eircom to enable another 100 exchanges - Broadband available to 120k more ppl

Blaster99

Sponge Bob wrote:

counties Wexford and Mayo, both with good wireless provision, did very well in this round of announcements on a per capita basis or so I thought. West and South Sligo with no wireless provision did much worse for example along with Leitrim for the same reason.

Presumably the lack of wireless implies lack of demand? eircom isn't a charity.

Sponge Bob

Foxwood wrote:

As a matter of interest, how far could Vodafone stretch their coverage for €50m. I know that sort of money is pocket change to a mobile company (Vodafone has over a million customers and an ARPU of over €500, so €50m is barely a months revenue), but what sort of HSDPA infrastructure would €50m buy?

Back of an envelope here Foxwood.

A 3G cell and backhaul (a 3G cell is called a Node B ) is say €100k (not counting masts )

You suggest buying 500 of these. Each provides a signal to about 4km averaged crudely , not as good as 2G.

Pi x (RxR) would give a 3.14x(4x4) coverage or 50.24 km2 x 500 = 25120 which is 35% of the land area of the state. This assumes a flat earth and no overlaps or obstacles of course. In the wild you could get maybe 15-20% geographic coverage and that were the masts situated in the right locations for 3g not for 2g . I doubt that this coverage will be deployed in a manner optimal for rural users , its more likely that it will be spent on infill coverage off the M1 near Swords but a package could be put together and kept separate from / in addition to planned network buildout.

About €0.25Bn worth of Node B gear would be required for anything like good/excellent national coverage ...excellent in my book being that you would not have to drive more than 5km with the laptop in the car from anywhere in the state before you were in 3G coverage and with 100% GPRS and voice coverage in every nook and cranny of the state , even on the back of an offshore Island.

100% 3g coverage would cost a multiple of that €0.25Bn , 3 or 4 times I'll wager .

/ Back of an envelope

Blaster99 wrote:

Presumably the lack of wireless implies lack of demand? eircom isn't a charity.

The lack of competition implies a lack of urgency within eircom . thats what I mean. Had you wireless competition in your area THEN your exchange would be a higher priority .

Patrickof

Yep, looks like they're covering wireless sopts alright. Portlaoise Ballybrittas has only recently gone live with Lastmile.

oscarBravo

Blaster99 wrote:

Presumably the lack of wireless implies lack of demand?

That's not a valid assumption, no.

Liam Byrne

Blaster99 wrote:

Presumably the lack of wireless implies lack of demand? eircom isn't a charity.

"If you build it, they will come...."

Some people still perceive broadband as irrelevant because they only view emails or browse bog-standard web pages; if it's gonna cost them €60-odd quid a month, they put up with the fact that they waste at least half an hour a day doing this, between dialling up, waiting for connection, downloading the emails (if there are any) and the 5-6 seconds wasted while waiting for each web page that they view.

If the price was right (as per Smart's package - €11 per month added to your line rental) people would start to view the time gained and the avoidance of "checking for emails" - if they're there, they arrive - as worthwhile.

Unfortunately, IMHO, broadband coverage and VOIP is too much of a threat to eircom; until they have "value-added":rolleyes: services, they won't do anything more than they have to, and only when forced to by ComReg or by competition.

Foxwood

Liam Byrne wrote:

If the price was right (as per Smart's package - €11 per month added to your line rental) people would start to view the time gained and the avoidance of "checking for emails" - if they're there, they arrive - as worthwhile.

BT offer 1Mb broadband to every bitstream capable line in the country for "€11 per month added to your line rental". And at that price, there's very little reason why even the occassional user who might spend an hour or to a week on line not to get always on DSL.

Smart obviously offer a faster package, but their coverage is a lot smaller.

Liam Byrne

Aren't BT merely a reseller ? Meaning that Smart's faster 7km coverage with -no contention - enables an awful lot more people can get it from each enabled exchange.

True, the BT non-LLU system allows more exchanges, but in the context of the thread, where eircom are interested in the headline of potential customers rather than people who will actually be able to get it, Smart's setup is far more appealing.

Like I said, I know this well, having waited for 18 month for Smart to rescue me from the "line of sight is different to how long the eircom cable is" fiasco.

Foxwood

Liam Byrne wrote:

Aren't BT merely a reseller ?

Yes, which means that every single person whose line passes eircoms Line Test can get basic DSL for only €11 per month added to their line rental

Meaning that Smart's faster 7km coverage with -no contention - enables an awful lot more people can get it from each enabled exchange

Hardly - there aren't "an awful lot more people" over 7km away from LLU enabled exchanges that can't get the basic service.

The LLU exchanges are the biggest and busiest in the country and they are in built up areas where the vast majority of users are within 7km. That's not to say that many of them aren't on crappy copper, but distance is far more of an issue on rurla exchanges that aren't LLU enabled than it is on urban exchanges

True, the BT non-LLU system allows more exchanges, but in the context of the thread, where eircom are interested in the headline of potential customers rather than people who will actually be able to get it, Smart's setup is far more appealing.

Like I said, I know this well, having waited for 18 month for Smart to rescue me from the "line of sight is different to how long the eircom cable is" fiasco.

Smart's offering is very important, and has helped drive things along. But BT's offering is far more likely to be attractive to the non-techie who only checks their e-mail once or twice a week, and who doesn't really care that much about the internet. If BT could sort out their administrative woes, their DSL offering is the "no-pain" way to get broadband. Going from a fiver a month for pay as you go dialup to a tenner a month for broadband is a no brainer. Smart is a much bigger leap for the ordinary user particularly as long as number portability is still an issue.

I'm not downplaying the value of the Smart offer at all. But BT's offering is better for my elderly parents and most of the "non-techies" that I know than Smarts. For the few that live on LLU exchanges, I definitely tell them to look at Smart or Magnet, but they're in a very small minority.

Liam Byrne

I agree with what you say about rural areas - it's completely unfair that rural areas are benig ignored.

I do, however get really annoyed when ComReg, eircon, and the government talk as if urban areas are covered - they're not.

Despite being inside Limerick's misplaced city boundary, Smart was the only option available here; since I'm hardly unique, that would put a couple of thousand people in the "an awful lot more people" category, and since Limerick is hardly unique, that figure increases exponentially....

Chorus are finally upgrading their network and may be worth a look over the coming months, but as it stands Smart is the only option available that's reasonably priced and does what it says on the tin.

I know I probably seem like a Smart rep at times, but the fact is that if they didn't exist, my company probably wouldn't, as the dial-up speeds and regular lack of connection from Irish Broadband's Ripwave was laughable. It's annoying that Smart are pretty much a monopoly in my locality, but given that their price is reasonable and the offering is vastly superior, that's less of an issue that it would be if eircon's overpriced offering or the limited reseller capacity and speeds were the only offerings.

If eircon upgraded to ADSL2+, offering the extra coverage, and if they improved their pathetic contention ratio and speeds, offering that improvement to the resellers, that would be a start; true, there would still be a huge issue there in terms of rural-based companies and residents (including a client of mine in Glin, whose MD no longer wants to hear the word "broadband" mentioned, as she's so pissed off with the problem) but with press releases claiming the "completion of broadband rollout", the current situation makes my blood boil!

lucernarian

Eircom's press release doesn't match up with their list that Damien provided. They have left out Digiweb's home county;)

It's interesting with all that wireless competition that Eircom still have at least 4 exchanges they could enable, 2 of them with no real logistical issues. Is that 120,000 figure the amount of people connected to the exchanges in question or are they honest claims?

Foxwood

To_be_confirmed wrote:

Is that 120,000 figure the amount of people connected to the exchanges in question or are they honest claims?

That's depend on how you define "honest"!!!

Charlie Honest?
Bertie Honest?

jimmeh

when or where does this deal with setanta sports kick in?

jongore

Are there any dates for when these exchanges will be made available?

Mr_Man

of the lack of joined up thinking of this government, and the DCMNR, to pay Eircom to try and put the WISP's who have supported the GBS out of business. In my own area Eircom only upgraded the exchanges when the GBS came in, and they are playing catch up in Roundwood and Glendalough.

The sooner the country gets a minister who can see beyond the end of their nose the better.

M.

knipex

I got a call from BT 2 nights ago asking me would I be interested in changing my phone provider during the call I was told that my local exchange would be enabled in the next 3 to 4 weeks and that if I wanted to wait untill then that would be cool.

After I hung up I called Eircom (I used to use BT before I moved to this house and the thaught of having to deal with their customer service again makes me physically ill. Plus they still owe me a refund for the 4 months they continued to debit my account after I moved) but Eircom just told me that my exchange was not enabled and could answer no more. I was put through from sales to customer service to tech support to sales to tech support to customer service before I just gave up.

Is there any way i can find out if the exchage is actually being enabled or were BT just blowing smoke ????

thegills

Is that 120,000 figure the amount of people connected to the exchanges in question or are they honest claims?

Of the exchanges left to be unbundled there wouldn't be more than 4 thousand lines per exchange on average which equates to 40,000 houses or 120,000 people.
thegills

galwayrush

so, after all the years we're finally getting 1 to 2 MB broadband, sometime in 2007, hopefully. we're not in any position to complain though, we're so desperate.according to our spin crazy goverment, we're apparently doing so well that we're the envy of the world.in reality, we're a laughing stock.2 years ago, a friend of mine in Finland told me that their basic 2 MB was being upgraded to 4 MB as standard, with a choice of 8 MB.
I read where 52 MB broadand is available in Japan and S Korea, for approx 15 US dollars per month,
Bertie's Celtic Snail more like it.

serotonin_sam

I was put through from sales to customer service to tech support to sales to tech support to customer service before I just gave up.

Time spent dealing with BT customer support is just first level training for progression to a whole new level of filth ie. €ircon 'customer support'. lol
The above is just standard €ircon practice - they do that all day long - day in, day out.

Supercell

More than likely asking the people in sales or tech support about it is going to be a dead end - anyone who has ever worked in a call centre knows that those answering the phone are the last to know anything....

If you know an engineer or someone high up in marketing through the grapevine then these are the most likely to be able to answer imho .

knipex

I tried that route before I bought the house and was told that they expected to "upgrade the exchange in the next few months". That was 2 years ago and I am still waiting. The sad part is that it was the decideing factor in buying the house. If they had told me that they were not enabling the exchange I just would not have bought the house.

Solair

3's network is 3G only. They use Vodafone's 2.5G network to fill-in the gaps. It is therefore in their interest to roll out 3G as widely as possible as this is their own infrastructure. They're probabally paying Vodafone quite a lot to piggyback on their 2G network.

Vodafone and O2 can take a much more relaxed attitude to 3G as it's just an "add on" nework upgrade service.

1huge1

ya and fair play to 3 on that note
they already have 85% of the population covered
even my town in the middle of county limerick which has like 1000 people has a 3G coverage

netwhizkid

There is one exchange missing off the list. Bere Island in West Cork will soon have its exchange enabled despite only 200 people living there. The Equipment will be installed soon and should be live by the summer at the latest.

I have no links to backup this information but I have a good source, trust me on this one.

Castletownbere which is its nearest town on the Mainland is already ADSL enabled and was done through the Group Broadband Scheme. I wonder how much of a cheque did Éamon Ó Cuív's Department of the Islands have to make payable to Eircom??

Lucky Bere Island as there are communities much larger who are still without broadband such as my own.

qwertplaywert

my echange[readypenny, louth] aint on it either

bminish

netwhizkid wrote:

There is one exchange missing off the list. Bere Island in West Cork will soon have its exchange enabled despite only 200 people living there. The Equipment will be installed soon and should be live by the summer at the latest.

I wonder if that has anything to do with Bere Island having a Community owned wireless operator who has been providing service for a number of years ?

.brendan

1huge1

all those small towns in cork seem to be getting enabled, i just found out my cousins in kilbrittain which is a town of max 300 and they live a few kilometres outside it now have bt broadband, its a disgrace... do eircom do any research when upgrading exchanges
heres me living in a town (hospital, co.limerick) of 1609 according to the 2006 census and much more in a 5km radius and the only option we have is satellite broadband...

RangeR

1huge1 wrote:

do eircom do any research when upgrading exchanges

Of course they do. Probably more research than many companies in Ireland. But they only act when it's beneficial and profitable to them.

1huge1 wrote:

heres me living in a town (hospital, co.limerick) of 1609 according to the 2006 census and much more in a 5km radius and the only option we have is satellite broadband...

And that's why eircom haven't moved in

To be honest, they MAY upgrade your exchange if a cable or wireless operator moves in. But only to dominate the market. They are in no rush to enter your little area because there is no threat to their business there.

uncle_sam_ie

IrishTLR wrote:

Of course they do. Probably more research than many companies in Ireland. But they only act when it's beneficial and profitable to them.



And that's why eircom haven't moved in

To be honest, they MAY upgrade your exchange if a cable or wireless operator moves in. But only to dominate the market. They are in no rush to enter your little area because there is no threat to their business there.

Great job Noel!

netwhizkid

1huge1 wrote:

all those small towns in cork seem to be getting enabled, i just found out my cousins in kilbrittain which is a town of max 300 and they live a few kilometres outside it now have bt broadband, its a disgrace... do eircom do any research when upgrading exchanges
heres me living in a town (hospital, co.limerick) of 1609 according to the 2006 census and much more in a 5km radius and the only option we have is satellite broadband...

Durrus in West Cork was also enabled last year and it too has a low population. However the reason it was done was that it has a Fibre Optic Cable to the Exchange from Bantry and backhaul was easy to provide. Most smaller often Rural Exchanges are worked off Microwave Radio Links and for to enable the exchanges they have to do some upgrading to these links which costs more.

However overall the cost of providing broadband to Eircom is minimal (their broadband being the Ryanair compared to the continent) and the only incentives on them to provide it is to muscle out the opposition which usually is a local wireless company. Eircom makes more money out of Dial-up than out of Broadband and everyone using Dial-up should move to an alternate provider for both Internet and phone call if at all possible.

I am using BT Ireland Dial-up for over a year in my boycott of Eircom over their failure to roll-out Broadband. I am even dumping my Meteor service and moving to O2 as part of my boycott of the Eircom/B&B Group.

watty

Doesn't your BT Dialup still give most of the profit to eircom?