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

dub_nerd said:
That's good to know. What do you do about VM's cable modem and router? Do they want the equipment back at end of contract and do you have to get new ones? (EDIT: just checked back over the thread and I think you said that was the case).
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Last year they needed the white hub sent back even though they were sending me an identical one out for the new service contract. (I think they said that the box is coded to the service or address or something so you can't reuse an existing one - maybe that's BS but I don't know). You stick it in a box and attach a (DPD?) shipment form that they provide so it doesn't cost anything to return it.

This year they didn't need it back so it's going in the council WEEE recycling like so many others (what a waste). This year they sent me out the black one.

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Either way, when you terminate a service contract with them they'll tell you whether or not they need the equipment back.
 
After over 17 months of waiting for fibre I sent an email to SIRO
Asking them if they had any idea or timescale as to when I'd be able to avail of the full fibre service
I got a reply a couple of days later
"We can inform you that SIRO is planning to expand its deployment in your area in Q1 of 2025 without exact dates."
Yesterday I received a newsletter from Siro that my area or more precisely my exchange will be upgraded in 2025
So looks like I'll get full fibre sometime this year, hopefully before end of march when my current contract runs out
 
So, first time my VM contract is coming to an end and fibre is now an option in my area. To date I've been on VM cable broadband. I'm going to give VM my 30 days notice and finish with them in a month's time. And then go with Sky fibre broadband. There's no fibre connection to my house yet so presumably this will need to be installed (by Sky or by Circet?) as part of getting set up. Does anybody know if there's any sort of lead time on getting this done? I tried the Sky chat bot but it was useless. Just asking here before calling them... Thanks.
 
I believe Sky use the Eir infrastructure, therefore OpenEir.
I assume fibre is available to your boundary and if there's existing ducting, should not be a major job.
HOWEVER, even this could take well over a month so I wouldnt be cancelling VM just yet!
 
When I was renewing my FTTC with Pure in March I asked and was told a week or two depends on how busy the "engineer" is and if their in your area, so if your definitely leaving VM for Sky, I presume/hope that they would organise the "engineer" to call out and organise the cabling during the notice period so as your down time is at the minimum if any at all??

Fibre arrived in my area early April but had already signed up on the old contract as the sales agent said
"Give us a call when it arrives and we'll swap you over"
What they didn't tell us or conveniently forgot to mention was because I'm an existing customer we can't avail of the deals on offer
So I'm stuck with FTTC until next March
 
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charlie007 said:
I believe Sky use the Eir infrastructure, therefore OpenEir.
I assume fibre is available to your boundary and if there's existing ducting, should not be a major job.
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Sky will use Eir or Siro depending on which is available. Eir runs underground along our boundary but when I tried to get an install (via Sky initially) it turned out that there was no ducting to the house. I would have had to get his done myself - so I left it.

A year later Siro came along and ran their fibre cables along the top of the houses with a connection box under the fascia board. This time I decided to go with Digiweb on Siro - they arranged for the fibre to be installed into the house from the external connection. I don't remember which contractors they used but it was all done without issues within about 7-10 days. The router was posted out by Digiweb.
 
Can anyone confirm for me if recording on both RTE and BBC will disappear when fibre comes into play with VM? I asked someone in their call centre recently and they said it will definitely go and that will probably happen next year
 
Thanks @Ruffian. It's OpenEir in my estate and connecting individual houses doesn't seem to be a problem. It comes from the existing cable TV box on the external wall into the house so I guess that they're using existing ducting.
 
Sue Ellen said:
Can anyone confirm for me if recording on both RTE and BBC will disappear when fibre comes into play with VM? I asked someone in their call centre recently and they said it will definitely go and that will probably happen next year
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Yes it will unfortunately, you will have to switch to Virgin Streaming TV when FTTP is installed. I would say it will be longer than next year though, I can’t see them forcing people off of coax because of having to switch to streaming TV and I would presume lots of people would complain.
 
NotShero said:
I can’t see them forcing people off of coax because of having to switch to streaming TV and I would presume lots of people would complain.
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Thanks for that info. Interesting times ahead in light of the fact that we hold the cables for the whole road on our property. Visions of back to the good ol' days of the water meter demonstrations spring to mind, kicking and screaming holding onto my recorder box Come back Homes under Hammer (BBC1) all is forgiven
 
Sue Ellen said:
Thanks for that info. Interesting times ahead in light of the fact that we hold the cables for the whole road on our property.
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My parents have been able to get discounted sub to to Virgin (and its predecessors) for DECADES due to this as to move the cables would have cost far more than a discount off an overpriced subscription.
 
tallpaul said:
My parents have been able to get discounted sub to to Virgin.....
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Only a discount!!
when I asked Virgin to remove the cables running front and back of my house they offered my their basic package for free
I declined their offer and made a counter offer of free internet which they declined
So they had to reroute the cables at I'm reckoning a greater expense then offering me free internet
I'm surprised that more people don't use this tactic when discussing discounts with Virgin
 
ClubMan said:
no discount or free service for the householder?
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Did you miss that part in my post about "free service" and @tallpaul's parents discount ??

With regards to the "hassle and expense" to Virgin
Should I let them use my property to provide service to others without recourse to me???
 
Cervelo said:
Did you miss that part in my post about "free service"
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What you said was...
So you played hardball, lost, and gained nothing as far as I can see. Why would anybody employ such a tactic for no benefit?
 
ClubMan said:
So you played hardball, lost, and gained nothing as far as I can see. Why would anybody employ such a tactic for no benefit?
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You are correct, that is what I wrote except it wasn't a "tactic" on my behalf

I asked for the cables to be removed from my property as I have never been a customer of Virgin or their predecessor
Nor did I want to be as I believe their service is inferior to Sky's offering of who I was a customer for over 20 years at that stage
When they offered, I didn't ask, the free basic TV service I declined but chanced my arm with BB as it was a better service then EIR or Vodafone
When they refused it was back to removing the cables from my house, which they eventually did

But I agree in hindsight it wasn't great advice to existing customers of Virgin who are renewing and looking for discounts
as it's not something that will ever be agreed on when phoning them looking for discounts,
and it took over a year from first contact and involved senior management calling out to my house
 
ClubMan said:
Thanks @Ruffian. It's OpenEir in my estate and connecting individual houses doesn't seem to be a problem. It comes from the existing cable TV box on the external wall into the house so I guess that they're using existing ducting.
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So I've...
  1. Ordered 500Mbps Sky fibre broadband for €30 p.m. for 12 months with a site visit on 4th July
  2. Given VM my 30 days notice to cancel/finish with them (500Mbps for €35 p.m. for 12 months) on the 20th July - my contract end date is actually 22nd July but I forgot that when you're close to the end of the contract they accept the 30 days notice slightly early - not sure how early, maybe any time within the last month? They will send me details for returning the VM modem/router anon. The poor guy really wanted a specific reason for why I was cancelling but I had to keep saying that I preferred not to say and just wanted to cancel.
Hopefully this scheduling will allow for Sky to be set up before VM ends without too much overlap and additional cost. We'll see.
 
ClubMan said:
The poor guy really wanted a specific reason for why I was cancelling but I had to keep saying that I preferred not to say and just wanted to cancel
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"I'm moving to the UK" is one of my go-to's as it shuts down the conversation.
 
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