Isdn disconnection fee

Cr8or

Don’t know if this has been talked about before but got a call from netsource today saying my line had to be downgraded so I can use DSL. He also pointed out that I would have to get a technician to remove it at the sum of 80 euro.

Now I could be wrong but this price was not listed on any of the forms I filled in including the isdn disconnect form.

Its 4 wires 2 boxed why I should have to pay 80 quid for the privilege of someone coming out and unplugging 4 wires and adding a new socket.

I was told this was standard but I make a point of saying that I had isdn when I contacted them. I also asked what the situation was with the isdn before I ordered and was not informed of any extra fees.

After paying out 120 (from what I can remember) for the isdn and a wait 3 months now I have to pay 80 to get rid of it.

Is there anything I can do about this?

Co33iE

25 euro disconnection charge from eircom check before u go ahead with netsource disconnection. seems abit much tbh.

lmck

For ISDN downgrades we have to have an onsite engineer install the splitter as we have to co-ordinate with an Eircom engineer in your local exchange which requires manual jumpering when downgrading a line from ISDN to DSL.

Therefore the purpose of the call was to inform you that the self install option was not possible considering the line was an ISDN line, and this should have been hightlighted to you at the time of order.

Regards
Louise McKeown
Sales & Marketing Manager
Netsource

SimonMaher

Louise,

Thanks for posting here, customer interaciton is always most welcome!

Have you got a fixed figure from Eircom yet for ISDN downgrades back to PSTN? Figures from 25 Euro to 180 Euro have appeared on the boards in the past couple of weeks as being prices asked for by Eircom for this service.

Just wondered if they give you a set price, or price it on a case by case basis?

Thanks in advance,

Pete Reed

lmck

Pete,

When a client requests DSL on an ISDN line we ask the client to sign a CAF form (Customer authorisation form), which is issued to us by Eircom Wholesale. Basically the client completes this form along with their DSL order form and we manage the changeover. There is no charge for this downgrade the only prerequisite is that the client pays for an Onsite Engineer install due to the fact that we must co-ordinate the Downgrade and DSL provision with Eircom engineers in the local exchange.

Louise

SimonMaher

Thanks Louise,

Thats cleared that one up! I suppose though it inevitably leads on to another question. Do you get quoted a fixed fee for your new customer to have their installation done and is it the normal installation fee that Eircom would charge anyone not doing a "self-install"?

Sorry for the questions but Im just being over-cautious before I have to deal with Eircom!

Thanks again,

Pete

lmck

Pete

Our SOHO service has two install options: self install of €81.81 or engineer install of €165 - both the same pricing as Eircom Retail.

The SME and Premier services have an onsite engineer install of €165, again the same as Eircom retail.

All DSL services have a connection fee, as a wholesaler we pay €150 for each port opened and then we have the engineer fee!

-Louise

hopeful

Plus VAT of course

Coolermaster

For people on ISDN, does it now make sense that they cancel their ISDN line rather than downgrade it ? Then order a normal new phone line and do a self-install ? This way you can take up the new offers of free modem, connection etc.

It seems to me the ISDN downgrade is a bit of a mysetery tour, and you have to pay even to downgrade it.

The downside of course is you need to pay for a 'new' line. However the timescale may be less than the tales of woe about downgrading ISDN.

I phoned Eircom about this and they were a bit miffed when I mentioned the cancel word.

Any thoughts ?

Tenshot

I'm sure someone will correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe the standard ISDN NT boxes Eircom have been installing for the past 2+ years can auto-detect the type of line they are connected to.

If the line switches from being ISDN back to standard analogue POTS, the NT box disables its ISDN circuitry and switches the incoming line straight through to the first voice port. (I found this out by accident when we were doing some rewiring at work a while ago -- couldn't figure out why calls from one of our ISDN lines seemed to have the caller ID of our analogue line!)

So, you'd imagine a downgrade from ISDN to non-ISDN wouldn't require a callout at all, just a small change in the exchange.

(Maybe the EU25 pricing is based on this, and the more expensive pricing some people are hearing applies only to older ISDN lines with the original NT boxes that had no voice ports. If so, they should be a small enough fraction of the overall ISDN userbase that Eircom could just eat the additional cost in those situations...)

Coolermaster

You may be technically correct, but they want to 'recover' the ISDN box thingy on the wall.
As far as Eircom are concerned, if you have ISDN then they insist on an engineer coming out. Therefore you have to pay the full whack. Also their promotion states that it is only valid for the self-install option. So ISDN users are doubly hit. THey miss out on the free modem, first months rental free, etc.

Anybody else try the ISDN cancel / order a new line route ?

Pataman

I got DSL connected recently. Applied to Utv, went on holidays, came back my isdn had been changed to pstn at the exchange, removed the isdn box myself, collected modem and broadband up and running the same day. Why do netsource require an engineer on site? The line can be changed from isdn to pstn at the exchange without the customer knowing as the box reverts back to line 1 only.

ozmo

Originally posted by Coolermaster
You may be technically correct, but they want to 'recover' the ISDN box thingy on the wall.
As far as Eircom are concerned, if you have ISDN then they insist on an engineer coming out. Therefore you have to pay the full whack. Also their promotion states that it is only valid for the self-install option. So ISDN users are doubly hit. THey miss out on the free modem, first months rental free, etc.

Anybody else try the ISDN cancel / order a new line route ?

Ordered UTV Clicksilver who said they would arrange isdn downgrade(via Esat). Within two weeks ISDN was disabled. Box was new (Plug And Play embossed on it).
No engineer called. So I removed it myself - disconnected the two wires and put them back into the original phone socket.

Got a bill for 99 euros for the disconnection.
Rang up Eircom and complained (a lot). First they said it was to pay for the engineer (that never showed up).

Then they changed it to 24euros disconnection fee. I think if its a so called "High Speed" (ie. a upgrade to ISDN from an existing line - disconnection is 24 euros- but if its an "ISDN" (installed as an ISDN from start) then its 99(sometimes more) euros.

Took a further month to get dsl actually working - but worth the hassle.

ozmo.