Finally broadband

Zith

The day has finally come when I can order broadband Did my spot check on atoz and low and behold Ballygar exchange in Co. Galway has been upgraded.

Straight online to order. First hurdle, you don't have a PSTN line. Crap my ISDN means I have to ring them and get the engineer in for the install. 55 euro, fair enough I can handle that.

Second hurdle, it's amber so you can only order 1MB. Fine lets see what it can do and then hopefully upgrade speed later.

Third hurdle, wait until June 2nd for the engineer and in the meantime we will send out the modem and stuff so you can sit staring at it longingly until the fateful day.

I am pleased this day has come, been living out here with dial-up for over 7 years. Now just another smaller wait to see if the damn thing will synch!

*crosses fingers and other cross-able things*

jor el

There won't be a proper test until it's been switched back to PSTN, this could be the reason for the amber light. Once the line is back to PSTN, and once you have DSL, you can re-check, and possibly upgrade to a higher speed.

Zith

jor el wrote: »

There won't be a proper test until it's been switched back to PSTN, this could be the reason for the amber light. Once the line is back to PSTN, and once you have DSL, you can re-check, and possibly upgrade to a higher speed.

Thanks good info! I was expecting amber anyway being about 5KM from the exchange. Was pretty solid ISDN so hopefully the line quality is good enough to go beyond a basic 1Meg.

Headshot

op im so happy for you, eircom have told me my exchange will come live at the end of the month, so many years iv waited for this, just hope everything goes well and no hiccups

Cryos

Zith wrote: »

Thanks good info! I was expecting amber anyway being about 5KM from the exchange. Was pretty solid ISDN so hopefully the line quality is good enough to go beyond a basic 1Meg.

Ours was the same with the ISDN line, showed amber way back when. But isdn was taken out and new DSL faceplace put in the works and hey presto we got 512k (back at the time i think this was Home Basic?) and today im on a stable 3mb (with the prospect of 3.5mb when eircom upgrades the ADSL technology!) Im simular situation 4-5km out from the exchange.

Hope for the best!

Zith

Thanks for the feedback Cryos, here's hoping.

Headshot good luck with yours as well! Went home yesterday and one of the first callers to the door was a Vodafone sales guy saying I've good news for you. So I told him I've ordered from Eircom and wouldn't even consider Vodafone because of all the bad feedback I have seen here and on their own forums. He started spouting off about paying more for the same thing blah blah. I prefer to get what I pay for to be honest and he was only reselling bitstream anyway. Obviously didn't understand what he was selling.

I think I'm better to bite the bullet and get in first with Eircom so any problems can be sorted and then after the contract is up check the best deals.

Karmafaerie

I remember the years waiting for Eircom BB, when my neighbours three houses up, and everyone across the road had it for years!

Ringing Eircom every couple of months, and then eventually getting the good news.

Being told I'd get my modem in 1-2 months, and then haveing to wait 3 weeks after I diod get the modem before the BB was activated!

Still though, it felt like Christmas morning when I eventually logged on!!!

Zith

I used to live in town 8-9 years ago and had a 512K DSL connection from Netsource. Then moved out to my own place in the country. Think it felt a bit worse by having a taste of DSL before taking it away again. Used to play original counter strike but had to say goodbye. That's what relationships do

tinofapples

Yeah I called Eircom earlier in the weekand the guy told me the exchange was due to be upgraded soon. I, of course doubted him cause I've heard that tune before.

Then out of the blue Eircom calls yesterday enquiring who I have my landline with and blah blah blah, I explained I only wanna heard from Eircom when they can provide a lnadline BB service to me. She said i'll just check that for ya and what do ya know .......... yeah your exchange has been upgraded.

Now the dilemma, stick with my wirlesss provider (2mb for €45) or change my phone package to "Perlico Freedom – Home Phone & 3MB Broadband For an all-in-one price of just €46 per month inc. VAT"

I'll only get 1mb maybe 1.5 for now.

Headshot

am i right in thinking Eircom are the only ones that can tell ya how much you phone line can support?

also iv still havent learned what broadband speeds are coming to my area http://www.tomhayes.ie/blog/?p=607

Zith

tinofapples wrote: »

Now the dilemma, stick with my wirlesss provider (2mb for €45) or change my phone package to "Perlico Freedom – Home Phone & 3MB Broadband For an all-in-one price of just €46 per month inc. VAT"
I'll only get 1mb maybe 1.5 for now.

Nice to have such tough choices now

Headshot wrote: »

am i right in thinking Eircom are the only ones that can tell ya how much you phone line can support?

It's eircom equipment in the exchanges. They do the tests but the test result is available for all resellers as far as I know. Not sure if they just have a pass/fail/amber list or if it has some kind of values on there with estimated speeds.

Sponge Bob

Ballygar and Golden will get 24mbit services.

OTOH Gort and Claregalway and Barna and Moycullen were DSL enabled years ago but are not to be upgraded to 24mbits.

Galway Exchanges , Exch Code, STD, Enabled, ADSL 1 ( up to 8mbits) or ADSL2 (up to 24 mbits)

ABBEYKNOCKMOY ABK 093 y 2
AHASCRAGH AHH 090 y 2
ARDRAHAN ADN 091 y 1
ATHENRY ANR 091 y 1
AUGHRIM AGH 090 y 2
BALLINASLOE BSE 090 y 2
BALLYCONNEELY BEY 095 y 2
BALLYGAR BGR 090 y 2
BALLYGLUNIN BGL 093 y 1
BALLYMONEEN BNN 091 y 1
BARNA BAR 091 y 1
BARNADERG BNG 093 y 2
BELCLARE BLL 093 y 2
CARNA CAR 095 y 1
CARNMORE CAM 091 y 2
CARRAROE CRO 091 y 1
CASHEL CAS 095 n 0
CASTLEBLAKENEY CBY 090 y 2
CLAREGALWAY CLG 091 y 1
CLEGGAN CGG 095 n 0
CLIFDEN CDN 095 y 1
CLONBERN CLB 094 y 2
CLONBUR CNB 094 n 0
CORNAMONA CAA 094 y 2
CORRANDULLA CDA 091 y 1
COSTELLO CSO 091 y 1
CRAUGHWELL CWL 091 y 1
CREGGS CGS 090 n 0
CREGMORE CGM 091 y 2
CROSS near Cong Check
DUNIRY DUR 090 y 2
DUNMORE DMR 093 y 1
EYRECOURT ECT 090 n 0
FURBO FBO 091 y 2
GALWAY HPO GAL 091 y 2
GLANN GLA 091 n 0
GLENAMADDY GMY 094 y 1
GORT GRT 091 y 1
GURTEEN GUN 090 n 0
HEADFORD HRD 093 y 1
INISBOFIN IBF 095 n 0
INISHERE IHR 099 n 0
INISHMAAN INM 099 n 0
INVERIN INV 091 y 1
KILCOLGAN KGN 091 y 1
KILCONLY KCY 093 y 2
KILCONNELL LCL 090 y 2
KILKERRIN KEN 095 y 1
KILLIMOR KIR 090 n 0
KILRICKLE KCE 091 n 0
KILRONAN KRN 099 n 0
KILTORMER KRR 090 y 2
KILTULLA KTA 091 y 2
KINVARA KVA 091 y 2
KNOCKFERRY KNF 091 n 0
LAURENCETOWN LWN 090 y 2
LEENANE LNE 095 y 2
LETTERFRACK LKR 095 n 0
LETTERMORE
LOUGHREA LGA 091 y 1
MAAM MAM 091 n 0
MAREE 091 nr Oranmore
MENLOUGH MNH 090 n 0
MERVUE MVW 091 y 2
MILTOWN MIL 093 y 2
MONIVEA MVA 091 y 1
MOUNTBELLEW MBW 090 y 1
MOYCULLEN MYN 091 y 1
NEW INN NIN 052 n 0
NEWBRIDGE NBE 090 n 0
ORANMORE OME 091 y 2
OUGHTERARD OGT 091 y 1
PORTUMNA PUA 090 y 1
RECESS RCS 095 n 0
ROSCAM ROM 091 y 1
ROSMUC RSK 091 y 2
ROSSCAHILL RSC 091 y 1
ROUNDSTONE RST 095 n 0
SHANTALLA SLA 091 y 2
SPIDDAL SPL 091 y 1
TEERANEA TNE 091 y 1
TOBERELATAN TBL 091 n 0
TUAM TUM 093 y 2
TUBBER TUR 091 y 2
TULLY CROSS TUX 095 n 0
TURLOUGHMORE TMR 091 y 1
WILLIAMSTOWN WMN 094 y 2
WOODFORD WFD 090 n 0
WOODLAWN WLN 090 n 0

Headshot

cheers spongebob

10th of june is when broadband becomes activated in my area

cant ****ing wait

Zith

I have no fear of getting anywhere near 24M Still nice to know it's there and maybe it will help me get above a basic 1Meg from 5KM out!

Zith

I now have a shiny new broadband router that I can stare at. Roll on Wednesday 2nd!

tinofapples

Sponge Bob wrote: »

Ballygar and Golden will get 24mbit services.

OTOH Gort and Claregalway and Barna and Moycullen were DSL enabled years ago but are not to be upgraded to 24mbits.

Galway Exchanges , Exch Code, STD, Enabled, ADSL 1 ( up to 8mbits) or ADSL2 (up to 24 mbits)

ABBEYKNOCKMOY ABK 093 y 2
AHASCRAGH AHH 090 y 2
ARDRAHAN ADN 091 y 1
ATHENRY ANR 091 y 1
AUGHRIM AGH 090 y 2
BALLINASLOE BSE 090 y 2
BALLYCONNEELY BEY 095 y 2
BALLYGAR BGR 090 y 2
BALLYGLUNIN BGL 093 y 1
BALLYMONEEN BNN 091 y 1
BARNA BAR 091 y 1
BARNADERG BNG 093 y 2
BELCLARE BLL 093 y 2
CARNA CAR 095 y 1
CARNMORE CAM 091 y 2
CARRAROE CRO 091 y 1
CASHEL CAS 095 n 0
CASTLEBLAKENEY CBY 090 y 2
CLAREGALWAY CLG 091 y 1
CLEGGAN CGG 095 n 0
CLIFDEN CDN 095 y 1
CLONBERN CLB 094 y 2
CLONBUR CNB 094 n 0
CORNAMONA CAA 094 y 2
CORRANDULLA CDA 091 y 1
COSTELLO CSO 091 y 1
CRAUGHWELL CWL 091 y 1
CREGGS CGS 090 n 0
CREGMORE CGM 091 y 2
CROSS near Cong Check
DUNIRY DUR 090 y 2
DUNMORE DMR 093 y 1
EYRECOURT ECT 090 n 0
FURBO FBO 091 y 2
GALWAY HPO GAL 091 y 2
GLANN GLA 091 n 0
GLENAMADDY GMY 094 y 1
GORT GRT 091 y 1
GURTEEN GUN 090 n 0
HEADFORD HRD 093 y 1
INISBOFIN IBF 095 n 0
INISHERE IHR 099 n 0
INISHMAAN INM 099 n 0
INVERIN INV 091 y 1
KILCOLGAN KGN 091 y 1
KILCONLY KCY 093 y 2
KILCONNELL LCL 090 y 2
KILKERRIN KEN 095 y 1
KILLIMOR KIR 090 n 0
KILRICKLE KCE 091 n 0
KILRONAN KRN 099 n 0
KILTORMER KRR 090 y 2
KILTULLA KTA 091 y 2
KINVARA KVA 091 y 2
KNOCKFERRY KNF 091 n 0
LAURENCETOWN LWN 090 y 2
LEENANE LNE 095 y 2
LETTERFRACK LKR 095 n 0
LETTERMORE
LOUGHREA LGA 091 y 1
MAAM MAM 091 n 0
MAREE 091 nr Oranmore
MENLOUGH MNH 090 n 0
MERVUE MVW 091 y 2
MILTOWN MIL 093 y 2
MONIVEA MVA 091 y 1
MOUNTBELLEW MBW 090 y 1
MOYCULLEN MYN 091 y 1
NEW INN NIN 052 n 0
NEWBRIDGE NBE 090 n 0
ORANMORE OME 091 y 2
OUGHTERARD OGT 091 y 1
PORTUMNA PUA 090 y 1
RECESS RCS 095 n 0
ROSCAM ROM 091 y 1
ROSMUC RSK 091 y 2
ROSSCAHILL RSC 091 y 1
ROUNDSTONE RST 095 n 0
SHANTALLA SLA 091 y 2
SPIDDAL SPL 091 y 1
TEERANEA TNE 091 y 1
TOBERELATAN TBL 091 n 0
TUAM TUM 093 y 2
TUBBER TUR 091 y 2
TULLY CROSS TUX 095 n 0
TURLOUGHMORE TMR 091 y 1
WILLIAMSTOWN WMN 094 y 2
WOODFORD WFD 090 n 0
WOODLAWN WLN 090 n 0

So am I right in thinking ....... even though we've had to wait till now for the exchange to be enabled it will be upgraded to a speed that exchanges upgraded months (Maybe years) ago haven't been upgraded to yet ?

24mb ? My god I'd be delighted with 5/6/7/8mb in a year or two and will tolerate 1/3mb for now !!


Zith ....... why the wait till 2nd June ??

CrazyRabbit

It's shocking that here we are in 2010 and some parts of the country are only now getting (low speed) broadband now.

tinofapples

CrazyRabbit wrote: »

It's shocking that here we are in 2010 and some parts of the country are only now getting (low speed) broadband now.

That's our beloved Ireland.

Headshot

tinofapples wrote: »

Zith ....... why the wait till 2nd June ??

if its like my own broadband

Zith exchange will come live on the 2nd of June

mine is in my sig, just to remind me of that day iv waited for, for so many years

Zith

Headshot wrote: »

if its like my own broadband

Zith exchange will come live on the 2nd of June

mine is in my sig, just to remind me of that day iv waited for, for so many years

Not sure if others in the area already have it. My reason for June 2nd is that because I have an ISDN line the DSL upgrade needs an engineer visit to take out the NT1 box inside the house. I presume (maybe wrongly) that if I had a normal PSTN line then I could have just plugged in the router once I got it and broadband would have been up and running.

I guess it could be both reasons! Why give me a date two weeks after the order for the engineer, possibly because the exchange is not live yet rather than the engineer being up the walls.

Zith

Success!

Speed: 	 1024 kbps /128 kbps
Line Attenuation (Down/Up): 	63 dB /31 dB
DSL Noise Margin: 	21 dB /19 dB

Engineer did a check and said line should be capable of between 2 and 3 MB :-) There is someone further away with 2.4M. So will get on to them tomorrow to upgrade the package (can't upgrade until today's call is closed off - tonight).

Pings are a bit high, minimum 55ms to the BRA. Rock steady though. There is a wireless backhaul link on the local exchange. Engineer said they will have to upgrade that to fibre later in the year because they need fibre into another exchange nearby (Ballyforan).

Also told me something I wasn't aware of. Said that you get a better (longer) signal on the air cables (on poles) versus the underground because they use a bigger conductor on them.

Am a happy camper now, a broadband camper!

Headshot

fair play Zith

enjoy

Headshot

i just rang eircom just there asking about the activation of my broadband

now it's end of the june :rolleyes:

what happened to the 10th ?

i can never get a straight answer from them, anybody know the exact date when my exchange will go live ?

tinofapples

I ordered my package last Thurs from Perlico....... haven't received the free modem yet ???

Zith

tinofapples wrote: »

I ordered my package last Thurs from Perlico....... haven't received the free modem yet ???

Might take a week. Is there an order update phone number? For eircom when you ring the broadband number from your land line it gives you the status of your order. Told me when the modem was posted. Not sure if perlico has similar.

Le King

Headshot wrote: »

i just rang eircom just there asking about the activation of my broadband

now it's end of the june :rolleyes:

what happened to the 10th ?

i can never get a straight answer from them, anybody know the exact date when my exchange will go live ?

Immediately AFAIK.

Seems like you have had a lot of hassle with this.

TBH it's a disgrace that some are only getting broadband now.

Typical Ireland. 10 years behind.

Zith

Was just thinking there that my interleaving is most likely set to high. I must ring later and get it set to low and see what the impact will be. Would be nice to knock 10 or 20ms from the pings assuming it will stay stable.

tinofapples

Zith wrote: »

Might take a week. Is there an order update phone number? For eircom when you ring the broadband number from your land line it gives you the status of your order. Told me when the modem was posted. Not sure if perlico has similar.

Got 2 text messages today telling me my modem was en route.

tinofapples

Zith wrote: »

Was just thinking there that my interleaving is most likely set to high. I must ring later and get it set to low and see what the impact will be. Would be nice to knock 10 or 20ms from the pings assuming it will stay stable.

???????????

Pin_Cushion

Zith wrote: »

The day has finally come when I can order broadband Did my spot check on atoz and low and behold Ballygar exchange in Co. Galway has been upgraded.

Straight online to order. First hurdle, you don't have a PSTN line. Crap my ISDN means I have to ring them and get the engineer in for the install. 55 euro, fair enough I can handle that.

Second hurdle, it's amber so you can only order 1MB. Fine lets see what it can do and then hopefully upgrade speed later.

Third hurdle, wait until June 2nd for the engineer and in the meantime we will send out the modem and stuff so you can sit staring at it longingly until the fateful day.

I am pleased this day has come, been living out here with dial-up for over 7 years. Now just another smaller wait to see if the damn thing will synch!

*crosses fingers and other cross-able things*

Have you been using dial-up until now?

Zith

tinofapples wrote: »

???????????

Interleaving is a setting for the data between your DSL modem and the local exchange. A high interleaving value means the data sent is more robust and less prone to errors but it also means your round trip time is longer.

So for example with high interleaving on my line when I pinged www.boards.ie I was getting an average of 59ms (milliseconds) - the time taken for a packet of data to go from my computer to the boards.ie server and back again. Just rang and got it changed to low interleaving and my ping to the same server is now 28ms average My overall package is still the same (1Mb bandwidth).

Pin_Cushion wrote: »

Have you been using dial-up until now?

Yes, been using dial-up over ISDN line (so called "eircom hi-speed") for the last 7 years :mad: But no longer I tell ya!

Zith

Went for the 3Mb package. Here are the stats today with interleaving set to low

DSL Mode: 	 ADSL_G.dmt
Speed: 	3072 kbps /384 kbps
Line Attenuation (Down/Up): 	63 dB /31 dB
DSL Noise Margin: 	9 dB /12 dB

Pings to boards.ie are 32ms on average. I am an incredibly happy camper considering I am just a shade over 3.5 miles (yes 5.9 kilometres) from the exchange, following the cable along the road.

I presume the attenuation figure is maxed out on the modem. It should be higher than 63 but 63 is the highest value the modem will show.

lucernarian

Zith wrote: »

Went for the 3Mb package. Here are the stats today with interleaving set to low

DSL Mode: 	 ADSL_G.dmt
Speed: 	3072 kbps /384 kbps
Line Attenuation (Down/Up): 	63 dB /31 dB
DSL Noise Margin: 	9 dB /12 dB

Pings to boards.ie are 32ms on average. I am an incredibly happy camper considering I am just a shade over 3.5 miles (yes 5.9 kilometres) from the exchange, following the cable along the road.

I presume the attenuation figure is maxed out on the modem. It should be higher than 63 but 63 is the highest value the modem will show.

You presume correctly. The reporting limit on ADSL1 connections is 63.5 and 31.5 to be exact.

That is astonishing, I've only posted in a thread 20 minutes ago saying that the highest speed I've ever seen was 2048/256 on a line with as high as 61dB attenuation. And you've got a healthy signal margin too. That's quite a benchmark you've set for how fast DSL can go on long lines.

Count yourself lucky, clearly eircom make sure that ISDN lines are provisioned properly. Most people have their DSL installed on a line that only ever had to be good enough for voice.

I'm actually hoping to see if the line at home is capable of doing more than 1 mbit. The line is a flat 4 miles long, and confirmed by eircom as such (well technically they said 6.5km) But I have a signal margin of 15dB downstream. So there should be room for a speed increase by my understanding.

Zith

To_be_confirmed wrote: »

You presume correctly. The reporting limit on ADSL1 connections is 63.5 and 31.5 to be exact.

That is astonishing, I've only posted in a thread 20 minutes ago saying that the highest speed I've ever seen was 2048/256 on a line with as high as 61dB attenuation. And you've got a healthy signal margin too. That's quite a benchmark you've set for how fast DSL can go on long lines.

Came home today after being away since Friday to find this:

Speed: 	 3328 kbps /512 kbps
Line Attenuation (Down/Up): 	63 dB /31 dB
DSL Noise Margin: 	8 dB /19 dB

This is on the 3M package. I guess I am one of the first lines around here to be done. As more people get broadband my noise margin will get worse I suppose. For now I am very pleased to say the least

lucernarian

Zith wrote: »

Came home today after being away since Friday to find this:

Speed: 	 3328 kbps /512 kbps
Line Attenuation (Down/Up): 	63 dB /31 dB
DSL Noise Margin: 	8 dB /19 dB

This is on the 3M package. I guess I am one of the first lines around here to be done. As more people get broadband my noise margin will get worse I suppose. For now I am very pleased to say the least

3328/512?? What package is that? Perhaps you've been immediately moved onto the eircom enhanced DSL offerings (The so-called NGN) seeing as your exchange is newly enabled.

Zith

Was wondering about those speeds but as far as I know I'm just on the 3meg bundle. The upload is a bit high though. Also the protocol still says adsl_dmt. Is ngn not adsl2 or something or is that just for the 24 meg products?

lucernarian

I say "so-called" because eircom are marketing their revised ADSL service as NGN, when in fact it's the same old plain jane technology used in Ireland since 2002. The "NGN" plan essentially just means that your modem will connect at the fastest speed the line can take. Pricing is based on download allowances of various levels. I think the levels are 10GB, 30GB or 70GB.

It's hard to know why your line is like this, but perhaps it's wise to make sure you're on the correct package as what you ordered so you don't get a nasty suprise in a month or so. There's a chance that you aren't on eircom's changed packages but were put on an up to 7mbps package instead. The upload speed is not what you get with either the new "NGN" service or the current "up to 7 mbps" service, so it's a mystery to me.

Zith

To_be_confirmed wrote: »

I say "so-called" because eircom are marketing their revised ADSL service as NGN, when in fact it's the same old plain jane technology used in Ireland since 2002. The "NGN" plan essentially just means that your modem will connect at the fastest speed the line can take. Pricing is based on download allowances of various levels. I think the levels are 10GB, 30GB or 70GB.

It's hard to know why your line is like this, but perhaps it's wise to make sure you're on the correct package as what you ordered so you don't get a nasty suprise in a month or so. There's a chance that you aren't on eircom's changed packages but were put on an up to 7mbps package instead. The upload speed is not what you get with either the new "NGN" service or the current "up to 7 mbps" service, so it's a mystery to me.

I will check with them alright. Today's values are:

DSL Mode: 	 ADSL_G.dmt
Speed: 	3648 kbps /512 kbps
Line Attenuation (Down/Up): 	63 dB /31 dB
DSL Noise Margin: 	6 dB /19 dB

Would rather keep my margin a bit higher.

[edit] Rang them, yep NGN enabled the exchange straight away. I was put onto the 7M profile but that is not leaving much margin for error so I got put back onto the 3M profile with low interleaving. Back to 3072/384 with 9 margin down.

tinofapples

Here's my speedtest reults:




Upload is cat.

Sponge Bob

3 down and 512 up is akin to 3.5 down and 256k up by the old measure TBC.

I bet the line is overhead all the way to the exchange and all

lucernarian

Sponge Bob wrote: »

3 down and 512 up is akin to 3.5 down and 256k up by the old measure TBC.

I bet the line is overhead all the way to the exchange and all

You've lost me there:pac: Old measure? Weren't the former 3 mbps packages before this "NGB" malarky set at 3072/284? Also, I thought eircom enhanced broadband meant a max upload of 672, not 512.

Zith

Sponge Bob wrote: »

...

I bet the line is overhead all the way to the exchange and all

It's overhead for about 3.5 miles out of 3.6 total, as the car flies