UPC Ireland to re-brand as Virgin Media

mamax

All this re-branding crap and nowhere on it's site does it tell their existing MMDS customers they will be left without service from April 2016 as they lost their licence for it !
I phoned them this morning to confirm and after much over and back to her "supervisor" the lovely lady finally gave in and confirmed it to be true, but....she did confirm they were working on bringing fiber broadband to every part of the country..... what a load of bollocks lol
So for all you MMDS customers be sure you jump ship in time, and for those of you that depend on MMDS maybe because you can't fit a satellite dish to your property and you have crap broadband from Eircon or the like then it appears you may be fecked !!!

icdg

Mind the language please

Elmo

Would virgin media out of the goodness of their heart not return the license to local operators along with equipment/infrastructure, what happens the infrastructure? Will anyone take up the license?

Grab All Association

Elmo wrote: »

Would virgin media out of the goodness of their heart not return the license to local operators along with equipment/infrastructure, what happens the infrastructure? Will anyone take up the license?

Spectrum will be auctioned off by Comreg for other uses.

JJ

Now that Virgin Media has taken over, they've said they aren't supporting Twonky. I tried using it but it was too much of a headache trying to get it to work. Is there an alternative programme that can do the same thing?

Wabbit Ears

Twinkly stopped supporting their pc server software ages ago. UPC/Virgin have little to do with it and haven't supported it in well over a year.

Plex is a free alternative and windows media sharing works fine also.

The Cush

Elmo wrote: »

Would virgin media out of the goodness of their heart not return the license to local operators along with equipment/infrastructure, what happens the infrastructure? Will anyone take up the license?

The licences were issued by Comreg and are non transferable, they expire next April. The band is being reclaimed for more efficient nationwide use per a 2008 EU Commission Decision. The shutdown of MMDS is already underway.

That being said there's nothing to prevent UPC/Virgin Media bidding for some of the spectrum at auction and using it for TV retransmission as they do now except under new technical conditions such as a new channelling arrangement for the band, narrower channel blocks (5MHz instead of 8MHz), adjacent channel interference conditions to/from other services using the band. This scenario is unlikely though.

When the band comes up for auction, next year probably, the existing mobile operators will be keen bidders, for use by them as a capacity band (4G carrier aggregation) in combination with their coverage 700/800/900 bands. The existing MMDS mast sites will no doubt be used for mobile coverage if suitable (if they aren't used already).

Elmo

Non-transferable unless the company is sold?

The Cush

Elmo wrote: »

Non-transferable unless the company is sold?

The licence conditions or expiry date don't change in that circumstance.

mamax

So should we assume that UPC/VM will just shut down everything in relation to mmds and more or less walk away ?
It took me quite a bit of persuasion to get them to admit they had nothing to offer me instead !
Name change means nothing, still a shambles of a company

icdg

They don't really have a choice in the matter unfortunately. ComReg has decided that the licences are not being renewed.

The Cush

mamax wrote: »

So should we assume that UPC/VM will just shut down everything in relation to mmds and more or less walk away ?
It took me quite a bit of persuasion to get them to admit they had nothing to offer me instead !

MMDS is an old, spectrum inefficient technology that was used in only a limited number of countries around Europe. Outside of Ireland only Slovakia (moved to the 2.2 GHz band, 500 subscribers) and Iceland (2.6 GHz band) currently use it for multichannel TV, previously used in Latvia, Lithuania and Madeira (Portugal).

The Icelandic MMDS licences expire at the end of 2016 and their regulatory authority is consulting on the band's future. The licence holder Vodafone, provides more than 70 channels to the south and south-west of Iceland via MMDS (transmitter map - Útsendingar um örbylgju), is arguing against its reallocation as it povides tens of thousands of viewers with multichannel TV. Their national DTT service, comprising 2-3 UHF muxes isn't capable of replacing MMDS capacity.

MMDS subscribers here peaked just shy of 118,000 back in late 2006 but since 2007 the numbers have been in decline. In MMDS areas UPC/VM have no alternative TV service and providing one against existing pay TV provider Sky or sub-free services Saorview/Freesat wouldn't be cost effective.

This google cached facebook post from August indicates UPC have been sending their MMDS customers' letters confirming the end of the service for a while now and Sky making offers for those customers switching

mamax

I'm a subscriber and never got a letter lol

I'd like to know what will happen to mmds subscribers who are not allowed to install satellite dishes, there will be a lot of pished off people I'd say !

The Cush

mamax wrote: »

I'm a subscriber and never got a letter lol

I'd like to know what will happen to mmds subscribers who are not allowed to install satellite dishes, there will be a lot of pished off people I'd say !

They appear to be switching off the transmitters on a phased basis. This poster in S Tipperary got the letter late August informing him the service was ending a month later. Maybe starting with smaller transmitters sites first and ending with the those that cover a larger subscriber base.

There is nothing UPC/VM can do about people who cannot install dishes, the communications regulator is withdrawing the licence under an EU regulation.

Will you report back when the letter eventually arrives?

Edit: I see you don't have any problems installing a dish

mamax wrote: »

I have 3 x sky dishes and a 1.2m dish, all to the rear of my property and none over 4m high

mamax

Yep I'll let you know when it arrives, probably long after they have tried to sign me up to their mobile phone service lol

And no problem fitting dishes, but that would need a thread of its own

Elmo

The Cush wrote: »

Magnus Ternsjö, CEO of UPC/Virgin Media’s operations in Ireland, has been appointed as CEO of UPC Hungary with effect from Nov 1st.

http://www.irishtimes.com/business/media-and-marketing/virgin-s-irish-boss-magnus-ternsj%C3%B6-leaves-for-hungary-1.2388835
http://www.broadbandtvnews.com/2015/10/12/magnus-ternsjo-new-ceo-upc-hungary/

http://m.independent.ie/business/world/virgin-media-appoints-irish-ceo-34116122.html

New CEO announced as Tony Hanway.

mikeym

I saw a Virgin Media Billboard advertisment in Carrigaline today but theres no cable tv in Carrigaline and the MMDS Service has been discontinued.

Could they be expanding the cable network or was it a waste of money advertising in a town that isnt served by UPC/Virgin.

Grab All Association

mikeym wrote: »

I saw a Virgin Media Billboard advertisment in Carrigaline today but theres no cable tv in Carrigaline and the MMDS Service has been discontinued.

Could they be expanding the cable network or was it a waste of money advertising in a town that isnt served by UPC/Virgin.

Waste of money more likely

colm_mcm

There were broadband adverts all over the shopping centre in Ennis too. Just lack of common sense.

steveon

Vans all over Limerick now with the slogan "Showtime in no time" or somethink along those lines whatever that is actually suppose to mean anyone know?

mamax

colm_mcm wrote: »

There were broadband adverts all over the shopping centre in Ennis too. Just lack of common sense.

Now that is a daft thing to do lol

But as I type I'm thinking maybe some advertising company got paid to put those there, if so then that's a cheeky way for them to go about it :P

JDxtra

I thought the full cable product was available in Ennis.

mamax

JDxtra wrote: »

I thought the full cable product was available in Ennis.

Don't think so unless it became available recently

steveon

mamax wrote: »

Don't think so unless it became available recently

There always was cable in some parts of Ennis but it was Analog when I stopped installing for them and it was very poor where it was available...was it updated to bring broadband along as well

mamax

Not proper cable tho I'm sure, just estates fed with a mmds signal

steveon

mamax wrote: »

Not proper cable tho I'm sure, just estates fed with a mmds signal

No ennis had analog cable as well as mmds as i said it was very poor and was seldom used when i installed out there

Elmo

I am assuming that Virgin Media's mobile offering will be available across the country.

mikeym

steveon wrote: »

There always was cable in some parts of Ennis but it was Analog when I stopped installing for them and it was very poor where it was available...was it updated to bring broadband along as well

Back in the 90's Ennis had a big number of MMDS subscribers.

And now they probably have Sky. You would think Chorus/Upc would have invested in putting in Cable in Ennis before Sky Digital got popular.

steveon

mikeym wrote: »

Back in the 90's Ennis had a big number of MMDS subscribers.

And now they probably have Sky. You would think Chorus/Upc would have invested in putting in Cable in Ennis before Sky Digital got popular.

I totally agree but I can assure you the same people have been involved in the rollout of cable in Limerick and surround areas since it was called horizon multichannel and all names since and are pure incompetent

mamax

Just a heads up to anyone wanting to cancel their mmds sub before they ditch you you will need to send an email to resolutionteam@virginmedia.ie and beg them to cancel your account.

I spent 20 mins just now being transferred all over the place before they told me that :mad: