eircom to upgrade an additional 300+ exchanges - No timeframe set

thebman

TomTom wrote:

My town 'Kilcormac' is on this list so I rang and was told it could possible by by march or april. I foolishly got excited. When my phone line was being fitted I asked the installer and he gave me the mobile of a local technician that would be doing the upgrade and he reckoned that my town would be online by 1st of April (maybe it was a cruel joke) but after another recent phone call to eircom I was told that our town is looking more like december for DSL.

It's a serious work requirment for me so I wish they would get off their asses. I spoke to a local eircom employee again and he told me that he had already completed most of the upgrade work in the exchange and that it would not take much longer yet the other side of eircom says December.

Do their departments even communicate?

They could just be covering themselves so if anything goes wrong, it will still be done within the time they said.

fignon03

govinda wrote:

I don't believe there's any communication in Eircom, certainly not to the front line sales/support staff.

I had a similar experience with the Summerhill exchange, also on that list of 100. When I rang late last year, I was told by Broadband Sales it would be live end January. When I rang in February, I was told they don't have a date, I shouldn't have been told January and would I like my line tested? I tried explaining that if the equipment isn't in the exchange, there's not much point testing the line and was then advised to ring back every 3-4 weeks so that they could test my line :rolleyes:

No point ringing eircom, they tell you lies and then wont tell you anything, yesterday i was eventually put throught a <.cg snip> supervisor in customer care called JP , when i complained that id spent 20 minuties being passed between departmnets he said "he didnt like my tone" i was gobsmacked that this idiot who sounded like Joe duffy and works in customer care could say this to a customer, i promptly told him what i thought of him and hung up

zugvogel

Hi Guys,
I think it’s very interesting that a significant number of people on this thread have mentioned that Eircom only get moving on upgrading an exchange when local competition occurs, usually from a wireless operator. My local exchange (not enabled) is Nurney and is about 4 miles south of Kildare town. The exchange has about 500-600 lines into it I think. Up till last autumn the only broadband available was satellite, and Eircom would never offer a view on weather the exchange would be upgraded. Then a wireless operator http://www.qbsl.com/ appeared on the scene and with other wireless providers and 3G has gradually started to provide coverage in rural Kildare. Then hey presto a month after qbsl appear on the scene Eircom announce that the Nurney exchange is on the infamous 100 list issued last Autumn, but to date have not issued a time scale for the upgrade! It would appear that they are hoping that these announcements (holding statements) will discourage potential customers from moving to the competition! What a cynical way to treat customers and in the long run I believe/hope this policy will backfire on Eircom.

Zug.

Altreab

zugvogel wrote:

Hi Guys,
My local exchange (not enabled) is Nurney and is about 4 miles south of Kildare town. The exchange has about 500-600 lines into it I think. Up till last autumn the only broadband available was satellite, and Eircom would never offer a view on weather the exchange would be upgraded. Then a wireless operator http://www.qbsl.com/ appeared on the scene and with other wireless providers and 3G has gradually started to provide coverage in rural Kildare. Then hey presto a month after qbsl appear on the scene Eircom announce that the Nurney exchange is on the infamous 100 list issued last Autumn, but to date have not issued a time scale for the upgrade! It would appear that they are hoping that these announcements (holding statements) will discourage potential customers from moving to the competition! What a cynical way to treat customers and in the long run I believe/hope this policy will backfire on Eircom.

Zug.

This is exactly what has been happening up and down the country for the last few years. When any wireless outfit that starts to eat into Eircom's customer base they immediately upgrade the local exchange.
I have been saying for ages now that if you want Broadband in your area you forget about Eircom and get a wireless operator into the area. As sure as Night follows day Eircom will upgrade the local exchange within weeks. Best thing is that the customer now gets a choice of providers instead of the usual "coming soon" mantra.

zugvogel

I just rang Eircom broadband to see if they had a time scale for the update of my local exchange - Nurney Kildare. According to them both Kildare exchanges on the list of 100 are due to be completed by October this year, so that would be a year after the announcement was made. Question is though – can you believe them??

Recently I had a mail shot from my local FF TD. I e-mailed him re broadband asking him if he would kindly drop an e-mail to Eircom on the matter. The reply indicated that he would be looking into the matter and would get back to me as soon as he had anything to tell. I Guess I'll have to give him the benefit of the doubt on that one!!

Zug

zugvogel

I just rang Eircom broadband to see if they had a time scale for the update of my local exchange - Nurney Kildare. According to them both Kildare exchanges on the list of 100 are due to be completed by October this year, so that would be a year after the announcement was made. Question is though – can you believe them??

Recently I had a mail shot from my local FF TD. I e-mailed him re broadband asking him if he would kindly drop an e-mail to Eircom on the matter. The reply indicated that he would be looking into the matter and would get back to me as soon as he had anything to tell. I Guess I'll have to give him the benefit of the doubt on that one!!

Zug

thebman

Well I mean if they still have not finished enabling the promised 100 exchanges from last year then the timeframe for this newly announced ones is at least next year which is crap.

Either that or priorities change based on how successful local wireless competition is being on eating at eircom's marketshare.

clearz

Any word on the mountcharles exchange in Donegal being done. It was on your like before Damian but now its not.

TheBazman

I'm in Calverstown in Kildare - I recently rang Eircom to see what exchanges are on the list - they said Carbury and Nurney are next.

Also coincidentally we also had no bband options until Quantum Wireless appeared on the scene, then suddently the new list of exchanges to be enabled are announced and hey presto Calverstown is also on that.

Can anyone tell me how long does it take to physically enable an exchange - is it a matter of flicking a switch or is there substantial work required?

croo

fignon03 wrote:

i was eventually put throught a <.cg snip> supervisor in customer care called JP , when i complained that id spent 20 minuties being passed between departmnets he said "he didnt like my tone"

Ah yes JP <snip> I would speculate .... after speaking to JP I cancelled by line with Eircom... I spend perhaps twice as much with vodafone now (mind you I have an always on fast connection now) but at least I can sleep well knowing I'm not paying any of his wages. I would love to see statitics on "how many people who spoke with "JP" are no longer customers of Eircom?"
And they pay him to do this!!!

LFCFan

Net1 Wireless are now available in the area that Balrath exchange covers and suddenly Balrath is on the list despite Eircom telling my Dad there's no chance of it getting upgraded in the near future.

byte

clearz wrote:

Any word on the mountcharles exchange in Donegal being done. It was on your like before Damian but now its not.

Mountcharles still isnt' enabled? I'd have thought they'd have enabled that exchange by now. I'm pretty sure Inver exchange has been enabled a few years now. That new list even includes Narin, so it's surprising Mountcharles isn't covered yet, unless it's still on Eircom's previous to-do list.

cgarvey

croo & fignon03 read the charter please. JP is an employee of eircom and so his/her actions are not for public analysis here. If you've a problem with an employee, take it up with their employer directly.