Huge congestion @ Monasterevin exchange for the past 9 months

Dcully

For the last 9 months i have been banging my head against a brick wall with eircom.
Every evening without fail everyone in our town suffers major slowdown after 5-6pm until about midnight.
Very obviously congestion, support do nothing more than the usual stuff like chek for virus etc, i know i have no issues my end as my pc laptop and consoles all slowdown at peak times but are perfect during offpeak times.
My question to the eircom reps here on boards is what are eircom going to do about it?
I made an official complaint about this and got a few calls from some manager guy after 2-3 discussions over a few days he told me he can do nothing else for me and admitted that there is major congestion at the Monasterevin exchange but he was sorry but eircom will not be doing anything to help the situation.
I put it to him that maybe eircom wont address the issue because they label so called NGB as congestion free therefore are not going to sort out the congestion when they can sucker customers into this NGB at some stage.
In 07 i had a similar issue and got it sorted by going eventually after 5 months.

Full story here
http://boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055048304&highlight=eircom+nightmare

So here we are 10 months of this terrible service and i have no choice but eircom or its resold product.
Eircom refusing to sort out the exchange and even worse while looking at the NGB coverage map Monasterevin is not even listed as coming next year or anytime soon.
Im an eircom customer of many years and i find it disgraceful that eircom users in Monasterevin are being shafted as such.

Here is my typical speeds during offpeak times


and peak times


Please dont go down the same route as when i ring suppport and tell me to check this that or the other.
I know there is no issue my end whatsoever.
Neighbours and friends in Monasterevin all have the exact same problem,ive personally witnessed this congestion in quite a few of my friends and neighbours as ive called to research into this.
We are blue in the face complaining, there are threads on the broadband forum here on boards from others in the town about this.

A friend of mine switched to vodafone a few weeks back as he was sick of this congestion only to suffer the same issues but vodafone told him we are due an upgrade @ the exchange in January yet when i ask eircom im told there are no plans?

Ive been banging my head against a brick wall for many months now about this.
Support are useless,the manager i spoke to after official complaint brought nothing but bad news.
I was given contact emails for John Mc Keon head of Eircom Wholesale and Eamon Walsh head of Network Ops and have sent off 4-5 emails to both with no response.

My questions to you are :

1. Id like to ask what are you going to do about it?
2. Since we seem to be pigeon holed into NCB at some stage can you tell me if and when we will ever see NGB in Monasterevin?


I look forward to a response guys, thanks a lot for reading.

Regards
Dcully [an incredibly frustrated eircom customer]

eircom: Ant

Dcully wrote: »

For the last 9 months i have been banging my head against a brick wall with eircom.
Every evening without fail everyone in our town suffers major slowdown after 5-6pm until about midnight.
Very obviously congestion, support do nothing more than the usual stuff like chek for virus etc, i know i have no issues my end as my pc laptop and consoles all slowdown at peak times but are perfect during offpeak times.
My question to the eircom reps here on boards is what are eircom going to do about it?
I made an official complaint about this and got a few calls from some manager guy after 2-3 discussions over a few days he told me he can do nothing else for me and admitted that there is major congestion at the Monasterevin exchange but he was sorry but eircom will not be doing anything to help the situation.
I put it to him that maybe eircom wont address the issue because they label so called NGB as congestion free therefore are not going to sort out the congestion when they can sucker customers into this NGB at some stage.
In 07 i had a similar issue and got it sorted by going eventually after 5 months.

Full story here
http://boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055048304&highlight=eircom+nightmare

So here we are 10 months of this terrible service and i have no choice but eircom or its resold product.
Eircom refusing to sort out the exchange and even worse while looking at the NGB coverage map Monasterevin is not even listed as coming next year or anytime soon.
Im an eircom customer of many years and i find it disgraceful that eircom users in Monasterevin are being shafted as such.

Here is my typical speeds during offpeak times


and peak times


Please dont go down the same route as when i ring suppport and tell me to check this that or the other.
I know there is no issue my end whatsoever.
Neighbours and friends in Monasterevin all have the exact same problem,ive personally witnessed this congestion in quite a few of my friends and neighbours as ive called to research into this.
We are blue in the face complaining, there are threads on the broadband forum here on boards from others in the town about this.

A friend of mine switched to vodafone a few weeks back as he was sick of this congestion only to suffer the same issues but vodafone told him we are due an upgrade @ the exchange in January yet when i ask eircom im told there are no plans?

Ive been banging my head against a brick wall for many months now about this.
Support are useless,the manager i spoke to after official complaint brought nothing but bad news.
I was given contact emails for John Mc Keon head of Eircom Wholesale and Eamon Walsh head of Network Ops and have sent off 4-5 emails to both with no response.

My questions to you are :

1. Id like to ask what are you going to do about it?
2. Since we seem to be pigeon holed into NCB at some stage can you tell me if and when we will ever see NGB in Monasterevin?


I look forward to a response guys, thanks a lot for reading.

Regards
Dcully [an incredibly frustrated eircom customer]

Hi Dcully,

If you PM your broadband phone number detail, I will take a look at your broadband connection and do a full test on your phoneline, etc.. I'll also be able to check out your case history with Broadband Tech Support and run some checks from this end.

In the mean time can you please take a look at the following quick check list :

http://bit.ly/aPwvTT - Broadband checklist

I fully appreciate what you say and I will do everything I can to help you with your connection problem.

If I get your phone no details, if necessary I will also personally call you and be straight up with you.

It is important though that you check your modem as advised above, otherwise it will be a complete waste of your time and mine.

Please PM your phone number details as soon as you can.

All the best
Ant

Dcully

Thanks for that Ant, i will do as you say but i assure you things are 100% perfect during the day on both pc,laptop and consoles, at peak times its really terrible.
I have done many many troubleshooting efforts as suggested on that link ,many many times.
Thats doesnt suggest an issue my end at all.
It is everyone on the exchange.
I know my way around pc,broadband connections , i know when its a problem my end or not.
I appreciate you have to go through procedure etc but ive gone through this a thousand times.

Sending you my details now.

eircom: Ant

Dcully wrote: »

Thanks for that Ant, i will do as you say but i assure you things are 100% perfect during the day on both pc,laptop and consoles, at peak times its really terrible.
I have done many many troubleshooting efforts as suggested on that link ,many many times.
Thats doesnt suggest an issue my end at all.
It is everyone on the exchange.
I know my way around pc,broadband connections , i know when its a problem my end or not.
I appreciate you have to go through procedure etc but ive gone through this a thousand times.

Sending you my details now.

Thanks Dcully,

I appreciate taking my call.

As established there is possibly some spyware on your pc. Your Tcpip will need to be cleaned up first. Also please run the general domestic cleaning - dump temp files , run anti-virus, etc.

I've checked your modem and done full diagnostic this side. It seems good though take on board what you say about certain time - and lags. This could also be due to dormant software and we need to rule this out first.

As I said, I am not aware of a specific problem in your area. I am being totally straight when I say that.

At the moment, I think we have to clear up the side of the spyware issue. This is not a procedure, it's just common thread that good Tech Support should do with each customer.

Thanks again
and hope to hear from you soon.

Cheers:pac:
Ant

RyGaR

After reading this thread I felt compelled to post as I am normally a reader more than a poster. I too am an Eircom customer in Monasterevin and like Dcully I have the same issues. During the day the connection is what it should be but in the peak times it's just congested. I myself have given up ringing-emailing etc cause I get the same response "Is you modem switched on?" or "Please reset your router!" At one point I got so frustrated I asked to speak to a manager in which I told him I am so angry that I am considering going to my Solicitor. His reply shocked me "Go ahead!!" laughing as well to boot. I was dumbfounded by this response and shocked. I said to him this is a joke for the Flagship BB provider of Ireland to have terrible congestion problems in the evening and see adds on the telly, Eircom's slogan "Congestion free!" I then told him that I am a gamer and can't play at peak times as my ping is through the roof. He said that "Eircom are not responsible for bad pings!! So I said that Eircom is responsible to give me the product that I pay monthly for and not this joke of a service and still be paid the same money for it. Dcully has also stated that his machine is up to scratch on issues and yet it's still said you have Spyware etc.. Are Eircom support guys robots or what? So I must have Spyware too but only at peak times of the day? Oh and also at 2007 I had Spyware but the Exchange got an upgrade and then I didn't have it or Dcully or a neighbour of mine. Look the point I am trying to get to is the Exchange needs an upgrade and Eircom couldn't be bothered end of story. When it gets it we will be getting the product that we pay for... end of!.

Dcully

Hi again Ant, ive run malware bytes just now as suggested and nothing showed up.
Ill do so again later when im home,gotta head out now.
Ive also done the usual disc cleanup etc and ran Av etc and again nothing showing up.
But as i said to you on the phone,ive done all this before countless times.
The TCP showing up could be from world of warcraft game or so ive read on the wow forums.
As i say its strange its only at peak times, my consoles have no spyware etc yet they are unplayable online at peak times.
Also recently i done a reformat and that very evening with nothing on my pc while i done a ping test in cmd prompt ping -t to boards and eircom etc the latency was about 300-500.

Ill run some more scans etc this evening but im pretty sure there is nothing significant on my pc.
Even if there was it would not explain why latency on xbox live is so poor at peak times yet perfect during the day.
Its widely known in the town that gaming of any sort is a no go in the evenings.
I cannot understand why your engineers are telling you there is no congestion.

Thanks again Ant, i understand you personally are doing your best here.

eircom: Ant

RyGaR wrote: »

After reading this thread I felt compelled to post as I am normally a reader more than a poster. I too am an Eircom customer in Monasterevin and like Dcully I have the same issues. During the day the connection is what it should be but in the peak times it's just congested. I myself have given up ringing-emailing etc cause I get the same response "Is you modem switched on?" or "Please reset your router!" At one point I got so frustrated I asked to speak to a manager in which I told him I am so angry that I am considering going to my Solicitor. His reply shocked me "Go ahead!!" laughing as well to boot. I was dumbfounded by this response and shocked. I said to him this is a joke for the Flagship BB provider of Ireland to have terrible congestion problems in the evening and see adds on the telly, Eircom's slogan "Congestion free!" I then told him that I am a gamer and can't play at peak times as my ping is through the roof. He said that "Eircom are not responsible for bad pings!! So I said that Eircom is responsible to give me the product that I pay monthly for and not this joke of a service and still be paid the same money for it. Dcully has also stated that his machine is up to scratch on issues and yet it's still said you have Spyware etc.. Are Eircom support guys robots or what? So I must have Spyware too but only at peak times of the day? Oh and also at 2007 I had Spyware but the Exchange got an upgrade and then I didn't have it or Dcully or a neighbour of mine. Look the point I am trying to get to is the Exchange needs an upgrade and Eircom couldn't be bothered end of story. When it gets it we will be getting the product that we pay for... end of!.

Hi RyGaR
Thanks for contacting the eircom boards forum.

If you want to PM your telephone number I can take a look at your connection.

Fully take on board what you say. Personally and I've checked with Tech Support, I have not heard of a direct problem in your area. Of course if there is an issue I will do my genuine best to get any issue resolved.

If there is a specific time when you feel your broadband connection is slow, then I will have this investigated by eircom networks.
As I'm sure you appreciate, I have to be objective. The eircom Technical Support team are vastly experienced in dealing with broadband speed issues. In the main slow speeds are centred around internal wiring, or slow pc issues (about 90%).

If someone has over 15 tcp + udp sessions on their computer, this will generally point to pc problems as advised on previous post. And spyware can generate at specific times on a pc. An application programme may run in the back ground at certain times. Updates may be programmed to alarm at a scheduled time and so on. So important to find this out.

Again, certainly if there is an issue on a network I can flag it and have it investigated by the networks team.

The fact is: if spyware is definitely on someone's pc then, before we can chase this up, we need to rule out this possibility.
A suggestion, might be to start your pc in windows safe mode and using only networking.
Just ensure that you haven't got xbox, or games console running at the same time and that you use a standalone pc connected on the master socket in your house. If you find you still get any slow connection after this I can raise this.

Absolutely, once I have established this I can excalate to the engineers. If agreed they can then check your connection and if found to be a fault with eircom /or the modem then they can fix it. If it's found to be an internal issue or a pc issue we can advise you on this. Obviously, before an engineer goes out, they will ask if you agree to terms and conditions of a call out. This is why we will always try to check everything out first before we embark on this - otherwise it could be manick calling in and out of everybody's house throughout the county.

Definitely, PM your broadband phone number.

""certainly at this stage this makes me feel more like a cyborg than a robot""

All the best
Ant

RyGaR

First I would like to say thanks for the quick reply. I feel to be honest it's a waste of your time and my time to go down the road of checking that it's a problem our end because I can assure you it isn't. My machine is scanned on a regular basis for Spyware etc and nothing shows up in any of the scans. It's a congestion issue end of and I would love to see you say we are going to upgrade the Exchange in Monasterevin that would be a result that would make all happy

Dcully

Hi Ant just to update you, i have now run malware bytes 3 times, done an AVG scan and nothing found.
Tonight my ping as per usual is pathetic.
ping -t www.boards.ie aand www.eircom.net are pinging at anything from 200-350
Ive booted up my pc in safe mode and done the same ping -t test and here again im seeing pings of 200-350 constantly with the odd drop down to 30 ms.
During the day things are perfect when i see 15-30 ms constant.
There is no way in hell any spyware will consistently slow down things at peak hours every single day yet offer rock solid speeds of 15-30 ms during the day.
Ill be honest Ant im so fed up of it now,your engineers are telling porkies in fairness.
Do they carry out tests at peak times? because if they are simply doing so during the day they will like me see rock solid performance.
I invite anyone from eircom to my home day/evening to see the slowdown for themselves.
Ive just dome in from my next door neighbours where i carried out the same ping -t www.eircom.net ,boarde.ie,rte.ie etc and the same results.
Previous to that on the basis of your spyware theory earlier this evening i actually brought my pc over to my brothers house in Kildare town which recently got NGB and speeds were absolutely perfect all evening.
I kid you not we sat watching ping tests and ran hlsw and the ping never once went above 40ms for a full hour yet when i rang home and got my son to try pay a game with my wife watching he was lagging allover the place the one game he got to play the rest of the time he was getting party timeouts and unable to join a game on xbox live as per usual @ peak hours, again i cant stress enough he does not the this issue @ off peak times.

Thats pretty conclusive in my book Ant.
Its a hell of a coincidence since 07 i have had solid speeds anytime of day but since early this year things are really terrible @ peak times for so many users in the town.
As ive said a recent reformat to a clean system also showed slowdown at peak times.

Im fed up at this stage bigtime, there is obviously an issue yet eircom engineers say there is not.
Can you get the engineers to carry out tests after say 7pm?
There is little point doing so during the day.

G_R

hi, id like to add my voice to this aswell. now, i only have a 3mbps subscription, so im not expecting anything amazing, but there are certain times of the day that you can barely even watch a youtube video, without it stopping and buffering every few seconds, then at other times, its fine and is finished loading the whole video after 10 or 15 secs.

Like the other posters, i too believe that its a congestion issue, because it only happens at certain times of the day. i have done speed tests on the line, the fastest i have seen is 2.1, 2.2mb/s, but at times ive seen it as low as 0.7, 0.8mb/s, which isnt really acceptable tbh when im paying for a 3mb package, which is quite expensive at the best of times.

As for the issue off spyware etc slowing it down, i run cleaning programs and defrag the computer regularly, so i dont believe its anything to do with that. I also experience the slowdown on my phone when its connected to the wi-fi, sometimes its even faster to turn the wifi off and use the mobile's own connection.

Just to let u know that there is a few of us experiencing these issues, and anything u can do to rectify the situation is much appreciated.

Dan

eircom: Eleanor

dannym08 wrote: »

hi, id like to add my voice to this aswell. now, i only have a 3mbps subscription, so im not expecting anything amazing, but there are certain times of the day that you can barely even watch a youtube video, without it stopping and buffering every few seconds, then at other times, its fine and is finished loading the whole video after 10 or 15 secs.

Like the other posters, i too believe that its a congestion issue, because it only happens at certain times of the day. i have done speed tests on the line, the fastest i have seen is 2.1, 2.2mb/s, but at times ive seen it as low as 0.7, 0.8mb/s, which isnt really acceptable tbh when im paying for a 3mb package, which is quite expensive at the best of times.

As for the issue off spyware etc slowing it down, i run cleaning programs and defrag the computer regularly, so i dont believe its anything to do with that. I also experience the slowdown on my phone when its connected to the wi-fi, sometimes its even faster to turn the wifi off and use the mobile's own connection.

Just to let u know that there is a few of us experiencing these issues, and anything u can do to rectify the situation is much appreciated.

Dan

Thank you for your post, can you PM me your eircom details and I will ask a member of the support team to look in to this for you

Eleanor

Dcully

Hi Eleanor , any update on this matter?
My pc is clean of any spyware ,virus etc.
Ive ran security software many times over the weekend and again nothing was found.
Again i ask you to please ask your engineers to test things @ peak times , there is little use to anybody testing things out during the day simply because things are perfect at these hours like ive said many times already.
There is no way in hell we all slow down magically @ peak hours apart from congestion.
As ive pointed out already i took my pc over to Kildare town to my brothers place @ peak hours and things were perfect, back in monasterevin we are at a snails pace.
My sons xbox is the same,xbox live is perfect during the day but terrible @ peak times,no spyware on the console ofcourse.
This is not what i/we am paying for.
My son cannot game at all on his xbox 360 after 5-6pm,likewise i cannot game at all on my pc.

Please do not fob me off anymore with the usual spyware is the cause, im around pc gaming long enough to know if i have spyware or not.
As ive said our consoles in the house have the exact same problem as the pc, pefect during the day but unplayable at peak hours.
If this does not suggest congestion nothing does.
Its been like this 9 months, get your engineers to test things at peak hours.
If your not willing to address this soon say goodbye to a customer of well over ten years.

RyGaR

An update on this matter as follows. I have done what Ant has suggested to do in a Pm that he sent me and followed the instructions here on this link..

http://eircomconnect.eircom.net/Forum/default.aspx?threadid=1375&boardid=32&mode=2&PostId=7730&last=true

No change in connection at all. I also once again done the usual scans that I do on a regular basis and nothing is found. I am unable to game-watch videos on Youtube etc from mostly 17:00 onwards to late at night. I just think that it's a joke and Eircom know but don't care. All I can say is whenever another provider comes into the town its bye bye to Eircom. To be honest if this problem is fixed I think I will still move cause Eircom to me is just incompetent and untrustworthy to keep the service the way it should be.

eircom: Tony

Hi Dcully, RyGar and dannym08

My colleague Ant has escalated this case to our tech support and networks teams. Due to the similar nature of the posts there would appear to be an issue but as yet this issue has not been localised.

Apologies for the delay in getting this information, but we are still investigating and will update you with any feedback.

Tony

Dcully

Thanks Tony and the other reps, i cannot stress the importance of your engineers investigating this at peak times,here really is no point doing so during the day.

eircom: Tony

Dcully wrote: »

Thanks Tony and the other reps, i cannot stress the importance of your engineers investigating this at peak times,here really is no point doing so during the day.

I agree Dcully. The proceedure is normally to monitor over a few days, to give a reflection of traffic levels.
Should have some feedback by Friday.
Tony

Dcully

Thanks Tony

Dcully

Any update for us folks?

eircom: Tony

Dcully wrote: »

Any update for us folks?

Hi Dcully

just got update now.
The issue you reported may be a result of a possible card problem in the exchange in Portlaoise. Technicians will be assigned to resolve this, however as work is likely to cause some interuption to service, this has been scheduled for 21/12/10 at 00:01.
You should hopefully notice an improvement on tuesday. Let me know if not.
I hope this solves the issue and thank you guys for bringing this to our attention.
Tony

Dcully

eircom: Tony wrote: »

Hi Dcully

just got update now.
The issue you reported may be a result of a possible card problem in the exchange in Portlaoise. Technicians will be assigned to resolve this, however as work is likely to cause some interuption to service, this has been scheduled for 21/12/10 at 00:01.
You should hopefully notice an improvement on tuesday. Let me know if not.
I hope this solves the issue and thank you guys for bringing this to our attention.
Tony

So the technicians are now reporting an issue? Seriously about time.

With respect Tony i brought this to eircoms` attention many many times,its gone on for over 9 months.
Im just baffled that this has not being copped onto before now and it took an internet message board forum to notice a problem despite my official complaints and calls to support, to me this is shocking and simply not good enough.
Back on topic,im assuming the Portlaoise exchange is connected to Monasterevins ?

I really look forward to Tuesday then Tony, please god this will help the issue but you seem confident.
Again im far from happy over this but will be more than happy to have normal service resumed.

My beef is with the technicians and the procedure to get things done ,i mean what if there was no eircom forum here on boards? i posted about this on the official eircom support forums and got nowhere because somewhere down the line a technicians word is gospel regardless of what the customer says it seems

If no beef with you or any of the reps here, you are doing a fine job and if this leads to Monasterevin finally back to having proper broadband at peak times it will be great.
For now thanks a million for your efforts Tony and the team,its greatly appreciated.
Please God we will see improvements on Tuesday.

G_R

hi Tony,

I'd just like to say thanks aswell, hopefully this resolves the issue.
Thanks again,
Dan

RyGaR

I have doubts as usual cause of past experience I have with Eircom but if it's sorted and all is well then I will be happy and show my appreciation

eircom: Tony

Hope so too guys.
I will have relevant info tomorrow.
Tony

Dcully

I shall be glued to my pc watching pings like a hawk tomorrow evening.

Heres my speeds currently tonight ,simply terrible

RyGaR

Dcully

Thought id do another test at similar time for reference purposes.

RyGaR

Dcully

Heres mine from this morning, hell of a difference compared to peak hours, lets see what tonight brings.

G_R

theres mine, just did it there now. seems to be an improvement.

Rackstar

Brilliant!!!

Was playing Fifa online last night and was going mental when my broadband dropped in the middle of a game.

Thankfully it went down to resolve the crap broadband speeds. Fair play lads for finally getting someone to address this.

eircom: Tony

Rackstar wrote: »

Brilliant!!!

Was playing Fifa online last night and was going mental when my broadband dropped in the middle of a game.

Thankfully it went down to resolve the crap broadband speeds. Fair play lads for finally getting someone to address this.

Hi Rackstar

yes line connection dropped for a while as techs worked on exchange, did post it in one of the posts above, sorry for disruption.. I hope this has improved speeds though. From the posts there appears to be some change..

as suggested by other posters here, monitor speeds again tonight, at peak hours, and let me know if yea or nea..

Hoping for a yea

Tony