SIRO - ESB/Vodafone Fibre To The Home

Vico1612

Stopped by the VF shop in Swords yesterday to explore options and they had an available engineer slot for this morning.
The guys turned up before lunch and job was done in 1hr or so. ( They told me they had over 10 jobs booked today )
Looks like they have now changed the NTU/ONT which are both attached to a support bracket.
Install is neat and tidy and speeds are fantastic.
Just a shame they still ship that POS ... HG659 ... I'd love to get my Archer C9 DD-WRT connected but I went for the 'keep the landline number' option and the C9 doesn't have a RJ11 connector to connect the phone.

Marlow

Vico1612 wrote: »

Stopped by the VF shop in Swords yesterday to explore options and they had an available engineer slot for this morning.

Before the Gigabit promotion was introduced, it was no problem to get an installation the next day or at least within 3 days.

At the moment most areas are booked out 2 weeks in advance, so you've been very very lucky on that one.

/M

ED E

Vico1612 wrote: »

Just a shame they still ship that POS ... HG659 ... I'd love to get my Archer C9 DD-WRT connected but I went for the 'keep the landline number' option and the C9 doesn't have a RJ11 connector to connect the phone.

Buy an ATA to handle the phone line, if you're getting a premium service why choke it?

tsue921i8wljb3

ED E wrote: »

Buy an ATA to handle the phone line, if you're getting a premium service why choke it?

They won't give out the SIP password so he'll have to port away from Vodafone if he does that.

ED E

Averi Cool Midget wrote: »

They won't give out the SIP password so he'll have to port away from Vodafone if he does that.

Oh yeah, forgot that. We need an enterprising busybox expert to write an extractor.

peking97

Vico1612 wrote: »

Looks like they have now changed the NTU/ONT which are both attached to a support bracket.

Any chance of a pic?

Vico1612

peking97 wrote: »

Any chance of a pic?

Marlow

They've been using those a while now .... about 2-3 months.

There's both good and bad things about them.

The power button is inside the cradle ... at the bottom. So if somebody turns the ONT off, people don't realise, that it has a power button and think it's broke.

/M

SK1979

Hi all

Just ordered Vodafone SIRO yesterday from a rep that called around. Amazingly coincidentally, I had just cancelled my current Sky package yesterday too. I forgot to ask him while he was there whether the installation guys will ensure that the WiFi signal is strong throughout the house? Does anyone have any experience of knowing whether they do? 

If its not, will they install additional boosters etc? I've actually order TV with them also and will be getting multi-room so do their boxes work like signal extenders maybe (like Skys?). 

This was in Swords by the way, the guy said it was live in my estate since last Monday.

ED E

Wifi is your problem, they'll link the TVs.

SK1979

Cheers Ed, thought as much. 

Presumably there have been plenty others in the same boat, is something like Homeplugs still the best option? Although (and its been a while since I've looked at them), are they still limited to "only" 300mbs?

Marlow

SK1979 wrote: »

Presumably there have been plenty others in the same boat, is something like Homeplugs still the best option? Although (and its been a while since I've looked at them), are they still limited to "only" 300mbs?

The "best" option is always to have Cat5E, Cat6 or fiber cabling in place around the house.

Failing that, it really depends on your house and what throughput you expect.

Homeplugs, that follow the AV2 standard have a PHY rate of 1300 Mbit/s. That means, that you can expect to see a maximum of 550 Mbit/s UDP or 500 Mbit/s TCP across using them .. at an optimum. If there is anything noisy on your power cabling or your power cabling is sub-standard, then you'll see less.

/M

Gonzo

Siro have started work in the Dunshaughlin area, just a mile away from me. They are currently cabling the urban end of Lagore road and the Maelduin estate. Manholes open in several places with KN equipment fencing off certain areas. All the cabling have Siro written on them.

Very surprised to see Dunshaughlin started this quickly since it was only announced a few months ago.

Owryan

I've found that the range and strength of my wifi has actually gotten worse since i switched to SIRO, it's the same modem as before. My neighbours are the same.

Massive variances in the speeds too, both wired and wifi.

Marlow

Owryan wrote: »

I've found that the range and strength of my wifi has actually gotten worse since i switched to SIRO, it's the same modem as before. My neighbours are the same.

Massive variances in the speeds too, both wired and wifi.

That would have nothing to do with SIRO. If it's the same router as before, it may be interference. Worth trying to change the channel.

It has nothing to do with your broadband or your provider.

Problems with speed, always test wired with Wi-Fi on router switched off. That way you can see if it's a problem with your provider or your own Wi-Fi problem.

/M

Yggr of Asgard

SK1979 wrote: »

This was in Swords by the way, the guy said it was live in my estate since last Monday.

If you are comfortable with posting that info, which estate in Swords is this in?

Owryan

Marlow wrote: »

That would have nothing to do with SIRO. If it's the same router as before, it may be interference. Worth trying to change the channel.

It has nothing to do with your broadband or your provider.

Problems with speed, always test wired with Wi-Fi on router switched off. That way you can see if it's a problem with your provider or your own Wi-Fi problem.

/M

Thanks, went through the steps of changing channels, switching between the two frequencies. With the old connection I had a consistent WiFi range of about 15m, which is to the end of my garden, the router is in a window looking into the garden.

Since I got SIRO it has dropped to barely 2m, nothing has changed except the connection.

As for the speeds, I've had 2 engineers out and it has them thrown. They get the massive variances as I do. They don't think it's the router tho. My neighbour has the exact same problems and he too has had engineers out with no resolution.


Edit: actually there are three houses on the street reporting the same issues re speed.

g0g

Signed my life away to the installers of the boxes in Bray during the week. Box will be on front of my house, but my hub for all technology is a utility room towards rear of house.
1) Am I correct in my understanding that it's the "local" installer who I should negotiate with to run the next stage of cabling around my house to have the box at the back of the house? Or should I have pushed the infrastructure guys to put the external box around the back? They said they wanted it front of house as they'll be connecting me to other houses and it makes it easier with access for testing etc?
2) The only option I was offered was an overhead cable from the pole outside my house to the eaves of my roof out front. Assume this is always the norm? Are there cases where it's run along wall/ground?

Either way looking forward to it. The guy said north of Dargle in Bray is done. My area should be live by ed of year or early 2019 I gather.

Praetorian

I have been finding my downstream bandwidth has been slowly reducing since I got Siro in. It's now no where near 1000m/bit. Testing around 850m/bit down on average. The upstream is always +200m/bit. Seems like there is some sort of contention somewhere on the network. I reset my router weekly and I would test in multiple ways and on multiple servers. It's still a great product, amazing ping and great reliability, just slightly surprising the downstream bandwidth seems to be reducing as more people get the service in. From what I've seen in my own estate, Eir are undoubtedly losing customers. Finally there is a choice for people.

TheDriver

Praetorian wrote: »

I have been finding my downstream bandwidth has been slowly reducing since I got Siro in. It's now no where near 1000m/bit. Testing around 850m/bit down on average. The upstream is always +200m/bit. Seems like there is some sort of contention somewhere on the network. I reset my router weekly and I would test in multiple ways and on multiple servers. It's still a great product, amazing ping and great reliability, just slightly surprising the downstream bandwidth seems to be reducing as more people get the service in. From what I've seen in my own estate, Eir are undoubtedly losing customers. Finally there is a choice for people.

At last. Maybe Eir will stop hiking up the price constantly with no option for us to go anywhere else (Non VM Areas). The 1Gb promotion shows the ability to drop the price dramatically.

Marlow

Praetorian wrote: »

I have been finding my downstream bandwidth has been slowly reducing since I got Siro in. It's now no where near 1000m/bit. Testing around 850m/bit down on average. The upstream is always +200m/bit. Seems like there is some sort of contention somewhere on the network.

Vodafone is quite contended as it is. Especially for international traffic. It might be different with other SIRO providers.

Having said that, the Gigabit promotion has pushed installations from 2 days to 2 weeks. That's how busy they are, so yes ... massive uptake on SIRO and some proper competition towards Eir and VM.

I don't think either of them is happy about it.

/M

dionsiseire

Had a Voda rep knock to me suggesting SIRO was in my estate and trying to sign me up

I told him I had been onto SIRO and it wasn't yet connected, he said he wouldn't be there unless it was. But even if it wasn't Vodafone have a group that can come connect an estate on behalf of Vodafone.

Contract has the usual 14 day cooling off period from installation, so I signed up.

2 weeks on, past the supposed installation date
SIRO still isn't connected in the estate. I got no email confirmations of my contract sign up. I tried following up to the rep and after saying he would escalate to his manager, then started ducking my calls.

I made a complaint over Twitter, the social rep manager to find my order, the sales guy and his manager. His manager has confirmed the rep never asked him to ring me at all, that there's no company for doing estate connections, SIRO have to do that. and that it could be a good while before I have any kind of functional internet.

KOR101

I have an install Monday. @Marlow says installers like to go to the nearest double socket. That's my kitchen. I'm wondering whether they will run a cable up the front of the house to a first floor room? For me it's the difference between relying on wifi or ethernet.

Marlow

KOR101 wrote: »

I have an install Monday. @Marlow says installers like to go to the nearest double socket. That's my kitchen. I'm wondering whether they will run a cable up the front of the house to a first floor room? For me it's the difference between relying on wifi or ethernet.

It really depends on the installers, but generally the Actavo installers working for SIRO are fairly accommodating.

/M

Doodie123

An infrastructure question...

I'm in the NW, and SIRO is rolling out in my town.
Crews are installing the ducting along the road where my house is.
However, my house is up a long lane, about 2 pole lengths away (130 meters) from the main road.
Currently on Vodafone "Fiber" (the cabinet is 430 meters away )so only getting 12MB "broadband"
Coincidentally, the ESB will be digging up my lawn on Tuesday, replacing the 'stay' on the last pole. ( that braided cable that attached about 8 ft up to keep it tensioned) When the ESB engineer was out surveying, he was explaining all about SIRO

Question 1: Obviously since I'm about 130 meters from the main pole at the road, the ESB/Vodafone aren't going to dig thru 2 fields and over a small stream to lay fiber directly to the premises. Does the broadband signal travel over the ESB wires or would they string a fragile fiber line alongside the power line up in the air?

Question 2: - the duct at the terminating pole is about 25 meters from the house, travels under 2 lawns, 2 driveways before entering the house via an inaccessible underground junction, emerging at the fusebox (1800's house refurbished in the 1970's, no external ESB access panel)
The fusebox inside has a pair of double plugs and would be perfect for placement.
The video i watched for Eir fiber suggested that they would recommend stringing a cable from the final pole to the gable of the house. Would SIRO do the same as there's no accessible ducting?

In a nutshell, is SIRO feasible for me?

Marlow

Doodie123 wrote: »

Obviously since I'm about 130 meters from the main pole at the road, the ESB/Vodafone aren't going to dig thru 2 fields and over a small stream to lay fiber directly to the premises. Does the broadband signal travel over the ESB wires or would they string a fragile fiber line alongside the power line up in the air?

No, it does not. However, things don't look as dim as you think they may.

This has in essence nothing to do with Vodafone. They are just one of the two investors in SIRO, but have no control here.

It has to do with the ESB though, as they provide the infrastructure for SIRO.

Now, if your house was connected with a directly buried cable, you'd be screwed. Literally. But what you describe has good chances of getting connected.

SIRO runs fiber along overhead lines. Well, ESB will do that job for SIRO. And they will then bring the fiber as near as possible to the premise and out of the vicinity of the power lines for the Actavo engineers then to complete the actual installation.

With underground cabling, the fiber will be brought directly into the meter box.
With overhead cabling, the fiber may be brought in on an alternative route bringing it directly from the pole to your premise. The wholesale partners will only know this, when SIRO releases your Eircode to them. An overhead installation can take up to 30 days to complete, as ESB networks has to be involved for the build.

Once your Eircode goes life on SIROs website (or the partner sites broadband check), you can then order from one of the 8 providers, that offer broadband on SIRO, which are listed here: https://siro.ie/siro-broadband-partners/

Be aware though, that not every partner is available at every location. So your best bet is to click on https://siro.ie/roll-out/ and then select the county and town/city that your roll-out is part of. It will tell you what providers offer service in that area at any given time. This changes all the time, so it's always worth going back and checking again.

/M

Doodie123

Cheers - i was under the misapprehension that fiber was too fragile to be suspended on poles in open air. Thus, all the vids i was watching were a bit confusing.


Thanks for clearing that up. My town is in the "Planned" stage so it could be a year or two away yet.

Marlow

Doodie123 wrote: »

Cheers - i was under the misapprehension that fiber was too fragile to be suspended on poles in open air. Thus, all the vids i was watching were a bit confusing.


Thanks for clearing that up. My town is in the "Planned" stage so it could be a year or two away yet.

The overhead fiber, that is typically used, is either twisted around the existing power cables or if it's run indepentently from copper cabling, the fiber mantle has a steel wire it on top of the fibers. ESB telecoms entire infrastructure is build by twisting fibre around high voltage lines. All overhead. And has been in use for over 15 years.

OpenEIR uses a very flimsy fiber cable for overhead installation into premises, that has a little steel cable and 2 fibers in it. SIRO fortunately uses something that is a lot more sturdy.

/M

greenhorn22

Power was cut for the day last week in my area for fiber. (Killarney)
The Tli guys arrived but im not sure what they did. They did mark the poles but obviously did more that I couldn't see. This is their 2nd visit. The first time they checked all the local ducts. I asked one of them and they said probably 6 months to going live.

On i side note. I have been looking at the ubiquiti security gateway as a replacement router to whatever provider i end up going with as i am getting a ubiquiti switch and G3 access points also. Is this possible with Eir, vodafone or possibly sky if the ever go live?

Marlow

greenhorn22 wrote: »

Power was cut for the day last week in my area for fiber. (Killarney)
The Tli guys arrived but im not sure what they did. They did mark the poles but obviously did more that I couldn't see.

TLI is one of the contractors that do work for SIRO. They mainly do ducting work etc.

/M