You've been DACS 'ed...but we'll still charge you full price!!!

fabien

Hi,

I have been reading about DACS on this board for the last hour, it looks like I have all the symptoms: little white box on the post, speed of 31.2 kbps max, but still paying full price....

By what I read, it looks like it's hard to get Eircorn to take it off...has anyone managed to do this without getting ISDN?

I also read that some of you were threatening Eircorn to move to Chorus...why? Can they remove the DACS box? Are they any good?

Finally, if I get ISDN, they have to "de-DACS" my line, right? Does that mean I won't be able to get ADSL? What do Eircorn do if I want ADSL instead of an installed ISDN?

Thanks in advance,
fabien

spongebob

Chorus do not operate in Galway

I recommend bribery as the best solution.

Finally, if I get ISDN, they have to "de-DACS" my line, right? Does that mean I won't be able to get ADSL? What do Eircorn do if I want ADSL instead of an installed ISDN?

de-dacs for ISDN correct
can't get adsl correct, an IDSN line WILL fail the ADSL test 100% of the time

now Listen Carefully!

YOU PAY €99 to downgrade to Analogue and get Eircom to do the Line Test again. If you STILL fail the ADSL test ...possibly coz they put a DACS box back on your line, you have to PAY €120 or so AGAIN to go back to ISDN because they will not fix your line to get it to pass the ADSL test ...... unless you brown paper bag the engineer.

There will be no DSL available in most of the rural west because of distances anyway so if you are more than 2.5KM from your exchane then Wireless will be it for you.

You may hear about IDSL coming your way, this is often used in Rural areas where distance could be a problem and there are other DSL flavours that work at distance but ADSL is not one of them.

M

spongebob

The principle of same service same price is not a new one.

1. Ask Eircom to remove the DACS , in writing, saying you pay the same line rental etc as the rest of us etc etc . Their CEO is Phillip Nolan in their headquarters in St Stephens Green if the local gobdaws don't do it for you.

2. When they refuse, complain at http://www.odtr.ie/ there is a form in the contact area

3. Complain to http://www.odca.ie/ beacuse you have rights as a consumer.

M

SkepticOne

It would be worth using the term pair gain system rather than "DACS". I believe a variety of systems are used to both increase the number of lines on a single copper pair and also extend the signal.

fabien

Thanks guys, I will try to complain and I'll keep you posted...this could be fun! Anyone has a spare brown bag?

byte

You're not alone. I too seem to have a "pair gained" line. 99% of the time, my connection is 28.8k and there is a collection of boxes on the pole feeding approx 10 homes.

But I thought that Eircom don't have to remove the DACS box as the line was intended for voice calls and not net access.

I was also told that if your line is DACS'ed, they wont upgrade it to ISDN (or indeed DSL)

I'm seriously considering getting ISDN if Eircon will upgrade my line but is it worth the expense (I'm hoping to get Esat to allow me to use No Limits with ISDN)? Is ISDN noticeably faster (than 28k)?

po0k

I'm on a DACS line aswell.
I get a max of 33.6kbps with my Rockwell 56k HCF
Used to get only 31200 with a Lucent.

I live in Moycullen.

ISDN is much faster then 28k

Eircom will invariably deny the very existance of a DACS box, and you maust threaten them to go to chorus/whoever/another carrier to get them to give you the number of your local engineer.
If you get on to him he'll tell you they can't roll out any more copper as it costs too much etc.

This country is fncked, plain and simple.

And McCreevey thinks that by taxing the children's allowance and increasing fes for 3rd level education he'll bring the country back to where it was. Muppets.

po0k

oh, and Fuctifino,

spongebob

...and luckily for him the pole was on his land for the whole boreen.

He told Eircom he would start charging them rent for the pole and the line was promptly fixed as was his mates next door.

Now he didn;t tell one of the ignorant biddies in customer services who started off as a directory enquiries droid, he told the district engineer after he reported a dangerous problem with a pole..... the problem being that if they did not fix the DACS issue he would chop the pole down coz it was on his land, that would be a traffic hazard and therefore it was a dangerous pole.

Yer man came out for a chat, he brought up the rental issue because eircom do not have written right of way for a lot of their roadside poles as it happens, they used to stick them in fields with a howya can we stick this here agreement, this was back in the day when they were part of the civil service and not owned by greedy New York bankers.

Eircom do NOT wan't to pay rental to anybody so they will roll over if you have the folios (the land maps) in yer paw as you discuss the matter.....walk the road back up to Moycullen some day and find out who owns 'that' field if ya know what I mean. There is the weakest link in the whole system ,

M

the Guru

an IDSN line WILL fail the ADSL test 100% of the time

ISDN lines will not fail they are now testing ISDN lines and they
can tell you over the phone if they pass or fail and if they pass it will cost you about €20 or so to revert back to PSTN and they you can upgrade to DSL if you are with in 1 mile of a DSL enabled exchange.

viking

Originally posted by Muck
...and luckily for him the pole was on his land for the whole boreen.
<snip>

Wouldn't have been in Kinnegad by any chance, would it?

viking

spongebob

...surely he must.

why d'ya ask?

M

viking

Westmeath + collection of boxes + boreen + viking's wild guess = Kinnegad



Was it?

viking

fabien

Haven't contacted the local engineer yet (thinking of a plan)...but this new thread (IOFFL Thread ) has some very interesting legal requirement info in it. Basically it looks like Eircom have to take off the "pair gain" or "lineshare" on your line if you move operator, some even argue that they have to do it anyway...

De Rebel

Originally posted by Muck
...and luckily for him the pole was on his land for the whole boreen.

He told Eircom he would start charging them rent for the pole and the line was promptly fixed as was his mates next door.

Now he didn;t tell one of the ignorant biddies in customer services who started off as a directory enquiries droid, he told the district engineer after he reported a dangerous problem with a pole..... the problem being that if they did not fix the DACS issue he would chop the pole down coz it was on his land, that would be a traffic hazard and therefore it was a dangerous pole.

Yer man came out for a chat, he brought up the rental issue because eircom do not have written right of way for a lot of their roadside poles as it happens, they used to stick them in fields with a howya can we stick this here agreement, this was back in the day when they were part of the civil service and not owned by greedy New York bankers.

Eircom do NOT wan't to pay rental to anybody so they will roll over if you have the folios (the land maps) in yer paw as you discuss the matter.....walk the road back up to Moycullen some day and find out who owns 'that' field if ya know what I mean. There is the weakest link in the whole system ,

M

Excellent post!!

spongebob

Poles, a note!

These are erected under wayleaves that should be duly registered in the land registry, lots of people don't realise that and think Eircom can come and go as they please. The (currently) relevant act is the 1983 post and telecommunications act, see sections 44 and 111 . The courts take Land Rights seriously in this country as we know.

Some very interesting issues arise from this.

1. Be careful if YOUR house ONLY is supplied from the said pole, it could be tricky. If its primary purpose is to serve the neighbourhood INCLUDING your house you are safe unless they get in a sulk and try to move it way off. If you lay an undergorund phone line to the pole then game on again. You are really safe if there are 20 houses further on from the said pole

2. The reason Eircom (or another carrier) has this right of way or wayleave or easement as it was once known; going right back to Victorian/Edwardian Telegraph acts is for the 'greater' good. The ESB has this right too from the days of the Free State in the 20's. I agree in principle.

3. The ESB supplies a current of 200-240 (220+ or - 10%) that is the standard current.

4. Eircom seems to think it can supply a 56k line (- 90% in some cases) and get away with it. The purpose of a universal right of access is to provide a universal service to a universal standard.......thank you for that affirmation m'lud. Otherwise you are denied natural justice ...the universal right, while also suffering degradation of your asset, your land.

They haven't a leg to stand on if they are not doing as the ESB does once your house is within 5 miles of the exchange.

The ESB cannot supply you with 110volts by Splitting your line and blaming distance for the sh1te service. They never try to get away with such shoddiness. Nor should Eircom.

M

sceptre

Highly impressive post Muck (but then you knew that:))

Legal aspects are very interesting. Wonder if the "universal access for a universal service" would hold water. Makes perfect sense to me but then I'm not a very good law student (and might be a computer student instead by next week).

spongebob

The points I made above are applicable to rural areas where Eircom does much of its worst work.

In urban areas the cables are typically in the street or under the footpath which is entirely in public ownership. The local authority will not get involved in these arguments.

In rural areas the situation is different.

Whenever a new house is built there is a standard planning condition which I would call road widening by stealth. The county council enforeces a 3 metre parking bay requirement whereby the wall of the new house is set back 3 metres or so from the current wall. This has been standard since the 70's or so.

The LAND still belongs to the person who got planning permission and the odd paranoid person puts up bollards to stop parking on that strip because of potential liability to damage to parked cars for example. I say 'Kelehans' to you Syxpak by way of example.

Lots of these strips of land have mysteriously sprouted ugly Eircom poles with clatters of boxes on them!

M

po0k

That's class muck

They'll be getting a nice earful of "bítch" soon.
I have the mobile number for the engineer (the fellah from Clifden) at home somewhere, got it after threatening to move to Chorus

The mother has now changed carriers, so I hope Fabien's post applies to me.

Btw muck, where are you from?