National Broadband Ireland : implementation and progress

lukin

My address has a connection date of Jan 2026 to December 2026 and its status is "Network Build under progress". A few telegraph poles near me have these tied to them; https://ibb.co/qWGCZBg

If the connection date is so far off it seems a bit strange these are in place already?

The Cush

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122795587#Comment_122795587

Same around my area, fibre ducting, from the local exchange to all NBI routes out of the village. Installed during the summer. Also 2026 rollout.

Eir replaced poles in the last few months, NBI recently marked locations for their new poles. None installed yet.

Hedge cutting has to be done, before March 1st if fibre is to be rolled out before next autumn.

At least we're seeing some progress.

Dero

Around here that sub-ducting was installed and trees trimmed in January 2023. Then there was nothing until October, but they did go flat-out after that and we went pre-order at the end of March this year, and ready to connect by the beginning of May.

irishgeo

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122795764#Comment_122795764

I'm sure NBI would get an exemption tion for hedge cutting

The Cush

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122796205#Comment_122796205

A state contractor allowed an exemption on a wildlife regulation, I would guess not but who knows?

shmeee

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122787663#Comment_122787663

It's some buzz isn't it. I was on 4g for 16 months or so and was basically SD on any streaming, and at peak hours it's was useless.

Similar, on a 1gb Eir package with NBI and the difference.... Just know I can watch anything and no be waiting for it to freeze.

And install by KN also, and tidy out. Went down through my attic and about 15 meters from entry point into house to the ONT. Sound guys.

Tommy Lagahan

County mapping progress has updated: https://nbi.ie/where-are-we-working/

Survey pending gaps are getting smaller, feels like the home stretch at last

The Cush

Independent interim evaluation report on the progress of the National Broadband Plan

https://www.gov.ie/en/publication/aa255-national-broadband-plan-independent-interim-evaluation-report/

FastFullBack

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122757245#Comment_122757245

I'm in same situation now. New house, moved in 2 months back, eircode created nearly 12 months ago, still showing as 'Review Underway'. My area is now showing available Nov-Dec 2024. The Alltec teams have just put fibre up outside my door.

Have you tried ringing NBI to see whats the status of the review?

The Cush

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122795764#Comment_122795764

TLI around the area today installing new poles for NBI

ID plate from another pole

FastFullBack

For anyone interested this is alltec slinging fibre up along my road. Clonakilty deployment area.Happily now upgraded to ready for Nov-Dec 2024. Guys on the road told me just after Xmas.

lukin

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122797214#Comment_122797214

General question that has probably been answered already (sorry). When the roll-out is 100 percent complete does this mean there will be no broadband blackspots whatsoever in the country (i.e. every single home in the country will be able to get fibre).

L1011

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122801330#Comment_122801330

There will still be urban areas without coverage. There's another project now to try address this. Basically these weren't in the plans cause commercial operators should have covered them, but just haven't.

I know people living near me with ~15mbit VDSL while the bulk of the town has Virgin cable and half of it has SIRO too for instance.

Also, some islands at least will have fibre to the property but microwave from a local node to the main network, at least initially. I don't think anywhere not on an island is going to have that.

lukin

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122801376#Comment_122801376

It would be quite a reversal of fortune if there were more urban areas than rural areas in Ireland without fibre.

eastmayo

Hi iam in kilmovee under the knock area for connection. Date for connection is between Jan 26 and Dec 26.Iam hopeing is be well before that as have been erecting poles the last few weeks and have been cutting back the tress around the area that last while.

The Cush

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122803879#Comment_122803879

You'll have a better indication once they start rolling out fibre onto those poles

hawkwing

Anyone have their installation cancelled because they missed a Circet call? Rang them an hour after seeing a text and was told it has been cancelled as i was too late answering, was due in tomorrow. Told now it will be another 2 weeks but how am i supposed to know if/when they will ring to confirm, absolute farce. Got another text after the call to say to call them and i did to confirm tomorrow but told again it was cancelled, April fool's day in November. :-(

Sponsorgate

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122782164#Comment_122782164

So 3 lads from NBI arrived at my door yesterday looking for my duct. No prior phone call to say they were coming but not complaining. They were able to get the rod 99% of the way. (approx 80 metre) but couldnt get it into the box installed near my front door. I now believe it was never finished by my builders. So after chatting to the lads we came up with next best option. They were able to locate the duct outside my patio & dig it for it there & connect up to it.

I wanted to bring it into house around my patio from there. They made a a phone call & said yes they can go ahead the way I requested . They were onsite for about an hour & left the place the way they got it.

Dig to duct

Bringing duct to where I requested it

Done with cable coiled at house

They left cable reel of cable by my entrance to where pole is going

Terminal up the road from me

So once pole is up which is hopefully not far away, they will connect the cable to the terminal & I should be ready for install. Almost there!!! Im excited!!:)

lukin

Stupid question time again; how are NBI able to put the fibre-optic cables underground without digging? I haven't seen any mechanical diggers on the side of the road when I see NBI engineers working.

The Cush

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122813643#Comment_122813643

Could they be accessing existing OpenEir ducting?

lukin

On an NBI pdf I downloaded it said:

"If an overhead connection is not possible or you already have some suitable underground ducting installed at
your property then the engineer may install the cable underground (Including unblocking ducting if necessary)"

The Cush

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122813726#Comment_122813726

This has been there since the beginning, regulated access threshold of €5,000 for each property

Mr. Fergal Mulligan, Dept of Communications NBP Programme Director

Joint Committee on Communications 3 July 2019

….

We are subsidising the connection up to €5,000 because there are a lot of homes with broken ducts that cannot get an overhead connection or that need an extra four or five poles to get the connection down there.

Deputy Brian Stanley: In the case of NBI, where the cost goes over €5,000, the customer has to pay.

Mr. Fergal Mulligan: The customer has to make a contribution, yes.

The Cush

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122801376#Comment_122801376

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122801587#Comment_122801587

A thread on this from clohamon

Urban NBP on the way ? — boards.ie - Now Ye're Talkin'

The Cush

I'll just drop this here. A reminder of the long drawn out Oireachtas shenanigans that delayed the awarding and signing of the NBP contract.

5G NBP anyone.

Sponsorgate

NBI have put down a lot of the below in my area in last week. What are they for ?

geminiman63

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122823317#Comment_122823317

Thought these poles are for the new speed limit signs.

The Continental Op

In my area they are definitely putting in brand new telegraph polls which are definitely for NBI as there is no other use for them.

The Cush

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122823317#Comment_122823317

Yes, they look like poles for road signs.

The Cush

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122823374#Comment_122823374

New NBI poles installed by them around my area recently, all had NBI tags and barcodes on them.

lukin

A question for those whose connection date on the NBI site is January 2025 - December 2025; have any of you been connected already? Mine is January 2026 - December 2026.

Sponsorgate

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122823839#Comment_122823839

Makes sense. Could have sworn it was NBI lads I saw do it when i passed

CivilEx

We have an old style Eircom phone box (telecom cable box) built into the outside wall of our house - a smaller version of the ESB meter box. The original Eircom copper line is still physically intact between the pole and the telecom box via a duct but it is now redundant.

Can anyone who has been through this let me know what to expect? Will the NBI installers use the old Eircom line as a drawrope to bring the NBI fibre line from the pole to the telecom box and will they bring the new line from the telecom box through the external wall into the house?

Happy_Harry

How didfficult is it to get hold of the Circet appointments department ? Got a text from sky to call them for an appointment. They don't answer the phone- at all.. after 5 mins in queue the connection drops. I am a bit disappointed with how their call center seems to operate .

The Cush

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122833987#Comment_122833987

They may or may not use the existing copper line as a drawrope, up to the installer on the day.

They may go through the wall or exit the ETU and run the fibre cable to a point more suitable for you, discuss it with the installer on the day.

My brother is waiting on NBI fibre, possibly 2026. He has already run a draw rope down the cavity from the attic down into the ETU, ready to draw the fibre into the attic and down into a power room when the time comes.

CivilEx

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122834069#Comment_122834069

Cheers. I think I might adopt your brother's approach and make it simple for the installer to get from the external box to where the router / power will be located

mossie

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122833987#Comment_122833987

They used the old copper line as a rope to draw the new cable through the duct for my install and drilled through the wall to pass the new cable inside the house.

CivilEx

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122834305#Comment_122834305

Great, that would be an ideal outcome for me and keep everything as simple as possible

shmeee

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122834064#Comment_122834064

Very easy, I'd to contact them a couple of times about arranging various appointments on 015366939. Never really a wait on the phone lines.

ItHurtsWhenIP

Just got the update email from NBI.

Date has moved up from Jul-Dec 2025 to Apr-Jun 2025. 🤞

We're still Network Build in Progress.

Hollyford DA.

eastmayo

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122837066#Comment_122837066

Just out off interest when did they start placing the fibre on the poles around your area.We build in process as well but our date still is Jan 26 to Dec 26.

The Cush

Reported in the news today, eir's Economic & Social Report

https://www.rte.ie/news/business/2024/1114/1480810-eir-broadband/

https://www.eir.ie/.content/pdf/reports/eir-Economic-Social-Report-Executive-Summary-FINAL-08.11.24-1.pdf

https://www.eir.ie/.content/pdf/reports/eir-Economic-Social-Report-FINAL.pdf

L1011

Sounds like an attempt to get in ahead and make any urban infill contract be only for the dearest of the dear places to serve.

Just like they whipped away a lot of the cheaper rural stuff during the NBI tender

Happy_Harry

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122836537#Comment_122836537

must have caught them on a bad day then.. Called 10 times during morning and afternoon and each time I got disconnected after 5 mins in queue. Thankfully I got a call from them out of the blue. Got appointment sorted in 2 weeks.. I am excited.

shmeee

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122837635#Comment_122837635

Them must have let staff go or something, was never an issue earlier in year. Good stuff anyway, some buzz knowing the fiber is finally coming!

Tommy Lagahan

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122837477#Comment_122837477

No doubt they'll still prioritize the most "commercially viable" parts of that urban infill and leave more blackspots.
Definitely not still salty that they stopped rural rollout 900m from my house years ago, nope. 😅

L1011

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122837902#Comment_122837902

I can see the nearest rural rollout house they did from my house.

I live in a town. I can only get Virgin DOCSIS, with the inability to change supplier to get better prices etc.

I'd be quite happy if they swept in here, but there are actual blackspots in the town that only have VDSL to this day, and some of them would still not be worth it on an effort to reward basis without subsidy I guess.

Tommy Lagahan

I can see the last house here as well since we're on a hill above them. That's rough, docsis is the old cable / coax system isn't it? Mate of mine had endless trouble with NAT / gaming on Virgin/UPCs cable down the years. I'd still crawl on my knees to get wired broadband of some sort so I'm not constantly fighting inconsistent bufferbloat, jitter and loss.

NBI Survey should be finished up here soon enough and I heard from someone that used to work with KN that they were actually working on cables already in Dunkineely (same DA) so my copium is that they're already laying the ground work.

Sponsorgate

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122807191#Comment_122807191

TLI arrived at 8am this morning & put the pole up

hawkwing

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122837635#Comment_122837635

They are an absolute joke. They hang up some of the time after leaving you listening to music for ages. Then when you get through they tell you the appointment is cancelled for another 2 weeks as you didn't call them in time.

ItHurtsWhenIP

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122837217#Comment_122837217

There's no fibre on the poles on any of the roads out of my nearby village … yet.

The poles have been surveyed and bad ones replaced already and the hedges and trees along the roads have been dramatically trimmed. This was all done earlier in the year.

There is fibre being strung along the poles coming towards my village from the neighbouring village, Kilcommon. It is about 2-3KM from Rearcross at this time.