Yo Comreg, where is me single operator billing and number portability gone.

spongebob

This article at the bottom was on Silicon Republic today register at http://www.siliconrepublic.com/ to view it in there. While Silicon Republic is an excellent site ....it is not possible to link to their stories which is a great shame , become more like The Register lads and ye are made with me.

It tells of how Comreg have completely dropped the ball on Single Billing....you pay ESAT the line rental or UTV for example. Then you need only have one DD per month rather than two and one customer contact point for all problems.

Silicon Republic forgot to mention that number portability has disappeared off the agenda too, that should be an essential adjunct to single billing.

The article also describes the RAT in Winback mode. This is another caper that Comreg benignly tolerates EVEN where Eircom customers have indicated in writing that they do not want ANY promotional material from Eircom. Data Protection my eye. Comreg announced in January or February that they were investigating Winback activities and were so chuffed then that this was on their "own initiative" ...Eircom are actually worse than ever it seems and where is the investigation by Comreg?

There is plenty more for Silicon Republic to report on there, I know they lurk here from time to time. If ye (or anyone else on their own initiative) need to 'investigate' Winback then email the Winback Manager Alan Cox on acox@eircom.ie and ask him where his staff get lists of other operators customer within 24 hours. Surely it isn't a button that Biddy presses when she feels like it. NOBODY in Eircom EVER does anything in under 24 hours except Alan ...its a miracle , I am not worthy.

It is more fun fun fun if you upgrade to line ISDN and Eircom promptly lose your Netsmart CPS or your UTV setting. You know nothing about it and then an Eircom phone Bill arrives and you find out ALL about the 'Instant Winback'. Alan can sort that mistake out for you within 24 hours you'll be glad to hear. Comreg will wring their hands about the extra bill, at the full per minute rate of course.

Comreg then allowed Eircom to have a line rental increase this month, in part to fund the Single Billing by the end of June.

This means that if you do not have the option of single billing along with FRIACO from the 01/07/03 you are entitled to have the increase in line rental refunded from that date.

Send the demand for the Line Rental Rebate on the day to

phil.nolan@eircom.ie

cc

info@comreg.ie

Its late, I am not linking to the myriad of Comreg documents on all these topics.

FROM SILICONREPUBLIC.COM

Telco frustration
at stalled billing plan


24.06.2003 - Telecommunications companies have expressed anger and
frustration at the failure by ComReg and Eircom to implement carrier
pre-select (CPS) single billing by the promised deadline of 2 June. The
Alternative Licence Telecom Operators (ALTO) lobby group said it would
not be surprised if the deadline slipped further into next year.
Along with local loop unbundling, carrier pre-select and single billing
are seen by telcos as one of the major hurdles they face when trying to
get customers to sign up for their services. The advent of single
billing will enable other licensed operators (OLOs) to charge for their
services on one bill, instead of the present situation whereby
customers receive an additional bill from Eircom for line rental on top
of the services from a rival operator. Single billing would allow an
OLO to integrate line rental into the one bill.

In May, the Commissioner for Communications Regulation (ComReg) issued
a statement saying that two single billing products (through wholesale
line rental and through agency rebilling) would be launched on 2 June
following the completion of testing a system that would enable Eircom
to allow OLOs to sign up new customers to single billing. At that stage
the single billing products were a full five months behind schedule,
with earlier launches postponed in January and in April.

According to both Esat BT and ALTO, it appears that Eircom has yet to
submit the terms and conditions for a commercial arrangement for single
billing to exist between the incumbent and OLOs, a document that would
also have to be vetted by ComReg.

This is very frustrating, said Iarla OFlynn, chairman of ALTO. Even if
launched, the service offered by Eircom would be a limited one because
the computers and equipment needed to enable universal single billing
may not be in place until September this year. Even that is not
concrete. The system would be a manual one until that time. Given the
present rate of progress, OLOs I have spoken to say they would not be
surprised if the deadline slipped further into next year.

He continued: This is an unacceptable situation. It seems Eircoms whole
strategy is to hold on to its monopoly position. It is holding off CPS
and at the same time has hiked up line rental twice in the last few
months, bringing an additional 50m into its coffers. Consumers face a
double-whammy they dont have a proper choice for services and at the
same time are facing price rises from Eircom. OLOs have said that the
whole project is causing frustration and disillusionment, five years
into deregulation.

A spokesperson for Esat BT confirmed the growing frustration. Until
single billing comes into place, Eircom still have a monopoly position.
We have been told that by September a single billing infrastructure
that would be fully automated and transitioned would be in place. It
looks very unlikely the way things are going. It is very difficult for
us to attract customers when we have to send them one bill and Eircom
bills them for line rental.

It would be a very big day for us when we can own a customer
end-to-end, the spokesperson continued. It will mean that a major wall
will have come down and we can bill the customer ourselves for line
rental. It will mean we can offer better prices. Eircoms strategy is
stone age and not in the best interests of competition.

The Esat BT spokesperson also hinted at aggressive customer win-back
strategies being employed by Eircom. When a customer wants to switch
phone services, once we notify Eircom about the transfer, within 24
hours Eircom are posting out letters from their marketing department
and contacting our customers. Customers we have signed up end up
returning to Eircom. It is ferociously aggressive. For every 3,000 new
customers we sign up, we lose 2,000 on churn. It will be very hard
going for a licensed operator until single billing is put in place, the
spokesperson told siliconrepublic.com .

Neither ComReg or Eircom could be contacted for comment at the time of
going to press.

M

BigEejit

Originally posted by Muck

Comreg then allowed Eircom to have a line rental increase this month, in part to fund the Single Billing by the end of June.

This means that if you do not have the option of single billing along with FRIACO from the 01/07/03 you are entitled to have the increase in line rental refunded from that date.

And would I be right in thinking that there was no clause that would force €ircon to pay the government (or comreg, or any body whatsoever) for every day/week/month that they are not complying ...
/me guessing that there is nothing that would have an great enough incentive for €ircon
So, even though EVERYONE knows that €ircon will drag their feet AGAIN they are allowed to do it with impunity .... comreg are a flippin disgrace (not only for the above, but in allowing a hard sell winback by the incumbent etc etc etc etc etc.....ad nauseum)

dahamsta

Originally posted by Muck
Neither ComReg or Eircom could be contacted for comment at the time of going to press.

Eircon not commenting is par for the course. Comreg not commenting is dodgy out (as we say in the sunshine state).

adam

spongebob

The Comreg decision was in April see Here (PDF File 300k ) on Page 7 and was to be live on 02 June.

The 01 July is the last possible date in the billing cycle starting 02/06/03.

Therefore if you cannot get single billing from your FRIACO provider, together with FRIACO itslef, from the 01 July you are entitled to a refund of the EXTRA line rental , some €2.20 a month, until you can.

Ya may as well email Phil Nolan at the above address as Phil knows all about this and can get you your refund pronto.

It ain't much of a rebate but then again paying the highest line rental in Europe for a crap lline and no single billing/number portability either simply ain't worth it.

I am totally pissed off with Comreg for wimping out of the pairgain issue until 2007. That is unacceptable too.

M

oscarBravo

Originally posted by Muck
It is more fun fun fun if you upgrade to line ISDN and Eircom promptly lose your Netsmart CPS or your UTV setting. You know nothing about it and then an Eircom phone Bill arrives and you find out ALL about the 'Instant Winback'.

That came as a nice little surprise - on a whim, I rang the UTV test number and got an error tone. I contacted UTV to sort it out; hopefully won't take too long.

Thankfully I've been prefixing UTVip calls with the 13513 CPS code - wouldn't like to have seen my phone bill if not...!

SkepticOne

Originally posted by oscarBravo
Thankfully I've been prefixing UTVip calls with the 13513 CPS code - wouldn't like to have seen my phone bill if not...!

Do they put this code into the dialler settings?

oscarBravo

Originally posted by SkepticOne
Do they put this code into the dialler settings?

I suspect so - I don't use the dialler (doesn't seem to work on Linux ).

spongebob

I strongly advise a preemptive email to Phil or McRedmond or both, cc to Comreg.

Have you been prefixing all your voice calls too.

Was it the CPS line that was upgraded from Analogue to ISDN...before you go at Eircom in the first place?

Were you informed that there was a risk the CPS would be 'broken'by the upgrade and given a chance to confirm the continuance of the existing CPS intruction.

See if UTV can confirm any break in service and when

Make sure that you get a ful refund and that Eircom pay for any of your time too.

M

oscarBravo

Originally posted by Muck
I strongly advise a preemptive email to Phil or McRedmond or both, cc to Comreg.

addresses?

Have you been prefixing all your voice calls too.

The expensive ones, yes.

Was it the CPS line that was upgraded from Analogue to ISDN...before you go at Eircom in the first place?

Both lines were CPS, and both are not now.

Were you informed that there was a risk the CPS would be 'broken'by the upgrade and given a chance to confirm the continuance of the existing CPS intruction.

Nope - came as quite a surprise.

See if UTV can confirm any break in service and when

I got a reply from Carl Stinson to a query on on utv.support:

The upgrade to ISDN would have resulted in your CPS going walkabout.

I emailed UTV to have CPS reinstated. Hasn't happened yet, although the mail was acknowledged. It seems UTV at least are aware of the issue.

Make sure that you get a ful refund and that Eircom pay for any of your time too.

The bill should be interesting.