Broadband lines upgraded to near my house, not available to us

Penn

Hi,

Recently the broadband lines in my area were upgraded. My neighbour less than a quarter of a mile away is now getting speeds of over 80Mb/s. Meanwhile, we have been eir broadband customers for 10 years, and we are still stuck with speeds of less than 1Mb/s. As I understand it, the work stopped at the telephone pole just before my house, and as such my house cannot avail of it.

I would note that I tried calling Customer Care and was told of the 30min wait time. I then tried the Webchat but was told they couldn't access my account. Your site also said the email function was down, hence why I'm contacting you here.

I want to check when the line will be extended to our house and our broadband upgraded, because frankly the level of service we have been provided with over the years is shockingly bad and insanely restrictive given the current technological usage. Given our numerous complaints over the 10+ years we've been with you and how we were repeatedly told the line would get better once they were upgraded, I find it illogical that there was no checking done and the lines not extended to our house.

We are currently only with eir for the broadband, however we would be interested in changing this and signing up to a bundle deal for the telephone too. However this will not be done unless the speed of the broadband improves to a degree where it is at least usable, which for the past 10 years, it hasn't been to an acceptable degree.

I can of course provide customer details and the Eircode of my house if needed.

eir: Tracey

Penn wrote: »

Hi,

Recently the broadband lines in my area were upgraded. My neighbour less than a quarter of a mile away is now getting speeds of over 80Mb/s. Meanwhile, we have been eir broadband customers for 10 years, and we are still stuck with speeds of less than 1Mb/s. As I understand it, the work stopped at the telephone pole just before my house, and as such my house cannot avail of it.

I would note that I tried calling Customer Care and was told of the 30min wait time. I then tried the Webchat but was told they couldn't access my account. Your site also said the email function was down, hence why I'm contacting you here.

I want to check when the line will be extended to our house and our broadband upgraded, because frankly the level of service we have been provided with over the years is shockingly bad and insanely restrictive given the current technological usage. Given our numerous complaints over the 10+ years we've been with you and how we were repeatedly told the line would get better once they were upgraded, I find it illogical that there was no checking done and the lines not extended to our house.

We are currently only with eir for the broadband, however we would be interested in changing this and signing up to a bundle deal for the telephone too. However this will not be done unless the speed of the broadband improves to a degree where it is at least usable, which for the past 10 years, it hasn't been to an acceptable degree.

I can of course provide customer details and the Eircode of my house if needed.

Hi Penn, 

I understand your frustrations here, however, the service is subject to availability and each address is individual for the service so not all our customer may be able to avail of the service, I'm afraid. 

You can check your address using the online checker for Fibre here and also for FTTH (Fibre to the home) here

Thanks 

Tracey 

Penn

Thanks for your response Tracey, however there is a lot of conflicting information being provided by eir in this regard.

Firstly, following the links in the first link you provided shows the following map:


As you can see, my house is right outside. However, following your second link, Eir says Fibre to the Home is available to my house (again, using the Eircode). Following a different link on Eir's site to see what bundles are available to us, it says only Broadband up to 2Mb/s is available to us.

However, all of that is moot when Eir won't run the lines to one extra post to provide proper broadband to one extra house who have been broadband customers for over 10 years if memory serves correctly. Customers who have been repeatedly told by Eir over those 10 years that there's nothing they can do until the lines are upgraded, and then we'll have great broadband. To go and then upgrade the lines to one post away from our house and leave is a slap in the face (not unlike when we received a moneyback offer from Eir a few years ago for being loyal customer which was then rescinded because Eir realised our calls were with another company).

Respectfully Tracey, you haven't even asked for my Eircode or account number to check what can be done. I am not looking for a generic response. I want my actual address and account checked and given a proper reason or timeframe. Again, I refer you to the above screenshot of the coverage map. It is incredible that this minor bit of work cannot be undertaken to finally provide us with an acceptable level of broadband, particularly given how much we have paid over the years to have the level of broadband we have had just to have some semblance of internet access.

Again, I can provide my details on request, and I hope you do request them.

tsue921i8wljb3

Penn wrote: »

Thanks for your response Tracey, however there is a lot of conflicting information being provided by eir in this regard.

Firstly, following the links in the first link you provided shows the following map:


As you can see, my house is right outside. However, following your second link, Eir says Fibre to the Home is available to my house (again, using the Eircode). Following a different link on Eir's site to see what bundles are available to us, it says only Broadband up to 2Mb/s is available to us.

However, all of that is moot when Eir won't run the lines to one extra post to provide proper broadband to one extra house who have been broadband customers for over 10 years if memory serves correctly. Customers who have been repeatedly told by Eir over those 10 years that there's nothing they can do until the lines are upgraded, and then we'll have great broadband. To go and then upgrade the lines to one post away from our house and leave is a slap in the face (not unlike when we received a moneyback offer from Eir a few years ago for being loyal customer which was then rescinded because Eir realised our calls were with another company).

Respectfully Tracey, you haven't even asked for my Eircode or account number to check what can be done. I am not looking for a generic response. I want my actual address and account checked and given a proper reason or timeframe. Again, I refer you to the above screenshot of the coverage map. It is incredible that this minor bit of work cannot be undertaken to finally provide us with an acceptable level of broadband, particularly given how much we have paid over the years to have the level of broadband we have had just to have some semblance of internet access.

Again, I can provide my details on request, and I hope you do request them.

The map you have posted is from the DCCAE. eir have an agreement with them to pass 300000 homes as part of a commitment agreement. However the map is not totally accurate as eir have extended their build in several areas where it suited them.

If your Eircode is saying available on

https://www.eir.ie/broadband/1000mb-fibre/

it means your home has been passed and you should be able to order.

Where you may be running into issues is if you are using a phone number to check availability or order. All FTTH is indexed by Eircode. However eir maintain several databases and often the Eircode and what eir call the ARD key do not match. These may need to be merged before ordering if you wish to keep your landline number. I am unsure if the reps here can do it, it may need escalation to open eir (the wholesale arm).

If you don't wish to keep the landline number you should be able to order by Eircode and then cancel your current service when installed.

Penn

Kaison Hundreds Percolator wrote: »

The map you have posted is from the DCCAE. eir have an agreement with them to pass 300000 homes as part of a commitment agreement. However the map is not totally accurate as eir have extended their build in several areas where it suited them.

If your Eircode is saying available on

https://www.eir.ie/broadband/1000mb-fibre/

it means your home has been passed and you should be able to order.

Where you may be running into issues is if you are using a phone number to check availability or order. All FTTH is indexed by Eircode. However eir maintain several databases and often the Eircode and what eir call the ARD key do not match. These may need to be merged before ordering if you wish to keep your landline number. I am unsure if the reps here can do it, it may need escalation to open eir (the wholesale arm).

If you don't wish to keep the landline number you should be able to order by Eircode and then cancel your current service when installed.

Hence the conflict in the information given by Eir I addressed in my post. That link says Fibre Broadband is available to us when I use my Eircode, however when checking Eir to see what bundles are available to us, I have to use the phone number, and it says:

Although your area is enabled for eir Fibre broadband, it looks like it hasn't reached your address yet. Please select here to fill out your details and one of our online sales team will contact you to discuss your options.

The map I posted ties in with the telephone poles we have seen people working on and upgrading. They did the one just up from us, but stopped there and didn't do the next one we're on. We also didn't receive any communication from Eir about the upgrading of the lines and how the broadband would improve, which I believe our neighbours further down the road did.

I would have thought even given the incredibly slow speed our internet currently is, that any upgrading of the lines would show an improvement in our service even without upgrading packages, as the broadband has always been choppy at best.

This is why I am requesting that my situation actually be checked by an Eir rep with access to the specific information in order to determine if we can proceed with signing up to a new bundle deal with proper internet or not.

Penn

Also, fibrerollout.ie from Openeir uses both the telephone number and Eircode, and it says:

Broadband with speed up to 2Mb/s is available at your address.

We don't even get 2Mb/s. On a good day we might get 0.8Mb/s.

I simply want to know if we can or cannot get fibre broadband, what we need to do to get it (eg. is it actually available to us now but we need to sign up to a new bundle/contract to get it), why can't they not run it to one more pole for us given the atrocious speeds at no discount we have had for 10 years, and if it is going to be upgraded, when is it going to happen. We are sick of waiting at this point.

tsue921i8wljb3

Penn wrote: »

Also, fibrerollout.ie from Openeir uses both the telephone number and Eircode, and it says:

Broadband with speed up to 2Mb/s is available at your address.

We don't even get 2Mb/s. On a good day we might get 0.8Mb/s.

I simply want to know if we can or cannot get fibre broadband, what we need to do to get it (eg. is it actually available to us now but we need to sign up to a new bundle/contract to get it), why can't they not run it to one more pole for us given the atrocious speeds at no discount we have had for 10 years, and if it is going to be upgraded, when is it going to happen. We are sick of waiting at this point.

It's very simple. If is says available on

https://www.eir.ie/broadband/1000mb-fibre/

you can order it. Don't check by phone number. Don't use fibrerollout which has been abandoned. As you're a current eir customer you likely will not get the full discount a new customer would.

Also be aware that you can order from other ISPs if you are not happy with eir.

https://fibrerollout.ie/rollout-map/where-to-buy/

From those Airwire, Digiweb, Net1, Pure and Westnet should be able to offer you service.

tsue921i8wljb3

Penn wrote: »

Hence the conflict in the information given by Eir I addressed in my post. That link says Fibre Broadband is available to us when I use my Eircode, however when checking Eir to see what bundles are available to us, I have to use the phone number, and it says:

Although your area is enabled for eir Fibre broadband, it looks like it hasn't reached your address yet. Please select here to fill out your details and one of our online sales team will contact you to discuss your options.

The map I posted ties in with the telephone poles we have seen people working on and upgrading. They did the one just up from us, but stopped there and didn't do the next one we're on. We also didn't receive any communication from Eir about the upgrading of the lines and how the broadband would improve, which I believe our neighbours further down the road did.

I would have thought even given the incredibly slow speed our internet currently is, that any upgrading of the lines would show an improvement in our service even without upgrading packages, as the broadband has always been choppy at best.

This is why I am requesting that my situation actually be checked by an Eir rep with access to the specific information in order to determine if we can proceed with signing up to a new bundle deal with proper internet or not.

You need to understand how the system works. The line does not actually have to pass your home to be connected. When you order a new fibre cable will be brought from the nearest distribution point (small black boxes on poles) which could be a few poles away.

It has nothing to do with your existing internet connection. They are completely separate networks.

Penn

Kaison Hundreds Percolator wrote: »

It's very simple. If is says available on

https://www.eir.ie/broadband/1000mb-fibre/

you can order it. Don't check by phone number. Don't use fibrerollout which has been abandoned. As you're a current eir customer you likely will not get the full discount a new customer would.

Also be aware that you can order from other ISPs if you are not happy with eir.

https://fibrerollout.ie/rollout-map/where-to-buy/

From those Airwire, Digiweb, Net1, Pure and Westnet should be able to offer you service.

Sorry Kaison Hundreds Percolator, I appreciate your help but I'm still not confident, as that link says fibre is available. However, when I go to process and review the order from that link, it still says:

Unlimited uncongested broadband - Up to 24Mb. FREE unlimited access to eir sport. Unlimited off-peak calls to Irish landlines.

Speeds of up to 2Mb are available at your home.

If eir's phone customer support wasn't in it's current state, I'd just ring them to clarify, but I need a response from eir to tell me what the story is, because I'm not willing to sign up to anything unless I'm told by them that our line has indeed been upgraded (I know they can't guarantee exact speeds, but an indication that it's a reasonable improvement over the current speeds would be enough).

Edit: Sorry, just saw your follow-up post. If that's true, all the eir rep needs to tell me is that it can be brought to our house when we order.

tsue921i8wljb3

Penn wrote: »

Sorry navi, I appreciate your help but I'm still not confident, as that link says fibre is available. However, when I go to process and review the order from that link, it still says:

Unlimited uncongested broadband - Up to 24Mb. FREE unlimited access to eir sport. Unlimited off-peak calls to Irish landlines.

Speeds of up to 2Mb are available at your home.

If eir's phone customer support wasn't in it's current state, I'd just ring them to clarify, but I need a response from eir to tell me what the story is, because I'm not willing to sign up to anything unless I'm told by them that our line has indeed been upgraded (I know they can't guarantee exact speeds, but an indication that it's a reasonable improvement over the current speeds would be enough).

If you're going to order from eir definitely do it over the phone. Document everything, times of calls, reps spoken to etc. Their system is in a mess at the minute.

To double check availability enter your Eircode here:

http://www.airwire.ie/avail

It should say FTTH available.

I know some other people who were current eir customers and moved to FTTH have posted in:

https://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2057871133

Perhaps asking there about what packages they got will give you the information you require.

Penn

Kaison Hundreds Percolator wrote: »

Penn wrote: »

Sorry Kaison Hundreds Percolator, I appreciate your help but I'm still not confident, as that link says fibre is available. However, when I go to process and review the order from that link, it still says:

Unlimited uncongested broadband - Up to 24Mb. FREE unlimited access to eir sport. Unlimited off-peak calls to Irish landlines.

Speeds of up to 2Mb are available at your home.

If eir's phone customer support wasn't in it's current state, I'd just ring them to clarify, but I need a response from eir to tell me what the story is, because I'm not willing to sign up to anything unless I'm told by them that our line has indeed been upgraded (I know they can't guarantee exact speeds, but an indication that it's a reasonable improvement over the current speeds would be enough).

If you're going to order from eir definitely do it over the phone. Document everything, times of calls, reps spoken to etc. Their system is in a mess at the minute.

To double check availability enter your Eircode here:

http://www.airwire.ie/avail

It should say FTTH available.

I know some other people who were current eir customers and moved to FTTH have posted in:

https://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2057871133

Perhaps asking there about what packages they got will give you the information you require.

Okay, that does seem to confirm FTTH is available to us and seems a lot more reliable than Eir's information. Guess I'll just have to struggle through trying to talk to them on the phone tomorrow and order it.

Thanks for your help, Kaison Hundreds Percolator. Apologies for not being up to speed with the situation but I can be as slow as my current broadband with some of this stuff.

denismc

I went through a similar a process with Eir, asked if I could get broadband and was told I would have to get a phone line reactivated before they could tell me what speeds I could get.
So I said fine, they send a technician out and they told me that they they couldn't reactivate my phone line and that was the end of my dealings with Eir.
So I contacted Digiweb and the guy told me straight away that I could get Fibre connected. I actually didn't believe him at first but went ahead to see what they could do.
Within 2 weeks I had my fibre connected and now have 150 mbps download speed, no drama.
The technician that did the installation was the same one that tried to connect me to Eir initially.

So my advice to you OP is to try other service providers if you're not having any luck with Eir.

Eir are a bit of a mess at the moment.

tsue921i8wljb3

Penn wrote: »

Okay, that does seem to confirm FTTH is available to us and seems a lot more reliable than Eir's information. Guess I'll just have to struggle through trying to talk to them on the phone tomorrow and order it.

Thanks for your help, navi. Apologies for not being up to speed with the situation but I can be as slow as my current broadband with some of this stuff.

No problem. It can be hard to keep up with all the terminology. It is definitely worth upgrading though. There are three speeds available, 150Mb/30, 300/50 and 1000/100.

I have the 300/50 and it really is excellent. It is world class broadband in a rural Irish setting.

Just be aware that they will have to bring a small new cable into your home.

ilovepizza

eir: Tracey wrote: »

Penn wrote: »

Hi,

Recently the broadband lines in my area were upgraded. My neighbour less than a quarter of a mile away is now getting speeds of over 80Mb/s. Meanwhile, we have been eir broadband customers for 10 years, and we are still stuck with speeds of less than 1Mb/s. As I understand it, the work stopped at the telephone pole just before my house, and as such my house cannot avail of it.

I would note that I tried calling Customer Care and was told of the 30min wait time. I then tried the Webchat but was told they couldn't access my account. Your site also said the email function was down, hence why I'm contacting you here.

I want to check when the line will be extended to our house and our broadband upgraded, because frankly the level of service we have been provided with over the years is shockingly bad and insanely restrictive given the current technological usage. Given our numerous complaints over the 10+ years we've been with you and how we were repeatedly told the line would get better once they were upgraded, I find it illogical that there was no checking done and the lines not extended to our house.

We are currently only with eir for the broadband, however we would be interested in changing this and signing up to a bundle deal for the telephone too. However this will not be done unless the speed of the broadband improves to a degree where it is at least usable, which for the past 10 years, it hasn't been to an acceptable degree.

I can of course provide customer details and the Eircode of my house if needed.

Hi Penn, 

I understand your frustrations here, however, the service is subject to availability and each address is individual for the service so not all our customer may be able to avail of the service, I'm afraid. 

You can check your address using the online checker for Fibre here and also for FTTH (Fibre to the home) here

Thanks 

Tracey 

SO in other words EIR, you come in to a town and select only the new estates and dis the older estates. you roll out broadband where you wish. I live in Carrigaline cork in mountrivers, 100m from the main town street. we can only get up to 12mb, but we are actually getting 4-6mb at best. you have left us in the stone age, no clear support or guidance as to when you will help us or upgrade our lines. with everything going web based, 4k streaming etc we cant do nothing. it only appears you will never update our lines. Bare in mind i'm only 80m form one exchange, 150m form another and 250 form another exchange.

XsApollo

I had the same thing , fibre across the road and eir have no intention of hooking us up.
I got rid of the broadband and bought a router that can take a SIM card.
3 pay as you go 20 euro a month and getting 30-40Mbi speed. It’s a bit unstable sometimes but a lot better than the 50euro a month for slow braodband.

ilovepizza

XsApollo wrote: »

I had the same thing , fibre across the road and eir have no intention of hooking us up.
I got rid of the broadband and bought a router that can take a SIM card.
3 pay as you go 20 euro a month and getting 30-40Mbi speed. It’s a bit unstable sometimes but a lot better than the 50euro a month for slow braodband.

I was really considering this option, but come winter time and bad weather the service I heard is pretty dreadfull. How long have you been ussing LTE broadband,

Penn

XsApollo wrote: »

I had the same thing , fibre across the road and eir have no intention of hooking us up.
I got rid of the broadband and bought a router that can take a SIM card.
3 pay as you go 20 euro a month and getting 30-40Mbi speed. It’s a bit unstable sometimes but a lot better than the 50euro a month for slow braodband.

Yeah we looked at both that and satellite broadband before. Sadly, our house is in a bit of a signal black hole. We barely get mobile reception and someone from a satellite broadband company said we wouldn't be able to get them either as we had no clear line of sight to a tower or something.

XsApollo

ilovepizza wrote: »

I was really considering this option, but come winter time and bad weather the service I heard is pretty dreadfull. How long have you been ussing LTE broadband,

A few months now, neighbour been using it for over a year.
Three service is shoddy at the best of times.
I switched to Vodafone for mobile years ago as the reception on the phone wasn’t great.
But it’s an improvement over 6mb broadband.
The speed isn’t consistent as in it can be going from 20 to 40 and anywhere inbetween but it’s rarely under 5 or 6.
Cost nothing to get a Three Sim and put it in a phone and see what the service is like in your area.

babi-hrse

Penn wrote: »

Sorry navi, I appreciate your help but I'm still not confident, as that link says fibre is available. However, when I go to process and review the order from that link, it still says:

Unlimited uncongested broadband - Up to 24Mb. FREE unlimited access to eir sport. Unlimited off-peak calls to Irish landlines.

Yeah that's not fibre that's ADSL from exchange.
Lines don't get upgraded. Cabinets do

denismc

What people don't realise is that you need Eir to connect you up, once the infrastructure is there are other providers that can do this for a lot less hassle.