I need broadband but Eircom won't upgrade my line

morlan

I used the following service on Eircom to find out if I could get broadband
http://home.eircom.net/javascript/Broadband/new/step2.jsp
The result was 'Fail'. I have entered my next door neighbours phone number into that site and their number has passed! I don't know why this is as both our lines would have been installed at the same time. My phone line seems to attach to a box on his house and then runs about 50 meters to a box on my house. My neighbour did install a second phone line in about 6 years ago so maybe Eircom upgraded his older line to support BB too?

I've spoken to Eircom Broadband support and the guy told me that my line is only guaranteed for voice communication and not data. This is because of the old cableing used. He told me that Eircom would have to replace the cableing to my house in order for it to support higher data speeds. He said that I should ring 1901 and complain about static on the line, and maybe then they would upgrade the cableing. So I rang 1901 and the operator ran a test on the line and he said it passed,and that Eircom will not upgrade the line as there is nothing wrong with it. :mad:

The fastest speed I can get on my line is 28.8k - it won't even connect at 56k which the modem supports. The modem disconnects frequenly too. This is extremly annoying as I need to work from home. 1901 are being very unhelpful by pretty much saying "Your line is old and we will never ever upgrade it so f off". So what should I do?? Maybe if there is a storm and the line 'blows away', I can get Eircom to come and replace it? This seems to be the only way! Or should I write a letter to them and demand that the line be replaced? I'm at a loss. NTL BB is not availalbe here and most other BB suppliers seem to rely on Eircom for BB.

Any advice or alternatives would be appreciated. Thanks.

sceptre

morlan wrote:

My phone line seems to attach to a box on his house and then runs about 50 meters to a box on my house.

At a glance, this seems odd. It's almost as if when they were installing your neighbour's second line they split that second line and your line (as opposed to both of his) and hence he can get BB and you can't. May not be so but this is how it sounds. Not that this helps you though.

NTL BB is not availalbe here and most other BB suppliers seem to rely on Eircom for BB.

Yeah, basically except for a small number of cases (LLU-enabled lines with BB sold by Esat BT for pretty much exclusively business access) they'll basically be re-selling Eircom BB.

You're not in an IBB area or any of the other providers are you?
(in other words, where are you?)

the Guru

Install BB in your neighbours and get a wireless Router :: Problem solved

morlan

I'm not sure about IBB, I am in Shankill right beside the DART station. How do I find out?
'm going to take a closer look at the line and see exactly where it connects

morlan

the Guru wrote:

Install BB in your neighbours and get a wireless Router :: Problem solved

I've considered this but I don't think the neighbour would be too happy about it.

Blaster99

Can you see the tall mast at the far end of Bray Head, i.e. at Windgates? That's where IBB is transmitting from. I think IBB is limiting themselves to 5km's, but it should work up to 10km's no hassle. So long as you have line of sight.

Hydrosylator

Im in almost the exact same situation. I also have a crap 56k modem which turns out to be far too good for the line I'm on.

Maybe all of us lost souls should climb telegraph poles armed with sledgehammers? I certainly feel like it. Actually I think I may have a much better tool for the job. Throw a bit of rope over the line, grab both ends and pull for all you're worth? Good enough for Eircom if they can't be arsed to provide the same service to all their customers.

As far as I've seen, as long as eircom have the monopoly they won't life a finger where it doesn't make them money. Which is why I fully intend to leave the **** behind as soon as another provider offers line rental in my area.

Blaster99

Muck had a suggestion over at IrelandOffLine that if you order ISDN on some special deal Eircom will have to fix your line. And then you cancel and go for ADSL.

spongebob

A really sneaky person (not I) could

1. Order the free ISDN upgrade, they have to get in to finish the job
2. Let them do all the outside work and test the line.
3. Arrive at door and whooooops nobody in, Eircom leaves card.
4. You ring em up next day and say "What ISDN , it wasnae me who ordered it"
5. They can hardly charge you for it seeing as you didnt order it and it was free if you did

Good chance the line will work properly for dial up afterwards and pass the BB test a month later. Offer kicks in after the 25th of October . Ring them then.

M

Borris

just be happy ur not in kilcoole. we have NO broadband lol

dam dam dam dam dial ups

morlan

Hmm, if I cut down a few trees I could see it. Do you know where I can find out more about IBB, costs, availabilty, etc?

morlan

If I order ISDN wont that mean that the line would be upgraded for BB? I could just cancel ISDN and order in BB then?

Blaster99

ISDN is less sensitive than ADSL (at least using Eircom's testing procedures) but requires a non-split line. So you might get them to fix the line to install ISDN which might give you ADSL. No guarantees. As for the actual order/cancel procedure, don't have a clue.

Details about Irish Broadband can be found at www.irishbroadband.ie. They usually have coverage maps with a 5km radius but their stuff can do better than that. Whether the sales person you speak to will acknowledge this is another day's story. Trees are bad, but consider that the aerial will sit on your roof top so it might clear the trees. If you don't have line of sight from the roof, don't even waste their/your time.

machalla

ISDN doesn't guarantee that the line will pass for broadband. I moved into a new house a few months back which had ISDN. It failed the online test from Eircom but I downgraded it since I wasn't paying Eircon twice their extortion fees.

The line is fine for dialup but theres a complete no go on broadband. I can of course get no explanation from Eircom as to why. This would be in the heart of Dublin as well...

Still the ISDN wheeze is worth a try if only to wise Eircom up to the fact that people will try anything to get them to fix the damned copper and maybe they might take that point sometime. Hopefully i might work for someone.

ednwireland

join the club, this is eircom driving broadband forward !
been waiting a year now(and counting) for lines to my house to be upgraded - they've actually run out now so they maybe will have to do something about a mile down the road all the lines start failing don't think i'll ever get broadband.

Ripwave

machalla wrote:

ISDN doesn't guarantee that the line will pass for broadband. I moved into a new house a few months back which had ISDN. It failed the online test from Eircom but I downgraded it since I wasn't paying Eircon twice their extortion fees.

A line that's fit for ISDN won't necessarily pass for broadband, if it's a long way from the exchange. But if you're failing the test for Broadband because your line has been split, then getting your line "upgraded" for Eircom Hi-Price is probably the only way to get eircom to remove the splitters. So if your neighbours can get DSL, but you can't, then this might be worth a try.

The line is fine for dialup but theres a complete no go on broadband. I can of course get no explanation from Eircom as to why.

It wouldn't surprise me if it's "failing" because it's on a "don't bother testing this number, it's an ISDN line" list.

There's a difference between "failing" and "not passing because it hasn't been tested". I don't know if you can get eircom to tell you whether it's actually being tested or not.

machalla

Thanks for that Ripwave. It had occured to me regarding the line not being tested due to it having been an ISDN line but as it has been downgraded for months and I have been told that it has been tested since then. Whos to know if thats true or not though with our friends from Eircon running the show?

It doesn't appear to be pairgained as I can get almost 5k/sec over dialup quite often which is the only way I can think of checking to see if I was pairgained.

We are at the edge of the distance for our exchange (Dolphins Barn) but since houses very nearby (about 10 metres away) test fine for BB I can't see distance being the problem.

I'm trying to see if I have any chance of getting Breeze Lite from IBB (not hopeful due to our location being in a dip of the main road) and if I can its out with the Eircom line anyway.

My only other hope is NTL and theres no sign of them at the moment.

Anyway I don't want to take over this thread.

RicardoSmith

The line fails is the standard Eircom response. My line failed and I was told that it was too far from the exchange. But then after two years of trying I finally found out that its not my line but the equipment in the Exchange thats at fault. Even if I'd ordered a new line, I'd still have a problem, even if I'd had ISDN installed I still couldn't get BB on the line. Luckily I can get NTL now so I no longer need anyone else. My phone is no longer with Eircom either.

I suggest you try the IBB route. If that doesn't work I'd go with ISDN as a last resort only. Since its it way too expensive for what it is. But you do get a decent connection, and your phone line won't be tied up all the time.

Scanjet5

I had a similar problem recently where my line failed and my neighbours passed. Eircom said there was nothing they could do. I noticed when checking other neighbours lines that some of the ones that were failing had monitred alarm systems, as does mine (BTW I had an ISDN line up untill recently.The Eircom engineer that changed my ISDN back to a normal line told me that I might be failing because my alarm is connected to my telephone system. ) I checked my line on the line checker and it failed -
I then disconnected my alarm system from the telephone line (the previous owners had the system put in and I don't use it), which took me about an hour (unless you know what you're doing don't try this yourself - you might end up with no phone and no alarm) and then tested my line again on the eircom site and it passed. I was told by Eircom that the pass/fail is held on a database and lines are checked every four weeks and the database updated - how do you explain what happened to me - unless they were just testing the lines at the exact same time I disconnected my alarm!!! But anyway it's worth a try to see if it is your alarm causing the problem.

I suggest that anyone that is not happy with Eircom, for any reason, should move their telephone service and the line rental to another provider, and tell eircom why. It is the only way they will ever take notice. I moved my telephony and internet to UTV a year ago, Ive had two phone calls and three sets of eircom people call to my door to try to get me back - they do put a lot of effort trying to get people back. I'm with UTV/IP now and have just arranged to have my line rental taken over by them as well (the day after I applied to move my line I had another call from Eircom) , and I'm signing up to them for Broadband as well, they are the cheapest and give double the download capacity a month (€29 per months with 8GB), their telephone service is aslo fantastic value with all evening and weekend calls FREE (local/nationa and uk calls) and all other calls at 10% less that the eircom rate, they'll never be able to compete with this (I don't work fo them but I'm a great believer in open competition).

Scan