eFibre upgrade in Portlaoise, is it compulsory? And some other questions.

aidan_dunne

Hi there, I'm hoping one of the reps here can answer some questions for me.  Apologies in advance for the length of this post but I'm also including the details of a letter I received yesterday for which I want to get some clarification of.  Here's the letter I got:

You are being upgraded to superfast fibre broadband.


Dear Aidan,

To ensure that you enjoy the very best online experiences, we are upgrading all non-fibre broadband customers in Portlaoise-Laois to eFibre, superfast fibre broadband.  The new, superfast fibre broadband service is being rolled out across Ireland and we are taking proactive measures to transfer our customers to this superior network.

What does this mean for you?


1.  You will experience a significantly faster internet service with fibre broadband.  The new up to 100Mb fibre broadband service will allow you and everyone in your household to enjoy the internet at lightning fast speeds, all at the same time.  It also means that your home will be future-proofed and set up for exciting future developments in digital technology.


2.  There is no charge for this upgrade and it will not affect the terms of your existing broadband contract.  The monthly price of eFibre is the same as the equivalent package on our non-fibre broadband network, meaning you will enjoy a superior product for the same cost.


What do I need to do?

Our technicians will have completed all upgrades in the Portlaoise-Laois area by 10th April 2015.  To ensure that your home gets upgraded during this time please book your appointment today by calling 1800 303 727.  We are open Monday-Friday, 9am-9pm and Saturday, 10am-6pm.


The upgrade will only take 60 minutes on average and you'll be able to enjoy superfast fibre broadband straight away.


Please note that when your home has been connected to eFibre, you will receive a final bill for your non e-Fibre broadband a few days later.  You will then start a new bill with eFibre.  Don't worry, your current contract term will not be affected.


Yours sincerely,


Garry Doyle
Director of Broadband


Note: broadband speeds may vary.




Okay, here's the questions I have regarding this letter.  I know it would appear that some of them have already been answered in the letter itself but I just want to make absolutely sure that what is said in the letter is indeed true and get complete clarification on these matters and to also have it in writing to ensure that, if anything were to go wrong at some point in the future or I needed evidence that what was promised turned out to be different than what was provided, there will be an actual written record of the answers given to me by an eircom rep on here that I can refer back to as proof of what was said, if necessary.

1:  The tone of the letter suggests this upgrade is compulsory for all non-eFibre customers in Portlaoise and that you must contact eircom to switch to over to e-Fibre by the April 10th.  Is this the case?  If so, does this mean that if you don't switch you'll be left without broadband service after April 10th because the existing service is being discontinued or what?  Or is this an optional upgrade that you can decide yourself if you wish to switch to or not and the current ADSL-based service will still continue to operate as it does right now and you'll still be able to use it?

2:  The letter says there is no charge for this upgrade.  Does that mean it's only free up until the 10th of April, while the upgrading work is being carried out, or if the existing service is continuing on after that date and you decide to switch at a later date, will the upgrade still be free after April 10th for existing eircom customers?

3:  When the letter says there is no charge, what exactly does that mean?  There's no technician call-out charge or setup fee but you still have to pay for the new modem or any other new equipment that needs to be installed (e.g. new eFibre compatible socket, etc.)?  Or is the modem/equipment included for free as part of the upgrade and there will be no charge on the bill for this either?

4:  The letter says the upgrade "will not affect the terms of your existing broadband contract".  Does this mean that you will not be tied into a brand-new 18 month (which, as I understand it, is the standard eFibre contract duration) contract if you decide to switch?  What about people like me who are no longer under an initial 12-month contract with eircom anymore, how does this affect us?  As I understand it, if I decided to cancel my service with eircom or switch to another provider right now, I would not be liable for any early cancellation fees, correct?  If you upgrade to eFibre, is this still also the case, e.g. for whatever reason, you decide a few months from now you want to cancel/switch providers, you won't get charged cancellation fees then either?

5:  Where the letter says, "You will then start a new bill with eFibre.  Don't worry, your current contract term will not be affected", can I get clarification that this does indeed mean you will not be tied into a new 18-month eFibre contract.  I know the letter would indicate that but I'd like to ensure 100% with an eircom rep, and have it on record, that that is indeed the case as I have read about how the issuing of new bills and new account numbers can result in people being tied into new contracts without them knowing it and I want to get assurances this would not happen with this upgrade.  Also, will this new bill mean a new account number will also be issued or will the account number remain the same, the only changes will be to the services provided on the account?

6:  I pay my bill through the post office (don't want to do direct debit) and always have done, can I continue doing so with eFibre?  The website seems to suggest eFibre is direct debit only payment, but if the letter says the upgrade "will not affect the terms of your existing broadband contract", then surely that means I can still continue to pay in the post office as always, right?  Could I get clarification on this please?

7:  Is there any way to test beforehand what kinds of speed or reliability of the eFibre service I could reasonably expect to get?  At the moment I get 7-8Mb on average, which I'm pretty happy with, but more importantly it's been very solid and reliable for me, it rarely disconnects or drops or I have problems with it in any way and the wireless signal around the house is quite good too.  Having read about some other users experiences with eFibre, I'm a bit worried about the reliability of the service, lots of people seem to be reporting problems with their connections dropping a lot more than the ADSL-based services they previously had, problems with the wireless range of the eFibre modems being lot less than the old Netopia (which I have) or Zyxel modems, etc.  As I said, is there any way to test in advance of how stable the eFibre connection would be and what sort of speed I could expect to get where I am?

8:  I'm currently on the Broadband Advanced Unlimited package (don't have any kind of phone bundle, just the regular priced calls).  The letter says, "The monthly price of eFibre is the same as the equivalent package on our non-fibre broadband network, meaning you will enjoy a superior product for the same cost."  Does that mean that I would automatically be put on the Unlimited (i.e. no data cap) eFibre package as well?  With regards to the term "unlimited", what exactly does this mean in the context of the eFibre service?  We all know "unlimited" doesn't actually mean that, there are always some sort of fair-usage policies and upper limits of some sort hidden away in the small print somewhere.  On the Broadband Advanced Unlimited ADSL-based package I'm currently on, "unlimited" as I understand it in reality actually means a fair-usage policy of up to 150GB data transfer (both up and down) per month, correct?  I've always stayed well within that limit, using at the very most only perhaps half of that data cap per month.  Is there a similar upper data cap in place on eFibre or is it truly unlimited?  I've read that, despite the name of the eFibre Unlimited package, in reality there is actually something like a 500GB data cap in place.  Can you clarify what exactly the situation regarding this is?

I know this was a very long post to have to get through so I really appreciate the time taken to read it by whichever eircom rep here does so and thank you in advance for trying to answer my many questions and clarifying certain things for me.  I might have some further questions down the line that I can't think of right now but I think these are the main ones I need answering for the moment.  Let me know if you need my account details in order to check or follow up on anything for me and I'll PM them to you.  Once again, many thanks for your help.

Regards,

Aidan Dunne.

eircom: Alan

Hi aidan_dunne

Thank you for your post and queries, I'll do my best to answer them directly in the order you have above:

1. An efibre upgrade is not compulsory for all non-eFibre customers in Portlaoise - it's completely your own choice whether you would like to upgrade or not and if not your existing service will remain unaffected.

2. There is no charge for the upgrade in terms of connection, engineer works and equipment and free connection will indeed be available after the 10th of April

3. I believe my answer in number 2 above covers this - there's no charge for equipment or works but there is a monthly charge for efibre and whatever call package bundle you choose.

4. The standard eFibre contract duration is 18 months which is a new contract. Your existing ADSL contract will be unaffected meaning there will be no cancellation fee of it if should you upgrade to efibre in the existing contract period.

5. I believe the information in in question 4 covers this - An 18 month contract applied to efibre broadband and a cease of service within this would incur early cease penalties. I can also confirm that with efibre the account number changes to a new efibre account number.

6. Direct debit is a mandatory condition in the provision of efibre, again the terms of your existing contract are unaffected in terms that no cancellation fee would apply but with efibre you enter a new contract.

7. Unfortunately eircom do not offer a trial period but we can offer you a very accurate indication of what speeds to expect before signing up. The modem used is the Zyxel F100 but if you prefer to use an alternative modem you can do so at your discretion

8. Efibre prices and packages can mirror non efibre packages and the unlimited bundle is indeed unlimited meaning no usage cap and even no fair usage policy.

I hope I have made everything transparent however I am aware that the letter has created some cause for clarification of which I'm happy to provide further if required.

Thanks
Al

aidan_dunne

Hi Alan, thanks very much for getting back to me and answering those questions and clearing up everything.  I'll have to think about whether I want to go ahead and upgrade or not (the whole thing of being tied into a new 18 month contract and having to pay by direct debit being the main sticking points for me that I need to consider in depth) but at least I know it's an optional thing now and not something that is being forced on customers whether they like it or not, as the wording at the beginning of the letter seemed to suggest in a way.  Good to know that at least my existing ADSL-based service will continue after April 10th and I won't suddenly be disconnected or anything like that. 

Once again, Alan, many thanks for getting back to me so quickly and clarifying everything, I know it was a long post and there were a LOT of questions so I really appreciate you taking the time to read it all and respond.

Regards,

Aidan.

eircom: Alan

aidan_dunne wrote: »

Hi Alan, thanks very much for getting back to me and answering those questions and clearing up everything.  I'll have to think about whether I want to go ahead and upgrade or not (the whole thing of being tied into a new 18 month contract and having to pay by direct debit being the main sticking points for me that I need to consider in depth) but at least I know it's an optional thing now and not something that is being forced on customers whether they like it or not, as the wording at the beginning of the letter seemed to suggest in a way.  Good to know that at least my existing ADSL-based service will continue after April 10th and I won't suddenly be disconnected or anything like that. 

Once again, Alan, many thanks for getting back to me so quickly and clarifying everything, I know it was a long post and there were a LOT of questions so I really appreciate you taking the time to read it all and respond.

Regards,

Aidan.

Hi aidan_dunne

You are most welcome. I agree, it does require a lot of consideration but if there's anything else I can clarify please do let me know.

Cheers
Al