Eir urban FTTH

Wheety

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120544030#Comment_120544030

They have flagged an annual increase in April every year of the consumer price index + 3%. This is on their website and probably in the contract too. All the suppliers seem to be at this. It's great because my salary is not going up by that much every year.

The Consumer Price Index (CPI) rose by 7.7% between March 2022 and March 2023. I think they actually reduced their increase a bit this year because it was so high.

oscarBravo

If you sign up for a multi-year contract that has a price hike included in it, you can't really complain when the price goes up.

Rew

OpenEir came out blew the fiber, mounted the DP's and spliced the fibre outside my place. Its three years after they dug the paths, laid the conduite and replaced all the poles.

jd

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120096933#Comment_120096933

This was changed recently, they've upped the profiles slightly to allow for overhead.

clohamon

Openeir's upgrade map has been updated. Looks like all or nearly all outstanding blue areas (including intervention spots) now have a 'planned' FTTP upgrade. Total new upgrade premises looks like about 15,000. Now all that's needed is a firm commitment to a connection regardless of cost, and a credible deployment schedule that beats NBI's.

Bottom line; it is not credible that Eircom will build new infrastructure to premises that are already passed by NBI. Their upgrade map should be ignored until there is deployment schedule and a 100% commitment to connect at an affordable price.

Eg R93 RW80

Left to right, NBI's map, department map, Eircom's upgrade map.

Venara

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118315625#Comment_118315625

These white boxes where installed by a KN crew in my apartment block a few months ago.

Is there any general average as to how long it takes from these getting put up until FTTH becomes available to order?

jd

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120750723#Comment_120750723

It can take a while - the fiber in the little white box probably goes back to your utility riser, that may be the easy bit . Fiber has to get to there from a drop point through sub duct that would have been pulled, then has to be spliced, then tested. Then 28 day waiting period. Have you seen open eir in the development recently?

Venara

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120751435#Comment_120751435

They did indeed cable it through the utility riser.

I haven't seen them again after that crew finished installing all the boxes and connecting them through the risers in all 3 buildings in the apartment block. That said, I may simply have missed them as the only reason I noticed them installing the boxes was that they were pretty loud in the hallway outside my apartment while they were working. Presumably all the other work happens outside the apartments, so it's entirely possible I've simply missed them.

I tried talking to them to get more information but unfortunately none of the crew spoke any useful English. The most adept of them barely managed to communicate just that - that none of them had any good English - and then he wandered back off to their van.

I did speak to eir customer service yesterday as my contract renewal was up. I mentioned the boxes and the guy on the phone seemed optimistic at first that I might be able to pre-order FTTH for whenever it's ready, but after 5 mins on hold he came back to me saying that, while the apartments are indeed slated to be connected, he couldn't find a more definitive date, so he wouldn't be able to place a pre-order. From what I understood, it seems they only do that when they have an approximate connection date scheduled.

In any case, it seems like it's only a matter of time, so it's just a waiting game now. I was just hoping to maybe get a sense for how long it might be.

My current FTTC connection isn't terrible but I'm in the middle of a triangle of cabinets and the fall-off is pretty harsh. I get about ~40 out of a possible maximum of 100 Mbps. Again, not terrible and plenty people have it worse, but I also wouldn't call that "good" in the age of 4K streaming and potentially having multiple people in the house sharing a line to stream, play games, etc.

I'm quite eager to upgrade to FTTH 😅 And not just for the speed, but also because it's cheaper and would bring my monthly bill down considerably. It's €35 for FTTH and I pay €66 for FTTC. You'd think the faster line would be the more expensive option but the eir rep explained on the phone that FTTC is more expensive because of maintenance costs for the copper network that are factored into the pricing.

jd

You could try talking to your management company - the directors would have had to approve the civil works before Openeir went into the development. They may have an idea when the works will be completed.

bk

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118315625#Comment_118315625

I just came across your post because those magic boxes appeared above my apartment too!

I got all excited reading your posts thinking OpenEir FTTH was finally coming to my building, at the moment we can only get Virgin Media Coax, no Eir or Siro of any type, not even DSL.

Well to my surprise it turns out it is Virgin Media doing the work! It looks like they are using the same system for their FTTH installs, at least in apartment buildings.

I'm kind of surprised they are doing this work. The building only got cabled up 8 or 9 years ago and can already get 1Gig. Rushing out FTTH seems a bit unnecessary but I assume they are feeling the heat from OpenEir and will fully replace the coax with it.

It is a pity I won't get the option of OpenEir competition and lower prices, but can't really complain about getting access to 2gig FTTH. Though perhaps Vodafone will be an option at some stage.

BTW I did a bit of research and found lots of interesting info about this system. It is called OFS Optics Invisilight, lots of info and videos about it here:

https://www.ofsoptics.com/invisilight-mdu-solution/

https://www.ofsoptics.com/invisilight-ilu-solution/

If you search Youtube there are some interesting videos showing the install too.

Calebmcd

Had Cirnet in the estate with Fibre on the trailer and were going through all the manholes eir own.

Is this a sign of FTTH being started?

clohamon

Another PQ answered in a way that suggests the networks have agreed to FTTP for all premises in the blue areas. Question is by when ?

Officials in my Department have advised that the area referred to in the Question, which is an extensively BLUE area, currently has 2 commercial operators providing full fibre services to many of the homes and businesses in the location. Any premises yet to be enabled for fibre will be catered for as part of commercial fibre rollouts 

oscarBravo

I suspect there's a belief on the part of the politicians that if there's commercial coverage in an area, there will inevitably be competition for every single premises in that area. This ignores the reality that commercial operators will often not want to bother with a connection if it's awkward or expensive.

If we're relying on the market to ensure 100% coverage in the blue areas, we'll be waiting.

clohamon

I presume they can't admit to anything that looks like collusion but there was this also, from March,

Commercial operators have recently indicated their plans to supply Gigabit services to all premises in the BLUE area of the NBP Map as part of their commercial network rollouts. 

https://www.oireachtas.ie/en/debates/question/2023-03-21/216/#pq_216

oscarBravo

Yup, but there's a pretty large gap between a "plan to supply" and a working connection. It's easy to add an Eircode to a "ready for order" list, but there's no guarantee that a connection will be installed once the order is placed. That's the gap that needs to be plugged. Somehow.

It's weird in my street. OpenEir came in back in summer 2020 and installed micro ducts, and then nothing happened for a long time. In the meantime, Siro began rollout and then seemed to stall a few months ago. I was told we'd be connected sometime in Q3 2023 but in the meantime OpenEir came in and finished their installation, so it looks like they'll be live first ...

Neither of them were particularly fast, over 3 years from start to still not finished.

fasterbetter

Same here in Castleknock. 3 years since fibre was pulled in but no attempt to finish it so far....I assume they credit for "houses passed" which meets a KPI somewhere without having to actually offer a service.....

They seemed to be working on actually getting services up and running this week, but it seems like the build out is happening in urban areas in multiple stages with some very long gaps between them.

The civils and micro ducts went in for OpenEir first and then nothing for a very long time.

Siro are saying they are waiting for ESB to deenergise various aspects of the local power network before they can complete. It has to all happen on coordinated days.

I suppose older urban areas are complex though. My local PSTN exchange served about 15,000 premises (obviously not all of them have live OpenEir connections - Virgin has huge uptake) and most of those are buildings served underground or underground to a pole in older parts, through what is probably a complex urban duct network of varying ages that could be anything from dawn of the telegraph to 2020s.

Rural is mostly ribbons of fibre along roads, which is a lot simpler.

honda boi

Just a quick one for you guys.

i have been on 30mb line for years, got a pamphlet in the post awhile ago about 1GB speed coming to the house with FTTH.

Now nothing has been put in in my house, but when i check what speed i can get in the Eir/Sky site it says i can get 1GB.

Im with pure telecom now. Is it a case of me having to ring them about getting it installed?

chonix

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121156101#Comment_121156101

This, absolutely.

[RANT MODE ON]

I ordered it like a month ago (I was with VM... well, sorta still with VM), already cancelled VM because there was guarantee they could install it since 'it's on the website' the operator said. Even few neighbors got moved to Eir/Sky

Then when contractor came to install; they couldn't install me to the pole that is just left of where I live; but they had to connect me to the one to the one to my right, just across the street (the distance difference is VERY subtle). Guess what: that pole is a safety hazard for the installer because there were nothing to climb that pole; then had to call VM to revert the cancellation that day as they gave an estimation they were going to install the post near DECEMBER 2023 as forecast date.( WHAT?!!! )

Now, I remember 3 months ago when there were several people hanging on those posts for a week installing those fiber boxes. They could do it. But... the boxes are duct taped (lol, well, they're not ideally installed). So..... still very frustrated that service is available, but I'm doomed to the fr****n' post across the street; which I do want to burn down to ashes.

[RANT MODE OFF]

Fiber providers have to get their sh**e together.

pizzahead77

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121171671#Comment_121171671

Yes it's up to you to order FTTH from a supplier, they just don't automatically upgrade you

While I know it takes time to rollout this many connections, they could still do with being a lot more transparent on rollout timelines. I know people who should have really gone with wireless alternatives in Cork City Centre (seriously ... in the middle of a city -- no cable, no FTTH and really poor FTTC due to long lines) but have held out with the endless promise of FTTH rollout from both OpenEir and Siro, which seems to just always be 'any week now...'

Some of the very worst broadband in Ireland is in old urban areas of large cities: Dublin 1 and 2, parts of Dublin 7, a lot of the centre of Cork, I don't know about Limerick, Galway and Waterford, but I assume similar issues apply.

If the Government is serious about wanting to regenerate older areas of cities for housing and office spaces, they need to realise there is an actual problem with broadband and it's not a recent one. They're always the last places in the country to get updated, as they're hard to wire and have very old infrastructure.

I now a guy living in an apartment in the centre of Dublin and his house has no cable tv, terrible broadband and he can't even tune in Saorview ... it's a joke. He was relying on 4G and 5G mobile for internet during the lockdown.

Modern suburban areas are the low hanging fruit - density, and relatively modern infrastructure and ducts. Rural is recognised as having issues and has been funded, but the city centre cores and older areas are largely just assumed to be commercially covered, and they often aren't being well served at all.

honda boi

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121173206#Comment_121173206

Cheers pizzahead.

Rang eir and they said it will be available end of next month and to ring pure on this date.

namloc1980

Where I live in East Cork the surrounding nearby towns have all had ftth rolled out by openeir but not here. Siro launched a while back here but had been holding out expecting it to happen with eir but nada. Will go with Siro at the end of the current contract.

clohamon

Martin Kenny TD raised the issue of arbitrary non-connections with ComReg Commissioner Helen Dixon at an Oireachtas Committee meeting, and whether to deal with it through prompt transfer of affected premises to the NBP, or wait for the providers (Eircom, Virgin, SIRO) to do another sweep.

“We’re not going to know for several years….

…there is a period of time that has to be waited before the picture becomes clearer.” - Helen Dixon

https://www.oireachtas.ie/en/oireachtas-tv/video-archive/committees/9411

From 1:36:00 to 1:43:00

I had the same situation for a while, there was FTTH ducting at the end of the garden since 2019 and they only activated it in March this year. Connection was quite complicated and I had to do a lot of legwork as they had the house mapped to the wrong 'DP'. So, it took multiple visits and a lot of emailing people to get them to redo their mapping.

The phone line was overhead and for some reason they had us mapped to a DP in the middle of the street outside at the other side of the house. It was just a mapping error, but the amount of rigmarole involved in getting it corrected would make the HSE look like a bastion of efficiency.

Aspects of Eir still seem to operate like the P&T in the 1970s, even though it's long since been a private company and is far from being a monopoly, having thrown away most of their business in urban areas by assuming they were a monopoly when UPC / Virgin Media really got building out fast.

I remember the days when Eir was offering crap ADSL speeds while you could get decent speeds on cable, and they were wondering why they were losing customers in cities and towns.

Siro and Virgin are at least keeping us from being stuck with a single access provider and NBI are filling in the blanks in rural areas..

Blazer

so according to open eir i can get upto 2gb but apart from Blackmight all the rest are only saying 1gb.
is there a reason for this or will the other resellers update shortly.

jd

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122191498#Comment_122191498

They might not want to offer a retail 2gb project just yet. Most would need to supply a new CPE. Probably wondering is it worth it right now, when most customers won't have the need of it

pizzahead77

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122191498#Comment_122191498

Vodafone also offer 2GB over OpenEir

Blazer

yeah i know they have the gigamodem+ but their site still doesn’t show me ftth option.

Must keep an eye on it.