Eir rural FTTH thread

sennah

The "blue lines" do not represent openeir infrastructure and do not start or end at certain poles. They are simply segments of the Ordnance Survey vectored road network over-layed on a Mapbox map. You can look at the Ordnance Survey's public map here to compare

From my brief analysis of some areas, it would appear they identified clusters of houses within x kilometers of the exchange or cabinet and then ran the lines to these clusters using any and every route possible. This could explain why in some housing estates you see the blue line running up the road into the estate and also up the farmers track behind the estate

Elsewhere, I have found some bizzare instances where the blue lines are running over cattle tracks in mountains where openeir most certainly do not have infrastructure but the Ordnance Survey have the track mapped. This could mean they used some sort of shortest route algorithm when drawing the lines. This alone leaves some silly mapping as I have found, in one area, two points only 50 meters apart served by entirely different spurs... one along a main road and one across a cattle track in a mountain! You can also see where the blue line is running along a main road only to stop dead in the middle of nowhere which could mean they set a maximum distance limit from each exchange or cabinet

I think folks are getting a little worked up about blue lines stopping 10 meters from their gate. Where I see blue lines in a village or on a road, I'll take it to mean openeir intend to bring FTTH to this general area

murphaph

I would agree entirely with the poster above but for the fact the NBP is looming large. There must be accurate mapping of the non-intervention areas so the intervention areas can be defined or the state will end up in European hot water.

I think the blue lines have been generated with an algorithm rather than following any defined infrastructure in Eir ownership. But Eir may have to formally commit to serve those places (not necessarily with ftth but reaching the 30meg) or they risk losing the whole lot to the NBP, which they clearly wish to avoid.

KOR101

sennah wrote: »

I think folks are getting a little worked up about blue lines stopping 10 meters from their gate. Where I see blue lines in a village or on a road, I'll take it to mean openeir intend to bring FTTH to this general area

I agree. There is no way those lines are the well thought out commercial implementation that Eir would actually do.

murphaph wrote: »

I would agree entirely with the poster above but for the fact the NBP is looming large. There must be accurate mapping of the non-intervention areas so the intervention areas can be defined or the state will end up in European hot water.

I think the blue lines have been generated with an algorithm rather than following any defined infrastructure in Eir ownership. But Eir may have to formally commit to serve those places (not necessarily with ftth but reaching the 30meg) or they risk losing the whole lot to the NBP, which they clearly wish to avoid.

But, as things stand the Govt have not accepted the Eir's plan, and Eir appear to be trying to do an end run around giving formal commitments. They are still pretty financially pressed.

What you could say, is that Eir need to revise the blue lines for the 100,000 houses. Otherwise, they have little chance in being taken serious by the EU if there were to be a legal complaint.

Gonzo

The above certainly sounds realistic although im sure they did throw their eye over what the mapping did and will make edits to lines that may be inaccurate or not complete. I would still guess that the majority of whats mapped will happen except for the lines that don't make any sense going nowhere etc. I don't think there will be any wild changes from what's shown on that map.

Certainly where I live the mapping of the blue lines match's up very closely with the number of houses that Eircom plan to complete at our exchange during Autumn/Winter 2016.

With Phase 1 hopefully starting construction within the next 2 to 3 months we will soon know if all our guessing is in any way accurate!

tsue921i8wljb3

Gonzo wrote: »

With Phase 1 hopefully starting construction within the next 2 to 3 months we will soon know if all our guessing is in any way accurate!

Has there been an official announcement that work will not start for 2 or 3 months? With 100000 premises to complete I would have expected work to have already commenced. We have seen with the Siro rollout that it can take longer than expected, blocked ducts etc. Twelve months is still massively ambitious imo.

Gonzo

Allison Puny Appetite wrote: »

Has there been an official announcement that work will not start for 2 or 3 months? With 100000 premises to complete I would have expected work to have already commenced. We have seen with the Siro rollout that it can take longer than expected, blocked ducts etc. Twelve months is still massively ambitious imo.

what i meant by work starting is the actual laying of fibre, I dont think this has started anywhere yet for the first 100,000 homes/premises. The only work that has started so far is cutting hedges and replacing old poles. Im only guessing that work will start within the next 2 months. Last weeks announcement also came with the news of 50 apprenticeships to be included with this project and Eir outlined that those positions won't start till July so at a wild guess they will propably start around May/June but yeah I agree work should start much sooner than that. Im keeping an eye on my area and hopefully will get to see work starting within the next few weeks.

The first phase has exchanges down for Autumn/Winter 2016 and Winter 2016 with a completion date of about this time next year.

bk

Remember, just because you aren't seeing work going on on the ground, doesn't mean that there isn't an incredible amount of work going on in the background. A project like this requires a massive amount of planning and preparation.

All the Eir linesmen need to be retrained in the deployment and repair of this, new for most of them, fiber technology. While obviously Eir has some staff experienced in fibre for backhaul, etc., the majority were only experienced in copper tech and they will need retraining.

Also massive amounts of fiber and fiber equipment needs to be ordered and shipped into the country.

It is truly a massive undertaking. Also remember that most of this work is going to be done up poles, you don't do that sort of work during winter other then for essential maintenance. We are only coming into the season and weather where this sort of work would now typically start.

grouchyman

I'm getting a wee bit concerned as I see a few people have comments in this and other threads casting doubts on the veracity of Eir's blue lines.

I have a blue line running right past my house and the Eir map indicates that the exchange will be upgraded within 12 months.

The question is - should I park the sense of "Finally its happening"I've been feeling since I found all this out and replace it with the more usual sense of frustration or am I more likely than not to get Fibre in a year (realise it might take a bit longer than that.)?

ED E

grouchyman wrote: »

I have a blue line running right past my house and the Eir map indicates that the exchange will be upgraded within 12 months.

The question is - should I park the sense of "Finally its happening"I've been feeling since I found all this out and replace it with the more usual sense of frustration or am I more likely than not to get Fibre in a year (realise it might take a bit longer than that.)?

The exchange being done within 12 months is a completely different rollout to the blue lines. If you're far enough away from the exchange to be on a blue then chances are the exchange going VDSL won't help you. That means sometime 2017-2020 is the current window for you.

legocrazy505

grouchyman wrote: »

I'm getting a wee bit concerned as I see a few people have comments in this and other threads casting doubts on the veracity of Eir's blue lines.

I have a blue line running right past my house and the Eir map indicates that the exchange will be upgraded within 12 months.

The question is - should I park the sense of "Finally its happening"I've been feeling since I found all this out and replace it with the more usual sense of frustration or am I more likely than not to get Fibre in a year (realise it might take a bit longer than that.)?

Don't get excited by anything any ISP claims to do until it's right there at your door. No point getting high hopes about potential 1gbps within five years until it's actually confirmed to be coming to your house specifically.

Gonzo

I think what is supposed to happen is that the exchanges listed 2 weeks ago in the first phase of the FTTH Rural Rollout will get upgraded to FTTH for people along the blue lines in that exchange during the second half of this year and into the first quarter of 2017.

My reading into it is that people in those exchange who are connected to a cabinet will not get FTTH unless they are at the very outer reaches of it and living along a blue line. It will be mainly the people who are along a blue line with basic internet will get FTTH.

Then a poster this week proved that the blue lines were drawn from the ordinance survey maps road network which explains why there are some weird instances of blue lines going where nobody lives or taking a weird path to certain homes.

This is slightly more worrying development in that the lines were auto generated. My guess is originally this would have generated blue lines throughout every road in the country and someone in Eir would have had to delete blue lines from the areas that are not planned and left the blue lines in areas that they plan to cover. The blue lines have had minor alterations to them in some areas since they were first published so it seems eir are keeping an eye on them and perhaps updating mistakes made by the generator.

Another guess is that perhaps they are paying closer attention to the blue lines in the first phase for accuracy compared to exchanges that may not be looked at till after 2017. I think most people who are living along a blue line have nothing to worry about especially those who are living along ribbon developments.

It would be the homes that are far away from the exchange in isolated very rural locations and one-off housing along a blue line that I would be more worried about for accuracy.

What I would like to see soon tho is the Extreme checker issuing a good news message that Fibre Extreme is coming soon to numbers that will be supported within the next 12 months just to put peoples minds at ease.

pegasus1

ED E wrote: »

The exchange being done within 12 months is a completely different rollout to the blue lines. If you're far enough away from the exchange to be on a blue then chances are the exchange going VDSL won't help you. That means sometime 2017-2020 is the current window for you.

Their are exchanges here in Kilkenny being upgraded FTTH that havent had FTTC... This year..And they are bluelined...

ED E

pegasus1 wrote: »

Their are exchanges here in Kilkenny being upgraded FTTH that havent had FTTC... This year..And they are bluelined...

Yes, some areas are seeing that, but the "XXX_E01 is going live on X" messages only relate to FTTC.

plodder

So, given that the blue lines are running into housing estates in some places and typically in these places, phone lines are directed through underground ducting, does that mean they are going to be pulling fibre through these ducts? Or would they put an FTTC cabinet there?

Gonzo

plodder wrote: »

So, given that the blue lines are running into housing estates in some places and typically in these places, phone lines are directed through underground ducting, does that mean they are going to be pulling fibre through these ducts? Or would they put an FTTC cabinet there?

Thats probably the only thing im not sure about. Most exchanges that will be upgraded to FTTH have the rural blue lines going through built up areas/estates in order to get into the countryside.

Most housing estates already have cabinets providing fast FTTC access. I am guessing fibre along blue lines will only be available to those who live beyond the last cabinet out from most villages/town routes to serve people who have very low speeds from FTTC and those who have just standard broadband available to them at the moment.

I reckon to provide FTTH to those estates along the way would demand much more fibre to be laid in order to provide FTTH to all the houses in each estate and that's another project for another time.

Untill Eir update their website to provide a more detailed breakdown within the exchanges and individual homes using the line checker all we can do is guess between looking at the lines and the amount of homes/premises that Eir plan to cover in each exchange.

Gonzo

Eir are beginning to tweet about individual rollouts for the first rollouts of the FTTH rural scheme to 100,000 homes and mentioning TD's with the tweets. https://twitter.com/openeir

Gonzo

I think Eir might have made the first start to the rural blue lines here in Dunshaughlin. I could be wrong but I was driving towards Dunshaughlin and spotted KN road work signs about 1km from my house and then near Dunshaughlin about 200meters from the last cabinet a group of KN guys working down at the start of the duct which runs for 1.5km before entering where I live where the lines then appear above ground and run on poles. They appeared to be doing alot of digging.

They have signs up saying KN working on behalf of Eir. Also spotted 2 other KN vans on another side of Dunshaughlin and then on towards Dunboyne saw another KN van with Eir enginners looking at another duct near the Fairyhouse Cross on the old N3.

If it wasnt such a wet horrible day I would take a walk and ask them is that the rural FTTH they are starting work on!.

KOR101

Gonzo wrote: »

If it wasnt such a wet horrible day I would take a walk and ask them is that the rural FTTH they are starting work on!.

Oh, for God's sake!

daraghwal

KOR101 wrote: »

Oh, for God's sake!

What's wrong with that?

pegasus1

There is such a thing called a raincoat...:rolleyes:

legocrazy505

Gonzo wrote: »

I think Eir might have made the first start to the rural blue lines here in Dunshaughlin. I could be wrong but I was driving towards Dunshaughlin and spotted KN road work signs about 1km from my house and then near Dunshaughlin about 200meters from the last cabinet a group of KN guys working down at the start of the duct which runs for 1.5km before entering where I live where the lines then appear above ground and run on poles. They appeared to be doing alot of digging.

They have signs up saying KN working on behalf of Eir. Also spotted 2 other KN vans on another side of Dunshaughlin and then on towards Dunboyne saw another KN van with Eir enginners looking at another duct near the Fairyhouse Cross on the old N3.

If it wasnt such a wet horrible day I would take a walk and ask them is that the rural FTTH they are starting work on!.

KN were doing work at our village around mid March. They weren't doing FTTH though since nobody within a 2km radius is down for that (well actually there is people getting FTTH less than 2km but they are in a different exchange).

So just to point out to people this happening doesn't mean you'll be getting FTTH, for here they were either setting stuff up for FTTC or setting up a business connection to the local shop (which I really don't want to see as a kid I really dislike lives there).

They've also put in a cabinet in the village after us (which is in a different exchange) but it appears the map hasn't updated to say construction has started on it. I saw an Eir engineer doing some work inside it a few days back.

daraghwal

pegasus1 wrote: »

There is such a thing called a raincoat...:rolleyes:

Oh, I thought they meant why would they ask is it FTTH :rolleyes:

Gonzo

legocrazy505 wrote: »

KN were doing work at our village around mid March. They weren't doing FTTH though since nobody within a 2km radius is down for that (well actually there is people getting FTTH less than 2km but they are in a different exchange).

So just to point out to people this happening doesn't mean you'll be getting FTTH, for here they were either setting stuff up for FTTC or setting up a business connection to the local shop (which I really don't want to see as a kid I really dislike lives there).

They've also put in a cabinet in the village after us (which is in a different exchange) but it appears the map hasn't updated to say construction has started on it. I saw an Eir engineer doing some work inside it a few days back.

This is different tho, there are no shops near this location, its surrounded by green fields, no more cabinets are planned for Dunshaughlin and there are already 3 cabinets very close to this location. There is a new housing development being built close to this location but it's no more than 5 or 6 houses.

Earlier on they were working along a 200 metre stretch of road, 3 holes dug open with a digger along the duct, they seemed to be putting cement blocks down as well. and had huge rolls of yellow cable of some sort.

I'll know next week if this is part of the FTTH rural rollout as they only started work on this today.

legocrazy505

Gonzo wrote: »

legocrazy505 wrote: »

KN were doing work at our village around mid March. They weren't doing FTTH though since nobody within a 2km radius is down for that (well actually there is people getting FTTH less than 2km but they are in a different exchange).

So just to point out to people this happening doesn't mean you'll be getting FTTH, for here they were either setting stuff up for FTTC or setting up a business connection to the local shop (which I really don't want to see as a kid I really dislike lives there).

They've also put in a cabinet in the village after us (which is in a different exchange) but it appears the map hasn't updated to say construction has started on it. I saw an Eir engineer doing some work inside it a few days back.

This is different tho, there are no shops near this location, its surrounded by green fields, no more cabinets are planned for Dunshaughlin and there are already 3 cabinets very close to this location. There is a new housing development being built close to this location but it's no more than 5 or 6 houses.

Earlier on they were working along a 200 metre stretch of road, 3 holes dug open with a digger along the duct, they seemed to be putting cement blocks down as well. and had huge rolls of yellow cable of some sort.

I'll know next week if this is part of the FTTH rural rollout as they only started work on this today.

Wasn't questioning if your place was getting any FTTH work done, just cautioning people who see KN workers around and automatically assume it's FTTH just because they're digging holes in the ground.

rob808

legocrazy505 wrote: »

Wasn't questioning if your place was getting any FTTH work done, just cautioning people who see KN workers around and automatically assume it's FTTH just because they're digging holes in the ground.

That fair enough but work will start happen now until March 2017 when phase 1 complete. it be interesting to see if eir win a NBP lot to see how they work that in 2017.

daraghwal

After the 100,000 are done how many more homes are left to get any sort of fibre?

pegasus1

rob808 wrote: »

That fair enough but work will start happen now until March 2017 when phase 1 complete. it be interesting to see if eir win a NBP lot to see how they work that in 2017.

Ne pas comprendre!

rob808

pegasus1 wrote: »

Ne pas comprendre!

you don't understand what?I said it in plain English I guess your referring to if Eir won a NBP lot how would they work that into there plan is that what you don't understand.

pegasus1

rob808 wrote: »

you don't understand what?I said it in plain English I guess your referring to if Eir won a NBP lot how would they work that into there plan is that what you don't understand.

Let me explain by showing you.

That is fair enough, but work will start to happen from now until March 2017, when phase 1 should be completed.
It will be interesting to see if Eir win one of the two NBP contracts to see how they work that in, in 2017.

Just saying...

ED E

pegasus1 wrote: »

Let me explain by showing you.

That is fair enough, but work will start to happen from now until March 2017, when phase 1 should be completed.
It will be interesting to see if Eir win one of the two NBP contracts to see how they work that in, in 2017.

Just saying...

Wow, you're good at that. Must have spent some time doing translations for AH's Facebook Status thread

This is a technical forum, a certain level of diction and due care is appreciated.