Is the ESB planning to give us all a SHOCK!.

Paddy20

I have this strange electrifying feeling that the ESB with its direct lines in to every home in the *Country is planning to give everyone including Eircom and all other ISPs a "shock".

Anyone know anything about their plans too introduce a Internet access service down the fibre optic cables it is rumoured they have been installing in their underground trunking throughout Ireland ?..

I hope the rumours are correct, as it would certainly put an end to the {Last mile} home connection problem that Eircom has been holding the the Irish too ransom with!.

Paddy20;)

STaN

Paddy, if you go through the last 4 or 5 ESB becoming an ISP threads you will note that there are no such plans as of yet. If the ESB were to provide last mile connections to every home, it would mean a major infrastructural investment and overhaul of the network to use existing "bandwidth over power" technologies. However, there was a thread about a new technology that makes it simpler to deploy, but at the end of the day the ESB will have to build a whole new telcoms business, staff it, take on international connections and build a network. And then market it to the irish people, many whom already have unreliable ESB connections. It is highly unlikely.


The ESB's fibre network is for other carriers. I.e. they are building it for the likes of Esat and Chorus to buy capacity on. So they are cashing in on what their high capacity lines can offer in terms of revenue as the fibre is actually wrapped around the high tension lines of their 55kv, 110kv & 220kv lines. Theses are mainly for inter county connections and they have underground ducts in Dublin, Cork and some other towns. These fibre rings will not be physically used as last mile connections.

So why only become a carriers carrier? It means that they don't have to worry about what travels over the fibre, only that the fibre is maintained, which means little to no headaches for them and more revenue. Win, win.

roneill

I can tell you for a fact that ESB have no plans what so ever to do this.

How do I know this? I do consultancy work for there Telco Unit.

Paddy20

STaN,

Many thanks for your very interesting and educational reply.

But, oh how I would love to see Eircom get a slap in the mouth from some organisation in relation too *The stranglehold they have on the {Last mile} in to the home line connection ?.

Is it not anti-competitive and monopolistic and ILLEGAL for our Government to allow this unfair advantage to remain in the hands of one greedy private business! i.e. Eircom.

Whom I believe, are holding up the social and economic progress of this country, against EU regulations in relation too the so called open telecommunications marketplace.

At present, we are all paying a heavy price for some Government departments ineptitude!.

Paddy20;)

Mailman

Dragging this tread off-topic but seeing as it was going in the same direction as all the other ESB ISP threads ....

If ESB offered IP over electrical cable surely it would be easy for them to go one step further and compete against NTL and Chorus by offering multicast streaming video over IP decoded by a set-top box.
Isn't the technology for internet over electrical cable similar to cable modem technology?

I'm just thinking that electricity, IP, TV and possibly telephony all down the one cable would be a great service.

Mark_irl

Whoooooosh-oink. The sound of a flying pig.

Paddy20

Mailman,

You are spot on, and I think the possibilities are endless as the ESB wiring enters most homes in Ireland?..

Maybe, our wonderful Government!, or Comreg could set up a specialist telecommunications task force too investigate the multitude of possible advantages.

That of course is assuming that the ESB for one reason or another is not holding back on this issue ??..

Paddy20;)

Boston

Originally posted by Mailman
If ESB offered IP over electrical cable surely it would be easy for them to go one step further and compete against NTL and Chorus by offering multicast streaming video over IP decoded by a set-top box.
Isn't the technology for internet over electrical cable similar to cable modem technology?

There not offering any such thing, as allready point out by stan, its just the backhaul. The real benefits of this will come in the wireless internet market, as we have seen several operators expanding their services over the last few months

BendiBus

Originally posted by roneill
I can tell you for a fact that ESB have no plans what so ever to do this.

How do I know this? I do consultancy work for there Telco Unit.

If you were doing consultancy work for me and posted inside info on a bulletin board, I'd see to it you never worked again. Even if it was only internal company rumour you were spreading.

I'm quite serious.

Very unprofessional. :mad:

Dustaz

In fairness to Roneill, The ESB have said publically what he just posted there.

Its not Insider Info.

50Cent

If you were doing consultancy work for me and posted inside info on a bulletin board, I'd see to it you never worked again. Even if it was only internal company rumour you were spreading.

Oh shutup!!!

roneill

Every couple of months we see posts like this about ESB going to offer broadband over the electricity network.

If you read the ESB annual report they state that they are only going to focus on there core business i.e. Generation and Networks.

ESB with BT did setup Ocean Telecom if you remember to be an all-Ireland telecommunications service provider.

BendiBus

Originally posted by Dustaz
In fairness to Roneill, The ESB have said publically what he just posted there.

Its not Insider Info.

Then roneill should remove the second line of his post where he claims his knowledge is based on his consultancy work.

Capt'n Midnight

The ESB can't provide the last mile by cable - baby monitors, home automation devices putting noise on the line..

Maybe they could add data cable/fibre into the bundle for new estates - but given the number of new estates in Dublin near high tech industries that can barely get ISDN for other reasons (pass the buck - councillers / planners / builders / telco's)

Wireless.
But they do have a fairly extensive network of towers and poles and sub-station buildings to deploy a wireless network . Much of population lives within LOS of large ESB pylons - especially in the suburbs and edges of towns. And the best bit is that most of the links between access nodes could also be wireless since the pylons are visible from each other.

Strangely enough the main problem would be power !
you can't just wire an Access Point in to 220KV. So perhaps they would need to be solar powered. Also because no one likes messing around near High Voltage the AP's would be more or less sealed boxes using a wireless backbone. (perhaps put more than one on each pylon for extra bandwidth / redundancy?)

Because the ESB have such an extensive network they would not need to use the same power levels as other BB providers have to get to customers. And I can't see how anyone who owns a mobile phone can complain about the overall increase in electromagnetic emission from a 55KV line ...

But the ESB are not an ISP - it is not their core business and if I remember correctly you can't put that sort of stuff on your ESB bill, and the ESB did get burnt a while back with three year HP on computers and customers not wanting to pay for the last year....

And anyway I'm still supprised that the powers that be haven't been paid enough to force the Guards to allow some wireless ISP to use what little space there is on those masts yet....

STaN

Well the thing about the pylons is that you can only put equipment below the transformers, so you can't touch the top parts of the pylon. You also have to reach agreements with whoever owns the land below to pylon for rent as the ESB doesn't own this, but has the right to put the pylons legs on it cause of regulation

spongebob

Originally posted by STaN
Well the thing about the pylons is that you can only put equipment below the transformers, so you can't touch the top parts of the pylon. You also have to reach agreements with whoever owns the land below to pylon for rent as the ESB doesn't own this, but has the right to put the pylons legs on it cause of regulation

<Legalistic Point>

The ESB has a statutory right of way for the provision of electricity.

An Bord Gáis has a statutory right of way for the provision of Gas.

It is questionable that either entity may unilaterally extend (widen) this right of way to include the provision of telecommunications services but the fibre may get squatters rights after 12 years. I am shocked that the IFA hasn't spotted this potential cash cow.

</Legalistic Point>

As Stan said, the provision of last mile type access will involve breaking out of fibre and onto copper at the Transformer stations in order to welly the 5Mb we have all been promised into the home and business. The trials on the technology itself have now moved from Scotland to England. There you can have 1Mb for UK£30 a month (not sure if that includes VAT so lets say UK£35 a month in case. Thats €52 or so 1024/1024 Uncapped.

I have heard some rumours of an imminent trial of this technology in Ireland.....would that be somewhere in Galway? I could humbly offer my services to assist them in their trial.

M

ednwireland

here we go again scottish power are already doing an extebded trial all this stuff about interference is just guff, ITS BEING DONE AT OUR NEXT DOOR NEIGHBOURS (ie scotland) so please dont tell me it can't be done here.

dahamsta

Powerline broadband pilot nets 200 trialists
By Tim Richardson
Posted: 06/05/2003 at 10:59 GMT

Southern Electric claims it has received a "good amount of interest" in its commercial trial of broadband through three-pin electrical sockets in Winchester.

Details of the trial were formally announced at the end of April. Since then, around two hundred people have signed up for the service via Southern Electric's Web site.

In total, Southern Electric is looking for around a thousand people to take part in the commercial trial, which is due to begin in June. At the end of the year the company will take stock of the trial and see whether it makes commercial sense to roll-out the service to other parts of the country.

The broadband service is expected to cost around £30 a month delivering speeds up to 1Mbps.

The Register reported back in March that Winchester had been selected to take part in the trial.

Southern Electric is the trading name of the Scottish and Southern Energy Group. Another company in the group - Scottish Hydro-Electric - is also trialling the broadband over electric cables technology in Stonehaven, Scotland. ®

GUI

this will open up the esb debate again i think :-)

davros

The ESB might not regard it as their core business but they are still owned by the State and the Government seems very interested in the idea. They have been dropping huge hints to this effect for months.

The Taoiseach himself said as much in an interview in The Irish Times back in March. There was also some story recently about using power lines to provide Net access to schools. Then there was this article in The Irish Professional on March 19:

Pilot tests of power-line access to the Internet

The Government and the ESB are reported to be planning trials of a new Internet access technology which will allow the delivery of telecommunications bandwidth through standard power sockets.

The cost-effective system, which has already been successfully tested in Britain, the US and Germany, could "cure a lot of issues to do with the last mile", according to Minister for Communications
Dermot Ahern, as it would not be subject to the crippling constraints facing DSL, such as the need to be within four kilometres of the nearest telephone exchange. It's understood that the problems inherent in delivering internet access along electricity lines - like interference and radiation - have now been
ironed out, and that the ESB is very enthusiastic about the project.

Paddy20

davros,

Thats ruddy great news!, make mine a large one. So the rumours I have been hearing in the backwoods of dear old Donegal may not be to far off the mark, after all!.

You know, a few months back when I first heard strong local chat on this I sent an e-mail to the ESB press office and their public relations department asking if they would kindly confirm in writing if they had any plans to enter competitively the Internet access market?, I am still awaiting a reply! and in my book - a deafening silence speaks volumes.

Paddy20;)

Stonemason

The ESB are not interested in being an isp themselfs (again)their existing knowlege (in the field) their masts and their fibre backbone could be very handy for anyone wanting to start such a service.Especialy if the goverment gives the ESB a nudge in the right direction and le-way regarding masts and uses of and maybe offer a couple of grants to a willing company.Hell thats alot of if,s

That said this topic has being going round and arround im still waiting to hear what the outcome of the meeting between Bertie and the ESB which was slated to happen about a month ago.