No landline available.

orchidsrpretty

Hi all hope this is the right forum. Have recently moved out to the country . On our land is a electrical pole and for this reason the enigeer that came out to connect our lines has said we are unable to run a line into the house as it will cross the electricity lines.

So what are our options? I haven't a clue about anything past plugging a router into the phone socket which isn't a option here.

Thanks in advance for any input.

flaneur

You may need to press that with who ever you ordered it from and also OpenEir (eircom wholesale) if you can’t get a line.

There are other options using wireless broadband providers like Imagine who can provide you a landline that works using voip much like the way Virgin does it over their cable tv broadband network.

You can also use a voip service like Goldfish or Blueface which provide voice services. These are great if you’re running a home office and need more flexibility. They just connect over any reliable and reasonably fast broadband line.

The main thing is you need to figure out what broadband options are available where you are. I would suggest asking neighbors and doing a bit of online research and ringing the companies up.

Eir and fixed lines aren’t the only options and often on long lines the broadband is next to useless anyway so you’re better off going with wireless.

niallb

You'll have to run it underground I presume.
It might be a pain depending on the distance, but it shouldn't be a show stopper.
How far from the road and telephone poles is the house?

flaneur

Definitely check out which makes more sense though. A landline that doesn’t support broadband could be a bit of waste of time anyway.

I wouldn’t get overly bogged down on it if there are good wireless alternatives as they’ll be superior to a long landline with just ADSL anyway.

orchidsrpretty

Thanks all. My next door neighbours have a landline and broadband as there is no issues with wires there. the first engineer suggested underground lines but the second did not as we would have to run it though the neighbours property.

I'm not really interested in the phone line, I just wanted it to get broadband.

So what's involved in getting a wireless set up? Is it comparable to 'regular' broadband? Is a 4g router thing a good option either? I would only want it for downloading and streaming Netflix etc.

Thanks again.

srsly78

Not comparable, get proper broadband instead. Remote areas also usually have crap mobile signal, so 4g may not work very well despite what advertising says.

Eir MUST provide you with a landline if requested I believe, it's not your problem it's theirs.

orchidsrpretty

srsly78 wrote: »

Not comparable, get proper broadband instead. Remote areas also usually have crap mobile signal, so 4g may not work very well despite what advertising says.

Eir MUST provide you with a landline if requested I believe, it's not your problem it's theirs.

Really??!! Have never hear that before! The first enigeer said they would provide one free pole and after that they were €80 each or something like that. The second guy who came out said there is no way to get a landline to the house. We could put a request but considering it's only our house on the road they wouldn't provide it. ( both these guys are from eir)

Just rang up pure telecom as they advertise wireless broadband but apparently you need a landline for it. Looks like this is going to be a tough challenge.

I barely have 3G coverage on my phone so it would probably be the same for 4g?

srsly78

Yeah probably no 4g at all.

Hmm I may have confused electricity with telephone, maybe Eir don't have to go out of their way.

niallb

You cant rule out 3G or 4G in an area until you've tried all the providers.
On our road between three neighbours we were all on different mobile providers because even 100m down the road the signal that worked for you had disappeared.
This site might help you find out what masts are nearby. http://siteviewer.comreg.ie/

If you own the land, it's worthwhile putting ducting in because it will be eventually used for fiber.
If you're renting, 4G with a decent antenna is probably the best return you'll get on a reasonable investment.
A decent plug in 4G router will get a stronger connection from a poor signal than your phone will,
and you can also add an external antenna for a bit more boost unless there's nothing there at all.
Getting the receiver outside the house can immediately make a difference, so even check your phone outside before ruling it out.

flaneur

You'll usually have some non mobile wireless options available too like possibly Imagine LTE, Digiweb Metro, Lightnet, Nova Broadband and a lot of smaller operators with local coverage.

Google around and ask the neighbours they can be decent enough options. The speeds are usually not as good as VDSL or cable and be very careful to check for data allowance / cap policies. Some are reasonable and others are very restrictive.

raxy

I would try out mobile operators first. If you have acceptable coverage it'll probably do for Netflix.
I had used it before in a few places. Signal was patchy & had trouble using phones but the router would work, just had to position it in certain windows to get best signal.
You do have to be careful in case you go over your allowance though which is easier said then done.
If you could borrow a router to test would be best in case it doesn't work for you.

ED E

srsly78 wrote: »

Not comparable, get proper broadband instead. Remote areas also usually have crap mobile signal, so 4g may not work very well despite what advertising says.

Eir MUST provide you with a landline if requested I believe, it's not your problem it's theirs.

Nope.

They USED to have to provide it if it would cost them less than €7000. Now though they can give you Radio AFL which is just a wireless home phone with no broadband.

orchidsrpretty

Thanks all. Bought a second hand 4g router and it seems to be doing the job. Can stream Netflix so happy enough.