Eircom Broadband problems!

meathman 007

Ok ive posted on here a few times in the last 2 weeks about my problems

I have eircom broadband 2mb connection for about 6 weeks now. For the first 3-4 week i got nearly the full 2mb connection for downloads etc.
However 2 weeks ago everything went badly wrong - my speed dropped badly- heres my stats on the router page:

45/31 db - line attenuation and speed 288/256 (kbps)

and a speedtest:


I finally after 2 weeks got onto an eircom support technician who seemed to know what he was talking about. After about 30 minutes he put me on hold and he spoke to senior technician - he then tells me my line is not good enough for the 2mb connection and that i should downgrade to the 1mb connection. - he told me that my speeds should then increase to something like 1000/256 (kbps).

Is he talking sense, will my speed improve if i go down to the 1mb connection?

Is there anything else i can try before i do that? - for obvious reasons i want to try everything to get the 2mb connection back.......

Any help appreciated


Some addiational info -
1. i only recently started passing the line test about 2 months ago after years of failing
2. an eircom technician originally installed the broadband
3. i only have 2 phone filters, even though i have about 6 phone points and 2 sky+ boxes in the house
4. my location is donore. drogheda. co.meath

Moe Lester

well the phone filters i believe can effect the line.

when i take the one filter out my line drops to the speed you are getting.

i only have the one filter in so it could be because you dont have enough filters going to all the pohnes.

try the eircom box on its own and unplug all the other phones in the hourse including the sky+ boxes and see if the line goes back up again.

im not suppirsed that an eircom technician didnt relise that he didnt get all the phones.

hope some of this info helps

chopperbyrne

Did an eircom technician come to your house and install a designated broadband phone point on the wall.

It will have two ports clearly labeled for either phone or DSL.

This is generally required if you have either a Sky+ box or some sort of monitored alarm.

If this is the case, you SHOULD NOT be using the filters AT ALL.

Otherwise you may just need additional filters.

Give eircom a ring and ask for a few to be sent out.

dub45

If you detach everything extra phones, skyboxes etc, what happens to your performance. Your line stats dont look exactly dire but you have a fierce amount of stuff on your line and that may have contributed to it not passing for so long. And you should definitely have a filter on each phone point when you have them all connected.

How far are you from the exchange do you think?

Have you done the usual checking for viruses etc?

meathman 007

thanks all for your help and advice, i think i fixed the problem!

Basically i unplugged absolutely everything including the 2 phone points which are connected to my sky+ box - and unbelievably my speed went back up to normal:


I then plugged my 2 sky+ boxes back in and the speed went down again - so i put the 2 phone filters on the sky boxes and checked the speed again, and it was back to full speed! to say im relieved is an understatement

I have gone ahead and ordered 6 other filters for all the others phones in the house. I hope ive completely sorted out the problem......

dub45

Just a reminder to anyone who is failing to pass the Eircom test detach everything from the phoneline bar the main phone - its not ideal but it can result in the test being failed - once you pass you can then reattach!

meathman 007

dub - can you believe eircom recomeding i go down to the 1mb connection?! - less money for them etc etc

Its just another case which highlights the companys incompatence - and yes i definately agree with you, anyone testing for broadband should disconnect their sky boxes and see if the result changes!

Xennon

The way this all works is dependant on the Noise Margin, each increase in bandwidth requires a higher niose margin, your sky boxes were increasing the level of noise on your line, thus reducing the noise Margin on your line (which they can read from the exchange) and so they naturally advised you to go for a lower bandwidth package which requires a lower Noise Margine

From Eircom manuals:

* Connect a DSL filter (single socket) to every phone/fax/digibox on the phone line. The filters help to reduce noise and interference on the broadband line.
* Connect the DSL splitter (double socket) into the phone socket of the broadband-enabled line on the wall.

I suppose their mistake was assuming that you had done this.

Regarding the line tests, as far as Im aware the website line test reads from a database of line noise levels, which when compared to noise limits depicts whether your line is suitable or not. I dont know how often the database is updated or the measurements taken, but i would assume that its not contineous, therefor simply unplugging your digiboxs and checking the website may not instantly return the correct analysis, perhaps just stick line filters on it regardless and test after a month or so. Maybe someone here knows more ??

Regarding Eircom being incompetant, I doubt that very much. Eircoms first and foremost responsibility is to its shareholders, as it is with any such company. Its primary objective is to make a profit period.
Look here:
http://www.eadp.org/index.php?q=node/14208

Am tired of hearing people blaming Eircom and its employees for the most uneducated conclusions I have ever seen on a topic in this country. The blame lies squarely with the government minister that privatised (aka sold) eircom as a whole in the first place. This was after Denmark had made the same mistake, but of course no one saw that.

The infrastructure should not have been privatised and sold on. This was the greatest error. How can competition be fair if one company owns the infrastructure. How can you then after selling them the infrastructure, create a body called Comreg, and try to force them to let their compeditors use that infrastructure? does that strike anyone as being rediculous?

So how do we move forward? Well one obvious solution would have been to buy back Eircom and split the 'copper' from the service and sell the service, then we would have a level playing field, but that would take an admission of error on someones behalf, instead we are now in a situation where, Ericom, rightly are protecting what is technically theirs, Comreg trying to prise it off them, other telco companies trying to deal with this calamity while we are deprived of services that other parts of the world are throwing at their populus. Take a look around;
http://www.dslvalley.com/abonnement/orange/offres.php?offre=max2
http://offres.neuf.fr/offres/internet/Nos-offres-ADSL.html?cmp=CD100
are two that I have experience of.

No I dont have any connection with Eircom, besides my phone, but any dealings Ive had with them on a support level has been excellent.

I didnt mean to hijack your thread with this rant, but I think people should look beyond the immediate problems that we experience, its not always what it seems. Some people would prefer that you dont see beyond the immediate, it takes the blame off them.

Cheers

Dave_W

Kinetic^

meathman 007 wrote:

dub - can you believe eircom recomeding i go down to the 1mb connection?! - less money for them etc etc

Hi, I wanted a 3mb line and they said my lines couldn't hold it so I had to go for a 2mb line.

dub45

meathman 007 wrote:

dub - can you believe eircom recomeding i go down to the 1mb connection?! - less money for them etc etc

Its just another case which highlights the companys incompatence - and yes i definately agree with you, anyone testing for broadband should disconnect their sky boxes and see if the result changes!

If Xenon had not posted I was actually going to defend Eircom here on your issues. You contributed significantly to your own problems albeit innocently by having so many connections to your phone line without dsl filters and as Xenon has pointed out isps usually recommend users to fit the filters.

Given the speed that you were syncing at and the 'load' that the line was probably showing to the person who answered your support call the recommendation was far from incompetent and if it had been the line itself that was at fault rather than your attachments then the recommendation would have been a good one.

Kenny 5 wrote:

Hi, I wanted a 3mb line and they said my lines couldn't hold it so I had to go for a 2mb line.

So what's the problem there? You are far better off going with a speed that your line can handle - if you go for a speed that your line cannnot handle then you are going to get intermittent disconnects and slow speeds. In this case Eircom if they were being nasty could have taken your money for the higher speed line and left you with the problems - insteand they are fair with you and you presumably posted here to criticise them.

Xennon wrote:

Regarding the line tests, as far as Im aware the website line test reads from a database of line noise levels, which when compared to noise limits depicts whether your line is suitable or not. I dont know how often the database is updated or the measurements taken, but i would assume that its not contineous, therefor simply unplugging your digiboxs and checking the website may not instantly return the correct analysis, perhaps just stick line filters on it regardless and test after a month or so. Maybe someone here knows more ??

It is assumed that they test once a month or thereabouts.

rogue-entity

Xennon wrote:

Regarding Eircom being incompetant, I doubt that very much. Eircoms first and foremost responsibility is to its shareholders, as it is with any such company. Its primary objective is to make a profit period.
Look here:
http://www.eadp.org/index.php?q=node/14208

Agreed, and I dont blame eircom for putting its profit interests above the infracture and its customers, name one company that doesnt.

Xennon wrote:

Am tired of hearing people blaming Eircom and its employees for the most uneducated conclusions I have ever seen on a topic in this country. The blame lies squarely with the government minister that privatised (aka sold) eircom as a whole in the first place. This was after Denmark had made the same mistake, but of course no one saw that.

Eircom are equally to blame for not investing in the infrastructure, which would mean that few people would be ineligible for DSL because of the condition of their line.

Xennon wrote:

The infrastructure should not have been privatised and sold on. This was the greatest error. How can competition be fair if one company owns the infrastructure. How can you then after selling them the infrastructure, create a body called Comreg, and try to force them to let their compeditors use that infrastructure? does that strike anyone as being rediculous?

It was the biggest mistake in how eircom was sold, because common sense would tell most people that selling the entire company would create a private monopoly and would see services and quality sacrificed for profit.

They should have split the PSTN infrastructure into a seperate company from the rest of eircom, and made sure through proper regulation that the wholesale company could not favour eircom's retail arm over competitors. That, or sell the whole lot off as they did, and bring in an Ofcom-style regulator to do the same thing to eircom, as OfCom has done to BT.

Xennon wrote:

So how do we move forward? Well one obvious solution would have been to buy back Eircom and split the 'copper' from the service and sell the service, then we would have a level playing field, but that would take an admission of error on someones behalf, instead we are now in a situation where, Ericom, rightly are protecting what is technically theirs, Comreg trying to prise it off them, other telco companies trying to deal with this calamity while we are deprived of services that other parts of the world are throwing at their populus. <snip>

Or, they could give ComReg OfCom's powers, and let ComReg, straighten out eircom. They could introduce a €5 (inc VAT) flat-rate, unlimited dial-up service. They could cap the wholesale cost of eircom-resold broadband at €10 per meg (e.g. 10 for 1meg, 20 for 2meg and so on). They could force eircom to provide full LLU, allow them to charge a line-rental fee to the other company, or allow that company to buy the line from eircom, and take over responsibility for its maintainance. There are a lot of things that can be done, we just need a government with the balls to do it, and its not the FF/PDs for a start.

Xennon wrote:

No I dont have any connection with Eircom, besides my phone, but any dealings Ive had with them on a support level has been excellent.

I dont either, but my dealings with them have never been pleasent, I found them evasive and behind-my-back rude. My granmother's 85y/o friend was left a whole month without a landline, and she lived alone. If anything happened, not only could she not call 999, but her emergency panic button (which calls a monitoring center) could not work either. If anything had happened to her in that month, she could be in serious trouble. The problem started when someone accidentally cut the line while digging. The eircom guy that came out that week said "its not my problem, sorry". Another person came out after I called them, and they said "if you can find the other end of the line, I will fix it, otherwise, no". I eventually rang their complaints line and said, if it wasnt sorted by the end of the week, I am taking legal action. They sorted it. Is that any way for a company to treat their older and vulnerable customers, those who depend on eircom's landline for emergency purposes.

Also sorry for hyjacking this thread, but I just had to vent my distaste for eircom, and the government for letting them get this far.

Xennon

let ComReg, straighten out eircom.

But.... cant you see that that is just wrong?..

I mean.... The company was bought copper and all by the australians, so... why should they listen to anything Comreg has to say??..

I dont understand how you can sell something and then still maintain control over it, thats just ...wrong...

If you bought a car from me, and then I decide after i sell it that I need it at weekends, so I sent a couple of lads around to your place to 'encourage' you to loan it to me...what would you do??

The only longterm solution is to bite the bullet and buy back Eircom and then re-organise it. Anything else is just messing about.

Eircom are equally to blame for not investing in the infrastructure

that is solely their decision, I'm sure of the number crunchers thought it would be profitable to do so then they would.

Again, we cannot continue blaming Eircom for this situation, they are the smoke screen, the real offenders are knocking on your door as you read this.

Regarding the behavior of the people involved in your grandmothers case I find that simply disgusting and indicative of idiots who believe themselves to be untouchable. I could not nor would not tolerate such behavior and would be finding out who they are and who their superiors are in a flash. I would also encourage you to follow up on this.

Dave_W

thebman

Xennon wrote:

But.... cant you see that that is just wrong?..

I mean.... The company was bought copper and all by the australians, so... why should they listen to anything Comreg has to say??..

I dont understand how you can sell something and then still maintain control over it, thats just ...wrong...

No that's not wrong. They should have to provide minimum service of an essential service or loose their right to operate as they are providing a dangerous service. How would you like it if your phone line went dead when you have to ring an ambulance? How about if your a business and your company depends on broadband and it goes down but they don't feel the need to fix it in a hurray because they are the only operator so its not like you can change service.

Basically they'll just hold everyone to ransom if we don't regulate them. It is in no way wrong to ensure that it doesn't happen.

If you bought a car from me, and then I decide after i sell it that I need it at weekends, so I sent a couple of lads around to your place to 'encourage' you to loan it to me...what would you do??

The only longterm solution is to bite the bullet and buy back Eircom and then re-organise it. Anything else is just messing about.

That isn't a realistic option. Why would they sell? We can't make them sell! I think making them sell would be worse than regulating them.

that is solely their decision, I'm sure of the number crunchers thought it would be profitable to do so then they would.

Again, we cannot continue blaming Eircom for this situation, they are the smoke screen, the real offenders are knocking on your door as you read this.

I agree with that point. The whole thing has been terribly managed as has the entire country under the present government IMO.

netman

dub45 wrote:

Just a reminder to anyone who is failing to pass the Eircom test detach everything from the phoneline bar the main phone - its not ideal but it can result in the test being failed - once you pass you can then reattach!

actually you'd need to leave those out for a long period of time, the tests are done every couple of weeks or so!

rogue-entity

Xennon wrote:

But.... cant you see that that is just wrong?..

No, because there is a fundamental difference between eircom, and any other company.

Xennon wrote:

I mean.... The company was bought copper and all by the australians, so... why should they listen to anything Comreg has to say??..

Actually, right now, they dont, Comreg cannot touch them, as much as they want to.

Xennon wrote:

I dont understand how you can sell something and then still maintain control over it, thats just ...wrong...

No, not in this case. Eircom owns the only national infrastructure, and privatising it was a good idea, it just was not done right. If Eircom was Telecom Eireann still, I would not have broadband right now, because they would have even less incentive.
Privatisation should have gone hand in hand with in strong regulator who would make sure that eircom act in the best interests of the public first, shareholders second and manditory LLU to allow easy access to the infrastructure by competing companies. This in itself would mean that eircom would have to provide a competitive service to maintain its market position, and we would be in the same situation as the UK right now.

Xennon wrote:

If you bought a car from me, and then I decide after i sell it that I need it at weekends, so I sent a couple of lads around to your place to 'encourage' you to loan it to me...what would you do??

Xennon wrote:

The only longterm solution is to bite the bullet and buy back Eircom and then re-organise it. Anything else is just messing about.

I disagree, first, if they want to go down that road, they first need to split eircom (infrastructure) off from the rest and then buy that newly created company.
Second, if they introduce an OfCom style regulator, with teeth, eircom will tow the line if it wants to continue operating as it is in this country. LLU will allow other companies like BT to use their own equipment to provide internet services to customers. Just like the situation in the UK right now.

Xennon wrote:

that is solely their decision, I'm sure of the number crunchers thought it would be profitable to do so then they would.

I agree, but that doesnt mitigate the blame people will place on eircom for acting selfishly when they have a responsibility to the irish people as a USO.

Xennon wrote:

Again, we cannot continue blaming Eircom for this situation, they are the smoke screen, the real offenders are knocking on your door as you read this.

Oh, I know, and I am not voting for the incumbent government because of the way they handled this situation over the last 10 years, believe me.

Xennon wrote:

Regarding the behavior of the people involved in your grandmothers case I find that simply disgusting and indicative of idiots who believe themselves to be untouchable. I could not nor would not tolerate such behavior and would be finding out who they are and who their superiors are in a flash. I would also encourage you to follow up on this.

It was with my granmother's friend, she is now living in a retirement home. If it was with my granmother, or other family member, I would have already done this, and made sure the people responsible were sacked for it.

Xennon

Firstly Im glad we can now agree on where the blame lies,

I disagree, first, if they want to go down that road, they first need to split eircom (infrastructure) off from the rest and then buy that newly created company.
Second, if they introduce an OfCom style regulator, with teeth, eircom will tow the line if it wants to continue operating as it is in this country. LLU will allow other companies like BT to use their own equipment to provide internet services to customers. Just like the situation in the UK right now.

The had their chance last year to buy Eircom back and sort out the mess, actually I believe someone suggested it in the Dail, but of course that would mean an admission of a co*k up.

I still dont agree that introducing a controlling body AFTER privatising and selling the company is a move forward, that just creates an 'us vs them' atmosphere where no-one wins. Id also be interested in hearing what someone learned in EU law would have to say about it, as it would seem to me to be somewhat illegal to sell something and then tell the new owners how to run it without having that stipulation known before the sale. :rolleyes:

Yes it is our only communications infrastructure, but our government allowed it to be sold off. I cant see any other solution other than buying it back and righting the wrong, but thats my opinion.

Unfortunately I cant see the Alliance for change doing any better, if I had the choice it would be 'vote for none of the above' and make them all go back to the drawing board and come out with something that might actually work.

Although Canada is looking nice atm


Dave_W

PS thats the end of my ranting on this subject, apologies to the OP for completely hijacking his thread.