SIRO - ESB/Vodafone Fibre To The Home

5starpool · 02-11-2018 9:46pm

I had signed up for Siro updates via email and hadn't got any notification of movement. I checked the Siro website and noticed that Ashbourne in Meath had moved from planned to Coming Soon. I would have thought that was the type of thing the updates should say. Either way, good news for me anyway. I'll be out of contract in December with my current provider and it certainly won't be available before then, but hopefully not more than a few months later.

Marlow · 02-11-2018 9:52pm

5starpool wrote: »

I checked the Siro website and noticed that Ashbourne in Meath had moved from planned to Coming Soon. I would have thought that was the type of thing the updates should say.

No. I think the update you will get is when your Eircode goes live.

/M

5starpool · 02-11-2018 9:59pm

Marlow wrote: »

No. I think the update you will get is when your Eircode goes live.

/M

Grand, thanks for the clarification. I had assumed that any movement in my area would have been communicated. No biggie anyway as anything before it goes live is only a tease really.

kleefarr · 02-11-2018 10:37pm

Marlow wrote: »

Don't blame SIRO. Please specify which provider !

You can't just brush all SIRO providers over with one brush. There's 8 different SIRO partners. Everyone goes different about their business, network and customer service. SIRO only delivers the last mile. The bit to your doorstep. Not your internet, not your phone and not your TV service.

/M

Agreed.

Vodafone

ronan675 · 03-11-2018 12:00pm

Curious to know if anyone has heard any news about SIRO in the Galway area? Looking at the roll-out map it is planned.

There was a scheduled power outage which lasted most of the day in my estate around a month ago. The ESB Networks power outage notice mentioned something like "To facilitate the installation of fibre broadband". I did see some KN / ESB vans on the day in question but as far as I could tell they only replaced some old ESB poles and I have seen no activity since.

Airwire: MartinL · 03-11-2018 12:02pm

ronan675 wrote: »

Curious to know if anyone has heard any news about SIRO in the Galway area? Looking at the roll-out map it is planned.

Galway City is currently planned for Q1/2019. We will be ready, when it goes live.

TheDriver · 03-11-2018 4:48pm

We had a few outages including a day to put in new poles, pulling wires and connecting things.

Double C · 05-11-2018 9:12am

Is it recommended to use another router with SIRO? I was using a TP Link AC1750 with Virgin Media but I've since switched to SIRO with Digiweb. I've tried setting it up but am unsure what settings I would need to change on the Fritz box. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

ED E · 06-11-2018 7:01pm

Double C wrote: »

Is it recommended to use another router with SIRO? I was using a TP Link AC1750 with Virgin Media but I've since switched to SIRO with Digiweb. I've tried setting it up but am unsure what settings I would need to change on the Fritz box. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Which TP? Which package?

It may not be fast enough.

EdgeCase · 06-11-2018 7:47pm

Our area was surveyed by Huawei a few weeks ago. I was just wondering has anyone spotted any of the Cork City build-out starting already and if so, in what areas?

BArra · 06-11-2018 9:17pm

What area are you in?

TLI were surveying in Glounthaune in the past few weeks, my fingers and toes are crossed we are included in the rollout..

Double C · 06-11-2018 9:23pm

ED E wrote: »

Which TP? Which package?

It may not be fast enough.

I've the Archer C7. It was working great with VM,I was getting full 240 mb speeds on wired devices and 150 or so on WiFi so it should be fine for up to 1000 now with Siro

Marlow · 07-11-2018 12:34am

Double C wrote: »

I've the Archer C7. It was working great with VM,I was getting full 240 mb speeds on wired devices and 150 or so on WiFi so it should be fine for up to 1000 now with Siro

Not necessarily. A lot of routers don't have the CPU power to utilize 1000 Mbit/s.

Airwire even classified the Mikrotik routers they offer based on what they can handle: http://www.airwire.ie/index.php/products/siro . Once firewalling etc. comes into the mix, it really drags the speed down.

/M

ED E · 07-11-2018 1:50am

Double C wrote: »

I've the Archer C7. It was working great with VM,I was getting full 240 mb speeds on wired devices and 150 or so on WiFi so it should be fine for up to 1000 now with Siro

That'll do 800Mb with NAT boost on disabling some features or 400Mb with NAT boost off. If you're paying for 1G (about 960Mb) then 400Mb would disappoint most.

It'll work though. IPTV settings, VID 10, then connect to the ONT.

KOR101 · 07-11-2018 5:12pm

Telecoms group Siro appoints new chief executive

The switch is part of an agreement between the ESB and Vodafone, whereby one person from each company assumes the role of chief executive every four years.

Mr Keaney said Siro’s network had now passed 200,000 homes and was “already having a positive impact on the lives of people in the 30 towns where our services are live.”

https://www.irishtimes.com/business/technology/telecoms-group-siro-appoints-new-chief-executive-1.3689647

EdgeCase · 07-11-2018 6:10pm

BArra wrote: »

What area are you in?

TLI were surveying in Glounthaune in the past few weeks, my fingers and toes are crossed we are included in the rollout..

Closer to the city centre and north of the river. We had Huawei out for several days kicking off quite early in the morning surveying all the ducts and overhead lines.

digiman · 07-11-2018 6:30pm

ED E wrote: »

That'll do 800Mb with NAT boost on disabling some features or 400Mb with NAT boost off. If you're paying for 1G (about 960Mb) then 400Mb would disappoint most.

It'll work though. IPTV settings, VID 10, then connect to the ONT.

What is the best consumer grade router to buy that will work with FTTH in Ireland but also allow you to get as close to the 1gb throughput as possible?

Something with really good WiFi coverage and throughput would also be required. I've got a Netgear R7000 but it's nlgot very slow throughout on the WAN connection for my 1Gb connection. I'm connecting it to the Huawei router to bypass the WAN throughput problem.

Will look at picking up something on Black Friday.

tsue921i8wljb3 · 07-11-2018 6:35pm

digiman wrote: »

What is the best consumer grade router to buy that will work with FTTH in Ireland but also allow you to get as close to the 1gb throughput as possible?

Something with really good WiFi coverage and throughput would also be required. I've got a Netgear R7000 but it's nlgot very slow throughout on the WAN connection for my 1Gb connection. I'm connecting it to the Huawei router to bypass the WAN throughput problem.

Will look at picking up something on Black Friday.

I'd be tempted to stick with the supplied router and use Ubiquiti access point(s)for the wireless. You can add more access points if needed whereas with a new router it is still only one device.

ED E · 07-11-2018 7:17pm

Yeah I'd probably say if you've maybe €150 to spend then small home should get the better features of a strong single unit and big homes should buy some APs.

Vico1612 · 07-11-2018 7:21pm

digiman wrote: »

What is the best consumer grade router to buy that will work with FTTH in Ireland but also allow you to get as close to the 1gb throughput as possible?

Something with really good WiFi coverage and throughput would also be required. I've got a Netgear R7000 but it's nlgot very slow throughout on the WAN connection for my 1Gb connection. I'm connecting it to the Huawei router to bypass the WAN throughput problem.

Will look at picking up something on Black Friday.

I dumped the HG659 as it couldn't cope with all the connected devices and got an ASUS RT-AC3200. Can't fault it ... I've a standard Semi D house and get good coverage around the house and back garden.

Airwire: MartinL · 08-11-2018 5:12pm

The first shipment of Fritz!Box 7530 has arrived.

Left to right: 7530, 7560, 7590.

They are basically the same router as the 7560, but with supervectoring 35b (not needed for SIRO) and in the new case. They are also slightly smaller than the 7560.

We will be testing these in the next week and they will then replace the 7430, 4040 and 7560 once stocks are gone. We can offer these at the same price level as the 7430 and 4040.

Pending performance tests, we may still keep the 7560 for Gbit/s FTTH around for a while.

Just a sneak peak, of what is coming. And yes, they can also be got in black. It's a special order, but we will be stocking a few black ones.

Technical specifications: https://en.avm.de/products/fritzbox/fritzbox-7530/

opus · 08-11-2018 5:55pm

EdgeCase wrote: »

Closer to the city centre and north of the river. We had Huawei out for several days kicking off quite early in the morning surveying all the ducts and overhead lines.

As someone who lives close to the city centre & north of the river, this is good news as I'd quite like to ditch VM and their continual price hikes. Any idea who'll be offering the SIRO service in Cork, will it just be Vodafone?

Digiweb · 08-11-2018 6:52pm

opus wrote: »

As someone who lives close to the city centre & north of the river, this is good news as I'd quite like to ditch VM and their continual price hikes. Any idea who'll be offering the SIRO service in Cork, will it just be Vodafone?

Digiweb will be offering Siro services in all parts of Cork once it's live. At present we are live in Carrigaline & Mallow

Praetorian · 11-11-2018 9:03pm

Siro have been building their network out in Balbriggan again. A lot of polls carrying fibre now. Am hopeful it may reach people I know with really woeful Vdsl connections. One house has 25m/bit, the other is 15-16m/bit. Those lines have been very flakey over the years, lots of down time every year. Now that it looks like Eir aren't proceeding with further copper enhancements Siro maybe their only hope.

Johnboy316 · 12-11-2018 2:19pm

Anyone know how often SIRO update their address database?
Have had an eircode the last two months but upon checking their address checker my address (which is within an estate) is not showing on their dropdown but I note houses on different roads within the estate are showing up and are projected to receive SIRO within the next 6 months

Airwire: MartinL · 12-11-2018 2:19pm

Johnboy316 wrote: »

Anyone know how often SIRO update their address database?
Have had an eircode the last two months but upon checking their address checker my address (which is within an estate) is not showing on their dropdown but I note houses on different roads within the estate are showing up and are projected to receive SIRO within the next 6 months

The SIRO database is passed to the partners once a month. In the case of some extensive builds, we also get an update mid month sometimes, but not very often.

Johnboy316 · 12-11-2018 2:23pm

Hi Martin,

Cheers for the quick response. Is that solely showing all new addresses at which SIRO is available?

Airwire: MartinL · 12-11-2018 2:28pm

Johnboy316 wrote: »

Is that solely showing all new addresses at which SIRO is available?

We get a full database for all premises they have passed within the interconnects that we service.

There is no data available about premises, that are going to be passed in the future until they are actually live and ready for connection.

cunnijo · 13-11-2018 7:52pm

I ordered SIRO on the 1st October last and to date it has not been installed. My feed has to come from an overhead power line down a pole and through ducting to my ESB box. Actavo have been to my home twice but their crews could not complete the work because a line engineer from the ESB is the only person that can feed the fibre from the pole to my home.

Has anyone else experienced this. If so how long did it take to finally get it installed?

Marlow · 13-11-2018 9:08pm

cunnijo wrote: »

I ordered SIRO on the 1st October last and to date it has not been installed. My feed has to come from an overhead power line down a pole and through ducting to my ESB box. Actavo have been to my home twice but their crews could not complete the work because a line engineer from the ESB is the only person that can feed the fibre from the pole to my home.

Has anyone else experienced this. If so how long did it take to finally get it installed?

Originally, it was to be within a month. But with the massive uptake that SIRO has had, I've seen a good few installations that have taken longer. It also depends on what exactly the issue is.

Which SIRO partner did you order with ? Have you spoken to them ?

/M

TheDriver · 13-11-2018 9:18pm

Any news on extending the gig offer?

cunnijo · 13-11-2018 9:39pm

Marlow wrote: »

Originally, it was to be within a month. But with the massive uptake that SIRO has had, I've seen a good few installations that have taken longer. It also depends on what exactly the issue is.

Which SIRO partner did you order with ? Have you spoken to them ?

/M

Marlow. I ordered from Digiweb, as I have their Metro wireless service. So it was an upgrade. I have contacted them about this issue (including today after Actave's second unsuccessful visit) and only on 1 occasion did a customer service rep come back to me.

BArra · 14-11-2018 11:08am

Spotted TLI activity in carrigtwohill, cork, entrance near cul ard estate past the church today, they had a manhole opened up and a machine that looked like it would be feeding fiber, a mucky day for it

Airwire: MartinL · 14-11-2018 4:53pm

We are happy to announce, that the SIRO promotion has been extended to 31. March 2019 ...

More information here: http://www.airwire.ie/products/

Westnet: Paul · 14-11-2018 4:54pm

TheDriver wrote: »

Any news on extending the gig offer?

We just got word that it's being extended to the end of March 2019.

edit: snap! Martin types faster than I do...

iggy82 · 14-11-2018 5:58pm

Marlow wrote: »

Originally, it was to be within a month. But with the massive uptake that SIRO has had, I've seen a good few installations that have taken longer. It also depends on what exactly the issue is.

Which SIRO partner did you order with ? Have you spoken to them ?

/M

Same for me - ordered on the 8th of October and now on my forth install date. Originally was to be the 15th of October, then moved to 29th of October, Then moved to 9th of November and now saying 30th of November.

It is a bit frustrating as I am running out of time as my current contract will end shortly.

I am with Digiweb and in fairness they are helpful but i think they are at the mercy of SIRO.

captain_boycott · 14-11-2018 6:04pm

Westnet: Paul wrote: »

It's worth bearing in mind that "Castlebar" in SIRO-speak means "Castlebar and Westport".

Hi Paul. Have the Siro deployments in Castlebar finished up? Not seen much activity around the town recently (and sadly, the paint marking the electrical ducting around Rosslee have faded away now, oh well, it briefly gave us hope that something might happen:( )

Westnet: Paul · 14-11-2018 6:19pm

captain_boycott wrote: »

Hi Paul. Have the Siro deployments in Castlebar finished up? Not seen much activity around the town recently (and sadly, the paint marking the electrical ducting around Rosslee have faded away now, oh well, it briefly gave us hope that something might happen:( )

The honest answer is that I don't know. I'm not sure that they've ever set a hard limit on how much they'll build in a given town.

Rosslee looks to be one of those estates that's "ducted, not vaulted" - there are no chambers in front of the ESB mini-pillars, so there nowhere to put the ODPs. That would suggest either some fairly major civils required, or waiting for them to come up with a different way of building in tricky estates.

not1but4 · 16-11-2018 10:40pm

I decided sign my parents up to Vodafone Gigabit Broadband with the online deal. I asked for today to be the installation date but on Tuesday I get a call off my father to tell me that two guys showed up to take the cable from the ESB pole to the house but they disappeared shortly after arriving.

The yesterday he gets a call saying they won't be calling around today as they need to apply to the ESB to take the line across to the house which can take 30 days.

So not great hearing all this second hand so I decided to ring up Vodafone but they didn't know anything as there was no notes in the system yet.

When I login to my account I get this

Your Appointment
Unfortunately your installation cannot be completed as scheduled due to technical difficulties. An agent will contact you directly to reschedule your appointment. In the meantime if you wish to contact us please dial Freefone 1907 for further information, we apologise for the inconvenience.

So I opened up chat and asked them for the notes they have online and this is what they have.

Esbn required to span from odp pole AG648 to pole AG653 as odp pole is a scantrepo pole

Now I don't know what any of them terms means but I'm guessing the SIRO pole is too far away from the house and they are looking to take it to the closest pole beside the house?

Will it actually take 30 days for ESB to do that?

I've already cancelled the Virgin BB which will end on the 4th of Dec. Is it possible for me to ask them to extend it for one more week?

Marlow · 16-11-2018 11:28pm

not1but4 wrote: »

The yesterday he gets a call saying they won't be calling around today as they need to apply to the ESB to take the line across to the house which can take 30 days.

SIRO have prebuild teams, so that would have been one and that's why they were there ahead of the date. Had everything been spot on, your parents would have been connected today.

And yes, overhead line work has to be done by ESB networks (and ESB networks only) and there is a commitment to get this done within 30 days, but it often unfortunately takes that long.

This only happens, when the premise gets connected from an overhead span. Very unfortunate, but it's normal procedure. There are a lot of rules, regulations and safety concerns, when it comes to working with overhead power lines.

/M

Connrang · 18-11-2018 8:41pm

Vodafone 1 Gig BB.
Ordered it on 4 Aug last, still waiting to be installed. There was a delay in getting the fibre to the pole outside my house, that was done in September. Its still there, latest from them was a projected install date of 26 Dec, I kid you not. I did have a visit from an engineer who asked my wife to sign a waiver before they dug up our driveway.....you can only imagine how that went. Extremely disappointed with them. They will advise on dates and then cancel late that day or never, then they ring you to tell you there was an issue when they called, but no one called....think I'll stick with Virgin, at least they stick to their install date.

9726_9726 · 18-11-2018 8:44pm

Connrang wrote: »

Vodafone 1 Gig BB.
Ordered it on 4 Aug last, still waiting to be installed. There was a delay in getting the fibre to the pole outside my house, that was done in September. Its still there, latest from them was a projected install date of 26 Dec, I kid you not. I did have a visit from an engineer who asked my wife to sign a waiver before they dug up our driveway.....you can only imagine how that went. Extremely disappointed with them. They will advise on dates and then cancel late that day or never, then they ring you to tell you there was an issue when they called, but no one called....think I'll stick with Virgin, at least they stick to their install date.

If your wife refused the installation, surely the install is just a fail and they are not coming back. Did they say they are coming back?

Marlow · 18-11-2018 11:36pm

If your wife refused the civils to be done, they may try other ways (like overhead), but you may not get connected at all.

How on earth did she think, they would bring a new cable into the home ? At least SIRO is covering the expenses for getting this job done.

/M

TheDriver · 19-11-2018 12:12am

Spotted a good few overhead installs this week, very neat and box on front wall at eave board level. It's funny seeing street of houses with wires going to either eir pole or ESB pole.

Marlow · 19-11-2018 12:16am

TheDriver wrote: »

Spotted a good few overhead installs this week, very neat and box on front wall at eave board level. It's funny seeing street of houses with wires going to either eir pole or ESB pole.

27k+ premises nationwide can avail SIRO and OpenEIR FTTH (at the same time). Even more then also VDSL.

I don't have figures on how many of SIROs premises are designated overhead, but from the figures I've seen, it's just under 30% .. so not a small number.

/M

Connrang · 19-11-2018 9:19am

Hi, I asked for the overhead option day 1, no problems. But the sub-contractor said it was not possible, the later came and said there was a problem with the underground duct hence the dig (our drive is cobble lock stone). How many wife's would sign a waiver not knowing what it was about. Unreasonable to say the least. The fact they make arrangements to call when I was home and then don't shows a lack of professionalism. I'm not waiting on their next set of excuses. Getting it installed would be nice but I can live without it continues. Oh, my neighbour got his installed, overhead from the same pole as me without issue. My brother got his installed last week, after 3 cancellations at the last minute. That said the guy doing it was great and had no problem with routing through the attic.

EdgeCase · 19-11-2018 10:54am

It would seem like if you're willing to accept an overhead connection, and there's no planning issues or anything like that, then I would save them a considerable amount of money relative to digging your driveway.

BArra · 19-11-2018 11:08am

he said the installer advised overhead was not possible

cunnijo · 19-11-2018 12:01pm

A couple of things puzzles me. Firstly why can the fibre cable not be fed down the same pipe as the ESB cable from the pole saving the hassle of having your driveway dug up and how can the Actavo installers do an overhead install when they cannot go up the ESB pole anywhere near the overhead power lines.

Marlow · 19-11-2018 12:06pm

cunnijo wrote: »

A couple of things puzzles me. Firstly why can the fibre cable not be fed down the same pipe as the ESB cable from the pole saving the hassle of having your driveway dug up and how can the Actavo installers do an overhead install when they cannot go up the ESB pole.

The fibre is fed down the same pipe as the ESB cable, if there is space. But sometimes, the ESB cable is either direct buried cable (no pipe at all) or there is no space.

As for an overhead install, the Actavo lads only bring it into the house. The work on the ESB pole is done by ESB network technicians. The typical scenario:

- Actavo or SIRO engineers arrive at house and find, that the DP is outside of permissible work environment. An O-ring bolt gets fitted on the house, where the overhead fibre is to come to the house.

- A build pack with all information is handed to ESB Networks, who then sends an ESB certified engineer out to bring enough fibre from the pole to the O-ring and leaves it there. This can take up to a month.

- The provider is notified, that this work has been completed and asked to reschedule with the customer, for Actavo to complete the installation.

- Actavo completes the installation.

So the Actavo engineers never go near the power lines.

/M

SIRO - ESB/Vodafone Fibre To The Home

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