[Eircom & Resellers..BT, UTV etc] ADSL Speed upgrade to 8MB discussion...ongoing

ajmull

I have an Eircom Home Plus 2 mb broadband with a Netopia 3341 modem attached to a Sweex wireless router, which Eircom offers to replace with a wireless modem at a cost of €98.99. I also use this modem for a USB broadband connection to an old Win 98 laptop.

Any suggestions as to an alternative solution which would cost less, keep the USB connection and maybe continue to use the Sweex router?

yoyo

If the old router isnt ADSL2 compatable theres not much you can do... €98.99 is standard price for eircoms netopia, if you wish to buy retail harvey normans may sell it to you for that price in store, They did for me anyway...


Nick

SeanW

So ... are they switching to ADSL2? :eek:

yoyo

SeanW wrote: »

So ... are they switching to ADSL2? :eek:

Yes Thats why we can get such "great" broadband on our current crappy infrastructure

Nick

Praetorian

yoyo wrote: »

Yes Thats why we can get such "great" broadband on our current crappy infrastructure

Nick

Best that we're going to get from them for a while. Thanks to Eircom union & staff

yoyo

Praetorian wrote: »

Best that we're going to get from them for a while. Thanks to Eircom union & staff

Considering the UK are up to 24meg at much less than what were paying (Think its £24.99 a month and unlimited!) I do not really consider it a "major upgrade"

Nick

SeanW

looks like I might have to change my router

DadaKopf

What happens to people on 1MB?

SeanW

you're going to stay on 1024/128 at 48:1 contention AFAIK, but if the whole country is going over to ADSL 2 and your router can't do that, you'll have to fork out for a new one.

DadaKopf

The feck? So, if I pay more to upgrade to 2MB, to get 3MB, I still have to fork out for an ADSL2 router on top of that?

smellslikeshoes

DadaKopf wrote: »

The feck? So, if I pay more to upgrade to 2MB, to get 3MB, I still have to fork out for an ADSL2 router on top of that?

I wouldn't go upgrading to 2meg or buying a new router yet, I would personally wait and see what happens. The details of this upgrade are still a little sketchy and there is a lot of speculation in this thread.

SeanW

well, our present access protocol, G.dmt, is capable of 12/1.3 Mb, from one of the info tables posted here earlier.

But the talk on this forum is about a nationwide switchover to ADSL2. Dunno about that, the only reference to an access protocol change that I could find was from the Eircom press release which said that the increased speeds were part of Eircom's rolloout of their "Next Generation Network." If that's true, it means a bunch of people, myself included, are going to need to get new modems/routers.

However, the ADSL2 business seems to be just speculation.

Wouldn't bother me too much, you can find various brands of ADSL2 equipment cheap enough on Komplett.

nordenray

This is what UTV have released today from product department

eircom recently announced an improvement in speeds for all Bitstream
broadband customers. Speed changes will be phased in, beginning next month
(March) and the final upgrade due to complete in June 08.

The good news for our customers is that their speeds will also increase
automatically.

Please note anyone on our 1Mb tariffs (Clicksilver Lite and Clicksilver One)
will not see a speed increase unfortunately.

These speeds are 'rate adaptive', which means they are "up to" and dependent
on various factors, including:
a.. line quality to end user premises
b.. proximity in cable length to phone exchange
c.. quality of internal wiring etc.

Sam Vimes

i haven't read the thread so you probably already know this but eircom are currently putting in the necessaries for 30mb broadband.

Spear

Sam Vimes wrote: »

i haven't read the thread so you probably already know this but eircom are currently putting in the necessaries for 30mb broadband.

How are they doing that given that ADSL2+ tops out at 24 meg?

kaizersoze

Sam Vimes wrote: »

i haven't read the thread so you probably already know this but eircom are currently putting in the necessaries for 30mb broadband.

You mean new copper, yeah?

Sam Vimes

Spear wrote: »

How are they doing that given that ADSL2+ tops out at 24 meg?

i don't know how they're doing it. i didn't ask

bren50c

Sam Vimes wrote: »

i don't know how they're doing it. i didn't ask

was that speed eircom salesman talk by any chance? that would explain...

Skyuser

Why is everyone getting ADSL2 routers. I presume the isp provider will send out and new router and take back the old one.

Sam Vimes

bren50c wrote: »

was that speed eircom salesman talk by any chance? that would explain...

nope. it was a friend who's working on it

bren50c

i stand corrected. maybe finally we are going to get some decent speeds.
but this is still eircom and we will get screwed somehow...they just have to get our hopes up first

Gonzo

its annoying that we still have to wait 4 more months for the upgrades to happen.

SeanW

Skyuser wrote: »

Why is everyone getting ADSL2 routers. I presume the isp provider will send out and new router and take back the old one.

Because if there really is going to be a nationwide switch to ADSL2+ then the ISPs will not likely be sending out new routers.

However, since G.dmt (the Media Access Control protocol we're using for ADSL now) can handle 12/1 mb, it's not impossible that these speed upgrades will be done over our existing technology. I'm a little skeptical since I've only seen mention of a switchover in this thread and nowhere else.

I will wait to see some independent verification (links to this, anyone?) that all users nationwide will be switchin to ADSL2/ADSL2+. Then it's time for me to go router shopping.

kaizersoze

SeanW wrote: »

Because if there really is going to be a nationwide switch to ADSL2+ then the ISPs will not likely be sending out new routers.

However, since G.dmt (the Media Access Control protocol we're using for ADSL now) can handle 12/1 mb, it's not impossible that these speed upgrades will be done over our existing technology. I'm a little skeptical since I've only seen mention of a switchover in this thread and nowhere else.

I will wait to see some independent verification (links to this, anyone?) that all users nationwide will be switchin to ADSL2/ADSL2+. Then it's time for me to go router shopping.

http://www.eircomwholesale.ie/newsletter/wholesale_products/product_news03.asp

Eircom Wholesale wrote:

The new high bandwidth offering is anticipated to have approximately a 10Mb/s download speed and an 832kb/s upload speed. Both new customers and those on existing Bitstream products who want to move up the broadband value chain will be eligible, once they meet product specification requirements such as pre-qualification.

Combined with improved quality of service options this is a step towards product offerings ranging as high as 25Mb/s. Such enhanced network capability will eventually enable our customers to offer next generation applications such as video on demand.

These requirements will be supported by the planned investment in eircom's network in such new technologies as ADSL 2+, VDSL, and FTTC.

They were talking about doing this in 2007 so it's reasonable to assume it what they're doing now.

SeanW

Not really, since there has been no mention of ADSL2+ anywhere since, and even there it seemed to be only in reference to their goal of up to 25mb/s.

G.dmt can do 12/1 which is the highest of the new packages. Fact. So unless there is actual confirmation that a national switchover to ADSL2+ is imminent, it is reasonable to assume that they will continue using ADSL/G.dmt for the near future.

I will definately be emailing BT (my BB service) about this over the next few days to see what they know.

Peanut

SeanW wrote: »

...
G.dmt can do 12/1 which is the highest of the new packages. Fact. So unless there is actual confirmation that a national switchover to ADSL2+ is imminent, it is reasonable to assume that they will continue using ADSL/G.dmt for the near future.

Only very close to the exchange though, surely?

It would seem a bit strange to announce upgrades and only later people find out that a tiny fraction of customers can actually get it.. (hmmm okay maybe not unbelievably strange really!)

kaizersoze

G.dmt can do 12/1 on paper, that is indeed a fact but this is more like reality:



Now I'm not totally disagreeing with you SeanW as I don't know 100% either way. Even Eircom said that 12 meg would only be available in the cities and large urban areas.

But my thinking is that in order for this upgrade to go a painlessly as possible for Eircom and to allow for poor copper and long lines, I can't see them not using ADSL2+. The last upgrade, which only went as high as 3 meg, caused huge problems for alot of people because their line couldn't handle it. Bear in mind also that was at a time when the distance was restricted to ~3KM to pass for BB. Now it's closer to 6.

Praetorian

Well we're definitely on Gdmt for now thats a fact. 12 m/bit is clearly what it can do best case scenario and thats what they're offering as the top package. So surely someone from Eircom or otherwise knows for sure what the plan is? I ordered 12 m/bit for an existing 6m/bit line and was told the line couldn't handle it (100 metres or so from the exchange), I was told it should handle 10m/bit though. I decided to take a risk and order a new line to see if we can get closer to the 12m/bit.

So someone must know, are Eircom rolling out ADSL2+ or not? The fact that the nationwide rollout is taking until the summer would support the likelyhood of a change of equipment to ADSL2+, however the max speed of 12m/bit and the fact that my 100metre line can only do 10m/bit would support the fact that there is no upgrade to ADSL2+, they're just using ADSL Gdmt.

AlmightyCushion

I'd say it's going to adsl2. They are going to have to do it sooner or later. Also a lot more people will be able to get higher speeds and therefore be able to get the higher packages. They'll have a lot of people on the 10Mbps or 7.6Mbps package who would gladly pay the extra money to get 12Mbps but can't because their line can't handle it. On adsl2 there would be a lot less people in that situation.

With smart and bt rolling out adsl2 this will give them the ability to trump eircom. Anyone who can't get 12Mbps on eircoms adsl service would have a better chance of getting it on smart or bt's adsl2 service.

If they were sticking with adsl, why wouldn't they just offer the upgrades now on exchanges that are already enabled?

Praetorian

Good point, but it would be nice to hear it from the horses mouth
Eircom are capable of very silly decisions though.

It seems crazy that they seemingly intend to upgrade almost everyone at the same time; why not upgrade the biggest exchanges and enable the upgrades on customers connections right away. Otherwise the upgrades are going to be sitting in certain exchanges doing nothing for months...Ideally it would be great if they had a plan on their site so we know exactly whats happening