Leaving Smart, Where to next

romperstomper

hey all, i have been with smart for 18 months, but im leaving after receiveing some BRUTAL customer service from them (line fault for 2 months and no sign of it being fixed, 45 mins on hold everyday for an update that never happens).

SO where to next? I want fixed line as I play a lot of games and find wireless ping rates unacceptable. What fixed line providers would provide a decent service in north dublin (im on the coolock exchange).

If i have to i would consider eircom (if they were the best) but I hate them like poison so they are only the last resort. Any alternatives???

spurious

The trouble is Smart have to log faults with Eircom who then don't kill themselves in the rush to fix faults for Smart customers.

Your problem is with Eircom. ComReg are aware of this, but powerless to do anything but issue silly statements.

See http://www.rte.ie/business/2006/1124/comreg.html

This is the ludicrous situation which exists in this country.

Another alternative for BB would be Ripwave or Clearwire.

romperstomper

Ripwave and clearwire are both based on wireless though? I'm afraid that is no good to me. What are the other providors like ESAT etc like??

smellslikeshoes

Sounds like your set on giving smart the boot but your not going to have it any better anywhere else. Most people consider smart the best around.

paulm17781

smellslikeshoes wrote:

Sounds like your set on giving smart the boot but your not going to have it any better anywhere else. Most people consider smart the best around.

Is NTL an option? If so I would take that.

Nietzschean

i wouldn't goto NTL, its gone to ****e in recent months, see the several threads about it...

romperstomper

I didn't want this to be a smart bashing thread (not that they don't deserve it after the shoddy way they have treated me) but i was looking for alternatives.

For the record, my up and down speeds are 1.2Mbps down and 286Kup, a long way short of what i'm paying for. Ticket has been open with smart for 3 months, yet no action has been taken. They know there is a fault on the line, they said they could do nothing and to contact eircom. I got through to a friend in eircom (other ppl wouldn't be so lucky) and got him to find out what is wrong. No fault on the line from their point of view, they suspect fault at smart's equipement . Regardless, their basic lack of service makes me want to give them the boot

Foxwood

romperstomper wrote:

For the record, my up and down speeds are 1.2Mbps down and 286Kup,

That's not evidence of a fault on the line, it's evidence of a long or crappy line. eircom don't consider that a "fault", and if you cancel Smart and try to get DSL from eircom instead, you'd be lucky to get DSL at all on that line.

dub45

Foxwood wrote:

That's not evidence of a fault on the line, it's evidence of a long or crappy line. eircom don't consider that a "fault", and if you cancel Smart and try to get DSL from eircom instead, you'd be lucky to get DSL at all on that line.

Yes indeed have you checked your line stats? Have you asked Smart to decrease your speed? The upgrade to 6Mb may affect the performance of a poor line. Have you visited the Smart support forum there is a thread there on the downgrading of speeds in the meantime read these.

http://www.kitz.co.uk/adsl/linestats.htm

http://www.kitz.co.uk/adsl/lowSNR.htm

JNive

i would highly recommed checking yoru line stats on your aolynk modem and if the SNR margin is less than 12db or your line attenuation is higher than 50db it would be worth your while going down to 3mb instead of 6mb most likely

romperstomper

Foxwood wrote:

That's not evidence of a fault on the line, it's evidence of a long or crappy line. eircom don't consider that a "fault", and if you cancel Smart and try to get DSL from eircom instead, you'd be lucky to get DSL at all on that line.

You are wrong there. My friend in Eircom assures me that the "drop" in line speed due to distance would never be that severe (especially considering I am 3K from the exchange). He said the worst I should see is 2.4Mbps down.
Ergo there is a fault on the line or the equipment is on (the equipment being smarts he can't check).

Nevertheless that does not explain my constantly ignored calls, or the fact that I ring them everyday for an update that never happens (and spend 45 mins on hold while i am at it)

MOH

FWIW, I'm on the Coolock exchange with Smart, getting 6Mb down, no problems

smellslikeshoes

romperstomper wrote:

You are wrong there. My friend in Eircom assures me that the "drop" in line speed due to distance would never be that severe (especially considering I am 3K from the exchange). He said the worst I should see is 2.4Mbps down.
Ergo there is a fault on the line or the equipment is on (the equipment being smarts he can't check).

Nevertheless that does not explain my constantly ignored calls, or the fact that I ring them everyday for an update that never happens (and spend 45 mins on hold while i am at it)

You might be 3k from the exchange but that doesn't mean your line is 3k long, Even at 3k your speeds are perfectly possible for bad line quality. Sounds to me like the long/bad line is the source of the helpline problems too because smart can't do a whole lot about it and are just flip flopping around.

If its the quality of the line its possible that you will get worse service or you won't get any service at all from eircom or the other bitstream sellers. Your only other option is Ntl and as somebody said a few posts above they are dismal lately with bad pings etc. Are magnet available in your area?

dub45

romperstomper wrote:

You are wrong there. My friend in Eircom assures me that the "drop" in line speed due to distance would never be that severe (especially considering I am 3K from the exchange). He said the worst I should see is 2.4Mbps down.
Ergo there is a fault on the line or the equipment is on (the equipment being smarts he can't check).

Nevertheless that does not explain my constantly ignored calls, or the fact that I ring them everyday for an update that never happens (and spend 45 mins on hold while i am at it)

Has your friend in Eircom actually checked your line quality? Have you actually visited the Smart support forum and asked the lads there to check your line quality?