Ask Adrian: My neighbours get fibre broadband — why am I excluded?
Our technology editor answers your trickiest tech questions
Eir is rolling out high-speed fibre to 1.9 million homes
Question: I’m hoping you can give me some advice as I’m very frustrated with my broadband.
I live in an estate with 60 houses. Fifty of them are getting the National Broadband Plan fibre, but mine is not included, despite it being one estate and my home literally being metres from the other houses.
When I inquired, I was told that my home met the minimum requirement of 30 megabits.
I just don’t understand why the other houses are getting the fibre, as surely we’re all on the same phone line. Is there any way I can appeal against this? — Pat Sullivan
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Answer
There is, through a web form at the Department of the Environment, Climate and Communications (you can find a direct link to it on the ‘Network Map’ page on National Broadband Ireland’s website).
But that will ask you to check your eircode against NBI’s map to see whether it’s in the blue (doesn’t qualify for NBP) or amber (does qualify).
And before you do that, you should double-check with either Eir or Siro — the two main private broadband infrastructure firms — whether they plan to cover your eircode.
If they do, and even if it hasn’t been rolled out yet, that would explain why you’re not getting National Broadband Plan fibre now; the state-subsidised plan is only intended for homes and businesses that are not on any rollout plans from existing broadband companies.
Eir, for example, says that it will be rolling out high-speed fibre to almost every house in the country (1.9 million of them) not in the NBP coverage area (560,000 premises).
So the bottom line here is that if you do actually get a minimum of 30Mbs (megabits per second) broadband speed, and it’s deemed to be consistent and reliable, then you won’t be entitled to NBP fibre.
Yes, it might be a cruel irony that the other houses in your estate got it and now enjoy starting speeds of 500Mbs.
But the rules, as outdated as they might seem in 2024 (they were written a decade ago), currently classify ‘high-speed broadband’ as anything over 30Mbs.
That means an old-fashioned phone line could qualify.
If it’s any consolation, your issue — that your neighbours a few doors away got fibre laid but they wouldn’t cover your home — is by far the biggest complaint around broadband supply today.
But ultimately, you’re unlikely to be in luck.
Email your questions to aweckler@independent.ie
