National Broadband Ireland : implementation and progress

Gunner3629

Installed less than 2 weeks ago and we had an area-wide outage today for 5+hours (East Cork, Youghal area). All my neighbours were out too with a red light on the ONT.

Had a WISP for previous 6 years and never had such a long outage. Not a great start NBI.

clohamon

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119860670#Comment_119860670

A Parliamentary Question for your TD to ask might get to the bottom of it. About 18 months ago NBI had a job vacancy for an "Expensive & Deferred Premises Reporting Analyst" that included the following..

Key Objectives / Accountabilities:

The NBP Project Agreement requires the identification and reporting of expensive and deferred premises, and establishes a number of different thresholds for deferred premises which must be adhered to over the period of the Agreement.

NBAiii

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119860670#Comment_119860670

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119860825#Comment_119860825

I've seen no evidence that NBI would use non-fibre solutions at this stage. I thinks it is more likely to be a case of build difficulties, perhaps with landowner wayleaves or council licensing or additional premises being added to the intervention area. Cavan is actually a positive example. Since I posted the above image the three remaining premises, which were additions to the DA after design, have gone ready for service. I think this shows that they will fully complete areas even if it may take up to two years as with Cavan.

The outstanding premises in Tipperary have a due date of December 2022 so it will be interesting to see if they meet that. Some of the remaining Carrigaline premises are due March 2023 so something has gone wrong there but I don't know what that is.

heavydawson

Another fibre speed record broken:

https://www.nict.go.jp/en/press/2022/11/10-1.html

NICT has constructed a transmission system using Prysmian's single-core 55-mode optical fiber and a  mode multiplexer / demultiplexer  designed and manufactured by Nokia Bell Labs and the University of Queensland. Using these components, the group has successfully transmitted a total of 1.53 petabits per second over 25.9 km. To evaluate the 55-mode signal, we constructed a high-speed, parallelized receiver system. The 55- independent signal streams could then be separated by 110 x 110  MIMO processing  to recover the transmitted data. We could successfully receive  polarization multiplexed 16 QAM  signals at 184 wavelengths in the C wavelength band. Compared with the previous 15-mode multiplexed transmission, the spectral efficiency has improved by more than three times (332 bits/s/Hz) with the increase in the number of modes. This demonstration showed that with such high spectral efficiency only use of the C-band was needed to transmit more than 1.5 Pb/s and so further expansion can be expected by adopting multi-band wavelength-division multiplexing in the future.

It's worth noting this is multi-mode fibre, which is different to the single mode fibre used in the NBI access network, but interesting nonetheless

wassie

Jaysus......And I thought my bonded-DSL connection I had a 10 years ago was kick-arse.

Quin_Dub

My area has just moved from "Pre-Order" to "Ready to connect" so hopefully will be getting an install date soon.

At this stage it does seem to be moving a bit quicker than the original projection.

Before going to pre-order it was showing Jan-Mar 2023 as the likely installation date range.

What has been the typical experience for people here in terms of timescale when it moves to the ready to connect stage?

WestWicklow1

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119882389#Comment_119882389

I went Ready to Connect" on July 1st 2022 and was connected on 5th August 2022.

banjostring

I’ve had my installation about two Months now and am very happy with it. One thing I would say though is that the Wi-Fi speed seems to drop significantly in comparison to my old set up. For example I previously had a speed of 12mbps coming in and could achieve Wi-Fi of at least 8 mbps (drop of around 33%) anywhere in the House. I now have a speed of 500mbps coming in but struggle to now get speeds of 80mbps (drop of over 80%) in some areas of the House. Is there any reason for this does anyone know?

im not complaining as I’m far better off for very little extra cost per Month, but I’d be interested to know why there is such a drop off in the Wi-Fi fibre compared to the old copper system.

For the record I’ve checked that I am getting the full 500 coming in and there is no issue there.

Thanks guys.

dam099

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119882879#Comment_119882879

WiFi performance is not really correlated to the ISP line speed, the percentage drops are not really of any significance to the fibre speed. When you had 12Mbps you could potentially even have got the full 12 under ideal WiFi conditions as the line speed was the limiting factor. Once you get to high line speeds like 500Mbps then the WiFi becomes the limiting factor. With 80 or 8000 your speed at those farthest reaches would probably be the same.

Assuming you get can 500Mpbs either near the router on WiFi (not always the case either) or using a wired ethernet connection then its down to WiFi performance which can be impacted by a number of factors beyond your ISP's control (or just their cheapo router having poor WiFi). Depending on your house size and construction then a good quality 3rd party router may improve things or else a Mesh WiFi solution with multiple points around the house.

wexfordman2

Sounds to me like you may also be on yoir 2.5ghz wifi, if you are maxing out at 80mb!

What speeds and what wifi are you getting when next to your router ?

Ie, what are you getting next to your router in the 5ghz wifi network

Gunner3629

Not something I’d recommend for everyone but when I got NBI recently and wasn’t happy with wireless performance, I decided to disable 2.4Ghz Wifi on all 4 of my wireless access points (including VF Gigabox). Really happy with the results. Maximum speeds now much better as devices have no choice but to use 5Ghz.

As I have enough AP’s to cover the areas, I didn’t need the better range 2.4Ghz allows. Plus 2.4Ghz is such a crowded band, its hard to avoid interference.

Of course, people might have an old printer/Chromecast/Firestick/tablet that ONLY works on 2.4Ghz. If thats the case, then this isn’t an option for you, but it definitely helped for me.

banjostring

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119882943#Comment_119882943

Thank you dam

banjostring

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119883095#Comment_119883095

Thanks Wexfordman. Just checked and right beside the Wi-Fi router I’m actually getting a speed of 505 mbps. To be honest I’ve no idea what 5ghz Wi-Fi means so don’t really know if I’m using 2.5 or 5 !

wexfordman2

There are two frequency bands that wifi uses at the moment.

2ghz, that has i think 20mhz of bandwidth (and it primarily bandwidth that determines speed).

5ghz has 80mhz channel bandwidth, so that offers much faster speeds. However, as it operates at a higher frequency, it doesnt travel as far, and suffers particulalry with losses through walls etc!

Your ideal scenario is to design your wifi coverage around a 5ghz wifi network, and uses wired connections from your router to distributed access points.

Interference in 2ghz or 5ghz is going to be much less of an issue in general for those of us in NBI due to it being a largely rural network, so less congested areas having dense wifi networks

banjostring

Another question if anyone can help ! Has anyone any experience with Wi-Fi mesh systems or the Google nest Wi-Fi pro ?

Thank you.

wassie

Check out the Wireless sub-forums rather than going off topic here. You'll get plenty of help there. Good luck with it all.

https://www.boards.ie/categories/wireless

wexfordman2

Try and get a system that has distributed access points fed by cable as oppossed to ones that use wireless to link back to the router. If your house allows you to run cat6 cable from your router to remote acccess points that is the way to go

joe123

So....how about that NBI Progress...

Hager

Pre ordered on Tuesday and got a text from Vodafone today with an install date of 2nd December, everything is happening quickly after the seemingly eternal wait for NBI to build the network.

I want to place my router quite a distance from a socket, can anyone confirm that the Vodafone gigabox uses a 2 1 X 5 5 DC connection so I can buy the correct extension lead.

TheBody

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119887324#Comment_119887324

Congratulations! I went available to pre-order on Friday. (Co. Longford)

What area are you in? How long ago did your area go available for pre-order?

Im hoping to get connected ASAP.

Hager

In Laois, area only went pre order Friday last week

scunermac

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119887649#Comment_119887649

Are you on the Portlaoise DA?

I am, and they just fitted the DP to the pole outside our house this week. Hopefully not much longer to wait now.

How long was it between when you had the DPs installed to when you could pre-order?

Hager

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119888446#Comment_119888446

It was around mid to late August when the DPs were done

clohamon

In US the FCC have just published their premises level map. Seems to be open to customers and providers to amend ("challenge"). This is roughly where we were 7 -9 years ago.

Knowingly providing duff information is an offence.

Gunner3629

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119895291#Comment_119895291

They are also enforcing nutrition style labeling on all reseller broadband services, so that customers know exactly what they are getting in terms of speeds, latency, contractual details etc. This is a good initiative and one the EU should probably do as well:

https://techcrunch.com/2022/11/17/fcc-orders-isps-to-show-broadband-nutrition-labels-with-all-fees-and-limits/?guccounter=1&guce_referrer=aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZ29vZ2xlLmNvbS8&guce_referrer_sig=AQAAAKA_fwdAq1a1b3B5tpvzw8BmPWXPp3za0yTmYbrC-2hWqbi4wt91IVuW1jPI-asDKKzxfOs1vyOaBt9K4eHpcMeDY0iGCtYJvMW5-XMF0UWKYFIeYoia7ZKr6NoBvHDnUpHpZq2-09uypTQSL5h0s_6wfUK3VRXv-UOqFNkexS0p

clohamon

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119900474#Comment_119900474

It's not clear who's copying who.

There's a template in the annex to the regulation that implements the EECC directive from 2019. Ireland has only transposed this law in the last few months; nearly two years after the deadline. Enforcement provisions are still going through the Oireachtas.

The Cush

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119902631#Comment_119902631

The EECC regulation signed a few months ago doesn't come into effect until the enforcement bill completes its passage through the Oireachtas, they will both come into effect together.

CowSniffer

Hi Everyone,

A question for you as this looks to be the only part of boards I could find actively talking about NBI.

We had one of the companies surveying for NBI around the other day getting consent from landowners (as I live in the country) to install poles on land along the road. I have a big old stretch of hedge along the front of my house and they are looking to install a pole right in the middle of it. Do the poles have to be there or would they have to put the wires under the road if I didn't consent?

Sorry if this is a bit off topic but not sure where to ask. Thanks for any advice.

The Cush

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119915849#Comment_119915849

Unlikely they'd go underground, more expensive and time consuming to duct it, could slow/stall the rollout further down the line

If they're planning to install new poles I assume there's no eir telephone poles around?

clohamon

Minister clarifies on the need for Eircodes.

Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party) While the use of Eircodes is a very useful resource for identifying the location of a property ordering a service such as broadband, an Eircode is not mandatory when ordering a broadband service. For example, in the case of the National Broadband Plan, where an Eircode has not been allocated to a premises in the Amber area, I am advised that National Broadband Ireland (NBI) will allocate a temporary reference to a premises so an order can be processed. This temporary identifier will be reconciled with the Eircode when it is allocated. An Post and Ordinance Survey Ireland have confirmed to my officials that the property in question has been assigned a verified postal address and geo-location and this information has been added to the An Post database. However, this information was received by Eircode after the deadline for the November release. The updated property information will be included in the next quarterly database update being supplied to Eircode. The expected date for assignment of the properties Eircode is February 2023.

Capita is working with An Post, OSI, and An Post GeoDirectory, supported by my Department, to move to a system where Eircodes for new properties are assigned on a monthly basis from early in 2023.