No broadband in Cork City

Solair

Where is Ashmount Exchange? I've never heard of it before, is it new?

The majority of people in Silversprings would have 021 450 / 455 numbers and would typically be connected to Wellington Road Exchange.

It's getting a bit pathetic when neither UPC nor Eircom serve new build houses which are in Cork's urban area though.

If you're on a hill with a good view of the City try looking into wireless options:

Digiweb's Metro broadband is available there
Nova Networks should be too.

In general, fixed wireless is best i.e. using an antenna on your roof, rather than WiMax portable products like those pushed by Imagine.

I'm sorry eircom, but installing a telephone exchange without a DSLAM in 2011 is an absolute joke! You might as well not install it at all as most people use their landlines for broadband these days.

As for UPC not providing cable broadband in urban areas in Ireland's 2nd city, that's also a complete joke and probably a legacy of their incompetent predecessors who mindbogglingly though that a crappy MMDS product with very few channels and no broadband was an equivalent product to cable and was suitable for use in cable areas!

lucernarian

Solair wrote: »

Where is Ashmount Exchange? I've never heard of it before, is it new?

The majority of people in Silversprings would have 021 450 / 455 numbers and would typically be connected to Wellington Road Exchange.

It's getting a bit pathetic when neither UPC nor Eircom serve new build houses which are in Cork's urban area though.

If you're on a hill with a good view of the City try looking into wireless options:

Digiweb's Metro broadband is available there
Nova Networks should be too.

In general, fixed wireless is best i.e. using an antenna on your roof, rather than WiMax portable products like those pushed by Imagine.

I'm sorry eircom, but installing a telephone exchange without a DSLAM in 2011 is an absolute joke! You might as well not install it at all as most people use their landlines for broadband these days.

As for UPC not providing cable broadband in urban areas in Ireland's 2nd city, that's also a complete joke and probably a legacy of their incompetent predecessors.

Of course, thanks to our benevolent regulator ComReg, eircom must supply all reasonable requests for a phoneline but they can ignore broadband provision. Having said that, I cannot imagine the exchange will never be upgraded as I know of several roadside RSUs which were provisioned for broadband over the last 4 years. Eircom may well have plans but which haven't been communicated down to front line staff.

I've found that for RSUs and the like, political campaigns were often effective. E.g. Stamullen in Co. Meath and Dominic Hannigan T.D. Or Grange Rath and the former TD Tommy Byrne.

So if you're served by this Ashmount exchange, get on to your local representatives!

Solair

Surely in this day and age you buy a cabinet-enclosed MSAN (multiservice access node) which includes high-speed DSL services as well as voice?

I don't know why any telco would buy an old-fashioned digital voice/isdn remote exchange in this day and age.

As for Comreg, I think I've given up years ago on them. They have achieved nothing other than ensuring standards are lower than everywhere else in Europe.

MRBEAVER

eircom: Tony wrote: »

Hi Mr Beaver
I certainly agree that it should not be difficult to get information regarding your own line or possible upgrades in your area. Unfortunately we are having some issues with the NGB map online ( still working on resolving this) but agents should certainly been able to provide this information. In the majority of cases they would do so.
Most agents would have access also to a list of exchanges enabled, upgraded or due to be upgraded within the near future
We do post when exchanges are to be upgraded within immediate future and also once upgraded.

Thanks for response Tony. I appreciate your responses and the information provided by you. However as an Eircom employee you have to justify and try to explain practices by your employer that really annoy me.

Once again this has absoulutely nothing to do with NGB. It has to do with providing basic broadband in a major city. Eircom is stating publicly on its website that it is providing basic broadband to Cork city. This is a deliberate and shameless lie. It is not a mistake or something that Eircom is working to resolve. It is just a lie. period.

Now my experience is that the call centre agents do not know or are afraid to admit that Eircom is blatently lying about its coverage. You say that agents should have access to a list of Exchanges that have not been enabled. However if they did surely this would be conclusive proof that Eircom is lying in the information it is publicly making available. And if they did why would Eircom agents process an order for a broadband bundle in the city, if they knew that Eircom was lying about its lack of basic broadband coverage in the city.

Solair wrote: »

Where is Ashmount Exchange? I've never heard of it before, is it new?

It's getting a bit pathetic when neither UPC nor Eircom serve new build houses which are in Cork's urban area though.

If you're on a hill with a good view of the City try looking into wireless options:

Digiweb's Metro broadband is available there
Nova Networks should be too.

I'm sorry eircom, but installing a telephone exchange without a DSLAM in 2011 is an absolute joke! You might as well not install it at all as most people use their landlines for broadband these days.

Its not new. although most of the estates would have been built in the early 2000's there has been no new building for at least five years. And its not just the citys urban area. It is within the city boundries so less than two miles from the city centre.

Many of the houses in estates around the area have Digiweb, Ripplecom or Nova Network ariels. most of the others are probably using mobile dongles with EDGE coverage. However as I said in an earlier post, wireless broadband is not available to all estates due to line of site issues from their transmitters which are located on the southside of the city.

To_be_confirmed wrote: »

Of course, thanks to our benevolent regulator ComReg, eircom must supply all reasonable requests for a phoneline but they can ignore broadband provision.

Yup. Eircom is a private company and they have no obligation to provide a basic broadband service in Cork City.

Solair wrote: »

Surely in this day and age you buy a cabinet-enclosed MSAN (multiservice access node) which includes high-speed DSL services as well as voice?

I don't know why any telco would buy an old-fashioned digital voice/isdn remote exchange in this day and age.

Perhaps that is a question that Tony would be best placed to answer

Sponge Bob

MRBEAVER wrote: »

Perhaps that is a question that Tony would be best placed to answer

Tony can't even answer a simple query on a small list of exchanges that may or may not exist, never mind whether they are broadband enabled.

How do you know there even is an Ashmount exchange MrBeaver ?

Perhaps one of the other eircom reps is more proactive and clued in.

regress

Quite astounding that Eircom is refusing to enable Exchanges for broadband in the major cities. I hope nobody thinking of investing in Ireland is reading this forum.

MRBEAVER

Sponge Bob wrote: »

How do you know there even is an Ashmount exchange MrBeaver ?
.

Came across the existence of the Exchange by chance. In January I opened this thread and asked about broadband in my area. In April I was talking to a neighbour who said that she "knew" someone who worked for Eircom and that he had told her that the area was served by the Ashmount Exchange. Didn't quite believe her as there is no mention of this Exchange in any publicly available information by Eircom. However I chanced putting it out there and Tony confirmed that the Exchange did exist and that it would not be broadband enabled. makes you wonder though how many other secret Exchanges Eircom are hiding.

Sponge Bob

any idea where it is Mr Beaver. According to information generally supplied by eircom you live in the Wellington road exchange area. In fact that is what they told everybody who has unbundled that exchange , Here is a very likely looking suspect.

I refer you to eircoms promise to "Take All Orders" in January 2007. That's unless you actually live outside the Cork City border in the county

MRBEAVER

Sponge Bob wrote: »

any idea where it is Mr Beaver.

I refer you to eircoms promise to "Take All Orders" in January 2007. That's unless you actually live outside the Cork City border in the county

No idea where it is Sponge Bob but the area Eircom is refusing to service is within the city boundry, although even if it wasn't the promise relates to urban Cork which now stretches out into the county.



04.04.2007

" Eircom said that it is committed to a "take all orders" strategy in January (2008) to provide broadband to anyone living within the... urban area of .......Cork

"We made a promise and we're delivering on that promise," said Eircom chairman Pierre Danon. "

"I have said repeatedly on record that Eircom will remain frustrated until everyone who wants broadband can get it."

Danon said that today's announcement ( April 2007)...... demonstrated Eircom's seriousness about increasing broadband availability in Ireland."

Would Tony agree that the chairman of Eircom is a liar?

Sponge Bob

They are meant to offer you wimax if DSL is not available. After all eircom have huge amounts of wimax spectrum in Cork. I am sure that Tony will take your order seeing as you are inside the Cork City limits.

eircom: Tony

MRBEAVER wrote: »

No idea where it is Sponge Bob but the area Eircom is refusing to service is within the city boundry, although even if it wasn't the promise relates to urban Cork which now stretches out into the county.



04.04.2007

" Eircom said that it is committed to a "take all orders" strategy in January (2008) to provide broadband to anyone living within the... urban area of .......Cork

"We made a promise and we're delivering on that promise," said Eircom chairman Pierre Danon. "

"I have said repeatedly on record that Eircom will remain frustrated until everyone who wants broadband can get it."

Danon said that today's announcement ( April 2007)...... demonstrated Eircom's seriousness about increasing broadband availability in Ireland."

Would Tony agree that the chairman of Eircom is a liar?

Hi MrBeaver
I would be unlikely to make any such statement about anyone on a public forum, just the way I was raised I suppose.:) For the record Mr Pierre Danon is not the chairman of eircom, he became chairman of a French telecom companies in 2008 but seems to have moved on from that also.
Tony

Sponge Bob

eircom: Tony wrote: »

Hi MrBeaver
I would be unlikely to make any such statement about anyone on a public forum,

We only expect you to tell use whether eircom will Take All Orders in Cork.

Your 2 choices are

1. Yes we will.
2. No

Which is it ??

MRBEAVER

eircom: Tony wrote: »

Hi MrBeaver
I would be unlikely to make any such statement about anyone on a public forum, just the way I was raised I suppose.:) For the record Mr Pierre Danon is not the chairman of eircom
Tony

Suppose not. How about former CEO Rex Coom who made the following ridiculous claims. .

Eircom speeds up availability of broadband.
Jan 16, 2007

*Eircom today said it was taking all broadband orders placed within the main urban area ... of Cork.*

Eircom said customers whose telephone lines had previously failed to qualify for broadband should contact it to have their lines re-tested.

Commenting on the announcements, Rex Comb CEO, eircom, said:

"Today's *announcements demonstrate that we are serious about driving broadband in Ireland. As a result of the initiative to take all orders in the main urban areas ....... additional customers can now order broadband ."

Sponge Bob

MRBEAVER wrote: »

Commenting on the announcements, Rex Comb CEO, eircom, said:

"Today's *announcements demonstrate that we are serious about driving broadband in Ireland. As a result of the initiative to take all orders in the main urban areas ....... additional customers can now order broadband ."

Has your order been taken by Eircom Mr Beaver....like they promised they would do 4 years ago.

MRBEAVER

Sponge Bob wrote: »

Has your order been taken by Eircom Mr Beaver....like they promised they would do 4 years ago.

Sadly no. promises promises but the reality is very different. On the positive side there is speculation that Vodafone may be upgrading their GPRS network in the city tto EDGE.

eircom: Tony

Darragh12 wrote: »

Where are those exchanges due to be enabled this week located?

Hi Darragh12

exchanges to be enabled this week are
Ballyjamesduff

Swinford
exchanges enabled last week


Claremorris

Killybegs

Newtownmountkennedy



Tony

regress

What we have here is clear and unequivacable proof that Eircom is shamelessly lying.

Senior Eircom executives have stated publicly that Eircom will take all broadband orders in Cork City. Eircom reps here have contradicted their bosses and said that they won't, and that furthermore they have "no plans" to rollout broadband to the city. Eircom says on its coverage website that it provides broadband coverage throughout the city. But have admitted here that they don't. And yet the false website information has not been corrected and the false impression continues to be given that Cork city has basic DSL broadband. Tony is refusing to answer the charge. How can we believe anything that Eircom says if they won't admit publicly that they are lying about broadband coverage in the city. A public revocation of the "take all orders in Cork City" promise would be a good start at repairing the damage. Surely it is now time for the government to take action to force Eircom to enable Exchanges for basic DSL broadband in the major urban areas.

regress

post from another forum.


Minister Rabbitte,

I am writing to you (and to your colleague, Minister Hogan) to bring to your attention an issue which is of great concern to myself and many others in our situation.
I live in a rural community (Coon, North Kilkenny) and currently we do not have access to basic DSL broadband.

I have been trying, without success, to access basic DSL broadband since 2006.
I have been in contact with lobby group IrelandOffline on a regular basis since then to try and get accurate information on the rollout of DSL in Ireland, because I cannot get a straight answer from Eircom.

They have campaigned for Eircom to roll out DSL to all exchanges for many years now.


*Background*

In 2007 Eircom announced a programme to reprogram 319 exchanges and carry out works to ensure that the exchanges on this list could deliver DSL broadband.
Eircom committed to completing this work by the end of 2009.

Eircom even set up a site (formerly at www. broadbandatoz.ie) to announce when these exchanges were upgraded.
It seems that the timetable fell behind and now seems to have been abandoned altogether. The website recently disappeared (in early June 2011) and my queries to Eircom technical support have failed to obtain any meaningful reply.

Our exchange, in Coon, Co. Kilkenny, (Eircom Exchange code: COO) was scheduled to be enabled in the first quarter of 2009. This deadline was put back again and again and now I have been told there are no current plans to upgrade the exchange, despite being on the list Eircom announced in 2007. Regretably, our exchange is still not enabled; There was some work carried out, but it now seems to have been abandoned.

There are several other areas which have not been upgraded. I believe around 30 exchange areas are in a similar situation.

While we now have access to a 3G solution under the National Broadband Scheme, this is not a solution for many people. The speed is irregular, the method of delivery is totally unsuited for streaming of video, IP telephony and it is limited in the number of users it can handle at any one time. It is simply a stop-gap solution.

In any case, I contend that because we live near an eircom exchange and have a fixed line, we should be entitled to be served with a DSL service.

* What can be done? *
Minister, I accept that Eircom is a private company, and one which continues to have financial difficulties. I know that you cannot intervene directly and tell Eircom's network division to enable the exchange. But I was always taught that promises made should be kept. Eircom have failed to honour their promise to myself and many others in a similar situation.

We pay the same price for our line and get an inferior service without broadband. My parents have been customers since the days of P&T in the 1970s.
What makes it worse is that even as Eircom abandons their DSL upgrade programme, they are trumpeting the roll-out of "NGN" broadband.

If eircom's word cannot be relied upon, and they continue to break their promises, then surely it is the role of legislators to force them to do what needs to be done.

Minister, there are about 319 exchanges which Eircom promised to upgrade - about 30 of these are not upgraded, including ours. There are a further 250 or so that Eircom has suggested are not 'economically viable' which they do not EVER plan to upgrade for DSL. I do not need to remind you of that which you know perfectly well - Government and EU policy requires that all Irish households have access to quality broadband by certain target dates.

I ask you to make an appeal to Eircom's decision makers and urge them to complete this programme by the end of this year.

You have it in your power to bring in new Universial Service Obligation requirements for fixed line services in this country.
If Eircom fail to fulfil their promises, I urge you to act and to introduce a requirement to provide a fixed-line DSL service to all households.

It is generally accepted that the minimum service should be a 2Mbps DSL line, and that in time this should be extended to 8Mbps.
If a heavy financial penalty is introduced for every line which Eircom fails to provide DSL to (within reasonable distance from the exchange) then perhaps they can be motivated to finish rolling out DSL to *ALL* exchanges in Ireland.

Their counterparts in BT in Northern Ireland managed to do this some years ago. Surely, it is time to get this done here also.
If we do not we risk creating a two-speed digital economy in Ireland.

Regards,

Philip Murphy

Sponge Bob

regress wrote: »

What we have here is clear and unequivacable proof that Eircom is shamelessly lying.

Senior Eircom executives have stated publicly that Eircom will take all broadband orders in Cork City. Eircom reps here have contradicted their bosses and said that they won't, and that furthermore they have "no plans" to rollout broadband to the city.

Seems to be the case, where eircom cannot provide DSL they are supposed to organise a Wimax or other wireless connection in its place. The "Take All Orders" promise applies(d) to Galway Cork Limerick Dublin and Waterford only.

If the "Take All Orders" programme has been abandoned why don't the reps simply say so.

Sponge Bob

eircom: Tony wrote: »

Hi Darragh12

exchanges to be enabled this week are
Ballyjamesduff

Swinford
exchanges enabled last week
Claremorris

Killybegs

Newtownmountkennedy

Some (ALL???) of these were enabled YEARS ago Tony, do you mean Broadband Enabled or NGN upgraded ??

MRBEAVER

Sponge Bob wrote: »

Some (ALL???) of these were enabled YEARS ago Tony, do you mean Broadband Enabled or NGN upgraded ??

Et tu Tony. The post clearly says that these Exchanges were enabled last week. Upgrading an already enabled Exchange is an entirely different matter.

eircom: Tony

Sponge Bob wrote: »

Some (ALL???) of these were enabled YEARS ago Tony, do you mean Broadband Enabled or NGN upgraded ??

Hi Sponge Bob
Yes NGN enabled, in respone to this posters request weeks ago. Just posting the most current operational info that is available to me.
Tony

Sponge Bob

What is the status of the "Take All Orders" policy in Cork City Tony. The answer is either:

a) We will Take Mr Beavers order.

or

b) We refuse to take Mr Beavers order.

Please reply a) or b) and that is all Mr Beaver wants you to do.

Nobody in Cork City gives a toss about NGN in Mayo and most especially if they cannot get the standard 10 year old Last Generation Broadband from eircom.

regress

eircom: Tony wrote: »

I have had confirmation that eircom are still involved in providing regular broadband to exchanges which have not yet been broadband enabled ....In fact three exchanges in other parts of the country are to be enabled by the end of this week.

Darragh12 wrote: »

Where are those exchanges due to be enabled this week located?

eircom: Tony wrote: »

Hi Darragh12

exchanges to be enabled this week are
Ballyjamesduff

Swinford
exchanges enabled last week


Claremorris

Killybegs

Newtownmountkennedy

Sponge Bob wrote: »

Some (ALL???) of these were enabled YEARS ago Tony, do you mean Broadband Enabled or NGN upgraded ??

MRBEAVER wrote: »

The post clearly says that these Exchanges were enabled last week. Upgrading an already enabled Exchange is an entirely different matter.

eircom: Tony wrote: »

Yes NGN enabled, in respone to this posters request

mmmm.

Dazza

regress wrote: »

mmmm.

Yea .
Tony must have me misunderstood. I meant exchanges to be enabled. Tony which exchanges are meant to be enabled this week located? excluding NGN ones please.
Thanks

Sponge Bob

Has anyone taken your order under the 'take all orders' programme yet MrBeaver ???

Its just that the take all orders programme will be 4.5 years old next week

http://www.irishpressreleases.ie/printer-page.php?p=1440

16 Jan 2007 eircom today announced that with immediate effect the Company is taking all broadband orders placed within the five main urban areas of Dublin, Cork, Limerick, Waterford and Galway. Customers whose telephone lines have previously failed to qualify for broadband are encouraged to contact eircom to have their lines re-tested.

MRBEAVER

Sponge Bob wrote: »

Has anyone taken your order under the 'take all orders' programme yet MrBeaver ??[/]

No. Phoned call centre and was told that Eircom will only take orders from parts of the city that have broadband enabled Exchanges. Eircom though is refusing to admit publicly that it is reneging on it's promise and that the "Take all orders in major urban areas" promise will not and never has been honoured.

Sponge Bob

I would write to de Paper and to Mr Rabbitte about this lie Mr Beaver. Mr Rabbitte does not realise that eircom have renaged on this promise they made many years ago and eircom are currently trying to tap him for public money.

I would copy the letter to Mr O Donovan, the eircom CEO (c/o Heuston Square, Dublin) , maybe the poor fella thinks his staff are taking all orders as his predecessor Mr Comb promised they would.

I don't think the local media in Dublin/Cork/Limerick/Waterford and Galway would be too impressed at the abandonment of the "Take All Orders" policy and maybe you should contact the Advertiser papers/Leader/Star/Southside and Northside news etc while you are at it.

MRBEAVER

Not worked up enough about the issue to go that far though to see Eircom get away with telling blatent lies is a bit annoying. And it is also the case that many city dwellers now have other options other than fixed line controlled by Eircom e.g. UPC, wimax, radio transmitters or even 3G dongles. Unfortunately I live in a part of a city that has none of these options so have to make do with GPRS dongle but I am probably one of the few.

I think privatising Eircom was a massive mistake as it has led to them more or less abandoning the enabling of Exchanges for basic 1MB broadband in the cities on the grounds that it is economically unviable but can't see anyone getting too worked up about it at this stage.

MRBEAVER

I had a visit yesterday evening from a door to door Eircom Rep. He tried to persuade me to sign up to Eircom and assured me that fixed line broadband is available in my area. He said that he had already signed up half a dozen residents in my estate alone. Although very tempted I declined as I have been stung once before ( signed up to broadband bundle and only found out after connection that broadband unavailable) Later in the evening I phoned Eircom Sales and was told that situation remained the same i.e. Eircom has no plans to rollout fixed line broadband in Cork City. Could you check which of them has the correct information.

This seems to me to very sharp practice by Eircom and should be investigated. Some questions that need answering

1 Are Eircom sending out Sales Reps to areas of the city where there is no fixed line broadband available?

2 Are these reps telling residents that Eircom supplies broadband to their area in order to trick them into signing up for phone lines with connection fees and contracts?