Unhappy with your broadband speeds? Tell Comreg

Zaphod

According to the nice man from Comreg on Morning Ireland, everyone in Ireland is delighted with their broadband speeds. Their evidence for this is that they have received very few complaints regarding poor broadband speeds.

Link:
http://www.rte.ie/news/2007/1219/morningireland_av.html?2319602,null,209
(about 2 mins in)

If one were cynical, one might ascribe this to the fact the Comreg are about as much use as a one-legged man in an arse kicking contest and hence people can't be bothered complaining to them. But just so they can't come on another programme with the same lame excuse, send your tales of broadband woe to info@comreg.ie or consumerline@comreg.ie. Make sure to cc them to the nice man from Comreg: dermot.nolan@comreg.ie

Oddly enough, they don't seem to have a specific email address for complaints.

"For Consumer Queries and Complaints regarding communications service providers, you may contact ComReg's Consumer Line on LoCall 1890 22 9668."

More info on nice man from Comreg here:
http://www.comreg.ie/about_us/retail_division.472.479.html

rc28

I heard a bit of that interview too and I couldn't believe it, we are one of the wealthiest countries in the world but have one of the worst broadband in europe. Surely the complaints they got from 3 broadband customers were enough in themselves let alone the complaints about every other provider(except smart!)

00sully

I didn't hear the interview but I emailed to complain to comreg about my "6mb" connection with NTL and their traffic shaping etc...

I also informed them that since they base our contentness with BB in Ireland based on number of complaints that I will be "complaining" very often from now on

I sugges everyone does likewise!!

thebman

Your forgetting. They don't regulate broadband so they just ignored those emails from 3 broadband users.

rc28

brim4brim wrote: »

Your forgetting. They don't regulate broadband so they just ignored those emails from 3 broadband users.

They don't regulate broadband??:eek: If so then who does?
Why would they issue statements on broadband if they have nothing to do with it?

foggy_lad

good question and the quickest easiest answer is NOBODY regulates Broadband in Ireland. different departments are all responsible for differeent slices of the big broadband mud-pie

Sponge Bob

foggy_lad wrote: »

NOBODY regulates Broadband in Ireland.

Nobody regulates ANYTHING in Ireland as Comreg frankly admitted in another notice they quietly slipped out today .

Its a great job being a comregger who does nothing all the time and evidently has no shame publishing utter tripe like that .

KStaford

Thanks for the heads up, I just sent in my complaint as follows

Subject: FAO: Dr. Dermot Nolan, this is a complaint !

Further to you runbelievable morning Ireland stint.

This is a complaint about my awful broadband speeds. I live in south county Sligo where I cannot get DSL so I have to pay o2 €40 per month for a very poor service. I get approx 500Kbps but during evening this worsens and on a bad night weather wise, it reduces even furhter.

I have been a DSL customer in the past with both UTV Internet and BT. In each case, I was always dissapointed at the astronomical price of DSL broadband and with the loss of speed due to contention.
When a company advertises 3MB broadband - what they should actually be advertising is boradband upto 3MB dependant on no one else sharing the line and perfect physical conditions at all times.

Broadband in Ireland is terrible. We never complain to comreg because they always pass the book and never represent our cases. I have had prior experience of this. Comreg are as bad as the broadband providers and are seen as totally useless and impotent by many of us broadband sufferers.

I hope more and more of use do likewise. We will never change anything unless you all complain. Its sheer numbers that matter. Come on folks, send in a complaint.
Broadand in Ireland is bloody terrible and so dam expensive. DO IT!

yoyo

Were happy with paying 50 quid a month for rubbish 3 meg with is it a 40 gig cap :P when the uk have Unlimited 24meg broadband for less a month :P Really I don't know how this country gets away with it anymore, next year I think we could be upgraded by a meg but then again its been 3 years now since eircom bothered upgrading our broadband (And id say simular for most of the others bar NTL, Smart etc), its a disgrace tbh, looking at all the HD movies that are legally downloadable from the irish xbox store and others and the likes of steam game downloading, I think we deserve better speeds!

Nick

Edit: Heres a link to the uks fastest and quite cheap ISP: https://www.bethere.co.uk/

rc28

yoyo wrote: »

Were happy with paying 50 quid a month for rubbish 3 meg with is it a 40 gig cap :P when the uk have Unlimited 24meg broadband for less a month :P Really I don't know how this country gets away with it anymore, next year I think we could be upgraded by a meg but then again its been 3 years now since eircom bothered upgrading our broadband (And id say simular for most of the others bar NTL, Smart etc), its a disgrace tbh, looking at all the HD movies that are legally downloadable from the irish xbox store and others and the likes of steam game downloading, I think we deserve better speeds!

Nick

Edit: Heres a link to the uks fastest and quite cheap ISP: https://www.bethere.co.uk/

Even the UK pales in comparison to countries like south korea and sweden where 100mbps bb is available at our prices. France has widespread ADSL2 with 24mb+

yoyo

rc28 wrote: »

Even the UK pales in comparison to countries like south korea and sweden where 100mbps bb is available at our prices. France has widespread ADSL2 with 24mb+

Very true man, I'm just making a point that UK being near can get much faster for less, and of course as you mention france aswell,

Nick

PogMoThoin

I contacted comreg about the ridiculous speeds i was getting about 2months ago, this is their reply

Hi Colm



Thank you for your email.



Please be advised that ComReg don’t actually regulate broadband I’m afraid. We do regulate narrowband (dial up).



The only thing I can advise you to do at the moment is to lodge a formal complaint directly with your provider, if you don’t get a reply after 10 working days then you can let us know.



Regards



Jean Dwyer

Commission for Communications Regulation

Abbey Court Irish Life Centre Lower Abbey Street

Dublin 1 Ireland

Telephone 1890 229 668

Fax +353 1 804 9680

www.comreg.ie

So whats the fcukin point, harass the government to give us a proper regulator

Sponge Bob

PogMoThoin wrote: »

I contacted comreg about the ridiculous speeds i was getting about 2months ago, this is their reply

They dont regulate narrowband either. If you complain to them like :

"Yo! Comreg, My Narrowband line is too narrow because its split with 20 other houses even though I pay the highest line rental in the world for it at €26 a month"

then they do nothing anyway......or is doing absolutely nothing in all circumstances the new regulation ??

smellslikeshoes

Might be a good idea to send a copy of that email to morning Ireland, If comreg don't regulate broadband who does? And obviously there isn't many complaints to Comreg regarding speed if anything to do with broadband is ignored by them.

Fair play to the interviewer on Morning Ireland looking here on the boards before the interview with Dr. Nolan.

Everyone that has a complaint about speeds or anything else BB related contact Dr. Nolan via email.
I'm going to start a thread:

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055204142

where I suggest anyone that is going to send an email also place a copy of their mail in the thread, so if such an interview comes up again the guy on the radio has some facts to back himself up via boards.ie.

If any of the mods disagree with the above actions feel free to take done the thread.

Croc

No One Regulates Broadband In Ireland

Unless things have changed in the last 12 months that is the position and that comes from the Horses Mouth "Comreg"

I was stupid enough to get Chorus installed and after the 3 month trial i told them to get rid of it, i was suppose to be on a 6 mb line, they managed 4mb for one day in 3 mts, rest of the time i was about 1 mb or nothing at all. I called comreg to complain them after i had kicked their asses out to be told they could not take a complaint as BB is not regulated, I was told i could make a complaint to the relevant authority for false advertising.

So don't pay any attention to what theses muppets say on radio broadcasts etc they are talking out their a*#holes.

brim4brim

brim4brim wrote: »

Your forgetting. They don't regulate broadband so they just ignored those emails from 3 broadband users.

If they don't have anything to do with BB then why do Comreg bother doing up Quarterly Broadband Growth Reports ?

http://www.dcmnr.gov.ie/Press+Releases/Minister+Ryan+welcomes+latest+broadband+growth+figures.htm

PogMoThoin

smellslikeshoes wrote: »

Might be a good idea to send a copy of that email to morning Ireland, If comreg don't regulate broadband who does? And obviously there isn't many complaints to Comreg regarding speed if anything to do with broadband is ignored by them.

Forwarded email to morning ireland, also to yer man in comreg.

watty

Updated:
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/12/19/ofcom_panel_speed_code/

Typically UK punters get 1/2 the advertised "up to" speed.

foggy_lad

hellboy99 wrote: »

If they don't have anything to do with BB then why do Comreg bother doing up Quarterly Broadband Growth Reports ?

http://www.dcmnr.gov.ie/Press+Releases/Minister+Ryan+welcomes+latest+broadband+growth+figures.htm

it is so the government will look good and justifies them keeping their jobs not regulating broadband!

thebman

hellboy99 wrote: »

If they don't have anything to do with BB then why do Comreg bother doing up Quarterly Broadband Growth Reports ?

http://www.dcmnr.gov.ie/Press+Releases/Minister+Ryan+welcomes+latest+broadband+growth+figures.htm

I was quoting them, not being in favour of them or anything. I hate the fookers. How can the communications regulator not regulate broadband which is clearly a type of communication that needs regulating.

00sully

yes if they dont regulate it they should not be commenting on it.

man Ireland pales in comparison to other countries

http://www.genbeta.com/images/2007/09/comparativabandaancha.jpg

foggy_lad

watty wrote: »

Updated:
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/12/19/ofcom_panel_speed_code/

Typically UK punters get 1/2 the advertised "up to" speed.

we dont even get 10% at peak times!
they should be forced to give realistic figures of speeds during peak hours.

Richard Dower

To be fair...i do get around 250-310 down, even at peak times...it's the issue of time outs/web pages not loading/slow web browsing that is a major issue.

zonEEE

I'm in sligo and my exchange still hasn't been updated. Its a complete joke. I'm on wireless and its rubbish. The whole broadband scene is a joke in Ireland. They should fly in some swedes or something to show them how to manage broadband .

spurious

rc28 wrote: »

Surely the complaints they got from 3 broadband customers were enough in themselves let alone the complaints about every other provider(except smart!)

The biggest gripes Smart customers have are all to do with transferring from eircom, who stymie aspiring Smart customers at every possible stage. Sadly, these get entered into the ComReg system as complaints about Smart.

You have to wonder why eircom try so hard to beggar up Smart.

I know some of you have said Comreg have nothing to do with broadband but maybe they do , just read the below reply I got today from them:

Dear ***,

Many thanks for your email.

Can you please forward your contact details relating to your BT account and I am more than happy to pursue the issue relating to the 3mb downgrade and refund if applicable?

With regard to the BT 8mb product, I understand that it is currently only available in 13 areas (LLU exchanges) and is offered to the market currently as an “introductory offer” and hence why it is the same price as their 3mb product.

With regard to the monthly cap, it is true that there are varying levels of offers in the market and some operators view it as a service differential to offer more download capacity. Each operator is free to choose the offers they present to the market by way of price, availability, download limits etc and essentially the market will dictate the pace of change in this area.

I’ve opened a complaint ticket (reference ***) with regard to the 3mb/2mb issue, please send me your details and I will happily pursue.

Kind regards - Tony O'Brien (Comreg)