Smart going belly up?

Dellas

Hmm do you think that if we had another party in power here that they would have done things differently??? I think the politicians here are all in it for themselves to see how much they can screw the people for before they get found out. Having said that it will be interesting to see how recent events with Smart/Aer Lingus/Berties Manchester affair and the health service will affect votes in the next election.

I think we will have the same government and same regulators such as Comreg etc... this time next year and nothing will have changed. We will be saying new threads like ''Imagine Telecom going belly up '' We need a revolution in this country!!!!

Foxwood

Dellas wrote:

it will be interesting to see how recent events with Smart/Aer Lingus/Berties Manchester affair and the health service will affect votes in the next election.

You forgot to mention the news about the e-voting machines that came out last week!

They don't call him the Teflon Taoiseach for nuttin! Nobody's accountable for anything.

jimmycrackcorm

art wrote:

Originally Posted by miju
yeah about the while 999 thing i'm suprised no-ones brough it up yet
surely given the fact that practically everyone in the country has a mobile these days you could just use a mobile to call 999????

That has to be the lamest thing I've ever read on the internet. Congrats.

You should read a bit more on the internet. Better not have a road accident in case someone suggests its a bit lame to be using a mobile to dial 112/999.

I come across a lot of people now who have no need for a landline except for broadband. The younger they are the less likely a need for a landline.

Mutant_Fruit

yeah about the while 999 thing i'm suprised no-ones brough it up yet
surely given the fact that practically everyone in the country has a mobile these days you could just use a mobile to call 999????

Off the top of my head, i can name over a dozen people with no mobiles. Should we start compiling a list of them? Can you guarantee that everyone who is dependant on a home phone has a mobile. Bear in mind that a lot of those dependants are older people, who are quite unlikely to be able to use a mobile phone. I know my granny is one of those.

miju

Mutant_Fruit wrote:

Off the top of my head, i can name over a dozen people with no mobiles. Should we start compiling a list of them? Can you guarantee that everyone who is dependant on a home phone has a mobile. Bear in mind that a lot of those dependants are older people, who are quite unlikely to be able to use a mobile phone. I know my granny is one of those.

i work in a call centre , take about 250-300 calls per day since i've been working here for the last year and a half i've not dealt with one person who has not given me a modile number to contact them on (either theirs or their significant other)

people i deal with range from 15 right through to early 90's (in some cases) and hand on heart all had mobiles

Mutant_Fruit

miju wrote:

i've not dealt with one person who has not given me a modile number to contact them on (either theirs or their significant other)

So suppose my significant other has a mobile (which she does amazingly enough) and i lose my mobile (which hasn't happened as of yet, but it might), what do i do when my phoneline has been cut off and my house is burning down?

Do i run around to a neighbour and hope they're in? (they rarely are during the day). Do i run off to find my significant other to borrow her mobile? Do i sit around and wait for my significant other to arrive and then use her mobile? Or do i sue eircom for cutting me off without access to emergency numbers and just build a new house with the money? Oooh, the choices.

Thats just a sample scenario. It could easily happen.

Alternate scenario. No mobiles in the house for whatever reason, friend has a seizure. You cant leave their side in case they start choking/stop breathing. What do you do? Carry them with you door to door trying to find a phone?

EDIT: I do agree with you that most people have access to a mobile, be it theirs or a significant others' but either way, cutting off a standard phoneline so you can't make emergency calls is just plain wrong.

Diver79

miju wrote:

i work in a call centre , take about 250-300 calls per day since i've been working here for the last year and a half i've not dealt with one person who has not given me a modile number to contact them on (either theirs or their significant other)

people i deal with range from 15 right through to early 90's (in some cases) and hand on heart all had mobiles

jimmycrackcorm

Alternate scenario. No mobiles in the house for whatever reason, friend has a seizure. You cant leave their side in case they start choking/stop breathing. What do you do? Carry them with you door to door trying to find a phone?

So neither your friend nor you have mobiles? Very unlucky people then. And while you are at it - better not drive anywhere in case you equally have no mobiles and your friend decides to die outside the home. One thing's for sure if it did happen, you'll never foget your mobile again.

EDIT: I do agree with you that most people have access to a mobile, be it theirs or a significant others' but either way, cutting off a standard phoneline so you can't make emergency calls is just plain wrong.

No argument there but there's not doubt about it, without DSL, home phone use is going to die out. You can't deny that the latter generation is growing up with mobiles as communications device of choice and would never choose to have a home phone for any other reason than having broadband.

Foxwood

jimmycrackcorm wrote:

You can't deny that the latter generation is growing up with mobiles as communications device of choice and would never choose to have a home phone for any other reason than having broadband.

If the latter generations decide that they don't like talking on the phone, maybe.

Ever have a 30 minute conversation with family overseas on a mobile? You only have to do it occassionally to make even eircoms Line Rental seem reasonable.

JNive

one point you miss is this.
Mobiles requires batteries which can go dead.

Phones dont require batteries nor will they fail in a power outage ( unless using wireless hadnsets of course, but the line itself works fine )

Therefore intentionally disabling a phoneline's capability to make 999 calls is unbelievable, since if your mobile is dead, lost in the house, or naything else, your phone still works, which is the main benefit of a landline

miju

Foxwood wrote:

If the latter generations decide that they don't like talking on the phone, maybe.

Ever have a 30 minute conversation with family overseas on a mobile? You only have to do it occassionally to make even eircoms Line Rental seem reasonable.

as a quick aside

the latter generations (myself included) are increasingly turning towards VOIP with the likes of skype etc which will allow you to talk for completely free from computer to computer or you can buy credits to ring a phone for half the cost.

with the advent of the likes of NTL and Sky offering broadband without the need for a phoneline i'd say the figure will decline further over the years

art

This is an unbelievably moronic: Because some, or in this case most, people use one form of service, mobiles, then apparently the providers of an another service, landlines, can apparently do what they like - cut people off without notice and they drag their heels reconnecting. Doesn't matter because I know a lot of people with mobile phones... No matter that there are people out there who do not have mobiles at all, or if they do, often have them out of charge, out of credit, stolen, lost. You might as well argue that because you know a lot of people that like football, then football should be the only sport allowed on TV (not necessarily a bad idea, in my opinion, but a stupid ****ing argument).

Cuddlesworth

miju wrote:

people i deal with range from 15 right through to early 90's (in some cases) and hand on heart all had mobiles

I'm 22, employed and tech savy and I dont have a mobile. Ever think that mabye some of us dont like them. I can also name plently of other people who dont have them.

kaizersoze

krazy_8s wrote:

I'm 22, employed and tech savy and I dont have a mobile.

Freak:eek:

You're right though. I know many that don't have a mobile incl. my 84 year old father. He wouldn't be too impressed if his phone and emergency call alarm were disconnected without notice.

BTW, are Smart just going to sit on their 17,000 subscribers or are they still taking on new customers and continue the exchange roll-out?

dub45

Keep in mind to that even if you were an Eircom customer (or a customer of any of their resellers) with a landline and mobile you could not have contaced my smart landline with either!

smartblaa

Sorry to interject miju, but i think the point which was being made is that landline telephones have always been the "old reliant". If your mobile phone battery died, no network coverage/outage etc. a landline could always be depended apon. This landline infrastructure connects hospitals and government systems to all types of important services, and i'm pretty sure that there has been some resulting horror stories we have yet to hear from. We need to keep in mind that it's not just the 40,000 Smart Subs that got cut off, it was anyone who wanted to contact a Smart customer on that day or two.

miju wrote:

as a quick aside

the latter generations (myself included) are increasingly turning towards VOIP with the likes of skype etc...

That's all well and good miju, but if you consider a power outage; your VOIP is about as much use as a chocolate teapot! VOIP depends on your broadband router, and unless you've got a fancy back-up generator..you may as well pull out the auld tincans and a string!



I think that Comreg have let the customer down because I feel they have an obligation (at the least) to enforce the policy, that at no time should a landline subscriber be without access to emergency services.
Example: Mobile phone..
NO CREDIT - No restriction on emergency calls.
BARRED - No restriction on emergency calls.
NO SIM IN PHONE - No restriction on emergency calls.

The second thing that Comreg should do, is to make it ILLEGAL for a company to knowingly mass disconnect customers because of a seperate commercial dispute without giving at least two weeks notice to the subscribers.

Come-on guys, i'm not biased in any way. To me it looks like Comreg = Eircomreg! But Eircomreg is supposed to be in power here. It seems to me that Eircomreg has never faced up to Eircom with any issue. They have never sided with the competitors. And as soon as Eircomreg awarded Smart Telecom the 4th 3G licence, they were forced to pull it back by Eircom's high profile legal team.
http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2054915065&referrerid=&highlight=3g+licence

watty

I think some phones (locked to a supplier?) don't go at all with no SIM. Are you sure about the 3rd one?

Yes, any telecom system should support emergency calls, even if you cut off for lack of paying bill (with landline Emergency calls don't work if you have been cut off).

I have UPS and 5 to 10min to get my generator working...

skywalker

watty wrote:

I think some phones (locked to a supplier?) don't go at all with no SIM. Are you sure about the 3rd one?

Yep definitely. It will even work with the phones keylock on, try it, keylock your phone and dial 112 (the mobile emergency number) It will override the keylock and allow you to dial it

JNive

yes, correct on all account.
if the phone is turned on, then regardless of barring, credit, keylock, sim etc, you can still immediately dial emergency number, even across EUROPE lol,

Esel

I had voice with Smart, BB with BT. I am in process of changing to BT voice/BB package.

Question: AFAIK Smart BB and BB+voice customers are still OK, but could I now switch to Smart BB+voice package?

A simple Yes or No please, no slagging if my info is incorrect.

JNive

yes you could, but you wiould need to cancel BT broadband and get a cancellation number, wait till it goes dead and then apply to smart for broadband. Then it goes throught he usual LLU process at that stage.

Once complete you would have broadband and voice with Smart, over which of course you can use VoIP if you wish

dub45

Afaik you will also need an Eircom account number before Smart can connect you. the normal requirment has been an eircom account number for voice and a termination number for your bb from the isp concerned.

Spear

dub45 wrote:

Afaik you will also need an Eircom account number before Smart can connect you. the normal requirment has been an eircom account number for voice and a termination number for your bb from the isp concerned.

I didn't need one, and couldn't give one anyway. I couldn't even give a current number as the line was completely disconnected and not used by the previous tenants.

Foxwood

And you'd have to be on an exchange that Smart has installed it's own euipment in. If you were on one of those exchanges, you'd probably have switched to Smart BB+Voice already.