Eircom eFibre VDSL/FTTC rollout – plans to reach 1.6m premises by mid 2016

jeffk

ED E wrote: »

If an area has good ADSL2+ coverage then it would naturally be lower priority then urban or semi urban areas with an overcrowded ADSL. Does Blanch not have UPC? VDSL is poor competition for cable backed by fibre.

We do have UPC , but in this house we have two desktop pcs , so Didn't see the point in the cost of wireless cards , sticks or homeplugs for just extra speed . Also the last time we left eircom we had a bad experience.

I was thinking we are happy with the eircom plan we have and then keep it with the same wiring set up with faster speed is win win

ED E

jeffk wrote: »

We do have UPC , but in this house we have two desktop pcs , so Didn't see the point in the cost of wireless cards , sticks or homeplugs for just extra speed . Also the last time we left eircom we had a bad experience.

I was thinking we are happy with the eircom plan we have and then keep it with the same wiring set up with faster speed is win win

Considering you'll pay maybe €20 for each pc once, and your subscription is €50+ a month its a small investment to make.

BTW if you get fibre the modem goes in the hallway or very close to it. They wont fit it in a back office or upstairs so generally its the hallway or the room next to it(often the sitting room).

jeffk

ED E wrote: »

Considering you'll pay maybe €20 for each pc once, and your subscription is €50+ a month its a small investment to make.

BTW if you get fibre the modem goes in the hallway or very close to it. They wont fit it in a back office or upstairs so generally its the hallway or the room next to it(often the sitting room).

I suppose your right , just as i said we moved once and had a bad experience

does the fibre router use the same phone lead as the current router ?

kaizersoze

jeffk wrote: »

I suppose your right , just as i said we moved once and had a bad experience

does the fibre router use the same phone lead as the current router ?

They install a new dual connection master socket (NTU) to replace your existing one. It has an RJ11 port to connect your phone and an RJ45 port to connect the new fibre modem.

murphaph

kaizersoze wrote: »

They install a new dual connection master socket (NTU) to replace your existing one. It has an RJ11 port to connect your phone and an RJ45 port to connect the new fibre modem.

These master sockets are just like a normal socket with a built in filter, right?

I only use VoIP with my VDSL here in Berlin so have my modem plugged straight into the 1980's TAE phone socket, but I know that Telekom (the only company offering VDSL with a POTS line for telephony as well) don't come around to your place when upgrading to VDSL so I don't really understand why Eircom need to do it.

jeffk

kaizersoze wrote: »

They install a new dual connection master socket (NTU) to replace your existing one. It has an RJ11 port to connect your phone and an RJ45 port to connect the new fibre modem.

so if its upc or eircom ill have to change my set up ?

I was thinking homeplug to a belkin router i used when eircom routers had one lan port to connect to two desktops

jd

murphaph wrote: »

I don't really understand why Eircom need to do it.

Basically because of the wiring set up some people have in their houses, "clean" installs reduce future support costs etc.

SpaceTime

jeffk wrote: »

Maybe im bias, but if have thought places like Blanchardstown would have been one of the first to have it or at least have it be now.

Id assumed Eircom would have started off the with the biggest and most populated areas in Dublin and worked around that and then onto big towns cities etc

They are going with what's easiest to rollout first and I would suspect some older urban areas including parts of Dublin and Cork may have suffered from a lack of the original PCP cabinets.

They are installing VDSL2 cabinets next to existing PCP (distribution) cabinets in almost all cases. So if you're unlucky enough to be in an area with underground junctions and no cabinets, it's much more expensive for them to roll out as they need to modify the copper network and install distribution cabinets.

This rollout is cabinet by cabinet and they just blow fibres through from a node in a local NGN connected exchange.

So really whether its Dublin 15 or Douglas or Dingle makes little difference. Ease of rollout is dependent on the local copper infrastructure

Mgit

Some of the comments here re the placement of cabinets are not true in some cases. Ive been watching the rollout in dundalk closely and there is vdsl cabinets installed with no voice cabinets anywhere nearby. For whatever reason some areas of the town didnt use cabinets in the past but their still getting efibre.

That said whereever had a voice cabinet seems to have ended up with a vdsl cab next to it

kaizersoze

Mgit wrote: »

Some of the comments here re the placement of cabinets are not true in some cases. Ive been watching the rollout in dundalk closely and there is vdsl cabinets installed with no voice cabinets anywhere nearby. For whatever reason some areas of the town didnt use cabinets in the past but their still getting efibre.

That said whereever had a voice cabinet seems to have ended up with a vdsl cab next to it

Some 'cabs' may be underground. Also depending on local site conditions/restrictions, the VDSL cabs can be placed up to 200mtrs away from the copper cab so they may not be adjacent to one another.

Gonzo

I said in an earlier post that im just over 1.5km from the nearest cabinet to me, the area does not go live for another few months. I live in hope that maybe they may install a fibre cabinet near me, although there is nothing on that spreadsheet to suggest that there will be one located closer to me.

When I put my eircom number and account into eircom's checker it says that fibre is coming to my area October-December. I presume, this checker just says that for every number that is in the exchange even if it's 6km away?

at 1.5km away is there any chance I can get fibre and even if I can would it be any faster than what I have right now. Eircom recently removed me from ADSL where I received 6meg and connected me to their NGN where I now get just over 9meg.

I am over 2km from the local exchange and this is what I am getting right now:

Status SHOWTIME

Downstream Upstream
Data rate(Kbps)
9272Kb 670Kb

Noise Margin
6 19

Output power(dBm)
122 184

Attenuation(dB)
47 19

tarakino

kaizersoze wrote: »

Some 'cabs' may be underground. Also depending on local site conditions/restrictions, the VDSL cabs can be placed up to 200mtrs away from the copper cab so they may not be adjacent to one another.

So if it's an underground cab, will it support Fibre/VDSL2? this is even more confusing...
This is the info I got from that roll-out spreadsheet about my cab:

Cab number: MAH1_008
CCP address: Jacobs Island, Ballinure, Blackrock, Cork (Side #27)

Is this an underground cab??

TheChizler

tarakino wrote: »

So if it's an underground cab, will it support Fibre/VDSL2? this is even more confusing...
This is the info I got from that roll-out spreadsheet about my cab:

Cab number: MAH1_008
CCP address: Jacobs Island, Ballinure, Blackrock, Cork (Side #27)

Is this an underground cab??

AFAIK all the new ones are above ground, take a walk around Long Shore Drive and see if you can find one? Let us know!

Edit: In the mapping thread that is!

jeffk

ED E wrote: »

Considering you'll pay maybe €20 for each pc once, and your subscription is €50+ a month its a small investment to make.

BTW if you get fibre the modem goes in the hallway or very close to it. They wont fit it in a back office or upstairs so generally its the hallway or the room next to it(often the sitting room).

Had a quick look on UPC,€90 installation ,not sure what the deal is like compared to Eircom and then the homeplug(which I might have to get for eircom) and then will the two newish phones we have work.

Down almost two months of eircom bills just to change over to UPC

ED E

jeffk wrote: »

Had a quick look on UPC,€90 installation ,not sure what the deal is like compared to Eircom and then the homeplug(which I might have to get for eircom) and then will the two newish phones we have work.

Down almost two months of eircom bills just to change over to UPC

I was talking about a pair of these: http://www.amazon.co.uk/TP-LINK-TL-WN821N-300Mbps-Wireless-Adapter/dp/B00194XKXA/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1377962364&sr=8-4&keywords=wireless+n+adapter

You probably dont need homeplugs. And I forgot the installation fee as they waived it for us as its a new area.

jeffk

ED E wrote: »

I was talking about a pair of these: http://www.amazon.co.uk/TP-LINK-TL-WN821N-300Mbps-Wireless-Adapter/dp/B00194XKXA/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1377962364&sr=8-4&keywords=wireless+n+adapter

You probably dont need homeplugs. And I forgot the installation fee as they waived it for us as its a new area.

Id rather go the wired than wireless route(heard you lose some speed over wireless, but probably not much), I have the old Belkin router there and the homeplug is 40 something on Eircom site(probably cheaper on ebay/amazon etc, but if it goes wrong and I ring Eircom, then its their equipment)

If UPC was better and cheaper, then id say ok lose out on installation fee etc and get it back in the long term. But ever since "NGB" ive had no issues with Eircom and the way the bill works out its cheap enough for us. Just of course like us all I want faster speeds!

TheChizler

jeffk wrote: »

Id rather go the wired than wireless route(heard you lose some speed over wireless, but probably not much),

You can't guarantee the powerline plugs are any better though. How much trouble would it be to run a bit of cat5e/6 cable from the modem to pc? Could you could go through walls, run it along a skirting board, in conduit etc.? Wouldn't even have to get the wall plates for the end, just some rj45 connectors.

jeffk

TheChizler wrote: »

You can't guarantee the powerline plugs are any better though. How much trouble would it be to run a bit of cat5e/6 cable from the modem to pc? Could you could go through walls, run it along a skirting board, in conduit etc.? Wouldn't even have to get the wall plates for the end, just some rj45 connectors.

The phone connection is in hall,above it is a bathroom/tiled floor
After that its run it from the front of the house to the back of the house,wooden floors in so cant just lift carpet
Or get someone to drill out the wall and go along the outside of the house ala sky cable
Dont even mention putting connectors on, could never do it in the I.T courses I done

TheChizler

jeffk wrote: »

Dont even mention putting connectors on, could never do it in the I.T courses I done

Fair play! It pained me to type it actually

kaizersoze

murphaph wrote: »

These master sockets are just like a normal socket with a built in filter, right?

Not really. The standard filtered dual ADSL NTUs have 2 RJ11 ports.
The filtered ones they're fitting as part of the fibre installation ha 1 RJ11 and 1 RJ45 (ethernet).
As jd says, it's done to get it right from day 1 as much as possible.
VDSL is finnicky.

Red Nissan

jeffk wrote: »

Dont even mention putting connectors on, could never do it in the I.T courses I done

It should be easy. I was stumped a while back but then I found out how to do it and it is easy despite those tiny wires, have totally forgotten now though.

5starpool

How accurate is the rollout map? I'm in the Pelletstown exchange area in D15 and according to the map it's July-Sep this year, but the cabinet right beside me doesn't have the new one set up near it yet. It has a planning notice for months, but nothing to indicate any work imminent anywhere nearby.

Red Nissan

5starpool wrote: »

, but nothing to indicate any work imminent anywhere nearby.

I think a post earlier mentioned the planning notice hold-up, no work in my area now either, was expecting in August from the July/Sept map.

Mgit

kaizersoze wrote: »

Some 'cabs' may be underground. Also depending on local site conditions/restrictions, the VDSL cabs can be placed up to 200mtrs away from the copper cab so they m not be adjacent to one another.

I know for definite some of these cabinets have no overground voice ones nearby.

To the best of my knowledge there is no such thing as an underground voice cabinet. Ifs its not overground then its just a underground manhole where a multipair wire from the exchange is split off into smaller pair wires going off to the various premises.

I think the overground voice cabinets have a min pabx whereas the underground manholes never have this due to dampness etc

jeffk

just thinking we have a second phone line in a bedroom , we connect the router to that at the minute

would or could eircom connect one of the new points there ? Be a bit easier to wire from there to another room beside it

tarakino

TheChizler wrote: »

AFAIK all the new ones are above ground, take a walk around Long Shore Drive and see if you can find one? Let us know!

Edit: In the mapping thread that is!

You're right mate, just found it on the right side of Long Shore Drive, apparently it's been installed this week cause I checked last week and it wasn't there...
Very excited, it's only 150m from my house, but it's not on the map yet (mapping thread).
Now I should check if it goes live by end of September

SpaceTime

kaizersoze wrote: »

Not really. The standard filtered dual ADSL NTUs have 2 RJ11 ports.
The filtered ones they're fitting as part of the fibre installation ha 1 RJ11 and 1 RJ45 (ethernet).
As jd says, it's done to get it right from day 1 as much as possible.
VDSL is finnicky.

Just to point out the wall jack is RJ45 on the modem side but the plug is just a standard RJ11 phone plug and it's still just a phone line with a DSL signal using the centre two contracts only.

There is no Ethernet present on that jack. It's just a phone line. Don't plug Ethernet devices in there ever! It's 48V DC and the ring voltage is about 75-80V 25Hz which would wreck your Ethernet cards!

The NTU is basically just a very high quality filter/splitter and it effectively puts all your other phone sockets and internal wiring onto the filtered side so they cannot interfere with the VDSL signals.

It's also a demarcation point that divides your wiring from the network wiring as do all of their master sockets.

Red Nissan

SpaceTime wrote: »

There is no Ethernet present on that jack. It's just a phone line. Don't plug Ethernet devices in there ever! It's 48V DC and the ring voltage is about 75-80V 25Hz which would wreck your Ethernet cards!.

Thanks for this warning, I MUST remember it. I was under the incorrect illusion.

SpaceTime

Yeah you always have to be a bit careful with RJ45 it was a telephone industry standard connector long before it was adopted for Ethernet use by the computer industry.

So on phone lines it can be used to carry analogue voice lines (up to 4 of them)/ DSL or ISDN or even power for devices so its generally not a great idea to connect your laptop to an unidentified RJ45 jack.

The European telecoms industry standard is moving to that RJ45 socket that accepts RJ11 (normal Irish phone plug) and the wider RJ45 plug.

So you'll see the vast range of weird European phone plugs and sockets gradually disappear in favour of the system we've had since the early 80s. Telecom Éireann just adopted Western Electric (Bell System US/Canada) standards from day one where as most of their EU counterparts developed weird enormous plugs to ensure you couldn't easily import devices. Little unsubtle barriers to entry.

I would speculate that eircom have future proofed the NTU for "pair bonding" where you'll have two lines back to the cabinet for speeds approaching 200mbit/s in ideal circumstances with vectoring.

You just need a different modem and a second line connected to S1 and S2 on the back of the socket.

So perhaps that might use the full RJ45 plug.

The cabinets they are using support pair bonding and vectoring so they should be able to do some impressive stuff if they choose to and UPC will drive that because its network is capable of far higher speeds.

Pair bonded VDSL is relatively straight forward as they only need a pair from your house to the cabinet not the whole way to the exchange and since a lot of people have switched to UPC or other non-phone line services there is no shortage of spare copper wires in most areas.

So in theory and with very little cost they can really crank the speed should they need to.

They can squeeze quite a few more years out of copper before they will need to go to FTTH!

gordonnet

Anyone know when the cabinet a curragh woods will be installed. It seems to be the only cabinet in Frankfield not done. It Serves Dunvale & Curragh woods estates. In these estates there are over 200 houses.

the details are:
DGS1_019
Curragh Woods, Frankfield, Cork (Entrance)