eircom FWA locations

damien · 28-11-2005 10:08am #1

I was doing a little search around the ComReg site this morning looking at the perennial under construction notice on the eircom FWA location page.

I decided to view the source to see where there any clues and low and behold I see this map commented out:

Now the map is fairly crap, but can anyone figure out these locations?

Damien.

Sponge Bob · 28-11-2005 10:38am

Yes. These correspond to large type Red and White eircom towers and to a c.7 km zone around them gives the kind of omni antennae Eircom use with their Airspan 3.5Ghz gear.

If you have LOS to one of those towers you should be able to get the Eircom Wireless BB 512/64 package .

oscarBravo · 28-11-2005 12:13pm

In Mayo: Ballina (big Vodafone tower behind the railway station), Castlebar (big red/white tower in town), Westport (Farnaght), Swinford (red/white tower out towards Barnacogue (I think)), Belmullet (no clue) and Achill (probably Minaun).

By and large, a heavy correlation with DSL-enabled towns. I suspect 7km is optimistic.

Then, of course, there is the price...

ednwireland · 28-11-2005 12:23pm

barnesmore gap which doesn't seem to be on the map is one of them (i know a couple of people running it) but you can get nwe wireless from there which is faster and cheaper. the fwa installations i've seen are dreadful little faster then isdn but at least its flat rate.

oscarBravo · 28-11-2005 12:23pm

I'm open to correction, but I've heard that having an eircom phone line is a precondition for getting this installed - either hardwired or FWA. 64k upload is a bit snug for decent VoIP.

Sponge Bob · 28-11-2005 12:25pm

oscarBravo wrote:

I suspect 7km is optimistic.

Then, of course, there is the price...

The install price is shocking , well over €700

The monthly price of €54 is digestible if you can get rid of your fixed line to help pay for it

Here is an (unlinkable) Product Description .

eircom fixed wireless access (FWA) packet delivers broadband Internet speeds to people in areas outside DSL coverage and also to people within DSL enabled areas, using FWA packet technology. 33% of the population can avail of this technology.

Unlike DSL, eircom fixed wireless access does not use the copper lines of your telephone to connect you to the Internet. Instead, your modem connects to an external antenna at your premises. This uses a radio channel to link into a base station, and then to the Internet.

By using a wireless connection, you can access a broadband connection up to 15km from the base station. This is a greater distance than DSL broadband can reach. However, there must be an unobstructed line of sight between the antenna at your premises and the base station.

The 33% and 15km figures are a complete cod but Comreg refuse to investigate them Comreg also refuse to investigate cases where persons living 'under' the towers have been told time and time again that there is no capacity on the tower . You can check on this number 1890 457 048 .

oscarBravo · 28-11-2005 12:38pm

Sponge Bob wrote:

The 33% and 15km figures are a complete cod...

That's not maybe. I know of one person with a FWA PSTN connection - at 10km from the tower, it can barely sustain a 12k dialup connection.

Luckily he was able to get wireless broadband from another provider...

bminish · 28-11-2005 12:44pm

By using a wireless connection, you can access a broadband connection up to 15km from the base station. This is a greater distance than DSL broadband can reach. However, there must be an unobstructed line of sight between the antenna at your premises and the base station.

On some sites they are using omnidirectional antennas, not sectors. Farnaght Near Westport is one such site. The reach of the FWA broadband product from this site is about 5K but they can make it out to about 12K from this site for the FWA phone line replacement.
Some sites will be sectorised and these will have better reach.

Eircom have had a lot of trouble around here with Airspan kit due to Water ingress issues. I was told that around 900 Airspan CPE units have been replaced so far

.brendan

damien · 28-11-2005 1:00pm

How many FWA customers are there and how many are on "broadband"? I wonder are those ComReg stats any good for figuring it out?

byte · 29-11-2005 11:19pm

ednwireland wrote:

barnesmore gap which doesn't seem to be on the map is one of them (i know a couple of people running it) but you can get nwe wireless from there which is faster and cheaper. the fwa installations i've seen are dreadful little faster then isdn but at least its flat rate.

Sorry for going Off topic, but can you give me more info on NWE?

My sister is looking for broadband and has very good LoS with the Gap, and I had emailed Eircom about their FWA from Barnesmore, but got no replies.

So I might get her to try NWE instead.

ai ing · 29-11-2005 11:48pm

Site here http://nwewireless.com/

1huge1 · 30-11-2005 9:05pm

aside from the big places like dublin cork city and limerick city
i think theres one in mitchellstown lol terrible map

byte · 30-11-2005 10:33pm

ai ing wrote:

Site here http://nwewireless.com/

Thanks for that.

ai ing · 30-11-2005 11:52pm

No problem. I was actually looking at them about a year or more ago and they were too expensive for me at the time but your post made me go back and look at them again and the prices seem to have come well down. I am looking at getting the 1mb/128 as it costs only €25 - the same as my current dialup package!!

the Guru · 01-12-2005 8:48pm

Eircom do not currently sell FWA at the moment as they cant sustain the speeds , basicially due to poor quality they have pulled it until they can get it sorted , they will only offer it for Narrowband ie FWA for PSTN lines that they cant get copper too

byte · 01-12-2005 10:05pm

ai ing wrote:

No problem. I was actually looking at them about a year or more ago and they were too expensive for me at the time but your post made me go back and look at them again and the prices seem to have come well down. I am looking at getting the 1mb/128 as it costs only €25 - the same as my current dialup package!!

I emailed them, but sadly I was emailed back with the map from their site, which, if I am supposed to use it as a guide, indicates that Donegal Town is not covered by their service.
http://www.nwewn.com/coverage.html

ai ing · 03-12-2005 4:49am

My place was also outside the coverage area on that map by about 15km but when I contacted them they asked for my exact location and when I gave them the info I was told that yes it was available to me. (Haveny got it in yet so fingers still crossed)

So rather than ask where its available say you are interested in signing up and is it available at x address.

Sponge Bob · 03-12-2005 5:25pm

the Guru wrote:

Eircom do not currently sell FWA at the moment as they cant sustain the speeds , basicially due to poor quality they have pulled it until they can get it sorted , they will only offer it for Narrowband ie FWA for PSTN lines that they cant get copper too

Strange, they lose their licence if they cannot offer a 384k (sustained) package off all 48 ??? masts.

watty · 04-12-2005 3:20pm

Sponge Bob wrote:

Strange, they lose their licence if they cannot offer a 384k (sustained) package off all 48 ??? masts.

The "losing licence" thing is too big a penalty so rarely applied we need BIG BIG fines for non-compliance, as too often the operator is complacent assuming that it is politically impossible to lose licence (sometimes they are wrong).

Pulling a licence hurts the customers that do have a service and oddly a replacement licence may not include same requirements nor new operator get going for 2 years in some cases.

damien · 04-12-2005 3:23pm

The map seems to have gone offline. Luckily I saved a copy...

jwt · 04-12-2005 9:33pm

damien.m wrote:

The map seems to have gone offline. Luckily I saved a copy...

LOL priceless!

John

zuma · 05-12-2005 2:13pm

Hey eircom, things keep getting better???
Yeah RIGHT!!!!

JackieChan · 05-12-2005 4:50pm

damien,
can you post that map?
JC

netwhizkid · 05-12-2005 9:46pm

This is the map.

eircomtribunal · 05-12-2005 10:10pm

netwhizkid wrote:

This is the map.

Eircom blocked my FOI request to ComReg for a simple dsl map – they will not be too happy with having this map in the open! A state secret laid bare.

How many sites? What area covered? How many broadband subscribers? Would be an interesting statistic to gauge the justification of a nationwide 3,5 gig licence.

P.

damien · 09-08-2006 8:11pm

Here are all the locations according to eircom themselves:

Athlone
Ballina
Ballinrobe
Ballyguile
Ballyhoura
Ballylane
Ballyspellan
Barnesmore
Beenageeha
Belmullet
Bralee
Bweeng
Campile
Cape Clear
Cappagh
Cappard
Capparoe
Cappataggle
Carrickmacross
Carrigadoon
Castlebar
Castleblaney
Churchfield
City West
Clifden
Coolmine
Crohaun
Cullenagh
Curraross
Dame Court
Drogheda
Dromgold
Drumkeeran
Dundalk
Dungloe
Dunmurry Hill
Edenderry
Falcarragh
Farnaght
Fourknocks
Gallow's Hill
Glencoum Wood
Glengoole
Glenteige
Harristown
Inchee
Kilbride
Kildorrery
Killorglin
Kilmuckridge
Knock Airport
Knockaneagh
Knockanimpha
Knockanore
Knockgour
Knocknaboul
Lisnabin
Mallow
Mervue
Minnaun
Mongorry Hill
Mount Oriel
Mulmosog
Navan
Nenagh
Portlaoise
Roches Street
Rossmore Bog
Scartbaun
Shanettra
Shelmaliere
Slieve Glah
Slieveboy
Slievemish
Thurles
Tuam
Virginia
Whitechurch
Woodtown
Youghal

damien · 09-08-2006 8:19pm

4,200 customers using Fixed Wireless for voice
250 customers using Fixed Wireless for Broadband

netwhizkid · 09-08-2006 8:26pm

damien.m wrote:

Here are all the locations according to eircom themselves:

Inchee

"Sir, I can rest assure you FWA broadband is not available in your area contrary to whatever rumours you may have heard and we have no plans to roll it out either"

Interesting how it is available in Inchee huh? I knew it was there for the last year but couldn't do nothing with them denying it was there. I even have photos of it and all (see attachment).

The thing is would it be worth getting instead of my one-way Satellite Broadband?? Or has anyone here actually got Eircom FWA Broadband. Well at least my area now has broadband except for it being too expensive.

Those photos were taken in June 2006 (sunny one) and December 2005 (dull one)

byte · 09-08-2006 10:27pm

I've still to find someone who gets eircom FWA from Barnesmore in Donegal also.

I do know of a country hotel that needed to rely on FWA from Barnesmore though not sure if they went for Eircom or NWEWN, who also have FWA setup on Barnesmore.

Sponge Bob · 09-08-2006 10:51pm

thats 80 locations , an increase of 15 over over the map .

eircom have a licence target to meet (last June as it happens) and Comreg have a court case about licences going on with Smart so they may be more pointed than usual about compliance .

as their next target is in another 5 years don't be too hopeful

damien · 09-08-2006 11:34pm

The Oireachtas Committee on broadband got these answers from ComReg.

Eircom’s National Fixed Wireless Licence
Q16. Does ComReg validate the use of this licence?

Yes.

The eircom Fixed Wireless Point to Multi-point Access (FWPMA) licence is an annually renewable licence, which commenced on the 15th June 2000. In order to satisfy renewal conditions, ComReg requires that eircom;
• is in compliance with their licence conditions;
• has paid the appropriate fees; and
• has provided updated information to ComReg in relation to their licence
schedules.

The annual renewal process for the FWPMA licences is similar to that of other wireless telegraphy network licences, such as GSM and 3G.

Yeah. Sure.

Q.17 Is ComReg satisfied that this licence is being used effectively and at a reasonable cost to the consumer?

ComReg is satisfied that eircom is in compliance with its FWPMA licence conditions, up to the last renewal date (15th June 2005). In summary, eircom has licence obligations in relation to:
• The Required Services
• Service Quality and Performance Standards Obligations
• Coverage and Roll-Out Targets
• Tariffs for Required Services; and
• Performance Guarantees

The details of eircom’s licence conditions are contained in ComReg Document 03/19R
http://www.comreg.ie/_fileupload/publications/ComReg0319R.pdf.
In relation to the cost of these services, eircom is obliged to provide tariffs for the required services at the same level and terms and conditions as similar services offered by eircom over its wired network.

ednwireland · 10-08-2006 7:58am

byte wrote:

I've still to find someone who gets eircom FWA from Barnesmore in Donegal also.

I do know of a country hotel that needed to rely on FWA from Barnesmore though not sure if they went for Eircom or NWEWN, who also have FWA setup on Barnesmore.

pm me i know of at least one hotel who has their bb from it (its actually ditched it for a faster nwe connection - also available from barnesmore ) cos its crap
sorry didnt finish your post yes they have one of each until their contract period with eircom is up and i guess they will move both to nwe

damien · 20-08-2006 11:39am

damien.m wrote:

Athlone
Ballina
Ballinrobe
Ballyguile
Ballyhoura
Ballylane
Ballyspellan
Barnesmore
Beenageeha
Belmullet
Bralee
Bweeng
Campile
Cape Clear
Cappagh
Cappard
Capparoe
Cappataggle
Carrickmacross
Carrigadoon
Castlebar
Castleblaney
Churchfield
City West
Clifden
Coolmine
Crohaun
Cullenagh
Curraross
Dame Court
Drogheda
Dromgold
Drumkeeran
Dundalk
Dungloe
Dunmurry Hill
Edenderry
Falcarragh
Farnaght
Fourknocks
Gallow's Hill
Glencoum Wood
Glengoole
Glenteige
Harristown
Inchee
Kilbride
Kildorrery
Killorglin
Kilmuckridge
Knock Airport
Knockaneagh
Knockanimpha
Knockanore
Knockgour
Knocknaboul
Lisnabin
Mallow
Mervue
Minnaun
Mongorry Hill
Mount Oriel
Mulmosog
Navan
Nenagh
Portlaoise
Roches Street
Rossmore Bog
Scartbaun
Shanettra
Shelmaliere
Slieve Glah
Slieveboy
Slievemish
Thurles
Tuam
Virginia
Whitechurch
Woodtown
Youghal

Can anyone help in getting GPS or map coords for these locations? How many of them are at existing exchanges?

oscarBravo · 20-08-2006 1:10pm

Castlebar, Ballinrobe, Tuam and Mervue I'd say are at the exchange locations (assuming the exchange is at the base of the red & white tower). I'll PM you locations for Ballina, Farnaght, and Knock Airport. Do you prefer WGS84 or Irish Grid?

Sponge Bob · 20-08-2006 4:19pm

about half of them are Microwave towers on mountains

Irish lesson

Words beginning with :

knock means mountain
mweel means mountain
mul means mountail
been bmeans mountain
ard means mountain
drom means mountain
drum means mountain

Here are some of them

Beenageeha (north of Tralee)
Mulmosog (nw Donegal between Letterkenny and Dungloe)
Cappataggle , half way between Aughrim and Kilricle in east Galway
Glencoum Wood in Kilkenny , long and lat here
Ballyguile in s wicklow lon and lat here
carrigadoon , long and lat here

database of higher hills

http://www.indexmundi.com/zm/ei/

about half of them are co located on masts within exchange compounds where DSL is enabled, if you could remove those exchnage the rest would be easy)

The first three for example, Athlone, Ballina , Ballinrobe ,

oscarBravo · 20-08-2006 4:25pm

Sponge Bob wrote:

The first three for example, Athlone, Ballina , Ballinrobe ,

Bzzzt. Ballina exchange doesn't have a tower. The FWA kit is on Vodafone's mast - not that far away, but not that close either.

oscarBravo · 20-08-2006 4:34pm

I've sent you Farnaght before, Damien. Ballina is approx. G 23722 18403.

kaizersoze · 20-08-2006 6:15pm

Cappataggle - (lat): 53°16'35"N, (lon): 8°24'13"W
Athlone is on the Roslevin exchange (not Bliary)

lucernarian · 20-08-2006 8:53pm

Mount Oriel: 6.5059 W, 53.7883 N. It is not an exchange.

PS the site http://www.askcomreg.ie/mobile/site_viewer.asp shows the National Grid Reference of most mobile sites, which are sometimes shared with eircom FWA sites. The above site was worked out with the site viewer page.

Are National Grid References of any use?

Wantitnow · 26-11-2006 2:06am

Knockgour on that list isn't marked on the map!
BANTRY BAY Co. CORK Knockgour 51 38 10N 10 00 33W
I know they have a working mast there because the empty house next door to me has a FWA PSTN telephone that was installed by eircom because the owner didnt want phone wires in their view and eircom didnt want to bury them.
The mast is 18km away with a clear LOS, the lady who used to lived there told me it was the best connection she'd ever had, but then 4kbps is average here

I have lately been wondering if it would be possible to get broadband on it, as there is only one other provider with a mast on knockgour - digitalforge, and they block all file sharing sites which is what I'd mainly use it for.

wiredup · 26-11-2006 4:02pm

I live around 8km from Ballinrobe.
I recently contacted Eircom about FWA. I got an email back telling me about satellite . I replied and said I never asked about satellite I want to know about FWA. Some guy from Eircom phoned me trying to sell me a thousand euro's worth of Sat gear and a 130+ monthly subscription. He said FWA was not available to me.

I wish there was some way to check the signal. How far does FWA work and is it true that water (lough Mask) is a problem?

watty · 26-11-2006 5:24pm

There are much cheaper companies for Sat.

A path over water can do strange things.

netwhizkid · 27-11-2006 9:49pm

damien.m wrote:

The Oireachtas Committee on broadband got these answers from ComReg.

Eircom’s National Fixed Wireless Licence
Q16. Does ComReg validate the use of this licence?

Yes.

The eircom Fixed Wireless Point to Multi-point Access (FWPMA) licence is an annually renewable licence, which commenced on the 15th June 2000. In order to satisfy renewal conditions, ComReg requires that eircom;
• is in compliance with their licence conditions;
• has paid the appropriate fees; and
• has provided updated information to ComReg in relation to their licence
schedules.

The annual renewal process for the FWPMA licences is similar to that of other wireless telegraphy network licences, such as GSM and 3G.

Yeah. Sure.

Q.17 Is ComReg satisfied that this licence is being used effectively and at a reasonable cost to the consumer?

ComReg is satisfied that eircom is in compliance with its FWPMA licence conditions, up to the last renewal date (15th June 2005). In summary, eircom has licence obligations in relation to:
• The Required Services
• Service Quality and Performance Standards Obligations
• Coverage and Roll-Out Targets
• Tariffs for Required Services; and
• Performance Guarantees

The details of eircom’s licence conditions are contained in ComReg Document 03/19R
ComReg PDF Download.
In relation to the cost of these services, eircom is obliged to provide tariffs for the required services at the same level and terms and conditions as similar services offered by eircom over its wired network.

I never actually read the licence in that post until this thread got bumped back up yesterday and I have made an official complaint with ComReg today by Telephone. The license clearly stipulates that Eircom must provide its FWA service at the same price as its wired equivalent (DSL). (see page 16 of the licence). I recommend backing up the licence too incase it disappears like the infamous Map.

This means they should be offering the service at €24.99 a month rather than €54.50 with free installation and not the €600+ install price tag, (which is enough to put people off the service even if the monthly price was cheap). The service is reliable and is increasing in popularity despite it's hefty price tag.

A good few subscribers are based in the Beara Peninsula and the Southern Iveragh Peninsula, being served by Knockgour (to the west of CastletownBere), ScartBaun (over Bantry Town), Capparoe (to the west of Kenmare in Templenoe) and Inchee (in Kilgarvan near the Border with Cork, located in the middle of the SWS Windfarm).

A large swathe of South West Kerry and Beara in Cork could have affordable broadband if ComReg enforced the terms of the License on Eircom. I have heard of people working up to 18 or 19KM away from these transmitters, The network is there it just needs to be made affordable to the average Joe Soap. The technology has limitations but would be better than nothing if made available to the masses as was the point of the Nationwide 3.5Ghz licence.

I will post up the results of my dealings with ComReg and I will try my best to get GPS Coordinates for the aforementioned four FWA Transmitters.

kaizersoze · 28-11-2006 12:47am

netwhizkid wrote:

I will post up the results of my dealings with ComReg and I will try my best to get GPS Coordinates for the aforementioned four FWA Transmitters.

Don't get your hopes up. I emailed them last month to get some sort of map of the transmitter locations, possibly better than the blurry one, and got this reply:

Dear

In relation ot the Eircom FWPMA licences due to the nature of these licences we cannot release the maps to the general public.

Regards

Tara

watty · 28-11-2006 1:27am

Which is absolutely -ntr--

digitalsnub · 29-11-2006 11:41pm

I've rang eircom up the last couple of days to try and get some information on FWA, either the sales people know nothing about it or they are told to ignore it. I was offered ISDN + a 60 hour off peak dialing package.

That's no good to me. I'm spending big money on dial-up (about 200 every 2 months, the 150 hour package is not much use). Thing is, if I had the net working at a decent speed, I wouldnt need to spend anywhere near the time I do on it.

BTW I'm on the Ballyjamesduff exchange, which has been enabled but I'm too far from the exchange.

Anyways good luck with Comreg and trying to force Eircom to sell us this product, and at a decent price too.

thebman · 01-12-2006 3:42pm

netwhizkid wrote:

I recommend backing up the licence too incase it disappears like the infamous Map.

I got this after clicking the link:

The page cannot be found
The page you are looking for might have been removed, had its name changed, or is temporarily unavailable.

Please try the following:
If you typed the page address in the Address bar, make sure that it is spelled correctly.
Open the www.comreg.ie home page, and then look for links to the information you want.
Click the Back button to try another link.
HTTP 404 - File not found
Internet Information Services

Technical Information (for support personnel)
More information:
Microsoft Support

netwhizkid · 01-12-2006 8:49pm

brim4brim wrote:

I got this after clicking the link:

A bit of an error on my part in the post there brim4brim,

http://www.comreg.ie/_fileupload/publications/ComReg0319R.pdf

is the correct URL,

I can't edit it out of my post, Maybe a mod can?

Anyway I thought I had a case of Deja vu on my hands again. Luckily I have it backed up in case. I rang them again today after they never got back to me (surprise surprise) and they told me I will hear from them soon and it is being looked into at an important level and is being taken very seriously. Hopefully it will bear some fruit as it would be great if they enforced the T&C's and made Eircom offer it as fixed line rates of €24.99 a month ala entry level DSL broadband.

kaygee · 08-03-2007 7:46pm

With your dealing with Comreg?
I have been using FWA since '04 and now realise I have been paying over the odds all that time. I have also written to Comreg asking what the situation is and if they will enforce Eircom to stick to their T&C's of the licence. Also, would I be able to retrospectively demand a refund of the overpayments (i.e. over the 24.99 of their equivalent wired product) of the 45.00 plus VAT I have been paying since I connected with them.
I will keep you informed of my progress

netwhizkid · 08-03-2007 9:10pm

kaygee wrote:

With your dealing with Comreg?
I have been using FWA since '04 and now realise I have been paying over the odds all that time. I have also written to Comreg asking what the situation is and if they will enforce Eircom to stick to their T&C's of the licence. Also, would I be able to retrospectively demand a refund of the overpayments (i.e. over the 24.99 of their equivalent wired product) of the 45.00 plus VAT I have been paying since I connected with them.
I will keep you informed of my progress

Hi kaygee and welcome to boards.ie

I actually made a fair bit of progress, ComReg were fairly sympathetic to my plight and after several phone calls, they done some internal rummaging only to tell me that they are powerless to do anything on it.

However the Competition Regulator Amendment Bill when passed into legislation will give ComReg the power to tackle Eircom on this issue and I am hoping that it might provide the catalyst required. I even raised it Bertie himself personally face to face last Thursday. About 90% of Eircom staff are unaware of the existence of FWA so well are Eircom trying to conceal this service.

How is the FWA working?

I only used it once ever and I got 500Kbps down and 60kbps up with around 40ms pinging www.boards.ie

Also if you don't mind me asking; How far are you from the Transmitter? I am about 4Kms direct line of sight from my nearest transmitter and cannot pick up a useable signal due to the fact that a new Wind Turbine Farm is disrupting the signal and it was picked up once ever and that was when the blades were stopped turning on the turbines.

kaygee · 11-03-2007 5:36pm

I haven't even heard from Comreg since I emailed them. Typical response!!
I am very happy with FWA except for the speed. They also put my PSTN on the FWA (seperately) when they were putting in the broadband. Except for a couple of outages it is as good as I could have expected it to be for 512/64.
I am roughly 5.5km from the transmitter as the crow flies and I have perfect LOS. The antenna is at the top of an old ESB pole that I planted in my back yard as I couldn't get LOS from my gable end. Just for your information, the transmitter is at co-ordinates 53º 07'N, 07º 27'W. I don't know what the contention ratio is, I think it is meant to be 16. There used to be a link from the eircom.ie website to a page with some information but that seems to have disappeared.
I have just ran a speed test using http://www.irishisptest.com/runmyspeed.php and the d/l speed is 438kbps, u/l speed is 60.2kbps and round rip time is 55ms.
Let me know if you hear any more and I will do likewise...

eircom FWA locations

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