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blowin

Nothing new to be said on this subject but the constantly crashing connection is driving me nuts . The only mitigation is that with a normal speed of around 28 kbs you hardly know whether it is doing anything anyway .
On a more serious note -- I am told that 58 kbs is generally considered to be the minimum acceptable rate . I also understand that a minimum call charge is applied * even if the line drops within a few seconds of making contact .
This is absolutely cr@p Customer Service and must be fairly close to the line as far as Trading Standards are concerned .
Has anyone ever been able to get compensation in the form of a discount ( or even an apology ) ?

I was going to write and ask Eircom themselves but they don't * even give an email address on their website and I have wasted enough time trying to get anywhere by phone . Their Reps do keep phoning me tho' -- offering new gizmos which I doubt would work on this line anyway . AAARGGGHHHHH ! Evil or Very Mad

* You know what , I would quite like that company to threaten me with Libel action but to avoid the hassle I will add that I could be wrong in both of those statements .

quarryman · Joined: 14 Dec 2006 Posts: 417 Location: Sligo

Hi Blowin,

http://eircom.ie go to "customer services" go to "faults and repairs" go to "log fault of complaint"

eircom.net is just the ISP eircom.ie is the company that deals with phone lines and "broadband non-supply"

We got in Fastcom wireless broadband got Blueface voip telephony and got rid of the Eircom phone line, happy days.

Keep at them then get in touch with your local T.D. [ the F.F. one, the opposition TDs dont seem to have any clout }

All the best.

blowin · Posted: Thu Jan 17, 2008 12:40 am Post subject:

Good plan

That should keep me amused for a day or two Laughing

.

Meanwhile herewith a copy of an email to Eircom , with apologies to anyone who has any loyalty to that company . Anything offensive is not intended to be personal -- unless you happen to be the decision-maker who is responsible for my predicament .

Dear Sir / Madam ,
universal a/c nbr ******

Please accept my apologies in advance if any bad language slips into this correspondence . It is not intended to be personal but I am so incredibly p*ssed off with the appalling service I am almost incapable of stringing two civil words together .
The speed on this line seems to be no more than about 30kbs for most of the time . It occasionally reaches the top of the graph , which is 58.6 kbs , but freezes or crashes much more frequently than it ever achieves that .
Your Reps contact me from time to time trying to sell me gizmos or services which I know won't work on this landline . That adds insult to injury .
I have just tried to " Come Back To Eircom " via your website . The form you display has several fields marked * to indicate that they are mandatory . Are you aware that the document will not "Submit" unless you also fill in fields which are not marked * ?
One of the unmarked but seemingly mandatory fields is for the applicant's universal a/c nbr . It makes some sense for you to require that info but is it really necessary at the enquiry stage ? It was inconvenient for me to have to go find it . Apart from anything else your site timed out then the line dropped before I could get back to the pc .
The other one like that is the field which asks when is the best time to contact me -- AM/PM/Evening . Why do you have to know that ? My answer depends on what day of the week it is . Is it really worth rejecting the form for the sake of a nonsense answer ? If you really must have one then why not add a field for "no preference" , like most surveys do ?
The line has dropped twice in the time it has taken me to type this . That just about says it all .
Yours Faithfully
Mr, ******

PS: I intend to post a copy of this message under the "Rant" section of an open forum . Please let me know if there is any reason why I should not do so .

No virus found in this outgoing message.
Checked by AVG Free Edition.

blowin · Posted: Thu Jan 17, 2008 12:43 am Post subject:

And their answer : ....

Dear **** (******@email.com),

Thank you for your e-mail received 16/1/08.

This is an automated response, a member of our team will reply to you
within two working days with information regarding your query.

Your request ID is: 1****

Kind Regards,

eircom net.

blowin · Posted: Sat Jan 19, 2008 2:31 am Post subject:

An engineer appeared this afternoon , did something in the little box , said there were problems up the line , then went away to fix them . Wouldn't stop for a cup of tea or anything . No reply to my complaint to Head Office , tho' .

I reiterate that my quarrel is not with the people "on the ground" . They have always been friendly and helpful . It is with the management who decide where the money is spent . I fully understand the economics etc etc but it seems crazy for Eircom to keep us in the dark ages when REPS and others are trying so hard to promote rural development and retention .

The line is still as bad as it was .

quarryman · Joined: 14 Dec 2006 Posts: 417 Location: Sligo

Blowin, just keep up a series of complaints to Eircom. The lads on the ground don't care whos line they are working on. Remember your local FF Councellor, they thrive on this type of problem, makes them feel really important. Give him a phone call.

chook · Joined: 14 Mar 2007 Posts: 305 Location: North Clare

Blowin, you have my sympathies.
For ten years I worked (as in tried to earn a living) with an eircom line with an average speed of 1kB/sec (I measured it over long periods). We felt lucky when it hit 3-5kB/sec at times and had absolutely massive phonebills despite the eircom net subscription package as it was so slow we always went over the limit.
We finally got point-to-point wireless from IFA Telecom when it came to North Clare in April 06 - it was a quantum leap.
Keep up the complaints; it's ridiculous. Ireland has become the laughing stock of Europe on the telecoms/broadband front.

chook

blowin · Posted: Sat Jan 19, 2008 7:49 pm Post subject:

wayland · Joined: 14 Dec 2006 Posts: 1171 Location: Campile. Wexford

We are now running at a heady 36kbps Confused

but still live in a no broadband area. What p*****s me off is the ads for broadband by eircom. They should shut up until they can actually provide it. From what I have heard the service they do provide is not that good either. I see that Tiscaly is offering 6 MEG in the UK for £6:99 month. Mad

_________________
Leave not a trace.

quarryman · Joined: 14 Dec 2006 Posts: 417 Location: Sligo

Here is the situation. A number of years ago our wonderful government sold our national telephone network to a private consortium headed by Tony O'Reilly, [Independent Newspapers, Heinz etc etc].[ Bertie's pension fund is looking very good.] This consortium proceeded to "maximise their profits", some would call it asset stripping but I certainly wouldn't call it that on an open forum. Recently these very charitable men sold on our ex-national asset to the well known Australian philanthropic company, Babcock and Browne, so now we are rightly screwed. They have made all the right noises to the government and the EU about "rolling out the service" but they will still not allow commercial companies to share their network as has been asked of them for years. This would have lead to a full service and competition throughout the country, ie affordable broadband for everyone. So untill these philanthropists squeeze the last drop of profit out of our ailing economy we should all forget 6mbs BB and get the writing paper and envelopes out.