National Broadband Ireland : implementation and progress

oscarBravo

Simple solution: assign an Eircode when planning permission is granted. End. Of. Story. I will never understand why there's such stubborn resistance to such a simple and obvious idea.

heavydawson

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119918340#Comment_119918340

Planning permission can lapse, so what would happen to the Eircode then?

It should be when the certificate of completion is issued rather than planning granted. As in there should be something to actually send to, rather than a speculative "something might be built here sometime in the next 5 years".

oscarBravo

Planning permission can lapse, so what would happen to the Eircode then?

Retire it and eventually recycle it. They're not a scarce resource, and the ECAD database has an "under_construction" flag in the building_info table.

It should be when the certificate of completion is issued rather than planning granted. As in there should be something to actually send to, rather than a speculative "something might be built here sometime in the next 5 years".

I'll meet you have way: issue it on receipt of a commencement notice. I still think that's too late, but there seems to be some sort of systemic allergy to assigning Eircodes in a timeframe that would maximise their usefulness (for example, to facilitate the delivery of building materials).

I'd also observe that you can't even apply for planning permission without explaining how your electricity and water will be supplied and where your sewage will go, but broadband is an afterthought - until the occupiers have moved in and suddenly it's industry's problem to solve.

clohamon

I'd also observe that you can't even apply for planning permission without explaining how your electricity and water will be supplied and where your sewage will go, but broadband is an afterthought - until the occupiers have moved in and suddenly it's industry's problem to solve.

DHLGH are totally on it !

'https://assets.gov.ie/233592/1d79d4c8-a957-484f-8126-1b94657dd867.pdf'

(That would be the BCRD of 2014)

Quin_Dub

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119882389#Comment_119882389

Install set for this Thursday , have already had a pre-inspection visit so hopefully all goes well on the day.

smiddyboy

Hiya, my area has just moved to "Available for pre-order" as of today. How long, roughly, does it take for the NBI status update to show in the providers database.

Like many i am desperate to get those sweet fibre speeds and was wondering what others experience of the timeline from Pre-order to connection was.

Cheers!

Quin_Dub

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119941457#Comment_119941457

It was within the day for me , then moved to "ready to connect" about 2/3 weeks later and I'm getting installed in the morning!!

So for me it was :-

27/10 - "Available for Pre-Order"

16/11 - "Ready to Connect"

01/12 - Install date.

Quin_Dub

All done and activated..

Pretty happy with that :-)

heavydawson

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119944178#Comment_119944178

Which DA are you in? Congrats on finally getting connected.

Which ISP did you end up going with?

Quin_Dub

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119944188#Comment_119944188

I'm in the Kilkishen DA and I went with DigiWeb.

I'n one of the first ones connected in the DA - Apparently they activated 5 or 6 strings today so a good number should go live over the coming days.

wassie

Connected also today

05/10 - "Available for Pre-Order"

06/10 - Placed pre-order with VF @€35/month.

03/11 - Awaiting install date for VF. Contacted VF to see if they would match OneBigSwitch €30/month SKY offer (applies also to NBI). They didnt so cancelled pre-order with VF (no cost as install was service was not installed).

Note: if anyone cancels their order but has an install date, they will lose that date when they go with a new provider, whom will place a new order with NBI.

03/11 - Placed new order with Sky - was able to select an install date/time during booking process.

15/11 - 1st install visit unsuccessful due to blocked duct (countryside location)

01/12 - 2nd install visit (Civils team - route new cable).

Mobius2021

I'm living on the Limerick/Tipp border, about 15 minutes from Castletroy in Limerick. Reckon it's going to be a long time before I get fibre unfortunately.

We've been in a "Pending Survey" state in this area for years, anticipated date for connection is between January 2025 and December 2026. However given the pace of the roll-out I wouldn't be surprised to see that slip to 2027, 2028 or beyond.

Currently use a 4G router and Three SIM which is okay but can be heavily affected by contention. Varies from 3 to 60/70Mb/s but is typically around 10Mb/s in the evenings. Will keep with this setup for as long as possible and might consider Starlink If I need an alternative. Imagine are another alternative but they can load too many subscribers onto their hardware resulting in a lot of contention.

theguzman

How could a I get my hands on around 15 to 20 metres of that clear plastic ducting that NBI are using?

I plan to have a footpath and tarmac opened in the coming 2-4 weeks taking out power to a new garage before Christmas during this work and with tradesmen in I would dig a trench out to the Eircom pole which currently serves us overhead, the copper drop wire is 30 years old and a spruce tree in the intervening years has entombed it.

I'd do all the works myself now so they could pull the fibre in to the house or even better give me duct with fibre inside it? In summer 2014 I put in a duct for the fibre but had close it in with concrete as it became a tunnel for a plague of Mice who started using it.

smiddyboy

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119941523#Comment_119941523

Thanks for the info and congrats for getting connected.

I spoke to Sky as i'm in contract with them. I enquired about uprading as the NBI website says "available for pre-order". The guy i spoke to went to talk to the fibre team wh told him that it would be mid january before they could take the preorder, January 31st 2023 before it would be available for connection and mid-February before they could connect!

Seems like i'll be waiting a few more months!!😫

cyberwolfkorn

What made you go with Digiweb? I’m just trying to decide who to go with myself now.

TheBody

Exactly 3 weeks on Pre-order today. The waiting is killing me!! I want broadband NOW!!!!!!

Quin_Dub

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119950523#Comment_119950523

I was just looking for Broadband only ( not interested in phone/TV bundles) and the DigiWeb offer made the most sense for me and I'd heard good things about the support etc. certainly in comparison to some of the other providers.

joe123

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119945104#Comment_119945104

Yeah unfortunately I dont think there is a hope in hell of them achieving everything by 2026 now. Im in the same boat - pending survey with that two year 25/26 timeframe. My guess at this stage is by 2030 it will be completed.

Ive been checking in on their progress now and again and it has really ground to a halt in terms of surveys and areas like ours in that 25/26 timeframe. If you look at the map there are ALOT of areas still in that status. Like zero areas have been updated from that in over a year. All discussion and noise about accelerating it has fallen off a cliff too. Even the NBI's pace of social media updates have disappeared. There use to be regular "We are surveying in X areas".

I suspect they had to pause surveying to a certain extent, no point surveying an area if they dont expect to start work on it until 2026 or later. A lot can change during that time.

NBAiii

NBI numbers as of the 1st December. It seems that they will hit their revised 102000 premises passed target even earlier than anticipated.

Slates

In the Johnstown area.

Got the pre/order email today. 50mb download currently.. some massive change to 500 or 1000

gg3390

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119967237#Comment_119967237

Hello,

I note from the list above that our area (Loughrea DA) is currently slated on nbi.ie as "Ready to connect", however, according to NBI themselves areas marked as "available to order" will only be set as such once 80% or more of premises have services ready to deploy.

My problem is we are on a cul de sac. Loads of activity over the summer - DP's on poles, diggers replacing trunking, new manholes and fibre being pulled. However, since then no sign of anything. We were due for connection at my eircode during Nov-Dec22, but now its showing May-June 23. This is despite the house at the top of the cul de sac having gotten connected last week.

I emailed NBI twice on this, but no reply. Even tried their webchat - one reply was that maybe we are a marginal distance from the exchange !! (did he/she know anything about fibre technology???)

I think NBI are being quite disingenuous - Area available to order, but only 38% of premises can connect.

At the bottom of the cul de sac theres a roll of fibre hanging out of the duct. You'd think they would complete an area before moving on and at least be done with it. Appears to be very inifficient.....

Thanks

NBAiii

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119970396#Comment_119970396

NBI will mark an area as "Available to Order/ Pre-Order" if greater than 80% of premises fall into this definition. Loughrea currently has 92% in this status. The Pre-Order is where the confusion arises. The Pre-Order date can be up to six months in advance of actually being ready for service.

There is not really much you can do in your own situation bar wait for them to finish the work. Trying to get explanations from them will be fruitless, I'd imagine.

gg3390

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119970932#Comment_119970932

Thanks for the clarification.

Nope - not even a reply to queries, let alone an explaination.

Thank you.

heavydawson

https://www.independent.ie/business/technology/government-to-make-high-speed-broadband-the-law-under-new-uso-pledge-42206200.html

Eir already says it intends to cover 1.9m premises with fibre-to-the-premises, sort of replacing its copper lines anyway. But this law would effectively oblige it to cover all non-NBP premises with fibre. No more unexplained gaps in towns, estates, suburbs or rural areas.

clohamon

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119972308#Comment_119972308

I can't find that quotation (13:24pm) maybe he's edited the piece.

Not sure what broadband law he's talking about. The EU Directives enabling a broadband USO have been law since 2002. The current Directive has been EU law for 4 years.

Affordable universal service [EU Directive Aricle 84]

1.   Member States shall ensure that all consumers in their territories have access at an affordable price, in light of specific national conditions, to an available adequate broadband internet access service and to voice communications services at the quality specified in their territories, including the underlying connection, at a fixed location.

Perhaps the Minister is making a virtue out of transposing it currently - two years after the deadline. For broadband USO he would be expected to start by defining 'adequate broadband' in Iris Oifigiúil under 70(2) of the Irish Regulations - which, as @The Cush pointed out, haven't been 'commenced' yet. A search of Iris Oifigiúil turned up nothing on a definition of 'adequate broadband' or commencement of the Irish Regulations.

Definition of adequate broadband [Irish Regulation 70(2)]

(2) (a) The Minister shall —

(i) define adequate broadband for the purpose of these Regulations in accordance with Article 84(3) of the Directive and shall publish any such definition in Iris Oifigiúil and in any other manner as he or she may think fit, and

(ii) specify the quality standards applicable to adequate broadband.

Before making a definition of adequate broadband or specifying the quality standards applicable to it, the Minister may consult with the Regulator.

(b) The Minister shall review the quality not later than 5 years after defining adequate broadband and in each 5 year period thereafter.

In any case, the Regulations would depend on the successful enactment of the Communications Regulation Bill which itself has become contentious because of amendments to potentially exclude Chinese comms gear solely on the confidential advice of foreign security services.

As for ComReg, their scheduled USO consultation (Q4/2022) only refers to 'fixed voice', however there is a 'copper switch-off' decision due in Q1/2023.

TheBody

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119951306#Comment_119951306

4 weeks on pre-order today. 😭😭

clohamon

Provider expects six-figure fines for delay in National Broadband Plan rollout

https://www.rte.ie/news/2022/1209/1340973-broadband-plan/

"Eight-and-a-half months of which were related to Covid, and the rest was related to some of the challenges that any construction project would have getting up and running. In 2022, we have made a provision [in our accounts] of a couple of hundred thousand euro" he added.

L1011

The few close in, outer edge of town bits of Maynooth that were not covered by eir FTTH about five years ago - and are hence NBI - are now have all the loops of fibre at each pole. Didn't think they'd be looking so close to Dublin so fast, but they are somewhat still chasing easy wins I think.

Most of the surrounds of the town got eir FTTH, annoyingly there are one off houses that I can see from my front window that have it but my 50 year old estate only has Virgin!

heavydawson

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119975141#Comment_119975141

Sorry, that quote from his Twitter account accompanying the piece:

https://twitter.com/adrianweckler/status/1600927084146487297

clohamon

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119986814#Comment_119986814

It looks like the distinction between 'copper switch-off' and 'USO' is getting blurred - unavoidably.

Interesting to see if ComReg/Department are canny enough to get industry (ultimately consumers) to FTTP the holes in the blue areas now rather than paying NBI expensive subsidies to clear up the scatter of one-offs left after Eircom conclude the IFN.

If ComReg removed the mobile option from USO-AFL then Eircom would have to provide a fibre USO wherever they've stood down the copper.