NGB in Kilmihil

sibergoth

from Ireland Offline

This is one of our very irregular mass mailings and appeals.

RTE are in the process of planning a piece about broadband speeds around the country, this is for the Consumer Show.

If you still have problems with your broadband speeds and would be interested in taking part in this show that would be fantastic.

Please find attached the actual "appeal" from RTE (sorry it's a DOCX so if you have problems let us know and we can send it in a different format)

Also if you are interested can you check in with us first and we can go through the requirements in detail beforehand or help you with any doubts you may have.

Also if you have any questions please let us know.

Many many thanks








Here are some alternate links to the document just in case you have difficulties:

Here's a weblink to a google document instead:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0Bw1L9aBNT9eNZTFVSmVpV3U1ZWs/edit?usp=sharing


Another alternative is Microsoft have a program, similar to Adobe Reader for such files.
You can get it for free at the following official link:
http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=4 

ads20101

sibergoth wrote: »

i'd like to see it, sure.

did anyone see that there's a Consumer TV show that wants people to send in video of them doing a speed test where there is congestion or bad speeds... ?

I'd do it, except I don't really want to be on TV or in a video...   ads20101 do you want to be on TV?

I don't even watch TV, so no idea what the show is about...

Not sure - not always comfortable with the limelight.

I like the idea of the programme though.  I'd say there'll be loads of submissions.

But as we need to publicise the rapidly decreasing service I will give it some thought.

ads20101

Update:
2 things are happening.
I was contacted yesterday and spoke to a far more helpful chap. He said that he will be in direct conversation with eircom and will get back to me today. However he stated without an exchange upgrade my issue is unlikely to change.

Secondly, also after taking to him I have been assured that my complaint will be taken seriously and will be dealt with.

On a related matter I am in Ennis right now and I have 4g broadband on the 3 network.

Hopefully it gets as far as kilmihil.

sibergoth

4G in Ennis?  really?!  

that is excellent news.   but i'm sure Kilmihil will be way down the line for 4G upgrade..


as for the vodafone issue.  indeed, absolutely nothing will happen unless the backhaul link to the exchange is upgraded.  you can't squeeze a gallon out of a half pint glass ! 
but the conversation at least indicates that people at eircom are aware of the need for an upgrade...

sibergoth

amazing speeds on 4G.  Dock road, Limerick, driving home last night...

sibergoth

didn't bother looking at the sign at the end of my road until the other day.  a planning notice has been up since December...  it turns out that Vodafone wish to increase the height of the Cell mast at Lackwest by 2 meters to 'increase their 3G and GSM service'  

interesting.  Vodafone have not had 3G (or any data) in this area previously.   I wonder if they will just go straight to 4G ?


how long does a planning application take ?

ads20101

http://businessetc.thejournal.ie/fibre-powered-broadband-rural-ireland-1432795-Apr2014/

I wonder if we are 1 of those 1000 rural areas identified?

Would one of the reps be able to clarify? Or are you still ignoring this thread?

sibergoth

that would be SWEEEEET... if it ever happens !

sibergoth

couple of things of interest:


http://www.samknows.ie/

and

http://www.siliconrepublic.com/comms/item/36651-irelands-government-to/

sibergoth

oh. but note:

[font=helvetica, arial, sans-serif]"While Rabbitte acknowledged the rollout won’t be complete “during the life time of this Government” he said the aim is to have the process complete in the next four years."[/font]

ads20101

I know that there are no current plans to upgrade this eircom exchange.  But I would just like to post to state that the problem still has not gone away.

Essentially the DSL exchange is unusable at this time in the evening:



So I am continuing to have to tether my mobile network to get anything done.

This result from the three network was only taken a couple of mins later:



Maybe Eircom could ask three for advice on how they get a moderate amount of data to Kilmihil at peak times.  

sibergoth

indeed.

I am now forced to use my phone as a tether during the day as I can no longer work on the ADSL.

(meanwhile my other sister in Ennis, just 20 miles away, is getting 100Mbps fibre installed on Monday.......)


the last couple of weeks the 'three' service has been outstanding during the day.   I recorded downloads of 13Mpbs and above and uploads of an amazing 4Mbps !! 


I now have the SamKnows test box on my ADSL.  

( http://www.samknows.ie )

and here are some horrific results from the last week of testing...

hourly averages taken from a week of data.
6pm - 10 pm is just a waste of time even trying...

Time Average (Mbps)
22:00 0.82
21:00 0.54
20:00 0.77
19:00 0.69
18:00 1.08
17:00 1.33
16:00 1.46
10:00 1.98
04:00 2.45

notice that i'm only getting the real 'full speed' of my line at around 4am !!!

eircom: Alan

Hi All,

I'm sorry to say the situation has not changed and there are no current plans to upgrade the Kilmihil exchange.

Thanks
Al

sibergoth

thanks Al.

We kind of know that.  
That is why we will inevitably cancel the ADSL service as soon as something better comes along.

It is a very poor situation.

I'll remind everyone that a very tiny village only 5 miles away (Cooraclare) is planned to be eFibre enabled later this year as part of the Kilrush upgrade... 

so those 150 people in Cooraclare will be surfing super fast and the 650 people in Kilmihil will be crawling along at half a Mbps....

eircom: Alan

sibergoth wrote: »

thanks Al.

We kind of know that.  
That is why we will inevitably cancel the ADSL service as soon as something better comes along.

It is a very poor situation.

I'll remind everyone that a very tiny village only 5 miles away (Cooraclare) is planned to be eFibre enabled later this year as part of the Kilrush upgrade... 

so those 150 people in Cooraclare will be surfing super fast and the 650 people in Kilmihil will be crawling along at half a Mbps....

Hi sibergoth

I fully understand your feelings on this however I taught I should just provide some clarification. I honestly would love to be able to offer you better news sibergoth. Apologies for the inconvenience.

Al

ads20101

It's closer than I thought.

According to the fibre map on eircoms site:

http://www.nextgenerationnetwork.ie/eircom-fibre-network

Fibre is not only going to Cooraclare, but also Doonbeg.  But they won't just go a further 5 miles and give an exchange an upgrade that serves 5 times the population of either the previous exchanges mentioned.

I wish eircom would take notice of me as well as good ol' Mr Trump.


Damn, damn, damn - this is damn irritating now

eircom: Alan

ads20101 wrote: »

It's closer than I thought.

According to the fibre map on eircoms site:

http://www.nextgenerationnetwork.ie/eircom-fibre-network

Fibre is not only going to Cooraclare, but also Doonbeg.  But they won't just go a further 5 miles and give an exchange an upgrade that serves 5 times the population of either the previous exchanges mentioned.

I wish eircom would take notice of me as well as good ol' Mr Trump.


Damn, damn, damn - this is damn irritating now

Hi ads20101

I fully understand your frustration and I'm sorry I can’t offer you better news.

Al

sibergoth

Indeed. looking at that map it is basically taking the p1ss... tiny little nowhere villages are getting fibre and we are a big circle of emptiness..
Seriously, what is the reason behind this.  Why is Kilmihil being ignored? Who can we talk to in order to rectify this situation?


I'm pretty much resigned to having to sell the house and leave the area in order to get good internet.  I've been here for 15 years and i just can't take it anymore...  as i've said 10,000 times.  i am a techy, my work is all conducted online, I can no longer work on the ADSL provided in this area.


How does one go about contacting someone high up enough in eircom who would have authority to discuss and fix this major gap in planning for eFibre?

eircom: Alan

sibergoth wrote: »

Indeed. looking at that map it is basically taking the p1ss... tiny little nowhere villages are getting fibre and we are a big circle of emptiness..
Seriously, what is the reason behind this.  Why is Kilmihil being ignored? Who can we talk to in order to rectify this situation?


I'm pretty much resigned to having to sell the house and leave the area in order to get good internet.  I've been here for 15 years and i just can't take it anymore...  as i've said 10,000 times.  i am a techy, my work is all conducted online, I can no longer work on the ADSL provided in this area.


How does one go about contacting someone high up enough in eircom who would have authority to discuss and fix this major gap in planning for eFibre?

[font=Times New Roman","serif]Hi sibergoth

I understand your frustration however as I have previously advised you (throughout this thread) we will be unable to offer the reasoning behind eircoms operational or infrastructural decisions. I can also confirm that there are no routes discus eircoms efibre network planning or infrastural decisions and we will be unable to offer contact details of eircoms network planning divisions.[/font]
[font=Times New Roman","serif] [/font]
[font=Times New Roman","serif]I can confirm that there are no plans to upgrade your area and until plans are made for your area I will be unable to offer you any further news on this.[/font]
[font=Times New Roman","serif] [/font]
[font=Times New Roman","serif]Thanks[/font]
[font=Times New Roman","serif] [/font]
[font=Times New Roman","serif]Al[/font]

swoofer

Why not get a petition and send it to that labour TD who is always spouting off about comms?   Shame eircom,  650 is no small number.  Is that satellite thingy from Niall Quinn any good?

sibergoth

we are finally on this list

http://www.dcenr.gov.ie/NR/rdonlyres/4DE5D693-92D1-4FE1-915E-26D57C72305B/0/NBPdestinations.pdf

This document is an initial indicative list, presented County by County, of 
locations to be connected by fibre as part of the State intervention under the 
National Broadband Plan announced by the Minister for Communications, 
Energy and Natural Resources on 25 April 2014. I

swoofer

BUT because its so bad you/ye should push for special treatment ie get done first. 

ads20101

sibergoth wrote: »

we are finally on this list

http://www.dcenr.gov.ie/NR/rdonlyres/4DE5D693-92D1-4FE1-915E-26D57C72305B/0/NBPdestinations.pdf

This document is an initial indicative list, presented County by County, of 
locations to be connected by fibre as part of the State intervention under the 
National Broadband Plan announced by the Minister for Communications, 
Energy and Natural Resources on 25 April 2014. I

When this was first announced I have been trying to get a copy of this list.

I suspected that Kilmihil would be on it but its nice to see.

Not sure if this will be done anytime soon.... not sure but wasn't it 2016?? or something like that.

Would really want something by the end of this year (if not sooner).

ads20101

swoofer wrote: »

Why not get a petition and send it to that labour TD who is always spouting off about comms?   Shame eircom,  650 is no small number.  Is that satellite thingy from Niall Quinn any good?

Yes, I think lobbying public representatives is now the way forward.  I know that Sibergoth has already gone down this road, but I think its the correct course of action.

Of course, I can not prove this, as its all circumstantial, but seeing that Cooraclare and Doonbeg have some high profile people attached to these (rather small villages) I suspect that someone has swayed Eircom's decision making on this.  Al, the rep is right, Eircom do not wish to discuss operational decision making as it could indicate embarrassment at best and corruption at worst.

No - unfortunately swoofer satellite technology doesn't really provide a useful alternative primarily due to its cost, restrictive d/l u/l limits and extremely poor ping rates.   This is mainly aimed for people that don't even have access to a simple DSL network.

sibergoth

This is the April 2014 update. so very recent.

we weren't on the list before... so perhaps someone has listened finally!  although almost every medium sized village seems to be on the list now... 

as i understand it, if private companies such as eircom have not deemed us fit for fibre before the end of 2015 or so, THEN the government will intervene - so possibly sometime over the course of 2016...

so we are basically still years away from fibre. but at least there a vague plan (albeit a political promise, so worthless) 


if eircom are going to hide and not let us discuss with people who make plans, then what use would a petition be?  who would ever see it ?
it shouldn't be required anyway.  did they look for a petition from cooraclare and doonbeg ?? 

sibergoth

what makes it even more annoying is that we have to pay the same as people with a real service...

i pay €35 a month to vodafone for my pathetic 2.55Mbps.  same price as fibre customers... 

if we are going to have to put up with terrible speeds i feel we should pay MUCH less per month until the service is upgraded....

ads20101

Ok,  I have now entered a formal complaint with ComReg.

I will update here if I get any feedback

ads20101

I have had a speedy feedback from ComReg.

Yippee I hear you say........ well no........

They appear to have decided to do absolutely nothing.  

The feedback doesn't even show that they have contacted anyone or investigated anything, just a run of the mill reply.  I'll let you decide:

ComReg wrote:

[font=Calibri, sans-serif]Dear ,
[/font]
[font=Calibri, sans-serif]Thank you for your email.[/font]
[font=Calibri, sans-serif]Please be advised that ComReg’s responsibilities in the area of broadband are twofold – to ensure the provision of regulated wholesale broadband access services to other service providers and to promote alternative platform competition by means of spectrum allocation and innovative licensing frameworks.[/font]
[font=Calibri, sans-serif]ComReg has also imposed certain Universal Service Obligations (USO) on eircom.  In brief, these obligations relate to the provision of a telephone connection capable of carrying voice and data calls, amongst other items.  The scope of these obligations, however, does not extend to broadband connections. In effect there would be no obligation on eircom to provide you a broadband / fibre service or  upgrade in your area and ComReg are not in a position to insist otherwise.[/font]
[font=Calibri, sans-serif]Unfortunately as the upgrade of these exchanges is a commercial decision on eircom’s end we wouldn’t be in a position to investigate as to why one particular area is upgraded over another.[/font]
[font=Calibri, sans-serif]Should you require further assistance in the meantime, please let us know.[/font]
[font=Calibri, sans-serif]Kind regards[/font]
[font=Calibri, sans-serif]Anthony O’Keeffe[/font]
[font=Verdana, sans-serif]ComReg Consumer Management[/font]
[font=Verdana, sans-serif] [/font]
[font=Verdana, sans-serif]Commission for Communications Regulation[/font]
[font=Verdana, sans-serif]Abbey Court  Irish Life Centre  Lower Abbey Street  Dublin 1  Ireland[/font]
[font=Verdana, sans-serif]Telephone[/font][font=Verdana, sans-serif] 01 804 9668 / 1890 229 668
Fax 01 804 9680
Email [/font][font=Verdana, sans-serif]consumerline@comreg.ie [/font][font=Verdana, sans-serif] [/font]
[font=Verdana, sans-serif] [/font]

So... back to the drawing boards.

Any other ideas?

Johnboy1951

It seems it is not within the remit of ComReg to do anything about your situation.

Nothing they can do then  

ads20101

I have gone back to comreg again with another letter and they have at least agreed to enquire.

I hope they get further than me