Eircom Plan to deliver 500,000 Broadband connections by December 2007

hobie

I suppose I've been checking my Tel no. for BB suitability with Eircom every couple of months or so (for the past couple of years) ...... live a mile out from a small village and tiny exchange ..... :rolleyes:

all of a sudden .... yep .... Eircom BB connection is possible .... ordered it Feb 1st ..... they sent me a free router and filters/cables etc a week later and tried the connection feb 10th and all working fine at 1.75 mbps ....

netwhizkid

hobie wrote:

I suppose I've been checking my Tel no. for BB suitability with Eircom every couple of months or so (for the past couple of years) ...... live a mile out from a small village and tiny exchange ..... :rolleyes:

all of a sudden .... yep .... Eircom BB connection is possible .... ordered it Feb 1st ..... they sent me a free router and filters/cables etc a week later and tried the connection feb 10th and all working fine at 1.75 mbps ....

Where abouts are you out of curiosity? And roughly how many people live in your community? Sorry for the questions..:o But your community sounds a bit like my own, and I'm hoping that ours might be upgraded by Eircom in the June list. One lat question...sorry again! Did Eircom upgrade the exchange on their own accord or was their a Community effort involving a County Group Broadband Scheme where the government bung them a few bob to help with the upgrading costs?

hobie

Where abouts are you out of curiosity? And roughly how many people live in your community? Sorry for the questions.. But your community sounds a bit like my own, and I'm hoping that ours might be upgraded by Eircom in the June list. One lat question...sorry again! Did Eircom upgrade the exchange on their own accord or was their a Community effort involving a County Group Broadband Scheme where the government bung them a few bob to help with the upgrading costs?

roughly between you and Galway ....

I would guess about 1000 peeps or so go thru the exchange (to inc village and houses around the village) .... it could be less ? ....

I think they upgraded as a result of loads of peeps asking for it ... that seems to help? ....

I'll ask an Eircom guy for more info next time I see one "down Town" !!!

kaizersoze

The following 16 exchanges were enabled on Wednesday 18th January 2006:
Ballivor, Meath.
Brittas, Dublin.
Broadford, Meath.
Callan, Kilkenny.
Castleconnell, Limerick.
Castleshane, Monaghan.
Cleariestown, Wexford.
Clogheen, Tipperary.
Farmleigh, Dublin.
Foxford, Mayo.
Glassan, Westmeath.
Holycross, Tippeary.
Killenaule, Tippeary.
Maynooth Business Campus (Moneycooley), Kildare.
Milford, Donegal.
Tarbert, Kerry.

The following 12 exchanges were enabled on Tuesday 31st January 2006:
Ballycarney, Wexford.
Bunclody, Wexford.
Castledermot, Kildare.
Clarina, Limerick.
Clontibret, Monaghan.
Collon, Louth.
Dromahair, Leitrim.
Easky, Mayo.
Ferbane, Offaly.
Foynes, Limerick.
Inver, Donegal.
Newport, Tippeary.

The following 14 exchanges were broadband enabled on Wednesday 15th February 2006:
Abbeydorney, Kerry.
Ballybay, Monaghan.
Ballymote, Sligo.
Doon, Mayo.
Inverin, Galway.
Killavullen, Cork.
Kilbrittain, Cork.
Pallasgreen, Limerick.
Riverstick, Cork.
Shanagolden, Limerick.
Shinrone, Offaly.
Strandhill, Sligo.
Teeranea, Galway.
Waterville, Kerry.

uncle_sam_ie

kaizersoze wrote:

The following 16 exchanges were enabled on The following 14 exchanges were broadband enabled on Wednesday 15th February 2006:

Killavullen, Cork.

I checked the line and it still says my exchange is not enabled. Will it take a few days before it says that it has? And, what's eircoms policy on upgrading my ISDN line? Is there a charge? I have a feeling I'm too far anyway, 3.4 miles, but that was measured in the car. I might closer.

kaizersoze

uncle_sam_ie wrote:

I checked the line and it still says my exchange is not enabled. Will it take a few days before it says that it has? And, what's eircoms policy on upgrading my ISDN line? Is there a charge? I have a feeling I'm too far anyway, 3.4 miles, but that was measured in the car. I might closer.

3.5 miles (5.6 KM) is probably a bit far by Eircom standards. In any case, it will take a while for the tests to be run on the database updated.
Do what you can to remove anything from your line that may cause your line to fail. Have nothing plugged into the phone line in your house except a standard wired phone for a couple of weeks and check the internal wiring (extensions, etc)

delly

Same boat as most, been waiting for quite a while to get DSL. My problem is i'm not too sure which exchange i'm connected to. If i enter my number on one of the test sites it says that i am connected to DROGHEDA, yet when i rang up, one of the BB reps said i was connected to the COLPE exchange.

The estate i live in is called Grange Rath just south of Drogheda and just outside the towns boundries. The next couple of estates on the Dublin road closer to Drogheda have DSL no problem yet nobody in my estate can get past the line test. Its bad enough not getting BB, but its worse to not even be sure which exchange your connected too.

The estate itself is massive with about 700 to 800 homes, yet eircon has no interest in taking up the business. Only other option is IBB, which i very nearly signed upto recently, but i soon came to my senses

watty

uncle_sam_ie wrote:

I checked the line and it still says my exchange is not enabled. Will it take a few days before it says that it has? And, what's eircoms policy on upgrading my ISDN line? Is there a charge? I have a feeling I'm too far anyway, 3.4 miles, but that was measured in the car. I might closer.

It's a downgrade. You have to get rid of ISDN.

In some countries ISDN is charged the same price and is standard. They install ISDN compatible DSL. Here your phone line has to go 80 years backward in technology/ time to get the obsolete adsl Eircom install.

An ISDN line should always pass. But not true in Ireland.

DonegalMan

watty wrote:

An ISDN line should always pass. But not true in Ireland.

Line checking on ISDN is totally erratic.

I've had the situation three different times with ISDN where one of the numbers passed but the second number failed.

watty

Numbers on same ISDN or different physical lines/ locations.

Even if you have 12 numbers (often for Pc based ISDN fax solutions automatic routing to users PC), they are all on the same copper pair.

uncle_sam_ie

watty wrote:

It's a downgrade. You have to get rid of ISDN.

In some countries ISDN is charged the same price and is standard. They install ISDN compatible DSL. Here your phone line has to go 80 years backward in technology/ time to get the obsolete adsl Eircom install.

An ISDN line should always pass. But not true in Ireland.

Will eircon charge you to downgrade. Then if it dosen't work charge again to put it back.

watty

Only guessing, but does it rain in Ireland?

jwt

watty wrote:

An ISDN line should always pass. But not true in Ireland.

I had an ISDN line roughly 4-5 miles from the Kinnegad exchange (was told it would be marginal but in the event it was fine)

Kinnegad went live in late december but not a hope of getting BB by telephone (thank God for wireless)

Have checked numbers between me and Kinnegad and then tried numbers working out from the exchange on the main roads.

It looks like anything beyond 0.5 miles is variable and beyond 0.75 miles is probably a fail.

Beyond 1.5 miles nothing passed.

Probably gives a good indication of the line quality around Kinnegad and or the number of pair gains.

Strangely the reason we were able to get an ISDN line was supposedly due to the fact that we connect to a green box at the top of the estate (No idea whats in it about 2.5 feet tall 3 foot wide 16 inches deep)

From this box onwards to the exchange is copper but is a main trunk with no splitters or pair gains and a very good s/n ratio

Even more depressing is that the western Digital corridor, laid down by ocean a few years ago, passes 100 feet from my front door!!! And the vast majority of it is unlit (I think the health board use some of it)
John

sickiziu

hi!

i ve been waiting for that moment for some time - there's brodaband enabled exchange in bunclody, co. wexford (started in january, i think)
i didnt waste my time - quickly ordered new phone line, asking if broadband is really true in my area. NO, the said. WHY? i asked confused, 'coz i knew its not true...
then, 15min later an eircom guy phoned me back and said it was a mistake, and my town is really ready for broadband. So i agreed to install new phone line under one circumstace - BB will work 100% YES, the eircom lad said, would work no prob.

imagine what happened?

i got new line installed, rushed to test it for BB avail... "unsuitable" (sic!) what the hell? phoned eircom to let them test my new line - "unsuitable" as well...

i feel confused and betrayed, payed 130e for new phone line and even that somebody at eircom promised BB im not getting it...

anybody got any ideas whats wrong? what should i do?

:mad:

ps. all the numbers - old and new in my area now pass bb test, only mine not.

jwt

It may take up to 4 weeks before the line is tested so if the line is only a few days old , sit tight and wait.


John

sickiziu

jwt wrote:

It may take up to 4 weeks before the line is tested so if the line is only a few days old , sit tight and wait.
John

just curious : what's tested right now if not my line? are these tests just database checks?

thanks
chris

watty

The tests are not accurate as there is no remote subscriber test client. I designed such a beast for BT International back in 1987. It can take years to persuade Eircom to actually do a real test and find a fault you know is there.

bk

The tests are run once a month and the results dtored in a database. When you check online or call up, it only checks this db, it doesn't run the test.

You should use the line checker on netsource.ie, as it tells you when the test was last run and from that you can figure out when it will be run next (a month later).

Capt'n Midnight

Knowledge Ireland from siliconrepublic.com Issue 17 Feb 2006

Irish ICT industry heads call for PC tax breaks
..
Eurostat has claimed that Ireland has a broadband penetration of only 1.7pc compared with the European average of 12pc.
...
In Denmark 650,000 PCs were added in 18 months as the government promoted teleworking

Denmark — Population: 5,432,335
so pro rata that would translate as 500,000 new customers using broadband. It could be done if there was a will and affordable and available broadband.

But me being cynical would say that our Government prefer to rake in their cut from overpriced houses, M50 toll bridge, excise on fuel, VRT on cars and all the other things that people could avoid if there had been better planning and other ways of getting to work than private car. Decent public transport and telecommuting could happen here. Then again so could driver testing but that has been lip serviced since the 1970's .

niallb

Sponge Bob wrote:

Most of these villages will be live in the next 3 months if not live already . The staff on 1800503303 have a list of exchanges in the pipeline as well as live .

.......

T
TALLOW
TAMNEY
TARA
TARBERT
TEERANEA
TINAHELY
TOBERCURRY
TOMHAGGARD

...

HTH

Where are you getting this list from Spongebob?
Your info is usually good, so I'm trying not to get too excited.

This still comes up as "Trigger Programme" on the Exchanges page.
Is this likely be updated soon? It's still happily sitting at 30 out of
412 required - in an area with hardly 400 houses, let alone lines.

Hopeful,
NiallB

Sponge Bob

what trigger page ? I thought that was abolished ! tell me how to get to it please

the list is originally from the "more news " section bottom right of the eircom home page where they announced those exchanges this time last year and also in national newspaper ads in TINY print. That news has dropped off that page now now it only goes back to september .

uncle_sam_ie

I'm too far from my just upgraded exchange. So, it looks like I'll have to wait for ADSL2. How long until thats rolled out and how far will that reach? I'm 3.4miles as the crow flies

niallb

Sponge Bob wrote:

what trigger page ? I thought that was abolished ! tell me how to get to it please

.

http://dsltrigger.eircom.ie/broadband.jsp
Very handy for locating what exchange a number is on, even if the trigger progra is in hiding.

NiallB

Sponge Bob

OHHH LOOKEE

I had just commented last week that that very site was down and now its back.

Nice to know eircom read this Board but its still a farce.

watty

There is nothing on the site to indicate the program is ditched. Though the trigger level used to be much higher (near 1000 I Think? Could be mistaken).

Your Site:
Trigger Level 362

Current Level 9
Your community is included in eircom's trigger programme.

Please enter your details here to register your vote for your community to be broadband enabled. When the trigger number is reached, it will be entered into eircom's broadband build programme.

There are now three wireless providers now here (one poor, one rubbish and one good). Before Nov 2005 nothing.

Sponge Bob

Jeez Watty , read my thread.

That trigger program was effectively abolished or permanently "under review" for months.

Now its back I dont see any local triggers being changed though and to make matters worse I see exchanges that were enabled months ago where the trigger yoke states that they are not enabled and please vote .

There is an exchange in there with trigger levels = 250 and 9 Votes. It already has DSL enabled. It couldnt have been all the 'interest'

Where they are enabled the list of bitstream resellers is invidiously incomplete

Nor have any new exchanges been added from what I can see.

Still a bad bad joke but expect a speech from Phil fairly shortly spouting about committments and stuff ...otherwise it would not be back up since last week

sickiziu

going back to my prob - >

is there no way to convince them to actually test my line now and not refuse my BB order because of test done on 21/02(according to netsource.ie)???
i called customer service and tried to explain and suggested throughout test, unfortunately nice lady was only running the same database check.

regards,chris

bk

sickiziu wrote:

going back to my prob - >

is there no way to convince them to actually test my line now and not refuse my BB order because of test done on 21/02(according to netsource.ie)???
i called customer service and tried to explain and suggested throughout test, unfortunately nice lady was only running the same database check.

There is no way to convince them.

watty

I read your stuff, spongey. I'm just amazed that the website is there.

I expect even ringing and complianing the local cabnet on fire wouldn't help get a quicker retest.

I can't beleive these tests can anyway be accurate. I'm sure a few that pass don't work well and lots that "fail" are OK. Proper testing can't be done without something at both ends of the wire. I used to design telecom stuff, so I'm not making it up.

jwt

well there are quite a few test you can do on one end of a line and remember that it isn't open circuit if there are devices connected at the customer end.

You can measure resistance, impedance, capacitance, noise and then make good educated guesses at s/n ratios. Start banging some varying frequencies down the line and measure attenuation, distortion and filtering effects (notch types in particular) and I would hazard a guess that you could map a line pretty close to having test equipment at both ends.


John