The Tale of Tullyallen Broadband

georgewickstaff

So pissed off was I with having speeds of 1.6mb in Tullyallen, Co. Louth that I wrote directly to Mr Herb Hribar of Eircom one Friday afternoon.

Imagine my surprise when the following Monday the Customer Services manager phoned me herself to see what could be done. And so began a long series of exchanges which ended up with the Director of Networks (?), Mr. Johnny Shine administering the bullet.

As some of you may know, only half the village is served by the new exchange in Gleann Alainn. Everyone at the top end of Watery Lane is (unbelievably) served by a copper cable which connects to the Drogheda Exchange some 6km away. As a result Broadband speeds are 1.6mbs max. Absolutely awful.

Anyway, it all comes down to cost. The Gleann Alainn exchange is not fibre enabled. At a meeting in October it may or may not be pencilled in for 'Next Generation' fibre enabled cabinets. However, if it is, it does not mean that the poor bstards at the other end of Tullyallen will be switched over! This is down to cost but also because other networks like Vodafone, UTV etc may have invested in infrastructure on that copper cable from Drogheda so would be unhappy if Eircom simply switched us to a different exchange.

End result is that I would say there is very little chance of getting any type of decent broadband via fibre in most areas of Tullyallen. Digiweb is not an option for most of the village as the houses in Gleann Alainn block line of site to the hospital ariel apparently ..everyone is in 'a dip' according to the Digiweb engineers who were on my roof trying to sort it.

Utter pain in the Garda Patrol.

ytpe2r5bxkn0c1

Unfortunately you are not unique within the county, or country for that matter. Join the club!

gipi

I'd love to have bb speed of 1.6 meg!! Best I'm getting is 0.8 / 0.9, in the Dublin Rd area (not fibre enabled)

tenifan

Many people outside the main towns and cities have crap broadband, but there are other benefits of living in those areas so.. it's up to you really. Move to Dublin and get super fast broadband.
Slow broadband's not that big of a deal for me. I live in Dundalk but have slow mobile broadband because I'm too cheap to pay eircom line rental.

MugMugs

Will this not resolve your issue?
http://www.esb.ie/main/press/pressreleaseWS.jsp?id=4074

Minjor

You wouldn't be much better off with Digiweb in all honesty. It's reliable but way overpriced for what you get. 30 euro for 3mb (at best).

I feel your frustration though, hope its sorted out soon.

Possibly some info here?

http://www.eircom.net/efibreinfo/map/

georgewickstaff

April-June 2015 - Thats probably about right, however, it does not guarantee everyone in the village access to the new fibre enabled exchange.

I'm hoping that the ESB/Vodafone project will come online soon.

1.6mb in a house with about 15 devices, 2 children and netflix everywhere is just undoable. Hellish in the evenings.

lucernarian

Gonna bump this thread. Did you ever write in the Talk to Eircom forum about this?

All across the country, eircom are changing people from exchange connected lines to cabinet fed lines and enabling VDSL. There shouldn't be anything stopping them from fitting a second cabinet at Gleann Alainn that will house all the Tullyallen lines and only those who want the 24 Mbit speed will be plugged into the Gleann Alainn exchange. That should satisfy the regulatory requirements but presumably the powers that be in eircom haven't copped it yet. A bit of public pressure (politicians and media) might help here.

Also if you see a local engineer, ask if you can get a new phone line fitted and have it redirected to the Glen Alainn cabinet instead of Drogheda. Ask nicely, offer him a nice bottle of wine or a few quid or whatever if necessary. Ask him to ask his boss to see if it can be done as then you will order a new line. Worth a shot?!:o

Hanlor

Not sure if will help in Tullyallen, however, I'm a wee bit closer to the town in Waterunder,also with Eircom and was getting 1mb at best. Had similar issues, battled though them and now on a healthy, consistent 12mb. Most lines in the area go back to a junction box in Trinity Street. However, my improvement (at least that's what I was told) was by re-provisioning a line at a closer box at the M1 Retail Park. Worth, at least asking, if that might be an option if they won't put a second cabinet in the village. Might not get you 12mb but good chance you'll get up from 1.6mb

lucernarian

Are you on the main road to Tullyallen and Collon? In the case of anyone in the village proper including Lavin park probably, it won't make a difference. I think they will only offer service from the cab if you're within 2 km. I wasn't sure if they did that in Drogheda as it started as a trial but it seems they do going on that.

Sadly for people like some of my family and others just a bit too far out of Drogheda, they aren't using the cabinets to improve speeds at the edge of Drogheda. The cabinet at the edge of the M1 retail park would make a huge difference to Tullyallen if eircom simply enabled longer lines. Going from 1 to 5 Mbps would make a massive difference.

Only political and media pressure will work to embarrass eircom.

georgewickstaff

2 fibre cabinets are due for installation in Tullyallen in Spring 2015

One opposite Townley Manor in the lane down to Lavin Park and the other one outside Gleann Alainn. Hopefully this will sort out the stragglers who are currently on the Trinity Street exchange.

I have spoken to the network manager of Eircom and while he thinks I am a total pain in the arse he has promised to give me an honest picture of what is going on by end of next week.

georgewickstaff

tenifan wrote: »

Many people outside the main towns and cities have crap broadband, but there are other benefits of living in those areas so.. it's up to you really. Move to Dublin and get super fast broadband.
Slow broadband's not that big of a deal for me. I live in Dundalk but have slow mobile broadband because I'm too cheap to pay eircom line rental.

I just saw this post. Very helpful. You should get a job as a customer service manager. Possibly even a director.

georgewickstaff

17th February Update.

I posted above that 2 cabinets are being upgraded to fibre in Spring 2015. Yesterday I spoke to the Eircom networks manager and it is very disappointing what is going on.

1 - Anyone in Tullyallen connnected to the exchange on Trinity Street via the copper cable will NOT be upgraded when the cabinets at Gleann Alainn and the lane by Townley Manor / Lavin Park are upgraded. As far as I know this means those in Arda Raith, Moorecourt, Allen Wood and possibly Cnoc na Greine are stuck on 1.2mb for life.

Why? - It is the nasty people in COMREG who put up administrative barriers to consumers who want to be removed from a copper line that runs 6KM from Drogheda instead of being connected to a cabinet approximately 68 paces from your front door. Vodafone/UTV/BT etc may have invested money in the exchange/line at Trinity Street so under the regulations dreamt up by COMREG it is in Eircoms opionion absolutely impossible to change. Can you believe? I find it absolutely astonishing.

I have contacted Fergus O'Dowd about it and tomorrow I'm going to write to Gerry Adams. If I lived in a remote field 10 miles from the nearest town I would accept defeat. However, to live 68 paces from a fibre enabled cabinet and to be told it cannot be connected is taking the piss completely. Faceless administrators and pen pushers saying it is not possible? Crazy!

Kaiser84

georgewickstaff wrote: »

17th February Update.

I posted above that 2 cabinets are being upgraded to fibre in Spring 2015. Yesterday I spoke to the Eircom networks manager and it is very disappointing what is going on.

1 - Anyone in Tullyallen connnected to the exchange on Trinity Street via the copper cable will NOT be upgraded when the cabinets at Gleann Alainn and the lane by Townley Manor / Lavin Park are upgraded. As far as I know this means those in Arda Raith, Moorecourt, Allen Wood and possibly Cnoc na Greine are stuck on 1.2mb for life.

Why? - It is the nasty people in COMREG who put up administrative barriers to consumers who want to be removed from a copper line that runs 6KM from Drogheda instead of being connected to a cabinet approximately 68 paces from your front door. Vodafone/UTV/BT etc may have invested money in the exchange/line at Trinity Street so under the regulations dreamt up by COMREG it is in Eircoms opionion absolutely impossible to change. Can you believe? I find it absolutely astonishing.

I have contacted Fergus O'Dowd about it and tomorrow I'm going to write to Gerry Adams. If I lived in a remote field 10 miles from the nearest town I would accept defeat. However, to live 68 paces from a fibre enabled cabinet and to be told it cannot be connected is taking the piss completely. Faceless administrators and pen pushers saying it is not possible? Crazy!

Any more updates, George?

I've phoned, written and e-mailed them a lot about the broadband situation in Tullyallen. I've not got much out of them.

georgewickstaff

Kaiser84 wrote: »

Any more updates, George?

I've phoned, written and e-mailed them a lot about the broadband situation in Tullyallen. I've not got much out of them.

Hi Kaiser,

Nothing new to report so far. I got a rather bland response from a different manager after Fergus O'Dowd sent my email on to him citing reasons of distance from the exchange as the reason some in Tullyallen are only getting 1.2mb.

Where are you based? I'm on Watery Lane about 70 odd paces from where the cabinets are at the lane into Lavin Park.

COLMCS

So are the two cabinets across from Townley Manor fibre enabled?

Kaiser84

georgewickstaff wrote: »

Hi Kaiser,

Nothing new to report so far. I got a rather bland response from a different manager after Fergus O'Dowd sent my email on to him citing reasons of distance from the exchange as the reason some in Tullyallen are only getting 1.2mb.

Where are you based? I'm on Watery Lane about 70 odd paces from where the cabinets are at the lane into Lavin Park.

I'm in Gleann Alainn. I've been on to them again numerous times, but nothing of note to report.

georgewickstaff

COLMCS wrote: »

So are the two cabinets across from Townley Manor fibre enabled?

Hi, no not yet. They are going to be enabled in Summer 2015.

yaines

Hi George/Kaiser84,

I just came across this thread having done a quick search for Tullyallen on Boards. My husband and I are currently living in Drogheda and hoping to buy in Tullyallen in the next 9-12 months, potentially Allenwood.

However, I work from home 4 days a week so if the broadband is as slow as you say it is, this will be a massive concern to me. My sister-in-law lives across the road in Ard Rath Wood and uses Sky Broadband and hasn't experienced any issues as far as I'm aware. Could it be just that she is closer to the exchange? We currently use Sky Broadband in Drogheda and have speeds of approx 26MB (down) and 12MB (up). I assume I won't be seeing anywhere near that in Tullyallen?

Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

georgewickstaff

Hi. Your sister in Arda Raith will be on a 1.6mb connection. As per my posts above she is connected to an exchange on Trinity Street.

Allen Wood possibly has an 8mb connection like Townley Manor. I have not confirmed this though.

COLMCS

Im in Townley Manor currently getting about 10MB, my house is connected to the Gleann Alainn exchange.....

lucernarian

COLMCS wrote: »

Im in Townley Manor currently getting about 10MB, my house is connected to the Gleann Alainn exchange.....

Just 10Mbps? Can you show us the "line statistics" from your router? You can get to the router webpage by typing 192.168.1.1 or 192.168.1.254

COLMCS

Sure......

Line standard: ADSL2+
Downstream line rate (kbit/s): 12286
Upstream line rate(kbit/s): 1113
Downstream SNR(dB): 22.7
Upstrean SNR(dB): 6.7
Downstream line attenuation(dB): 3.5
Upstream line attenuation(dB): 3.7
Downstream output power(dBmV): 18
Upstream outputpower(dBmV): 12.1

lucernarian

COLMCS wrote: »

Sure......

Line standard: ADSL2+
Downstream line rate (kbit/s): 12286
Upstream line rate(kbit/s): 1113
Downstream SNR(dB): 22.7
Upstrean SNR(dB): 6.7
Downstream line attenuation(dB): 3.5
Upstream line attenuation(dB): 3.7
Downstream output power(dBmV): 18
Upstream outputpower(dBmV): 12.1

Your line can handle much more speed than 12 Mb/s. Ask whoever you have your service with to reprofile you to max speed (I think eircom (who serve all the ISPs offer the full 24 Mbps.). Your line is excellent as I thought and can handle whatever speed thrown at it. Whenever VDSL comes along to the Tullyallen cabinet, you will get at least 50 Mbit too

Kaiser84

The two cabinets in Tullyallen are showing as planned for upgrade on the fibre rollout map the last few weeks Collon is live, so surely only a matter of time now....

COLMCS

Indeed! Looks like its "in Build"!

georgewickstaff

I wonder how that will affect the poor feckers in Arda Raith, Moorecourt and Cnoc Na Greine who are still connected to the Trinity Street exchange.

I'm sure some reason not to do anything will be trotted out. Frustrating beyond words.

thorbarry

Any update on this?

Charles1412

Anyone have an update on the ongoing saga that is fibre broadband in Tullyallen. I got a call to our house a couple of weeks ago from a rep from Vodafone looking to get my business. Were located in Watery lane. Guy gave the big spiel all about how great their service would be and when the router arrived out I called them up to be told that all they can offer is 1.5mb - I'm sticking with my 8mb aerial broadband with net1. Anybody got any idea when we can get on the fibre bandwagon?

kbell

http://touch.boards.ie/thread/2057490605/1/#post97694574

georgewickstaff

Digiweb just announced SIRO broadband in Louth. Drogheda and Dundalk mentioned specifically.

Its broadband over electric cables / fibre. Dare we dream? Called Digiweb and they didnt discount it at all, said I should be ok and would know more in 2 weeks. 1000mb broadband? i'd be happy with 150mb!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Excited but it does represent something of a last chance saloon type scenario with our part of Tullyallen.

positron

Exciting news if true! Is Digiweb a reseller for SIRO, wouldn't Vodafone offer SIRO, after all it's their own project with ESB?

georgewickstaff

positron wrote: »

Exciting news if true! Is Digiweb a reseller for SIRO, wouldn't Vodafone offer SIRO, after all it's their own project with ESB?

Just got an email from Digiweb no one else...

However, the ESB did turn off our electricity in Tullyallen for a full day recently? Just a coincidence? I really hope we can get it.

Prices seem pretty reasonable, think theres a 35 euro package, 55 for 350mb and 85 if you want 1GB download speeds!

georgewickstaff

According to this its a no go...

FFS

http://siro.ie/towns/drogheda/#map

daithihalton

I signed up to Imagine LTE for Tullyallen, it was supposed to be installed at the start of the month but was pushed out. The last update I received was the site is to go live 16th Sept and an engineer will contact me 10 days later, still no sign of it

will let you know how I get on

georgewickstaff

What are you all currently using?

I'm on the 30mb metro connection from digiweb but it's speedtests about 2.25mb at peak times until around 11.30pm

Useless for streaming in evenings.

daithihalton

Vodafone landline, lucky to get 1.3 meg download usually around 1.0 !!

daithihalton

So the imagine engineer called today, he said I cant get a signal not even if he installed a 20 meter pole. He also tried to install it at the morning Star but wont work there either, They need line of sight to Mount Orial. he said the huses between the Star and the school wont be able ti use Imagine.

still stuck with 1 meg

Digiweb said they have no immediate plans to have Siro broadband in Tulyallen

georgewickstaff

1.39 mbps on the Digiweb metro speedtest tonight. Was 1.47 mbps yesterday.

Practically unusable during the evenings. Is there anyone in Ireland so near to a major town with such pathetic broadband options?

Even the local TD's are groaning when i write to them now. But to be fair at least groaning is a reply, none of the Sinn Fein lot bothered to even acknowlege emails in relation to Tullyallen broadband!

I actually regret buying here because of this issue. Bah humbug.:mad:

georgewickstaff

Anyone get the Imagine LTE servie successfully installed? I see a few new weird and wonderful wallmounted aeriels around the place!

20GB daily cap is very irritating though..

Updates:
Digiweb Metro is unusable. One of the kids couldnt even watch youtube on Sunday afternoon because of buffering. Speedtest 1.92mbps at 15:00hrs on a Sunday. Ridiculous.
Vodafone via phoneline - Neighbour was getting 1.2mb and now seems to be on a more settled .9mbs. 3 kids in the house with mobiles..I do not want to live there!

What really annoys me about the Tullyallen situation is that if you drive 5 minutes in any given direction you will see fibre enabled cabinets dotted around the place in the middle of nowhere! Tullyallen stands out like an oasis of backwardness. There has to be a reason why fibre has not been installed in the village. It makes absolutely no sense.

nathughes

We are with imagine and it really is not the best... jas there been any update as to vodafone coming out here. Its actually rediculous. I love my house but i am regretting buying here for this. We cannot watch netflix if our son wants to play his games on net.

georgewickstaff

So that is the Spring 2017 plan been and gone and no work on either of the cabinets in Tullyallen. 
I think it is safe to say Tullyallen does not really figure on their plans!

Kaiser84

This thread will still be 'live' in 4 years time and the fibre cabinets won't.

georgewickstaff

I have emailed Fergus O'Dowd and Declan Breathnach this morning.

I'd be grateful if a few more of you could drop them a line too.

georgewickstaff

Is this correct?

Eircom / Sky / Vodafone : People in Townley Manor, Allen Wood and Gleann Alainn have their own exchanges so are getting 24mbs?

Eircom / Sky / Vodafone: People in Arda Raith, Cnoc na Greinne, Morning Star, School area are all on the Trinity Street exchange - 1.6mbs

Digiweb - 42:1 contention rates (I confirmed this with their Tech Support). 1.5-2mbs at peak times.

Metro - People seemingly very unhappy with speeds. Over subscription of the service.

Eircom will not move people off the Trinity Street exchange and put them on any exchange in Tullyallen as it is against Comreg rules? So even if the cabinets are fibre enabled a lot of people will still be denied access?

Sky: While enquiring about Sky Q , the Sky sales rep said they could request a "new line connection" which might allow me to be connected to a Tullyallen exchange. Basically, I do not believe her. But would be interested to hear if anyone had tried going down this route? Have you been moved from a 1.6mb connection to 24mb connection?

daithihalton

georgewickstaff wrote: »

I have emailed Fergus O'Dowd and Declan Breathnach this morning.

I'd be grateful if a few more of you could drop them a line too.

Hi can you PM me their details and I will contact them

Babyspice13

I sent a screenshot of my speedtest to Fergus O'Dowd, explaining that trying to run a business with this service is impossible. I heard nothing back :mad:

Download: 0.50Mbps
Upload: 0.06Mbps

georgewickstaff

Babyspice13 wrote: »

I sent a screenshot of my speedtest to Fergus O'Dowd, explaining that trying to run a business with this service is impossible. I heard nothing back :mad:

Download: 0.50Mbps
Upload: 0.06Mbps

That is appalling! Where in the village are you? Digiweb metro might not be too bad during the daytime. It is at night between 7 and 11 its about 2mbs.. Not great for watching TV but might suit you a bit better?

Hope you get sorted. Thanks for writing btw, if enough of us keep nagging you never know what will happen..

Babyspice13

georgewickstaff wrote: »

That is appalling! Where in the village are you? Digiweb metro might not be too bad during the daytime. It is at night between 7 and 11 its about 2mbs.. Not great for watching TV but might suit you a bit better?

Hope you get sorted. Thanks for writing btw, if enough of us keep nagging you never know what will happen..

I'm not in the village. I'm in Mellifont, which adds to my problem. No sign of any wired broadband coming my way and no possibility of a direct view of any masts for wireless. I've been onto all the different service providers and they all say the same thing. So I need to wait for someone to put wires down our road which is unlikely

daithihalton

georgewickstaff wrote: »

Is this correct?

Eircom / Sky / Vodafone : People in Townley Manor, Allen Wood and Gleann Alainn have their own exchanges so are getting 24mbs?

Eircom / Sky / Vodafone: People in Arda Raith, Cnoc na Greinne, Morning Star, School area are all on the Trinity Street exchange - 1.6mbs

Digiweb - 42:1 contention rates (I confirmed this with their Tech Support). 1.5-2mbs at peak times.

Metro - People seemingly very unhappy with speeds. Over subscription of the service.

Eircom will not move people off the Trinity Street exchange and put them on any exchange in Tullyallen as it is against Comreg rules? So even if the cabinets are fibre enabled a lot of people will still be denied access?

Sky: While enquiring about Sky Q , the Sky sales rep said they could request a "new line connection" which might allow me to be connected to a Tullyallen exchange. Basically, I do not believe her. But would be interested to hear if anyone had tried going down this route? Have you been moved from a 1.6mb connection to 24mb connection?

Your review seems spot on, I fall into the trinity st group and dont think we will ever get decent broadband