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

chriss745

D'Peoples Voice wrote: »

No, no, no, they're supposed to undercut UPC and force UPC to reduce their prices to compete:mad: FFS, what are the marketing department playing at? Who are they targeting this at?

Light user that typically visits one of the top 20 most visited sites in Ireland will probably see no noticeable difference in speed on those websites. The cost however is between €45 for 30Mb Digiweb Metro or €55 for 70Mb Eircom, a €120 pa difference. Should be interesting.....

Heavier users that might use Netflix, Torrents etc will probably see no massive difference in speed between €60pm UPC's "The Essential Bundle-Limited" with 50Mb, (with the add-on of On Demand TV with Boxsets and 90 channels, and a phone with 100 free minutes - excluding the VAT on those calls which you must pay) and €65 Eircom's offer of UP TO 70Mb broadband (and a phone and study hub). A €60pa difference. When the Horizon box comes out, it will make things worse!

Just when we thought Eircom might undercut the market and shake things up.......
How depressing...

Magnet was always the one of the best quality, always unlimited but due to these one of the most expensive broadband provider in Ireland. I suppose other FTTC re-sellers with a download cap will be cheaper. If we check FTTC prices in the UK, I would expect lower speed packages also on reduced prices. I am happy to pay this 55 EUR per month if they can give me around 50Mb/sec really unlimited broadband, especially contract less.

bk

chriss745 wrote: »

Magnet was always the one of the best quality, always unlimited but due to these one of the most expensive broadband provider in Ireland. I suppose other FTTC re-sellers with a download cap will be cheaper. If we check FTTC prices in the UK, I would expect lower speed packages also on reduced prices. I am happy to pay this 55 EUR per month if they can give me around 50Mb/sec really unlimited broadband, especially contract less.

But Magnet now faces competition from Sky, who also offer unlimited and for much cheaper price.

I also expect Sky to go FTTC and offer unlimited too, so it will be interesting to see how Magnets products compete with that.

I'm not sure they will bother to offer slower speeds on VDSL2+, maybe smaller caps, but not speeds.

Slower speeds seem pointless when UPC's entry level now seems to be 60mb and significantly undercuts the FTTC pricing.

Solair

Magnet's service is also contract free as far as I know.
subject to 30 days notice or something like that.

Most others will lock you to 12 months.

Richard Dower

one big one small here; http://goo.gl/maps/qbOrR

what are the differences between the big and small ones

http://goo.gl/maps/fWJyk mr big and mr small here;

Sponge Bob

Richard Dower wrote: »

what are the differences between the big and small ones

I'll mark those up for you.

see this link

http://bit.ly/15PjVDM

The cab on the left is a cable cabinet, some 30 years old. The one on the right is a new VDSL cabinet co located with it. Sometimes you see a small gray galvanised box close nearby at ground level, that would be mains power.

I'd say the gray box in your link here is power/control for the traffic lights in that photo.

Harry Deerpark

Could someone tell me the purpose of the cabinet on the right? I know the one on the left is for fiber broadband, but what was the one right built for and what year was it built in?

red_bairn

Harry Deerpark wrote: »

Could someone tell me the purpose of the cabinet on the right? I know the one on the left is for fiber broadband, but what was the one right built for and what year was it built in?

It's for ADSL2. I'm assuming most were put in place after 2000, we've had BB since around that time.

hallo dare

wish there was a decent provider in my area.just mobile broadband for me I'm afraid. :-(

Solair

Just bear in mind that other companies / utilities use similar looking green cabinets and also that UPC and traffic lighting cabinets are not necessarily standard from place to place.

For example, UPC's cabinets in Cork are like a very large version of the eircom original green cabinet (at least 50% larger) while in other cities they're often a smaller grey cabinet.

I've also seen ESB gear that could confuse people.

Also eircom use a second type of distribution cabinet in some areas. This is a whiteish grey, slightly rounded, narrower tall unit with a circular handle on the front. They don't seem to be getting replaced so, I assume they're suitable for patching in VDSL2 too.

Also in some cases the VDSL cabinet might be located near by, but not directly beside the distribution cabinet eg it could be across a street, around a corner, behind a wall etc etc

The main thing to look for is that smaller, deeper cabinet with the large lock/hinge on one side.
You'll usually also see a distribution cabinet, but not always.

CraigSmith_IO

Whoever was quoting Eircom pricing, unless it's a real price don't say it. One can not assume. Especially as they are keeping so tight lipped about it.

KOR101

Could have sworn I saw an Eircom ad on the TV in the gym last night giving number to call for free fibre upgrade. Wasn't paying much attention to the TV at the time, so maybe wrong.

neddynasty

Saw a couple of Eircom vans out by my place yesterday. They installed a new cabinet months ago (already on the map- Ballincollig Exchange) but looked like they were dealing with cabling on the road near it and leading up to it. Didn't manage to see if there was a particular colour ducting they were using.

They might have just been fixing the current line as the service has been brutal since the new cabinet was installed a few months ago.

AlmightyCushion

KOR101 wrote: »

Could have sworn I saw an Eircom ad on the TV in the gym last night giving number to call for free fibre upgrade. Wasn't paying much attention to the TV at the time, so maybe wrong.

You probably did, I've seen it a few times.

chriss745

Solair wrote: »

Magnet's service is also contract free as far as I know.
subject to 30 days notice or something like that.

Most others will lock you to 12 months.

If you use their own Magnet network, yes, it is contract free, but via Eircom's wholesale they required from their customers a 12 month fixed contract, as Eircom required the same from Magnet.

Sponge Bob

Harry Deerpark wrote: »

Could someone tell me the purpose of the cabinet on the right?

Cable Cabinet. That is where large cables from the exchange ( say 500 pairs) are broken down into 100 and 50 pairs to your own premises.

As faults rarely occur exchange <> cabinet any tests on your line are carried out from the cabinet or the exchange itself ( remotely tested in the latter case , the engineer uses an app to kick it off) .

The cab on the left is VDSL , it has that 'hinge' like lock that stands out.

TheChizler

Ducting going in in Wilton/Dennehy's Cross!

Liamario

TheChizler wrote: »

Ducting going in in Wilton/Dennehy's Cross!

I'm finding the advertising of human trafficking more interesting. :eek:

red_bairn

TheChizler wrote: »

Ducting going in in Wilton/Dennehy's Cross!

Dublin reg. Are all these engineers travelling from Dublin or main depots in larger cities?

Hogzy

red_bairn wrote: »

Dublin reg. Are all these engineers travelling from Dublin or main depots in larger cities?

Looks like a Vauxhall Van so its probably a UK import.

wheresmybeaver

Saw the KN Networks lads installing fibre into the orange ducts in Mallow today (Shortcastle Street). Not sure if a cabinet was going in as well. Mallow is phase 4, same as Glanmire which recently got the orange ducts laid, so it really looks like they're planning on having the Dec 2013 phases finished well before the end of the year.

red_bairn

wheresmybeaver wrote: »

Saw the KN Networks lads installing fibre into the orange ducts in Mallow today (Shortcastle Street). Not sure if a cabinet was going in as well. Mallow is phase 4, same as Glanmire which recently got the orange ducts laid, so it really looks like they're planning on having the Dec 2013 phases finished well before the end of the year.

I don't know about that. I think they are working on the major cities/towns first, such as Cork City, Dublin, Limerick etc and then will look at the other towns during or after the summer. I still haven't seen any planning permissions signs go up on the normal cabinets to signify that they will start work soon in Greystones.

Solair

red_bairn wrote: »

I don't know about that. I think they are working on the major cities/towns first, such as Cork City, Dublin, Limerick etc and then will look at the other towns during or after the summer. I still haven't seen any planning permissions signs go up on the normal cabinets to signify that they will start work soon in Greystones.

Haven't seen any planning permission notices go up anywhere in Cork for this.

I wonder if they need to stick up notices where no cabinet existed before?
I've seen one in Cork go up on the site of an old payphone booth too.

wheresmybeaver

red_bairn wrote: »

I don't know about that. I think they are working on the major cities/towns first, such as Cork City, Dublin, Limerick etc and then will look at the other towns during or after the summer. I still haven't seen any planning permissions signs go up on the normal cabinets to signify that they will start work soon in Greystones.

Solair wrote: »

Haven't seen any planning permission notices go up anywhere in Cork for this.

I wonder if they need to stick up notices where no cabinet existed before?
I've seen one in Cork go up on the site of an old payphone booth too.

Hmm maybe it was just the orange duct piping they were installing? It was a KN Networks van with some additional equipment on the pavement that looked "fancier" than when I saw the other lads in Glanmire installing the orange duct pipe. There was also a sign up saying they were doing work on behalf of Eircom. So do KN Networks also install the orange pipe?

Solair

wheresmybeaver wrote: »

Hmm maybe it was just the orange duct piping they were installing? It was a KN Networks van with some additional equipment on the pavement that looked "fancier" than when I saw the other lads in Glanmire installing the orange duct pipe. There was also a sign up saying they were doing work on behalf of Eircom. So do KN Networks also install the orange pipe?

Eircom increasingly contract most of that stuff out.

Sponge Bob

wheresmybeaver wrote: »

It was a KN Networks van with some additional equipment on the pavement that looked "fancier" than when I saw the other lads in Glanmire installing the orange duct pipe. There was also a sign up saying they were doing work on behalf of Eircom. So do KN Networks also install the orange pipe?

Yes. One KN gang horse in the orange subduct from the old exchange to the new cabinet. Another gang with fancy gear ( actually an air compressor set to blow) then blow the fibre down the subduct to the cabinet location. If you saw them just outside the exchange they may blow a load of runs from one location into a series of individual subducts and stuff a tail back into the exchange from there too.

A further gang will prepare the concrete plinths and a different gang will deal with any diggiing ( eg subduct will not fit in duct or duct is full or collapsed) or power presentation from a nearby ESB pole to the plinth.

KN are very experienced, they installed cabinets in the UK long before eircom started to invest in the technology.

paradiddler86

Hi guys i'm a bit of a noob to the whole tech side of broadband but can i ask a quick question?
I heard the distance from a fibre enabled exchange matters a good deal. What happens the further the distance you are from a fibre exchange?

I'm planning on building a house in the coming years and calculated my new house to be 8.3 Km away from an exchange that is planned to be upgraded to fibre in eircoms phase 5 roll-out (december 2014). What are the implications of being this distance away?
But on another note my new house would be 2.2 Km away from a regular broadband (BMB) exchange, how would this affect me also?

pistolpetes11

there deffo installing the orange ducting in newbridge along the athgarvan road and in athgarvan too , took a few pics today but on the mobile now so il post in the morning

Sponge Bob

paradiddler86 wrote: »

I heard the distance from a fibre enabled exchange matters a good deal. What happens the further the distance you are from a fibre exchange?

I'm planning on building a house in the coming years and calculated my new house to be 8.3 Km away from an exchange that is planned to be upgraded to fibre in eircoms phase 5 roll-out (december 2014). What are the implications of being this distance away?
But on another note my new house would be 2.2 Km away from a regular broadband (BMB) exchange, how would this affect me also?

OK. It depends which exchange you connect to. You would get a better service from a bog standard ADSL1 exchange at 2.2km than VDSL2 at 8.3km for starters. This link (loaded in Google Earth) shows service areas.

However one can easily welly a VDSL connection a distance of 8km if one has a mate with a high site in town who can get VDSL dropped in, one has built on a high site, and one has line of sight over that 8km to town and one wirelessly bridges the 8km gap.

That would beat basic ADSL hands down. No good if there is a mountain in between of course as I told a lad living near Westport only last week.

HTH

bealtine

paradiddler86 wrote: »

Hi guys i'm a bit of a noob to the whole tech side of broadband but can i ask a quick question?
I heard the distance from a fibre enabled exchange matters a good deal. What happens the further the distance you are from a fibre exchange?

I'm planning on building a house in the coming years and calculated my new house to be 8.3 Km away from an exchange that is planned to be upgraded to fibre in eircoms phase 5 roll-out (december 2014). What are the implications of being this distance away?
But on another note my new house would be 2.2 Km away from a regular broadband (BMB) exchange, how would this affect me also?

In simple terms:
If your exchange area is updated for fibre to the cabinet (FTTC) then the distance to the cabinet that your phone line is connected to is what matters most, in other words the further you are away from the cabinet the slower the speed as the speed "delivered" is distance dependent.

If there are no fibre enabled cabinets (VDSL) in your area then the distance to the exchange is what is important for speed.

It doesn't matter a whole lot what the marketing bs is like Fibre this or Fibre that it's the distance your copper phone line is from the nearest bit of fibre.

Clear?

TechnoFreek

Saw a small grey eircom van parked up in Meadowvale, Arklow yesterday evening after 6pm. The van looked like it had a picture of fibre on the side.

Was out of the house for the evening so don't know if anyone came calling. Nothing dropped in the door either.

Could it have been a sales rep? Didn't look like an engineers van.