Developers obstructing Eircom?

j_cal

As if getting decent broadband wasn't already hard enough it now seems that the developers of the appartment complex where I live are refusing to let Eircom come into the building to install phone lines,

Eircom told me over the phone that Magnet are trying to build a paralell network by doing deals with developers

Has anyone heard any similar stories?

Drapper

j_cal wrote:

As if getting decent broadband wasn't already hard enough it now seems that the developers of the appartment complex where I live are refusing to let Eircom come into the building to install phone lines,

Eircom told me over the phone that Magnet are trying to build a paralell network by doing deals with developers

Has anyone heard any similar stories?

I think your developer has your interests in mind! MAgnet will be a powerhouse in the future with ADSL2 and FTTH.

I've not met an unsatisfied Magnet user! I'd go with them if I was you !

kaizersoze

Drapper wrote:

I think your developer has your interests in mind! MAgnet will be a powerhouse in the future with ADSL2 and FTTH.

I've not met an unsatisfied Magnet user! I'd go with them if I was you !

I think you'll find that the developer has his own interest in mind cause he'll get a wad of money from Magnet. While Magnet may be a great service it's no harm to have freedom of choice and competition.

zuma

If I was getting FTTH...then I would have such a HUGE smile on my face!

Magnets network is not a parallel network to eircoms....the network that eircom operate is a pile of crap in comparison to Magnets!

dub45

kaizersoze wrote:

I think you'll find that the developer has his own interest in mind cause he'll get a wad of money from Magnet. While Magnet may be a great service it's no harm to have freedom of choice and competition.

I agree totally - it is very early days yet to be singing Magnet's praises. Monopolies in general I think are bad - what options are people in these apartment blocks going to have if the likes of Magnet mess up in the future or the service is lousy etc etc.?

j_cal

Do i have a legal right to choose what company provides my phone line?

Also we have NTl boxes in the house, which doesn't suggest that the developer would want Magnet in... ( also NTL says they haven't activated broadband in the area yet)

Why would the developer get NTL boxes into the complex and then obstruct Eircom, doesn't make any sense to me......

spurious

Anyone screwing Eircom gets my vote.

Let them have a taste of what they are doing at the moment to Smart.

Snaga

Magnet are putting in the physical infrastructure into the complex - why should the developer let Eircom duplicate the infrastructure allready in place?

Can Eircom not just deal direct with Magnet and unbundle Magnet's 'already in place' infrastructure? Im sure they will be more than happy to supply colo space and reasonable 'per port' pricing

Drapper

kaizersoze wrote:

I think you'll find that the developer has his own interest in mind cause he'll get a wad of money from Magnet. While Magnet may be a great service it's no harm to have freedom of choice and competition.

True but if you read your contract or mgt agreement on the complex/apt block most have a services exclusivity cluases in them.

Magnet/NTL/Evo and all the others are out there competing to get into these developments in the market!

Sponge Bob

j_cal wrote:

Do i have a legal right to choose what company provides my phone line?

1. The NTL boxes may be Magnet boxes with an NTL sticker

2. You have a legal right to a phone line . Its in the building regulations . Make sure that this is picked up and dealt with in your snag list .
I would get your solicitor to bang off a letter right now if

a) you bought without being told you could not get an eircom phoneline (did you know or were you told before you bought

b) to remind the developer that you expect full compliance with building regulations including a phone line just like everyone else.

Once the developer gets your money you can basically go **** yourself because you accepted the lack of phone line .

Monopolies are bad as the man said above..... be they an eircom monopoly or anybody elses .

j_cal

I am renting, interesting about the building regulations.....

cormac_byrne

Sponge Bob wrote:

2. You have a legal right to a phone line . Its in the building regulations . Make sure that this is picked up and dealt with in your snag list .
I would get your solicitor to bang off a letter right now if

a) you bought without being told you could not get an eircom phoneline (did you know or were you told before you bought

b) to remind the developer that you expect full compliance with building regulations including a phone line just like everyone else.

Once the developer gets your money you can basically go **** yourself because you accepted the lack of phone line .

Magnet don't provide phone lines, they supply ASDL2 either over copper pair or FTTH. Their phone service is VoIP.

I'm a Magnet customer (LLU Dolphins Barn) and happy with the service.
However would have doubts about connecting a non voice device (alarm, fax, sky digibox) to the line.

The TV service has limitations (slow channel change, terrible EPG, doubt my line could stream 2 channels) but again I'm happy for the moment for the price I'm paying and only have 1 TV.

However I would not be happy if I didn't have the option to switch to NTL or Sky and to revert to a proper phone line should I need one in the future.

Drapper

Sponge Bob wrote:

1. The NTL boxes may be Magnet boxes with an NTL sticker

2. You have a legal right to a phone line . Its in the building regulations . Make sure that this is picked up and dealt with in your snag list .
I would get your solicitor to bang off a letter right now if

a) you bought without being told you could not get an eircom phoneline (did you know or were you told before you bought

b) to remind the developer that you expect full compliance with building regulations including a phone line just like everyone else.

Once the developer gets your money you can basically go **** yourself because you accepted the lack of phone line .

Monopolies are bad as the man said above..... be they an eircom monopoly or anybody elses .

which regulation ?

V1llianous

cormac_byrne wrote:

Magnet don't provide phone lines, they supply ASDL2 either over copper pair or FTTH. Their phone service is VoIP.

I'm a Magnet customer (LLU Dolphins Barn) and happy with the service.
However would have doubts about connecting a non voice device (alarm, fax, sky digibox) to the line.

The TV service has limitations (slow channel change, terrible EPG, doubt my line could stream 2 channels) but again I'm happy for the moment for the price I'm paying and only have 1 TV.

However I would not be happy if I didn't have the option to switch to NTL or Sky and to revert to a proper phone line should I need one in the future.

I am a customer in Lucan with Magnet, the TV isn't great but they installed an ATA and I have my Alarm Dialler and Panasonic SkyBox working fine through it.

cormac_byrne

V1llianous wrote:

I am a customer in Lucan with Magnet, the TV isn't great but they installed an ATA and I have my Alarm Dialler and Panasonic SkyBox working fine through it.

Yes some devices will work but others can have problems. Have you tested the Sky Box thoroughly. A digibox will report an ATA as a valid line easy enough, but may not dial out correctly. For booking movies etc... you might think it's dialing out but it could still be having problems. It will ignore the failed connection and allow you to order up to 50 PPV events before coming to a halt (the card buffer won't hold any more). Then if it does connect to Sky you get a big bill.

Am curious as I have a Digibox but no subscription so can't do any test other than verify that the digibox does accept the dialtone from the ATA.