eircom to upc advice please

franbe

Hi, im thinking of switching from eircom to upc for phone, port the number over,

...obviously one PRO is cash, any CONS to upc voip.

eg.
is the downtime the same as the broadband downtime?
does the modem require rebooting sometimes because the phone dont work but the bb does (meaning i wouldnt know the phone was down without picking it up) ?
is call clarity equivalent, i ring one voip user and the line is awful, sounds like an underwater autotune, lol, (not sure who he is with but it is not upc. maybe skype over eircom broadband, not sure)
do calls always get thru ? read of some calls ring tone-ing on the callers end but not ringing on the receivers end at the phone, again dont know which supplier.

any other cons?


what phone do i buy dect 4 or dect 4 and above ?


im new to voip so some of the questions might be technically worded wrong but i think you'll get my gist.

cheers.

Johnboy1951

Don't know anything about UPC ... but ..... VOIP calls here are better quality than landline calls.
None of the things you mention are a problem .... and I am using Eircom broadband ADSL.

Most of what you describe can be attributed to cheap equipment or bad BB stats.

Lester Banks

Hey Franbe,
I made the transfer from Eircom to UPC in August and overall have been
happy with the service. Keep in mind, the standard of the service is probably dependent on location - Im in Cork.

The 25MB broadband has been very good (regurlarly 14 - 21Mb/s download and 2 - 2.5Mb/s upload)
However I have been having one of the problems you mentioned and that is
certain phone numbers can't be reached using the UPC phoneline.

Not sure what's causing it because it's not network dependent
(e.g some vodafone numbers can be contacted, some can't??!!)
UPC are looking into this for me.

One thing you should watch out for if you plan to transfer is MAKE SURE TO GIVE EIRCOM 30 DAYS NOTICE

When I called EIRCOM to ask about cancelling the account they said there was no need to cancel the account as the transfer would be taken care of when UPC port number. I took this to mean that the process was the same as
when you move between mobile operators
(i.e you're billed up to date of transfer by old provider and from date of transfer by new provider -SIMPLE)

But no EIRCOM went on to charge me for the additional month beyond the date of transfer. I informed EIRCOM that I wasn't happy with this as the agent didn't make this clear when I phoned to cancel account.
I was told that I would have been informed of "new 30 day notice" in my February bill (6 months earlier). I didn't recall getting this and argued that regardless, I should have been informed by eircom agent when I called to cancel the account.
I paid final bill minus the additional month but Eircom have threatened to take court action if I don't pay for the additional month beyond service.

Several other people have posted here on Boards about having the same experience.

Anyway as you can see EIRCOM have really wound me up!!!
I've explained my case to several family and friends (all EIRCOM customers) and all have agreed that they are willing to cancel their EIRCOM accounts if eircom fail to treat my case in a fair manner.


Anyway best of luck with the transfer!!!

Solair

I've been using UPC broadband and phone for a couple of months now and the broadband is amazingly good. We've the 50 mbit/s bundle and it just blows anything else I've used out of the water. There's no comparison at all.

The phone service is totally comparable to an eircom landline, and better in some respects.

You've got all the usual services:
Caller ID
Call Waiting
Call Forwarding
Voicemail

Some extras that eircom does not have:
Call Waiting Caller ID works (on eircom branded DECT phones!)
Annoymous call rejection, anyone blocking their number gets told that you do not wish to accept calls from blocked numbers. *90 sets this up. #90 cancels.

Unlike other VoIP services I've used, the UPC one really does behave like a normal landline. Call Waiting R2 etc works like eircom.
Calls connect instantly there's no delay, or need to press the # button or any of that. It's completely correctly setup for Irish numbering plans etc So, there's no fuss at all.

Downtime : none, you will be connected as soon as your modem's installed. However, your eircom landline number may take a while to transfer over. You will have a UPC issued number until that port happens, so you don't lose your phone service ever as your eircom landline stays active until the port goes through and you still have the extra UPC line until the number changes over too.

Call Quality:
Perfect, 100% of the time. Totally comparable to a perfect quality landline.

Downsides:
UPC's phone service requires the router/modem to be plugged in to the mains at all times. No mains = no phone. It's pretty unusual that you'd ever get a power cut in an urban area in Ireland to be honest, but just be ware that you cannot plug the modem out without disrupting your phone service.

Choice of phones:

Any phone works with it. It's presented as a normal analogue telephone service, just like eircom. Just plug your eircom phones into the back of it the router.

Also, if you completely disconnect the incoming eircom line (this is VERY important). You can then just plug the UPC phone socket on the back of the modem into any of your spare eircom phone sockets and it will make the UPC line available on all of your extension sockets.

I cannot stress how important it is though to be 100% sure the eircom line is totally disconnected from the internal wiring though. You will have to physically remove the wires form the back of the first master socket to do this / or the junction box where it enters your house e.g. in the hall / attic etc.

One final note:

The <25mbit/s service comes with a Cisco modem/router. This seems to support a slightly more basic phone service than the newer Thomson router.
E.g. the Cisco one does not support older pulse dial phones, the Thomson router does.

.

franbe

cheers guys, i had bit the bullet and ordered from upc before i got any replies here, but the info is reassuring.

and thanks for the 30 days notice heads up, upc never told me that i even had to cancel the eircom line, (although i did say i didnt want to port the number until the modem arrived), they said just sign up and they take care of everything.

..does this mean if i dont cancel with eircom i'd be charged line rental for ever by eircom or just the 30 days ?

i remember something similar happening before cancelling 56k internet way back. i cancelled the direct debit at the bank instead of sending a cancellation letter on top of the cancellation phone call, when it got to the stage of first debt collector legal letter i rang the collectors up and said i had canceled for a reason, bad service, i would never pay on principal, lol, said it was up to them if they wanted to waste more money and time on more letters. the guy said fair enough, it is a crappy internet service, lol.

note: this isn't legal advise, just an anecdote, lol.

and hacking into my home wires is a cool idea, although i had bit the bullet again and got these panny phones so mightn't need to if the range is good from the base. seem to get good reviews for 30 bucks a handset.

Solair

You don't have to cancel your eircom voice services, the port request will do that automatically.

However, if you have DSL broadband on the line, you do need to cancel this with eircom, or whoever you are with.

The number port request seems to only impact on phone numbers and voice PSTN or ISDN services. If you've anything DSL related on the line, they will not cancel it without a request from you.

Our eircom to UPC port went through without a hitch and it cancelled the line.

I think it's the DSL service that causes confusion! Eircom sets to treat it totally separately from the voice stuff!

There's no harm in giving eircom 30 days notice though to be 1000% sure.

Also, your number's now kept for a while after you leave, so as long as you have your UAN number (from your eircom or other suppliers' bill) you can port it.

malachy47

If you happen to have the Eircom Phone Watch alarm system, or similar, you may want to factor that in also!

championc

I was with BT, then Vodafone and like Solair says, I needed to confirm the cancellation of the DSL on the line. Luckily I did it by email so I have proof while fighting for my refund of a few months of charges !!

Anyway, I switched because I was unable to get more than 2mb download on the landline. I had no intention of getting TV from UPC but it still works out cheaper than Eircom / Vodafone / UTV etc..... I ported my old number over so no problem there. However, with the extra bandwidth, I've gone with a VoIP provider (Rynga.com) and am saving a huge amount. I installed a VoIP router (Linksys 3102) so can use my normal phones.

PROS: If you loose your line, the chances are that the whole street is gone and will get fairly urgent attention. Bandwidth is far better. Even using UPC voice, there is no noticeable difference between it and the old Eircom quality although I reckon that ALL Telco's are using VoIP in the backround. Costing me 26 for Broadband, 6 for Phone and Standalone Suppliment of 7.74. Rynga costing me about 3.33 per month (my 10 credit lasts 3 months)

CONS: Maybe because it's mains electricity powered but we all have mobiles as backup anyway these days.

Solair

There are many flavours of VoIP.

Carrier-grade VoIP standards are used by all sorts of companies, including eircom to carry voice traffic across their networks.

Eircom's in the process of migrating from TDM to VoIP and an All-IP network (also known as NGN), so even though you might still be getting your dial tone from the same old digital exchange, the other end of it has quite likely been replaced and it's back-hauling traffic over VoIP of some sort.

VoIP provides flawless results over a good network. It's only poor quality when there's some kind of a slow link or if you're using poor quality equipment.

Incidentally, if you want to use Blueface's VoIP services, they work amazingly well over a UPC broadband connection. UPC and Blueface both peer on the INEX so there are very few hops from your router to the Blueface softswitch and you get flawless call quality and a lot more flexibility than you do with UPC's own landline offering. Worth considering if you want to use home office type stuff.

malachy47

Solair wrote: »

There are many flavours of VoIP.

Carrier-grade VoIP standards are used by all sorts of companies, including eircom to carry voice traffic across their networks.

Eircom's in the process of migrating from TDM to VoIP and an All-IP network (also known as NGN)....

Think you might mean MPLS.

Freddie59

malachy47 wrote: »

If you happen to have the Eircom Phone Watch alarm system, or similar, you may want to factor that in also!

My brother-in-law had an Eircom Phonewatch alarm installed recently (following a break-in). Works flawlessly with UPC.:)

Mr. G

Freddie59 wrote: »

malachy47 wrote: »

If you happen to have the Eircom Phone Watch alarm system, or similar, you may want to factor that in also!

My brother-in-law had an Eircom Phonewatch alarm installed recently (following a break-in). Works flawlessly with UPC.:)

FYI:

Eircom Phonewatch at this point in time use SMS or communication from the Alarm to the central station via Voice. Your friend is likely to have a GE Simon wireless alarm system, which has a built in device which makes a telephone call to the Eircom Phonewatch monitoring centre in Sandyford.
If you have a HKC 812/Wired range (from eircom pw or any other company) your system is likely to use SMS which is delayed when connected to voip and can usually come out of the system jumbled after a wait. Voice on the HKC ranges are more expensive. For this reason, in order to support Eircom Phonewatch or any other monitoring service, ensure your alarm system is connecting to the monitoring centre via voice and NOT SMS.
This is important to note from your alarm installation provider which type of communicator is on your alarm. Also, GSM connections are considers not secure in the industry nowadays as they can be blocked and jammed easily by criminals.

For more info on alarms I suggest you go over to the Home Security Systems forum

HTH

lorrscann

I was told that I had to send UPC my eircom bill before it became active = still using eircom as I am undecided due to some really serious issues with UPC yet today I have been told that I owe them rental = totally confused

Mr. G

lorrscann wrote: »

I was told that I had to send UPC my eircom bill before it became active = still using eircom as I am undecided due to some really serious issues with UPC yet today I have been told that I owe them rental = totally confused

Hi Lorrscann,

I assume that you have broadband and voice connection with UPC:
UPC will provide you with a UPC telephone line and number as well as your ported number AFAIK for the same price. If you have not yet begun the port and have a UPC callplan and rental then you will still owe UPC for the phone service as you can make outgoing and incoming calls using your UPC provided line.
What sort of issues with UPC have you been having? If you are unable to receive and make phone calls through your UPC line then you are entitled to a refund under the 'Sale of Goods & Supply of Services Act 1980' (I'm no lawyer btw)

I hope this post is helpful and Good luck!