Any way to check when fibre will be available in my area?

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ClubMan

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I'm 3km from Dublin city centre but fibre is still not available in my area so I'm effectively tied to Virgin for decent broadband (and they've just emailed me about yet another price increase today...).
I saw the lads installing it a few weeks back and asked one of them when it was likely to be available to customers and he just said later in the year.
Is there any way to check when it will be available other than asking each provider?
Do eir still own the infrastructure so asking them would be the simplest?
I really want to get a better deal than Virgin for fast broadband.
Thanks.
 
@ClubMan - you could try entering your Eircode here. More info here, but I found this not to be the very latest info at the time.

Also, could check the various suppliers web sites to see what is available in your area - or is it only Virgin ?
 
Jazz01 said:
@ClubMan - you could try entering your Eircode here. More info here, but I found this not to be the very latest info at the time.
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Thanks. I did but it says that my area is not included in that plan.
Even though, as I said, I was talking to the lads installing fibre a few weeks ago.
(Can't remember the contractor's name. Not SIRO.)
Jazz01 said:
Also, could check the various suppliers web sites to see what is available in your area - or is it only Virgin ?
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Other providers are available but only DSL maxing out at 12Mbps which is useless and I haven't had a phone line in years either.
 
ClubMan said:
Thanks. I did but it says that my area is not included in that plan.
Even though, as I said, I was talking to the lads installing fibre a few weeks ago.
(Can't remember the contractor's name. Not SIRO.)
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There are really only three fibre-to-the-home providers in Dublin. If it was Eir then they would be installing the fibre on the telegraph poles. If it was SIRO then they'd be installed on the electricity poles (it's a JV with ESB). If it was Virgin Media it might be more difficult to tell as it would be underground, and they all do a bit of that, however I think Virgin are mostly installing fibre in green field builds rather than retrofitting where their coax is still very capable. That should help you figure out who owns the fibre and then who you might approach to get an activation date.

Where I am in North Dublin SIRO and Eir installed fibre down my road within a couple of weeks of each other. An Eir sales person was at my door within a couple of weeks of the cable going in and I was live a month later. SIRO seemed to take longer, could have been 4-6 months after I saw the cables going in before I got a mail to say it was now available.
 
The guys installing it in my area were doing it underground. I'm not sure what you mean by telegraph and electricity poles. There are street lighting poles in the area but no wires strung between them. All services seem to be underground. The estate was built in the mid 90s. At this stage I think I'm going to cancel Virgin and make do with 4G router access for the moment. I don't need it for work so if it's not ideal it's an inconvenience rather than a major problem. I'm just starting to experiment with the 4G router access in the meantime in parallel with having Virgin until at least the price increase date of 1st July.
 
ClubMan said:
The guys installing it in my area were doing it underground. I'm not sure what you mean by telegraph and electricity poles. There are street lighting poles in the area but no wires strung between them. All services seem to be underground. The estate was built in the mid 90s. At this stage I think I'm going to cancel Virgin and make do with 4G router access for the moment. I don't need it for work so if it's not ideal it's an inconvenience rather than a major problem. I'm just starting to experiment with the 4G router access in the meantime in parallel with having Virgin until at least the price increase date of 1st July.
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I'm with Virgin and with full fiber and am 23 kms from Dublin City Centre, my connection runs multiple computers and other bits and bods, why isn't yours the same?

Just curious
 
Paul O Mahoney said:
I'm with Virgin and with full fiber and am 23 kms from Dublin City Centre, my connection runs multiple computers and other bits and bods, why isn't yours the same?

Just curious
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The problem is not the speed/reliability.
It's the price (going up yet again) and the lack of alternatives until fibre is available in my area from others (eir, Sky, Vodafone, Pure, DigiWeb etc.).
I'm sick of Virgin being the only fast wired provider and them constantly jacking up prices.
I'm going to cancel them and use 4G for now - subject to some testing in the meantime.
If, in a few months, fibre is still not available I can always go back to Virgin and get the preferential new customer deals.
 
Hi Clubman,

Victim of the price increases also. Just as a matter of interest do you know what the cost would be for you to move elsewhere with equivalent speeds etc. although I would not even consider Eir? Are you paying a lot at the moment?
 
ClubMan said:
The guys installing it in my area were doing it underground. I'm not sure what you mean by telegraph and electricity poles. There are street lighting poles in the area but no wires strung between them. All services seem to be underground. The estate was built in the mid 90s.
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Ah for us peasants they stick poles everywhere with cables strung overhead like a spider's web :).

If you remember which hole in the ground they were at you'll probably find the manhole cover is stamped with ESB, Eircom, UPC etc.
 
Sue Ellen said:
Hi Clubman,

Victim of the price increases also. Just as a matter of interest do you know what the cost would be for you to move elsewhere with equivalent speeds etc. although I would not even consider Eir? Are you paying a lot at the moment?
Click to expand...

Hi @Sue Ellen, I'm currently paying c. €60 (excluding the €4 increase effective from July) for 250Mbps broadband and home phone. No TV package. They've offered me this for €33 for 6 months and then €66 for 6 months on a new 12 month contract but I don't think that I'm going to go with that. Unfortunately until fibre is available to customers in my area there is nothing in my area that comes close to VM's speeds - hence my original question. The best is 12Mbps from the other providers or maybe higher (but possibly more variable) using 4G. Strangely VM said that if I cancel and come back to them immediately (not after 3 months or whatever) then I will be treated as a new customer and can avail of the new customer deals! I'm going to experiment with the 4G and if it's functional I'll use that for a bit, cancel VM and then review matters in a few months. Hopefully by then fibre options will be available to me.
 
ClubMan said:
Strangely VM said that if I cancel and come back to them immediately (not after 3 months or whatever) then I will be treated as a new customer and can avail of the new customer deals!
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Find this type of stuff extremely annoying :mad: loyalty definitely does not pay.
 
Sue Ellen said:
Find this type of stuff extremely annoying :mad: loyalty definitely does not pay.
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Yes, and having a customer cancel and then come back as a new customer is presumably more work for them so it doesn't even make sense.

If I do that I can get the package that I'm already on for €35 p.m. for 12 months. To do this I'll end up sending my current modem back to them (or, more likely, sticking it in the local WEEE recycling) and then they'll have to close my account, open a new one and send me a new modem. Crazy stuff.

Speaking of recycling, I'm always dismayed by the number of VM TV boxes and broadband modems in the local Bring centre cages. But I'm sure that VM will have some greenwashing excuse for how they support sustainability.

Edit: indeed they do:

[broken link removed]
 
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ClubMan said:
Strangely VM said that if I cancel and come back to them immediately (not after 3 months or whatever) then I will be treated as a new customer and can avail of the new customer deals!
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Thank you for that! I'm on the same boat and was wondering how I could avail of the new customer offers.

Has anyone tried to cancel and sign up with VM again straight after or the next day and if so did it "work"?
 
For what it's worth this is what VM customer support told me when I asked how long I needed to be away from them to be treated as a new customer and eligible for their new customer special offers...
Once an account is closed and fully paid you can set up a new account once again.
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ClubMan said:
They've offered me this for €33 for 6 months and then €66 for 6 months on a new 12 month contract but I don't think that I'm going to go with that
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I was sometihng similar except with tv and I refused the 1/2 price for 6 months but then she offered me 9 months half price and relented for convenience. As usual I was adamant I would leave and sign up again after a while :(. I suspect they know they can only squeeze another year out of people as the fibre is coming down the line (boom boom) from other suppliers.
 
Sue Ellen said:
Victim of the price increases also
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Price increase due to commence on 13th July but what do they do, they apply it from this month's bill, very sneaky. Its not an awful lot of money but they are getting too smart for their own good.

Its extremely annoying too that they do not have an e-mail address to write to, just a complaint process.
 
In case it's of any use to anybody else ... I cancelled my Virgin Media contract without penalty due to the price increase (they send you a link to do this if you are not happy with the change of contract). Once the final bill was issued, I paid it and at that point my account was closed and I was able to sign back up with them as a new customer - 500Mbps for €45 p.m. for 12 months, once off €30 connection charge, and they're supposed to send me a €75 One4All welcome voucher (€100 now) compared to my original 250Mbps plus phone for €63 p.m. No TV in either case. I did lose my phone line/number in the process, but I never really used it anyway so that didn't bother me. I did have to return the Hub 3.0 modem to them while they sent me out a new identical one (well, identical apart from the service CMAC tied to the account/service). During the brief hiatus with no VM broadband, I did use my 4G router with a 48 SIM (200GB data/fair usage for €12.99 p.m.) and it was functional for light use but the ping times and variable speeds didn't please the gamer in the house! :D
 
So 33 x 6 + 66 x 6 = €604 as oppose to 45 x 12 + 30 = €570 + a €75 voucher. Not great but I admire your principle ;)
 
ClubMan said:
In case it's of any use to anybody else ... I cancelled my Virgin Media contract without penalty due to the price increase (they send you a link to do this if you are not happy with the change of contract). Once the final bill was issued, I paid it and at that point my account was closed and I was able to sign back up with them as a new customer - 500Mbps for €45 p.m. for 12 months, once off €30 connection charge, and they're supposed to send me a €75 One4All welcome voucher (€100 now) compared to my original 250Mbps plus phone for €63 p.m. No TV in either case. I did lose my phone line/number in the process, but I never really used it anyway so that didn't bother me. I did have to return the Hub 3.0 modem to them while they sent me out a new identical one (well, identical apart from the service CMAC tied to the account/service). During the brief hiatus with no VM broadband, I did use my 4G router with a 48 SIM (200GB data/fair usage for €12.99 p.m.) and it was functional for light use but the ping times and variable speeds didn't please the gamer in the house! :D
Click to expand...

Irrelevant to you now, but I found GoMo network performance was much better than 48. Ironically I switched from 48 to GoMo for bandwidth when the latter were offering 75 MB/month compared to 48's 3 MB (48 now has the higher allowance). However, the GoMo network (can't remember who they piggy back on) is way better -- getting up to 60 Mbps, and never less than 20, with pretty decent ping times. Obviously your mileage may vary with cellular but I've tested it in quite a few different places.

In answer to your original question -- were KN Circet the network installation guys you spoke to? We had them pull fibre through underground ducting nearly 2 years ago and string it up the telephone poles to drop points, all ready to go. Took almost a year after that before it went live. The online maps were useless, and even Eir couldn't tell you over the phone when it would happen. They said that it was up to the "engineering department" and the support people didn't know any more than you could get on the online maps.

There was a false start for about a month, when the telcos started selling connections which then turned out not to be available. I went with Vodafone and I managed to get a further introductory discount for the inconvenience -- ended up with gigabit fibre for EUR 35/month for 12 months. Coming up to the end of it now and trying to decide who to switch to for the next discount.
 
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