Broadband hihde and seek

tonybrasco

Hi
i live in Galway town right in the middle of the city and all my neighbours passed the broadband test. Could't be more central.
I did a check for my line in November with eircom and UTV and it passed.
I waited a few weeks before registering, comparing the different operators until I realized how crap the eircom service is and eventually said to an eircom salesman on the phone that eircom wasn't worth it compared to the others and that I would probably choose another operator.
Then in early December, I decided to register with UTV but surprise, my line failed on the test.
I rang eircom a few times until I was able to talk to somebody competent enough to enquire about it but no positive results so far. I am trying to get a technician to rectify this failure.
First they said I must be too far away from the Street or the telephone exchange, as my block is 50 metres away from the street, but I found out that the guy on the top floor can have it (I live on the ground floor so normally the closest to DSL cables).
Do you think that Eircom switched my line off, so that I don't join a competitor (maybe I should have shut up that time on the phone)?
Or is it some stupid technical problem?
Do you know if there's anything else I can do?
At that stage I don't care about providers really, I just want broadband and I don't care if I have to go for eircom.
thanks in advance for your help

vibe666

could be a genuine problem on the line. i've hear dof people passing an initial prequalifiction test then failing it later.

if it was me, i'd be ringing eircom all friendly and telling them i'm really interested in their dsl product but that for some reason your line is failing the test even though when you first enquired it passed. could they please send some nice person out to fix it so you can get dsl as soon as possible.

then when they fix it go to utv or iol and get dsl from them.

remember, you aren'tobliged until you actually sign the contract.

spongebob

college road/lough atalia is a problem I hear and that is central. Your line could be pairgained or the test was carried out while the line was wet maybe ?

M

tonybrasco

Thanks for your replies.
I live in Dominick Street and I carried out the test more than 30 times in 2 or 3 weeks.
I hope the technician comes fast.
I'll let you know how things go

Serbian

Hey Tony,

I had a very similar problem to you a month or two back. I had done Eircom's pre-qual test and passed. Then when I eventually decided to ditch Irish Broadband and go with DSL, my line was failing the test. I called up Eircom and they simply told me that it didn't pass and that they don't fix phone lines. I contacted someone in complaints and told them the story and threatened to go to ComReg if it wasn't sorted out soon (not that they would actually do anything about it).

A short time later my line passed.

Quite mysterious.

machalla

It would be interesting to see how many people who were passing on the initial line test but turned down eircoms offer of going with them for broadband suddenly failed the line test when they approached another provider.

Paranoid I know but it would be interesting all the same.
I presume Eircom couldn't fake the results of a line test or give out false information about it.

tonybrasco

I have been harrassing eircom.net for a week and they finally told me today that my line passed.
Then of course they proposed me to suscribe straight away and I said I had to say it to my flatmate. Was just curious to run a check online with eircom and UTV. Of course neither of the tests passes. They will probably let a couple of days go by before updating the my line in the prequal so that I don't choose another provider.
Strange practices isn't it?
Anyways, that's really good news all the same.
I think I'll go with Eircom in case it goes again but I am definitely convinced that it is a usual practice from Eircom to cut you off the prequal if you say you might choose another provider. And if this is true, then it is extremely serious and should be reported to the COMREG.
Tony

tonybrasco

eircom induced me into thinking i had passed an order at the end of last month and im just after realising the order was not confirmed as my line failed the prequal again (I had to ring 15 times in 2 days to get this information).
so im back to square 1.
Eircom told me that 70% of the lines in ireland can have broadband and that if I had a new line made, my chances would be 95%, but they can't guarantee.
That sounds like a lot of bull**** to me but i'm desperate to get broadband. Does the technician change anything physically during the installation of the line that might increase my chances to get broadband considerably.
I also just heard of the LCD phone issue so I'll get an old crap phone tomorrow instead. I got a new phone with a screen just before christmas (just before that, my line had been tested positively again) but then the bigger tests on my line failed and my order was cancelled without me being notified.
Do I need to get off the phone and stop using internet (i have laptop with a pcmcia modem) for a while or will that change nothing.
thanks for your help
toni

Ronan|Raven

tonybrasco if you as you say live in the apts on dominick street are you in Burkes Lane? I have some mates I stay with there who have tried to get bb (dsl) to no avail as the lines are in pieces there....

tonybrasco

no I live in Stonewater Apartments, which is closeby i believe, but i'm closer to the river than to the street, although the apartments date back from the 1990's I think, so the phonelines couldn't be so ****ty.
I think it's just ridiculous and that eircom are a bunch of spacecadets who don't give a **** about their customers, maybe apart from a couple of competent people.
About the line testing for prequal, does it make a difference so if i have a phone with a LCD screen or even a cordless phone with a charger?
+does anybody have the phone number for the eircom technician for broadband in galway? 1901 gave me the phone of somebody called colon burke but the phone doesn't work and it tells you to ring a 1890 number and then back to eircom technical team...
I actually think that 1901 (eircom enquiries) is a case in point to show the technological advancement of this company. I hope they will find out that TV is not black and white anymore and that telegraphy is out of date before the end of this century.

jd

Originally posted by tonybrasco
About the line testing for prequal, does it make a difference so if i have a phone with a LCD screen or even a cordless phone with a charger?

You have both on the same line + your modem connection?
jd

tonybrasco

yes. my phone and modem go from the same line and i plug the cable in the phone every i use it and in the modem everytime i go online.
is that bad?