National Broadband Ireland : implementation and progress

heavydawson

https://www.irishtimes.com/business/technology/eir-to-roll-out-gigabit-fibre-to-a-further-200-000-premises-1.4644070?localLinksEnabled=false

heavydawson

Not clear if it's encroaching on the IA

heavydawson

From the BP:

Eir is to expand its fibre broadband network to a further 200,000 homes and businesses across the country.

The telecoms firm has announced an expansion of its gigabit fibre network to include the upgrade of 200,000 premises across the country from its existing fibre-to-the-cabinet (FTTC) connection.

The expansion will bring the number of homes and businesses passed by Eir’s newer fibre-to-the-home (FTTH) network to 1.9 million, representing 84 per cent of premises across the country.

Eir said the decision to upgrade the FTTC connection to FTTH for these customers was motivated by the increasing demand for quality broadband arising out of the Covid-19 pandemic.

“Our purpose is, and always will be, to connect for a better Ireland and we do this by building world-class fibre networks as we understand that high-speed broadband has become absolutely essential to support the way we work, live, do business, socialise and connect,” Eavann Murphy, the managing director at Open Eir, the company’s wholesale arm, said.

“We continuously monitor the connection rates of our fibre network and we have seen connections to our rural network more than double in the last 18 months, signifying the increased requirements for high-speed connectivity of homes and businesses in Ireland. The pandemic has transformed our needs and what was sufficient for the average family home before is no longer adequate.”

The 200,000 premises set to benefit from the expansion of the FTTH gigabit network are dispersed across every county in Ireland, in more than 800 locations, predominantly in smaller communities.

They currently have an Eir connection which delivers speeds of 30Mbs or greater and will be upgraded to full gigabit access as part of the expansion of the network announced today.

None of these premises were included in the National Broadband Plan which National Broadband Ireland is rolling out at present.

Eir’s infrastructure is being used to rollout the state’s multi-billion-euro rural broadband plan and Murphy said the company was proud of its role in that scheme.

“We are proud that Open Eir is building the fibre-to-the-home broadband network of the future, for all of Ireland. Our ambition is to leave no one behind and we are actively supporting the National Broadband Plan,” she said.

“Open Eir’s broadband network, combined with the NBP, will mean Ireland will have a ubiquitous gigabit fibre network, making this one of the most connected countries in the world.

“The upgrade of all premises, both homes and businesses, to a gigabit fibre connection will enable customers to live and work anywhere they choose in Ireland, while being connected with highspeed fibre – an absolute essential.”

So it's all FTTC -> FTTH upgrades. No encroachment on the IA

Orebro

That's super news for those left in the grey area of not being covered by NBP but stuck with FTTC connections - delighted for them!

Gunner3629

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117736464#Comment_117736464

Yeah positive. It was going to happen at some stage. It never made sense having someone in Longford having 1Gbps and someone in a town of 10k surviving on VDSL (30Mbps-100Mbps). Its a race now whether Siro or OpenEir will get to those towns first.

joe123

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117736464#Comment_117736464

Purely selfish its **** news for those within the NBI IA. OpenEir will be upgrading folk on 30-100Mb FTTC while others will remain stuck on 2Mb - 14Mb for upwards of the next 7 years.

Really hoped the rumours of Openeir getting involved to speed the rollout up was part of this 200k.

heavydawson

There's a few more specifics in the Independents article:

https://www.independent.ie/business/irish/eir-to-add-200000-homes-to-itsreal-fibre-broadband-roll-out-40739794.html

Instead, they will be in villages and towns of under 1,000 residents, previously deemed too small for Eir’s fibre rollout.

...It has an overall target of 2024 to have 80pc of the country’s homes ‘passed’ with fibre-to-the-home cabling.

Orebro

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117737545#Comment_117737545

Plus they'll fly through it after gaining huge experience on doing it previously and also owning all the poles etc.

heavydawson

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117737851#Comment_117737851

I wonder how many of them won't involve any poles at all? I assumed a lot of these would be in estates scattered across the country where it was mostly pre-existing ducting that had been used for xDSL from the cabinet. How many FTTC connections continue via poles to the homes? Anyone got any idea?

EarWig

If they hadn't done this there was a risk they would have eventually been brought into the NBI plan.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117737545#Comment_117737545

They are excluded from running out fibre in NBP areas

The Cush

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117738872#Comment_117738872

They're not you know, in fact there is a section of the NBP contract that compensates NBI for the loss of premises in the IA if it happens

tina1040

I'm in Dublin in a regular street and the map says I'm not in an intervention area. I thought the rollout plan was for rural areas that couldn't get connected. So it looks like I'm stuck with the low speed for the foreseeable.

johnnyboy08

How does eir's 200k rollout compare to their rural rollout and NBP? Can they guarantee the lowest available speed of 500Mbps and offer optical hardware that is future proofed?

Xithus

Is there a list of the areas being upgraded available yet?

Gunner3629

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117740620#Comment_117740620

No list but they've updated the openeir website showing coverage of both 100Mpbs (efibre/vdsl) and 1Gbps (FTTH). So all the area's that are currently light blue in colour are part of that 200,000 figure that will be upgraded.

https://openeir.maps.arcgis.com/apps/instant/lookup/index.html?appid=a8fdd9780bd84f0799f99522c48f6e66

wexfordman2

Looking at my local area the blue areas are already served by eir fibre?

The Cush

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117741865#Comment_117741865

My local village is one of those blue areas, when open-eir were rolling rural FTTH they also connected premises within the blue area adjacent to the fibre cable run, the closest premises was probably within 200m-300m of the exchange with speeds in excess of 30 Mbps VDSL.

Pique

Whole lotta talk about Eir in this thread....

xxyyzz

It's strange in Tralee, the NBI guys are in town working in an estate that is not in the intervention area.

joe123

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117741296#Comment_117741296

Hmmm are you sure thats accurate? My area is covered in blue, but because of distance to the cabinet, pretty much our entire estate cant only get ~14Mb Down. As a result we are all in the IA (premises pending survey of course)

Im assuming Eir's latest news was only going to look at those outside of the IA so everything 30Mb - 100Mb FTTC. Everything below 30 would still be stuck in NBI's rollout.

Suppose the question then will be, is the 200k rollout covering ALL premises currently connected to FTTC or will they literally stop once speeds drop below 30Mb.

oscarBravo

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117742665#Comment_117742665

The blue areas on the new map don't indicate more than 30Mb/s, they indicate where VDSL is available. VDSL can go all the way down to 7Mb/s.

joe123

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117742716#Comment_117742716

Yep, I never said it indicated more than 30Mb. The poster mentioned "So all the area's that are currently light blue in colour are part of that 200,000 figure that will be upgraded."

But I dont believe thats the case. Its only homes connected to VDSL that can get 30Mb+ and therefore not in the NBI rollout no?

I'm on VDSL, 14Mb, covered in Eirs blue but I am in the IA so I dont believe Im part of Eirs 200k.

kaizersoze

I don't think we should pass much remarks on the new map. They just seem to have changed the green VDSL live areas to blue as a PR exercise with no regard to the reality on the ground.

NBAiii

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117742734#Comment_117742734

I think I said to you before, perhaps a few months ago that you would likely be connected by Openeir sooner than NBI. I think this just reinforces that.

There is some confusion in (open)eir stating that they will not encroach into intervention areas. I believe what they mean by this is that they are not currently planning to extend their rural fibre builds from where they stopped. However there are many premises that are nominally within the footprint of EVDSL exchanges or cabinets that are also in the intervention area. Are we to belive that they are going to skip these premises as they build out to their neighbours?

An exmple is Kilcormac in Offaly. Are they going to skip the red dots circled by amber as they build to the red dots in purple. I don't believe that they will.

Talking about eir's plans is important in this thread as the more premises that eir reach before NBI the less viable that NBI's business case becomes. If eir were to remove enough premises NBI crumbles. It is unlikely to happen but still worth noting.

fish fingers

This might be pure obvious, but how is the broadband brought from out on the boreen Rd into my house? I've previously had a land line which hasn't been used in a while.

Gunner3629

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117744433#Comment_117744433

Likely the same way you’re landline got to your home. Either underground duct or from pole to pole

NBAiii

The Government published a status update yesterday. 12000 premises currently passed, main build works complete in two DAs Cavan and Galway, 60000 premises target for 2021 amongst other details.

https://www.gov.ie/en/press-release/db0e3-update-on-the-delivery-of-the-national-broadband-plan/

AnthonyB

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117744801#Comment_117744801

If I have an underground duct from the road to my house, can they feed a new cable in through it? It's about 80m or so from the pole to the box on my house.

fish fingers

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117744801#Comment_117744801

I kinda thought that, just wanted to ask. I'm getting close now, the 19th is d day.