3 ms·

Yeah but did they have faulty broadband?

CalRobert 3y ago
Actually, they had brand new broadband! My area was in a "rural fibre zone" and while I was there the local houses (including mine) went from satellite-only or tethering (which could be OK, sometimes, barely) or 1 Mbit DSL to 1Gbps fibre. It was pretty awesome.
- fullspectrumdev 3y ago
  Man, I do wonder how they decide which rural areas get fiber, do they throw darts at a map?
  - CalRobert 3y ago
    There were strategic rural routes along roads between towns, etc. It got 300k homes hooked up. Ironically people in turns got fttc, rural people ftth.
  - donalhunt 3y ago
    Based on my experience... yes! In the end, the Irish government decided to bankroll the rollout of fiber to "commercially unviable" areas (under the guide of a National Broadband Scheme). That prompted one of the unsuccessful telcos to suddenly find ~ 300k of those homes commercially viable! Trying to understand why some properties have been hooked up and others not is a fruitless exercise. During the COVID lockdown, I discovered that most churches (which had a strong interest in broadcasting masses to their congregations) has either been deemed commercially unviable or not indexed at all. Many hoops were jumped through.
  - rsynnott 3y ago
    So the theory is that they'll roll it out to 569,000 premises which are considered unlikely to be connected to fibre via the commercial providers; it's fairly extensive. In principle, it should go virtually everywhere that the commercial providers don't. We'll see how it works out in practice, of course. They're at about 150k premises 'passed' (ie they can be connected on demand); of these 45k are actually connected. EDIT: Actually, from context they may be talking about a prior rollout. But the idea's the same.
    - CalRobert 3y ago
      Rob!!! It's been a while. Hope you're doing well. I was referring to this (from 2018) for the 300k number - https://www.openeir.ie/open-eir-passes-170k-rural-homes-businesses-with-fibre-to-the-home-ftth/ https://www.openeir.ie/open-eir-passes-170k-rural-homes-busi...
      - rsynnott 3y ago
        Oh, small world! Yeah, this was OpenEir (which is now just Eir’s standard commercial offering, though I think the rural buildout was subsidised). I was thinking of NBI, a separate network which is supposed to fill in what OpenEir didn’t. Meanwhile I’m on coax; that’s the price you pay to live in the city center. (For whatever reason, Dublin city center tends to be behind on this stuff; my old apartment, beside Trinity, didn’t even get _VDSL_ until 2016 or so).
wiredfool 3y ago
There's really no other kind in rural ireland.
- CalRobert 3y ago
  The best internet I've ever had was in rural Ireland.

Actually, they had brand new broadband! My area was in a "rural fibre zone" and while I was there the local houses (including mine) went from satellite-only or tethering (which could be OK, sometimes, barely) or 1 Mbit DSL to 1Gbps fibre. It was pretty awesome.

fullspectrumdev 3y ago
Man, I do wonder how they decide which rural areas get fiber, do they throw darts at a map?
- CalRobert 3y ago
  There were strategic rural routes along roads between towns, etc. It got 300k homes hooked up. Ironically people in turns got fttc, rural people ftth.
- donalhunt 3y ago
  Based on my experience... yes! In the end, the Irish government decided to bankroll the rollout of fiber to "commercially unviable" areas (under the guide of a National Broadband Scheme). That prompted one of the unsuccessful telcos to suddenly find ~ 300k of those homes commercially viable! Trying to understand why some properties have been hooked up and others not is a fruitless exercise. During the COVID lockdown, I discovered that most churches (which had a strong interest in broadcasting masses to their congregations) has either been deemed commercially unviable or not indexed at all. Many hoops were jumped through.
- rsynnott 3y ago
  So the theory is that they'll roll it out to 569,000 premises which are considered unlikely to be connected to fibre via the commercial providers; it's fairly extensive. In principle, it should go virtually everywhere that the commercial providers don't. We'll see how it works out in practice, of course. They're at about 150k premises 'passed' (ie they can be connected on demand); of these 45k are actually connected. EDIT: Actually, from context they may be talking about a prior rollout. But the idea's the same.
  - CalRobert 3y ago
    Rob!!! It's been a while. Hope you're doing well. I was referring to this (from 2018) for the 300k number - https://www.openeir.ie/open-eir-passes-170k-rural-homes-businesses-with-fibre-to-the-home-ftth/ https://www.openeir.ie/open-eir-passes-170k-rural-homes-busi...
    - rsynnott 3y ago
      Oh, small world! Yeah, this was OpenEir (which is now just Eir’s standard commercial offering, though I think the rural buildout was subsidised). I was thinking of NBI, a separate network which is supposed to fill in what OpenEir didn’t. Meanwhile I’m on coax; that’s the price you pay to live in the city center. (For whatever reason, Dublin city center tends to be behind on this stuff; my old apartment, beside Trinity, didn’t even get _VDSL_ until 2016 or so).

wiredfool 3y ago

There's really no other kind in rural ireland.

CalRobert 3y ago
The best internet I've ever had was in rural Ireland.