SIRO - ESB/Vodafone Fibre To The Home

Digiweb

dapka wrote: »

Hi,

We're currently with Vodafone, 1Gbps. Was getting around 900-950Mbps download and around 200 Mbps upload. Recently though they "lured" us into their TV offer (basically the same price but with a TV box included). We were told that there would be no changes to the broadband but I immediately saw that the upload had dropped to 100Mbps (from just over 200Mbps) which affects my working-from-home setup as I regularly have to sync large files up to the main office. We called and talked to a Vodafone representative to see if we could bump it up to the previous setting as we were promised no changes to the broadband service. But we were assured that I wouldn't notice any difference, that it is the download speed that is important. Safe to say I wasn't impressed with that and talking to your man he was pleasant but not really tech savvy. Anyway I left it at that seeing that I could perhaps leave the laptop on for a while after work to sync instead, even though I like to pack it away at the end of the day.

Seeing that we're still in the cooling off period for the TV (which is rubbish by the way, 1080i at most on a 4k TV and not wireless without fugly extra boxes) we went to cancel to return to the previous package which they told us is no longer available.

Is this something that they are actually allowed to do? My wife was on the phone with them so I didn't hear the conversation.

If they are I was wondering if anyone's got any good recommendation for a SIRO package with decent upload speed? We're not really interested in the TV bit as we mostly watch Netflix and similar anyway and the others we can receive with an aerial. We haven't had a landline in many years so that's not important either. Nor am I interested in any bundled routers. I've got a decent Unifi one that I'd rather use if I can.

I've been looking online tonight at:
* Digiweb (looks ok, albeit 100Mbps upload there too)
* Airwire (don't like the 18 mnths contract for the 500Mbps bundle, and 50Mbps upload on top of that)
* Eir (can't find our address)
* Sky (need to make an account to get the prices? No idea of upload)
* Pure telecom (need to phone them for availability and they don't advertise upload speed)

Are there any others? 12 month contract is fine with us. Is anyone offering symmetrical fibre on SIRO?

I like that Digiweb and Airwire have a presence here I must say and I'd rather support an Irish company if we do switch.

Won't be able to get 200 Mbps upload with any Siro provider unfortunately ,don't let any of them tell you different , all new connections are 100 Mbps upload including if you switch Siro provider/package and were previously on 200 Mbps.

Sounds like Vodafone changed your package which in turn changed your upload and you are now stuck on 100 Mbps with no way back.

There are enterprise grade symeterical packages with 200 Mbps plus upload but pricing is really enterprise level.

Wing126

Digiweb wrote: »

Won't be able to get 200 Mbps upload with any Siro provider unfortunately ,don't let any of them tell you different , all new connections are 100 Mbps upload including if you switch Siro provider/package and were previously on 200 Mbps.

Sounds like Vodafone changed your package which in turn changed your upload and you are now stuck on 100 Mbps with no way back.

There are enterprise grade symeterical packages with 200 Mbps plus upload but pricing is really enterprise level.

Since ye are online at the moment, what could be causing speeds on my newly installed Siro connection to be so low?

Less than 100mbps on all devices I've tested and ethernet (though, my ethernet was connected through an adapter).

Digiweb

Wing126 wrote: »

Since ye are online at the moment, what could be causing speeds on my newly installed Siro connection to be so low?

Less than 100mbps on all devices I've tested and ethernet (though, my ethernet was connected through an adapter).

Many things, would really need to get you speaking to out tech support team, send us a PM and we'll arrange a call. Some examples include, dodgy ethernet cable (needs to be Cat5e or Cat6), ethernet adapter in device not being Gig capable, ethernet ports on modem set to 100 rather than 1000. For a decent speed test result wired you need an SSD drive with a good write speed also.

Wing126

Digiweb wrote: »

Many things, would really need to get you speaking to out tech support team, send us a PM and we'll arrange a call. Some examples include, dodgy ethernet cable (needs to be Cat5e or Cat6), ethernet adapter in device not being Gig capable, ethernet ports on modem set to 100 rather than 1000. For a decent speed test result wired you need an SSD drive with a good write speed also.

Alright sound, I'll have my housemate call up tomorrow, the contract is in his name.

Johnboy1951

Digiweb wrote: »

Many things, would really need to get you speaking to out tech support team, send us a PM and we'll arrange a call. Some examples include, dodgy ethernet cable (needs to be Cat5e or Cat6), ethernet adapter in device not being Gig capable, ethernet ports on modem set to 100 rather than 1000. For a decent speed test result wired you need an SSD drive with a good write speed also.

The speedtest writes to the drive?

oscarBravo

Johnboy1951 wrote: »

The speedtest writes to the drive?

I can see why it might. A rational approach to speed testing would basically pipe a TCP stream to /dev/null or equivalent, but a browser-based test may well be limited to whatever facility is available cross-platform, which might well narrow it down to "download a file and write it to disk".

Yet another reason not to trust speedtests.

theShire

Got my Siro BB installed this week.

I'm with Vodafone and the Gigabox WiFi us brutal, only covering ~half the house.

I was reading up some of the threads and saw mention of replacing it with TP-Link.

Was looking at the Deco M5 on Amazon but they look to be out of stock until January for the 3pack.

Are there any alternatives?
Budget is around €150

Johnboy1951

oscarBravo wrote: »

I can see why it might. A rational approach to speed testing would basically pipe a TCP stream to /dev/null or equivalent, but a browser-based test may well be limited to whatever facility is available cross-platform, which might well narrow it down to "download a file and write it to disk".

Yet another reason not to trust speedtests.

Have you ever observed this "download a file and write it to disk" for a speed test?

Maybe it happens if no ram available for the download?

As you say I would expect /dev/null to be the norm.

schmoo2k

Johnboy1951 wrote: »

Have you ever observed this "download a file and write it to disk" for a speed test?

Maybe it happens if no ram available for the download?

As you say I would expect /dev/null to be the norm.

FWIW I have always found the ookla speed test in the MS Store to be more accurate than the same web based one.

TheDriver

theShire wrote: »

Got my Siro BB installed this week.

I'm with Vodafone and the Gigabox WiFi us brutal, only covering ~half the house.

I was reading up some of the threads and saw mention of replacing it with TP-Link.

Was looking at the Deco M5 on Amazon but they look to be out of stock until January for the 3pack.

Are there any alternatives?
Budget is around €150

I use the M4 but I use them as access points as i found the frtizbox was better at routing and handling the IP etc. But my M4s can get a serious speed around the house, 300-400 on a capable device.

oscarBravo

Johnboy1951 wrote: »

Have you ever observed this "download a file and write it to disk" for a speed test?

I haven't, but then I rarely run speed tests. I have 150Mb/s fibre at home that's limited to 100Mb/s by legacy internal wiring that I can't easily fix. I might upgrade the fibre to 500Mb/s at some point, but only if I feel an overwhelming desire to increase my upload speed from 30 to 50, which hasn't happened yet.

My broadband does everything I need it to do, so I don't obsessively test it.

schmoo2k

It was nice being able to download RDR2 in less than 20 minutes last night (110Gb install I think) - now thats what I call a speed test!

Nollog

How long should it take to switch from a company to another?
I was with Vodafone until last Friday and waiting for Pure's router to arrive, but I've set up the pppoe settings on my own router in case it suddenly comes on anyway.

I'd have thought it would've been done by now since I already have the ont and everything.

theShire

TheDriver wrote: »

I use the M4 but I use them as access points as i found the frtizbox was better at routing and handling the IP etc. But my M4s can get a serious speed around the house, 300-400 on a capable device.

Thanks,
do you know can the M4 be used in place of the Gigabox?
Is it VLAN tagging it needs to support?

To be fair I can prob get away with them as APs as I have wired ethernet from my living room back to the router via a patch panel & switch

oscarBravo

/\/ollog wrote: »

How long should it take to switch from a company to another?
I was with Vodafone until last Friday and waiting for Pure's router to arrive, but I've set up the pppoe settings on my own router in case it suddenly comes on anyway.

I'd have thought it would've been done by now since I already have the ont and everything.

It's usually a next-day job on open eir, but can take several days on SIRO. I don't know why. Your new provider should be able to give you an expected activation date. Your Vodafone service should keep working until the Pure service is activated.

Geuze

I rang Vodafone today to cancel my Gigabit 1000 Siro plan (54.10), as I plan to switch to Pure Telecom (35pm/12months) "Black Friday" deal.

By the way, I note that recently the VF bill has said:

Gigabit 1000 = 88.54
less 35 discount = 34.44

Previous bills didn't state that.

Anyways, as expected, the agent, based abroad, tried to get me to stay. In the end, he offered me:

34.10 for three months
39.10 for nine months

so I stayed.

I did ask him why I am getting 300-350 on speedtests, I was not complaining, just curious.

After the call, he passed me to a technical guy, also out foreign.

My VF router is connected by yellow ethernet Cat 5E to my computer, which AFAIK is a fairly good Dell notebook, built 2014.

He tells me the WAN cable from the ONT on the wall (is ONT the correct term?) to the router is more important.

I has assumed that any WAN cable provided must be optimal, and that it was my ethernet LAN cable that might be the slow point.

He suggests to get two Cat 6e WAN cables.

He says everyday for a week, at the same time each day, turn on and off the router.

He sounded like he knew what he is talking about.

Can anybody advise?

All I see on the WAN is "UTF 24G AWG", no sign of any CAT mentioned?

THANKS

oscarBravo

I'm curious: why did you ring Vodafone? The new provider is supposed to handle cancellation of the old service for you.

Nollog

oscarBravo wrote: »

It's usually a next-day job on open eir, but can take several days on SIRO. I don't know why. Your new provider should be able to give you an expected activation date. Your Vodafone service should keep working until the Pure service is activated.

I was told I had to cancel Vodafone myself, so I foolheartedly rang them that day and cut myself off early :pac:
Thought itd be on by now to be fair...

TheDriver

oscarBravo wrote: »

I'm curious: why did you ring Vodafone? The new provider is supposed to handle cancellation of the old service for you.

I thought the same, once out of contract.

TheDriver

theShire wrote: »

Thanks,
do you know can the M4 be used in place of the Gigabox?
Is it VLAN tagging it needs to support?

To be fair I can prob get away with them as APs as I have wired ethernet from my living room back to the router via a patch panel & switch

Yes, I setup them up using vlan 10 and pppoe details but they just weren't putting the speed through. If you have wired, I'd get them but use them in access point mode

Geuze

oscarBravo wrote: »

I'm curious: why did you ring Vodafone? The new provider is supposed to handle cancellation of the old service for you.

Pure Telecom guy repeatedly told me to contact Vodafone, and tell them I am cancelling, give them 30 days notice.

oscarBravo

Geuze wrote: »

Pure Telecom guy repeatedly told me to contact Vodafone, and tell them I am cancelling, give them 30 days notice.

Strange. He cost his employer a sale by doing so.

TheDriver

oscarBravo wrote: »

Strange. He cost his employer a sale by doing so.

True. When I changed (VDSL VF to SIRO PURE) , Pure even offered to do the cancelling of the VDSL product on my behalf.

oscarBravo

TheDriver wrote: »

True. When I changed (VDSL VF to SIRO PURE) , Pure even offered to do the cancelling of the VDSL product on my behalf.

Not sure how that would work, unless you had a landline bundle which they ported to VoIP?

TheDriver

oscarBravo wrote: »

Not sure how that would work, unless you had a landline bundle which they ported to VoIP?

Nope, didn't even have a phone number with VF. But they offered. I still rang VF myself as I don't trust VF billing

barry181091

Going through the ordeal of installing Vodafone fiber in the new apartment I have moved into. Unfortunately, they do not tell you if its through eir or siro that they do it. I just moved out of a place that did it through eir, painless-ish except for duct access.

This is a whole other ball game though. Attaching boxes to the outside of the complex, running a cable to the front of the apartment. Then drilling through and putting the box in a relatively annoying place!

I hope I get my deposit back I said I was getting fiber broadband in but presumed it would be much like the Vodafone broadband install from my last house.

Wing126

barry181091 wrote: »

Going through the ordeal of installing Vodafone fiber in the new apartment I have moved into. Unfortunately, they do not tell you if its through eir or siro that they do it. I just moved out of a place that did it through eir, painless-ish except for duct access.

This is a whole other ball game though. Attaching boxes to the outside of the complex, running a cable to the front of the apartment. Then drilling through and putting the box in a relatively annoying place!

I hope I get my deposit back I said I was getting fiber broadband in but presumed it would be much like the Vodafone broadband install from my last house.

That's Siro I believe. Just had Siro installed in a new place and that's what they did with it.

TheDriver

barry181091 wrote: »

Going through the ordeal of installing Vodafone fiber in the new apartment I have moved into. Unfortunately, they do not tell you if its through eir or siro that they do it. I just moved out of a place that did it through eir, painless-ish except for duct access.

This is a whole other ball game though. Attaching boxes to the outside of the complex, running a cable to the front of the apartment. Then drilling through and putting the box in a relatively annoying place!

I hope I get my deposit back I said I was getting fiber broadband in but presumed it would be much like the Vodafone broadband install from my last house.

That's how SIRO get the fibre into the apartment. You prob had "fibre" i.e. VDSL in your last place which came in through the phone line.

dam099

barry181091 wrote: »

I hope I get my deposit back I said I was getting fiber broadband in but presumed it would be much like the Vodafone broadband install from my last house.

Do you mean your rental deposit with your landlord?

I wouldn't be worrying about that, its probably added value to their property to be able show it has FTTH and those Siro installs are usually fairly tidy so it would be difficult to argue its "damage" as opposed to say cosmetically ugly.

Marlow

Johnboy1951 wrote: »

Have you ever observed this "download a file and write it to disk" for a speed test?

Maybe it happens if no ram available for the download?

As you say I would expect /dev/null to be the norm.

With a browser based test writing to /dev/null may not be an option, so they might be loading said file into memory. If there isn't enough free memory available, the computer ends up swapping and that's when your hard drive becomes a limitation.

/M