Eircom Line Test Question

griffzino

Is the line suitability test on the eircom.ie site reliable, I was passing for the last 6 months until my exchange was enabled last week. Now it says my line isn't suitalbe (to my horror).

Is the internet line test the final word?

I'd appreciate any help

Regds

Griff

shinzon

In a word no the eircom online test is never the final word, take my advice on this, no matter what eircom says or does, if your line passed 6 months ago and the only thing thats changed is your exchange being enabled then it will pass now

But im just giving you a warning your going to be in for a long haul if you do proceed in your endeavours to get DSL over copper.

You will have to start bitching moaning and complaining to anybody and everybody who will listen, threaten legal action, contact comreg and the government, threaten to cease your account with Eircom and go with UTV or something like that.

basically if you read through the forums, do a search on my name Shinzon and youll see the absolute hell I had to go through, because im in the same boat as you, the line passed and then failed.

Ive been at this for 6 months and im nearing the end of my camapign to get broadband, whether the line when its fixed by the eircom technicians (because apparently now there is a fault on the line) will pass for broadband is still debatable, but at least a final answer is coming for me anyway.

Just thought id better prepare you for the battles ahead, of course theres other options, wireless or satellite, all of which are stickied at the top of this forum.

Hope you get DSL in whatever avenue you decide to go down

Regards
Shin

griffzino

Thanks for the answer Shinzon,

I've glanced at your posts, and hope that everything goes ok.

I'll try my luck tomorrow, and will be a little pissed alright if it doesn't pass. I'm approx 150 metres from the exchange and I even tried the line no. of the local community college, which is about 5-10 metres fro mthe exchange and that failed.

I really hope it passes, and I will follow you example if it doesn't

Cheers
Griff

bk

Something similar happened to me, I had been passing the line test since standard ADSL was enabled on my exchange and again when RADSL was launched I continued to pass.

However when I went to order RADSL, I found that my line was failing, however now two months later I'm typing this on Netsource RADSL on the very same line

What happened, well I had noticed that I had been getting disconnections on my Nolimits 56k dial-up quiet frequently. I traced the problem to a dual telephone plug adaptor (you know the little thingy that allows you to plug a phone and modem into one phone plug at the same time). Well this had gotten damaged and it was causing interface on the line.

I figured this might have also caused me to fail the DSL test. So I took it off and every other phone in the house (my housemates thought I was mad!!), except one standard Irish phone, for about a month.

You see Eircom seem to retest the lines once a month. So after a month of waiting my line passed the test again.

Now I'm not saying that this is your problem, it could be something completely different, but it is worth trying.

Coolermaster

griffzino,

I also am close to the Clonakilty exchange. I have one Eircom cable coming to the house, this serves two lines, one analog, one ISDN. For some strange reason the analog one always fails the test, while the ISDN one passed. Considering it is the one cable all the way, except for the last couple of meters it is very strange.
I think their tests are not that reliable.

I have to pay 30 Euro to get my ISDN line downgraded and on top have to pay for the engineer install. Maybe that explains it.

As regards the line test on the Eircom web site, I think that is far from reliable. I got a line passed results months ago before the exchange was ever upgraded. When I rang up to order, the biddy said there were a lot more false alarms.

I think ESAT use the Eircom web test as well, because when I rang up ESAT to do a line test (knowing the exchange was not upgraded) yer man said 'Good news' you passed the ADSL line test. This is exactly the message you get on the Eircom web test.

griffzino

Could this be a problem?

Some local guy did the internal wiring and there are four access points in the house for phone/internet.

The Eircom Engineer hinted that this may be the problem. The physical line into the house is new (6-months)

How do I remove 2-3 of the other access points from the main control box

I'd appreciate any help as I'm sure my line is ok (connect at 50 KBps+ on dial-up) and I'm only 100 metres from the exchange.

Thanks

De Rebel

There is a long standing recommendation that you unplug everything from your telephone line except one plain old telephone handset (e.g. harmony or something like that) for a period of 6 weekd to allow a test to be run. And everything means everything, fax machines, cable splitters, cordless phones, modems, the works. This may or may not be feasible for you. I did it and it worked for me.

griffzino

Coolermaster,

Where approx do you live in Clon?

I live in Assumption Place, just across from the Garda Station, so that puts my within a 100-200 metre radius of the exchange.

I am really p*ssed at Eircom (how could I be out of range 5-6 km, Clon town is only about 1-1.5 Km in length. My line is good quality as I get top connection speeds with 56K and it has only been installed recently. Their attitude is that there is nothing I can do.

Thing is as I said I was passing the test 'till the exchange got released (for 6 months).

Anyone else got any advice (Have I got a right to broadband, Should Eircom be more co-operative?). Would Comreg help?

What should be my next step?

Any help would be appreciated guys

Thanks

griffzino

Update

Engineer did a test directly from the exchange and said that it passed no problem.

He can't believe its not available to my line, particularly as I am so close to the exchange.

Rang Eircom to let them know (I-Stream Dept.) and gave them engineers results and phone no. to verify.

They said that it doesn't matter. Prequal is the only test that matters.

So Prequal fails from Dublin & Line tests perfectly from local exchange and they can't update the system to reflect the test that passed.

This is unbelievable.

Anyone (Shinzon( have any advice on how to proceed next.

De Rebel

Two steps:

1. Phone the eircom DSL line and ask for a supervisor. Don't take no for an answer. The supervisors are way better informed than the average order taker, and often a lot more helpful. Someone here may even PM you a supervisor's name.

2. Phone ComReg. Explain the case and especially that the local engineer's report gives you the all clear. They should show an interest.

Note that there may be a timing issue here, the tests are on a four week cycle and if the exchange was only just enabled they may reset the tests - i'd still keep the line clear of crap if i were you.

pete

Originally posted by griffzino
Update

Engineer did a test directly from the exchange and said that it passed no problem.

May be a stupid question, but... how does one get to speak to an engineer willing to do this?

griffzino

Pete,

I rang 1901, and asked them for the number, ask them not to patch you through directly & try and get his mobile no. I suppose it depends on the guy you get through to whether he will do a test or not.

De Rebel,

Keeping the line clear of crap?

Do i just unplug all caller ID etc., and just leave one basic phone?

How about using the dial-up Internet, will that affect their readings.

Cheers

Griff

davmigil

I'm in the same boat. Passed online test each time recently until this week when I am ordering. Rang Eircom, said either too far from exchange or local line. Am 2km from exchange, on the main road the lines run (Sallins Rd, Naas). Eircom said nothing I can do until local lines upgraded, but could be 12 months.

I had a suggestion (not from Eircom) of applying for a second regular line and then testing on that, but no guarantee that would work.

Previous occupant must have been a mad DIY enthusiast as the connector box on the wall had been moved and a spliced line connected to it. Thinking are there any freelance engineers who could tidy up this and would that help

Any suggestions?

For the moment will be retesting once a month.

Dave

bk

Originally posted by griffzino

Keeping the line clear of crap?

Do i just unplug all caller ID etc., and just leave one basic phone?

How about using the dial-up Internet, will that affect their readings.

Cheers

Griff

The same happened to me, I was passing line test for months, went to get Netsource, it was now failing, I took all phone equipment off my line for about 5 weeks and I passed the test, now I'm typing this on Netsource RADSL

I believe it was a faulty dual plug (one of those plugs that allows you plug two phones or a phone and the net in at the same time) that caused the line fail.

Yes, I removed all telephone gear including extension leads, dual plugs, phones, fax, caller id, with the exception of one standard Eircom phone and I even plugged that out at night and during the day while I was at work.

BTW use a standard Eircom phone, not one of those BT phones you get in Argos.

And if you can avoid using the net do so. I use to connect for 5 minutes to download/upload emails.

shinzon

Originally posted by De Rebel
Two steps:

1. Phone the eircom DSL line and ask for a supervisor. Don't take no for an answer. The supervisors are way better informed than the average order taker, and often a lot more helpful. Someone here may even PM you a supervisor's name.

2. Phone ComReg. Explain the case and especially that the local engineer's report gives you the all clear. They should show an interest.

Note that there may be a timing issue here, the tests are on a four week cycle and if the exchange was only just enabled they may reset the tests - i'd still keep the line clear of crap if i were you.

i would echo what de rebel says here, speak only to supervisors and management, the drones dont know what there talking about, you see eircoms problem is the left hand doesnt know what the amoeba on the phone is doing.

If your line passed at the exchange then its passed, none of this pre-qual bull**** is the only thing that matters, get the supervisor to ring the engineer and get the engineer to read out the results to him, youll soon get your broadband then

ive never heard the likes of it, passed at the exchange, but some piddly database thats only updated every month says no and thats the end of it

Dear god im mad now

Shin

bk

Originally posted by davmigil
I'm in the same boat. Passed online test each time recently until this week when I am ordering. Rang Eircom, said either too far from exchange or local line. Am 2km from exchange, on the main road the lines run (Sallins Rd, Naas). Eircom said nothing I can do until local lines upgraded, but could be 12 months.

I had a suggestion (not from Eircom) of applying for a second regular line and then testing on that, but no guarantee that would work.

Previous occupant must have been a mad DIY enthusiast as the connector box on the wall had been moved and a spliced line connected to it. Thinking are there any freelance engineers who could tidy up this and would that help

Any suggestions?

For the moment will be retesting once a month.

Dave

See my post above, I had a similar experience as you.

Try what I did in my post first (it is the cheapest option).

If that doesn't work, then yes sloppy DIY phone cabling can cause interference (specially if they used crap flat telephone cable instead of twisted pair, like they did in my place, muppets). So replacing that and doing a proper job on the connector box may help. Remember Eirrcom only retest the lines about once a month, no whn you ring them (they just read the result from a database).

And if that doesn't work, then you might try getting a second line.

Grayarea

I have a permenant fail on the line test according to Eircom. I am using ISDN on the line with no problems.

I have phoned 1901 and asked to have the line checked and they came back all clear.

What is the best way to get to speak to an engineer?

Any advice on how to proceed would be gratefully recieved.

Grayarea.

shinzon

Originally posted by Grayarea
I have a permenant fail on the line test according to Eircom. I am using ISDN on the line with no problems.

I have phoned 1901 and asked to have the line checked and they came back all clear.

What is the best way to get to speak to an engineer?

Any advice on how to proceed would be gratefully recieved.

Grayarea.

Youd need to check this up because i think i saw a post somewhere to say that eircom can now test for broadband over ISDN but im not sure, in ordinary circumstances you would have to downgrade your line to PSTN and then get them to retest, but check my facts on that one


Shin

griffzino

Just to let you know,

Checked the prequal on www.eircom.ie this morning and line passed again. The database must have been updated.
Rang I-Stream Dept. and line passed, placed order etc. so hopefully it will go hassle free from now on in.

Still think something will go wrong, it is Eircom after all.

Thanks to those that offered advice.

Rgds

Griff

davmigil

Update:

Took a chance and got a friend to help me rewire the phone line. Removed about 12 ft of telephone cable from under the stairs (to cover 2ft distance) where some bozo had done a DIY extension. Worse than that it had been spliced badly and not even taped over! Telephone sounds a lot clearer now.

Anyway, retested weekly and got all clear last week on pre-qualifier. Don't know if it was the re-wiring or co-incidence. Just hope my order comes through now...

All the best,

Dave

String

every time i rng up eircom about bb they check my line before they speek