ALERT!!! IOFFL + Smart + eircom on Today FM 6.15pm - Send in comments

Cryos

@dero

Ive been pretty dang persistant the last year and a bit and it has gotten me nowhere, and now plus 2 isdn plug and play boxes later (damm lightning storms) im still on ISDN (no complaints).

As i posted before ive had my line tested for data streams (by a guy who is on contract for AT&T Global in ireland). And it was deamed that it would be easaly capable of 1meg dsl.

So the system in which eircom uses to test lines needs to be brought under serious scruitiny, this is the major factor in all broadband arguments that people simply cannot get the service.

Dero

Sorry dude, I didn't mean to imply that you aren't being persistent enough. The point is, we shouldn't need to be. If there has actually been a change in the pre-qual system, then the broadband sales people haven't been told about it. It's not our job to inform them of Eircom policy.
I do agree that the Eircom line test system needs to be brought under serious scrutiny. I really can't see how they can reconcile their "rural" broadband roll-out with such stringent distance limits, especially in light of what BT have shown to be possible on our doorstep.

bealtine

Dero wrote:

I do agree that the Eircom line test system needs to be brought under serious scrutiny. I really can't see how they can reconcile their "rural" broadband roll-out with such stringent distance limits, especially in light of what BT have shown to be possible on our doorstep.

Imho this is very important, the criteria used for the line tests are really being used to cover many failings. This is probably why they dare not publish those criteria, if people know their distance they will want to know why they can't have broadband.

I know many people who are around 3km from exchanges and yet their lines simply fail. Many different excuses are offered "you are too far from the exchange", your line isn't suitable (umm why not?). These potential customers are bemused by the pathetic ramblings of the sales people.

So, the line tests are there simply to cover up rotten cabling and not to provide you with a service.

I for one would like to see the line characteristics of all the various lines put into the public domain.

Clanc

I last posted on March 16th after hearing the interview with McRedmond. The following evening I called up sales + with a lot of effort got them to realise that there was some kind of change in the prequal criteria happening and the Order Management Team would be on to me in a few weeks.....which never happened.
So I called up yesterday and the sales rep says "Oh yes, the line was tested on March 30th and I can now offer you High Speed ISDN".

I replied that there is nothing "high speed" about ISDN and that I was calling about BROADBAND, and she says "Yes, the line was tested and failed so what I can offer is ISDN, or if you want something faster, Satellite. Maybe sometime in the future you'll be able to get DSL, but not now".
I thanked her for her help, hung up + felt like ripping the phone from the wall.

Later, I called back to ask what was different between the way my previous queries had been handled, before the advent of the Order Management Team, and landed with a different rep (I do have to say as someone who works in a callcentre myself, I pity those guys). His angle is that "we only get Yes or No from the engineers and at the moment it's a No" but he offered to put me through to Head Office if I wanted to complain - sure why not??

This morning at 9:15 I got a call from the complaints team and I explained my case again. Their perspective is that Eircom have brought in External Contractors to improve the level of service and to enable the 30% of customers whose lines are failing today to get DSL - but I'm definitely too far from the exchange!!!

I explained that I live in a new estate which has an Eircom junction box on the street at the entrance. Lately I saw an Eircom van there while passing by and stopped to ask the guy about my Broadband woes. He says "this box is connected directly to the exchange down the road, and all of the houses are connected directly to the box, so distance is definitely not an issue". Also several of my neighbours do have DSL already. The Eircom guy said he couldn't imagine any qualatitive reason why it wouldn't work, except that maybe all the DSL ports in the Exchange have been used up, and until the upgrade the exchange anyone else who wants it will have to wait.
BUT then when I thought I was hearing something new, he says I'm only up from Dublin to fix this fault so I dont know what the local excahnge is like and dont know anything much about DSL anyway.

Having explained all of this again this morning with the frustration rising + rising, the rep agreed that distance might not be a problem + he'd spoken to a technician that told him that the line test is perfect but it's now down to these external contractors and that we'll put your name on the list of "People who are really interested in DSL" so the next time they are back at the Navan exchange they should have a look again.

The best thing is I should call back in 6 weeks or so to see if there's any change (cos these guys obviously wouldn't be contacting me directly, cos they're not Eircom staff).


GRRRRRRRRR

Blaster99

So in summary it went like this:

1. You're too far away.
2. You're not too far away.
3. The line test is perfect.
4. You can't get ADSL.

Sounds like they're on top of things in Eircom.

vinnyfitz

On the plus side though....

- you are in Navan.

If I were you I'd go down to Noel Demsey's next clinic and tell him about this - he is the Minister for Post & Telegraphs after all. I'm sure there is someone in his office keen to hear how constituents are getting on with broadband.

Earl

Hey guys, only just found your website. Nice bit of information to help people out.

Anyway, I've had broadband with both Eircom and EsatBT before, as recently as January with Eircom. Thought I was moving abroad so didn't keep any, minimum contract was 12 months so it just wasn't suitable. Move abroad breaks down and a few months go by, decided to get broadband again, mainly for E3 in May.

Unfortunately, despite having it twice before, the line fails. Rang up Eircom trying to find out why and after a game of pass the customer I asked for a check on the phone line. Turns out there was a fault, a report was made and I was assured it'd be handled within 2 working days. 3 weeks pass and eventually the fault is fixed. During the course of the 3 weeks I made numerous calls but was told that the area I was living in had upwards of 50 different faults and that the engineer was basically run off his feet. Anyway, when the guy shows up he tells me that he's been away for a few weeks on holiday, nice guy though and fixed the general fault in the area in a few hours. He said the line was now perfect, to make sure I get Eircom to do a check and sure enough it's now perfect.

However, I was also told that my line was still failing the broadband test. They now say I have to wait 4-6 weeks for the system to be updated, notexactly jumping through hoops over that basically because the line is now fine, people down the road have it and I've had it here very recently. E3 is only 3-4 weeks away and I'd hate to miss out on the excitement.

Anything I can do to speed the whole thing up a bit? Can I possibly use what McRedmond said about the tests and try my luck or do I just sit around and wait for them to pass a perfectly good line in a few weeks and miss out on all the fun?