All Ireland BB enabled by the end of 2006!!!??!

Gandalf23

I have just been talking to an Eircom rep (trying to find out when the local exchange of my new house will be BB enabled) and he told me that Eircom plan to have EVERY exchange in Ireland BroadBand enabled by the end of 2006!!! :eek:

Has anyone else heard this? Is this realistic?

(Sounds like a big pile of sh1t to me...)

Sponge Bob

not realistic at all, hogwash even !

Eircom have never done more that 200 in a program, a program takes a year or a bit longer....say 15 months.

The current program ends (offically March) this year , say June.

When it ends some 450 exchanges will have been done (max)

That leaves some 800 exchanges including fibre cabs still to do by end 2006 .

End 2010 looks a lot more realistic, and then what about the 80% + failure rates you will get on some rural ones bacause the lines are minging

L1011

Also, how many exchanges are there that aren't even connected by wire to the rest of the network? One half of my family are connected to the Arranmore exchange, which is microwaved back to the mainland... not a chance of DSL there, the hotels have their own arrangements just to provide basic net/mail facilities to rooms. I'm sure the other islands are all the same, so that'd be >10 exchanges that just cannot be done.

KerranJast

It would be cheaper and quicker if they slapped some 802.11 transmitters up on the existing mobile phone masts (don't know if that would cause interference though.)

Gandalf23

I had a feeling what Eircom told me was very unrealistic. Just clutching at straws here...

:mad:

Laguna

When they say 100% BB enabled in Ireland they are referring to DSL enabling all the exchanges, therefore broadband being 'available' 100%. What this clever sound bite doesn't reveal is the fact that you need to be within 4.5km of your exchange to receive broadband, which the high majority of rural dwellers aren't, in my case I live 6km from my exchange, my uncle who lives near me is connected to the same exchange is a further 4km from the exchange, in effect meaning very little coverage will be achieved by their 100% 'availabilty'.

So, this cleverly worded PR statement of 100% coverage does not mean 100% availability in Ireland. What the main problem in this country is the fact that there's a serious lack of exchanges in many parts of the country.

Anyway, once they've achieved their 100% coverage they can say they've done all they can and all the people like me who can't get broadband due to our distance from the exchange will still be in the same position.

I've been waiting for broadband for four years, I must have accumulated days on the phone to Eircom exhausting myself over and over again about the broadband situation, I'm resolved to the fact, I will never get broadband as along as Eircom pull the strings, maybe I'll be 'lucky' and be able to get WiMax in 2015..

eth0_

No, they were referring to covering the areas that aren't near enough to a phone exchange with satellite or wireless broadband. I forget where I read this, it was a few weeks ago.

Gandalf23

OK, confused now. Etho_ and Laguna seem to be saying different things here.

What are Eircom really sayimg? Will all exchanges be enabled by the end of 2006 or not? And if so, does this mean everyone will be able to bet BroadBand?

My own 2cents is hat there is no hope of this...

Sponge Bob

Gandalf23 wrote:

OK, confused now.

You started this, report your original post to Moriarty and take your punishment

Gandalf23 wrote:

Will all exchanges be enabled by the end of 2006 or not?

Absolutely not, eircom have no money or resources to enable 800 exchanges this year.

Gandalf23 wrote:

And if so, does this mean everyone will be able to get BroadBand?

Absolutely not. eircom have no money to fix lines even if they did enable the exchanges to which they are connected , some of the current program of 200 exchanges (nominal completion march 2006) will enables areas where the failure rate will be 70% on the day the exchange is launched.

I'd say you heard that they would have ISDN in ALL exchanges by end 2006 (this is plausible as it is currently 98% or 99% ) and want us all to believe that ISDN is BB ohh not so wise grey one Stop winding him up Laguna .

bigpaddy2004

Gandalf23 wrote:

OK, confused now. Etho_ and Laguna seem to be saying different things here.

What are Eircom really sayimg? Will all exchanges be enabled by the end of 2006 or not? And if so, does this mean everyone will be able to bet BroadBand?

My own 2cents is hat there is no hope of this...

But there is still countless carrier's on the poles which must be taken down as the dsl cannot pass any further through these. But I do know that they will not set them up anymore, the engineer's take them down when ever they come accross them if it's possible.

lucernarian

bigpaddy2004 wrote:

But there is still countless carrier's on the poles which must be taken down as the dsl cannot pass any further through these. But I do know that they will not set them up anymore, the engineer's take them down when ever they come accross them if it's possible.

They are removing them bit by bit but it's a painfully slow process. Right now, most of the carriers in my area have been removed over the last year for example but many are still around right across the country.

flamegrill

spongebob

in their reseller portal they claim "eircom have enabled 37 New exchanges since January 1st!"

Thats pretty damn good going ... so you'd never know. Also in the list of enabled exchanges the count comes to 349 exchanges so far.

Paul

lucernarian

If eircom were to enable all exchanges this year they would have made more of a song and dance surely? Even David McRedmond said that to fully complete the job they would need Govt. funding and in some cases I wouldn't blame them either. There are a few exchanges that have less than 10 lines! It shouldn't be hard to get small DSLAMs though, and many exchanges already have fibre in them so Govt. funding should not be too much.

But I cannot see eircom suddenly deciding to enable 700 odd exchanges in the space of 11 months. The logistics to pull off something like that would be significant. I'd love to be proved wrong though.

Sponge Bob

flamegrill wrote:

in their reseller portal they claim "eircom have enabled 37 New exchanges since January 1st!"
Thats pretty damn good going ... so you'd never know. Also in the list of enabled exchanges the count comes to 349 exchanges so far.

An they will enable lots in Feb and March too bringing the grand total to around 450 ....like I said above ..... but they enabled bugger all really between March 05 and October 05 and are playing catchup .

If you see the IOFFL Board you will see what my position is on selective government funding for the remainder, Sponge Bobs2 90's rule.

Let eircom enable all echanges to which 90% of the population is connected (larger ones no doubt) , that will leave 400,000 persons connected to about 500 smaller exchanges .

Let the governemnt fund those exchanges to about €75k-€100k each for BB but ONLY if 90% of all lines within 5km will pass for BB on a funded exchange on day one .

Any exchange that does not qualify because of the second 90 then the punters get unlimited flat rate dialup connections for €10 a month until they do qualify because eircom have fixed lines to get 90% to pass . There are exchanges out there where 100% of lines will fail so why enable them ???

elrond

MYOB wrote:

Also, how many exchanges are there that aren't even connected by wire to the rest of the network? One half of my family are connected to the Arranmore exchange, which is microwaved back to the mainland... not a chance of DSL there, the hotels have their own arrangements just to provide basic net/mail facilities to rooms. I'm sure the other islands are all the same, so that'd be >10 exchanges that just cannot be done.

Actually, they COULD be done, technically, quite easily. Given the short last mile distances involved too, there should be no problems there. So now all that's needed is for enough people on Arranmore to want DSL so that Eircom can justify the cost of the DSLAM AND the cost of upgrading the microwave link to carry data + voice.

Realistically, I bet there's going to have to be some islands development money needed if that's ever to happen.

jimmycrackcorm

elrond wrote:

Actually, they COULD be done, technically, quite easily. Given the short last mile distances involved too, there should be no problems there. So now all that's needed is for enough people on Arranmore to want DSL so that Eircom can justify the cost of the DSLAM AND the cost of upgrading the microwave link to carry data + voice.

Realistically, I bet there's going to have to be some islands development money needed if that's ever to happen.

Wouldn't the microwave link be a digital link and hence it would not matter whether or not it is voice or data? Eircom seem to have microwave links between exchanges all over the country and not just for the islands.

jimmycrackcorm

Couldn't save edit so...

As for spongebobs mention about the percentage of ISDN exchanges, you'd
think that Eircom could offer a completely flatrate ISDN service whereever BB is not available. If they weren't such a lumbvering dinosaur then they could supply phone over VOIP so that people couild avail of both channels and have a phone service also.

elrond

jimmycrackcorm wrote:

Wouldn't the microwave link be a digital link and hence it would not matter whether or not it is voice or data? Eircom seem to have microwave links between exchanges all over the country and not just for the islands.

Yes, the microwave links are most likely digital already, of one form or another. But the issue is capacity of the link, which could have a knock on effect e.g. it might not be that expensive to upgrade the capacity of the island-mainland microwave link, but then you need a bigger link to Eircom's backbone, and so on.

So as I said, technically feasible, and oddly, the islands probably won't have the common problem of other rural areas of being too far from the exchange, but I doubt it'll happen without my paying for some of it.

Sponge Bob

elrond wrote:

Yes, the microwave links are most likely digital already, of one form or another.

all are, the old RT type exchange backhauls were pulled out by the 1990's

But the issue is capacity of the link, which could have a knock on effect e.g. it might not be that expensive to upgrade the capacity of the island-mainland microwave link, but then you need a bigger link to Eircom's backbone, and so on.

Well the issue arises of what capacity is needed, if it were decided to provide a universal at the exchange dsl 1mbit service the microwave only needs 4 mbits of capacity for 1mbit contended at 24:1 and the uncontended 128k uplinks for each connection. Universal at the exchange dsl is not the same as universal dsl given that exchanges serve 5 miles out while dsl only really works to 3 miles out ....leaving a doughnut ring around the outside where the laws of physics prevent service even if your line is technically OK.

4mbits microwave capacity is not a big issue. If the full suite of dsl products were available they would need some 20mbits . The radio pairs (generally on existing masts and poles please remember) would cost about 20k each pair and then you add a small dslam and some aggregation gear. You may take it as a given that if you put in a radio pair AT ALL you will have 30mbits capacity anyway, the next level up is about 150mbits ( PDH or SDH)

Then there is the Meteor overlap, Meteor needs to sort its own coverage out in these self same rural areas (to save outpayments to o2) and as it is owned by eircom you double up usage on that microwave link and solve 2 problems at the same time but a mobile cell will use very little bandwidth, 2mbits would be enough for all requirements in a GSM cell in a rural area.

watty

I'd bet that even 100% exchanges would be only around 50% of PCs having BB access.

lucernarian

Speaking of the islands, I was on Tory Island in the summer and I saw the "exchange" there... a couple of large white boxes strapped to a pole, with a microwave antenna on top. There's no issue with range there I'd say or with pairgains AFAICR but I did notice a water bottle (yes, kerry spring I think) being used as a junction box for a 30-pair cable on one of the old poles.

I'd like to see DSL work on that!!:eek:

SB, what exchange would have a 100% fail rate???

Also, there should be funding for repeaters for poor folk like me just beyond 6km from the exchange.

Sponge Bob

As long as all water is kept outside the bottle it should work, no Tory houses are more than 600m from that 'exchange' you saw .

The DSLAM could fit in a biscuit tin with some water repellent grease smeared on it ...it could melt the Kerry water bottle I fear if shoved in there ....and maybe paint the tin a nicer colour than white

Freddie59

Gandalf23 wrote:

I have just been talking to an Eircom rep (trying to find out when the local exchange of my new house will be BB enabled) and he told me that Eircom plan to have EVERY exchange in Ireland BroadBand enabled by the end of 2006!!! :eek:

Has anyone else heard this? Is this realistic?

(Sounds like a big pile of sh1t to me...)

Ant it isn't even April 1st!:D