Line Failure Rates (SiliconRepublic)

DonegalMan

www.siliconrepublic.com

Line failures ‘an operational matter’ for Eircom


13.09.2004 - A spokesman for the Department of Communications, Marine and
Natural Resources has described the controversy surrounding growing
complaints of line failures for broadband as an “operational matter” and a
“challenge facing Eircom”. Last week siliconrepublic.com reported on claims
that less than 50pc of phone lines in Ireland are capable of handling DSL
broadband due to being either too far from a local exchange or for failing
line tests by Eircom engineers.

It has been alleged by both Esat BT and lobby group Ireland Offline that one
of the prime reasons phone lines are failing tests is due to the now
forbidden practice of line splitting, otherwise known as pair gain or
putting a carrier on the network that occurred up until 2001. Under this
practice, up to 150 houses in an urban area where line splitting was
practiced would, for example, share less than 100 copper paired lines to the
local exchange.

While this was acceptable for making telephone calls, the advent of
broadband means that up to a third of houses in an urban area would be
incapable of receiving DSL whilst next door neighbours could. The practice
of line splitting was prohibited in 2001. However, it has been alleged that
already existing split lines in Ireland’s PSTN network have not been
replaced or upgraded. As a result, both Esat BT and Ireland Offline claim
that as many as 50pc of phone lines in Ireland are incapable of receiving
DSL due to line splitting, distance from the nearest exchange and other
factors such as equipment such as fax machines affecting test signals.

A spokesman for the Communications Department said: “The minister has made
numerous public comments in the past about the lack of investment by Eircom
in broadband and broadband enabling exchanges. The minister has said in the
past that instead of taking money out of the company in the form of dividend
it should have been re-invested in infrastructure.”

However, the spokesman also argued that the situation was not as bleak as it
appeared. “The present Government has been investing over €230m in broadband
communications infrastructure, through the metropolitan area network
programmes, new group broadband schemes and community broadband exchanges
(co -location).

“The market is deregulated and there are a wide range of options for
consumers seeking broadband in the marketplace. There has been a dramatic
cut in the price of broadband and Ireland is rapidly climbing the broadband
ladder. We currently enjoy one of the lowest broadband entry pricing
structures in the world,” the spokesman added.

By John Kennedy

eircomtribunal

DonegalMan wrote:

www.siliconrepublic.com

Line failures ‘an operational matter’ for Eircom


13.09.2004 - A spokesman for the Department of Communications, Marine and
Natural Resources has...

However, the spokesman also argued that the situation was not as bleak as it
appeared.

“The market is deregulated and there are a wide range of options for
consumers seeking broadband in the marketplace. There has been a dramatic
cut in the price of broadband and Ireland is rapidly climbing the broadband
ladder. We currently enjoy one of the lowest broadband entry pricing
structures in the world,” the spokesman added.

By John Kennedy

"We currently enjoy one of the lowest broadband entry pricing
structures in the world."Who is peddling those lies? There must be a name behind this misinformation. And we should confront this person.

Do the DCMNR people not even bother to read the latest Quarterly Report of ComReg? The Comreg Document shows on page 23, illustrated by two graphs, that Ireland has slipped in both categories (one favouring slow bb the other higher end bb offerings) one place in the adsl price basket and we are in both categories dearer than the EU average.

3.5 ADSL Baskets
The following two ADSL baskets should be looked at together to get the most complete picture of ADSL prices across the EU.
3.5.2 Lowest Monthly Rental ADSL Basket (Minimum
35 Ireland position has fallen by one place to 8th place in this basket and is two places behind the EU average.
3.5.1 Lowest Monthly Rental ADSL Basket (Normalised)
34 Ireland position has fallen one place to 9th and is now one place behind the EU average.

In March he DCMNR gave a policy directive to Comreg, demanding it to take measures to bring Irelands enduser bb usage and availability at least to EU-15 average by mid 2005.
As we are so far back – second last place before Greece – we would need the lowest adsl price to catch up, certainly not one above the average.

P.

jwt

Good points, I'll raise them with John Kennedy and see if we can get COMREG to respond.

I don't think we'll br told who the spokeperson was but I'll ask

John

Padraig Mor

DonegalMan wrote:

www.siliconrepublic.com


It has been alleged by both Esat BT and lobby group Ireland Offline that one
of the prime reasons phone lines are failing tests is due to the now
forbidden practice of line splitting, otherwise known as pair gain or
putting a carrier on the network that occurred up until 2001. Under this
practice, up to 150 houses in an urban area where line splitting was
practiced would, for example, share less than 100 copper paired lines to the
local exchange.

While this was acceptable for making telephone calls, the advent of
broadband means that up to a third of houses in an urban area would be
incapable of receiving DSL whilst next door neighbours could. The practice
of line splitting was prohibited in 2001. However, it has been alleged that
already existing split lines in Ireland’s PSTN network have not been
replaced or upgraded. As a result, both Esat BT and Ireland Offline claim
that as many as 50pc of phone lines in Ireland are incapable of receiving
DSL due to line splitting, distance from the nearest exchange and other
factors such as equipment such as fax machines affecting test signals.

Sorry for dragging up a three year old thread (and I hope I put it in the right place) but I'm wondering about this apparent 'illegality' of line splitting. I'm living in an estate built in 2004 and cannot get broadband over the phone, yet people in the street above (built a few months earlier) can. We are on an enabled exhange (Cobh). When I got the Eircom line installed, the engineer told me that we can't get broadband because we were on what he termed a 'mini-exchange'. The only apparent explanation (to me) is that the 'mini-exchange' is in fact a 'line splitter'. Where do we stand with this, bearing in mind the comments above, i.e. did Eircom 'illegally' split lines and can they be forced to undo it? Or is there another, 'innocent' explanation?

cgarvey

Mini-exchanges are just that .. a branch of a main exchange.. so unfortunately he was right. I don't know of any mini-exchange that has been DSL enabled, but someone else here might?

Also, I thought the line-splitter was a best-effort reccomendation (meaning that it's neither prohibited or illegal), no?

.cg

Altreab

DonegalMan wrote:

www.siliconrepublic.com

Under this
practice, up to 150 houses in an urban area where line splitting was
practiced would, for example, share less than 100 copper paired lines to the
local exchange.

While this was acceptable for making telephone calls, the advent of
broadband means that up to a third of houses in an urban area would be
incapable of receiving DSL whilst next door neighbours could.

Doesnt he mean that upto two thirds wont be able to get broadband in this example?? 50 of the 100 copper pairs would have to be split to get the extra 50 houses a phone. This means that 100 of the 150 homes would be on pairgains ........Wouldnt it???

Padraig Mor

Thanks for clearing it up cg.

CrowdedHouse

cgarvey wrote:

Mini-exchanges are just that .. a branch of a main exchange.. so unfortunately he was right. I don't know of any mini-exchange that has been DSL enabled, but someone else here might?

.cg

Johnstown and Blacktrench near Naas..........there are a few others but not many