UPC Broadband

Gummybear2013

Hi ,

I have already posted this on the UPC area but they cant contact me until monday so thought post here to.

I live in cork city centre and want upgrade to get the broadband i been told cant get broadband cause not in my area yet which i am pretty upset with since live in city centre i thought it be there by now. [mod edit: address removed ]

If anyone has same problem as me or knows when exact date i can get broadband i appreciate if let me know here or private mail me .

Thanks

MrFrisp

I live on the outskirts of the City, and there is an estate at the end of the hill in front of us, and one at the top of the hill behind us.

Those both estates have UPC but the one where we are does not.

So the cable is actually running just outside the estate, but not into our estate. I did contact UPC about it, but they don't really have any plans to run it into the estate, which is a huge disappointment.

In your case though, at least it will be done sometime...In our case, it won't.

Pity.
.

Gummybear2013

MrFrisp wrote: »

I live on the outskirts of the City, and there is an estate at the end of the hill in front of us, and one at the top of the hill behind us.

Those both estates have UPC but the one where we are does not.

So the cable is actually running just outside the estate, but not into our estate. I did contact UPC about it, but they don't really have any plans to run it into the estate, which is a huge disappointment.

In your case though, at least it will be done sometime...In our case, it won't.

Pity.
.

Oh really that is such a pity alright and did they say why wont be doing this? Are you with sky tv now i know there unlimited broadband with that as well
Fingers crossed not long wait since my contract nearly up with network 3 and dont really and renew it another 12 months

MrFrisp

Gummybear2013 wrote: »

Oh really that is such a pity alright and did they say why wont be doing this? Are you with sky tv now i know there unlimited broadband with that as well
Fingers crossed not long wait since my contract nearly up with network 3 and dont really and renew it another 12 months

I think they won't do it because there are "only" 60 houses in the estate, so work out how many would take up the offer of UPC Broadband, and they probably think it would not be cost effective.

I'm not with Sky now..I'm with Imagine/IrishBroadband which uses a fixed wireless antenna on the roof. Only getting 3MB here, but have to make do with it.

Tried to get it with Vodafone a few months back, but had such a terrible experience with them, and after weeks and weeks we never even got the Router delivered that I just gave up and signed with Imagine again for another 12 months.

Sadly not much choice where we are here.
.

Gummybear2013

MrFrisp wrote: »

I think they won't do it because there are "only" 60 houses in the estate, so work out how many would take up the offer of UPC Broadband, and they probably think it would not be cost effective.

I'm not with Sky now..I'm with Imagine/IrishBroadband which uses a fixed wireless antenna on the roof. Only getting 3MB here, but have to make do with it.

Tried to get it with Vodafone a few months back, but had such a terrible experience with them, and after weeks and weeks we never even got the Router delivered that I just gave up and signed with Imagine again for another 12 months.

Sadly not much choice where we are here.
.

Sorry hear that pity alright i dont know what i do without internet and slow ones drives me insane as well i hate it. I have the modem network 3 pay 21.99 a month for 15gb its good enough speed here not real slow but not real fast. Might consider wifi modem next time never had one them . Have you ever considered going with 3 pretty good. I know they have a hotspot one 60gb a month only 35 euro a month that what thinking getting if no idea when broadband come out

MrFrisp

Gummybear2013 wrote: »

Sorry hear that pity alright i dont know what i do without internet and slow ones drives me insane as well i hate it. I have the modem network 3 pay 21.99 a month for 15gb its good enough speed here not real slow but not real fast. Might consider wifi modem next time never had one them . Have you ever considered going with 3 pretty good. I know they have a hotspot one 60gb a month only 35 euro a month that what thinking getting if no idea when broadband come out

I don't like these hotspot things..I would much prefer something a bit more stable.

Besides, there are about 10 different items in the house that use wi-fi.

The Broadband that I have is "unlimited" so it's not too bad a deal.

I have until September to find something decent anyway as the contract with Imagine will be up then.
.

Gummybear2013

MrFrisp wrote: »

I don't like these hotspot things..I would much prefer something a bit more stable.

Besides, there are about 10 different items in the house that use wi-fi.

The Broadband that I have is "unlimited" so it's not too bad a deal.

I have until September to find something decent anyway as the contract with Imagine will be up then.
.

Ye know what you mean i dont really want to get one them hotspot things either afraid 60gb wont be enough since the boyfriend will want to download stuff for playstation i mostly just go on facebook but worried might not be enough rather something unlimited. Will just have wait and see what happens hopefully some good news come about upc would love it

Knasher

Yeah I'm in a, (hopefully not too) similar situation. I live in an apartment building on the quays and the street below me can get UPC broadband, and all the apartments are wired for UPC and can get TV. However when they built the apartments they put the taps in the walls (the taps being what split the apartment lines from the bigger UPC line), so they can no longer get to them in order to upgrade them. Bad planning so there isn't a whole lot they can do short of running all new lines.

Annoyingly, similar bad planning went into installing the phone lines, so I couldn't my line connected at the time so DSL was also out of the question.

When I first moved in I actually had a UPC modem from my previous apartment whose account wasn't cut off yet, and it worked for that first month. Anyway after a lot of back and forth and a pretty fortuitous clerical error on UPCs part I managed to get broadband off UPC even though they still don't sell it in my apartment block. I've had it for 3 years now and they still have never upgraded my lines so they can sell it in my block or anything like that. So unless they can give you a reasonably soon and concrete date, I'd be very sceptical.

Gummybear2013

Knasher wrote: »

Yeah I'm in a, (hopefully not too) similar situation. I live in an apartment building on the quays and the street below me can get UPC broadband, and all the apartments are wired for UPC and can get TV. However when they built the apartments they put the taps in the walls (the taps being what split the apartment lines from the bigger UPC line), so they can no longer get to them in order to upgrade them. Bad planning so there isn't a whole lot they can do short of running all new lines.

Annoyingly, similar bad planning went into installing the phone lines, so I couldn't my line connected at the time so DSL was also out of the question.

When I first moved in I actually had a UPC modem from my previous apartment whose account wasn't cut off yet, and it worked for that first month. Anyway after a lot of back and forth and a pretty fortuitous clerical error on UPCs part I managed to get broadband off UPC even though they still don't sell it in my apartment block. I've had it for 3 years now and they still have never upgraded my lines so they can sell it in my block or anything like that. So unless they can give you a reasonably soon and concrete date, I'd be very sceptical.

Ugh that sounds annoying alright especially when want something bad enough they got back to me saying they dont have a estimate date when coming but if is i get notified in post it think so hope all not bad

aujopimur

Any deals on BB, I've had 3, poor signal so I cancelled, I had a loan of Meteor 3g hotspot, it was ok, so I signed up with Meteor 4g last Saturday, poor signal so had to cancel today.
Id prefer mobile BB, I do have an unused land line which gives an option.
I'm living in Ballphehane, Cork, 20g would suit me.

MrFrisp

In Ballyphehane would UPC not be an option?

You won't get much better Broadband than that.
.

Gummybear2013

aujopimur wrote: »

Any deals on BB, I've had 3, poor signal so I cancelled, I had a loan of Meteor 3g hotspot, it was ok, so I signed up with Meteor 4g last Saturday, poor signal so had to cancel today.
Id prefer mobile BB, I do have an unused land line which gives an option.
I'm living in Ballphehane, Cork, 20g would suit me.

I never tried any other network but i with network 3 modem i paying 21.99 a month for 15gb and i barely use any it not real slow here but not real fast but its a good modem i living on douglas street. I know network 3 have a hotspot 60gb and only 34.99 a month i am thinking getting this soon since contract nearly up and no sign horizon coming out my area pity. three worth shot i never had problems with it

aujopimur

I had the 15gb/€21.99, it was slow kept dropping out.

Gummybear2013

aujopimur wrote: »

I had the 15gb/€21.99, it was slow kept dropping out.

Oh sorry hear that pity i not sure what other good ones out there i only ever had network 3 modem but would not mind change myself. Hope you find a good one

SpaceTime

If you can't get UPC, you'll quite likely be able to get FTTC (Fibre to Cabinet) from eircom's network either via eircom, Vodafone, Magnet, UTV or Digiweb.

Worth shopping around.

Typical speeds are about 40 to 70Mbit/s down and 10-20Mbit/s up.
Most do uncapped plans and you don't have to take phone if you don't want it.

It's rolled out to most areas in the city and many parts of the county.

What matters is your distance to the nearest eircom street cabinet, not the exchange. A lot of areas that previously were on the edge of the exchange's coverage now have great speeds.

Ludo

Or you could be like me and be surrounded by estates which can get fibre but not be able to get it in your estate. Very Feckin annoying. Eircom can't tell me why either. They just say it is fully available on my exchange (Douglas) but when I tell them the address they just sat oh no it doesn't seem to be available to me or the other hundred houses in the estate.

SpaceTime

Ludo wrote: »

Or you could be like me and be surrounded by estates which can get fibre but not be able to get it in your estate. Very Feckin annoying. Eircom can't tell me why either. They just say it is fully available on my exchange (Douglas) but when I tell them the address they just sat oh no it doesn't seem to be available to me or the other hundred houses in the estate.

Basically they add the broadband service at a "PCP cabinet" which is just a big junction box. A bundle of lines comes in from the exchange and they're connected to the end users at the "PCP cabinet".

For "fibre", they add a second cabinet which contains the DSLAM (broadband gear) and that connects into the existing PCP cabinet where it's spliced onto your line.

...

In some areas, there were no PCP cabinets to start with and the wiring is connected directly to the exchange or joined up in underground vaults.

So, basically they've done the 'easy areas' first i.e. where there were already cabinets.
In areas that don't have cabinets, they've got to do quite a lot more work to retrofit cabinets and that means they'd need to re-jig a lot of the telephone wiring. It probably means briefly interrupting phone services and all sorts of stuff to facilitate a major rewire.

They seem to be doing that though in a 2nd phase of activity to fill-in the gaps in areas that are already live.

In some cases it's estates that were built in the 1950s-60s that seem to have been done that way.

Older areas seem to have been upgraded in the 70s/80s and newer areas were done with PCP cabinets from day one.

The entire city centre area (central island) for example has no PCP cabinets. Everything was done underground for neatness sake. So, they're now having to come up with a solution for that. As yet, there's no e-fibre on the central island part of Cork City served by "Cork Central" Exchange (behind the GPO).

Gummybear2013

SpaceTime wrote: »

If you can't get UPC, you'll quite likely be able to get FTTC (Fibre to Cabinet) from eircom's network either via eircom, Vodafone, Magnet, UTV or Digiweb.

Worth shopping around.

Typical speeds are about 40 to 70Mbit/s down and 10-20Mbit/s up.
Most do uncapped plans and you don't have to take phone if you don't want it.

It's rolled out to most areas in the city and many parts of the county.

What matters is your distance to the nearest eircom street cabinet, not the exchange. A lot of areas that previously were on the edge of the exchange's coverage now have great speeds.

Hey thanks for getting back to me, i have upc tv pay 37.50 a month so that why was wondering why cant get broadband or mabey just didnt come to area yet do you think? I was thinking about them also vodafone seems great 35 euro a month unlimited broadband 70mp speed is that good? Says home phone i dont have one but in my apartment there seems be a phone like socket thing to connect so i hoping be ok get this, it also says on vodafone website if dont have landline can still get broadband so they getting back us today as send a call back request. My partner be dealing with it hopefully all works out great.

Gummybear2013

Ludo wrote: »

Or you could be like me and be surrounded by estates which can get fibre but not be able to get it in your estate. Very Feckin annoying. Eircom can't tell me why either. They just say it is fully available on my exchange (Douglas) but when I tell them the address they just sat oh no it doesn't seem to be available to me or the other hundred houses in the estate.

Its very annoying if that is the case but what i dont understand is why i cant get broadband and i already can get upc tv been with them last 2 years and never problem surely if i can get tv cant i get the broadband sometime. Hoping some luck comes out way. I getting the vodafone braodband 12 month contract for time being hoping that works good just sick of plug in modem never had broadband and really want it

Gummybear2013

Here link to vodafone website and the 35 euro we hoping to get soon

http://www.vodafone.ie/home-phone-broadband/

Ludo

SpaceTime wrote: »

Basically they add the broadband service at a "PCP cabinet" which is just a big junction box. A bundle of lines comes in from the exchange and they're connected to the end users at the "PCP cabinet".

For "fibre", they add a second cabinet which contains the DSLAM (broadband gear) and that connects into the existing PCP cabinet where it's spliced onto your line.

...

In some areas, there were no PCP cabinets to start with and the wiring is connected directly to the exchange or joined up in underground vaults.

So, basically they've done the 'easy areas' first i.e. where there were already cabinets.
In areas that don't have cabinets, they've got to do quite a lot more work to retrofit cabinets and that means they'd need to re-jig a lot of the telephone wiring. It probably means briefly interrupting phone services and all sorts of stuff to facilitate a major rewire.

They seem to be doing that though in a 2nd phase of activity to fill-in the gaps in areas that are already live.

In some cases it's estates that were built in the 1950s-60s that seem to have been done that way.

Older areas seem to have been upgraded in the 70s/80s and newer areas were done with PCP cabinets from day one.

The entire city centre area (central island) for example has no PCP cabinets. Everything was done underground for neatness sake. So, they're now having to come up with a solution for that. As yet, there's no e-fibre on the central island part of Cork City served by "Cork Central" Exchange (behind the GPO).

Sorry for going slightly (completely) off-topic with this...but the is a new fibre cab less than 100 metres from the entrance to our estate (built in the nineties)...that is about 300 metres from my house following the road. I know that doesn't necessarily mean anything as the actual connection to the cab could be going anywhere and everywhere but it is just damn annoying seeing it every day as I drive in and out and not being connected to it :mad:

I keep meaning to stop when I see a guy working on it connecting up new people and ask the engineer (who would prob know better than anyone) if he knows why but any time I see someone there I am not in a position to stop.

SpaceTime

Gummybear2013 wrote: »

Hey thanks for getting back to me, i have upc tv pay 37.50 a month so that why was wondering why cant get broadband or mabey just didnt come to area yet do you think? I was thinking about them also vodafone seems great 35 euro a month unlimited broadband 70mp speed is that good? Says home phone i dont have one but in my apartment there seems be a phone like socket thing to connect so i hoping be ok get this, it also says on vodafone website if dont have landline can still get broadband so they getting back us today as send a call back request. My partner be dealing with it hopefully all works out great.

Your area mustn't have been upgraded by UPC to so broadband.

70MBit/s is massively better than regular ADSL broadband.

You'll typically get 40-70Mbits though. It depends on your distance to the cabinet.

Basically you'll be able to stream HD Netflix, sky on demand, etc etc without even thinking about it.

You'll really notice it on the upload speed. Things like cloud services are suddenly usable.

Gummybear2013

SpaceTime wrote: »

Your area mustn't have been upgraded by UPC to so broadband.

70MBit/s is massively better than regular ADSL broadband.

You'll typically get 40-70Mbits though. It depends on your distance to the cabinet.

Do you think its possible i be able to get the upc broadband sometime?
It suppose be best around 200mp fast i wish was getting that now and we really wanted upgrade to the new horizon box. I asked someone upc they said dont have a estimated time for it yet so dont know if that good or bad. I live in cork city centre just 5 min walk to the town ?

SpaceTime

Gummybear2013 wrote: »

Do you think its possible i be able to get the upc broadband sometime?
It suppose be best around 200mp fast i wish was getting that now and we really wanted upgrade to the new horizon box. I asked someone upc they said dont have a estimated time for it yet so dont know if that good or bad. I live in cork city centre just 5 min walk to the town ?

Ask UPC on their forum here on boards Talk to.. Section.

The eircom FTTC setup (being used by eircom, Vodafone, magnet, digiweb and utv internet) is a very decent service though. We've had it since October and I have no complaints.

We're limited to 40mbit as we are about 700 metres from the cabinet. However, I'm streaming Sky HD on demand, Netflix etc.

We moved our phone line to VoIP entirely and it's working fantastically well.

Ping on eircom version in our area is less than 10ms. So ideal for online gamers too.

If its available, I would say you'll find it pretty solid as a broadband service tbh.

They're also offering a speed boost soon with 'vectoring' technology that cancels line noise and allows higher speeds.

It's not quite as fast as UPC top tier broadband but you'll probably find it pretty decent.

Gummybear2013

SpaceTime wrote: »

Ask UPC on their forum here on boards Talk to.. Section.

I have done that its where they told me think no estimate but if so will get something in post just hoping that wont be until next year ha but fingers crossed vodafone works ok for us i checked coverage and says very good . I with network 3 and its so annoying and slow the modem have would do your head in always having to take it in and out

SpaceTime

We're a stone's throw from the city centre too but, it's an area with a lot of old individual houses and UPC's really hit and miss around here.

Some houses have it, others don't. Ours was never cabled for some reason.

It's the same all over UPC's network though. I lived in Dublin and there was no coverage where I was. In fact, I think UPC almost entirely skips central Dublin (most of Dublin 1 and 2 areas).

If you're actually on the central island part of Cork City you might not be able to get FTTC (e-fibre) just yet. But, I think all other parts of the city have it at this stage. It can miss the odd spot too where lines are served direct from the exchange or via underground junctions instead of a junction cabinet.

But, it would seem the majority of houses in Cork can get it at this stage.

Basically the way it works is that instead of your broadband being provided by the eircom exchange, it's provided by a near-by fibre-connected cabinet. So, the speeds are *much* higher.

UPC's setup's called "Hybrid Fibre-Coax" (HFC) and it has 'deep fibre penetration' meaning they've nodes very close to houses. They have little fibre nodes scattered around the place and then the cable that runs to your house is only really shared by maybe 50-100 homes max. Coaxial cable allows higher speeds than phone lines though - hence the 200Mbit/s service speeds.

Gummybear2013

SpaceTime wrote: »

We're a stone's throw from the city centre too but, it's an area with a lot of old individual houses and UPC's really hit and miss around here.

Some houses have it, others don't. Ours was never cabled for some reason.

It's the same all over UPC's network though. I lived in Dublin and there was no coverage where I was. In fact, I think UPC almost entirely skips central Dublin (most of Dublin 1 and 2 areas).

If you're actually on the central island part of Cork City you might not be able to get FTTC (e-fibre) just yet. But, I think all other parts of the city have it at this stage. It can miss the odd spot too where lines are served direct from the exchange or via underground junctions instead of a junction cabinet.

But, it would seem the majority of houses in Cork can get it at this stage.

Basically the way it works is that instead of your broadband being provided by the eircom exchange, it's provided by a near-by fibre-connected cabinet. So, the speeds are *much* higher.

UPC's setup's called "Hybrid Fibre-Coax" (HFC) and it has 'deep fibre penetration' meaning they've nodes very close to houses. They have little fibre nodes scattered around the place and then the cable that runs to your house is only really shared by maybe 50-100 homes max. Coaxial cable allows higher speeds than phone lines though - hence the 200Mbit/s service speeds.

Thanks for that makes alot more sense to me now lol i didnt understand why at all could not get it but who knows they might get around to it fingers crossed would love that but the vodafone seems great to and even you think so. I am sure its way better and faster than this crappy modem have have keep taking it in and out the connection just crap or move around the place as well would do your head in ha. I would hate be living in middle no where no internet. I live in reeves hall a block loads apartments on rutland street think near douglas street in town

aujopimur

As an OAP I wish I could understand all this BB jargon and technology.
I do have a live unused telecom line, and an old cable TV connection that I use for the Irish TV channels, there is also one of those telecom cabinets a few hundred mts. from my door.

SpaceTime

aujopimur wrote: »

As an OAP I wish I could understand all this BB jargon and technology.
I do have a live unused telecom line, and an old cable TV connection that I use for the Irish TV channels, there is also one of those telecom cabinets a few hundred mts. from my door.

I'll try and simplify it

There are basically two "super fast broadband" products in place in Ireland at present which are both based on the idea of putting equipment into a weather proof cabinet near to the customers. This is connected back to the core network via fibre.

1) Cable - UPC
Uses your cable television wiring and a technology called DOCSIS. Gives speeds of 200mbit/s. Because it's delivered on coaxial cable (which is shielded) it does not suffer signal loss, so you will actually get the advertised speed.

A single coaxial cable (like what you connect to your TV) runs along all the houses in a particular street and each one is connected to it. At the end of the line, that cable connects to fibre optic equipment that carries the signal off at very high speed.

2) "Fibre to the Cabinet" (using your phone line)
This is what eircom call "e-fibre" and many other operators are also re-selling.

Eircom install a green cabinet with the broadband gear inside. This is connected back to the core network over fibre. Your phone line is connected to this local equipment on your street and it can provide you with speeds of up to 70Mbit/s (and possibly up to 100Mbit/s very soon).

It uses your existing phone line wiring. They basically come out to your house and install a filter socket and make sure it's all running OK.

The downside of this technology is that it's running over your existing phone line for the last bit. Phone lines are just like speaker cable - they're not shielded. So, the signal degrades over distance. If you're very close to the cabinet, you get full speed, and if you're say 700m away you get about 40-50mbit/s
Beyond 1km it's not much use at all.
...

For telephone services can also be provided using this technology. Instead of connecting you to the exchange, the router they provide has an analogue adaptor that you can plug your phone into. So, it'll provide a dial tone and services similar to what you'd get on a normal phone line.

For the "e-fibre" product you've also got the option of just retaining your traditional phone service too.

Hope that might explain it a bit better?

Gummybear2013

So in the end we decided go with Vodafone broadband and signed up 18th month contract cause if do the modem is free and installation as well. 35 euro a month for it and its unlimited broadband at 70mp speed so hoping as good they saying. A man suppose install it wednesday morning so hope all goes to plan and no trouble just cant wait have wednesday over and done so can use it

aujopimur

Gummybear2013 wrote: »

So in the end we decided go with Vodafone broadband and signed up 18th month contract cause if do the modem is free and installation as well. 35 euro a month for it and its unlimited broadband at 70mp speed so hoping as good they saying. A man suppose install it wednesday morning so hope all goes to plan and no trouble just cant wait have wednesday over and done so can use it

My daughter has this, it's very good, I signed up with O2, by moving the modum around to get a good signal, all is well so far.