Pairgain Removal...One Last Shot.

Duiske

Guys, I'm going to have one more shot at getting Eircom remove me from pairgain hell and give me a direct line to the exchange. Any advice from people who have been successful in getting this done would be greatly appreciated.

In order, i have already tried the following :

(1). Reporting a line fault. Eircom say that there is no fault on the line. It is capable of carrying voice calls, and that is all that they are obliged to provide.

(2). Ordering a new line. I understood that Eircom were now forbidden from installing line splitters, but apparently this is not the case. At least an Eircom engineer had the forethought to call me and ask if the reason for the new line was DSL. He then said he would cancel the order because he had been instructed to install another pairgain line. He said that there were no free line availible, yet, 3 months ago a new-build across the road had a line installed, and they are now happily surfing with 2mb DSL.

(3). Asking Eircom to switch my line with someone who had not ordered broadband. At least I did not get the run-around from eircom with this one...it was just a simple, straight-forward NO. I have a neighbour who lives on his own, will not need BB, and his number pass's the line test. He says he is willing to give permission for the lines to be switched, but still Eircom will not budge.

Can anyone think of anything else I can try ? I will give anything a shot at this stage, well, anything that excludes the use of chainsaws or other implements of distruction.

bushy...

I think if you order ISDN on your line they will swap it over , not sure of the details to do it the cheapest way possiblt though they are here somewhere on the boards.

byte

Option 3 looked like your best chance, considering the neighbour had agreed.

Would it be possible to speak to an engineer personally, and maybe arrange the pairgain swap? Do you know any eircom engineer you could approach?

Sponge Bob

Normally I find the Chainsaw approach absolutely works wonders. My local engineer knows I own a chainsaw. I have never had to use it to deal with any line 'issue' .

Make sure its polished up and left lying , gleaming, inside the front door when you report the next fault , a gentle hint that the Chainsaw would make a better job of your line than a trained engineer is normally noted and acted upon with alacrity.

Ring them up right now and crunch that tayto packet in the other hand as you report the noisy line.

lucernarian

I saw a thread recently where an eircom engineer swapped a line which wasn't being used for DSL and was free. Eircom customer care are of little use. Ask an engineer when he comes out, to swap the pairgain over. Offer him a few quid aswell, for his troubles to sweeten the deal.

When you were speaking to the engineer, did you point out that the neighbours could get a new line 3 months ago, and what was the response?

Pairgains are quite sensitive to things like physical damage and high voltages. I remember a thread years ago with someone talking about doing quite drastic (and basically illegal) things to them. I believe they worked.

dub45

Why not write an old fashioned type letter to the Eircom Chief Executive Rex Comb at Ardilaun House Stephen's Green explaining your problem and tell him how you are looking forward to being able to write to the Joe Duffy show etc with the good news of how Eircom responded speedily to your appeal:)

Duiske

To_be_confirmed wrote:

When you were speaking to the engineer, did you point out that the neighbours could get a new line 3 months ago, and what was the response?

.

Sorry TBC, i should have made it a bit clearer. Its about 6/7 months since I was told that there were no free lines available, and was told that i would be notified when one became free. It was after this that the new line was installed across the road. I complained about it at the time, but funnily enough, there was no record/note that I was to be offered a line when they became available, and by that time the new lines had been taken.

Byte wrote:

Option 3 looked like your best chance, considering the neighbour had agreed.

Would it be possible to speak to an engineer personally, and maybe arrange the pairgain swap? Do you know any eircom engineer you could approach?.

I see the Eircom guys about quite often. Next time I see them I will have a word. Not sure why Eircom would not agree to the swap. Its like they are going out of their way to be unhelpful.

To_be_confirmed wrote:

Pairgains are quite sensitive to things like physical damage and high voltages. I remember a thread years ago with someone talking about doing quite drastic (and basically illegal) things to them. I believe they worked.

Spongebob wrote:

Normally I find the Chainsaw approach absolutely works wonders. My local engineer knows I own a chainsaw. I have never had to use it to deal with any line 'issue'.

The hour spent downloading the "Anarchists Cookbook" on pairgain dial-up may not have been such a waste of time after all. :cool:

Must look up the thread Bushy mentioned.

Anyway, Cheers guys.

Duiske

dub45 wrote:

Why not write an old fashioned type letter to the Eircom Chief Executive Rex Comb at Ardilaun House Stephen's Green explaining your problem and tell him how you are looking forward to being able to write to the Joe Duffy show etc with the good news of how Eircom responded speedily to your appeal:)

Thats in the pipeline. Actually, I will probably try that first. I heard talk awhile back about some radio show (Ray Darcy ?) helping people out with this.

lucernarian

When writing to the CEO, don't forget to mention your neighbour's consent for the line to be pairgained.

I can't see why eircom make such a fuss about laying a bit of 30-pair cable. Adding an extra 200 metres of cable beside the exchange (or cabinet in more built-up areas) would free up lines further up the road.

Further up my road was short of copper wires, but eircom decided to shell out on a mile and a half of extra cable. A mere extra 300 metres would have freed up 10 lines:rolleyes:

Sponge Bob

cable costs a lot nowadays. 1km of 50 pair to replace 1km of 25 pair would cost €10k

lucernarian

All the more bizarre why eircom would lay 2 km when 300 metres would have sufficed.

pajoemccracken

Hi Duiske Lad,
I got mine swapped with a neihbour about a month ago.
The GAA were going around selling tickets and called to my door.
One of them was an Eircom guy that worked in the exchange and I said I would buy a 60Euro ticket if he helped me to get broadband.
see http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055127537
Pajoe

dub45

pajoemccracken wrote:

Hi Duiske Lad,
I got mine swapped with a neihbour about a month ago.
The GAA were going around selling tickets and called to my door.
One of them was an Eircom guy that worked in the exchange and I said I would buy a 60Euro ticket if he helped me to get broadband.
see http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055127537
Pajoe

As mentioned in that thread that type of thing is enough to get the guy in question sacked - you are doing him no favours in endlessly repeating this story.