Broadband Blackspots: ‘It is madness that we are so close to a high speed service, but cannot get connected’
KENTSTOWN
The Holohan family of Kentstown finds themselves very much out in the cold when it comes to broadband, because they are not even in NBI's intervention area.
They live in Dun An Samhradh in Kentstown village and get their fibre to the cabinet (FTTC) broadband at the church in Kentstown, despite having a cabinet in their own estate and a full fibre to the home (FTTH) connection just 200 metres from their home.
Martin Holohan explains: "There are two cabinets in the village giving most of the village access to approximately 35/40mbps speed.
"The closer you are to the cabinet, the better your speed should be. Ideally if you are within 100 metres of the cabinet you should be getting close to 100mbps. That for me is unfortunately pie in the sky. I have a cabinet within 30 metres of my home and the maximum speed I get is 40mbps, because our estate is connected to the cabinet at the church in Kentstown and not the cabinet in Dun An Samhradh.
"Now, if that is not annoying enough, Eir say it is not economically viable to do the smart thing and change all the Dun An Samhradh homes to the closer cabinet".
Even more frustrating for Martin and his family is the fact that full high speed fibre to the home broadband is available in the village, with one connection, just 200metres from his home and the other 500metres away.
"This would give us 1000mb or 1gb, which is the fastest available to my knowledge in the country. It is available within 200metres of my home toward the village or 500metres toward the N2. Given that this speed is the one that everybody should be acquiring to future proof homes/businesses, it really is not too much to ask for to have all the homes in Kentstown connected to this speed".
Martin tried to get his home connected to the fibre to the home service. "I was initially told it wasn't available at my premises, but then they took an order from me and I was told it would be three to six months.
"I heard nothing more from them, but when it wasn't happening I contacted them and was told the order had been cancelled by someone at a higher level, because the connection was not within 50metres of my home."
Martin says they really need the internet. "My son needs it for his college work, my wife to communicate with her sister in the US. We need it for TV and gaming."
Martin says he has always been interested in computers and realised when he moved to Kentstown that his children would need good broadband for schoolwork and in 2013, first started campaigning for broadband.
"I was told the only option was a fixed line and then Minister Helen McEntee took an interest.
"She organised the first meeting with Eir here in Kentstown in 2013 which got us the meagre speed we have at present but since then there has been no improvement.
"It is madness that we are so close to a high speed service, but cannot get connected. We are really being left behind."
What is particularly galling for Martin is the fact that his home is outside the NBI area of responsibility.
"People in the worst blackspots are at least getting an estimated date for when they will be connected. We have no idea if or when we will get high speed broadband," he said.
A spokesperson for Eir said that the open Eir fibre rollout is taking place across urban villages, towns and cities all across the country. "More than 750,000 homes and businesses have been passed already and on completion 1.9 million homes and businesses will have access to that superfast fibre network, that is 84 per cent of the premises in the country."