Richie Sadlier
RTÉ soccer pundit Richie Sadlier is in Dundalk this morning to launch the new Eir store in the Marshes Shopping Centre.
The former eMobile shop is being relaunched as part of Eircom’s rebranding as Eir.
The former Irish international will be in store from 11am to 12.30pm and will give out a number of prizes as part of his visit.
Fibre broadband went live in Louth Village for the first time this morning.
Eircom claim that 448 new premises off Louth exchange (cab E01) can now access high speed broadband of up to 70mb/s.
In total 9,254 new premises can now access high speed broadband across the country as and from today.
Fibre services are also due to go live in Inniskeen and Togher next month.
Fibre broadband will be available in Louth Village later this month.
Eircom have revealed that the first Live Fibre Services are estimated to be available from Wednesday June 24th.
The updage of the exchange in the village will enable people to achieve speeds of up to 100Mb/s.
Fibre broadband will also be made available in Inniskeen, Togher, Clogherhead and Collon throughout the summer months.
Fibre services are also planned for Hackballscross, Ravensdale, Omeath, Carlingford, Riverstown and the Racecourse Road for early/mid 2016.
High speed broadband is on its way to Readypenny.
The townland between Dundalk and Ardee was one of several broadband blackspots unveiled today by Eircom as an area targeted for upgrade as part of their rural broadband plans.
The new broadband will be fibre directly to the home, as opposed to existing phone lines that connect to a fibre cabinet some distance from the house. It will deliver broadband speeds of up to 1,000Mbs, four times faster than speeds in Irish cities.
More than 400 new premises in the area will be able to access high speed broadband from today.
Eircom has revealed that 203 premises in Dundalk off Dundalk (cab E01) exchange can now avail of speeds of up to 100Mb/s, as well as 220 premises in Blackrock off Dundalk Blackrock (cab E01) exchange.
Work is currently underway in Louth Village, Inniskeen and Togher to bring the first Live Fibre Services there later this summer.
Gardaí are investigating an attempted break-in to a filling station in Bellurgan overnight which has led to a communication blackout in the peninsula today.
Phone lines were cut during the incident, which has led to a phone and internet blackout in the area today – something that has affected 4,602 customers.
The attempted break-in is said to have occurred around 1.40am and any witnesses to suspicious activity in the area at the time are asked to contact Gardaí.
Eircom say they are working to repair the problem at present and hope to have service restored this evening.
The issue has affected a number of local businesses, including post offices in Cooley, Riverstown and Jenkinstown, which have been unable to operate today.
Eircom customers in North Louth are experiencing a service disruption this morning.
The issue is affecting 4,602 customers between Dundalk and Carlingford, who have been left without internet or phone services.
Eircom say the issue is under investigation and they hope to have service restored as soon as possible.
Anyone looking to contact the Four Seasons Hotel in Carlingford is asked to contact 086 7788850 during the duration of the down time.
The major fibre outage which has affected broadband in parts of Dundalk today will not now be fixed until lunchtime tomorrow.
Approximately 3,181 eircom broadband customers are said to have been effected by the fault, which is affecting connectivity in parts of Dundalk and Blackrock.
It had been hoped to have normal service resumed by midday today but it is now not expected to be fixed until 12 noon on Saturday.
According to eircom, cables had been cut by a third party in a joint box just past the Blackrock exchange. This has led to an outage in parts of Dundalk, as well as Beauparc, Castlebellingham and Blackrock.
ESB and Vodafone today announced a new joint venture which will see them invest €450m in building a 100% fibre broadband network across Ireland.
The new network will offer speeds of 200mpbs to 1,000mpbs, propelling Ireland into the ranks of the world’s fastest broadband countries.
Dundalk and Drogheda are amongst 50 towns set to benefit from the new roll out first of all, with 500,000 premises across the country set to benefit initially.
Roll-out is expected to take place in the coming months subject to European Commission approval, with the first customers set to avail of the new high speeds from the start of next year.
The fibre will be deployed on ESB’s existing overhead and underground infrastructure, ensuring a fast and cost efficient roll-out to every county in Ireland and reversing the digital divide between the capital and regional towns.
Unfortunately it won’t be available in towns with less than 4,000 premises so rural areas are unlikely to benefit.
At the launch it was revealed that 43% of broadband in Ireland today has speeds of less than 10mbps. At present the fastest broadband available in Dundalk is Eircom’s efibre, which only operates at “up to” 100mpbs – something few actually ever experience.
Local photography business Pro Shutterblade has taken to Twitter to complain about the fact that Castletown is set to be omitted from Eircom’s roll out of its high-speed eFibre broadband service.
Last week local TD Peter Fitzpatrick revealed that 10,000 homes in Dundalk would have access to higher broadband speeds from August but it appears Castletown is not one of these areas, with Pro Shutterblade complaining that the next generation broadband has not even made it there as yet.
It used to be said that if you hadn’t a relative in Castletown Cemetery then you weren’t really from Dundalk but nowadays it appears that the area is a bit of a graveyard for broadband. Are any other areas being omitted? Let us know…
Previously: Broadband boost for the area
Talk of the Town 