eircom to enable another 100 exchanges - Broadband available to 120k more ppl

Sponge Bob

No updates are available on this program to enable 100 exchanges . Very few are live

Patrickof

This then would be what Babcock and Brown refer to as an "aggresive" rollout.

I'd hate to be waiting on a regular roll out.

Sponge Bob

Its only aggresive in the sense that its designed to create uncertainty in the wireless operator space.

SkepticOne

It is worth reading this thread from beginning to end for an understanding of how people are misled and strung along by monopolistic corporations.

By merely announcing 100 exchanges they were able to a) get support for the national broadband scheme (tax payer subsidising Eircom to extend their monopoly), b) cause people to hold out for Eircom upgrading exchanges rather than seeking alternatives and c) present themselves as wanting to help the country rather than themselves.

I would say that many of these exchanges will eventually be upgraded, but this will only happen when Eircom feel sufficiently under threat which at the moment they do not.

We can note that the announcement gets lots of coverage but Eircom's lack of progress gets no coverage. In the meantime, they will continue to argue against MANs and any government investment that does not go directly to them (see todays's Irish Times) and try to get concessions from the government for splitting their company which is in their interest to do so anyway.

zugvogel

Its been a year now since Eircom included my exchange on the list of 100 to be done in 2007. My local sources tell me that the DSL equipment has been ordered and is actually sitting in the exchange (Nurney Kildare) and is waiting to be set up/commissioned. Eircom broadband sales says its supposed to be done this month October while someone else from Eircom says November. My local source says that early December is more realistic!

Its soooooooooo fustrating!!!!!

Zug

byte

zugvogel wrote: »

Its been a year now since Eircom included my exchange on the list of 100 to be done in 2007. My local sources tell me that the DSL equipment has been ordered and is actually sitting in the exchange (Nurney Kildare) and is waiting to be set up/commissioned. Eircom broadband sales says its supposed to be done this month October while someone else from Eircom says November. My local source says that early December is more realistic!

Its soooooooooo fustrating!!!!!

Zug

Well, at least it's progressing, albeit slowly. Still many who will have to wait a lot longer than December.

Sponge Bob

A rumour emanated from eircom that the list of 100 ( never mind the second list of 330) was to be aggresively progressed from mid 2007 resulting in about 10-15 exchanges being launched every month...starting July. We should have had 40-50 live by now according to the rumour.

But it was only a rumour . We may get 10 by christmas with another 400+ to follow as we head into mid century .

zugvogel

byte wrote: »

Well, at least it's progressing, albeit slowly. Still many who will have to wait a lot longer than December.

From last February I was told that November was the month the upgrade would happen. So in all fairness if that ended up being early December I’d be happy as long as it happens in 2007!! What I do is have a chat with the local Eircom technicians/engineers when I see them working in the area. Generally I find them friendly and helpful. My exchange is a rural one but it has fibre backhaul and there’s demand for BB but obviously not to the same density, as you would have in urban area. From what I can gather a lot of the larger towns in Co Kildare have had to have capacity upgrades this year as there were complaints earlier in the year about poor quality BB service. It seems that this work has been a priority with the rural exchanges scheduled to be done, moved lower down the priority list. I also get the impression that the priority list for work is fairly fluid and changes according to the whim of Eircom HQ on a fairly regular basis!

Zug

zugvogel

Just wondering? Can a press release be regarded as a form of advertising? Or is it just a statement of intent that Eircom can’t be bound by?

If Eircom don’t deliver on their roll out plans would there be an option to go to the advertising standards authority or the competition authority?

There’s no doubt that issuing these press releases distorts the market in Eircom’s favour as customers are less likely to pursue an alternative more actively, especially if they are led to believe that their exchange would be upgraded within a certain time frame.

Anyone know what the legal position on this is?

Zug

thebman

They should have to give a timeline or something. Its ridiculous that they can say we are going to enable half the exchanges in the country at some stage as a press release.

SkepticOne

I'm not a legal expert but I would doubt very much that any company can be legally held to a press release.

SkepticOne

brim4brim wrote: »

They should have to give a timeline or something. Its ridiculous that they can say we are going to enable half the exchanges in the country at some stage as a press release.

The trick is, whether or not they have given a timeline, is don't give them any publicity until after they have actually delivered and are taking orders. This, of course, goes for any company in the broadband arena but especially Eircom who have additional reasons for making people believe that they are the broadband saviour in Ireland.

zugvogel

I got the following paragraph from the Advertising Standards Authority web site.

(b) a marketing communication includes but is not limited to advertising, as well as other techniques such as promotions, sponsorships and direct marketing, and should be interpreted broadly to mean any form of communication produced directly by or on behalf of advertisers intended primarily to promote products, to influence the behaviour of and/or to inform those to whom it is addressed;

The section of interest is "any form of communication produced directly by or on behalf of advertisers intended primarily to promote products, to influence the behaviour of and/or to inform those to whom it is addressed;"

I guess you would have to make a formal complaint and see if they follow up on it.

Zug

seamus

The only argument against that zugvogel is that a Press Release is not necessarily a marketing document - it's aimed at the press, not at consumers. Whether the press wish to use part of it or even acknowledge its existence is up to them.

As you say though, a formal complaint would clear it up.

watty

Press releases are mostly an attempt at free marketing.
99.9% are probably either
* Aimed at consumers
* Aimed at Buisnesses (specialist consumers of services, oem products, supplies)
* Aimed at Investors

That's all Marketing.

SkepticOne

watty wrote: »

Press releases are mostly an attempt at free marketing.
99.9% are probably either
* Aimed at consumers
* Aimed at Buisnesses (specialist consumers of services, oem products, supplies)
* Aimed at Investors

That's all Marketing.

I would add to that list competitors, government, the regulator.

mcaul

Zuvogel - any word on Nurney / Walterstown exchange? - Could really do with it Three only giving 250kbs on average and not enough to work from home.

zugvogel

mcaul wrote: »

Zuvogel - any word on Nurney / Walterstown exchange? - Could really do with it Three only giving 250kbs on average and not enough to work from home.

Hi mcaul. The last I heard was that it would be done in December. Eircom engineers were working at the exchange a few weeks ago preparing it for broadband. The 7th of December is the last day for ordering broadband before x-mass so if its not done by then, it will happen sometime in the new year I guess/hope!!!! I think I saw you mention before that you had pretty poor dialup speeds (16kbits/sec ????) - this could mean you're on a pair gain (sharing line with someone else - fine for voice but bad for dialup data and impossible for bband) or have a noisy poor quality line. It might be a good idea to suss this out if you can.

Rgds,
Zug

qwertplaywert

Is that Walterstown outside of Dundalk?

MrShadow

Cashelgarren, Grange, Co Sligo is live
Cliffoney, Co Sligo is supposed to go live in January

zugvogel

qwertplaywert wrote: »

Is that Walterstown outside of Dundalk?

Nope. Its actally the Nurney exchange in Kildare. The townland around there is called Walterstown.

qwertplaywert

Damn.A playwert can dream

govinda

Summerhill, Meath appears to have been upgraded in the past week....the exchange list at http://mmm.eircom.ie/maps/default.asp isn't up to date yet but the number checker is passing or conditionally passing numbers that I've tried.

damoz

and the goose is getting fat. But of the 100 exhanges to be enabled this year how many have actually been delivered. If anyone knows the status of Kilworth exchange id love to know - noone in Eircom seems to !

Supercell

Glendalough exchange isnt enabled either and is on that list.

Dear Santa,

Please can I have an Eircom Engineer that can enable the Glendalough exchange and give me broadband.
I promise I've been good this year.

Your biggest fan,hopefully on the nice list,

A Dialup.

bijou

This time last week i did the line checker with both eircom and talk talk and was informed that my line was suitable for broadband - fantastic!!! So i ordered it and was told i would have BB for xmas Due to my cynicism (sp) i copied both the confirmations and saved them to my pc. The old "believe it when you see it attitude" :rolleyes:
Today I was showing a friend how to do the line checker and put my number in as an example and now the line checkers are saying it's not suitable.
Now a friend of mine who lives twice the distance from the exchange than me is showing as suitable - the eircom website also shows my exchange as being enabled.
Now i'm feeling very disappointed - has anyone else had the same experience?

zugvogel

Get back onto Eircom broadband sales straight away.

bijou

have just been given the run around and told to ring this number and that number and when someone finally agrees to put me thru to the technical people they hang up :mad:
I have now found out that neighbours next door and across the road can have it even though my line was put in only 8mths ago and they've had theirs for 1-2yrs:mad:
I'll not give up - do you think it could be that i'm a talk talk customer and not with eircom??

kaizersoze

If they accepted your order when the line was passing then your order is most likely progressing. It normally takes 10 working days to be completed but being close to christmas it'll probably be longer.

Line status has been known to change from pass to fail for various reasons. Even the recent wet weather can cause it. My own line often fails, eventhough I have BB on it for about 5 years.

bealtine

kaizersoze wrote: »

Line status has been known to change from pass to fail for various reasons. Even the recent wet weather can cause it. My own line often fails, eventhough I have BB on it for about 5 years.

My line is only recently "suitable" for broadband, I've had broadband on it for 4 years now.