Eircom connection dropping out

Firetrap

I've had the Eircom BB Home Plus package for a couple of months. The problem is, at peak times the connection drops out (this usually starts after 7 in the evening), leaving me with no choice but to turn the modem off, then on again to get back online. Sometimes this might need to be done a couple of times before I get a connection.

Here's a typical pattern from the afternoon of Friday 1st December, leading into the small hours of Saturday morning. In none of these cases did I terminate the connection myself.

Session Start Session End Time Online
01 Dec 14:44:00 01 Dec 19:16:18 4:32:18
01 Dec 19:16:24 01 Dec 19:25:33 09:09
01 Dec 19:25:42 01 Dec 19:28:44 03:02
01 Dec 19:28:55 01 Dec 19:51:57 23:02
01 Dec 20:07:15 02 Dec 00:16:39 4:09:24

I've been onto Eircon's "tech support" who've done the whole "have you checked the cables, what lights are showing on the modem routine." An Eircom guy's been out to my house twice to check the line (everything seems to be OK according to him) but the problem's still there. This time round, he changed the socket in the wall but I think he's run out of ideas and he did it just for the sake of doing it.

Has anyone else had this problem? To me it looks like some sort of problem with line congestion. Distance wise, I'm about a mile from the nearest exchange. Dunno if that makes any difference in this case.

I'm getting sick of ringing up Eircom, being stuck on hold for 15-20 minutes then having to go through the whole rigmarole again. I presume if I ditch Eircom at some stage for another BB provider the problem won't go away. Is it a common problem?

Big Chief

Home starter plus is an awful package..

eircom is daylight robbery

remind me why you are with them again..

JNive

nothijng to do with congestion whatsoever, it has no bearing on whther your modem can connect, only what data it can push through. to be honest, if its happening around the same time, id suggest checking that nothing electrical is switching on or off around that time which might be interfering with the box. if you have a phonewatch alarm system or a skybox, id suggest unplugging those from the phone line and see how it goes, you might also want to check the line stats via the modem interface.

Firetrap

This morning when it dropped out, I checked the lights on the modem and the wireless and internet lights had gone out (this doesn't always happen). I wonder is the modem dodgy? We don't have a sky box or an alarm system

Sponge Bob

allie_e17 wrote:

An Eircom guy's been out to my house twice to check the line (everything seems to be OK according to him) but the problem's still there.

Astounding :eek: an engineer came out and twice . Who do you know in there ?

This time round, he changed the socket in the wall but I think he's run out of ideas and he did it just for the sake of doing it.

and he did all he could in fairness, you may have a neighbour who comes online after 7 and causes the issue . Its intermittent and outside office hours and requires monitoring at that time to find out where its coming from.

It could be Mick around the corner who turns on an arc light outside when he arrives home from work at 7 or some obscure local issue like that.

Distance wise, I'm about a mile from the nearest exchange. Dunno if that makes any difference in this case.

how many houses are on your run ? it could be that someone comes home and fires up their own broadband causing crosstalk . In my opinion if you cannot find the problem they will have to monitor you line and some local lines with BB near you at the same time to narrow it down. Do any neighbours have the problem or is it only you ?

I'm getting sick of ringing up Eircom, being stuck on hold for 15-20 minutes then having to go through the whole rigmarole again. I presume if I ditch Eircom at some stage for another BB provider the problem won't go away. Is it a common problem?

It happens and is difficult to track down at times. Basically if the problem is drops (dsl light disappears or dsl stays on and connection freezes ) its between you and the exchange or in the exchange but as I explained it may not be eircoms fault and they have been unusually decent about coming out and sorting the issue if it was.

Some modems are known to handle these issues better than others , the normal modems supplied in ireland are Netopias or Zyxels . People with probs like yours have been known to get a different modem on loan to see if the different modem handles anomalies better .

dub45

Are you using a wireless connection or ethernet/usb?

dub45

Big Chief wrote:

Home starter plus is an awful package..

eircom is daylight robbery

remind me why you are with them again..

There is no such product! Why exactly are you claiming that a particular package is awful?

People generally choose Eircom I find because they are 'familiar' with them but also because by and large Eircom are pretty reliable and don't have billing issues.
Given the number of bb customers Eircom must have there are proportionately relatively few complaints on boards about them. I think that all things considered there is a case for them being consistently the best isp.

Sponge Bob

dub45 wrote:

Given the number of bb customers Eircom must have there are proportionately relatively few complaints on boards about them. I think that all things considered there is a case for them being consistently the best isp.

But only if you can get eircom BB unlike over 30% of the population

dub45

Sponge Bob wrote:

But only if you can get eircom BB unlike over 30% of the population

That's a different issue to their performance as an isp.

Firetrap

dub45 wrote:

Are you using a wireless connection or ethernet/usb?

I'm using an ethernet connection.

dub45

Have you actually checked your line stats via the modem?

Athough I doubt if line stats were the main cause that it would happen with such regularity at roughly the same times.

http://www.kitz.co.uk/adsl/linestats.htm

http://www.kitz.co.uk/adsl/linestats.htm

laptopper

I have exactly the same problem with my Eircom broadband in Dundalk. It drops around 4:30pm everyday and I have to reboot my router about 10 times to get it working.

Eircom have checked me line etc. but I am convinced its a contention issue around that time with kids logging on after school etc.

I think this is much bigger problem than Eircom are letting on .....

I have found one solution....I have switched in an old Eircom netopia router which is pre-wireless and it works......

Dcully

I have found one solution....I have switched in an old Eircom netopia router which is pre-wireless and it works......[/QUOTE

Would disabeling the wireless function on your router not yield similar results?

dub45

laptopper wrote:

I have exactly the same problem with my Eircom broadband in Dundalk. It drops around 4:30pm everyday and I have to reboot my router about 10 times to get it working.

Eircom have checked me line etc. but I am convinced its a contention issue around that time with kids logging on after school etc.

I think this is much bigger problem than Eircom are letting on .....

I have found one solution....I have switched in an old Eircom netopia router which is pre-wireless and it works......

If switching routers solves your problem then how can it be a contention issue and how is it a much bigger problem than Eircom are letting on????

Big Chief

dub45 wrote:

There is no such product! Why exactly are you claiming that a particular package is awful?

People generally choose Eircom I find because they are 'familiar' with them but also because by and large Eircom are pretty reliable and don't have billing issues.
Given the number of bb customers Eircom must have there are proportionately relatively few complaints on boards about them. I think that all things considered there is a case for them being consistently the best isp.

i thought that was the one you got 20hrs then had to pay for any more time than that, that you are connected... clearly i dont have the proper marketing term in which i can only apologise for that. :rolleyes:

I rest with my point that the company is complete and utter daylight robbery.

dub45

Big Chief wrote:

i thought that was the one you got 20hrs then had to pay for any more time than that, that you are connected... clearly i dont have the proper marketing term in which i can only apologise for that. :rolleyes:

I rest with my point that the company is complete and utter daylight robbery.

You have not produced any evidence whatsover for your 'point'?

And given that nobody forces anyone to sign up for Eircom and that when people do sign up they are fully aware of the charges involved how can you describe 'the company' as 'daylight robbery'?

ZENER

dub45 wrote:

You have not produced any evidence whatsover for your 'point'?

And given that nobody forces anyone to sign up for Eircom and that when people do sign up they are fully aware of the charges involved how can you describe 'the company' as 'daylight robbery'?

In all the years I've been with Eircom (15 years with 2 address changes) I have only had one line problem which was recently and this was solved within what I consider a reasonable time frame considering the intermittent nature of the fault.

For BB though their price seems a little on the high side with poorer d/l caps when compared with other ISPs for similar products. That said users of other providers have found to their cost that there are hidden charges not taken into account when comparing prices. For example introductory offers where line rental might be free for a few months etc. A recent thread (and personal experience) on Gaelic Telecom (sp?) here on boards highlights this.

Try getbroadband.ie to compare prices for different providors in your area.

OP: Is the modem left switched on all day or just when you get in from work ? Do you have any cordless phones in the house or within few meters of the modem ? I recently had an issue at a customers house where plugging in the Eircom Wireless Phone resulted in intermittent wireless and broadband with a Linksys router ?!

ZEN

MOH

dub45 wrote:

You have not produced any evidence whatsover for your 'point'?

And given that nobody forces anyone to sign up for Eircom and that when people do sign up they are fully aware of the charges involved how can you describe 'the company' as 'daylight robbery'?

What do you mean no-one forces anyone to sign up for Eircom? There's no other way to get a landline in this country!

And as for being aware of charges up front:
They told me I'd have to pay a connection fee when I had an existing landline (disabled at the time), when I queried it they told me I wouldn't have to pay, confirmed that again, then charged me 100 euro, ignored all my follow-ups, and ultimately threatened me with disconnection for not paying up. In the end I paid because I needed the line and had too much other stuff going on to waste any more time on it. And I know for a fact they've done this to other people. You might not call that daylight robbery, but I do.

dub45

MOH wrote:

What do you mean no-one forces anyone to sign up for Eircom? There's no other way to get a landline in this country!

And as for being aware of charges up front:
They told me I'd have to pay a connection fee when I had an existing landline (disabled at the time), when I queried it they told me I wouldn't have to pay, confirmed that again, then charged me 100 euro, ignored all my follow-ups, and ultimately threatened me with disconnection for not paying up. In the end I paid because I needed the line and had too much other stuff going on to waste any more time on it. And I know for a fact they've done this to other people. You might not call that daylight robbery, but I do.

We are discussing Eircom broadband and no one forces you to sign up for that.

If you are so busy that you allowed 100 euros to go unchallenged thats your choice. I am not in any way defending Eircom but if you pay 100 euros and let it go thats your choice - there are ways of escalating such complaints.

Big Chief

dub45 wrote:

You have not produced any evidence whatsover for your 'point'?

And given that nobody forces anyone to sign up for Eircom and that when people do sign up they are fully aware of the charges involved how can you describe 'the company' as 'daylight robbery'?

its quite simple, they're call rates are higher than anyone else, they're broadband is more expensive than anywhere else.. its common knowledge

Daylight robbery is often used as a metaphor for being ripped off, and thus by signing upto a "company" thats call charges are higher, broadband price is higher and any bundle price is higher.

The prices they get away with charging are... you guessed it???? daylight robbery.

This is of course, metaphorically speaking as you can understand my pedantic friend.

Big Chief

dub45 wrote:

We are discussing Eircom broadband and no one forces you to sign up for that.

he was talking about eircom being daylight robbery, which if you look up started from my saying "eircom is daylight robbery"..

i did not say eircom BB was specifically, i just said eircom.

Look what you made me go and do, now im being pedantic to :rolleyes:

dub45

Big Chief wrote:

its quite simple, they're call rates are higher than anyone else, they're broadband is more expensive than anywhere else.. its common knowledge

Daylight robbery is often used as a metaphor for being ripped off, and thus by signing upto a "company" thats call charges are higher, broadband price is higher and any bundle price is higher.

The prices they get away with charging are... you guessed it???? daylight robbery.

This is of course, metaphorically speaking as you can understand my pedantic friend.

You make my point for me - the charges are common knowledge therefore nobody is being ripped off - people have a choice and they choose to pay the prices. You can choose to vary the meaning of words if you wish but robbery means taking something from a person without their permission. That is not being pedantic.

In turn Eircom dont have charges when you leave the service after a minimum period like our friends in UTV they don't require a further minimum period contract to pass on price decreases they have not operated a scandalous billing department for many years and they have not carelessly set debt collectors on innocent victims over many years. In short they offer products which people can choose to avail of albeit at higher prices than other companies.

Their bb service is generally acknowledged as reliable and solid and as I have pointed out before given the number of customers they must have for bb the number of complaints about them on boards is remarbly small proportionately.

It is ironic that I find myself speaking up on behalf of Eircom as I have had several issues with them in the past.

Big Chief

dub45 wrote:

You can choose to vary the meaning of words if you wish but robbery means taking something from a person without their permission. That is not being pedantic.

daylight robbery is an idiom as you will know.

Now lets look up the meaning of the idiom "Daylight Robbery"

"Daylight robbery

-Charging exorbitant prices, as in The amount you're asking for this couch is daylight robbery."

like i said, your breaking down the phrase and giving the individual word's meaning. Hence i used the word pedantic.

MOH

dub45 wrote:

I am not in any way defending Eircom but if you pay 100 euros and let it go thats your choice - there are ways of escalating such complaints.

What? Comreg?

techie

OP: A customer of mine had a similar problem to you in Cork city about 1/2 mile from the local exchange, using Eircom netopia routers their connection used to drop from 1p.m. to about 3p.m. daily ????

Swapped out their Eircom routers and put in a Linksys wireless ADSL2 router and the problem has not happened since, 4-5 months later.

Hope this helps.

Firetrap

Thanks for all the help. I'm going to try a different modem and see if there are outside factors affecting the connection dropping out.

Skatedude

i've had a similer problem for many months, i'd lose connection every now and then, sometimes it would be once or twice a night, others it would be every 15 to 20 minutes, tried eircom but they couldnt sort it, also used 3 different modems and i'm on ethernet, pretty much given up on getting it sorted,

probably going to smart after christmas(if they are still in business)

jimbob

Hi Allie,

I have the exact same problem in Rathgar with home plus. The router keeps dying between the hours of 6pm-8:30 pm. It wrecking my head, and this is my second netopia router from eircom. To be fair they gave me a new router straight away when i asked. I think their new routers are useless and very unreliable though.

Can you tell me if you purchased a new router (different make) and if it has fixed the problem.

Cause if it did fix the problem I will go straight out and buy a new one.

Jimbob

dub45

jimbob wrote:

Hi Allie,

I have the exact same problem in Rathgar with home plus. The router keeps dying between the hours of 6pm-8:30 pm. It wrecking my head, and this is my second netopia router from eircom. To be fair they gave me a new router straight away when i asked. I think their new routers are useless and very unreliable though.

Can you tell me if you purchased a new router (different make) and if it has fixed the problem.

Cause if it did fix the problem I will go straight out and buy a new one.

Jimbob

Have you upped your speed recently? Check you line stats too your line could be iffy?

jimbob

Whats the bets way to check them

And no i didn't up the speed.

I only got it installed about 3 months ago.

jimbob

Hi all,

I would just like to let you know that like techies customer I went with changing the brand of my router to BT Voyager 2091 from the dredded Netopia and have had no problems with it in the first month that I have it.

I went through two netopias and was beginning to think it was the telephone line, but thanks to a bit of investigation on boards.ie I decided to change the brand of router. It cost me 70 euro ( including wireless adapter) but was well worth it. No more torture anymore.:o

So anyone who seems to be getting dropped connections during certain times of the day continously (me 6-9 pm) and nearly going nuts (constantly restarting router durin this time), I would recommend changing the brand from netopia to another brand.

The netopias (silver one anyways) seem to pick up interference too easily and lose the connections. ethernet and wireless.

dub45

jimbob wrote:

Hi all,

I would just like to let you know that like techies customer I went with changing the brand of my router to BT Voyager 2091 from the dredded Netopia and have had no problems with it in the first month that I have it.

I went through two netopias and was beginning to think it was the telephone line, but thanks to a bit of investigation on boards.ie I decided to change the brand of router. It cost me 70 euro ( including wireless adapter) but was well worth it. No more torture anymore.:o

So anyone who seems to be getting dropped connections during certain times of the day continously (me 6-9 pm) and nearly going nuts (constantly restarting router durin this time), I would recommend changing the brand from netopia to another brand.

The netopias (silver one anyways) seem to pick up interference too easily and lose the connections. ethernet and wireless.

Anyone who has drop out problems should try and establish what their line stats are before spending money on a new router.

jimbob

It has nothing to do with line stats.

My stats were pefect at other times during the day.

It is interference caused by other users generally at peak times.

I tried many options before getting a new router by myself.

Eircoms netopia routers are just useless b grade products.

dub45

jimbob wrote:

It has nothing to do with line stats.

My stats were pefect at other times during the day.

It is interference caused by other users generally at peak times.

I tried many options before getting a new router by myself.

Eircoms netopia routers are just useless b grade products.

The cause of drop outs for other people may be related to their line quality thus my post.

I know several people who are quite happily using the Eircom supplied router with no problems although there has been mention here of some people experiencing overheating with their samples.

jimbob

I know all of them wouldn't be bad. My parents have one and its fine(silver) and
my sister and friend both have older blue one and they are fine.

But in places where there is interference on the line probably caused by third parties. people logging on etc a router replacement is probably the best option.

Sure i went through two netopias (silver) before i changed so def would have to say that they are not good enough under a little pressure.