"Only Fools and Horses"

Victor · 08-02-2005 10:26pm #1

Would you buy a used phone company from this man?

Philip Nolan

Delboy

Story "Eircom upbeat on broadband target"

Eircom said it had 114,000 broadband customers by the end of December 2004, that number has grown to 117,000 today. The company said it is now focused on a new target of 500,000 broadband customers by December 2007.

Thats about 3,000 a month = 36,000 a year = 222,000 by December 2007

Dangger · 09-02-2005 11:03pm

It's snide comments like this from the Irish Times 9th Feb 2005......

Asked if Eircom was planning to increase telephone line rental chares, Dr Nolan said he had not decided what to do about it.

"We certainly have the option to do it... but who knows," he said.

It's such words that fall so effortlessly from the smug mouth of Nolan that still stun me every time.

Simply scandalous.

eircomtribunal · 11-02-2005 10:00am

Dangger wrote:

It's such words that fall so effortlessly from the smug mouth of

Listen also to McRedmond here on rte yesterday.

What's even more stunning is how the media swallows and supports the company PR.

...200 000 rural broadband connections by March 2006... 90% coverage...

To reach the proclaimed gov target of 500 000 overall bb connections by end 2006, we would need to see a continuous average weekly growth of over 3700 new connections.

Noel Dempsey has said the DCMNR will publish quarterly bb figures. I wonder will they do that.

To reach Eircom's declared target of 500 000 dsl connections by end 2007, we would not to see a constant week by week growth of over 2500 new connections.

P.

Sponge Bob · 11-02-2005 2:17pm

eircomtribunal wrote:

...200 000 rural broadband connections by March 2006... 90% coverage...

How. Will the Tooth Fairy connect to the USB port ?

At present Eircom only provide DSL in town over 1500 population . These towns over 1500 population are what are defined by the CSO as urban. Therefore Eircom really only provide DSL in URBAN areas.

As the number of DSL enabled exchanges outside these towns is 9 ...being the Udarás funded exchanges not part of any Eircom initiated rollout ......Mc Redmond will have a hard job getting 200,000 connections out of Carraroe and Gweedore.

By the same logic it can be said that Eircom (left to their own devices) have not DSL enabled any Rural Exchanges Whatsoever.

Don't start me on Wireless and Eircom

Noel Dempsey has said the DCMNR will publish quarterly bb figures. I wonder will they do that.

Comreg started a wide ranging consultation on their notorious quarterly report format last week. I am surprised that you of all people hadn't commented on that by now

Mr_Man · 11-02-2005 2:49pm

In the piece which McRedmond did on the RTE show he mentioned that they had announced the rollout of BB to an additional 200 exchanges. I've checked the Eircom website and can't find any details on this, does anyone have a list of the exchanges which are going to be BB enabled ?

Thanks

M.

Sponge Bob · 11-02-2005 3:14pm

Mr_Man wrote:

In the piece which McRedmond did on the RTE show he mentioned that they had announced the rollout of BB to an additional 200 exchanges. I've checked the Eircom website and can't find any details on this, does anyone have a list of the exchanges which are going to be BB enabled ?

Not as such.

Eircom have a list of 200 exchanges all right but it was never announced in the media .

They divided that list into exchanges to be done by the end of June and others.

They then divided THAT list to be done by June into localised lists . These were sent to the local media only. When the list for Galway was published a while back I checked with 1800503303 Sales and they confirmed it no problem.

The fact that the 'new' list for Galway bears no relationship to Population or to Trigger levels may explain the reason for Eircoms coyness. Some of the exchanges to be done are tiny while significant towns were left out. The ones to be done by end June include Oughterard . Claregalway . Ballyglunin , Ardrahan, Mountbellew, Portumna and Barna . Ardrahan for one is absolutely tiny.

Sizeable towns NOT Included are Clifden , Moycullen , Headford . Clarinbridge, Kinvara , Spiddle . There may simply be too many pairgains in those towns to warrant the investment which is why Eircom are keeping quite about the rollout and even quieter about the 'missing' towns.

The original big rollout announced in 2003 was towns with a population over 1,500 in the 2002 census. The pattern behind the next rollout ..the one that was never really announced....is roughly towns over 1,000 and under 1,500 . Completion date end 2006 for them lads I hear. At the end of this underannounced process DSL will be available from some 420 exchanges out of 1,100 nationwide or 38% of all exchanges by end 2006 .

HTH

Mr_Man · 11-02-2005 7:58pm

The list is given in the Eircom advret in the business section of today's Irish Times. Having counted them there appears to be only 185 exchanges listed. Martin will be pleased to know that Castlefin is included, as is a few of the other smaller villages in Donegal.

As SpongeBob notes some of the choices seem strange, there are a few one horse towns in the list, and a few glaring ommissions. It will be interesting to see how long it takes for the upgrade work to be done.

M.

Sponge Bob · 11-02-2005 9:27pm

Can someone scan that list ?

Ta

Aftereight · 11-02-2005 10:35pm

I live in North Clare and would dearly love broadband. Many nights I cannot get on line for whatevever reason {please tell me why} But it is very frustrating not to get on line and even more frustrating is that downloading is so so so so so so sllow

Mr_Man · 11-02-2005 11:59pm

As requested

M.

Sponge Bob · 12-02-2005 1:21am

Ahhh Yes.

In addition to the ones to be done by June , Eircom say they will also do the following exchanges in Galway.

Glenamaddy, Spiddle, , Invern, Teeranea (Tír an Fhia) , Costelloe, Kilannin .

They do not say when though. I believe end 2006 .

I also note that they finally intend to activate state funded fibre ring assets installed in the late 1990s around West Donegal and East Connemara , hence the high number of small exchanges in those areas scheduled for a DSL install .

Clifden is beyond that fibre and still not scheduled I note .

Victor · 13-02-2005 10:04pm

Mr_Man wrote:

Scan of exchange list

Whoa! I wonder who taught them to sort things alphabetically.

damien · 14-02-2005 12:01pm

eircom Press Release:

eircom to provide Broadband access to 90% of country by 2006

Today we announced the rollout of the next phase of our DSL Broadband service to 200 rural communities across the country which will deliver 90% Broadband coverage in Ireland by March 2006. eircom broadband will now be available to business and residential customers with phone lines in places such as Dunfanaghy, Achill, Ballydehob and Avoca. To date, we have broadband enabled over 1.5 million customer lines nationwide, and we currently have 118,000 broadband connections.

We have now delivered on our promise to bring the technology to every town in Ireland with a population over 1,500. In addition, we continue to invest in and improve our existing lines ensuring more customers have access to eircom broadband.

Commenting on the announcement, David McRedmond, Commercial Director, eircom said: "At eircom we believe everyone should have broadband. Having rolled out broadband to every town in Ireland, our focus is now on smaller communities. Today's announcement to extend broadband to 200 of these communities will see broadband available to 90% of eircom lines. We now want to complete the job with 100% rollout and we are working with Government to make this aspiration a reality."

DSL Deployment 2005-2006 (180 confirmed sites)

A
ABBEYLEIX
ABBEYDORNEY
ACHILL SOUND
ACLARE
ADARE
ANNAGARY
ARDARA
ARDFERT
ARDRAHAN
ARVAGH
ASKEATON
AUGHRIM
AVOCA

B
BALLINAGH
BALLINALEE
BALLINHASSIG
BALLINSPITTLE
BALLINTRA
BALLIVOR
BALLYBOGHIL
BALLYCARNEY
BALLYCONNELL
BALLYCULLANE
BALLYDEHOB
BALLYFARNAN
BALLYGARRET
BALLYGLUNIN
BALLYHAUNIS
BALLYHEIGE
BALLYMACELLIGOTT
BALLYMOTE
BALLYRAGGET
BALLYSPILLANE
BALLYVARY
BALTINGLASS
BANSHA
BELTURBET
BENNETTSBRIDGE
BERRINGS
BLIARY
BORRIS
BRIDGE END
BRITTAS
BRITTAS BAY BRIDGE
BROADFORD
BRUFF
BUNCLODY
BUTTEVANT

C
CAHIRCIVEEN
CALLAN
CAMPILE
CARLINGFORD
CARNEW
CARRICK
CARRIGNAVAR
CASTLEBELLINGHAM
CASTLECONNELL
CASTLEDERMOT
CASTLEFINN
CASTLELYONS
CASTLESHANE
CLAREGALWAY
CLARINA
CLERISTOWN
CLOGHEEN
CLONTIBRET
COACHFORD
COLLON
COLLOONEY
CORROFIN
COSTELLO
CROOKSTOWN
CROSSMOLINA
CURRAGH CAMP

D
DAINGEAN
DELVIN
DONADEA
DOON
DRIMOLEAGUE
DROMAHAIR
DRUMLISH
DRUMSHANBO
DUNCANNON
DUNFANAGHY
DUNKINEELY
DUNLEER
DURRUS

E
EASKY
EDGEWORTHSTOWN
ELPHIN

F
FALCARRAGH
FERBANE
FOXFORD
FOYNES

G
GEASHILL
GLASSAN
GLENNAMADDY
GLENTIES
GRENAGH

H
HOLYCROSS

I
INCH ST. LAWRENCE
INVER
INVERAN

J
JENKINSTOWN
JOHNSTOWN

K
KILBEGGAN
KILBRITTAIN
KILCARN
KILLALA
KILLALOE
KILLANN
KILLAVULLEN
KILLEAGH
KILLENAULE
KILLERISK
KILMACTHOMAS
KILMALLOCK
KILMEADEN
KILMINCHY
KINGSCOURT
KINNEGAD
KNOCK
KNOCKCROGHERY

L
LISDOONVARNA
LISMORE
LITTLETON

M
MANORHAMILTON
MILFORD
MILLSTREET
MOONCOIN
MOUNTBELLEW
MOUNTRATH
MOVILLE
MOYCULLEN
MULLAGH

N
NEWMARKET-ON-FERGUS
NEWPORT
NEWTOWN CUNNINGHAM

O
OLDCASTLE
OMEATH
OULART
OYLGATE

P
PALLAS GREEN
PASSAGE EAST
PEDLAR'S CROSS
PORTLAW
PORTUMNA

R
RAMELTON
RAVENSDALE
RIVERSTICK
RIVERSTOWN (Tipp)
RIVERSTOWN (Sligo)
ROCHFORTBRIDGE
ROOSKEY
ROSS CARBERRY
ROSSLARE STRAND

S
SCARRIFF
SCOTSTOWN
SHANAGOLDEN
SHINRONE
SIXMILEBRIDGE
SMITHBOROUGH
SPIDDAL
STRADBALLY
STRADONE
STRAFFAN
STRANDHILL
STROKESTOWN

T
TALLOW
TAMNEY
TARA
TARBERT
TEERANEA
TINAHELY
TOBERCURRY
TOMHAGGARD

V
VIRGINIA

W
WATERGRASSHILL
WATERVILLE
WELLINGTON BRIDGE

damien · 14-02-2005 12:05pm

Now that eircom are in every "town" it still leaves a total of 1,582,921 people who can't get Broadband according to this CSO document.

The CSO doc also contains the lists of all towns under 1500 in population. If anyone has the time they might like to take eircom's list and cross-check it against the CSO list and see how many villages still won't be able to get broadband.

AndrewMc · 14-02-2005 12:30pm

We have now delivered on our promise to bring the technology to every town in Ireland with a population over 1,500. In addition, we continue to invest in and improve our existing lines ensuring more customers have access to eircom broadband.

That is not quite true. Eircom installed a new exchange within the Athy "Urban District" (that is, the part controlled by the town council) in December after a long delay and an awful lot of pushing. While the bulk of the town is "DSL-enabled", this exchange is not, and the "upgrade" date has already slipped from March to "May or June".

Sponge Bob · 14-02-2005 12:39pm

The usual twaddle. Lets assume every Eircom line is straight (and not falling off the pole or pairgained beyond redemption ) .

eircom to provide Broadband access to 90% of country by 2006

420 exchanges * 4.5Km max ADSL range depicted as a circle centred on the exchange so Pi x R2 gives this max possible coverage .

is

((4.5*4.5)*3.15)x(420) = 26,800 Km 2 Coverage in a country with a 70,000 km 2 area

Therefore if every line was dead straight and working properly and there were no overlapping coverage areas the maximum possible Eircom DSL coverage by End 2006 is

38% of Exchanges and
38% of the state by area

Given the overlaps and crooked lines its fair to say that the area figure cannot possibly exceed 25% and thats by end 2006 too. If we handed the same 420 exchanges to BT they would manage 10km coverage which would nearly cover the entire state twice over in theory

The population stats are probably better than the geo stats but remember that Eircom was claiming 80% coverage for the 2003 ADSL phase that ends in March 2005. The problem is that less than 60% of the population live in those towns and that the usual tame muppets in the media would not add up the CSO data .

As Eircom is now announcing 200 towns with a population of under 1500 each we can see that the maximum population coverage , again being nice to Eircom , will be 1499 * 200 or 299,800 persons . Thats 7.5% of the population of the state in addition to the 59% or so who are currently nominally serviced. In reality not every one of these towns has 1499 persons

.

59% + 7.5% is 66.5% population coverage , max , by end 2006 .

Of the almost two thirds of the population who live on or near an enabled exchange by end 2006 we know from experience that about soem 70% May pass the DSL line test on Eircoms crummy copper. Thats from the Eircom SEC filing last year . 70% of that 66.5 % would be 46% of the entire population .

Therefore :

By the end of 2006 Eircom will probably be able to supply ADSL to some 46% of the population living across no more than 38% of the state . Normally there is a BIG difference between 46% and 90% buts thats unless you call yourself an Irish Tech Journalist because they never check their facts

eircomtribunal · 14-02-2005 2:34pm

damien.m wrote:

Now that eircom are in every "town" it still leaves a total of 1,582,921 people who can't get Broadband according to this CSO document.

which will deliver 90% Broadband coverage in Ireland by March 2006. eircom broadband will now be available to business and residential customers with phone lines in places such as... To date, we have broadband enabled over 1.5 million customer lines nationwide, and we currently have 118,000 broadband connections.

Commenting on the announcement, David McRedmond, Commercial Director, eircom said: "At eircom we believe everyone should have broadband. Having rolled out broadband to every town in Ireland, our focus is now on smaller communities. Today's announcement to extend broadband to 200 of these communities will see broadband available to 90% of eircom lines.

Again, manipulation at its best from McRedmond.

The fact that 90% of lines will originate from broadband enabled exchanges does not deliver a 90% broadband coverage!

1.5 million lines originating from bb enabled exchanges, are not broadband enabled. With a failure rate of 20 % it's down to 1.2 million.

If 20% of those lines cannot carry broadband, as is the current state – and I assume in the more rural areas this percentage will not be better – then the population coverage (that is the one that matters) in March 2006 will be at 78%. Better than nothing, but not at EU-15 average.

P.

byte · 20-02-2005 8:44pm

OMG! Ballintra to get broadband? It can't be true! \o/

Thanks damien for the bearer of somewhat great news! I can hopefully (assuming i pass a test) get rid of the overpriced ISDN at last!

Archytas · 24-03-2005 3:16pm

I have to agree with sponge bob.. I live in a town with 8000 people in it and they don't even have a date for us... check it.. its sallins... And when we ring them customer services they say we're on the naas exchange but ring eircom bb customer service and they say that sallins has its own exchange and they dont have a date to upgrade it....

Eircom don't even know where they're own exchanges are!!! AGGGGHGHGHGHGHGHGHGHGHG!!!!! What a load of crap... One more reason why I hate this country!!!!

"Only Fools and Horses"

Comments