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

10belowzero

The extension piece on top of the more modern cab is a vdsl unit .They are being used in quiet a lot of place's.

Solair

10belowzero wrote: »

The extension piece on top of the more modern cab is a vdsl unit .They are being used in quiet a lot of place's.

Are you sure that's not just to make space for more wiring? It doesn't look like it's big enough to contain a DSLAM.

They're definitely doing work at those cabs though, so I assume they're going to be a DSLAM rather soon anyway, so I have marked it.

I'm missing loads of cabinets in housing developments / down lanes etc though.

lucernarian

arctan wrote: »

they should have been entirely the owners obligation since eircom stopped installing/maintaining internals, but you'll still get lines coming in the front door, with the modem in the 3rd story bedroom after 10 sockets getting taken off the line, and they'll wonder why the dsl is dropping or speeds are crap .....

In fairness, they should never have dropped that service. Charge a reasonable amount for it maybe (e.g. €40 or €50) but the truth of it is that eircom linesmen are best equipped to fix a phone line inside or outside a house. We've seen enough sparkies wire phones with alarm cable in a star layout here on boards:(

The RECI guidelines don't count for much when a sparks is in a hurry to get the phone extension working.

solair wrote:

I don't really see much advantage to a traditional, circuit switched phone line these days. VoIP as as good or better (you can run much higher quality audio over VoIP with the right codecs)

There's a big one I can think of. Backup electricity supply. It's very allegorical but the UPC equipment or many urban mobile phone base stations don't seem to have backup power supplied. Whereas the likes of Drogheda's main exchange has a ship generator ready to go in the exchange if there's a widespread power outage. Also, my UPC phone does behave weirdly in comparison to an eircom landline. Things like the dialtone cutting in and out, even though numbers dial fine.

I reckon we should not mark in cabs until they're actually installed. In the DBC area I'm pretty sure of 2 cabs that have been replaced but will never see VDSL2. Though cabs with the extension section appears to be purely for a VDSL2 install later, going by arctan's helpful information. So maybe those cabinets are worth sticking on google?

10belowzero

Solair wrote: »

Are you sure that's not just to make space for more wiring? It doesn't look like it's big enough to contain a DSLAM.

They're definitely doing work at those cabs though, so I assume they're going to be a DSLAM rather soon anyway, so I have marked it.

I'm missing loads of cabinets in housing developments / down lanes etc though.

Yes , because I had't seen one of them before my self ,I was driving thru Cabra / jct old cabra rd/ navan rd the other week and seen one , and was talking to lad's in Sword's the following day and they told me thats what it was.
It has the capacity for 92/100 vdsl ports.

Some_Person

Added two for Waterford.

arctan

10belowzero wrote: »

The extension piece on top of the more modern cab is a vdsl unit .They are being used in quiet a lot of place's.

Solair wrote: »

Are you sure that's not just to make space for more wiring? It doesn't look like it's big enough to contain a DSLAM.

They're definitely doing work at those cabs though, so I assume they're going to be a DSLAM rather soon anyway, so I have marked it.

I'm missing loads of cabinets in housing developments / down lanes etc though.

see the white blocks on the right ???

that's what will be in the extensions on top of the cabs, this will be because they can't fit in the main section because they are high density...

I'll get a pic when I'm at one..

To_be_confirmed wrote: »

In fairness, they should never have dropped that service. Charge a reasonable amount for it maybe (e.g. €40 or €50) but the truth of it is that eircom linesmen are best equipped to fix a phone line inside or outside a house. We've seen enough sparkies wire phones with alarm cable in a star layout here on boards

The RECI guidelines don't count for much when a sparks is in a hurry to get the phone extension working.

?

if Eircom are to even touch internals, it's meant to be €100 charge, in some houses it's like opening pandoras box even looking into an internal issue, technicians have daily job targets they're meant to hit, and lookin ito an internal issue could have you there for the day in some houses.

Solair

To_be_confirmed wrote: »

In fairness, they should never have dropped that service. Charge a reasonable amount for it maybe (e.g. €40 or €50) but the truth of it is that eircom linesmen are best equipped to fix a phone line inside or outside a house. We've seen enough sparkies wire phones with alarm cable in a star layout here on boards:(

The RECI guidelines don't count for much when a sparks is in a hurry to get the phone extension working.


There's a big one I can think of. Backup electricity supply. It's very allegorical but the UPC equipment or many urban mobile phone base stations don't seem to have backup power supplied. Whereas the likes of Drogheda's main exchange has a ship generator ready to go in the exchange if there's a widespread power outage. Also, my UPC phone does behave weirdly in comparison to an eircom landline. Things like the dialtone cutting in and out, even though numbers dial fine.

I reckon we should not mark in cabs until they're actually installed. In the DBC area I'm pretty sure of 2 cabs that have been replaced but will never see VDSL2. Though cabs with the extension section appears to be purely for a VDSL2 install later, going by arctan's helpful information. So maybe those cabinets are worth sticking on google?

The UPC network in Cork had big Alpha power cabinets at the amps and other nodes and those VDSL2 cabs from Huawei have a load of batteries inside too.

The bigger issue is your own VDSL modem and VoIP equipment may go down.

A small UPS is straight forward enough and relatively cheap.

That being said, I've had more eircom outages than ESB outages in this area. We'd failed lines a few times due to upgrade work and accidental damage to underground cables. Last ESB outage was years ago and very quickly resolved. I suppose maybe more of a concern in rural areas with long overhead ESB lines.

As for the dial tone cutting in and out on UPC eh, are you sure that's not voicemail notification ? They do the US style stutter dial tone to indicate messages are waiting while eircom does a two frequency dial tone. So the dial tone will pulse on and off then go constant.

UPC's stutter tone activates the message waiting light / icon on most cordless phones too where as eircom's tone isn't understood by any equipment. Not sure why eircom didn't use the international de facto standard for voicemail notification, their exchanges aren't unusual equipment!

UPC caller ID on call waiting also works perfectly where as its non existent on eircom landlines. Ironically, it will show up perfectly on most eircom branded cordless phones

10belowzero

Tnk's arctan, I knew they looked a bit small for a dslam , that make's perfect sence now , I assumed it was like a mini dslam + link cable.











=

Solair

Just added another 5 cabinets on Wellington Road exchange in Cork.

lucernarian

arctan wrote: »

if Eircom are to even touch internals, it's meant to be €100 charge, in some houses it's like opening pandoras box even looking into an internal issue, technicians have daily job targets they're meant to hit, and lookin ito an internal issue could have you there for the day in some houses.

I'm just shooting the breeze here but there's a good chance that house extensions and so on wouldn't need the same level of troubleshooting that they might do now, if eircom had been providing them over the past ten years or so.

And to be fair it's not like a linesman has to spend all day with a spectrometer to find the offending electric fence, lawnmower or dirty thermostat, the standard provided for wiring internals is straightforward enough. And most of the issues can be immediately resolved with a master socket and ADSL filter unit, which takes all of ten minutes to fit. They're great yokes and all that has to be sorted is getting a clean line from outside to that socket. Often enough it just comes down to a swap of the first socket for the filtered master socket.

arctan

it would be unbelievably great if they were all handy like that ...

coming across a lot of:

-t-ing off and feeding alarms/other connections before the main socket, this is usually done in the attic off a drop wire
-bell wire
-alarm cable
-cat5 hitting an access point miles away from the point of entry with 6 or 7 spurs off it at that point and more before and after
-hidden wiring where you don't know where the first point is
-this outside insulation covering around drop wires and any spurs taken from the outside

as I said, some can be pandoras box if even sniffed at

but yeah, a filter socket install with a known first point, will sort all internal problems, most times anyway

Solair

To_be_confirmed wrote: »

Often enough it just comes down to a swap of the first socket for the filtered master socket.

In my opinion this is what they should do.

Where there's a speed problem / installation issue, just offer to install a new NTU socket on the line, with a filter faceplate i.e. a fresh install to one single socket and site it near one of the old sockets.

These have a modem socket (straight to the line) and a filtered socket (for phones)

Cut the line entirely to the old installation, leaving only the new NTU connected.

Then the customer has a choice:

1) Use DECT cordless phones plugged into the NTU socket's phone port. (suits many people fine)

2) Use their existing wiring by plugging an RJ11 cord between the NTU's filtered phone socket and the near by socket on their old wiring. A simple double RJ11 adaptor will allow you to plug a phone in there too.

3) Use a VoIP service from the VDSL modem/gateway by plugging an RJ11 cable between the gateway and the near by old installation socket.

----

Where there's a PhoneWatch / monitored alarm issue, I think that should really be just left up to PhoneWatch or whoever installed it to resolve.

I honestly think we're tying ourselves in phone wiring knots to keep PhoneWatch happy a lot of the time.

Sky boxes should also have built-in filters. It's safe to assume that a very high % of lines have DSL traffic on them.

lucernarian

arctan wrote: »

it would be unbelievably great if they were all handy like that ...

coming across a lot of:

-t-ing off and feeding alarms/other connections before the main socket, this is usually done in the attic off a drop wire
-bell wire
-alarm cable
-cat5 hitting an access point miles away from the point of entry with 6 or 7 spurs off it at that point and more before and after
-hidden wiring where you don't know where the first point is
-this outside insulation covering around drop wires and any spurs taken from the outside

as I said, some can be pandoras box if even sniffed at

but yeah, a filter socket install with a known first point, will sort all internal problems, most times anyway

There's a straightforward solution to the "bell wire". A pair of snips. Those older TÉ or P&T sockets can simply have the middle terminal between L1 and L2 not connected to anything.

That outdoor insulation ****e has caused problems for people I know. With UPC and eircom services. They can be done in a really cackhanded way, with junction boxes for dropwires literally plastered in insulation.

bealtine

To_be_confirmed wrote: »

Often enough it just comes down to a swap of the first socket for the filtered master socket.

I don't know how many times a simple demarcation like this would have solved all my phone line problems (and dsl). It's been hard convincing eircom that they have responsibility up to and including the "master" socket...

Solair

bealtine wrote: »

I don't know how many times a simple demarcation like this would have solved all my phone line problems (and dsl). It's been hard convincing eircom that they have responsibility up to and including the "master" socket...

I've often thought that if eircom could get away with it when you requested a new line you'd be sent

A map, a reel of cable, spare key for the exchange and a wiring diagram!

arctan

yes, but its the master socket argument that comes into play ...

eircom's idea is: it's meant to be no more than 3 meters from the point of entry to the premises

customers: its where I use my main telephone, which, could be anywhere, off any type of socket

and a good lot of the time, that point of entry is hidden, behind plastered walls, skirting etc... and God knows what spurs are taken off before you find that "first point"

bealtine

arctan wrote: »

yes, but its the master socket argument that comes into play ...

eircom's idea is: it's meant to be no more than 3 meters from the point of entry to the premises

customers: its where I use my main telephone, which, could be anywhere, off any type of socket

and a good lot of the time, that point of entry is hidden, behind plastered walls, skirting etc... and God knows what spurs are taken off before you find that "first point"

simple...run a new drop cable if there's a fault or idiotic wiring:)

Also eircom have, in the past,taken serious convincing that the obvious "master" socket is actually that, including photo evidence

lucernarian

Solair wrote: »

I've often thought that if eircom could get away with it when you requested a new line you'd be sent

A map, a reel of cable, spare key for the exchange and a wiring diagram!

And in a couple of exchange areas I can think of, the line would be installed more quickly! One or two unfortunate locations I know of would have had better jobs done if the handyman neighbour did it. Eircom's history of asset sweating meant plastic bags were the vogue fashion accessory for junction boxes with missing covers

Solair

bealtine wrote: »

simple...run a new drop cable if there's a fault or idiotic wiring:)

Also eircom have, in the past,taken serious convincing that the obvious "master" socket is actually that, including photo evidence

You have to remember that eircom didn't really have any demarcation between their network wiring and internal wiring in the past. They used those beige Siemens RJ11 sockets at every extension and never seem to have used the bell wire thing although it was possible.

So, there isn't a master socket at all on many installations.

In my grandmothers house the demarcation point \ master socket is a little black junction box on the windowsill and that goes by twisted single pair wire into the beige phone jack on the skirting. Phone watch added an alarm to the mix without adding an NTU. The line goes straight through the window frame and into the alarm !

The "master" / "slave" socket terminology is a feature of BT wiring because they needed bell wires. The master socket shunted the ring signal onto a third wire and then that was connected to the "slave sockets" which contained no circuitry. It was a rather convoluted way of preventing bells from tinkling when you were pulse dialling on the extensions. Other countries just specified phones that didn't tinkle in such circumstances !

I prefer how they do demarcation points in countries like France and Spain. There's a test socket in the hall / garage or wherever the line comes in. It's a simple box with a sliding switch on the front. Slide switch down, it connects the internal wiring. Slide switch up it cuts the internal wiring off and reveals an RJ11 socket marked TEST.

There are big, obvious and easy to access lugs to connect your internal wiring to.

The Irish and British system of faceplates and all that stuff is excessively complicated.
It makes something very simple very confusing !

It's just two wires going from socket to socket.

swoofer

ok i have done a few for ennis/clarecastle again and it looks as if they were saved this time. i will keep an eye out for others

Solair

I'm very surprised that there don't seem to be any DSLAM cabinets installed in Mount Oval (big new housing development) in Douglas/Rochestown in Cork.

There are a couple of distribution cabinets, but no sign of any fibre cabinets at all.

I'd say there's big UPC penetration in there though, maybe it's not worth eircom bothering?

Douglas is marked down as 'complete' so I am assuming nothing else will be fibred-up.

--- edit ---

Just noticed

Cork City Council Website wrote:

Monday 25th March 2013
• Possible delays: on Middle Glanmire Road, 7.30-11pm, Monday and Tuesday (K-Networks).

Looks like there's going to be some more cabinets popping up, or else UPC's upgrading.. But, sounds like relatively major works.

liamnojo92

Anyone Know if Castlebar is Completed/going live soon ? Or have Eircom started the inevitable "one more month"

Solair

liamnojo92 wrote: »

Anyone Know if Castlebar is Completed/going live soon ? Or have Eircom started the inevitable "one more month"

ComReg is not allowing them to start selling fibre based services until some date towards the end of May. This is to allow time for other companies who will be using the infrastructure to test out billing systems, ordering systems, back haul etc

Eircom is very keen to launch ASAP. They actually requested a launch date in April which ComReg said no to.

All details here : http://www.comreg.ie/_fileupload/publications/ComReg1323.pdf

Praetorian

I just placed 5 more in Balbriggan after a short trip around the town. I also moved the one marked "balbriggan cardy rock" down and across the main road and renamed it "balbriggan barnwell court".

There was no cabinet to be seen at the entrance to Cardyrock, or anywhere in that estate.

Solair

Key line from that ComReg document is :

ComReg does not consider that its decision in D03/13 that
NGA launch may not take place earlier than 20 May 2013 should be varied.

So, mark your diaries, as that's pretty much as soon as you're getting fibre to cabinet via the eircom access network.

morlock_

Solair/Sponge Bob

You mentioned in previous posts BT OpenReach are using ECI and Huawei hardware to provide VDSL2. In UK, the bigger cabinets seem to be using Huawei DSLAM, what are Eircom deploying?

Solair

morlock_ wrote: »

Solair/Sponge Bob

You mentioned in previous posts BT OpenReach are using ECI and Huawei hardware to provide VDSL2. In UK, the bigger cabinets seem to be using Huawei DSLAM, what are Eircom deploying?

Eircom are using Huawei DSLAMs in the rollout that's going on at the moment and there are Alcatel-Lucent DSLAMs in the trial areas installed before the current rollout began e.g. Dundrum in Dublin.

I'm guessing eircom's using more of the smaller cabinets because Irish housing stock is a lot lower density than say Central London.

morlock_

Solair wrote: »

Eircom are using Huawei DSLAMs in the rollout that's going on at the moment and there are Alcatel-Lucent DSLAMs in the trial areas.

The MA5600 model? Any reason why they decided to go with Huawei instead of Alcatel-Lucent? costs maybe?

Solair

morlock_ wrote: »

The MA5600 model? Any reason why they decided to go with Huawei instead of Alcatel-Lucent? costs maybe?

I'd assume it was a case of a competitive tender for the best deal for what they were looking for.

The Alcatel-Lucent cabinets are also a lot larger. The ones used in the trial areas are pretty big anyway.

I'm not sure if there was an alternative smaller one from Alcatel, but it looks like Huawei beat their competitors on this one in both Ireland and Britain.

That'd give you an idea of what the used during the trial : http://www.nextgenerationnetwork.ie/downloads/filg_meeting_3/fttc_update.pdf

Solair

Pretty much all the known info on their product is available here :

http://www.nextgenerationnetwork.ie/ngn-access

Documentation is all linked at the bottom right of that page.