IBB for €120 install, €30/month

tomk

Article in today's Irish Times Tech pages:

Irish Broadband, the wireless internet firm that is owned by National Toll Roads, will launch a product that enables households to get immediate access to high-speed internet services.
The portable device, which is about the size of a closed fist, can connect households to the internet if their house is within 4km of a base station. The customer simply plugs the device into any plug socket in the house to receive broadband access instantly for their computers.
The new broadband product will cost €30 per month and offers users speeds of up to 512 kilobytes per minute. It will be launched next month in Tallaght. Installation will cost €120.

What are we talking about here? Power line access? There's nothing about it on their website.

Lex_Diamonds

Could it be mesh radio???

*shrugs*

Could it be... typical irish string along the micks vapourware?

*nods*

flav0rflav

Competition! Bring it on.

I would suggest that it is wireless, "Irish Broadband, the wireless internet firm".

disco_rob_funk

wow! 120 yo for 512 KB/min , or 8.5 KB/sec!

Throw in an extended warranty and some lottery tickets and you've got a deal!!

RC

fatguy

If you're plugging it in, it's power line. But this requires a significant investment by the EBS into upgrading their base stations. Since we've heard nothing about this until now, I'd be amazed if anything is happening. And if it is, progress will be slow. It cost 2 million pounds sterling to upgrade a town with a population of 20k in Scotland, so expect the rollout to be slow.

nahdoic

why oh why is this being launched in tallaght first?

does tallaght have some broadband magnet that I'm not aware of?

they already have cable internet from NTL ... come think about the rest of Dublin and the rest of the country.

Boston

Originally posted by disco_rob_funk
wow! 120 yo for 512 KB/min , or 8.5 KB/sec!

Throw in an extended warranty and some lottery tickets and you've got a deal!!

RC

HAve yo uany idea how ****e a service that would be? i take it that it's a miss print and they mean 512kb/sec not per min

Mr_Man

Could they be using the electrical circuits of the house as an antenna ?

M.

fatguy

Originally posted by Mr_Man
Could they be using the electrical circuits of the house as an antenna ?

M.

I'd imagine that'd be too noisy. But if it's true it's an awesome solution to the distance problem.

Mutant_Fruit

it looks like some kinda joke post to me. there is NO non-line of sight boradband in ireland as of yet. someones yanking the proverbial chain

MarVeL

I thought this as well but it is in the paper, Surely no responsible journalist would dream of just pasting an email into the paper without at least phoning the company to verify the story. It's not even Jamies byline!

Though maybe I've jumped the gun. Anyone know if they always had a Tallaght node on their coverage map? I don't remember seeing one before. And the page was updated today.

Hopefully there'll be some news from the horses mouth soon

milltown

"this requires a significant investment by the EBS into upgrading their base stations."

Maybe they want a slice of the internet banking cake. Why else would a building society consider a broadband rollout?

Mutant_Fruit

lol. anyway, afaik theres been a tower in tallaght put up recently. i just wish that my house had line-of-site for irish wisp, when the engineer came round he said that it was probably only 10-20 metres too low. gagh. let me know if this non-line of site thing is true

MadKevo

Question:
What do you get when you take a Jamie Smyth, some vague technical details, an editor and a deadline?
Answer:
An article like the one in Friday's Irish Times!

rrolfe

i think it might be called mains borne communication its been around for ages. you use the national grid to transer information.
the ESB have been using it for years to move large amounts of data.

theres a product that uses the same kind of idea to give you a phone line in another room without using wires. you plug on part in near the phone line and the oter where you want it.

anyway could be wrong, its probbly wirless.

Ric

robbie1876

Internet delivery over power lines to your home is known as PLC and is not by any means a new technology. Companies such as Vype (Germany), Linzag (Austria) and Scottich Hydo-Electric are already providing services in Europe.

For example, Linzag have the following products:

1) 375 kbps up/down - 9Gb cap - €42.15 / month
2) 375 kbps up/down - 30Gb cap - €78.15 / month

Not great speeds, granted, but I read somewhere else that PLC technology can potentially reach speed of 14 MBps in BOTH directions.

However, I would be amazed if this product actually makes it to Ireland though, because of the astronomical costs of insurance in this country. After all, you are talking about messing about with 240v in people's homes.

STaN

there is NO mention of this on their site. Anyone give them a ring?

oneweb

Originally posted by tomk
The portable device, which is about the size of a closed fist,

Says two things about the writer of the article:
1) They're not technically minded (the size of a fist is proportinal to the speed at which it approaches your face)
2) The writer might have some anger management issues.

The customer simply plugs the device into any plug socket in the house

Um, portable? Sure! Just bring an extension cable with you at all times. You might have trouble getting a signal on the bus tho...

The new broadband product will cost €30 per month and offers users speeds of up to 512 kilobytes per minute.

How fast? Oh, you mean per second! No? My mate's car can do a top speed of 2880 miles per day!

It will be launched next month in Tallaght.

FFS, like Tallaght don't have enough fukking broadband options already? Dammit, go somewhere that there's no broadband. You're guaranteed a far greater uptake.

Actually, this whole thing bangs of something.

darthdublin

The new broadband product will cost €30 per month and offers users speeds of up to 512 kilobytes per minute. It will be launched next month in Tallaght. Installation will cost €120.


For the LOVE OF GOD!!!!!!!!!. Why is Tallaght such a f***ing hive of Broadband!!!!. What is the problem with getting Broadband in other places in Dublin!!!!. They get NTL Broadband etc....

I have to admit, I'm getting sick and tired of this Broadband crap. Something should be done about it!!!. Eircom rip everyone off, its a JOKE. NTL only offer Broadband to Tallaght!!!!. And its NTL who seem to offer the most attractive package!!!.
Bring back Cablelink!!!!!. The guy/woman who runs NTL Ireland must be from Tallaght, or feels sorry for them.

Im sure the rest of Europe must be laughing at us!!!!.

Things must be done!!!!.

Its the year 2003.....yes 2003 and still we have a crap "dial-up" internet access!!!.

I hope Sky Digital ruins NTL, ruins them!!!!.

By the way, if you wanna Ring NTL and complain, take the day off work and get a nice comfy seat and listen to the lovely "hold music"....................cause you will have to listen to it for hours and hours and hours!!!!!!!!!!.

Who agrees with me here, I wanna hear your comments!!!.

Outta here,

Rant over!!!.

"Be mindful"

griffdaddy

from the words of an ibb technition, it's being launched in 3 rock, not tallaght, that los tallaght station is new, it's at the back of jobstown

daramullally

I think they are talking about Ripwave - http://www.irishbroadband.ie/IBB_offer_ripwave.pdf

eth0_

Originally posted by oneweb

Um, portable? Sure! Just bring an extension cable with you at all times. You might have trouble getting a signal on the bus tho...

Ripwave *is* portable, at least it is if you have the USB version of it, which draws power from your computer. You can bring the modem out into the garden, for example, and it'll still work, because it's non-LOS.

I for one am pretty optimistic about this service!

Mutant_Fruit

When is this being released?? and can i join the beta testing (if anyone has contacts in this field) as i am in range of both 3rock tower AND tallaght tower, but out of line of sight of both

Gyck

I asked the same question yesterday and here's IBBs answer:

Thank you for your enquiry about the new Ripwave technology. At the moment, the product is still in the development stages, & it will soon undergo testing by staff. For this product, we don’t expect to be running further trials, but thank you for your offer. At the moment, there are no further details available as to when the product will be launched – keep an eye on the website for updates. If you have any other queries, please do not hesitate to contact us via this e-mail address or on 206 3780.



Kind Regards,

Elaine Carroll

griffdaddy

there's such a difference between the technitions and phone staff in that place it's unreal, the staff are real secretive, but the technitions are really sound, check my post about ripwave ages ago if you dont believe me, the technitions said i could test it but i'm still waiting. if you want to be really sly, make sure you dont have los, call them out, then when it fails ask them what the alternatives are and ask 'seeing as you cant get adsl can you try ripwave?' i'd say it just comes down to them being selfish kunts with the testing

STaN

thing about ripwave is that its an american technology.

Americans have higher power limits on what is allowed to be broadcast. At 4W or 4000mW they can get a range of 5km over there... here we have a limit of 100mW. So we're talking a range of less than 500metres.

Unless their planning to break the limit, they won't get non-los installs 2-3km away from the base station.

flamegrill

Originally posted by STaN
thing about ripwave is that its an american technology.

Americans have higher power limits on what is allowed to be broadcast. At 4W or 4000mW they can get a range of 5km over there... here we have a limit of 100mW. So we're talking a range of less than 500metres.

Unless their planning to break the limit, they won't get non-los installs 2-3km away from the base station.

Mr wireless eh?

Stan is correct though, they are talking bull. it was a nice try on their behalf

Paul

griffdaddy

hmm i dunno, it's government endorsed

STaN

Originally posted by griffdaddy
hmm i dunno, it's government endorsed

Where is that said?

Dermo

Originally posted by griffdaddy
hmm i dunno, it's government endorsed

and that makes it all better does it?

blorg

The government endorsement is mentioned in the announcement pdf. Irish Broadband is licenced by ComReg - I believe that the terms of their licence do enable them to use higher power equipment than non-licenced or community efforts.

Also see this story on ENN and pictures of the modems from the company behind this technology.

This technology does seem to be real, however it is also new and it will be another matter whether it actually works in practice (and is cost-effective). The best of luck to them, this is the sort of competition the market really needs.

In the longer term think of the possibilities - mobile broadband access throughout Dublin on your PDA or laptop. (Navini say that they are currently working on a PCMCIA version of the modem.)

STaN

I would disagree there.

I see no ENDORSEMENT of the service.

Irishbroadband state and I quote from the PDF release:

“Minister Dermot Ahern expressed his wish to see the delivery of affordable, always-on Internet access at the launch of Irish Broadband. I am confident that through ‘Ripwave™ we can deliver on Minister Ahern’s wishes as well as lowering prices and expanding our customer base”, said Paul Doody, Managing Director, Irish Broadband.

They are putting Aherns name in where he has NOTHING to do with it.

The fact is that this technology probably does not comform to the power limits imposed by the Irish Goverment meaning that it will not be a LOS product if they are complying with them.

Is the power output of the Navini Kit within the 100 milliwatt range allowable by ComReg?

In the USA where this technology is in use, the power limit is 40times that. So divide the 5km range they claim 40 times, and you get what?

blorg

Is the 100 milliwatt limit not for consumer 802.11 devices? I dont think the Navini stuff is necessarily 802.11 - certainly it doesn't even have to use the same band:

Our products operate in the unlicensed 2.4 GHz ISM band, or the licensed 2.3 GHz WCS, 2.5/2.6 GHz ITFS/MMDS bands, with more to come.

I believe the ComReg do issue licences that may allow higher power requirements, no?

STaN

The 100mW power limit applies to ANYTHING operating in the 2.4 licence. This is a free band, microwave ovens operate in 2.4, cordless phones, people's WLAN's at home. This stuff is well over the limit.

2.5 is for MMDS and are held by NTL and Chorus. IBB will never have a 2.5 licence.

Mutant_Fruit

As far as i know that 100mw limit is only for unlicensed usage. An example of this is www.irishwan.org. They use wireless antenne's and 802.11 (or simliar) devices for setting up a WAN. The only reason this is possible is because they stay under 100mw. However any company/person going over this limit must get a license first, which is obviously what IBB has done.

STaN

You can't get a licence for an unlicenced band. Its a conflict of definition.

Every company selling telecoms services has to have a licence. Apart from that there are licences for the following bands:

900Mhz
1.8 Ghz
2.5Ghz
3.5Ghz
10Ghz
11Ghz
18Ghz
21Ghz
22Ghz

2.4 is licence exempt and can be used by anyone but only up to a 100mW power limit.

5.3 is licence exempt but may only be used indoors

5.8 is licence exempt but may only be used outdoors and any1 using it must register each location with ComReg

spongebob

/me has often said precisely what Stan is saying here. He is spot on here bar a lil correction about the 5.8Ghz kit, you only need to register the base stations not the CPE.

100Mw is the limit for 2.4Ghz kit. Nor may you use all the channels (chunks of bandwidth) that are available in the 2.4Ghz band in the US, you must disable them to comply.

IBB are Basic licencees in the Comreg licencing scheme.

You need a licence to apply for and hold LICENCED frequencies. So far IBB has never applied to be a licenced operator in ANY LICENCED FREQUENCY BAND on the list that Stan supplied. They have expressed interest in the 3.5Ghz band where Navini kit will operate albeit NOT the portable unit .

I suspect that IBB may have approached Chorus about some of Chorus' unused 2.5Ghz MMDS frequencies. Chorus would have to front such a a service as ''their own' and allow IBB to sell it as a white label service. This bends the rules but is possibly compliant with both their licences as things stand.

I note that IBB have corporately disapeared from Boards. This is not a bad thing apart from the always helpful Chaz who IS missed may I add. Come back Chaz ....