No response from DCCAE.

Xithus · 01-10-2020 10:49am #1

Hey all, looking to see if someone could give me some advice.

Long story short I'm in one of those estates that is marked as getting 30mb+ and I'm not. I've been onto National Broadband Ireland and they won't add my address to the rollout unless they are told they can by the DCCAE.

So I've emailed them 3/4 times in the past 3/4 months (Broadband@dccae.gov.ie) and gotten nothing but the auto-response. I read on here that someone said to send them on proof from the operators that the line wasn't getting 30mb too but still no joy.

So I tried my local TD, he said he'd look into it, never heard back. I emailed the Ministers Office (minister.ryan@dccae.gov.ie) and politely asked that they send my query on to whoever deals with NBI. I got a response but then nothing.

I'm getting 20-28mb so I'm not trying to get connected to 1Gb tomorrow, all I've asked is to be put on the NBI list, if it takes 7 years so be it. Any suggestions on who I can try next? Is anyone else in the same boat? This process really should not be so difficult. :mad:

dam099 · 01-10-2020 12:07pm

You mention you are in an estate so I assume you are somewhat urban and with your speeds on VDSL.

They are probably adopting a wait and see with premises like that to see if the Eir IFN program eventually brings you FTTH.

Doesn't excuse not responding but maybe they don't want to put that in writing.

Xithus · 01-10-2020 4:00pm

Thanks. Yea I'm in a housing estate but in rural location (Mullagh, Cavan) I've enquired with Eir and and from what I'm told they have no plans to improve the service in the near future.

There's a handful of houses in the estate that have been added to the NBI plan already. Granted, they have it worse than I do (10-15mb) but I've been pushing to get added to the list so when those houses get surveyed mine gets done along with them.

Xithus · 01-10-2020 4:02pm

I assume Eircom IFN is their urban rollout? Is that correct?

ED E · 01-10-2020 9:39pm

Correct.

Xithus · 02-10-2020 10:48am

Thanks. Yes I don't see that coming my way anytime soon.

oscarBravo · 02-10-2020 11:14am

It's not on the medium-term roadmap, but as Mullagh has a population of over 1,000 it should be on the longer-term horizon.

Xithus · 09-10-2020 2:05pm

Oh right, I hadn't heard that. I read something similar about X amount of 'households' in an area though. Which Mullagh wouldn't be at.

Most of the surrounding town has FTTC already (I can actually see a house from mine that has it) but none of the housing estates got it. Very annoying.

gazzer · 09-10-2020 5:57pm

Xithus wrote: »

Hey all, looking to see if someone could give me some advice.

Long story short I'm in one of those estates that is marked as getting 30mb+ and I'm not. I've been onto National Broadband Ireland and they won't add my address to the rollout unless they are told they can by the DCCAE.

So I've emailed them 3/4 times in the past 3/4 months (Broadband@dccae.gov.ie) and gotten nothing but the auto-response. I read on here that someone said to send them on proof from the operators that the line wasn't getting 30mb too but still no joy.

So I tried my local TD, he said he'd look into it, never heard back. I emailed the Ministers Office (minister.ryan@dccae.gov.ie) and politely asked that they send my query on to whoever deals with NBI. I got a response but then nothing.

I'm getting 20-28mb so I'm not trying to get connected to 1Gb tomorrow, all I've asked is to be put on the NBI list, if it takes 7 years so be it. Any suggestions on who I can try next? Is anyone else in the same boat? This process really should not be so difficult. :mad:

Don't think DCCAE can just add properties. The nap is only updated every 3 months. Be a nightmare to deal with requests to add properties. They are dealing with a massive amount of queries and unfortunately there is not enough staff assigned to deal with them. It means that as much as they would like they jyst can't physically deal with the volume of queries. You are talking about approx 250 queries a week and only two people dealing with the queries and that is only part of their job so its not a case of a large call centre dealing with the issues

The mapping consultation last year was when the included properties were finalised. Commercial operators like Eir indicated that they would be providing high speed broadband to the areas that remained in the BLUE area. If they are falling back on that promise its probably a case for ComReg

clohamon · 10-10-2020 5:41pm

gazzer wrote: »

You are talking about approx 250 queries a week and only two people dealing with the queries and that is only part of their job...

Do you have a reference for this?

gazzer wrote: »

The mapping consultation last year was when the included properties were finalised. Commercial operators like Eir indicated that they would be providing high speed broadband to the areas that remained in the BLUE area. If they are falling back on that promise its probably a case for ComReg

The Commercial operators have a grace period equivalent to the length of the roll-out of the State Aided intervention i.e. 7 years.

(63) For the purpose of identifying the geographical areas as white, grey or black as described below, the aid granting authority needs to determine whether broadband infrastructures exist in the targeted area. In order to further ensure that the public intervention does not disrupt private investments, the aid granting authorities should also verify whether private investors have concrete plans to roll out their own infrastructure in the near future. The term ‘near future’ should be understood as referring to a period of 3 years (79). If the granting authority takes a longer time horizon for the deployment of the subsidised infrastructure, the same time horizon should also be used to assess the existence of commercial investment plans.

https://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=OJ:C:2013:025:0001:0026:EN:PDF

That's the bit that's missing from the FAQ on DCCAE's website (below). In the meantime, I doubt ComReg will do anything unless they decide to change the USO before NBI have finished - which seems unlikely.

I am in a BLUE area and I can't get high speed broadband

We are conscious that there are premises within BLUE areas that cannot access a high speed broadband connection.

Firstly, please check with all operators offering service in your area.

If you have already checked with all operators and still have no service, please send your name and Eircode to broadband@dccae.gov.ie

The Department monitors the actual deployment of broadband infrastructure by commercial operators across the country on an ongoing basis, and engages with commercial operators in relation to same.

Should commercial operators' plans for premises in BLUE areas not materialise it may become necessary for the Department to intervene, possibly by bringing unserved BLUE area premises into the State intervention area.

https://www.dccae.gov.ie/en-ie/communications/topics/Broadband/national-broadband-plan/frequently-asked-questions/Pages/Blue-.aspx

Xithus · 14-10-2020 9:06am

In my estate for example I can see there are 4/5 houses that have been added. When I contacted NBI they are telling me that the request to be added to the rollout / survey needs to come from the DCCAE.

I'll just keep emailing them I guess and hope that I'm one of the 250 a week emails they eventually read.

I'm not going to waste my time with Comreg. Best case they get Openeir to bring me up to the required 30mb. Not really worth any of my effort.

Xithus · 14-10-2020 9:12am

Something I just noticed is that there are two different email addresses on the Gov.ie page. I've resent my query to both.

Not sure if it's a typo.

Image attached.

clohamon · 14-10-2020 11:20am

Xithus wrote: »

There's a handful of houses in the estate that have been added to the NBI plan already. Granted, they have it worse than I do (10-15mb) but I've been pushing to get added to the list so when those houses get surveyed mine gets done along with them.

Are you sure those houses have been added since the contract was signed in November 2019?

gazzer · 14-10-2020 11:36am

Xithus wrote: »

Something I just noticed is that there are two different email addresses on the Gov.ie page. I've resent my query to both.

Not sure if it's a typo.

Image attached.

The DECC mailbox is the same as DCENR.Name changed because of the Dept name change when the new Government took office and most gov websites have now transferred to gov.ie to make it easier reading for the public

Xithus · 14-10-2020 6:56pm

I think the sploge of white houses in the dead centre are my estate. So they haven't been added, they've always been on it then?

clohamon · 14-10-2020 9:27pm

Xithus wrote: »

I think the sploge of white houses in the dead centre are my estate. So they haven't been added, they've always been on it then?

Looks like they've been added before contract in Nov 2019. But you can see some others (bottom right) that have been removed since April 2017.

Xithus · 14-10-2020 9:37pm

I read on one of the posts here (I think it was on the NBI progress post) that someone had successfully managed to be added to the rollout by supplying proof to the DCCAE that their speed wasn’t over 30Mb. I’m wondering if that person just for lucky.

No response from DCCAE.

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