UPC MMDS Greystones upgrades

Charlie-Bravo

I have the lite version of NTL digital which doesn't provide as many channels as the Dublin based system. We get the signal from Windgates broadcast to a dish on the Charlesland estate. I had a letter in through the door from UPC saying that they are completing upgrade work to the system in my area and this will result in me being able to get broadband and phone as well as my TV service...so my questions are:

1. Is this an error on their part...should I have received this letter? I did however, see some workers pulling fairly hefty cables through underground service boxes.

2. As I currently have MMDS this means I cannot get broadband or a phone service. If they manage to make a broadband and phone service available to me, does this mean that my TV service will no longer be on MMDS? (if so, yipeee!)

3. Anyone else in other parts of the country on an MMDS service that currently has broadband and phone from UPC?

KeRbDoG

astrofluff wrote: »

I have the lite version of NTL digital which doesn't provide as many channels as the Dublin based system. We get the signal from Windgates broadcast to a dish on the Charlesland estate. I had a letter in through the door from UPC saying that they are completing upgrade work to the system in my area and this will result in me being able to get broadband and phone as well as my TV service...so my questions are:

1. Is this an error on their part...should I have received this letter? I did however, see some workers pulling fairly hefty cables through underground service boxes.

Prob easier to call up NTL/UPC and ask them if your area is getting cabled/upgraded

astrofluff wrote: »

2. As I currently have MMDS this means I cannot get broadband or a phone service. If they manage to make a broadband and phone service available to me, does this mean that my TV service will no longer be on MMDS? (if so, yipeee!)

Yup, if yea get cabled yea should no longer be on MMDS. So in theory instead of your area being a group of houses hanging off one MMDS antenna they will connect you to the wider NTL/UPC network by wire. Then they have more bandwidth for more channels and services.

astrofluff wrote: »

3. Anyone else in other parts of the country on an MMDS service that currently has broadband and phone from UPC?

I'm on MMDS in Swords and also in the country side and we have a very cut back service no broadband or telephone services, and a cut down channel list to choose from

BuffyBot

Yup, if yea get cabled yea should no longer be on MMDS

Not nessecarily. Just recently, they upgraded near to me. Leaflets sent around saying "yay, you can now have broadband, TV with DVR, phone" etc.

Except that the TV is still running off the MMDS system and people cannot get the extra benefits that would have come with cable TV like the DVR etc..so buyer beware. Lots of people here went yay, and found themselves suckered.

KeRbDoG

BuffyBot wrote: »

Not nessecarily. Just recently, they upgraded near to me. Leaflets sent around saying "yay, you can now have broadband, TV with DVR, phone" etc.

Except that the TV is still running off the MMDS system and people cannot get the extra benefits that would have come with cable TV like the DVR etc..so buyer beware. Lots of people here went yay, and found themselves suckered.

Which is why yea wanna call them up and ensure yea will be getting "100% true" cable in your area and not remaining on the MMDS system

Charlie-Bravo

Thanks for your comments. I'll certainly get in contact with them on this one to get an inidcation of their intentions.

@kerbdog, the MMDS service we both get is that lite version where we don;t get as many channels as the full 'wired' service. The choices we have are the digital basic with digital choice add-on. In normal 'wired' cable areas you get the digital basic and a pick of digital select or digital max...all different prices of course. Just one thing, MMDS digital basic is a couple of euro more expensive than 'wired' digital basic.

With the way recession is taking hold, I do see alot of people perhaps bulking in as many utility services with one provider to get a cheaper package, especially if it means not having to pay for line rental! The call set-up charge seems a bit expensive on the phone service for UPC but like any service provider you have to analyse your own typical usage to see which provider benefits you most.

loyatemu

while Charlesland is on group-MMDS (former NTL), Greystones has a proper wired cable network (former Chorus). The Greystones system was very antiquated and unreliable, but I believe they are in the process of upgrading it so it would make sense for them to attach the Charlesland system while they're at it (they can probably do without needing to dig up any roads too).

upc tech

you are not being upgraded to cable your tv is still mds and yes there will be broadband and voip available but it will be serviced via a radio link which is being placed on top of the apartments seabourne and will be connected on the other side to our fibre back bone although as far as i know we will be adding more muxs to our mds service which will open up more space for more content

channelsurfer

upc tech any idea when tullamore cable areas will get upgraded to something similar??

gerryo

BuffyBot wrote: »

Except that the TV is still running off the MMDS system and people cannot get the extra benefits that would have come with cable TV like the DVR etc..so buyer beware. Lots of people here went yay, and found themselves suckered.

You can have the DVR on MMDS - I have it!

For sure there are fewer channels than regular cable, but the DVR works the same.

BuffyBot

Not everywhere. Remember, their network is a hodge-podge of the different providers they took over. Everything doesn't play nicely together yet..

tool kit

gerryo wrote: »

You can have the DVR on MMDS - I have it!

For sure there are fewer channels than regular cable, but the DVR works the same.

The dvr box will only work on the old ntl branded mmds and wont work on chorus mmds a different tuner is required in the dvr for it to obtain a signal from chorus.

upc tech

not sure will find out,as for individual houses being serviced for broadband and voip it can be done we have it in trial but have been refused a licencefor a mds setup as for those looking to get dvr if you are an ntl customer then no problem ur box is a qam unit as for chorus customers they are on a cofdem network and wont work as the dvr has a qam tuner they plan to build a box for cofdem but i also hear they might change all of the cofdem transmitters to qam so the dvr will work everywhere as for chorus customers on cable that is a qam network and dvr also works on that

glic83

but if they change the transmitters to qam wont they have to send everyone that is on chorus mmds out a new box?

Charlie-Bravo

The guys were around today doing some upgrade checks on the connections in the cable service manhole outside my front door today. I asked the man if he knew if it was being connected to 'full NTL' as opposed to keeping the MMDS. He said he didn't know but could tell me that a fibre-optic cable has been installed for the broadband and telephone anyway.

So I rang UPC on 1908, punched in my account number and pressed 2 or 3 bringingme to technical striaght away. I mean I was holding for like 30 seconds, I nearly hung up with the fright. Anyways, I asked the guy in UPC about this cable being connected and what it was going to give me....he said that only one cable will be connecting to my house and that I would end up on the proper cable network along with the ability of getting broadband and telephone. And this is all from the horse's mouth!

I then asked him about channel 999 - Info TV and when will I recieve my new STB card?! He said the new cards will be sent out in the New Year but no actual date has been set for my area. He believed they were waiting for the local upgrade to be completed for that. So seeing as these guys are busy on the estate at the moment I reckon we'll end up getting the new STB cards at the same time everyone else will. So yer man from UPC said that when I do get the new card, UPC will wait a few weeks before doing the encryption upgrade.

Bring on those extra channels.....

upc tech

sorry to burst your bubble astro but you wont be getting extra channels as you are not being connected to the cable network

glic83

@ upc tech
if they change the transmitters to qam wont they have to send everyone that is on chorus mmds system out a new box?

Charlie-Bravo

upc tech wrote: »

sorry to burst your bubble astro but you wont be getting extra channels as you are not being connected to the cable network

I wonder where you get your information from?! I got mine from the man at the end of the phone in UPC.

I'm not a techy person on this stuff but if you have one cable supplying everything, then whats the point in connecting just phone and broadband and not the full digital which is possibly the main thing people would get NTL for?!

upc tech

look at my user name and that shud give u some idea where i get my info from:D:D:Dimsure that many of the muppets in call centre know all about our network:P

watty

upc tech wrote: »

not sure will find out,as for individual houses being serviced for broadband and voip it can be done we have it in trial but have been refused a licencefor a mds setup as for those looking to get dvr if you are an ntl customer then no problem ur box is a qam unit as for chorus customers they are on a cofdem network and wont work as the dvr has a qam tuner they plan to build a box for cofdem but i also hear they might change all of the cofdem transmitters to qam so the dvr will work everywhere as for chorus customers on cable that is a qam network and dvr also works on that

DVB-c (cable) AND OFDM/COFDM/DVB-t both use "QAM".

ex NTL MMDS uses cable like Modulation (DVB-c), though probably a lower QAM such as 64QAM rather than 256QAM possible on physical cable. DVB-t is used for ex Chorus MMDS, DVB-t is typically 16QAM, but 32QAM and 64QAM possible. Not sure the exact Chorus setting.

PVRs are of course possible for either system.

Changing Chorus MMDS to DVB-c is expensive and logistically very complex as ALL the boxes on each transmitter have to be changed the same instant/night as the transmitter can only do one or the other. The modulator rather than transmitter is changed actually.

Individual houses on either MMDS system can't easily get UPC phone/Broadband. Special arrangements can be made for apartment blocks.

Charlie-Bravo

watty wrote: »

Individual houses on either MMDS system can't easily get UPC phone/Broadband. Special arrangements can be made for apartment blocks.

This is the special arrangement which UPC has promised Charlesland in Greystones I suppose! So, I am waiting to hear a generic UPC mailing update on this and will revert to here when I get it!

LEIN

I think this guy might be a troll tbh.

upc tech wrote: »

look at my user name and that shud give u some idea where i get my info from:D:D:Dimsure that many of the muppets in call centre know all about our network:P

My reason is below. He wasn't very informative when asked any questions and when Watty came and put a big techy statement up to him, he hasn't been seen since. Any aul fool can create a user name like that. In fact I'm off to change mine to Taoiseach

watty wrote: »

DVB-c (cable) AND OFDM/COFDM/DVB-t both use "QAM".

ex NTL MMDS uses cable like Modulation (DVB-c), though probably a lower QAM such as 64QAM rather than 256QAM possible on physical cable. DVB-t is used for ex Chorus MMDS, DVB-t is typically 16QAM, but 32QAM and 64QAM possible. Not sure the exact Chorus setting.

PVRs are of course possible for either system.

Changing Chorus MMDS to DVB-c is expensive and logistically very complex as ALL the boxes on each transmitter have to be changed the same instant/night as the transmitter can only do one or the other. The modulator rather than transmitter is changed actually.

Individual houses on either MMDS system can't easily get UPC phone/Broadband. Special arrangements can be made for apartment blocks.

So ladies and gentlemen i think we will just have to wait and see whats on offer when the upgrade is complete.

I'm moving to Charlesland next month so tbh i hope NTL are upgrading to a full service because i believe their broadband is out of this world speed wise.

glic83

any truth in upc changing over the whole chorus mmds (dvb-t) to ntl mmds (dvb-c) they did it the other day in In Dunshaughlin Co Meath and was wondering if they plan to make dvb-c the prefered standard