National Broadband Ireland : implementation and progress

mp3guy

Has anyone asked about their survey? As in, what, if any, works might need to be done nearby? My nearest vault is quite far from my house. Have a working Eir phone line but have no idea where the ducting goes from the vault to the house. Will they be able to just feed the cable along the existing duct or is my front garden at risk?

rounders

mp3guy wrote: »

Has anyone asked about their survey? As in, what, if any, works might need to be done nearby? My nearest vault is quite far from my house. Have a working Eir phone line but have no idea where the ducting goes from the vault to the house. Will they be able to just feed the cable along the existing duct or is my front garden at risk?

If you current line comes in through a duct that's what NBI will use unless they have collapsed or something like that.

Where the duct is, that the point of the surveys, NBI will sus all that when they come to survey your particular property

joe123

rounders wrote: »

If you current line comes in through a duct that's what NBI will use unless they have collapsed or something like that.

Where the duct is, that the point of the surveys, NBI will sus all that when they come to survey your particular property

Would they come in around estates? I just assumed they walked roads to survey polls and looked at ducts at entry points. Do they need to check each individual duct to a property?

rounders

joe123 wrote: »

Would they come in around estates? I just assumed they walked roads to survey polls and looked at ducts at entry points. Do they need to check each individual duct to a property?

Not too sure. Maybe if they find a duct entry point with a cable in it they'll presume it's ok but if one is empty they might do a test? I'm only guessing

Grnsj

They are not going to check each individual premises duct. It would take them forever. The property will be marked as overhead or underground then any issues that arise will be dealt with on installation.

recyclebin

I guess anyone that currently has a phone line should be able to get fibre installed pretty easily? New builds that never had a phone line might be more difficult and costly.

Having said that, most of the telephone lines around my parents house are intertwined with trees and hard to even see during the summer when leaves are on the trees. I think there will need to be significant tree and hedge cutting in some places.

Jofspring

A lot of new builds would have had to pay for electricity to be connected up and there is a possibility new poles put in for this.

I know in my case there are two new poles from my neighbour to me and one is in my front garden. Very short distance to the gable of my house from that pole. I'd be hoping they just bring it in that way.

oscarBravo

Grnsj wrote: »

They are not going to check each individual premises duct. It would take them forever. The property will be marked as overhead or underground then any issues that arise will be dealt with on installation.

This. As soon as I knew that my house was on the FTTH rollout I went looking for my duct. I had to do some digging to find the road end and it was a bit silted up, but I made sure there was a free-running rope from end to end before KNIS showed up.

People who put in this sort of preparation will likely get connected as soon as they're available to order. Others will do nothing, and will face delays.

clohamon

Independent seems to be correcting last week's SBP's connection costs story.

https://www.independent.ie/business/technology/news/broadband-connection-costs-will-be-subsidised-for-60000-new-build-homes-in-remote-areas-nbi-insists-39371280.html

UP to 60,000 rural new-build homes in remote areas of Ireland will have their broadband connection costs subsidised, no matter how expensive they are, according to officials from the National Broadband Plan (NBP).

The article deals with NBI's obligation under the contract but doesn't seem to address potential changes to new house-builders' obligations under the planning guidelines. (It's not clear whether "officials from the National Broadband Plan" includes officials from DCCAE)

clohamon

Someone took the trouble to complain to the European Investment Bank alleging maladministration by the Bank and asserting that the NBP was a waste of taxpayers' money.

They replied....

In your complaint, you allege that the NBP is a waste of taxpayers money and a contribution by EIB to it a poor use of EIB funds. You believe that SpaceX’s Starlink satellite constellation is a viable option that would not just serve Ireland’s rural internet requirements but all of Europe’s rural internet needs; you also claim that SpaceX’s Starlink will render the NBP obsolete.

...

Given the limited information on the technical details of the Project, it is not possible to at this stage to perform a valuable comparison between the Project and SpaceX’s Starlink as suggested in your complaint.

https://twitter.com/cormacDublin/status/1283747160970887169

Grnsj

clohamon wrote: »

Someone took the trouble to complain to the European Investment Bank alleging maladministration by the Bank and asserting that the NBP was a waste of taxpayers' money.

They replied....


...

There is a large amount of headbangers on Twitter. Self-professed experts in multiple fields.

KOR101

Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party)

My Department is currently engaging with NBI to explore the feasibility of accelerating aspects of the NBP roll-out and to bring premises which are scheduled for connection in years 6 and 7 of the current plan forward to an earlier date. These discussions are ongoing and a preliminary position will be arrived at by the end of the summer. It is premature at this point to speculate on what premises may benefit from this potential change, other than to say that those premises currently scheduled for the latter end of the roll-out are the focus of the analysis.

Like so many other projects the national broadband plan has been delayed slightly by the Covid-19 pandemic due to the difficulty of completing certain work but it has not been delayed as much as other projects. A lot of the work of recent months, such as surveying poles to see which ones need to be improved or upgraded, could continue. By the end of this year we expect to be pretty much on target in terms of delivery timelines.

I note another factor that may help accelerate progress. We started this project in a world where it was very hard to get construction workers. There were so many different demands and construction activities taking place. Post Covid-19 it may be a possible to access workers and contractors more quickly than was the case six months ago when the economy was at full tilt.

Moreover, hopefully there is a benefit for everyone in this. Acceleration might be helped by increased confidence that the uptake of these services will be on the higher end of our expectations, because we are seeing the benefits of remote working and the use of high-speed broadband in a way we would not have expected six months ago. I hope that might help us to accelerate the process to the benefit of all concerned.

https://www.kildarestreet.com/debates/?id=2020-07-15a.71&s=national+broadband+plan#g79

wexfordman2

Good man Eamon, get bricklayers, carpenter s and plumbers to roll out a fibre network.

Once again showing how clueless he is on his breif, thank Christ he wasn't in charge of the nbp tender process

Pique

Like so many other projects the national broadband plan has been delayed slightly by the Covid-19 pandemic

And in no way delayed and fought against by him personally and the Taoiseach's party of course!

I honestly think a cure for cancer would be given the same treatment in Ireland. Nothing good can be done under 'them', it has to be under 'us'.

rodge123

In Eamon we trust!!

https://www.irishtimes.com/news/ireland/irish-news/eamon-ryan-appears-asleep-in-dáil-as-vote-on-lower-paid-workers-called-1.4306525?mode=amp

Orebro

clohamon wrote: »

Someone took the trouble to complain to the European Investment Bank alleging maladministration by the Bank and asserting that the NBP was a waste of taxpayers' money.

They replied....

Another Elon-bot - these clowns advocating Starlink like its the solution to all our broadband worries, without having a single detail on how the thing might actually work.

rounders

EU Commission telling Comreg to pull the thumb out on Eir wholesale costs

https://www.irishtimes.com/business/technology/cheaper-broadband-could-be-on-the-way-for-irish-consumers-following-eu-letter-1.4306384

heavydawson

We had the NBI lads at our door the day before yesterday in Tipperary. They were doing a straightforward "Duct or pole?" survey for each house. They couldn't open the duct cover on the roadside because it was locked which was a bit surprising. You'd assume it would speed things up greatly if they could check things instead of hoping the house owner knew and expecting them to be home during the day. Thankfully (kind of), covid is guaranteeing that they have more people answering their house calls during business hours. Still pinching myself that this whole thing is happening, 7 years after moving down from Dublin.

listermint

heavydawson wrote: »

We had the NBI lads at our door the day before yesterday in Tipperary. They were doing a straightforward "Duct or pole?" survey for each house. They couldn't open the duct cover on the roadside because it was locked which was a bit surprising. You'd assume it would speed things up greatly if they could check things instead of hoping the house owner knew and expecting them to be home during the day. Thankfully (kind of), covid is guaranteeing that they have more people answering their house calls during business hours. Still pinching myself that this whole thing is happening, 7 years after moving down from Dublin.

Check what things ? They may have looked and then decided to ask you was it locked and was it you. Many homeowners make modifications.


So them knocking on your door sounds like they were doing it properly.no ?

clohamon

SBP reporting David McCourt claim that NBP rollout could be reduced to four years.

https://www.businesspost.ie/telecoms/mccourt-claims-national-broadband-plan-could-be-rolled-out-in-four-years-dbabacf2?utm_campaign=article&utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=web

Maybe someone who has an SBP account could fill in the details, if there are any.

heavydawson

listermint wrote: »

Check what things ? They may have looked and then decided to ask you was it locked and was it you. Many homeowners make modifications.


So them knocking on your door sounds like they were doing it properly.no ?

Eircom have a manhole on the road right outside our gate. Our duct comes straight off that. The NBI guys couldn't open the Eircom grate to see if we had a duct, so they buzzed our intercom to see what the story was. I'd assume where it's obviously coming in from a pole they're not asking homeowners, but if they can't see a pole and corresponding overhead wire, they're knocking on doors to find out where, if any, the connection is coming into the house.

heavydawson

clohamon wrote: »

SBP reporting David McCourt claim that NBP rollout could be reduced to four years.

https://www.businesspost.ie/telecoms/mccourt-claims-national-broadband-plan-could-be-rolled-out-in-four-years-dbabacf2?utm_campaign=article&utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=web

Maybe someone who has an SBP account could fill in the details, if there are any.

The National Broadband Plan could be rolled out in just over four years, rather than seven as originally planned, David McCourt has claimed.

The US businessman controls National Broadband Ireland (NBI), the company which was awarded the controversial multibillion-euro state contract to provide high-speed broadband to more than 540,000 homes within seven years.

The Business Post revealed earlier this month that NBI had told operators that it believed it could “significantly” speed up the rollout of the broadband network.

In a new interview with Capacity, a telecoms magazine, McCourt has now said his company was “working on a plan to speed up the build and build it in 60 per cent of the time we first planned”.

This would suggest a build time of a little over four years, rather than the seven-year timeframe that NBI has said it is working to.

Asked how NBI could reduce the build time by 40 per cent and whether additional staff would be required to do so, a spokeswoman for the company said: “NBI remain committed to rolling out the National Broadband Plan ahead of time, and our regular discussions with the Department of Communications include exploring how that might be expedited.”

It is unclear how an expedited rollout would affect the taxpayer-funded subsidy that the state would be required to provide to NBI for completing the project three years ahead of schedule. The NBI spokeswoman declined to comment on the potential cost implications for the state.

Richard Bruton, the former communications minister, said in May that he believed NBI could reduce the National Broadband Plan rollout period from seven years to five.

Bruton told the Dáil that he had asked his officials “to investigate the feasibility of accelerating the rollout of the National Broadband Plan so that those [premises] now in years six and seven can be brought forward”.

There are around 192,000 premises which are not due to be connected to high-speed broadband until the final two years of the plan.

Joe Lavin, the chief commercial officer at NBI, recently told operators the company was on track to pass a minimum of 115,000 premises with the network by the end of 2021.

Once the network had been completed in the initial deployment areas, NBI would review the build of the network to find efficiencies and identify opportunities to “go faster”.

“That's probably not going to have a massive impact on our 2021 number but it will have a significant impact on 2022/23/24,” he said.

KOR101

Desperate lockdown journalism.......

From a June 30th article.

How long will it all take? “We’re working on a plan to speed up the build, and build it in 60% of the time we first planned.”

https://www.capacitymedia.com/articles/3825832/when-irish-fibres-smiling

And, I love this too......

In Ireland, “it’s all been done without any political nonsense”, he smiles on a video call from California.

heavydawson

KOR101 wrote: »

Desperate lockdown journalism.......

From a June 30th article.

How long will it all take? “We’re working on a plan to speed up the build, and build it in 60% of the time we first planned.”

https://www.capacitymedia.com/articles/3825832/when-irish-fibres-smiling

And, I love this too......

In Ireland, “it’s all been done without any political nonsense”, he smiles on a video call from California.

The only takeaway that was new to me but probably not ask that surprising was:

"NBI’s customers will be the retail telecoms companies across the Republic of Ireland — mainly Comcast’s Sky, Liberty Global’s Virgin Media and UK-based Vodafone. What about Eir, the incumbent? Later, a representative of NBI updates me: “I can confirm NBI is engaged with Eir and it is anticipated that they will join … the NBI network."

Pique

Have any of you asked your WISP if they will be providers on the NBI infrastructure? I asked mine and they said they hadn't made a decision on it yet. They were part of the consortium objecting to the NBP, fwiw.

joe123

Pique wrote: »

Have any of you asked your WISP if they will be providers on the NBI infrastructure? I asked mine and they said they hadn't made a decision on it yet. They were part of the consortium objecting to the NBP, fwiw.

Cant see why they wont once its here. The only reason they all objected is that they will loose the fixed wireless sign ups that they currently have.

Once FTTH is here instead of only having the option of fixed wireless for 55 euro a month with lightnet, I will have multiple options.

It's actually a joke they objected In the first place.

Westnet: Paul

Pique wrote: »

Have any of you asked your WISP if they will be providers on the NBI infrastructure?

We've been engaging with NBI from an early stage, and we're planning to offer services.

Pique

joe123 wrote: »

The only reason they all objected is that they will lose the fixed wireless sign ups that they currently have their monopoly.

FTFY

Westnet: Paul wrote: »

We've been engaging with NBI from an early stage, and we're planning to offer services.

Good to hear. I'm not a customer btw.

I hope all regional WISPs do the same. Personally I would prefer to support a regional NBI-based ISP over the multinationals like Virgin/Vodafone/Sky and keep some employment in the area I live.

Yes, even if it costs extra per month. We can't bang on about rural Ireland dying if we don't support local suppliers, be that broadband or whatever.

shanec1928

parts of sligo being surveyed now for NBI, entegro are the contractors

St. Westy

shanec1928 wrote: »

parts of sligo being surveyed now for NBI, entegro are the contractors

do you know which areas?