Complaint to Eircom: unacceptable service in Raheny

ChrisMcCauley

Hi all,

Yesterday I used the complaint form on the Eircom site to raise an issue regarding the lack of a stable, reliable and sufficient broadband service to a small part of Raheny, Dublin. Just got a personal response from a member of the customer service team promising they would look into it.

Apart from raising the complaint formally, does anyone have any other advice on how to get Eircom to fix the issue?

UPC isn't available here but there is a decent O2 HSPA+ signal which is giving my neighbour a solid 4MB/s connection bursting up to 9MB/s. I don't really want to jump ship though.


For transparency, here's a copy of my email response (some details removed)

"Thanks Paulette

The 400 character limit of the complaint form doesn't give much room
to provide background information so I'll explain the problem more
fully now.

The nature of the complaint is two-fold: the throughput on the ADSL
service has dropped unacceptably over a period of a few years and I
have been told by the Eircom engineers that it will not be fixed because
the road linking Avondale Park to the main Howth road may have to be
dug up - a cost which Eircom would not accept.

The broadband capacity on the line had been 3Mb/s as recently as 2010
- I have a speedtest.net account which I have used to track the stats
when a problem occurs and it shows a steady deterioration in the
throughput. Over this last few years the capacity has dropped to a
level where it is now syncing at 1.7Mb/s. The net effect is that a
reasonable performance of around 340KB/s is now at about 160KB/s which
is not fit for purpose.

I would have to congratulate Eircom on the exceptional response to the
faults raised. We have had three engineer visits within this last
12-18 months and despite replacing the cable between the Eircom pole
and the nearby Eircom cabinet, the performance has not improved though
the stability of the line has.

I have been told by the last few engineers that there is nothing more
that can be done as the fault lies in the cable linking the cabinet to
the main junction in Raheny village (a very short walk away). It has
been pointed out that the cable serves a small area of a few hundred
houses and is unlikely to be made a priority.

There is no indication that the capacity will not fall further and I
am left with the feeling that Eircom are happy to provide a
substandard service to the small affected area of Raheny. I found the
link to your complaint system on boards.ie where I have been trying to
raise awareness of the problem.

Thank you for the very prompt reply and I really hope that I remain an
Eircom customer - as I said, the customer service has been excellent.

Regards,

Chris"


Fingers crossed!

Chris

Solair

You've hit the nail on the head in your post, the main problem is UPC isn't available in your area, so they really don't care as you won't take your voice services elsewhere !

ChrisMcCauley

Solair wrote: »

You've hit the nail on the head in your post, the main problem is UPC isn't available in your area, so they really don't care as you won't take your voice services elsewhere !

I don't know, my neighbour's 8Mb/s connection with the "O2 Hotspot" sounds very attractive at the moment. Apparently the speed isn't as great in the evening - he has to make do with around 3Mb/s

Chris

Sponge Bob

1 or 2 more customers will bring that 3g down to 1mb

ChrisMcCauley

Sponge Bob wrote: »

1 or 2 more customers will bring that 3g down to 1mb

Down to where I am now with Eircom then.

He's had it since late last year and seems pretty happy. It sounds like my options are to wait and see if the Eircom line improves or take a chance with a wireless provider.

Other suggestions are very welcome.

Has anyone had any success convincing Eircom to dig up roads etc?

Chris

Sponge Bob

Your problem is that eircom are only obliged to deliver minimum 28.8k in Dublin....the 'Internet Capital of Europe' as your own local TD Mr Bruton quaintly calls it.

You will have to hound eircom....most especially about voice line quality.

Report every click and crackle and make sure all your neighbours do too . Annoy Bruton too....a lot.

ChrisMcCauley

Sponge Bob wrote: »

Your problem is that eircom are only obliged to
You will have to hound eircom....most especially about voice line quality.

Solid advice and to their credit, they are responding - it's just the wrong response every time.

Unbelievably. an engineer turned up at the door just now. He wants to check the line in the house. That's the second engineer this week, the fourth in this last three weeks and the sixth in less than a year.

Each one insists on checking the line in the house, checking the line to the pole, then back to the cabinet and eventually admits that it's an 'underground problem'.

Annoyingly, the one new piece of good advice was on Monday from the broadband support guy who called me in the evening to discuss the issue. He seemed pretty convinced that the high attenuation on the line (63db) along with the S/N of 5db and the fact that everything had been replaced indicated an issue with the cabinet itself. He said he would make a note on the account for the engineer to call out next day. Except he turns up with a new modem and knows nothing about the cabinet suggestion.

He did offer to try replacing the line (for the third time) ...

Honestly, a decent set of engineers but nobody seems to be talking to anyone else.

Solair

I'm not very familiar with the fixed wireless access options in Dublin other than Digiweb metro.

Many of the wireless ISPs, and I don't mean mobile broadband, are capable of providing services comparable to DSL.

It might be worth researching your options. Just tread with care though, some are amazingly good and some are amazingly bad!

I think though, sometimes people forget they exist or confuse then with mobile 3G and WiMax products.

They can be very capable and robust alternatives to DSL. The well implemented systems are probably superior to it in many respects, particularly if you work from home and need fast upload speeds.

basically, these companies will put a small antenna on your roof connected to a router similar to a cable modem. Voice services are provided using VoIP, similarly to UPC cable.

Sponge Bob

eircom have vastly improved their field response in the past 2 years but this does not get substandard underground cables replaced.

Lots of complaints from many sources are required. Ye should all get 12-16mbits in Raheny on proper copper.

ChrisMcCauley

Solair wrote: »

I'm not very familiar with the fixed wireless access options in Dublin other than Digiweb metro.

I think though, sometimes people forget they exist or confuse then with mobile 3G and WiMax products.

They can be very capable and robust alternatives to DSL. The well implemented systems are probably superior to it in many respects, particularly if you work from home and need fast upload speeds.

The engineer who called out just now has gone to the cabinet and warned me that the connection will be down for a while. I'm now running a hotspot on my Android phone and getting more bandwidth than I had with Eircom so I guess you are correct, the wireless alternatives have come on leaps and bounds.

Any recommendations?

Solair

Just remember there are big differences between fixed access wireless products and 3Gdongles. Check out Digiweb Metro, it uses a cable modem over a radio link via a little device mounted on your chimney. Other possibly better options are available too, but it varies from region to region.

Like, for example Nova networks in Cork do 20mbit down and 2mbit up and phone with a 10GB per day cap on their top plan.

These are not mobile products and provide rock solid always on connection similar to DSL or cable (but slower than cable)

Sponge Bob

Digiweb Metro is the only decent Fixed Wireless service that is widely available in Dublin. Suburban 3G is all right during the day, just wait till 7pm when the commuters are home.

The engineer is doing his very best on the D Side (Cabinet to Customer) but the problem seems to be on the E Side ( Cabinet to Exchange) which is a different crew altogether.

ChrisMcCauley

Solair wrote: »

Check our Digiweb Metro, it uses a cable modem over a radio link via a little device mounted on your chimney.

Unfortunately it isn't available in Avondale Park apparently - pity because the 12Mb package is very attractive.

Solair

I'd give them a call anyway! Dublin's very flat, it'd be surprised if there were any reception issues there. It could just be an address database error. They'd probably do a quick signal survey for you.

The setup process is similar to getting Sky installed. They'll send a guy out with a little antenna which goes on the roof, cable down to a router in your house. They will not install the system if there's no signal, but they usually will carry out a survey for you as it's just a matter of driving a van near by and hoisting up a pole to check the strength.

ADSL2+ should easily be able to give you at least 12mbit/s in any urban area (line length dependent). You'd really have to wonder what's going on at eircom if they cannot do that in a built up area like Raheny !

I know a few people in Cork City suburban areas who are having major issues like this too and have just ditched eircom in favour of UPC.

ChrisMcCauley

Solair wrote: »

I'd give them a call anyway! Dublin's very flat, it'd be surprised if there were any reception issues there. It could just be an address database error.

On Live Chat with them. They are saying that the coverage is low but that there is an alternative DSL product which - runs over Eircom lines! Ahh!! Ahh!!

I'm asking if they'll come out and do a signal test without charging me 99 euro.

Solair

ChrisMcCauley wrote: »

On Live Chat with them. They are saying that the coverage is low but that there is an alternative DSL product which - runs over Eircom lines! Ahh!! Ahh!!

I'm asking if they'll come out and do a signal test without charging me 99 euro.

That's annoying, maybe they'll be able to do something though. There's absolutely no point in going with DSL if it just doesn't work on your line.

If it's a general problem in the area, it might be worth going door-to-door and seeing how many people have issues with it. Then getting together and contacting UPC.

Sponge Bob

Beware of marginal signal tests in winter in Raheny, when the leaves grow back on the trees in May the signal may disappear till November.

Does your house back onto a UPC enabled area..I have often seen UPC coming in over back walls.

Solair

Yeah, that's a point! It might be worth testing the signal in May just to be 100% sure. It's basically a microwave signal, similar to MMDS in many respects. It's basically a line-of-sight type service, so you need to pretty much be able to see the transmitter.

I'd say try and get UPC to call out and find alternative routes. They can be very quick to just go "computah says no!" when you're not in the database, even though there might be a very easy access route to your house over a back wall or whatever.

You may have to be fairly insistent on getting them to do a survey rather than just fobbing you off though. They're often not very flexible about looking outside the database.

ChrisMcCauley

Sponge Bob wrote: »

Beware of marginal signal tests in winter in Raheny, when the leaves grow back on the trees in May the signal may disappear till November.

Does your house back onto a UPC enabled area..I have often seen UPC coming in over back walls.

Never thought of asking them to do a survey. Is that likely to happen? UPC is available I think on the main Howth Rd and we are about a 30s walk from there.


Thanks !

Chris

eircom: Ant

Hi Chris,

Thanks for your post. I see that you have already contacted eircom Customer Care regarding your query.

Let me know, or PM me with your phone /account number, if I can help you further on this or any related issue.

Kind regards,
Ant

ChrisMcCauley wrote: »

Hi all,

Yesterday I used the complaint form on the Eircom site to raise an issue regarding the lack of a stable, reliable and sufficient broadband service to a small part of Raheny, Dublin. Just got a personal response from a member of the customer service team promising they would look into it.

Apart from raising the complaint formally, does anyone have any other advice on how to get Eircom to fix the issue?

UPC isn't available here but there is a decent O2 HSPA+ signal which is giving my neighbour a solid 4MB/s connection bursting up to 9MB/s. I don't really want to jump ship though.


For transparency, here's a copy of my email response (some details removed)

"Thanks Paulette

The 400 character limit of the complaint form doesn't give much room
to provide background information so I'll explain the problem more
fully now.

The nature of the complaint is two-fold: the throughput on the ADSL
service has dropped unacceptably over a period of a few years and I
have been told by the Eircom engineers that it will not be fixed because
the road linking Avondale Park to the main Howth road may have to be
dug up - a cost which Eircom would not accept.

The broadband capacity on the line had been 3Mb/s as recently as 2010
- I have a speedtest.net account which I have used to track the stats
when a problem occurs and it shows a steady deterioration in the
throughput. Over this last few years the capacity has dropped to a
level where it is now syncing at 1.7Mb/s. The net effect is that a
reasonable performance of around 340KB/s is now at about 160KB/s which
is not fit for purpose.

I would have to congratulate Eircom on the exceptional response to the
faults raised. We have had three engineer visits within this last
12-18 months and despite replacing the cable between the Eircom pole
and the nearby Eircom cabinet, the performance has not improved though
the stability of the line has.

I have been told by the last few engineers that there is nothing more
that can be done as the fault lies in the cable linking the cabinet to
the main junction in Raheny village (a very short walk away). It has
been pointed out that the cable serves a small area of a few hundred
houses and is unlikely to be made a priority.

There is no indication that the capacity will not fall further and I
am left with the feeling that Eircom are happy to provide a
substandard service to the small affected area of Raheny. I found the
link to your complaint system on boards.ie where I have been trying to
raise awareness of the problem.

Thank you for the very prompt reply and I really hope that I remain an
Eircom customer - as I said, the customer service has been excellent.

Regards,

Chris"


Fingers crossed!

Chris

ChrisMcCauley

eircom: Ant wrote: »

Hi Chris,

Thanks for your post. I see that you have already contacted eircom Customer Care regarding your query.

Let me know, or PM me with your phone /account number, if I can help you further on this or any related issue.

Kind regards,
Ant

Hi Ant,

One positive update is that the last engineer who called out (the second one this week, the fourth in three weeks) managed to improve the situation so I'm once again syncing at 3Mb but apparently that's the absolute limit and is probably subject to a favourable wind direction ;-)

The core problem remains, the capacity in the area is severely limited by the cable - a "UG issue" as a few engineers have mentioned.

Really it's crazy that a section of Dublin is limited because of a relatively short length of cable.

Meanwhile, the Digiweb folks are calling out to do a signal check and my borrowed O2 HotShot is sitting at an average of 5Mb/s (even in the evening) and has peaked at 11.2Mb/s during the day. I think the Hotshot is looking like a strong candidate as a cheap, emergency backup.

Again, the last thing I want to do is switch providers as Eircom field support is absolutely excellent as are the Broadband tech support. I just don't see a way of staying with Eircom regardless of how much I'm willing to spend.

Chris

Du

I was in the exact same situation. On the Howth rd Eircom can only offer 1-3mb connection which is utter ****e. UPC dont cover the area either so Wimax are the fastest internet connection we can get with (7mb). With Eircom we got to the stage where 4 of their vans were outside trying to fix it, but nothing worked.

eircom: Mark

ChrisMcCauley wrote: »

Hi all,

Yesterday I used the complaint form on the Eircom site to raise an issue regarding the lack of a stable, reliable and sufficient broadband service to a small part of Raheny, Dublin. Just got a personal response from a member of the customer service team promising they would look into it.

Apart from raising the complaint formally, does anyone have any other advice on how to get Eircom to fix the issue?

UPC isn't available here but there is a decent O2 HSPA+ signal which is giving my neighbour a solid 4MB/s connection bursting up to 9MB/s. I don't really want to jump ship though.


For transparency, here's a copy of my email response (some details removed)

"Thanks Paulette

The 400 character limit of the complaint form doesn't give much room
to provide background information so I'll explain the problem more
fully now.

The nature of the complaint is two-fold: the throughput on the ADSL
service has dropped unacceptably over a period of a few years and I
have been told by the Eircom engineers that it will not be fixed because
the road linking Avondale Park to the main Howth road may have to be
dug up - a cost which Eircom would not accept.

The broadband capacity on the line had been 3Mb/s as recently as 2010
- I have a speedtest.net account which I have used to track the stats
when a problem occurs and it shows a steady deterioration in the
throughput. Over this last few years the capacity has dropped to a
level where it is now syncing at 1.7Mb/s. The net effect is that a
reasonable performance of around 340KB/s is now at about 160KB/s which
is not fit for purpose.

I would have to congratulate Eircom on the exceptional response to the
faults raised. We have had three engineer visits within this last
12-18 months and despite replacing the cable between the Eircom pole
and the nearby Eircom cabinet, the performance has not improved though
the stability of the line has.

I have been told by the last few engineers that there is nothing more
that can be done as the fault lies in the cable linking the cabinet to
the main junction in Raheny village (a very short walk away). It has
been pointed out that the cable serves a small area of a few hundred
houses and is unlikely to be made a priority.

There is no indication that the capacity will not fall further and I
am left with the feeling that Eircom are happy to provide a
substandard service to the small affected area of Raheny. I found the
link to your complaint system on boards.ie where I have been trying to
raise awareness of the problem.

Thank you for the very prompt reply and I really hope that I remain an
Eircom customer - as I said, the customer service has been excellent.

Regards,

Chris"


Fingers crossed!

Chris

Hi Chris.

If you PM me wiyj your telephone number I can look to see if there is anything I can do to improve the situation.

Thanks, Mark

Du

I don't think this problem will ever be fixed, bit rediculous a big road like the howth road can only max out a 3mb connection. Best broadband for the area is wimax 9mb connection, and even that is pretty bad. Bring us UPC :-)

eircom: Ant

Du wrote: »

I don't think this problem will ever be fixed, bit rediculous a big road like the howth road can only max out a 3mb connection. Best broadband for the area is wimax 9mb connection, and even that is pretty bad. Bring us UPC :-)

Hi Du,

Thanks for your post.
Contact Technical Support if you need any help with your broadband. They will be able to run a sync check and check your connection across eircom's authentication servers. They will further advise you on your best setup.

Take a look at the following advice first as this may be helpful :

Broadband Checklist

*Technical Support: 1890260260 -8:am-10pm (7 days)

Retain your case reference from Technical Support as this will help if you need to follow up. PM your case if you need me to chase this up with Technical Support.

Kind regards,
Ant

ChrisMcCauley

Du wrote: »

I don't think this problem will ever be fixed, bit rediculous a big road like the howth road can only max out a 3mb connection. Best broadband for the area is wimax 9mb connection, and even that is pretty bad. Bring us UPC :-)

I agree - my complaint doesn't seem to have been picked up - never got much of a response.


I think UPC would be the best option if it were available everywhere - I'm definitely telling people to look there first.

Next up would be WiMax - not available in Avondale Park unfortunately - but it seems to be a good product a decent enough price. I know someone with it and they're very pleased.

I'm also having great success with the O2 HotShot - I managed a 9Mb connection the other day and generally it's around 5Mb.

Last but not least, Eircom - great support service but a poor product on the Howth Rd and especially where I am.