Not so Smart telecom

cyborg

I recently switched to Samrt for BB and phone but I have only just found out that the network is not compatible with text messaging,something which was not brought to my attention before signing up. So anyone with eircom text phones or alarm systems that use text diallers beware!

Sandals

big * deal.

MOD: No foul language please, further foul language will lead to a ban...

Chong

FFS Sandals, the OP is trying to be bloody helpful so cut the crap.

cyborg

It is a big fuking deal if your house is burgled!

Sandals wrote:

big fucking deal.

cyborg

cyborg wrote:

It is a big fuking deal if your house is burgled!

If your alarm depends on this, it is really something you should have checked yourself when you ordered smart.

Sandals

cyborg wrote:

It is a big fuking deal if your house is burgled!

Ah it's only bricks, mortar, and contents.

KTRIC

Talk about making the newbie welcome. :rolleyes:

PowerHouseDan

Completly Unnecessary language Sandals.

Sandals wrote:

big ** deal.

To the Op...

As i can see where your coming from i think its a Question that You as the Customer should of asked before signing up. If it was that important you would of. You can expect the sales agent to tell you every single price etc that smart have ie for 1550 numbers.You have to ask these questions aswell.

dub45

While I am normally critical of companies not giving full information to customers in advance I am in agreement with Powerhouse Dan. Basically Smart advertise a bb and telephone product - if there are other issues it is up to the customer to confirm them in advance - it would be a different issue entirely if Smart had promised that their system could do text etc.

Caveat emptor.

cyborg

I agree it's up to the buyer to look out for these things ,just thought I'd mention it in case anyone else forgets. sorry I bothered now

dub45

cyborg wrote:

I agree it's up to the buyer to look out for these things ,just thought I'd mention it in case anyone else forgets. sorry I bothered now

I think it was a good thing to mention it and other people may benefit from you experience but I think it was a bit unfairl to blame Smart on it as per the title of your post which only serves to potentially damage the company in the eyes of people who cannot be bothered to read the thread.

Solair

SMS text messaging is an eircom network service. Your text phone basically dials a pre-programmed number which is only available on the eircom network and sends the text using a basic analogue modem, similar to that in a caller ID box. The fact that smart telecom lines can't access this is really not that big a deal. If Smart wanted to launch a fixed line SMS service of their own, they could do it by just installing the equipment and providing customers with the new network settings for their message centre.

However, you'd have to wonder how many eircom customers actually send texts from their landlines anyway!? It's pretty cumbersome on most of the handsets i've seen.

If your alarm system is using a text dialler that isn't sending messages over eircom's SMS service you will be fine.

Most alarm systems, e.g. eircom phone watch, just use a slow modem that can pretty much operate over any analogue telephone line.

If you're really worried, you can upgrade your alarm to GSM monitoring and chuck the landline completely.

jimmycrackcorm

Seeing burgulars can easily cut your wires it mightnot be of mouch use in any case.

bk

BTW You can get GSM dialers which call your phone and send texts for only a small bit more then the landline dialers.

jor el

I thinink cyborg has a point. Normally when you order BB all companies ask if you have a monitored alarm as they don't go so well together, without a bit of work that is, so why don't they ask about this? The Eircom text phones are quite popular, and if you're switching from Eircom to Smart I think they should ask whether you have one of these and let you know it doesn't work on their network. It's probably the only thing on an Eircom line that doesn't work on Smart, so it's not like it's a whole lot of trouble for them to mention it.

I would have assumed that it would, if I had one, and wouldn't have thought to ask either. How many of you have ever though about it before cyborg brought it up?

Thanks for the tip cyborg, I don't have a text phone so it's a mute point but anyway, now I know.

dub45

jor el wrote:

I thinink cyborg has a point. Normally when you order BB all companies ask if you have a monitored alarm as they don't go so well together, without a bit of work that is, so why don't they ask about this? The Eircom text phones are quite popular, and if you're switching from Eircom to Smart I think they should ask whether you have one of these and let you know it doesn't work on their network. It's probably the only thing on an Eircom line that doesn't work on Smart, so it's not like it's a whole lot of trouble for them to mention it.

I would have assumed that it would, if I had one, and wouldn't have thought to ask either. How many of you have ever though about it before cyborg brought it up?

Thanks for the tip cyborg, I don't have a text phone so it's a mute point but anyway, now I know.

Mute point? That's why Smart didn't mention it!:)

paulm17781

jor el wrote:

I thinink cyborg has a point. Normally when you order BB all companies ask if you have a monitored alarm as they don't go so well together, without a bit of work that is, so why don't they ask about this? The Eircom text phones are quite popular, and if you're switching from Eircom to Smart I think they should ask whether you have one of these and let you know it doesn't work on their network. It's probably the only thing on an Eircom line that doesn't work on Smart, so it's not like it's a whole lot of trouble for them to mention it.

I would have assumed that it would, if I had one, and wouldn't have thought to ask either. How many of you have ever though about it before cyborg brought it up?

Thanks for the tip cyborg, I don't have a text phone so it's a mute point but anyway, now I know.

They have nothing to gain by telling customers this and potentially something to lose. If you were trying to sell a product would you mention it's flaws before the sale or wait until someone noticed it after signing a contract?

ardmacha

They have nothing to gain by telling customers this and potentially something to lose. If you were trying to sell a product would you mention it's flaws before the sale or wait until someone noticed it after signing a contract?

On the contrary Smart advertise a cheaper phone service with faster broadband. Soon you will be able to keep your number. So they promote a better cheaper service, if word gets out that some things don't work, that there don;t bring your attention to, it will damage their prospects. They would have been better to make any restrictions crystal clear, so that dissatisfied customers do go on Boards talking about them.

paulm17781

ardmacha wrote:

On the contrary Smart advertise a cheaper phone service with faster broadband. Soon you will be able to keep your number. So they promote a better cheaper service, if word gets out that some things don't work, that there don;t bring your attention to, it will damage their prospects. They would have been better to make any restrictions crystal clear, so that dissatisfied customers do go on Boards talking about them.

No. If they say "It doesn't work with X and Y" people will say oh I use X and Y. If people sign up, they sign up. The likes of Smart would know how boards works. I'm not saying I agree but if you were selling Hummers you would probably focus on how it is the genital extension every hummer driver wants not how it gussles petrol and costs a fortune to run. Sales people can not be expected to talk about bad points of a product unless they are asked about them.

freakylily

dub45 wrote:

I think it was a good thing to mention it and other people may benefit from you experience but I think it was a bit unfairl to blame Smart on it as per the title of your post which only serves to potentially damage the company in the eyes of people who cannot be bothered to read the thread.

Well, talk about fair: we asked all the questions: can a line which was disconnected by eircom - because othe previous person renting the line in our house left q bill unpaid - be reconnected? can we disable outgoing calls to keep only incoming calls and bb? how long is the process?

They promised all of that and gave a timeframe of 3 to 5 weeks; we've now been waiting 6 months to be connected, the customer service agents only care about getting you off the line, most email queries are simply ognored and they promise to call back but then don't... Ask who's in charge: oh, can't tell you, but he's left the office anyway... On top of that, automated bills arrive monthly to tell us we owe some fees for using a service they don't provide...even if it's true they have frozen the DD and no money's been taken, it's still a really infuriating experience, and I wouldn't wish that on anyone!

Also, we got an email recently telling us that (even though we signed our contract specifically because they promised they could set our phone so we could not make outgoing calls) the service of setting us up to be only able to receive calls was no longer offered due to bb connection pbs... No compensation, no excuses, no explanation...

After 10 to 20 promises that someone would have the decency to call us back and explain, I give up, and I claim it loud and clear: SMART IS THE WORST COMPANY I EVER HAD TO DEAL WITH!

chalkitdown

Smart had me up and running in two weeks from first contact, no connection fee, no re-connection fee (Eircon previously installed, line disconnected), no equipment fee, no paper bill fee, first bill was E35, most recent bill was E35. If you don't wan't to use the phone...Don't.