Sudden drop in BB speed after line test

bennya

Hi,

Unfortunately I've had to come back to regale the story of our latest problems with Eircom Broadband.

After our last issues (detailed here, which were eventually resolved by a very helpful (local) Eircom engineer, we've spent the last few months enjoying nice stable 3MB broadband.

All that changed when apparently, an engineer decided to do an unrequested line test, and 'decided' that our line could only support 1.6MB at the very most. This has resulted in our line profile being set to 1MB, and support claim it won't even be stable at 2MB.

Given the above, we're at a loss to explain why:
1) Our line has suddenly degraded to this point - after all we didn't suddenly move further from the exchange
2) Why the line test was carried out without our knowledge, and without any kind of fault report in the meantime?

We've been on to support three times in the past couple of days and no-one is willing to answer these questions.

Really getting hacked off at this stage. We've had perfect service up until July of this year, but recent events have us praying for UPC coverage...

Fault reference can be PM'ed upon request.

Thanks.

eircom: Ant

bennya wrote: »

Hi,

Unfortunately I've had to come back to regale the story of our latest problems with Eircom Broadband.

After our last issues (detailed here, which were eventually resolved by a very helpful (local) Eircom engineer, we've spent the last few months enjoying nice stable 3MB broadband.

All that changed when apparently, an engineer decided to do an unrequested line test, and 'decided' that our line could only support 1.6MB at the very most. This has resulted in our line profile being set to 1MB, and support claim it won't even be stable at 2MB.

Given the above, we're at a loss to explain why:
1) Our line has suddenly degraded to this point - after all we didn't suddenly move further from the exchange
2) Why the line test was carried out without our knowledge, and without any kind of fault report in the meantime?

We've been on to support three times in the past couple of days and no-one is willing to answer these questions.

Really getting hacked off at this stage. We've had perfect service up until July of this year, but recent events have us praying for UPC coverage...

Fault reference can be PM'ed upon request.

Thanks.

Hi bennya,

Thanks for posting your query on the eircom Forum on Boards.

I see that eircom Technical Support have a case still open against your broadband and they have asked that you report back to them after you have monitored your broadband connection.

From what I can see from your currently logged case, there are two basic issues affecting your broadband. One is that you have a monitored alarm system, which you advise has been been professionally installed. The other is that your broadband is in an 'amber' region.

Monitored Alarms and Adsl fixedline Broadband

If your monitored alarm is part of eircom PhoneWatch, then an eircom engineer will have done, what's called, a technical insullation. Where as, if it is a private monitored alarm system, then a 3rd party electrician would have done the insullation. In the case of the latter, the onus or responsibility of insullating their monitored alarm equipment rests with their electricians /or sub-contractors.

Amber broadband (Extended Reach)

eircom Technical Support report that your broadband is considered to be an 'amber' broadband connection; That is: your premises is 2.5KM or more from the local exchange. This will have an major impact on your broadband capacity.

In many cases it may not be possible to provide Adsl fixed line broadband if the phoneline is in an amber region /or considered Extended Reach. Technical Support advise that your broadband currently pre-qualifies for 2Mb. This suggests that the broadband line would become unstable and perhaps cause intermittent sync, if the line speed is increased beyond 2Mb.

Obviously consideration would need to be given to both the monitored alarm system and the extended reach broadband. A monitored alarm or any external system, like a Sky (box(s)) can be updated or a may have additional upgrades or remote line tests. A signal or frequency change may affect the over all status of your broadband and therefore it is important to check this equipment first. I have seen cases where a firmware updates on a private monitored alarm have affected broadband's ability to receive more than 2Mb, when they were previously able to receive 3Mb.

My advise would be to report back in to Broadband Support and seek their advice. If necessary an eircom engineer will need to be assigned and Technical Support will need to do this. As advised Technical Support are currently waiting on you reporting back to them.

You can quote your case id or can give your home phone number as a referernce.

Technical Support may need to confirm that you have complied with their request to monitor your connection after they had applied 'mid-band' troubleshooting to your broadband.

Broadband Technical Support : 1890 260260 (lowcall); Hours : 08:00 - 22:00 (7 days).

Please retain your case id as this will help technical Support solve any problems quickly. Once your case has been escalated and assigned to eircom engineers, then we can check for updates with the Technical Support Team.

Best wishes,
Ant

bennya

Hi Ant,

Thanks for taking the time to look at this. However, my two questions have still not been answered:

1) Why was a line test conducted without our initiation or authorisation?
2) How come a line that we have been assured is capable of 3Mb suddenly not capable?

FYI, the alarm is not a PhoneWatch alarm and is not subject to firmware updates, and is working correctly. We also have no other devices connected to the line (as we've outlined every single time we call )

Thanks.

eircom: Mark

bennya wrote: »

Hi Ant,

Thanks for taking the time to look at this. However, my two questions have still not been answered:

1) Why was a line test conducted without our initiation or authorisation?
2) How come a line that we have been assured is capable of 3Mb suddenly not capable?

FYI, the alarm is not a PhoneWatch alarm and is not subject to firmware updates, and is working correctly. We also have no other devices connected to the line (as we've outlined every single time we call )

Thanks.

Hi bennya,

I am following up the case with managers in broadband technical support and I will get back to you when I have any updates.

Thanks, Mark

bennya

I'm guessing by the silence that there are no updates.

And by the way, one of your support staff assured us on Wednesday that an engineer would be sent out. Just now we've called and there's no record of that!

Please escalate this complaint.

eircom: Mark

bennya wrote: »

I'm guessing by the silence that there are no updates.

And by the way, one of your support staff assured us on Wednesday that an engineer would be sent out. Just now we've called and there's no record of that!

Please escalate this complaint.

Hi bennya,

Broadband technical support came back to me and stated.

"the customer was on the 3MB profile until September this year, there was a history of disconnections since 2010. This was dut to the line not being capable of handling the 3MB profile / speeds. The engineer had to lower the speed to "up to 2MB" as that is the closest profile available to maximise the maximum 1.6MB speed that the line can handle as a stable connection"

So the technican had to run the test to iconfirm that the speed provided on the line previously was not sustainable I'm afraid.

Thanks, Mark

bennya

Hi Mark,

I fear Technical Support are being as economical with the truth to you as they are to us. We were on the 3Mb profile until last week, not September as you stated.

There was a history of disconnections from July until September this year, which was due to the faulty line that I referred to in the thread I linked to in the first post. The line upon repair was certified as 3Mb capable by the technician on site.

If you investigate that further, you'll find that it took an escalation to customer complaints to get that resolved, which also resulted in yourselves applying a credit to our account by way of apology.

No matter, we've lodged another complaint so I think we'll let that process be followed. I expect a similar result.

Best regards,
Bennya