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

lucernarian

I don't know who's responsible but there's at least one VDSL2 cabinet that I had marked but which had been subsequently moved... I walked past it last Dec with civils and all complete from a nearby ESB box on this road in the Drogheda AEH area.

I can't find a way to edit its position however. The only map that's let me edit cab locations only covers a small number of places, not the master list.

...Figured it out, looks like you're the culprit SB! Tut tut tut. Found that the Drogheda labels were on page 2.

Sponge Bob

You see all of Drogheda on page 2 TBC, it was fragmented across 2 pages until I shifted it.

lucernarian

That cab remains misplaced however. How did you manage that?! I'll sort it out when I get a chance.

Sponge Bob

To_be_confirmed wrote: »

That cab remains misplaced however. How did you manage that?! I'll sort it out when I get a chance.

I swears i didn't.

TheChizler

The cabs near me all in the last week got big yellow labels with their cryptic name on, would it be worth sticking this in the info field?

Solair

TheChizler wrote: »

The cabs near me all in the last week got big yellow labels with their cryptic name on, would it be worth sticking this in the info field?

That's an asset number tag to identify the cabinet. The first few letters will probably be the exchange. Every bit of eircom gear has a tag like that so they can find it.

Sponge Bob

TheChizler wrote: »

The cabs near me all in the last week got big yellow labels with their cryptic name on, would it be worth sticking this in the info field?

Please. The first 3 letters will be the old exchange identifier.

Praetorian

Incorrect cabinet identified.

"Balbriggan - Delahasey Cross

On the left hand side of the crossroads (heading towards Naul)"

Those grey cabinets must be power? I think someone thought it was a vdsl cabinet.

Photo attached that I took this morning. There is no new cabinet there.

Solair

I did a bit of a tidy up of the Cork areas (and added physical addresses to all the ballincollig cabs).

The list's now organised by exchange codes rather than long-winded names as it lets you see more info on a single line.

Handy list of exchange codes :

http://www.eircomwholesale.ie/News/Bitstream_EA_launch/

Solair

Praetorian wrote: »

Incorrect cabinet identified.

"Balbriggan - Delahasey Cross

On the left hand side of the crossroads (heading towards Naul)"

Those grey cabinets must be power? I think someone thought it was a vdsl cabinet.

Photo attached that I took this morning. There is no new cabinet there.

http://goo.gl/maps/fFC9H

Actually, it looks like public lighting controls / meters / fuses or perhaps something for traffic signals. Should be deleted. Nothing to do with VDSL anyway.

Bear in mind though that there are some cabinets appearing where there is no pre-existing eircom distribution cabinet. I think there may be extensive underground junctions in some spots that are being used instead. There are a few stand-alone VDSL cabinets popped up in Douglas for example.

So you may get the odd one appearing that has no older counterpart on Google maps.

Sponge Bob

Just so people know. We are mapping the cabinet types on the right in this photo ONLY. They are green ( so far) and they have a prominent 'hinge' feature. Oftentimes (but not always as Solair said) they are located near a cab with twin doors like the one on the left in the photo. One you spot one there are usually plenty more around the area.

If you see one add iit to the map linked below in my signature.

arctan

There shouldnt be any underground junctions, nga cabs are being put in not necessarily hooked up, hav come across one or two in Dublin And from what I can gather a new eircom cab will be put in place for diversion of the direct distribution points into cabinets ..

The exchange codes will follow the format:

AAA-BBB_C

AAA= exchange code
BBB= Cab number
C= nga cab designation, all will be' A' with any subsequent cabs attached being B,C,etc....

Solair

The main thing to look out for is (as pointed out by SB the large prominent hinge / lock , and you'll usually see some eircom logos on manhole covers near/around it and recently set concrete / cuts in the road / pavement.

The new cabinets are always dark green, and all look identical to the image on the right of that picture.

The old junction cabinets come in a few versions, so don't worry if it's not next to a twin-door green cabinet. Eircom also used a taller beige / grey plastic cabinet and some of the older cabinets can look really like they've seen better days and may have been painted to blend them into walls by neighbours etc.

So, basically look out for the new green cabinet on the right.

Grey cabinets, and other green structures are often traffic light control boxes or UPC amplifiers, so ignore them.

Solair

arctan wrote: »

There shouldnt be any underground junctions, nga cabs are being put in not necessarily hooked up, hav come across one or two in Dublin And from what I can gather a new eircom cab will be put in place for diversion of the direct distribution points into cabinets ..

The exchange codes will follow the format:

AAA-BBB_C

AAA= exchange code
BBB= Cab number
C= nga cab designation, all will be' A' with any subsequent cabs attached being B,C,etc....

There are definitely some standalone ones popping up around Cork, so perhaps there's a batch of new eircom cabinets to go into place too.

There are some really ancient cabinets around too that look like they've definitely seen better days ... like during the 1960s or something!

Did eircom not order any combined DSLAM+cabinet solutions?
I've seen some cabinets in Cork have had a 'top box' section added to them. There's one on Union Quay for example that has had that done, but I don't think it's anything to do with VDSL.

lucernarian

Solair wrote: »

The main thing to look out for is (as pointed out by SB the large prominent hinge / lock , and you'll usually see some eircom logos on manhole covers near/around it and recently set concrete / cuts in the road / pavement.

The new cabinets are always dark green, and all look identical to the image on the right of that picture.

The old junction cabinets come in a few versions, so don't worry if it's not next to a twin-door green cabinet. Eircom also used a taller beige / grey plastic cabinet and some of the older cabinets can look really like they've seen better days and may have been painted to blend them into walls by neighbours etc.

So, basically look out for the new green cabinet on the right.

Grey cabinets, and other green structures are often traffic light control boxes or UPC amplifiers, so ignore them.

The photo of the cabinet to the right that arctan originally posted and SB posted above is probably the best thing to go by, a picture paints a thousand words and all that.

People should stick to locating that exact green cabinet and disregard everything else around it.

red_bairn

To_be_confirmed wrote: »

The photo of the cabinet to the right that arctan originally posted and SB posted above is probably the best thing to go by, a picture paints a thousand words and all that.

People should stick to locating that exact green cabinet and disregard everything else around it.

Yeah, I reckon SB add that image to his sig.

Solair

BT's actually putting decals (stickers) on them announcing fibre broadband and upsetting British urban conservationists quite a bit.

See this image for example : http://url.ie/h2si

Probably not a bad idea for raising awareness tho

To be fair to both Eircom and BT, their VDSL2 cabinets are very neat and tidy looking.

This is what's being put in in Australia : http://i157.photobucket.com/albums/t44/kimmys34/IMG_0361.jpg
I'd say you'd have uproar over here if that thing appeared on your grass margin one morning hehe

Quite a lot of huge white VDSL cabinets in Belgium and France too, not quite as bad as that one above, but still a lot uglier than those little Huawei green boxes we're getting.

bk

Quick question, on the outside of my parents garden wall, there is an old Eircom cab, but no VDSL2 cab. But just about another 20 meters down the street and around the corner there is another Eircom cab and that does have a VDSL2 cab next to it.

Would I be correct in saying that the VDSL2 cab serves both of the Eircom cabs and if my parents are wired into the cab that doesn't have the VDSL2 cab next to it, they will still be able to order VDSL2?

Any time I see Eircom working on these cabs, they always seem to be working on the two cabs at the same time, which leads me to believe that they might be connected underground.

Solair

bk wrote: »

Quick question, on the outside of my parents garden wall, there is an old Eircom cab, but no VDSL2 cab. But just about another 20 meters down the street and around the corner there is another Eircom cab and that does have a VDSL2 cab next to it.

Would I be correct in saying that the VDSL2 cab serves both of the Eircom cabs and if my parents are wired into the cab that doesn't have the VDSL2 cab next to it, they will still be able to order VDSL2?

Any time I see Eircom working on these cabs, they always seem to be working on the two cabs at the same time, which leads me to believe that they might be connected underground.

Sounds quite possible. I suppose the old cabinet might have just been left in place for a smaller number of homes or something?

They could always add an extra VDSL2 cabinet if uptake was really high.

arctan

Solair wrote: »

There are definitely some standalone ones popping up around Cork, so perhaps there's a batch of new eircom cabinets to go into place too.

There are some really ancient cabinets around too that look like they've definitely seen better days ... like during the 1960s or something!

Did eircom not order any combined DSLAM+cabinet solutions?
I've seen some cabinets in Cork have had a 'top box' section added to them. There's one on Union Quay for example that has had that done, but I don't think it's anything to do with VDSL.

Might be worth havin a look around to make 100% sure, the nga cab might not always be situated right beside the cab its serving ....

Some examples in dublin are:

Cabs around the corner from each other

Across the road from each other

On opposite sides if a wall

Etc...

Theres one example I know if where the nga cab is roadaide and the cab it serves is 50 meters away hidden in a bush ....


The cabs wit the extensions on top are high security cabs which are densely populated, so the extension on top will hold the ports into the nga cab.

Solair

I'm just hoping a cab appears outside our estate/road. There's no pre-existing eircom cabinet at all and there's maybe 60 homes. Nearest cabinet's about 1km away

red_bairn

Solair wrote: »

I'm just hoping a cab appears outside our estate/road. There's no pre-existing eircom cabinet at all and there's maybe 60 homes. Nearest cabinet's about 1km away

We've two cabinets but no VDSL one.

CraigSmith_IO

I'm assuming then that if the Drogheda cabs are labelled DRA - 0041 for example which was one of the labels I spotted yesterday, means we are way far off the mark if there's 40 odd of them and we've not found half of that?

bealtine

Here's a visualization of the VDSL rollout, on it we can see all the areas that are missing from the current map. C'mon guys get mapping:)

TheChizler

Got one if these through the door today, hopefully there'll be a little green box appearing soon. Probably wont find it though, don't have a clue where the existing box is.

The spelling 'fibre' annoys me though, my optical electronics lecturer spent the last term beating 'fiber' into us.

Solair

That's how you spell fibre in Standard English. It's only fiber in American English.

The same goes for things like "centre" vs "center" ... "labor" vs "labour".

If eircom were to spell it 'fiber' they'd be wrong in Ireland, Britain, Australia, NZ etc
Their spelling is perfectly correct for Standard English, which is what's is used here.

Was your optical electronics lecturer some kind of American spelling fanatic ?
I know if I used US spelling in essays for certain lecturers in UCC, I'd get marks docked for incorrect spelling.

---- I'd be more annoyed about :

http://www.eircom.net/efibre/ wrote:

Superfast reliable Broadband
Free installation
Free Fibre modem ---

Fibre modem ?! Unless they're doing FTTH it's a VDSL modem --- such marketing bumph !

red_bairn

Solair wrote: »

That's how you spell fibre in Standard English. It's only fiber in American English.

The same goes for things like "centre" vs "center" ... "labor" vs "labour".

If eircom were to spell it 'fiber' they'd be wrong in Ireland, Britain, Australia, NZ etc
Their spelling is perfectly correct for Standard English, which is what's is used here.

Was your optical electronics lecturer some kind of American spelling fanatic ?
I know if I used US spelling in essays for certain lecturers in UCC, I'd get marks docked for incorrect spelling.

As an TEFL teacher in Korea, I gave students the choice of both UK and US English spelling variations. I think he's a bit of a d*ck to be trying force his preferred spelling of word upon you.

TheChizler

I'm aware of the differing conventions! Just coming from being immersed in that way it's weird going back to the 'correct' spelling! He worked in caltech for years so pretty Americanized yes!

Is there a desired format for cab identifiers in the info fields sponge bob? In case you ever parse them for XML or something?

Sponge Bob

TheChizler wrote: »

Is there a desired format for cab identifiers in the info fields sponge bob? In case you ever parse them for XML or something?

Solair did them very well in the Ballincollig examples on page 1. If a cab is 'full' no customers can be provisioned, that is why the identifiers are important.

lucernarian

CraigSmith_IO wrote: »

I'm assuming then that if the Drogheda cabs are labelled DRA - 0041 for example which was one of the labels I spotted yesterday, means we are way far off the mark if there's 40 odd of them and we've not found half of that?

Going on the geographical spread along with my own recollections, there's probably about 60 to 70 cabs on the main Drogheda exchange. It's complicated by the fact that ex-Drogheda cabs were rerouted to DAH about 5 or so years ago. The cabinet numbers assigned to those cabinets may have been kept when rerouted. E.g. DBC009 becomes DAH009. The remaining cabinets would not have been renumbered so even if there's a DBC065, there may not be 65 cabinets on that exchange. Also there was probably an inadequate number of cabinets provided in some parts of the town so you may see more built, particularly in the area between the Patrick St. exchange and say Scotch Hall.

Many of the cabinets I know of simply haven't had VDSL2 cabs installed yet though most have been replaced to High Security standard cabinets.

I don't know what happened to those cabinets as for many years cabinets in Drogheda simply weren't labelled with any number or else the marker used had worn off and only recently do they have visible codes.