Eir rural FTTH thread

frozenfrozen · 02-08-2017 11:47AM

I'm totally intrigued now by what's going on with my road, none of us up this end are marked to be getting covered yet the cables are in after that big crew of KNN vans and now today there was one guy in an eircom van wearing an open eir hi vis up who went at the pole again on a ladder, not sure what he was doing but my dad asked him what was the story and he said it was fibre for internet...

Should I email that fibrepower@openeir.ie address and see what's going on or is that just for people who can or have ordered?

edit:

I think I've got my head around what will happen.

Fibre is being run by open eir, this will then be made available to any operators who wish to make a bid through the NBP. Meaning we will likely end up being covered by Digiweb who already operate in the area. In probably 2 years time?

rob808 · 02-08-2017 12:32PM

frozenfrozen wrote: »

I'm totally intrigued now by what's going on with my road, none of us up this end are marked to be getting covered yet the cables are in after that big crew of KNN vans and now today there was one guy in an eircom van wearing an open eir hi vis up who went at the pole again on a ladder, not sure what he was doing but my dad asked him what was the story and he said it was fibre for internet...

Should I email that fibrepower@openeir.ie address and see what's going on or is that just for people who can or have ordered?

edit:

I think I've got my head around what will happen.

Fibre is being run by open eir, this will then be made available to any operators who wish to make a bid through the NBP. Meaning we will likely end up being covered by Digiweb who already operate in the area. In probably 2 years time?

yea email them with your Eircode also check the NBP map see if your house light blue.

The Cush · 02-08-2017 02:04PM

frozenfrozen wrote: »

edit:

I think I've got my head around what will happen.

Fibre is being run by open eir, this will then be made available to any operators who wish to make a bid through the NBP. Meaning we will likely end up being covered by Digiweb who already operate in the area. In probably 2 years time?

SIRO could win the NBP contract for your area in which case they will most likely use their own infrastructure. Also the cost of any infrastructure rolled out for the NBP will be subsidised at that time.

The NBP infrastructure will be available to all providers, not just Digiweb. Maybe they're rolling out fibre to you now?

KOR101 · 02-08-2017 02:25PM

frozenfrozen wrote: »

I'm totally intrigued now by what's going on with my road, none of us up this end are marked to be getting covered yet the cables are in after that big crew of KNN vans and now today there was one guy in an eircom van wearing an open eir hi vis up who went at the pole again on a ladder, not sure what he was doing but my dad asked him what was the story and he said it was fibre for internet...

Should I email that fibrepower@openeir.ie address and see what's going on or is that just for people who can or have ordered?

edit:

I think I've got my head around what will happen.

Fibre is being run by open eir, this will then be made available to any operators who wish to make a bid through the NBP. Meaning we will likely end up being covered by Digiweb who already operate in the area. In probably 2 years time?

it's extremely unlikely that eir are running fibre on the assumption that it will be used by NBP bidders other than itself. Other people have posted that the fibre has extended along a road further than the Eir rural map suggested. How close are you to to the planned fibre?

Otherwise, keep us posted as you really are an anomaly......and you're getting my hopes up!

frozenfrozen · 02-08-2017 03:27PM

rob808 wrote: »

yea email them with your Eircode also check the NBP map see if your house light blue.

I've just sent an email now so will post here with the reply I receive. I have checked to see on the NBP map and we are not blue, we are under a purple circle but the house is marked amber with a small circle around it and the surrounding houses. There are light blue houses down the road from us. (see picture below)

The Cush wrote: »

SIRO could win the NBP contract for your area in which case they will most likely use their own infrastructure. Also the cost of any infrastructure rolled out for the NBP will be subsidised at that time.

The NBP infrastructure will be available to all providers, not just Digiweb. Maybe they're rolling out fibre to you now?

I called Digiweb just a while ago and the girl on the phone wasn't able to give me any info about whether or not they had any plans at this point in time to bid on our road under the NBP. It is Open Eir fibre I think as there was an open Eir engineer out alone working on it today in an EIRCOM branded van with an Open Eir Hi-vis vest, who also said it was fibre for internet (so he wasn't just doing a phone line repair or something).

KOR101 wrote: »

it's extremely unlikely that eir are running fibre on the assumption that it will be used by NBP bidders other than itself. Other people have posted that the fibre has extended along a road further than the Eir rural map suggested. How close are you to to the planned fibre?

Otherwise, keep us posted as you really are an anomaly......and you're getting my hopes up!

We are 350 metres by road, less as the crow flies from the end of the light blue marked houses. But we are definitely marked as falling under the NBP and we don't have the old blue line or new yellow line coming past the house that ends 350m away

pictures etc.
blue cross there marks the poll in the following pictures. Distance between that pole and the light blue houses down the road is 350m by road.

how the poll was after the KNN visit and before today's open eir engineer:

after today:

Not sure what was changed but the coil of cable was moved
presume this is a picture of the fibre running alongside electricity

We're in their 'coverage' zone but also have been manually marked as in need of NBP coverage on the other map, could eir have changed their mind and they are actually just running fibre to us.. and it's not even part of the rural fibre rollout?

tsue921i8wljb3 · 02-08-2017 03:32PM

frozenfrozen wrote: »

I've just sent an email now so will post here with the reply I receive. I have checked to see on the NBP map and we are not blue, we are under a purple circle but the house is marked amber with a small circle around it and the surrounding houses. There are light blue houses down the road from us. (see picture below)

I called Digiweb just a while ago and the girl on the phone wasn't able to give me any info about whether or not they had any plans at this point in time to bid on our road under the NBP. It is Open Eir fibre I think as there was an open Eir engineer out alone working on it today in an EIRCOM branded van with an Open Eir Hi-vis vest, who also said it was fibre for internet (so he wasn't just doing a phone line repair or something).

We are 350 metres by road, less as the crow flies from the end of the light blue marked houses. But we are definitely marked as falling under the NBP and we don't have the old blue line or new yellow line coming past the house that ends 350m away

pictures etc.
blue cross there marks the poll in the following pictures. Distance between that pole and the light blue houses down the road is 350m by road.

how the poll was after the KNN visit and before today's open eir engineer:

after today:

Not sure what was changed but the coil of cable was moved
presume this is a picture of the fibre running alongside electricity

We're in their 'coverage' zone but also have been manually marked as in need of NBP coverage on the other map, could eir have changed their mind and they are actually just running fibre to us.. and it's not even part of the rural fibre rollout?

It is likely that they are just extending the endpoint of the fibre to cover you. That is fibre on top of the poles and the coil of cable is another sign. There will likely be a splice box fitted to that pole.

frozenfrozen · 02-08-2017 03:37PM

are you granting me permission to get my hopes up?

tsue921i8wljb3 · 02-08-2017 03:40PM

frozenfrozen wrote: »

are you granting me permission to get my hopes up?

I think so. I don't see why they would bother running cable if they were not going to connect it in the near future. It seems like an ideal area to extend into, a couple of hundred metres of cable will cover quite a few premises.

frozenfrozen · 02-08-2017 03:52PM

It's sad how excited I am about this... I will update with the reply to that email I sent earlier and if there's any more info or action with the cabling.

I was thinking that all along navi that this side of the road is much more densely populated, hopefully they've realised that!

tsue921i8wljb3 · 02-08-2017 04:00PM

frozenfrozen wrote: »

It's sad how excited I am about this... I will update with the reply to that email I sent earlier and if there's any more info or action with the cabling.

I was thinking that all along navi that this side of the road is much more densely populated, hopefully they've realised that!

It also helps that you are in an area that should be covered by FTTC but for whatever reason you and your neighbours can't receive that service. Openeir will likely "mop up" as many of these premises as practical as they roll out fibre.

rob808 · 02-08-2017 05:10PM

I have a question are the poles normally mark with numbers for the eir rollout or are they always there.I just notice my pole has a number on it don't remember seeing one there before and neighbor beside me has a number craved into the pole.

KOR101 · 02-08-2017 05:21PM

Allison Puny Appetite wrote: »

I think so. I don't see why they would bother running cable if they were not going to connect it in the near future. It seems like an ideal area to extend into, a couple of hundred metres of cable will cover quite a few premises.

But then they lose the subsidies, so why actually connect now.

frozenfrozen · 02-08-2017 05:56PM

50 houses x 18 months x 50 euro per month could be worth skipping out on the subsidies for this small patch of road because they could have had installers in the area sitting idle or spare fibre here or something...., or it might work out that we are already in an area they claimed to have covered before and they have already been given money? or they wouldn't get subsidies for us.. or we would be good to get their numbers up for how many places they've covered because of the density....

all I'm saying is please don't burst my bubble dreaming about fibre kor! :P

tsue921i8wljb3 · 02-08-2017 06:00PM

rob808 wrote: »

I have a question are the poles normally mark with numbers for the eir rollout or are they always there.I just notice my pole has a number on it don't remember seeing one there before and neighbor beside me has a number craved into the pole.

They've always been there since installation.

tsue921i8wljb3 · 02-08-2017 06:09PM

KOR101 wrote: »

But then they lose the subsidies, so why actually connect now.

I suppose it comes down to numbers. Expected take up now versus subsidies some time in the future. You may be right and they could possibly leave the extended fibre unavailable to those premises it passes until the NBP comes around.

If they do that though I hope people like frozenfrozen go to the media and local politicians as it would be blatantly cynical opportunism on behalf of Openeir to run cable and leave it sitting unconnected outside people's homes.

KOR101 · 02-08-2017 06:56PM

frozenfrozen wrote: »

all I'm saying is please don't burst my bubble dreaming about fibre kor! :P

I'm in the same position. In a bunch of houses a couple of hundred meters from the line......so best of luck to you.

vintagevrs · 02-08-2017 07:18PM

So the date OpenEir have on their portal for retailers like Eir is telling them to accept orders for FTTH for us from today. The fibre is still rolled up in a loop at the pole at our house. Still no DPs so looks like they're falling behind a bit. I'll not be ordering until they get that bit done first to save hassle.

OpenEir gave me an estimate of December via email.

oleras · 02-08-2017 07:20PM

oleras wrote: »

Checked the Eir site again today...

Trumpet fanfare !!!!

Great News!
Fibre to the Home is available at ABC123

Must be that new wireless FTTH.

Thats the pole right outside my house.

In their latest rollout figures, i think its 140 can now access FTTH in patrickswell, no doubt i am one of the lucky ones...

Going by the other posts i think i will wait til an actual splice box is connected and the poles further up the road actually have fiber on them, it stops a few hundred meters up the road towards the exchange.

Splice box fitted today, dude said it should be live in 2 weeks.

Cheapest i can see online for just phone and 150Mb is 35 for 3 months and 70 for the further 9. I am already a customer, new customers get the 35/month for 6 months.

Ill give the sales folks a call tomorrow if i get a chance and see is there anything else around.

vintagevrs · 02-08-2017 07:23PM

oleras wrote: »

Splice box fitted today, dude said it should be live in 2 weeks.

Cheapest i can see online for just phone and 150Mb is 35 for 3 months and 70 for the further 9. I am already a customer, new customers get the 35/month for 6 months.

Ill give the sales folks a call tomorrow if i get a chance and see is there anything else around.

That photo is how ours looks now. When the DP or splice box is in I'm guessing that roll of excess fibre goes so it's obvious it's done? Just so I know what to look for. Cheers

oleras · 02-08-2017 07:25PM

vintagevrs wrote: »

That photo is how ours looks now. When the DP or splice box is in I'm guessing that roll of excess fibre goes so it's obvious it's done? Just so I know what to look for. Cheers

Ill go out and take a pic....give me 5 mins !

oscarBravo · 02-08-2017 07:33PM

vintagevrs wrote: »

That photo is how ours looks now. When the DP or splice box is in I'm guessing that roll of excess fibre goes so it's obvious it's done? Just so I know what to look for. Cheers

The "excess" fibre stays there, but coiled neatly around the splice box bracket. It is kept long so that the splice box can be removed from the pole and brought into the back of a van for future splicing work without interfering with any existing splices.

rob808 · 02-08-2017 08:14PM

Allison Puny Appetite wrote: »

They've always been there since installation.

Yea I just a had a look at it 2 gold like circles with the number 39 on it .Im kinda worried my area down for a October live date and there Notting on my pole probably looking at 2018 before I get connected.The neighbor beside me who not on rollout has stuff craved into his which wasn't there before going try have a look tomorrow.They have got a outhouse marked for FTTH but it abandoned for years maybe they extend rollout to my neighbor.It seem stupid that they have a abandon outhouse for FTTH.

RoYoBo · 02-08-2017 08:33PM

Does every pole on the line from the exchange need to be 'spliced up' before anyone gets connected?

We have a few poles on the road now like the photo above, with neatly coiled cable behind a box. However, nearer to the exchange and in random other places along the line, the cable is hanging loose, attached to nothing, with no boxes.

Some of the cable between poles is even hanging down almost to the ground - it looks as if the coils are loose and they've been like that for months!

The Cush · 02-08-2017 11:24PM

frozenfrozen wrote: »

50 houses x 18 months x 50 euro per month could be worth skipping out on the subsidies for this small patch of road because they could have had installers in the area sitting idle or spare fibre here or something...., or it might work out that we are already in an area they claimed to have covered before and they have already been given money? or they wouldn't get subsidies for us.. or we would be good to get their numbers up for how many places they've covered because of the density....

The question is can open-eir encroach on these NBP intervention areas since the agreement between them and the Dept. earlier this year when the intervention map was fixed. Any further cherry-picking now would make it even less viable in these areas for anyone other than eir to win the contract.

rob808 wrote: »

I have a question are the poles normally mark with numbers for the eir rollout or are they always there.I just notice my pole has a number on it don't remember seeing one there before and neighbor beside me has a number craved into the pole.

If you're referring to the barcode they are normally there since installation but older poles didn't have them. In preparation for fibre rollout in any area poles are checked and marked defective/OK as required, as part of the process any poles without a barcode gets one, these poles/numbers are then added to a map/database with GPS location. The map displays defective poles with a red marker and OK poles with a green marker. Spoke with the person doing this in our area last year.

tsue921i8wljb3 · 02-08-2017 11:56PM

The Cush wrote: »

The question is can open-eir encroach on these NBP intervention areas since the agreement between them and the Dept. earlier this year when the intervention map was fixed. Any further cherry-picking now would make it even less viable in these areas for anyone other than eir to win the contract.

If you're referring to the barcode they are normally there since installation but older poles didn't have them. In preparation for fibre rollout in any area poles are checked and marked defective/OK as required, as part of the process any poles without a barcode gets one, these poles/numbers are then added to a map/database with GPS location. The map displays defective poles with a red marker and OK poles with a green marker. Spoke with the person doing this in our area last year.

I had a quick scan through the commitment contract and could see no reference to non 300K premises. Unless they have some form of gentleman's agreement that has not been mentioned. Otherwise the Department blocking private investment in any region would be a breach of state aid rules would it not?

I assume rob is talking about the letters and numbers you can see carved into the wood of some poles. The carvings have long predated this fibre rollout and I've always assumed they were some sort of batch reference made by the pole manufacturers.

Johnboy1951 · 03-08-2017 12:11AM

The Cush wrote:

The question is can open-eir encroach on these NBP intervention areas since the agreement between them and the Dept. earlier this year when the intervention map was fixed. Any further cherry-picking now would make it even less viable in these areas for anyone other than eir to win the contract.

Allison Puny Appetite wrote: »

I had a quick scan through the commitment contract and could see no reference to non 300K premises. Unless they have some form of gentleman's agreement that has not been mentioned. Otherwise the Department blocking private investment in any region would be a breach of state aid rules would it not?

I also would be inclined to this view.
Provided they meet their requirements at the designated time I doubt there would/could be any negative reaction.

The Cush · 03-08-2017 12:50AM

Allison Puny Appetite wrote: »

I assume rob is talking about the letters and numbers you can see carved into the wood of some poles. The carvings have long predated this fibre rollout and I've always assumed they were some sort of batch reference made by the pole manufacturers.

Yes, that carved number could be a batch indication. The eir person I spoke to on the road last year, checking the poles, also told me the horizontal line carved into the pole indicates a certain distance from the base of the pole and that this line must be a certain distance from the ground when installed, too far from the ground means the pole isn't deep enough and gets a D plate.

I_HAVE_NO_NAME · 03-08-2017 10:37AM

Just a question. Is there any reason why OpenEir or KN would defer the roll-out in an area that was due to be live in Q2 2017? Yet at the same time they have started works on an area due for Q4 2017 / Q1 2018? Just frustrating to see everyone with fibre actually laid on the poles or in ducting when ours hasn't even started but was due for Q2... Either way Tipperary has been left in the dark on this roll-out. It'll be interesting to see when the map updates on the 10th, have OpenEir managed to pass more than 1% of the planned premises.

KOR101 · 03-08-2017 11:57AM

The Cush wrote: »

The question is can open-eir encroach on these NBP intervention areas since the agreement between them and the Dept. earlier this year when the intervention map was fixed. Any further cherry-picking now would make it even less viable in these areas for anyone other than eir to win the contract.

It was always likely that once Eir started working on the blue lines that changes would be made reflecting the realties of what's there. The original plans appear to have been drawn up in a rush. So, we're probably reading too much into it.

Chieftain · 03-08-2017 12:08PM

Has anyone had to dig a trench and put ducting down for an install??. They cant find where the copper wires go into my house and say i'd have to get a trench dug out as far as the nearest manhole cover. would have to dig up the driveway a bit too for the ducting so sounds like it would be expensive

Eir rural FTTH thread

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