The answer was a seemingly definitive NO, almost a "how dare you ask". I was told that I would receive the same two tin-cans and a bit of string service I currently have.

I'd be interested to know where you are, Ingen, so I can compare notes and maybe put a bit of pressure on Eircom. Can you PM me?

PM SENT

noelcosgrave · 27-07-2010 10:30pm

ingen wrote: »

anyways eircom took the order for the new line, and booked an appointment, engineer called out to do the job, and i have him all the info he needed to find the cable, and even the old number which eircom had given me..

he called me back a few hours later saying that he could not find the cable at all. i called eircom again, and eventually i decided to throw in the towel.. as the old number is showing up on eircom line checker, and giving a line speed of 15mb, the line has to be there,..

Can I take it then that you didn't get the line from CLXA? I've been told by Eircom POTS support (on the phone) that there is no copper running from CLXA northbound along the Dublin Road and that to supply a service from CLXA to Stameen, Five Oaks, and the rest would require digging up the roads.

I'm getting so frustrated by this steam-age service that I (in a moment of pure madness) even considered going for WiMax. Thankfully, I returned to my senses pretty rapidly. It still leaves me with a dog-slow connection that loses sync at the drop of a hat though.

ingen · 27-07-2010 11:15pm

noelcosgrave wrote: »

Can I take it then that you didn't get the line from CLXA? I've been told by Eircom POTS support (on the phone) that there is no copper running from CLXA northbound along the Dublin Road and that to supply a service from CLXA to Stameen, Five Oaks, and the rest would require digging up the roads.

I'm getting so frustrated by this steam-age service that I (in a moment of pure madness) even considered going for WiMax. Thankfully, I returned to my senses pretty rapidly. It still leaves me with a dog-slow connection that loses sync at the drop of a hat though.

i take it you mean east--west along the dublin road..

no they didnt deliver the connection, they said that they couldnt find the cable... i dont know how hard they looked... i sent you a pm earlier, did you get it?

at stameen, the colpe cross exchange is very very close to you.!! so near and yet so far, eh..

let me know what you think after you read the pm, cheers

noelcosgrave · 29-07-2010 1:58pm

ingen wrote: »

i take it you mean east--west along the dublin road.

Yes, or more like south-east to north-west.

no they didnt deliver the connection, they said that they couldnt find the cable... i dont know how hard they looked...

If what I have been told is true, there is no cable running to CLXA from anywhere along the town-bound stretch of the Dublin Road.

at stameen, the colpe cross exchange is very very close to you.!! so near and yet so far, eh..

I know. And knowing that houses 50 metres from me in Grangerath have the opportunity to get the higher-speed DSL is extremely annoying.

let me know what you think after you read the pm, cheers

I've sent an email to the eircom contact, but he has yet to respond. I'll give him a week or so before I chase it up.

szines · 30-09-2010 8:19am

Hi, somebody know, what is the best choice for broadband in this Dublin Road Area in Drogheda?

Is only Eircom broadband with limited download available?

Are there any cable broadband with high speed, unlimited download?

Thanks for your help!

ingen · 03-10-2010 4:14pm

for anyone in the Drogheda Dublin Road, area, this is the exchange you want to get plugged in to.. ( see attached picture of colpe cross exchange ). ( thank you google street view for the picture!!)

eircom continue to connect people on the dublin road area in Drogheda to the patrick street exchange DBC, which is about 4km + from the dublin road area.

the result of this is max speeds from 2mb-4mb, for most of the dublin road area of Drogheda!.... so with their up to 8mb packages there is not a chance in hell of ever getting near the 8mb on the current exchange, DBC in patrick st.

its a totally crazy attitude by eircom, not to connect the dublin road residents to the closer exchange CLXA ie colpe cross, as its 50% closer, and would result in a much better broadband experience and faster speeds.

its a total joke.... on a point of priciple i would avoid eircom for this stance alone!!! my contract with eircom is up soon, i might switch to a different service,,,, as eircom are very expensive.

lucernarian · 03-10-2010 4:43pm

There's an awful lot of work involved in rewiring every house that's closer to the Colpe Cross exchange than another existing exchange. So much so that simply opening a couple of small cabinet exchanges like the one at the entrance to Deepforde would be the cheapest way to solve the problem. Much like what BT have done in many parts of NI.

Also, that exchange would only be able to physically handle about 2000 lines at most I'd say. Based on the size of the Blackrock exchange near the old Carrolls factory in Dundalk. All the housing estates along the Dublin Road, combined with Grange Rath and the Colpe roads themselves could well surpass that.

Speaking of Grange Rath, I read a report here on boards which mentioned that Net1 offered to cable the estate and use DOCSIS broadband, but the residents refused because they didn't like the idea of cables going across the eaves/gutters of houses:rolleyes: You don't see most of Dublin or Cork or Limerick complaining about the cables which give them very fast broadband... Instead lots of the houses in the estates ended up with poles on their chimneys just for Digiweb FWA, a service which quickly became overloaded.

Long story short, if you want very fast broadband in Drogheda, move house over to the northside of Drogheda or else Grange Rath/Deepforde when they get ADSL2+.

ingen · 03-10-2010 5:09pm

To_be_confirmed wrote: »

There's an awful lot of work involved in rewiring every house that's closer to the Colpe Cross exchange than another existing exchange. So much so that simply opening a couple of small cabinet exchanges like the one at the entrance to Deepforde would be the cheapest way to solve the problem. Much like what BT have done in many parts of NI.

Also, that exchange would only be able to physically handle about 2000 lines at most I'd say. Based on the size of the Blackrock exchange near the old Carrolls factory in Dundalk. All the housing estates along the Dublin Road, combined with Grange Rath and the Colpe roads themselves could well surpass that.

Speaking of Grange Rath, I read a report here on boards which mentioned that Net1 offered to cable the estate and use DOCSIS broadband, but the residents refused because they didn't like the idea of cables going across the eaves/gutters of houses:rolleyes: You don't see most of Dublin or Cork or Limerick complaining about the cables which give them very fast broadband... Instead lots of the houses in the estates ended up with poles on their chimneys just for Digiweb FWA, a service which quickly became overloaded.

Long story short, if you want very fast broadband in Drogheda, move house over to the northside of Drogheda or else Grange Rath/Deepforde when they get ADSL2+.

eircom have told me that they have a good bit of spare capacity in colpe cross exchange, so its do able.. ie connect the current cabs that are on the dublin road, (see attachment )

(heres one example)
the cabinet in the picture, serves roschoill.... so all you need is to connect a fiber from this cab to colpe cross exchange and then your sorted!

its not a big job in all honesty.

so funny about moving house...:D

if there is a problem with running new cables, why dont eircom invest in a wireless system like net1, they could hugely increase their range,

lucernarian · 03-10-2010 5:37pm

ingen wrote: »

eircom have told me that they have a good bit of spare capacity in colpe cross exchange, so its do able.. ie connect the current cabs that are on the dublin road, (see attachment )

(heres one example)
the cabinet in the picture, serves roschoill.... so all you need is to connect a fiber from this cab to colpe cross exchange and then your sorted!

its not a big job in all honesty.

so funny about moving house...:D

if there is a problem with running new cables, why dont eircom invest in a wireless system like net1, they could hugely increase their range,

A good bit? Sure how long is a piece of string? Does capacity mean spare mbps to deal with congestion or does it mean more space on the main distribution frame or does it mean adequate power supplies or air conditioning etc? That's grand for a cabinet or two but I'm talking about 2000 lines, the sheer bulk of which would need new ducting to be laid for much of the length of the road.

A fibre can't just be laid to a cabinet and bob's your uncle. How exactly will a fibre optic cable connect to a couple of hundred copper pairs? With expensive DSLAM equipment and POTS/ISDN equipment aswell. Like what is used for Deepforde currently. That solution is exactly what I was talking about in my last post, which is what eircom would find cheaper and BT are doing currently in NI. Re-laying 2000 copper pairs is a much larger job than installing RSUs with DSL equipment inside, beside an existing cabinet.

Wireless has its pros and cons. It would be very expensive or else technologically inadequate to replace DSL with wireless tech en masse. I don't know of any widespread wireless provider that supplies over 12 mb/s, without going into microwave link technology like what's used for mobile phone masts.

troops · 03-10-2010 9:52pm

ingen wrote: »

if you are in deepforde you can get 6mb+ DSL.

who is this with?

Broadband in Drogheda Dublin Rd area.

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