National Broadband Ireland : implementation and progress

Untruedetective · 24-12-2021 11:01AM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118369011#Comment_118369011

there are tens of thousands of homes just beyond eir fibre - I don’t know why people don’t kick up more of a fuss about not connecting directly into the eir network

listermint · 24-12-2021 11:43AM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118369002#Comment_118369002

Get EIR involved then what's stopping this juggernaut of lovely folks sorting this out to assist the NBP.

oscarBravo · 24-12-2021 01:34PM

...the price of dark fibre is regulated by Comreg...

It is, but access to it isn't mandated. If I were to go to open eir in the morning looking for dark fibre along a 300k rural route, the answer would be no. If I were to seek access to poles and ducts to run my own fibre, the answer would be yes, because CEI is a regulated access product and they're not allowed to say no.

You can't build a national infrastructure project on a product that isn't for sale. The fact that the regulator has set a maximum price for it in the vanishingly unlikely event that it should somehow become available doesn't make it a generally available product.

Untruedetective · 24-12-2021 02:24PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118369592#Comment_118369592

You do a commercial deal under contract - I don’t think eir have said they wouldn’t be open to that - and the net result is you roll the network out faster. That should be the key objective.

clohamon · 24-12-2021 02:45PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118369592#Comment_118369592

ComReg are currently holding a Call for Input on the Broadband Cost Reduction Directive (see below) which should theoretically be giving operators the right to discover/survey/access the unused physical infrastructure of other Telcos. (subject to conditions). Dark Fibre is considered physical infrastructure when owned by Electronic Communications Networks but not when owned by other utilities for the purposes of that other utility. eg fibre for ESB network management.

TL;DR The question posed by ComReg is why is the Directive/Regulation such an abysmal failure in Ireland.

A3(2). Member States shall ensure that, upon written request of an undertaking providing or authorised to provide public communications networks, any network operator has the obligation to meet all reasonable requests for access to its physical infrastructure under fair and reasonable terms and conditions, including price, with a view to deploying elements of high-speed electronic communications networks. Such written request shall specify the elements of the project for which the access is requested, including a specific time frame.

oscarBravo · 24-12-2021 04:58PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118369773#Comment_118369773

Faster is not the only objective. Certainty over at least 25 years is at least as important if not more so.

I get that the idea of simply plugging into dark fibre is an attractive one. What I'm saying is that I'm unaware that open eir have a documented track record of actually making rural dark fibre available for the asking.

Untruedetective · 24-12-2021 07:06PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118345820#Comment_118345820

This suggested there was a deal to be done on DF….

dollylama · 24-12-2021 11:01PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118369592#Comment_118369592

Not to distract from the topic too much but what's the reasoning for eir not offering access to their rural fibre strands? Is it just eir being stubborn or are there capacity/design issues or regulatory issues to overcome?

You'd imagine there would be high demand for rural dark fibre access for mobile telcos, WISP's, road authorities, etc.

Bass Reeves · 24-12-2021 11:58PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118371248#Comment_118371248

The original tender process was ill taught out from the start. There is Reason to believe that the Dept of Communication taught it could achieve competition through using a subsidised broadband program just like we taught we could create energy competition by forcing the ESB to rise it prices.

After Eir challenged the original tender the decision to continue down that line was ill taught out. No matter who won the contract they were going to have to deal with Eir for use of there pole network. It would be hilarious if it was not so serious, that Comm Reg got overruled on giving NBI perefencial rates of access that was over ruled by the EU. DF is very vaulable. You can have virtually unlimited network capacity on DF its not much use going to the ass end of nowhere but is very vaulable between towns and villages. Yes the demand for DF is there but if you put it in you would try to protect it too or at least gets it real commercial value when giving access. There is another factor with DF that is if you put in fiber you want to retain capacity for your own expansion. Regulators when you give access to anything anything will not allow you to retain capacity for yourself unless parameters are agreed in advance.....and even then regulators may try to overrule those parameters to force you to expand the network.

Bass Reeves · 25-12-2021 12:05AM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118364695#Comment_118364695

8km is nothing distance wise in this scheme. Even at present NBI would be hitting that from sone of there network centers. It nothing untill thet hit the west of Ireland and try to provide fibre broadband along the Atlantic coast. They are overrunning the eir network but have way less network centers and at present are only scratching the surface of reural area's.

Bass Reeves · 25-12-2021 12:10AM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118369230#Comment_118369230

There is no point in eir getting involved in duplicating NBI network. Eir may duplicate it in places to access what it thinks or can prove are ''commercial'' projects. If the Regulator/Dept wanted to maximise progress it would have to set parameters so that neither NBI or eir duplicated the others network. There is absolutely no advantage in having a free for all.

ECO_Mental · 26-12-2021 12:48AM

My NBI 1Gbps connection took a right hammering today and I was impressed.....got a new xbox off Santa to had to to download all my games or get updates. It ramped up to about a steady 500+/mbps downloading games which was about the same as an internal network transfer. (moving from my old xbox to the new) total for today was 350 GB so far

Sorry to rub it in but just to let you guys know it a solid connection when you get it.

Gary kk · 26-12-2021 01:17AM

It's all good sure your playing battlefield so we know you have your own issues 😃

ECO_Mental · 26-12-2021 01:47AM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118373409#Comment_118373409

COD man myself....😉 never touch Battlefield but the kids do....so I have to download it🙄

mp3guy · 28-12-2021 02:30PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118357257#Comment_118357257

When I was having mine installed a couple months ago the engineer said they'd put in a few 5Gbps business installs already, probably much bigger HW though I'd imagine. Am curious what the 2Gbps HW is though, with Digiweb also.

WestWicklow1 · 28-12-2021 03:13PM

Update (in bold)...

Area: West Wicklow. Specifically the lane I live on. Blessington DA.

September 2020: One man and an Actavo/NBI van doing a survey.

December 2020: One man taking pictures of poles etc.

26th March 2021: Contractors cutting hedges and trees.

30th August 2021: A crew arrived and strung fiber between the poles.

During the week of 11th Oct 2021 to 15th Oct 2021, a crew arrived and installed a lot of DPs (much more than I expected).

~~Anticipated availability: October 2021 - December 2021.~~

~~Anticipated availability: January 2022 - April 2022.~~

Anticipated date for connection: April 2022 - June 2022

28th December 2021: My EirCode has moved to "Available for pre-order" in the last few days.

heavydawson · 28-12-2021 06:44PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118381700#Comment_118381700

Are they doing a 5gbps product? I don't see any listed in their docs:

https://nbi.ie/service-provider-portal/NBI%20Reference%20Offer%20Bitstream%20and%20VUA%20v2.1%20-%2028092021%20(Clean).pdf

mp3guy · 28-12-2021 07:37PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118382721#Comment_118382721

Hmm strange, perhaps the engineer was mistaken, he definitely mentioned some bigger capacity they had installed for some businesses. Looks like 2Gbps is pushed to Q2 2022 according to the Product Roadmap

heavydawson · 28-12-2021 08:27PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118382952#Comment_118382952

Looks to still be launching in Q1 '22 per the product roadmap here (https://nbi.ie/service-provider-portal/NBI%20Product%20Roadmap%2008.10.2021%20(1).pdf) ?

The service providers were due to be notified by NBI about the specific launch date for it in 2nd half of Q4 this year.

Will be interested to see:

Which ISPs offer it
If it's available in all DAs, or will be rolled out on a phased, DA-by-DA basis

mp3guy · 28-12-2021 08:42PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118383147#Comment_118383147

Ah you're right, I misread that. Would be a shame if Digiweb didn't offer it.

clohamon · 30-12-2021 08:54PM

https://www.con-telegraph.ie/2021/12/30/nbi-delivering-broadband-to-two-mayo-islands/

NBI has completed the engineering survey and design phase of the project on the islands, with four (Collanmore, Eighter, Eadarinins/Inishcoo and Rutland) currently under construction, meaning service activation is currently scheduled for Q1 2022.

The quality and broadband speeds available on the islands will be at the same level as homes connected through the NBP on the mainland. As of today, the NBI network is offering users a high-speed broadband service with a minimum download speed of 500Mbps from the outset and with the option to avail of a 1Gbps service.

clohamon · 04-01-2022 04:15PM

From a previous mini-discussion on VOIP Battery Backup Units to manage an ESB outage.

ComReg have produced a document reiterating the obligations of providers e.g., NBI retailers (see page 7 & 8)

New subscribers must be provided with the following information in advance of entering into a non-PSTN[*] contract:

i. details of the technology being used, and

ii. details of any limitations of the technology and potential limitations in the

event of a power outage.

Existing subscribers must be provided with the following information one to three months in advance of a change to a non-PSTN service of the following:

i. the change in technology that may impact on the subscribers’ access and use of PATS[**] in the event of a power outage; and

ii. the change may have an effect on access to emergency services or caller location information.

*non-Public Switched Telephone Network i.e. VOIP

**Publicly Accessible Telephone System i.e., calls to and from landline and mobile numbers

ComReg say they may do this or that in the future but in the meantime they will be doing nothing. They offer no other advice on what to do, other than to use a mobile phone.

heavydawson · 04-01-2022 05:27PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118416548#Comment_118416548

NBI updated their docs around in-home services in December, including details on the UPS https://nbi.ie/service-provider-portal/ (See Low Level Process Document - In-Home Services) (See page 6)

Based on their product roadmap, those services are due for launch in Q1 2022

xxyyzz · 04-01-2022 05:31PM

Digiweb have scheduled a site survey of my house this Friday. For anyone who has been connected, is there much of a wait between this step and connection or can I start getting excited?