Why won't/can't Eircom tell us what service they will be able to provide...

pitachu

Can anyone help me find the solution to the situation my wife and I are trapped in:

We are about to move house and we wish to move our account to the new house. We have asked for confirmation of the broadband speed at the new house however we have been told that we must activate the line first, and enter into a new contract for 12 months, then they can test the line.

We obviously do not want to start a new 12 month contract if the line is not capable of suitable broadband speed. By suitable I am talking 3mb or higher. So far we have been told it will be 8mb, 3mb, 2mb or1mb (or less) by different agents.

We have been told that if we activate the line there will be a €100 fee to cancel it if we deem the broadband to not be suitable.

So basically we are stuck in a catch 22, we're unwilling to start the new contract until we can find out whether the service will be suitable, but Eircom can't (or won't) tell waht service level they can offer until we start the contract.

Any suggestions?
Pete

eircom: Mark

pitachu wrote: »

Can anyone help me find the solution to the situation my wife and I are trapped in:

We are about to move house and we wish to move our account to the new house. We have asked for confirmation of the broadband speed at the new house however we have been told that we must activate the line first, and enter into a new contract for 12 months, then they can test the line.

We obviously do not want to start a new 12 month contract if the line is not capable of suitable broadband speed. By suitable I am talking 3mb or higher. So far we have been told it will be 8mb, 3mb, 2mb or1mb (or less) by different agents.

We have been told that if we activate the line there will be a €100 fee to cancel it if we deem the broadband to not be suitable.

So basically we are stuck in a catch 22, we're unwilling to start the new contract until we can find out whether the service will be suitable, but Eircom can't (or won't) tell waht service level they can offer until we start the contract.

Any suggestions?
Pete

Hi Pete,

I appreciate your point of view and frustration. However with new line installations there is absolutely no way to know what broadband speeds the line is capable of until the line is installed and then tested from the exchange.

I know you may feel trapped, however installing a new line does have a cost involved. So eircom are obliged to install a telephone line when customers request it. Although customers may be only be looking for broadband and not necessarily a phone line, broadband with eircom has to be provided on the telephone line.

So the contract and connection fees associated to the telephone line and broadband are the steps eircom had to implement in order to insure that the company will see some return for the cost of work involved in trying to provide the service. If the customer wants to go ahead.

The lack of guarantees regarding broadband and broadband speed makes it difficult as you said for customers to agree to charges and contract without knowing what level of broadband service they may receive.

However I hope you appreciate the situation has to be locked from a business perspective as well as a consumer point of view.

If you have any follow up queries let me know.

Thanks, Mark

pitachu

Mark, thanks for your reply and I understand where you are coming from with regards new line installations, but this is just about having a line activated.

The line is already installed; in fact, as far as I can tell, there are two lines coming into the house. One is 'normal' phone line, the other terminates in a big grey box marked 'Eircom Plug and Play ISDN' (so I guess it's an ISDN line).

Thanks
Pete

eircom: Mark

pitachu wrote: »

Mark, thanks for your reply and I understand where you are coming from with regards new line installations, but this is just about having a line activated.

The line is already installed; in fact, as far as I can tell, there are two lines coming into the house. One is 'normal' phone line, the other terminates in a big grey box marked 'Eircom Plug and Play ISDN' (so I guess it's an ISDN line).

Thanks
Pete

Hi Pete,

I am afraid as the ISDN is a digital line. It can not be used as a test basis for installing a PSTN line, as ISDN can not support the broadband service it will not return an accurate result. So looking to get broadband as part of a migration from ISDN to PSTN has to be seen as a new installation.

I know it may not seem logical but they are two different services.

Thanks, Mark

pitachu

Apologies, for the further questions...

I'm pretty sure there are two lines as I said. However, are you saying that for us to get a 'standard' phone set up we should be expecting a new piece of wire to be fitted from the pole at the end of our drive to the house?

Pete

eircom: Mark

pitachu wrote: »

Apologies, for the further questions...

I'm pretty sure there are two lines as I said. However, are you saying that for us to get a 'standard' phone set up we should be expecting a new piece of wire to be fitted from the pole at the end of our drive to the house?

Pete

Hi Pete,

can you send on the telephone number or account number so I can have a look into your account.

Thanks, Mark

eircom: Mark

eircom: Mark wrote: »

Hi Pete,

I appreciate your point of view and frustration. However with new line installations there is absolutely no way to know what broadband speeds the line is capable of until the line is installed and then tested from the exchange.

I know you may feel trapped, however installing a new line does have a cost involved. So eircom are obliged to install a telephone line when customers request it. Although customers may be only be looking for broadband and not necessarily a phone line, broadband with eircom has to be provided on the telephone line.

So the contract and connection fees associated to the telephone line and broadband are the steps eircom had to implement in order to insure that the company will see some return for the cost of work involved in trying to provide the service. If the customer wants to go ahead.

The lack of guarantees regarding broadband and broadband speed makes it difficult as you said for customers to agree to charges and contract without knowing what level of broadband service they may receive.

However I hope you appreciate the situation has to be locked from a business perspective as well as a consumer point of view.

If you have any follow up queries let me know.

Thanks, Mark

Hi Pete,

The line was tested for broadband Today the 03/06/11 and the line is capable of "up to 12Mb" and the broadband order has been issued today as well.

Thanks, Mark

pitachu

Thank you for looking into it.

Pete

eircom: Mark

pitachu wrote: »

Thank you for looking into it.

Pete

Hi Pete,

No problem, If you have any issues in the future let me know.

Thanks, Mark