Eircom eFibre VDSL/FTTC rollout – plans to reach 1.6m premises by mid 2016

red_bairn

Sponge Bob wrote: »

He told you, it is in Ennis which is one of 3 or 4 trial exchanges nationwide.

Yeah, forgot he mentioned previously.

bealtine

red_bairn wrote: »

Greystones is also on Phase 5. I haven't seen any work here.

Greystones is yet "to be announced" so nothing will be done there for a while yet...(if ever)

Solair

Harry Deerpark wrote: »

How did you get an accurate measurement, walking and counting your paces?

According to Google maps, I'm around 350m from mine.

I just drove from the nearest two cabinets to my house with the trip counter on.

I'm about 400ish from one cabinet and about 600 meters from the other. I just hope my lines run towards the nearer cabinet!

You're not going to get an accurate measurement anyway as the lines may not route exactly the same way as the road. They could be longer/shorter depending on the layout of underground ducts or overhead lines.

A lot of it will also come down to the type of wiring used. There are various gauges and qualities of copper in the network too.

I'd also say it would be worth eliminating any internal wiring in your home when you get VDSL2 installed.
These days it's pretty pointless having umpteen phone sockets anyway. You just need a router and DECT phone base station plugged into the eircom NTU (master socket).
It's a neater solution than having endless meters of Telecom Eireann era wiring stapled all over your skirting boards anyway.
You'd be surprised at how much noise dodgy internal wiring can introduce to the line as it's usually long runs of non-twisted pair in 1970s/80s/90s era stuff and it can act like an antenna and pick up all sorts of RF/EM interference that you can't hear but the modem can.

In terms of measuring the distance to the cabinet, I'd say you'd really be just making an educated guess either using Google Maps or the car's odometer/trip counter.

red_bairn

Solair wrote: »

I just drove from the nearest two cabinets to my house with the trip counter on.

I'm about 400ish from one cabinet and about 600 meters from the other. I just hope my lines run towards the nearer cabinet!

You're not going to get an accurate measurement anyway as the lines may not route exactly the same way as the road. They could be longer/shorter depending on the layout of underground ducts or overhead lines.

A lot of it will also come down to the type of wiring used. There are various gauges and qualities of copper in the network too.

I'd also say it would be worth eliminating any internal wiring in your home when you get VDSL2 installed.
These days it's pretty pointless having umpteen phone sockets anyway. You just need a router and DECT phone base station plugged into the eircom NTU (master socket).
It's a neater solution than having endless meters of Telecom Eireann era wiring stapled all over your skirting boards anyway.
You'd be surprised at how much noise dodgy internal wiring can introduce to the line as it's usually long runs of non-twisted pair in 1970s/80s/90s era stuff and it can act like an antenna and pick up all sorts of RF/EM interference that you can't hear but the modem can.

In terms of measuring the distance to the cabinet, I'd say you'd really be just making an educated guess either using Google Maps or the car's odometer/trip counter.

600m by walking. I think it could be shorter as it takes the route by the road, which goes around the green.

tdonegan1990

kn networks laying some cables right outside the windsor in dundalk

syboit

Seen three more cab's in the ballyvolane/mayfield area in Cork earlier today,

Mayfield north ring road : 51.915288,-8.439646
Ballyvolane (accross from lidl) : 51.917446,-8.447309
Ballyvolane (oustside park) : 51.919586,-8.452786

bren50c

bealtine wrote: »

Greystones is yet "to be announced" so nothing will be done there for a while yet...(if ever)

Isn't it phase 4. And I'm on the greystones exchange and fairly sure I passed a newly upgraded cabinet. Didn't someone else say they were running ahead of schedule with the upgrades.

red_bairn

bren50c wrote: »

Isn't it phase 4. And I'm on the greystones exchange and fairly sure I passed a newly upgraded cabnet. Didn't someone else say they were running ahead of schedule with the upgrades.

Yeah. One of the lads said they are on top of the work and even Arctan said he got in a leaflet about efibre coming to his location eventhough he's on a Phase 5 as well. Where did you see the cabinet?

Solair

syboit wrote: »

Seen three more cab's in the ballyvolane/mayfield area in Cork earlier today,

Mayfield north ring road : 51.915288,-8.439646
Ballyvolane (accross from lidl) : 51.917446,-8.447309
Ballyvolane (oustside park) : 51.919586,-8.452786

They're all WRD exchange

I noticed they've replaced some seriously clapped out looking old distribution cabinets too. They were looking like eyesores anyway good to see them swapped out!

Geuze

Promo leaflet in through the door yesterday.

Sligo town centre.

Eircom eFibre.

pistolpetes11

KN Networks were doing a bit of work in Newbridge on behalf of Eircom during the Week ,

Half way down the Athgarvan Road across from Curragh Grange ,

Im not sure if were on the schedule down here of if they were just doing remideal works

chriss745

Geuze wrote: »

Promo leaflet in through the door yesterday.

Sligo town centre.

Eircom eFibre.

What was on the leaflet? Launch date? Anything about IPTV?

Geuze

"Coming soon to your area"

8 times faster speeds

70 Mb fibre broadband

Upgrade for free.

10belowzero

Solair wrote: »

Yeah, I'd expect something like that alright. It's a full access gateway device, that includes VoIP services too.

A bit of Googling revealed this :

http://www.neatdesign.ie/index.php/projects/project/47-eircom-fibre-modem-3d-visuals

This is the Zyxel eircom f 1000 vdsl modem now being used for NGA installation's , one of the lad's showed it to me today , does not come with any technical spec's , but has all the attribute's of The Technicolor TG789vn v3 as displayed by gordonnet.
There is also a Thomson modem being used as well afaik.

gordonnet

Technicolor is the new name for Thompson

Sponge Bob

Mapping efforrt going well and we are closing in on 50% of all cabinets mapped.

Notable exceptions to the mapping so far are.

1. Waterford.
2. Limerick City north and west
3. West Dublin ( Palmerstown/Chaplizod/Quarryvale/Castleknock/Blanchardstown/Ongar.
4. South Dublin (Tallaght/Knocklyon/Ballyboden)
5. South East Dublin - Dun Laoghaire exchange ONLY


Once we get some data in those areas we are on the run in to finishing the map.


Mapping system here, drag and drop a placemark where the box is.

http://goo.gl/maps/gzSOT

Have a look at the picture , we are mapping these boxes on the right that ALL have a prominent Hinge type feature. Once you spot one you spot loads of them. Thanks to all who have mapped their areas and especially mappers in Swords, Letterkenny, Mullingar and Balbriggan who have done a fantastic job and also those who covered the large the Rochestown exchange which covers Killiney Dalkey Glenageary Sallynoggin etc.

arctan

none of Dun Laoghaire is mapped either

Solair

Do any of the eircom-savvy people here know if its a self-install or engineer-install ?

I'm assuming they'll just post you the modem ?

I just remember the early days of ADSL were all engineer call outs for some reason.

Solair

gordonnet wrote: »

Technicolor is the new name for Thompson

Yup, Thomson just ditched their brand and adopted the iconic Technicolor name (which they've owned since 2001) for the entire company.

Tecnicolour also seems to have absorbed Alcatel's CPE/Modem division too.

These companies all seem to hive off and merge various bits and pieces.

---/

They look like they're going to start installing cabinets in DYX (Dehenny's Cross) exchange area in that covers Wilton/Bishopstown and the western suburban areas of Cork.

Saw some squares marked on the pavement next to cabinets near UCC (cabinets coded DYX)

Still haven't seen any in Cork Central's footprint.

It's hard to spot all of them in many areas of Wellington road's coverage as they're often tucked away in lanes or places you wouldn't expect.

Also spotted one on the quay near the old Beamish brewery which is already completely graffiti covered ! It only went in last week!

They would probably want to put some vehicle protection on some of them too. A lot of the locations in around Montenotte for example are actually on the narrow roads where cars park, rather than on pavements. I've seen the traditional cabinets badly damaged by reversing vans a few times!

I see UPC have installed metal bollards in front of some of theirs in similarly precarious locations.

arctan

Solair wrote: »

Do any of the eircom-savvy people here know if its a self-install or engineer-install ?

I'm assuming they'll just post you the modem ?

I just remember the early days of ADSL were all engineer call outs for some reason.

it seems like it'll be a mix of both, especially when IPTV is launched, if you choose IPTV, an engineer will be out to check/do the internals ...

the way it seems to be going (and thankfully too) is that Eircom or your operator will insist on removing all, or making sure all internals are filtered at the first socket point, taking all issues that turn out to be internals, out of the equation ...

red_bairn

arctan wrote: »

it seems like it'll be a mix of both, especially when IPTV is launched, if you choose IPTV, an engineer will be out to check/do the internals ...

the way it seems to be going (and thankfully too) is that Eircom or your operator will insist on removing all, or making sure all internals are filtered at the first socket point, taking all issues that turn out to be internals, out of the equation ...

We've got the 8MB package with phone & BB (+ UK calls) @ €55+ and my dad pays 55 also for UPC tv. Could we possibly looking at better deals overall for a package with Eircoms tv package? Competing with UPC's bundle at around €60?

Sponge Bob

arctan wrote: »

the way it seems to be going (and thankfully too) is that Eircom or your operator will insist on removing all, or making sure all internals are filtered at the first socket point, taking all issues that turn out to be internals, out of the equation ...

Seeing as VDSL comes with no phone line all the extensions are 'dead' anyway so they may as well be disconnected.

They can be repowered separately if someone installs an ATA ( voip to bog standard phone adapter) to crank them up again but that is entirely an 'internal' matter for the homeowner from now on.

eircom also needs to provide for a transition method for their lucrative alarm customers in the VDSL era which is not uncomplicated and which was an issue in the early ADSL days ( and the engineer install) too.

arctan

red_bairn wrote: »

We've got the 8MB package with phone & BB (+ UK calls) @ €55+ and my dad pays 55 also for UPC tv. Could we possibly looking at better deals overall for a package with Eircoms tv package? Competing with UPC's bundle at around €60?

haven't a clue, you'll be hard pushed to find out too before the marketing campaigns start, I don't think IPTV is in Eircom's initial bundle, but may be in Vodafone's/Sky's

Sponge Bob wrote: »

Seeing as VDSL comes with no phone line all the extensions are 'dead' anyway so they may as well be disconnected.

They can be repowered separately if someone installs an ATA ( voip to bog standard phone adapter) to crank them up again but that is entirely an 'internal' matter for the homeowner from now on.

eircom also needs to provide for a transition method for their lucrative alarm customers in the VDSL era which is not uncomplicated and which was an issue in the early ADSL days ( and the engineer install) too.

they should have been entirely the owners obligation since eircom stopped installing/maintaining internals, but you'll still get lines coming in the front door, with the modem in the 3rd story bedroom after 10 sockets getting taken off the line, and they'll wonder why the dsl is dropping or speeds are crap .....

if an alarm is on the line, they will have to keep the POTS for that or will have to sign a waiver if naked VDSL is provided afaik

the copper & POTS availability will have to stay in the network for a number of years yet according to comreg

Solair

Sponge Bob wrote: »

Seeing as VDSL comes with no phone line all the extensions are 'dead' anyway so they may as well be disconnected.

They can be repowered separately if someone installs an ATA ( voip to bog standard phone adapter) to crank them up again but that is entirely an 'internal' matter for the homeowner from now on.

eircom also needs to provide for a transition method for their lucrative alarm customers in the VDSL era which is not uncomplicated and which was an issue in the early ADSL days ( and the engineer install) too.

VDSL2 in eircom's system comes both ways either as naked VDSL or with a dial tone. The old exchange line can be left in place with the VDSL2 added at the cabinet, so legacy voice services are retained.

That's how they're describing it in their diagrams anyway.

They seem to be offering wholesale providers a cheaper package without a dial tone so, I assume there's some incentive being offered to disconnect from the legacy exchange.

I wonder if the highest speeds might need the exchange dial tone removed from the line too ?

I don't really see much advantage to a traditional, circuit switched phone line these days. VoIP as as good or better (you can run much higher quality audio over VoIP with the right codecs)

10belowzero

All NGA migration's will require a tech install , to elimate old/ faulty intl wiring + to provide for iptv.
Afaik naked vdsl can be provided as well as legacy pstn etc.
I don't know speed wise if naked vdsl will obtain a better speed /distance ratio compared to vdsl/pstn combo , I would imagine there would be little difference.
All tech staff are being trained for NGA install's, so I will get a call soon, there are a lot of install's being done in Sword's at the moment.

Solair

Our internal wiring is weird. The eircom splitter / NTU was added by phone watch and it's in the attic, totally inaccessible !

red_bairn

Solair wrote: »

Our internal wiring is weird. The eircom splitter / NTU was added by phone watch and it's in the attic, totally inaccessible !

Haha, that's an odd place to have it. Did you not have one in the hallway previously? I think we had two other access points to add telephones around the house, but they've been removed. I remember being cut off by the phone when somebody was on 56k :rolleyes:

We've currently got a splitter with the phone and BB, however we have an IP phone too. I think the only reason he's got that phone is because it's got the home number on it...

Solair

Nope, the line comes in overhead into the attic and terminates there.

The house was built in the early 70s so, it was P&T era wiring originally.

Basically the line came in under the eves of the roof and terminated on a black junction box in the attic mounted on a beam. The extensions (kitchen, office, master bedroom and living room) ran from there using black and white twisted pair cable. It's the older type that looks like speaker cable.

That fed beige RJ11 sockets branded P&T (not even Telecom). I assume they were added in the early 80s or some time just before TE branding happened. This was several years before I got my first Fisherprice Phone, so I'd gave to consult the previous owners

Phone watch put in an NTU / splitter and I installed the router for DSL in the attic as it gives better reception through the full house for WiFI.

I also disconnected the old wiring and removed the extension sockets a good few years ago as our phones are all running off a DECT cordless system.

I just pulled some CAT6 through the old ducts that carried the original phone cables.

So we've now just got two phone sockets connected with good quality, modern cable.

I suppose we could always put a new NTU in somewhere else but, I don't see why it would be necessary as the internal wiring is top notch even if the location of the NTU is a bit unorthodox.

We could just use the CAT6 and put a new NTU in the living room or something like that

jspuds

Found a cab in Wicklow Town will add to the map

Solair

Did a little bit of a drive around earlier on and spotted a few more cabs in the Northeast of Cork City (WRD).

I think a lot of them are hard to spot though.

One odd thing though, there are two cabinets at St Lukes Cross. One looks quite old the other looks more modern, they're located side-by-side.

The more modern one has just had an extension piece added to the top, but there's no new VDSL2 cab installed (yet).