Eircom is a joke

Ranicand

It is not a matter of picking sides but these are 3 privately owned networks above and compare them to this.

While I don't support Eircom in any way, I have to say that two of the high speed services mentioned above (Magent & Cablesurf) are only available in a very specific locations. UPC on the other hand, are a great example of how a telecoms company can be run, but you have to remember they also offer TV, some people find this very appealing (3 services in one bill etc).

Also, Eircom is in a massive amount of debt. They have no money to invest in their infrastructure.

greendom

When you have cable in a relatively small area that happens to be heavily populated this type of bandwith is a lot easier to provide. When you have a network covering every nook and cranny of the country with antiquated equipment, it's a little tougher. The OP is not comparing like with like.

SC Kevin

Hate Eircom, way to expensive and you don't even get the speed they advertised at.

I was meant to be able to get 8mb, but the best i ever got was 6.95!

Switched over to Imagine, I'm on the 8mb package but I can actually get 10mb (just checked there 10.42mb/s) sometimes so happy with that.

Would love UPC 100mb package but cant get it where I live

SC Kevin

SC Kevin wrote: »

Hate Eircom, way to expensive and you don't even get the speed they advertised at.

I was meant to be able to get 8mb, but the best i ever got was 6.95!

Switched over to Imagine, I'm on the 8mb package but I can actually get 10mb (just checked there 10.42mb/s) sometimes so happy with that.

Would love UPC 100mb package but cant get it where I live

The speeds are advertised as "Up to". Consider yourself lucky to get the advertised speed. Most providers cannot offer full speed.

SC Kevin

oh i know it was "Up to"

When i rang eircom to ask them why i wasnt getting the speed for which I was paying I was duly told this "Up to" BS which is why i switched.

So now, im paying less for more speed

Ranicand

greendom wrote: »

When you have cable in a relatively small area that happens to be heavily populated this type of bandwith is a lot easier to provide. When you have a network covering every nook and cranny of the country with antiquated equipment, it's a little tougher. The OP is not comparing like with like.

Comparing like with like?

I am not on the side of big business I am one of the little people.

Your point above is valid and I do not expect Eircom to be able to offer 100MB nationwide but 1meg or lower is a joke.

D'Peoples Voice

greendom wrote: »

When you have cable in a relatively small area that happens to be heavily populated this type of bandwith is a lot easier to provide. When you have a network covering every nook and cranny of the country with antiquated equipment, it's a little tougher. The OP is not comparing like with like.

ah but he is comparing like with like.:p
In the same way, as companies have business packages and domestic packages, Eircom should have rural and urban packages:rolleyes: The OP is comparing Eircom's Urban package with that of other providers.

There is NOTHING stopping Eircom from prioritising areas
no-one said they should be providing top notch broadband to areas where there is going to be little or no demand. Cost benefit analysis should be undertaken in every area.
They should focus on towns that E-Net have installed MANs and just connection to the MAN, so that might include towns such like Navan, Athlone, Thurles, Tuam, Castlebar, Drogheda etc, and in THOSE towns offer a service that would be compatible in standard with those of UPC and Magnet in the larger urban areas such as Galway, Cork, Limerick and Dublin.

I don't think anyone on this forum could tell you what Eircom's strategy is, I've no idea, they seem like they are trying to be all things to all men and failing miserably at that. NGB is failing because it was spread too wide, and investment substandard as a result.

neiphin

It is not a matter of picking sides but these are 3 privately owned networks above and compare them to this.

just to clarify
eircon is also privately owned

Ranicand

neiphin wrote: »

just to clarify
eircon is also privately owned

Yes but it has the role of being our national phone company.

sedric

All telco networks in Ireland are privately owned.

The "National Phone Company" tag relates to a service obligation for fixed line telephony i.e. eircom is obliged to provide phone service at costs of up to approx 7000€ without charging the user an increased connection fee, i.e. can only charge ~100.

It is not obliged to provide broadband, and doesn't do so in many rural areas, hence the national broadband scheme awarded to "3"

It is in heavy debt as others said .

All this is well known, the area is extensively regulated, if you want to know why you can't have faster broadband ask COMREG.

They will give you an independent answer.

Solair

While I'm not a huge fan of eircom, the comparison is a bit unfair as they're totally different technologies.

Cable companies use EuroDOCSIS 3.0 to deliver service over a fibre-coaxial hybrid network. The wiring is designed to carry broadband signals (TV signals originally) and it is very fast.

DSL technology simply cannot provide speeds faster than 24 mbit/s and because it's carried on simple twisted pair telephone wires, rather than coax, that signal degrades quite quickly and real speeds are considerably slower than 24/mbits.

This problem is not unique to eircom, every DSL provider in the world has a similar service offering.

Fibre-to-home will ultimately be available from eircom and is being rolled out on a small scale in Stillorgan/Dundrum in Dublin and Douglas in Cork and a few other spots, but if you're in a non-densely populated area, you can expect to be stuck with DSL for the foreseeable future.

There's no possibility of getting fibre to premises or cable in rural areas, although it's quite doable in towns (even quite small ones).

There's limited hope of eircom doing anything as they're basically in diabolical heaps of debt and have started to not pay their loans back!

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2056545059

10belowzero

From what we are hearing ,and is not gospel , the first lien lender's have committed to investing the initial 300 million euro investment in the planned fibre roll out - and want it expanded to cover 45 site's across the country.
The fibre sub ducting of Swords and Donabate started at the end of January and along with Clonee will be well completed before summer.
I know other area's are being done , not sure precisely which area's for sure .
Eircom is not dead ,far from it and for a relatively small investment in communication's term's , the company and the country's b/band infrastucture could be transformed, the one thing that amazed me is the relative ease of distributing and terminating fibre cable , compared to copper , it's a joy to work with , I think small rural site's adjacent to fibre route's could be served a lot quicker than urban area's , although I am not up to speed on these scenario's , as I am not a planner .
So don't write off Eircom just yet - after Valencia and Babcock (and the rest ), it's a wonder we have a network at all , they would have sold off every exchange in the country for building development , if they had, had their way .
The history of Eircom and the appalling mismanagement of the communication's industry by successive government's and regulator's speak's for itself , it's the country that has paid the price for corporate greed , ineptitude and stupidity.
Eircom's past does not have to be it's future , and just like the rest of the country, we will work our way out of this monumental corporate greed induced mess we are all in - a bright future is all ways there for those who believe in it - and I definitely believe in that future , tnk's

psychward

10belowzero wrote: »

The history of Eircom and the appalling mismanagement of the communication's industry by successive government's and regulator's speak's for itself , it's the country that has paid the price for corporate greed , ineptitude and stupidity.

Let's not forget the greed of the unions who conspired with the asset strippers.

Nonoperational

In fairness this thread is as much of a joke as you say Eircom are. Comparing cable and fibre technologies to ADSL is not fair at all. The amount of threads that are giving out about Eircom when they should be giving out about ADSL technology is unreal.

frozenfrozen

ITT: People from Dublin wonder why people from outside of Dublin simply do not switch to fiber internet

Solair

frozenfrozen wrote: »

ITT: People from Dublin wonder why people from outside of Dublin simply do not switch to fiber internet

Not very many people in Dublin have fibre-to-home internet!
It's only been rolled out to a very small number of developments.

Meanwhile, UPC's Fibre-power (coax delivered) broadband up to 100mbit/s is widely available in the cities of Cork, Dublin, Limerick, Galway, Waterford and Kilkenny.

http://www.upc.ie/media/2009/6/30/map_ireland.jpg

So, it's not just a "Dublin thing". It's available in many major and not so major urban areas.

Fastest domestic/residential broadband in Ireland's actually in Dungarvan Co. Waterford via CableSurf/Casey Cable Vision, a local provider that only operates in that town.

psychward

frozenfrozen wrote: »

ITT: People from Dublin wonder why people from outside of Dublin simply do not switch to fiber internet

Not me in Dublin. Although I have had a co-ax cable TV connection for forever, I still had to wait until last year before my co-ax network was ''upgraded'' so that UPC could sell me broadband. Hence my sympathies go out to anyone still stuck with the likes of Eircon which was a fantastic company reduced to a fraction of it's original powers and size due to the conspiracy between unions, politicians and asset strippers.

Commish

I agree, Eircom is a joke,
Ive been building my house for over 3 years now and the last thing to do is install the phone line. Rang Eircom and agreed the package with them. They the sent me a text and told me to be at the premises at a certain time and date. That was a week ago and I havent seen sight nor sound of them until today when I rang to cancel the package.
Out of all the different companies I have dealt with over the past 3 years of building I have never been treated so unprofessionally by any one be it big company or small contractor.
Now im in a boat of what the hell do I do for broadband. I dont care about the phone as we have mobiles. Any other companies do installations or are Eircom a monopoly in this area??
The new house is in the country side of north Wexford.

bealtine

Commish wrote: »

The new house is in the country side of north Wexford.

There are a few Fixed Wireless providers (they are much different than mobile midband) and usually provide a reasonable service.

Permanet http://www.permanet.ie
Wicklow Brodband http://www.wicklowbroadband.com

Try those and see if they can supply you.