Eircom Business Broadband & Security

Bluefrog

Just thought I would offer a heads up to small business owners out there on Eircom's treatment of one small business customer in the past week.

I administer a small (10 PC) network for a client who last week was 'upgraded' from their Business Enhanced 4MB package to their 12MB package. My client did not request this upgrade and only became aware of it when their existing internet access went down on the Wednesday before Good Friday. When one of the secretaries called support they were shunted to someone in sales who told them that this was an upgrade and wouldn't cost any more than the existing package, however a new modem would be required to be compatible with the new service and that they would courier it out immediately. The secretary thinking this would be fine agreed to it having been assured there would be no extra cost in doing so and that the new modem would sort out their internet connectivity problems which at that precise moment were her biggest concern.

On Holy Thursday I get a call from the office to say they have recieved a new modem and will I come out to install it and I agree to do it on Good Friday which given the notice was the earliest I could do so with my other commitments. When I get there on Friday I find that Eircom have sent out TWO of their Netopia router/modems. I assume that if they are offering these modems to business customers they are business class but that would be a bad assumption.

I reconfigure the network to switch out the old Zytel modem we had to accommodate the new router modem. Set up my custom services to allow me to VNC in to the machines on the network, reconfigure my client PCs to use the new gateway address and turn on the modem/router which promptly fails to sync on the DSL line.

I try with filter, without filter and half an hour later call tech support to have the issue looked into on their end. The tell me the old Zytel modem should still be able to connect but at reduced speeds in direct conflict to what the secretary had been told but as it wasn't synching there was most likely a problem on the exchange side and it would take up to 3 days to have the issue looked into.

So basically my client was to be left 6 days without internet access for their business. I of course voiced my dissatisfaction with this but to no avail or so I thought until Monday when I called the secretary to find that the line had mysteriously synced mid-morning after a visit from an Eircom tech who claimed that nothing was amiss. The engineer took the second Netopia and ALL the filters with him. That afternoon I get a call from the office again to say that the connection had dropped and couldn't be restored. Since the engineer had taken the filters with him there wasn't much i could suggest they try except to lodge another support ticket with Eircom. Once again, that evening the connection mysteriously came back up.

However, I was still not able to access any of the machines remotely so I called tech support once again to enquire as to why and to check that there was not an issue with our fixed IP. I was told that in order to use custom services on the Netopia I would have to disable the firewall!

When I queried this further I was told that 'IF' I had concerns about the security implications of doing so I had the option to upgrade the router for a fee or put my own third party firewall in place between the Netopia and the network - seems the upgrade wasn't so free after all.

Now there are a few things that amaze me about this whole affair:
1. No notice was given to my client of Eircom's intention to upgrade the package.
2. No Eircom representative enquired as to the topography of the network and the suitability of the Netopia router/modem.
3. Eircom seems to feel that to leave a business customer without internet access for 6 days is acceptable.
4. When I queried the security implications of taking the advice I was given about disabling the firewall on the Netopia I was treated with total obnoxiousness by the tech support representative who seemed amazed that a mere pion like me would even dare have such concerns.
5. My contention that the Netopia was not a business class router/modem was finally admitted to but still offered to my customer without any mention of the security implications using one could have. Even my home modem/router enables NAT and port forwarding to work through the firewall.

Yet it gets better. Given the way I had been spoken to by the tech support rep I decided to make a complaint to customer care. I told the customer care representative that I had felt insulted and patronised by his support colleague and that I wanted to make a formal complaint. Did I get the name of the representative I was asked. I have the firstname which was all I had been given and that only after asking and I was told that as I did not have the full name of the representative Eircom would take no action on the matter. I was told that for all they know I could have made the name I gave up! I was refused an issue ticket number.

I called COMREG who were very understanding, told me they would take up the whole matter with Eircom, gave me an issue tracking number and told me Eircom have 10 days to respond before they can intervene further which Eircom will not obviously do as the customer care rep told me.

So the bottom line seems to be: You take the package they decide to give you or you get nothing. Question the security and you get patronised and insulted. Complain and you get accused of being a possible liar.

After the whole WEP fiasco last year, I would have thought at least there would be an improvement in Eircom's attitude to security but nothing has changed and their customer's security is apparently not their concern.

menthal_doctor

-well 1st thats what happening when u let decide secratry about IT upgreades which is as far im aware job for IT department....
-yes ur existing modem will still work after upgreade just with ADSL not ADSL2 which means max speed 7MB what u should know if you are trained IT person
-this modems are free just becouse eircom is' so nice' to give them to their customers
-if u where proper IT you would check first if that new modem is working fine, like synching authenticating to PPPoE etc before changing whole network
-upgreade is free,u clearly dnt understand what happened is this case and you released you flustration on this board...
-topography of the network and make sure u have required equipment is your responsibility as IT tech, so u should make sure u will receive right modem, if standart free modem is not good enough you order required modem from eircom or PC store...
-if u were aware of specification of DSL network or even read your contract you would know that before anything happened that is not quaranted service with any DSL provider in the country, and u would have back up connection as this is one of the KEY things IT guy should think of and advice to customer
So conclusion is you are not very well thinking IT person, not aware how proper IT job should look like, I would adivice this customer to change contractors for proper IT which are not blaming another people for their own 'flustration'.

lynchie

-well 1st thats what happening when u let decide secratry about IT upgreades which is as far im aware job for IT department....

If you read it again, he never said the secretary decided to accept the upgrade. Their connection went down on the Wednesday, which was obviously Eircom's fault.

-this modems are free just becouse eircom is' so nice' to give them to their customers

Yes they are so nice that they charge us the highest line rental in europe.. so I guess giving us a a few cheapo badged routers is the least the can do!

-if u where proper IT you would check first if that new modem is working fine, like synching authenticating to PPPoE etc before changing whole network

Thats what it appears he did. The current modem failed to sync after the upgrade was performed. They send out new modem and that still doesnt work. What more should he do. The problem is on the exchange side

-upgreade is free,u clearly dnt understand what happened is this case and you released you flustration on this board...

Yes it might be free. But when they dont inform you that it is happening or when they perform an upgrade that affects current clients then he is entitled to be frustrated with them

-topography of the network and make sure u have required equipment is your responsibility as IT tech, so u should make sure u will receive right modem, if standart free modem is not good enough you order required modem from eircom or PC store...

Well as a business product one would expect a business class router that can do NAT and provide a firewall at the same time.

dub45

I wonder if Eircom actually established in advance whether the line could take the upgrade?

Yakuza

menthal_doctor wrote: »

Snipped out the patronising, rude and badly-spelled diatribe.

Welcome to Boards. Nice first post, do you work for Eircom, or just a fanboi?

Blueface, what exchange is your client on?
We're in the Business Enchanced package in here too, but no sign of the upgrade yet (we're in D2, I think our exchange is either Merrion Square or Beggar's bush)

I was notified about the upgrades a few months ago, and I was told then that even if our (then) current equipment couldn't take ADSL2, it would still fall back to DSL. The fact that it didn't smacked of something wrong at Eircom's end.

We use Cisco gear (a DSL modem and a PIX firewall dating back to 2002) but as we were about to upgrade our PIX to an ASA, I decided to get a new modem too, as the one we had wouldn't support the new speeds.

My advice would be to get something similar for your clients. In my opinion, the standard Eircom gear isn't robust enough for a business setup.

menthal_doctor

Hi Yakuza, cheers for 'welcome' word...and let apologize for my spelling ok,let me say it that way, whats the diffrence?as u know no1 will post any comments on sites like this one under such a comments as official company words ever dnt u think? But as IT u should know, if u have brain u know that there is no connection 100% quranteed whatever this is,so u always have back up if that net is key thing for u right? I agree that cisco is pretty good one, but did u ever, but i mean ever anywhere heared that some ISP is giving cisco's as free equipment for their standart DSL customers??? everywhere in the world it's always lets say price effective equipment,,,cheapest one another words. Most of them offering better equipment but always for additional charge. now lynchy bout modem see above.bout upgrade itself, bout that, if u ever logged fault on DSL line or read contract for BB u will see thats regulated by comreg as far i know that there is no SLA, correct me if im wrong. Also it does say that connection might go down in case of outages or necessary upgrades in network,well make sense, as IT yas should know that to upgreade something usually u have to do at least reboot so there is always some down time. Now bout this adsl2 they saying it's fiew hours,this guy just was very unlucky with this upgreade, but again they havn't done anything which is not specyfied in terms & cond. Now highlight of this case is, customer like this is using IT contractors and dnt have their own IT tech which means every time they have to pay to their IT, so thats simple they are not calling IT unless something is down,there is no proper upgreade procedure, back ups etc, i can bet if there will be virus clearing HDD partition on their LAN they wouldn't have even back up to restore their database,as I said very well planned IT infrastructure, so u can not take such a customers as serious business and talk bout security?? come one. This people basically ignoring importance of IT for their businesses deciding not to pay to their IT, unless they are not able to work which is absolutely bottom line, but thats bottom of the IT tech job, what bout planning, implementing,testing,back ups,monitoring all million other sh...t. So we comming back to point 1.if infrastructure is planned well problem like this simply doesn't exist. So now u can understand this frustration, but who is to blame again?

axer

In fairness - if I had 10 pcs running on a business network I would have binned anything with the word netopia on it - which in fairness any IT person worth their salt would know.

Why would you setup custom services until you have checked that the broadband worked first?

What was stopping you buying a decent ADSL2 modem and router straight away from your local shop or elsewhere?

With regards your numbered points:
1. I agree that the option should have been given to upgrade or not. I personally would have upgraded anyway if I were you as 12mb is a hell of alot better than 4mb. Had you been told in time you could have had a backup solution to tie you over until the upgrade was complete.
2. Come off it. You are the supposed IT person - you should know that.
3. Unfortunately the business does not have an SLA Im guessing. If broadband is so critical it might be an idea to sort out a backup connection.
4. Again, come off it. NETOPIAs are for the bin. Netopias include a basic firewall in their routers. Get some real equipment or maybe its time for a career change if you dón't know that.
5. Why would you even question whether Netopia is a business class router. You should know what is and what is not if you are the IT person.

The *only* thing eircom did is not give you the option of an upgrade or not via notice. The rest was due to your incompetence.

I hope you are not paid for your services! :rolleyes:

EDIT: I see Yakuza said they were notified so I would presume the business in question was also notified but did not deal with it at the time. Thus if that was the case, then the business was more to blame than I thought.

cgarvey

Your hatred of Netgear is not shared by all "IT people", and it's very much a question of horses for courses, not just your opinion. I know many businesses with Netgear routers, switches and access points all running fine, and all apreciating the cost (versus small-business gear like OfficeConnect stuff, or whatever). Forcing unnecessary expense on small businesses is pointless.

axer

cgarvey wrote: »

Your hatred of Netgear is not shared by all "IT people", and it's very much a question of horses for courses, not just your opinion. I know many businesses with Netgear routers, switches and access points all running fine, and all apreciating the cost (versus small-business gear like OfficeConnect stuff, or whatever). Forcing unnecessary expense on small businesses is pointless.

Netopia?

smellslikeshoes

axer wrote: »

Netopia?

Was obviously just a mistype, no need to dwell on it. His point still stands.

axer

smellslikeshoes wrote: »

Was obviously just a mistype, no need to dwell on it. His point still stands.

Dwell on it? I'm asking did he mean netopia or did he misread and think I was talking about netgear as he mentioned switches and from what I know they don't make stand-alone switches and that netgear do so it is easy to assume he meant netgear.

I don't think linksys routers, switches and access points are going to break the bank for a small business.

bealtine

smellslikeshoes wrote: »

Was obviously just a mistype, no need to dwell on it. His point still stands.

Well Netgear isn't far off being as bad as Netopia for the cheap stuff.
The "we don't care" attitude is prevalent in both companies.

cgarvey

I meant Netopia at the start of my post, but my point stands for any Netopia/Netgear/budget-consumer-gear. It was more your implication that anyone who uses Netopia/Netgear was wrong to do so, I (& many SMEs) disagree. That is all.

axer

cgarvey wrote: »

I meant Netopia at the start of my post, but my point stands for any Netopia/Netgear/budget-consumer-gear. It was more your implication that anyone who uses Netopia/Netgear was wrong to do so, I (& many SMEs) disagree. That is all.

I did not imply that anyone who uses a netopia/netgear was wrong to do so - I said that an IT consultant (OP) should know better than to use cheap netopia equipment on a network where internet access important to the business and not to blame eircom technical support for his ignorance (firewall etc).

biko

I am a eircom business user and have had maybe 4 issues, everyone eircoms fault, over 3 years. Last one was they changed the ISP server port I was coming in on and my connection went down. It took 2 days and several angry calls (where they implied I was at fault) before someone copped the mistake and rang back to say "Yeah, we fixed it now"...

menthal_doctor

Hi guys could u help me im collecting those stories on my forum. need that for my assignment for collage. so if u will have a look and post ur comments there would be great.. forum.zorrozone.com

Bluefrog

Well, obviously I hadn't looked at this thread in a long time but for the benefit of Menthal_Doctor:

The main point here was that Eircom are proffering routers to business customers which really aren't up to the task. These businesses are often small companies who don't have the resources to have a dedicated network admin to administer their I.T.. This is a situation I find all to often.

Eircom have a duty of care to their customers. I am not the only one who feels so, otherwise there wouldn't have been the huge negative press for them over the WEP issue. It is a lot less than customer-friendly to 'upgrade' a modem/router to a less secure model.

The fact that the upgrade took place in such a customer-unfriendly fashion and the lack of civility when I reported the problem is just icing.

Regarding your implied criticisms, I'm not going to go there. Suffice to say that I live in the real world, dealing with real clients and not in some idealised network admin bubble. If you PM me I will be happy to pass on the number of the office in question and you can make your suggestion about changing their support arrangements.

P.S. You would probably find the spell-checker in Firefox rather useful - surprised you are not aware of it given your obvious 'credentials'.

Oh and to the poster who said I should know the suitability of the Netopia for my topography, given that I didn't know an 'upgrade' was coming, how could I go about ensuring that? What exactly IS the topography of a business-class network where these routers would be adequate - one that doesn't connect to the Internet? Finally, what small business doesn't depend on its DSL connection? How many have the luxury of a backup? 1-2 days I can understand (though barely) but 6?