Low Rural Brodband take up rate - possible cause?

jumbobreakfast

This may not be the full cause but something that might be contributing is that the Phone Number checker on the fibre-rollout page does not recognise some numbers.

Case: Our phone number has not been recognised on the fibrerollout page for months but our eircode has always showed up as being part of the 300k FTTH scheme with an estimate of 2nd half 2018 (our house is on the map too).

it may just be coincidence but my brother contacted Eir recently and was able to order FTTH even though the fibrerollout.ie website said there was an ETA of H2 2018. Now having ordered it, our number shows on the system but our neighbour still gets the H2 2018 result from the checker and their number is still not recognised even though they are on the same line and closer to the exchange.

Just posting this in case anyone else is seeing the same behaviour, I'm really keen to see rural broadband succeed and am concerned that some mix-up has occurred? It may be related to numbers that are on a sub-exchange.

This is the link to the checker:
https://fibrerollout.ie/rollout-map/can-i-get-eir-fibre-broadband/
Our number is now recognised and gets a positive result for 300k
Neighbours number is still not recognised and he still gets the eta of H2 2018 for 300k rollout when checking by eircode.

tsue921i8wljb3

jumbobreakfast wrote: »

This may not be the full cause but something that might be contributing is that the Phone Number checker on the fibre-rollout page does not recognise some numbers.

Case: Our phone number has not been recognised on the fibrerollout page for months but our eircode has always showed up as being part of the 300k FTTH scheme with an estimate of 2nd half 2018 (our house is on the map too).

it may just be coincidence but my brother contacted Eir recently and was able to order FTTH even though the fibrerollout.ie website said there was an ETA of H2 2018. Now having ordered it, our number shows on the system but our neighbour still gets the H2 2018 result from the checker and their number is still not recognised even though they are on the same line and closer to the exchange.

Just posting this in case anyone else is seeing the same behaviour, I'm really keen to see rural broadband succeed and am concerned that some mix-up has occurred? It may be related to numbers that are on a sub-exchange.

This is the link to the checker:
https://fibrerollout.ie/rollout-map/can-i-get-eir-fibre-broadband/
Our number is now recognised and gets a positive result for 300k
Neighbours number is still not recognised and he still gets the eta of H2 2018 for 300k rollout when checking by eircode.

fibrerollout has as good as been abandoned by open eir and should be ignored.

Also phone numbers are not the correct way to check. All FTTH is indexed by Eircode but because of eir's internal databases phone numbers and Eircodes often don't match.

Use the Eircode checker on

http://www.airwire.ie/avail

or

https://www.eir.ie/broadband/1000mb-fibre/

to check for availability.

jumbobreakfast

Thanks, the Eir checker that you linked says that FTTH is available for our neighbour's eircode but when we click on one of the bundles to order it it redirects to a phone number checker which gives the negative result again.

We had actually been using this before but when contacting Eir we were told that FTTH was not available for our phone number. I guess my brother was a bit more insistent this time.

Thanks for the Airwire link though, that only relies on the eircode so it gives a positive result. The worry for everyone else is that if Eir sales reps are depending on phone numbers for checking availability then they are missing out on customers. It would be great if a mod could post a sticky to the links you provided and explain that Eircodes trump phone numbers for those on the 300k rollout.

tsue921i8wljb3

jumbobreakfast wrote: »

Thanks, the Eir checker that you linked says that FTTH is available for our neighbour's eircode but when we click on one of the bundles to order it it redirects to a phone number checker which gives the negative result again.

We had actually been using this before but when contacting Eir we were told that FTTH was not available for our phone number. I guess my brother was a bit more insistent this time.

Thanks for the Airwire link though, that only relies on the eircode so it gives a positive result. The worry for everyone else is that if Eir sales reps are depending on phone numbers for checking availability then they are missing out on customers. It would be great if a mod could post a sticky to the links you provided and explain that Eircodes trump phone numbers for those on the 300k rollout.

It is a well known problem at this stage. The issue is that the ARD key (eir's internal address identification) that is associated with the phone number is not matched with the Eircode. They need to be merged but it seems to depend on who you get talking to in customer support as to whether it will be done in a timely fashion.

There is a sticky where this was explained.

https://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2057927096

MBSnr

^^^
I found the same when checking for elderly neighbours who want to go with Vodafone. Their main page to check for broadband asks for your address and not Eircode, which then fails to find FTTH. Their Eircode checker for Gigabit FTTH is another url entirely which is hard to find and I only got it from a poster on boards. https://www.vodafone.ie/home/gigabit-address-checker?icmp=gigaplancta

I can't quite get my head around how poor the communication seems to be... Seems a load of people haven't even noticed there's additional boxes on the poles outside their houses. It's probably less than 1 in 4 take up around me judging by the number of connections to the DPs I've seen. My neighbour is complaining to a number of people that his 150Mbps is only 30Mbps. Haven't spoken to him but I bet he's using his phone over wifi to take a speedtest... (My phone on 2.4GHz does 50Mbps max).

jumbobreakfast

Thanks navi, that's great info but I think that there should be a big note at the top of the sticky that links to your post lower down. This is a serious problem that is holding back the adoption of rural broadband...only those that are lucky enough to talk to the right sales rep will get the correct info.

Marlow

Well ... there's lots of other providers offering the fibre. If Eir can't do it, take your business elsewhere

The thread lists the providers, that do.

It's when people lock themselves into one provider option and stick with that, that their options get limited.

As a current Eir customer you won't get the advertised bundle pricing anyhow. Tends to be 10 EUR/month more. The pricing on the website is for new customers coming from other providers only.

/M

jumbobreakfast

Eir are providing the infrastructure for the 300k FTTH project so they are the obvious first choice for people to check if their connection is possible....regardless of who they finally decide to subscribe to.



I find it really concerning that Eir's own system has misleading information which means that a lot of people will fail at the first hurdle and continue to wait instead signing up. If the broadband uptake numbers are low on the 300k project then that could affect how politicians prioritise the national broadband scheme too.

Marlow

jumbobreakfast wrote: »

Eir are providing the infrastructure for the 300k FTTH project so they are the obvious first choice for people to check if their connection is possible....regardless of who they finally decide to subscribe to..

OpenEIR is. That's their sister company. Not the same thing.

Eir retail has the same access as any other operator on OpenEIRs network. And that's only the last mile. But they're only one operator like any other on OpenEIRs network.

The network across the country, internet connectivity, support etc. then differs from one provider to another.

/M

jumbobreakfast

Fair enough but that hardly makes my point any less valid for the majority of people who don't know about the details of the arrangement.

tsue921i8wljb3

jumbobreakfast wrote: »

Fair enough but that hardly makes my point any less valid for the majority of people who don't know about the details of the arrangement.

There was a number posted in the other thread where the poster got through to someone who knew what they were talking about. The ARD key and Eircode need to be merged.

https://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showpost.php?p=108734664&postcount=5766

Marlow

jumbobreakfast wrote: »

Fair enough but that hardly makes my point any less valid for the majority of people who don't know about the details of the arrangement.

Have a read at this: https://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showpost.php?p=108734975&postcount=5768

Then this: https://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showpost.php?p=108736050&postcount=5777

When Eircom and Eircom Wholesale were split, staff in Dublin were moved to different floors and told, they were not supposed to talk to each other directly. I know this, as I know a few people that work or worked there. Obviously, that would still happen on occasion. And obviously they also share the lunch room.

With the rebranding to Eir and OpenEIR, they distanced the two sister companies even more.

If Eircom (the umbrella company for the two) / OpenEIR / Eir had continued to be part of the NBP and had won the tender, they would have had to create another wholesale company for the NBP alone .. and OpenEIR would have not been allowed to sell broadband infrastructure in the NBP zone.

Eir retail however being a provider like any other on this list: https://fibrerollout.ie/rollout-map/where-to-buy/ can do so. They could in theory even make contracts with SIRO and sell on their network, if they wanted.

See the OpenEIR logo at top of that provider list ? Green in color ? Different company from this: https://www.eir.ie/

I know a lot of people still see "Eircom" as the old P&T etc. .. but that's gone over 20 years ago.

/M

jumbobreakfast

Journee Numerous Teaspoon wrote: »

There was a number posted in the other thread where the poster got through to someone who knew what they were talking about. The ARD key and Eircode need to be merged.

https://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showpost.php?p=108734664&postcount=5766

Thanks again for the useful info man, I'll pass it on to my neighbour. It's ridiculous that Eir don't have this in their system or at least know to check for it when someone calls them up.

TheRiverman

Marlow wrote: »

Have a read at this: https://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showpost.php?p=108734975&postcount=5768

Then this: https://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showpost.php?p=108736050&postcount=5777

When Eircom and Eircom Wholesale were split, staff in Dublin were moved to different floors and told, they were not supposed to talk to each other directly. I know this, as I know a few people that work or worked there. Obviously, that would still happen on occasion. And obviously they also share the lunch room.

With the rebranding to Eir and OpenEIR, they distanced the two sister companies even more.

If Eircom (the umbrella company for the two) / OpenEIR / Eir had continued to be part of the NBP and had won the tender, they would have had to create another wholesale company for the NBP alone .. and OpenEIR would have not been allowed to sell broadband infrastructure in the NBP zone.

Eir retail however being a provider like any other on this list: https://fibrerollout.ie/rollout-map/where-to-buy/ can do so. They could in theory even make contracts with SIRO and sell on their network, if they wanted.

See the OpenEIR logo at top of that provider list ? Green in color ? Different company from this: https://www.eir.ie/

I know a lot of people still see "Eircom" as the old P&T etc. .. but that's gone over 20 years ago.

/M

Believe it or not,"the old P&T" will be gone 35 years in January 2019.It's pretty ironic that staff in a communications company are not allowed to communicate.

Marlow

TheRiverman wrote: »

Believe it or not,"the old P&T" will be gone 35 years in January 2019.It's pretty ironic that staff in a communications company are not allowed to communicate.

They are 2 different companies, which is my entire point.

Regulation required the split. Something that should have been done, when P&T was privatised. So it's been patch work ever since.

Of course they're allowed to communicate. But only via official channels. No favours that would put another operator at a disadvantage.

Regulation also required another split (NBP Co.), if they won the NBP tender. Simply because they would have a conflict of interest covering the same areas already.

This would have been much easier for SIRO as a) they don't have a retail arm (Vodafone is only an investor, but has no control over SIRO and there's a clear cut split) and b) they don't provide services in the area covered by the NBP yet.

/M