Smart going belly up?

BreadBoard

Our phone is with Smart and we still can't ring out, when is this ment to be back on?

JJDoherty

LoBo wrote:

...Our broadband hasn't dropped at all (and is now 6Mb instead of 3) and we don't use the voice line (only got it for broadband). Can we just do nothing and stay with smart?

SmartTelecom have made an official announcement on their support board regarding BB customers here http://support.smarttelecom.ie/forums

Most of what is known so far is on here, on the ComReg site or on the SmartTelecom support board. There should to be an announcement made later today from SmartTelecom. It looks like SmartTelecom are dropping their voice only business but are gonna hold onto the BB business, that include the voice service that comes with the BB product.

Would suggest that anyone with questions read the ComReg site first then come back here and read through this thread, especially the last couple of pages.

scottr

Hi Folks

Just to clarify things, we our continuing with our broadband product and it is our WLR customer's who are being advised to move to another provider!

art

LoBo wrote:

Can we just do nothing and stay with smart?

So, to summarise, yes!

scottr

Yes we are still here alive and well

"Smart Telecom are pleased to announce that restoration of services to our customers began today at midday.

Smart's broadband customers should have had inbound and outbound voice services restored today.

It has come to our attention that some of our broadband customers have lost access to our broadband services over the past two days. We aim to contact those customers directly in the coming days with a view to restoring our service as soon as possible.

We would like to take this opportunity to sincerely apologise to all our customers for any inconvenience caused during this difficult time and as a token of our appreciation for your continued support, we are increasing the speed of your existing broadband product by an additional 3Mbps.

This upgrade will take place during the next 24 hours and will be available for the remainder of 2006.

We look forward to continue providing you with our exciting products for many years to come."

rockal

Well done Scottr. At least one job saved!

simp

scottr wrote:

Just to clarify things, we our continuing with our broadband product and it is our WLR customer's who are being advised to move to another provider!

When I got a call from a Comreg employee last night, I put that to him repeatedly, and he insisted that I should need to switch, even though I'm a BB customer. He was quite aggressive about it, and was extremely dismissive of Smart. I find it kind of shocking that the supposedly neutral regulator is so nakedly partisan... He was so obviously wrong, yet so insistent about sticking to his brief... Maybe there's a career in politics for him...

I'm staying put, and quite happy with my 3.92mbs down, thank you very much...

scottr

thanks rockal fingers crossed

scottr

Sorry simp are you saying u received a call from Comreg?

tba

let me get this straight, as a bb and voice customer of smart, do I have to change to a new voice provider (cause I dont even have a phone, and only have it becuase I want the net) to mantain the BB connection, or is the LLU allowing Smart to provide just Broadband?

ie I will have no phone at all

fatherdougalmag

simp wrote:

... I got a call from a Comreg employee last night ... Maybe there's a career in politics for him...

Or maybe there's a career for him in Eircom winback.

Unless .......

LoBo

tba wrote:

let me get this straight, as a bb and voice customer of smart, do I have to change to a new voice provider (cause I dont even have a phone, and only have it becuase I want the net) to mantain the BB connection, or is the LLU allowing Smart to provide just Broadband?

It looks like if you get broadband you don't need to switch away - it's if you get voice only from smart that you need to switch.

The askcomreg site is very unclear about this by leading with 'do you get one bill' rather than saying 'do you get smart broadband or just voice'..

eth0_

scottr wrote:

Hi Folks

Just to clarify things, we our continuing with our broadband product and it is our WLR customer's who are being advised to move to another provider!

What, until you run up a multi-million euro arrears for bandwitch and backhaul?
I wouldn't be too comfortable in my job if I were you. I'm guessing Smart didn't even tell their own staff how FUBAR'd they are financially until those 250 staff got the chop.

JJDoherty

tba wrote:

let me get this straight, as a bb and voice customer of smart, do I have to change to a new voice provider (cause I dont even have a phone, and only have it becuase I want the net) to mantain the BB connection, or is the LLU allowing Smart to provide just Broadband?

From the AskComReg site http://www.askcomreg.ie/home/update.206.LE.asp: "Smart Broadband customers with existing service do not need to take any action."

ixoy

Scottr - can you tell me the situation with SmartVision customers? How are we affected? And can we expect any speed increase or are we going to be stuck with our current limit?

simp

scottr wrote:

Sorry simp are you saying u received a call from Comreg?

Yes - a callback from Comreg to my multiple queries all week - I went into detail further up the thread - essentially he told me Smart were totally kaput and to get a new provider. I asked if he was aware of the difference between voice customers and BB customers (ie former being dropped, latter being retained, afaik), he confirmed that he was not, but that his advice to me, as a BB customer, was to cancel my account and not pay any attention to the announcement which I had seen on the Smart forums... Muppet. As fatherdougalmag says, he was doing the work of Eircom winback - which I find reprehensible in an industry regulator... I think I may send a letter to the muppets to complain...

Gadgetman496

Here's a snippet from the Irish Times, posted on enn today.

"The paper also reports that Smart Telecom and Eircom have yet to reach a new interconnection agreement, and it is expected that talks between the two companies will continue on Friday. A new interconnect agreement is not expected unless Eircom receives payments it is owed from Smart, the paper says.


In its coverage of the Smart story, the Irish Times reports that a consortium led by Brendan Murtagh is likely to pay off Smart's outstanding liabilities with Eircom on Friday, clearing the way for him to lead a refinancing of the troubled telco. Murtagh and his team, whose members have not yet been named, are believed likely to refinance Smart by between EUR10 million and EUR15 million, a sum that will include EUR2.3 million to help settle the company's EUR4.3 million debt with Eircom."

Sponge Bob

simp wrote:

I think I may send a letter to the muppets to complain...

send a detailed email to irelandoffline who are collecting data on this underhand Comreg activity. Comreg are probably in contempt of court over this becuase they tried to crash a company who took them to the high court ...just before the decision was due next week !

Be nice to see a few commissioners locked up. Name names and times to IoffL who are collecting a dossier on this entire sad farce . I hope IoffL send it to Mr Justice Kelly in the High Court for a look.

At this stage Cormeg are fully complying in the attempted liquidation of Smart (strated by eircom early this week ) because Comreg will find themselves being sued for millions if Smart survives the month and you may be sure of that.

They are simply a disgrace.

rockal

simp wrote:

essentially he told me Smart were totally kaput and to get a new provider.

I got the same comment from a Magnet rep. on a broadband query. This seems to be the 'official' spin going around. Started by whom, I wonder. haha.

MOH

I rang ComReg this morning to ask about the Smart broadband situation, and the guy told me discussions are ongoing today and they should have some information this afternoon. I asked him in the meantime should I stay put with Smart, and he said yes.

(Pity: I only rang hoping to be told to switch so then I could complain about it without it being just hearsay)

the corpo

who in comreg do we complain to about comregs pathetic actions in all this?

and who can we complain to about comreg?


wouldn't it be lovely, for once, if eircom actually ended up totally shafted for their behaviour?

MOH

the corpo wrote:

who in comreg do we complain to about comregs pathetic actions in all this?

and who can we complain to about comreg?


wouldn't it be lovely, for once, if eircom actually ended up totally shafted for their behaviour?

Well, you could fill in this form.

Noel Dempsey's the only one I can think of. But it's his fault they're so weak anyway.

So the only court of appeal is ..... Joe Duffy!!!

Ardent

Thanks for then update scottr. This is excellent news. I'm chuffed I get to keep my excellent Smart service.

One question: is the additional 3 Mbps goodwill gesture a long term thing or only good for the remainder of this year?

fatherdougalmag

I think it's up to the end of the year

huggs2

scottr, after waiting months for my smart broadband i got the line connected 3-4 weeks ago. no sign of my modem
yet should i hang on a little longer? they say they are looking into it at smart.In and outgoing phone calls have
not been interupted.

Foxwood

JJDoherty wrote:

According to the Irish Times ...
"ComReg was working with Minister for Communications Noel Dempsey to establish new protocols under which a network operator such as Eircom would be obliged to give 24 hours notice that it proposed to terminate a service. Such protocols would have to be set out in legislation, he said."

24 hours is nowhere near sufficient notice for such a drastic action. 2 weeks would be a far more appriate minimum-notice period.

Dellas

Foxwood wrote:

Smart did raise the bond. What's more, Comreg didn't even refund the multi-million euro "deposit" that Smart had paid until 3 or 4 months after it had supposedly cancelled the contract.

The dispute was about the terms under which the bond would be forfeited, not about the size of the bond.

Oh ok I thought they never raised the bond!!! But if Smart wernt prepared to comply with the T&C then I guess they had a right to take the 3G license back.

JJDoherty

Here is what I have sent:

Minister Dempsey,

I am writing to you in your capacity as minister of communications. It is with great concern that I have been observing events unfold over the past week involving SmartTelecom, Eircom and the communications regulator ComReg and in particular the removal of services from 45,000 SmartTelecom customers by Eircom. I would like to state from the start that I have no connection with SmartTelecom, Eircom or any other telecommunications company, beyond the fact that I have been a customer of SmartTelcoms broadband service for the past 12 months.

I would like to register my disappointment as to how this whole situation has been handled by all parties especially ComReg. While SmartTelecom are at fault for possibly failing to structure their finances properly, the main issue that this debacle has highlighted is how Eircom have been allowed to throttle a competitor and hence their customers through the wholesale disruption of their services, acting unilaterally, without a court injunction or reference to any regulatory body. The most worrying aspect of this removal of services is that emergency service numbers could not be guaranteed to many SmartTelecom customers. You, minister, have failed to provide ComReg with the necessary powers to protect the consumers before, during or after these events. I am fully aware that you and your department along with ComReg are currently looking to introduce legislation to remedy this situation but this strikes me as shutting the stable door after the horse has bolted.

It must also be pointed out that, as minister responsible for the industry, you have failed to provide ComReg with any real powers to act against Eircom in any fashion to date. This has enabled Eircom to maintain their dominant monopolistic position and their on-going obstruction of LLU unbundling, refusal to co-operate with the development and implementation of telephone number portability and charging of the highest line rental in Europe. Eircom's obstructionist policies have not only prevented SmartTelecom from developing a foothold in the marketplace but any other company from doing so as well.

There is a growing feeling that there is a considerable lack of political will within the current government to help ComReg fulfil it's remit, as outlined on their own website, of enabling "competition in the communications sector by facilitating market entry through a general authorisation to provide networks and services and by regulating access to networks so as to develop effective choice for consumers both business and residential.”

I would urge your office to examine the ongoing situation in some detail, especially with regard to introducing true, fair and free market conditions to enable the telecommunications market to flourish as it should. Meanwhile I eagerly await your reply on what steps you and your department propose to take to resolve all the issues I have highlighted here.

Yours Sincerely,

Joe Bloggs.

And who I have sent it to:
noel.dempsey@oireachtas.ie (You know who he is!)

And CC:
Isolde.Goggin@comreg.ie (Chairperson of the Commission - ComReg)
tom.butler@comreg.ie (Public Affairs Manager - ComReg)
bernard.durkan@oireachtas.ie (Fine Gael)
eamon.gilmore@oireachtas.ie (Labour)
eamon.ryan@oireachtas.ie (Green Party)

JJDoherty

I have just started a new thread for the letter of complaint I have just sent regarding all this. The thread is here http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2054999845

Foxwood

Dellas wrote:

Oh ok I thought they never raised the bond!!! But if Smart wernt prepared to comply with the T&C then I guess they had a right to take the 3G license back.

Smart and ComReg were still in negotiation about what exactly the T&C were.

While most peiple don't bother reading the T&C on a €30/month DSl contract, you can be quite sure that the T&Cs on a €100,000,000 contract are negotiated in excruciating detail.