Eircom to roll out 1Gb/s FTTH to 66 towns

damienirel wrote: »

Yeah but its the same with all of these relatively new techs - they take a couple of years to mature - HD was similar IIRC. First we had the HD ready 720p then we had full HD I couldn't see the difference - then eventually all TVs were 1080 - then they started looking better. Maybe 4k has a long way to go as the initial jump from standard def to HD was pretty drastic. But nothing is surer change will drive on and higher bandwidth will be used meaning the download limits of today will look archaic.

oscarBravo wrote: »

It doesn't quite work that way. ISPs don't pay for traffic by volume, but by capacity. Suppose a small regional ISP has a 10Gb/s uplink to the world: if that connection fills up, every customer of theirs will suffer badly. If the connection is heading for a point where it's likely to fill up, the ISP has no choice but to buy more capacity, which probably means another 10G circuit.

Data caps are a way of discouraging widespread heavy use in order to help manage limited capacity.



As tends to be the case, the above is an oversimplification: it's often possible to burst to higher capacity for short periods without penalty. That's usually a 95th percentile threshold though, and ISPs will generally aim to keep their uplink less than 80% full.

To save money, Google deviced a trick that exploited a loophole in the billing system
known as the 95th Percentile Rule. Over the period of a month, the provider would
measure how much information was moving, automatically taking a measurement every
five minutes. In order to discard unusual spikes in activity, when the billing rate was
calculated the provider would lop off the measurements in the top five perceniles and bill
the customer at the rate of the 95th percentile.
Google's exploitation of the rule was like the correct answer to a trick question in one of
its hiring interviews. It decided to squeeze the movement of all of its information into
those discounted spikes. "We figuredd our that if we used zero bandwidth all month, except for 30 hours once a month, we would be under that 5 percent", says Reese. For two nights a month, from 6pm to 6am Pacific time, Google moved all the data in its indexes from West to East.

Johnboy1951 wrote: »

I reckon because it is lack of understanding and information.
The cost of 150Mb/s on fibre seems to be the same as 3Mb/s over copper.



Those on crap broadband have never used streaming TV etc so do not perceive the need for it (mostly).
Again it will take time and information for people to realise what they can and cannot do, and how a fibre connection, at similar cost to present slow broadband, will enable them to do much more.

Most people in my area could not tell you what speed their 'broadband' is ...... they would not even be able to run a test to find out, without specific instructions! Heck, I doubt they know the difference between a browser and an operating system!

IMO it will take many years before the majority of rural dwellers appreciate or have the need of a fibre connection.

None of which implies fibre should not be available to all if they want it.

pg17 wrote: »

I’m trying to envisage what equipment is needed for FTTH and a “landline” in a house which is being built at present – walls just built, roof starting today and ducting and first fix electrics starting in about 2 weeks’ time.

From what I read, I would have

• a fibre cable from the pole to the house with an ODP (Optical Distribution Point from Open eir), ONT ((Optical Network Terminal from Open eir)
  and router (F2000 from eir)
• a separate copper connection from the pole to the house with a traditional RJ11 master socket for the phone.

The ODP is passive and does not need power - the ONT requires power and uses an Ethernet cable to connect to the Router.

I have several questions:

Is this how it would be configured ? I plan to put all the above in a services room and pre-install Cat-6 cable to other rooms for WiFi access points and other devices connecting directly to the router.

With FTTH, does eir provide VOIP as an alternative to the traditional phone on landline copper?

I envisage installing a duct from the pole at the roadside to the outside of the building and continuing the duct to the planned position for the ODP, ONT and F2000 router and RJ11 outlets in the services room – a single duct would carry the fibre and traditional copper (2 pairs) – what is the minimum bend radius for the duct/fibre. What is a typical diameter for such a duct ?

The pole is located on the road at the far boundary of the neighbouring house - there is no problem digging a trench on the (rural) road - is this what Open eir would expect or would they use an overhead line to a high point on the house ? (I would prefer underground).

Anybody like to post a photo of a recent installation ?

Thanks in advance for all comments.