Internet Woes

Grimwar

Hi all,
Moved into a new house last May 12 months, 1 year 2 months ago, (well a old house, was vacant for years) there is an existing landline, but i do not know the old telephone number.
I contacted the last owner, but they have no idea, as they had it rented out for years.

Got a contract with Eircom in May 2015, received a text in late May with my new phone number, received the router in early June, a engineer came to install a new phone socket, Said i should be up and running in a week.
Manny phone calls later, still no reply from eircom.

Last January 2016 i re-applied, new contract, new phone number sent to me, another router sent, last March engineer called, tested the line, said there was a fault about 300M away, he invested and reported that a pole was damaged and he would log for a repair.
Manny phone calls later and still in limbo.

I tried 2 local wireless broadband, Digital Forge and Rapid broadband, but due to no LOS and over 7 miles from nearest tower, i can't use either company.

At the moment i am using my phone's data via the phone's hotspot.
Using Meteor payasyougo €20 i get 15Gb and for €20 more i get a 15Gb topup. so in total i get 30Gb for €40, which is kinda ok.
The data limit of 30Gb is just ok, We have to restrict Youtube and streaming in the 1st 2-3 weeks, so atleast we have some data left. also my phone is the connection to the web, so not ideal, as if i leave i take the connection away and also when i'am at home my phone is at a window to receive clear 3G signal. I do have a 4G sim, but local Meteor tower is 3G atm. Their up-grading to 4G in a few months, as Vodafone and 3 mobile local towers are now 4G.

I have great 3G reception with Meteor, using my phone as a hotspot, i get stable average Pings of 62, 12Mbps down and 2.3Mbps up
My network router is a Linksys ea1900, but i have to configure the 2.4GHz radio channel to receive the phone's WiFi signal, which just leave's the 5GHz channel open for WiFi, no good for most smartphones at they use the 2.4GHz and i can't seam to be able to create a virtual 2.4GHz using an old version of DD-WRT open source firmware.

I was looking at 3 mobile as a alternative to Meteor and was willing to buy their Sim WiFi router, but today i recived a Email from Meteor, Offering 55Gb per month data plan, a free Huawei B315 LTE router, 6 month contract, for €30.
55Gb i can live with, even if i max out i still have my 15Gb data on my phone to fall back on. Speeds atm on my phone are good average 12MBs down, now i don't download a lot, now then a new game to Xbox or PC from Steam, i don't use Xbox a lot any more as my PC is supper fast and has a high end GPU. And as i use Windows 10 i get both Xbox and PC versions of the game for the same price. ie i get both, i can install either in Xbox or PC or both.

Is the Meteor 55Gb @ €30 per/month the best out there.
Can i do better?

If i put external antennas on the Huawei B315 LTE router, will i get a better radio connection to the Meteor tower, than using a Lumia 640xl phone.

my3cents

Before discussing any alternatives lodge a formal complaint with Eir (call then and ask for the number of the department to lodge a complaint) and then 10 working days later follow up with comreg.

Don't be afraid to call Eir everyday and complain until the issue is fixed.

ED E

FTTH > Cable > VDSL > ADSL > FWA > Mobile.

Before we go any further with Mobile its worth investigating ADSL. It'll be much better if you can get it at reasonable rates.

If you're 11 KM from the nearest mast, are you quite rural? How far to your telephone exchange? If its less than 5KM that might be a good option, over that dont even bother trying to get a phone line.

After that mounting an external 4G modem can provide a pretty nice connection.

Grimwar

ED E wrote: »

FTTH > Cable > VDSL > ADSL > FWA > Mobile.

Before we go any further with Mobile its worth investigating ADSL. It'll be much better if you can get it at reasonable rates.

If you're 11 KM from the nearest mast, are you quite rural? How far to your telephone exchange? If its less than 5KM that might be a good option, over that dont even bother trying to get a phone line.

After that mounting an external 4G modem can provide a pretty nice connection.

Hi,

Ok i will try Eir again.
I'll have to re-apply for a new broadband connection as i have lost the last contract details.
Their €45 pm broadband only looks great.
There is an existing landline to the house, as i said, but when i looked at the poles on the road, 3 poles are falling over.
I guess that's not my problem, if i get a contract from Eir and no connection after a while, i do as my3cents said. Complain like Hell

The telephone exchange according to Google maps is 1.87 km as the crow flies, so should be well under the 5km.

The mobile cell towers are all together and about 1.2 km away, almost perfect los, but for some trees near my house, if i went with 3/4G data plans, i will invest in a external aerial mounted on the chimney, as this will clear any trees.

Thanks guys, i'll set up a Eir contract tomorrow and hound them till i get an answer.

May take a few weeks for engineer to call, but will let ye know of any news.

BTW it was the local wireless companies tower that is 11 km away and they still cap you data, basic for 60Gb is €40 and with the over 10 km distance, even if i get los, it's gonna be as slow as on dialup

my3cents

If you can get get the linesman on your side then they will often go above and beyond to get you a connection. Its really a matter of getting one out to the house and seeing if they are in a helpful mood and have the time. tbh they don't have to do much nowadays but most if not all are skilled craftsman with little chance to use their skills so if they have the time they may make the effort to find you a pair of copper cables capable of a broadband connection.

The problem is that eir refuse to put in any new copper if whats there is crap then eir will leave it that way.

Grimwar

my3cents wrote: »

The problem is that eir refuse to put in any new copper if whats there is crap then eir will leave it that way.

Ya it's an old unused line for many years, i bought the house last year and it has been unoccupied for several years. Many of the poles on the road are falling down and a lot of tree branches are overhanging the phone line, this is an end of line house, about 15 poles to the main line.
So i guess they will not upgrade to new poles, cut tree branches etc,

I do know a recently retired local Eir linesman. So i'll give it a shot, he may still have contacts in Eir.

Brannaman

Grimwar.........you could maybe check out the discussion @ Imagine LTE Rural Broadband. You could also check the Imagine website for general information and coverage.

Grimwar

Hi all,
A few up-dates.
I applied to Eir for a broadband only connection, all was ok till they tried to verify my location, asked for neighbor names or phone numbers etc.
I gave map coordinates, explained where i lived on a map from a windows PC. (Windows Maps are based on Here Maps.)
He explained that, as i was a unknown customer, a vetting process can take 7 days to find me, to see if an existing landline based on my location is feasible.
OK sounds good! Well been there done that.

Eir contacted me last Thursday and offered to sign me up for €45. Engineer is due to call on next thursday 4th of August.
This time around, i'll ask for;
: Name of Engineer, contract#, Job#, Report#, Vehicle#, i'll ask Cortana to reminded me to video the meeting!

Rapid Broadband called last Monday, and due to a new Tower, it now seams i have direct Line of Sight (LOS)
Sorry for the direct in LOS pun, but i can actually see their mask, a-bit with the aid of binoculars.
Tower is 6 Km and offing 3 Mbit down? 12MB/sec on their Web-site. OK is this very slow? The Standard is MB i hope?
Look Up Bite and Bit

Ok the Rapid Broad speed is crap and if i can get 3G with H+ at the moment from Meteor on my phone, with average speeds of 10 MB form a poor location in my house, i know that i can achieve 50+ on a 4G with proper external antenna.

Grimwar

I know this an old thread, but after 16 months on Eir ([2 left] April + May 2018) and no internet since storm ophelia last year or like the 0.8 MBPS down they reconnected me to. I gave up. i tried to get refunded my 55 Euro/per/month but was told that refunds can only be refunded after the fault was fixed.
Several months later fault not fixed, but Eir still deducts 55 every month. At Least 6 months by end of contract [2 left April + May] i should have a nice nest egg owed to me.

So last week i bought a Huawei B525 UNLOCKED 4G 300Mbps mobile Wi-Fi Router for 169 |Euro and a 3 sim for 20 Euro. I know 3 offers the same router for free on a 30 Euro deal. But i was so fed up i went for the unlocked model.

Stuck the sim in, pluged it in and 92 MBps down, unreal, i average 50+ down 25 up and ping of 28

my3cents

You can still raise a complaint and follow up with comreg. In fact if Eir really have treated you that badly then take them to the Small Claims Court for failure to fulfill their side of the contract and claim back all the money you have paid them. Follow through with Comreg first but be sure to let Eir know you are going to take them to the SCC.

Ten Pin

There are 2 SEPA direct debit refund rules. One is for up to 8 weeks after the transaction and the other is between 8 weeks and 13 months.
Up to 8 weeks is a "no questions asked" refund.

Presumably up to 13 months requires more effort and evidence that the direct debit was unauthorized given that eir breached contract by not providing the service as per contract (repair complete within time limit). So if you need to go the SEPA refund route, make sure you have all details documented and lodge a formal complaint with eir.

Eir will drag their heels with a refund, they're already doing so with the repair.

corks finest

Grimwar wrote: »

I know this an old thread, but after 16 months on Eir ([2 left] April + May 2018) and no internet since storm ophelia last year or like the 0.8 MBPS down they reconnected me to. I gave up. i tried to get refunded my 55 Euro/per/month but was told that refunds can only be refunded after the fault was fixed.
Several months later fault not fixed, but Eir still deducts 55 every month. At Least 6 months by end of contract [2 left April + May] i should have a nice nest egg owed to me.

So last week i bought a Huawei B525 UNLOCKED 4G 300Mbps mobile Wi-Fi Router for 169 |Euro and a 3 sim for 20 Euro. I know 3 offers the same router for free on a 30 Euro deal. But i was so fed up i went for the unlocked model.

Stuck the sim in, pluged it in and 92 MBps down, unreal, i average 50+ down 25 up and ping of 28

Eir are truly crap,I also was messed about for months,left them,never,ever again

Grimwar

Hi, thanks for those replies, i may even get more money back than the last 3 months. Last October they increased my bill from €40 to €55. When i phoned them up in December about the price increase, i know old habits and i didn't check my November bill.
I was told that in September they posted to me a breach of contract letter and i had 30 days to cancel or continue with the higher price.

I receive all my bills and notifications via email from Eir and when i asked how i never got an email on the Contract change, i was told i had never signed up for the email contract changes and i was sent a letter. If i did receive such a letter and i'am doubtful, i probably threw it in the recycling bin.

Great news indeed. No wonder they have being calling me every day for the last week. Sneaky!

Comreg and the Small Claims Court is where i'll be going to.

Grimwar

Hi all,
A major update.
I on a phone call to Eir and saying i'll take this to Comreg and the Small Claims Court, i was offered a €150, this was after months of sub or no service. So i declined and was then offered a indemnity claim of €385. I went to my bank and signed
7 of them. You have to do each month?
As of now i was credited €385.
Let's explore why i was charged last October another €10, i think if you say EU law they may listen or it may cost them.