National Broadband Ireland : implementation and progress

Update. KN visited to check things at the pole, then another engineer called to actually install service. So all in all, 5 engineer visits, 3 orders with Vodafone for what could have been done in 1 visit, 2 tops as it wasn't a complicated run(install) at all. I've seen several of these installs done already…

Service is now live with Vodafone but speeds go from 70Mbps down up to 300Mbps and anything in-between on a 1Gbps profile so likely to exercise the cooling off and swap to someone else. It's not a case of being too far from the Gigabox/ being on 2.4 network. It was maxing out at around 900Mbps when the engineer installed it. I can't deal with calling Vodafone any longer. Woeful company currently. Before I do that, can anyone confirm if it's possible to remove the Gigabox from the equation entirely and either use my own Fritzbox or connect the switch directly to the ONT instead. I haven't tinkered with the Fritzbox yet to see if that would be any more reliable…

They're all over the shop. Anything up to 900 and down around 300. I would expect it to be up around 900 consistently if connected via cable. Also aware that the Gigabox isn't great piece of kit so wouldn't give the most reliable Wifi vs other operators boxes too. My question is probably double ended to be fair- is Vodafone service the problem, is it the Gigabox or both.

Yes that’s possible, just connect your router straight to the ONT and use the following settings

PPPoE

Username - vodafone@vodafone.ie

Password - broadband

VLAN ID - 10

Looking at the NBI map our DA, Newport Tipp, has gone Available_to_Pre_Order & Ready_for_Service.

Our DP was only installed last week so still a bit away from pre-order. The Alltec DP install crews are still around the area doing their thing.

An awkward area near me, into a forested location had a ducting crew there today installing clear plastic ducting and possibly some new poles too, didn't get in there today to see what work was done.

AFAIK 2Gb is the max through SIRO and NBI at the moment.

Virgin Media are advertising 5Gb through their own FTTP network and eir are advertising 5Gb through their OpenEir network.

No nothing from Vodafone yet, they would presumably make sure SIRO is ready for 5Gb first before thinking about having it available over OpenEir or NBI.

I am seeing much loss of bandwidth at peak time. 

That could be down to Vodafone, there was a thread on here a while back about congested backhaul at peak times.

Virgin Media's ONT is SFP (although this is the NBI thread so not really relevant). The others are RJ45.

Sky's routers are locked down as far as I know.

Avoid Eir, Vodafone and Virgin Media if you don't want annual price increases.

Pretty much all ISPs have their own core network. Pure is an exception, they will either use Eir (with an Eir IP address) or BT, depending on the area.

You can get Virgin Media through NBI and a RJ45 ONT will be installed. It’s only Virgin Media’s own FTTP network that there’s no ONT installed, their own Hub 5x just has one integrated so you have to plug the fibre directly into it.

You can remove all ISP routers with a NBI ONT installed.

As @Glaceon has said nearly all ISPs have their own routing, backhaul etc. from the exchange / handover.

I would say Digiweb or Pure would be a good choice for you. Vodafone, Eir and Sky’s routers are all locked down to a certain degree but you can just replace them altogether and plug into the ONT.

Digiweb have a 3TB FUP, not sure if it’s enforced. Sky seem to have a 2TB FUP, not sure if it’s enforced either and is very hidden. Nearly all other ISPs have removed a set FUP usage figure.

Eir and Vodafone have a fixed increase every April that’s part of the contract whereas Sky and Virgin Media do sometimes increase the price but because it’s not mentioned at the start of the contract you will be able to cancel if it does increase.

Hmmm. I wonder if Eir wanted to enforce some form of traffic filtering would Pure customers be impacted….

A silage harvester took down the line from the distribution point to my house, phone land line as well.

Do I contact my provider (Vodafone) or NBI to repair it?

My landline is with Vodafone too.

Interested to know if you ever get your (separate) phone line back.

I will let you know. There are two separate lines; one from the DP point to the house and the other the normal telephone line that has been there all the time. Both are going across the road and were taken out completely by the harvester. I'd say the chute on it was what did it. It was at night so he probably didn't even see the lines. Friggin disaster, could be a lot of work in repairing it.

There's no fixed voice USO currently, so I'm just wondering how far they'll go to persuade people in this situation not to have the phone line replaced.

Update to myself, fibre installed this week. A 2 month wait from sign up seems in line with what most were saying.

Just on the topic of agricultural machinery taking down the line. This was my concern as the line from the black box crosses the road onto my property and sags.

I flagged it to the installer who reassured me but i have my concerns, most agricultural machinery will be OK but I’ve seen the odd big beast which will come close to the line.