Eircom cannot sell me a number????

zt-OctaviaN

What is wrong with sales in Eircom? No wonder broadband take up is the lowest in Europe!!!!

Sorry for the rant but does anyone have any other way to get this checked?

I just called Eircom sales.

Me: Hi Id like to order a number and check for broadband but Id like you to check my neighbours number to see what level of access I can receive e.g. 3 meg and my neighbour (100 feet away in new estate) has broadband.

She could not test my neighbours number obviously cant check mine as I have no number she stated they only sell numbers for voice usage and not for broadband as it cant be gauranteed.
I said all I want is for you to check that line and let me know how fast a service I can get.
She wouldnt do it.

Now forgive me for being blunt but its obvious to me now why Eircom get bad coverage when they cant be arsed to SELL or MAKE THAT SALE!!!

She mustve made alot of sales this morning!
If she had checked the line and even stated what speed then I wouldve taken it as a go or even if she said well that line registered at whatever speed we can support it but its up to you to take that risk maybe even have a seperate disclaimer form for such orders placed for a line.

It would cost me 120 euro for connection (other comapnies are free I think!!!) and I could cancel within a month but for gods sake!!

Sorry for the rant but does anyone have any other way to get this checked?
Regards,
Nick.

seamus

zt-OctaviaN wrote: »

It would cost me 120 euro for connection (other comapnies are free I think!!!) and I could cancel within a month but for gods sake!!

Coin dropped yet?

They want you to pay €120 for connection plus €25 for a month's line rental. If you can get broadband, then you will pay them more. If you can't, you will cancel and they're €170 richer.

It doesn't make financial sense to allow you to check your line without paying rental on it. It's ethically down in the sewers, but that's eircom for ye.

If you know what number used to be attached to the line (if any), then you may be able to use one of the online checkers to confirm it.

Stench Blossoms

zt-OctaviaN wrote: »

Me: Hi Id like to order a number and check for broadband but Id like you to check my neighbours number to see what level of access I can receive e.g. 3 meg and my neighbour (100 feet away in new estate) has broadband.

Did you get permission from your neighbour to quote their number?

zt-OctaviaN wrote: »

She could not test my neighbours number

Because of Data Protection rights. Not Eircom's fault.

zt-OctaviaN wrote: »

obviously cant check mine as I have no number she stated they only sell numbers for voice usage and not for broadband as it cant be gauranteed.

This is true, however if you order bb online with a phoneline they won't (or shouldn't) continue with the installation if bb isn't available without informing you first.

zt-OctaviaN wrote: »

I said all I want is for you to check that line and let me know how fast a service I can get.

If you've never had a line before they can't check if you can even get BB because they need the line to be active to do this.

If the line has been active they can give you a yes/no answer whether you can get bb or not. Tests can only be carried once broadband is actually active on the line.

zt-OctaviaN wrote: »

She wouldnt do it.

Now forgive me for being blunt but its obvious to me now why Eircom get bad coverage when they cant be arsed to SELL or MAKE THAT SALE!!!

Well in fairness as I've pointed out above, she can't put a broadband order on an account which hasn't been tested for broadband.

zt-OctaviaN wrote: »

She mustve made alot of sales this morning!
If she had checked the line and even stated what speed then I wouldve taken it as a go or even if she said well that line registered at whatever speed we can support it but its up to you to take that risk maybe even have a seperate disclaimer form for such orders placed for a line.

As above, she can't check a line if its not active, and can't place an order without a pass.

zt-OctaviaN wrote: »

It would cost me 120 euro for connection (other comapnies are free I think!!!) and I could cancel within a month but for gods sake!!

Don't think so.

zt-OctaviaN wrote: »

Sorry for the rant but does anyone have any other way to get this checked?
Regards,
Nick.

Loss the attitude and I *might* help you.

watty

You can't get a line checked for Broadband till you have it installed for voice.

Alternatives are fibre Cable, Wireless etc..

zt-OctaviaN

orla wrote: »

Did you get permission from your neighbour to quote their number?



Because of Data Protection rights. Not Eircom's fault.



This is true, however if you order bb online with a phoneline they won't (or shouldn't) continue with the installation if bb isn't available without informing you first.



If you've never had a line before they can't check if you can even get BB because they need the line to be active to do this.

If the line has been active they can give you a yes/no answer whether you can get bb or not. Tests can only be carried once broadband is actually active on the line.



Well in fairness as I've pointed out above, she can't put a broadband order on an account which hasn't been tested for broadband.



As above, she can't check a line if its not active, and can't place an order without a pass.




Don't think so.



Loss the attitude and I *might* help you.

@Orla
Sorry if you picked me up wrong but im completely baffled???

I was merely pointing out the facts.


In response to yours.

1. Had permission.
2. Data Protection act? I could have just used online only to determine access but I wanted to know if 3Mb was available in my area? Can eircom not tell me this??? Its all I wanted to know?

3. Thats fair enough on the installation but how much salary is being wasted on process and paperwork when someone on the other end of the phone I hoped could answer my question?????

4. "Well in fairness as I've pointed out above, she can't put a broadband order on an account which hasn't been tested for broadband."

"If you've never had a line before they can't check if you can even get BB because they need the line to be active to do this.

If the line has been active they can give you a yes/no answer whether you can get bb or not. Tests can only be carried once broadband is actually active on the line."


Thats exactly my point is it not a waist of internal resources to process orders in full or partial if I was to just order it online?
I thought I was saving Eircom the hassle??

I only wish to find out what maximum speed I can get.
I currently have FWA which offers about 1Mb but was really interested in going with Eircom for the Line rental and Broadband provided I could at least double the transfers rates. And will ADSL2+ make much of a difference in the equation Ive seen from a graph at 4.8 clicks (as the road goes) from the exchange its not that much better than standard but looking like syncing at about 5 megs would have been possible but the attenuation on the neighbours router was 58db however the noise was pretty high at 19db???
Theyre with BT though (but I guessed it might be more or less the same.)

ADSL2+ on the rollout map MIGHT help with the noise though?
Even if I signed up and was able to get 2Megs Id consider it let allone if ADSL2+ improved this more or even Id go for higher spec if possible.

If you can help would be much appreciated,

Regards,
Nick.

Barlow07

orla wrote: »

Did you get permission from your neighbour to quote their number?



Because of Data Protection rights. Not Eircom's fault.



This is true, however if you order bb online with a phoneline they won't (or shouldn't) continue with the installation if bb isn't available without informing you first.



If you've never had a line before they can't check if you can even get BB because they need the line to be active to do this.

If the line has been active they can give you a yes/no answer whether you can get bb or not. Tests can only be carried once broadband is actually active on the line.



Well in fairness as I've pointed out above, she can't put a broadband order on an account which hasn't been tested for broadband.



As above, she can't check a line if its not active, and can't place an order without a pass.




Don't think so.


Loss the attitude and I *might* help you.

The point is YOU DONT have a telephone number (IE) voice, so how do you expect them to check your line ???????? NOT eircom problem if you dont understand.

Unbelievable OP, you cant be that bad? I just hope the penny drops....

zt-OctaviaN

Barlow07 wrote: »

The point is YOU DONT have a telephone number (IE) voice, so how do you expect them to check your line ???????? NOT eircom problem if you dont understand.

Unbelievable OP, you cant be that bad? I just hope the penny drops....

'I' cant be that bad?? :mad:
Look YOU are not getting the point here Barlow
I called the leading (apparently) supplier of Broadband and Telecomms in THIS Country....... Ireland last time I checked.

It is these people that appear to not be able to tell ME whether or not I can get Broadband in my area? (let alone just answering a query what max speed I can get)

The penny has dropped I cannot get broadband BECAUSE no one in EIRCOM can tell me unless I get the line activated for voice first?
Thats exactly what I was told on the phone and by Orla above so it was an assumption to simply waver the query and state sorry I need a number..... What a no brainer!????
The lady on the other end of the line SURELY could within her right have checked a line close to me??? e.g. the one less than 100feet away. Pointed out yes it passes 1Mb but 2Mb would be a push? or whatever and thank you and on my way I go.

Which brings me back to MY original point 'THEY' CANT sell me broadband or it comes accross as not too bothered?!!

Yer all havin a laugh right?

byte

Could you not ask your neighbour his/her linestats, and take it from there?

I'll be in a similar position shortly, but I'm just gonna have to order the landline and pray that it will work, as FWA won't be an option.

Wisesmurf

Your attitude will get you lots of help in this forum.

How about you get you neighbour who you have 'permission' to check their phone number to ring themselves and get a max speed result?

It’s quite simple, if there is no line in place eircom (or any provider) will not guarantee a level of service for data. A number of factors can make it non feasible for you to get decent BB and they won’t know until it’s in place.

If your neighbour is 100m away and has BB why not just take the risk.

If your attitude on the phone to the Eircom rep was anything like on this thread no wonder you didn’t get the answers you were looking for.

thebman

why not get your neighbour to do the speedtest for you?

zt-OctaviaN

Cricky my first post had a line of sarcasm about making alot of sales.

Then Orla cam on and stated her points which are valid.
But then Barlow comes on and tells me I cant be that bad? whats that about?
So youll excuse my next post following Barlows when I had to angrily reiterate the point I was making again!

I was perfectly fine albeit in shock on the phone when attempting to get and answer from the eircom rep as to what speed can the line accross the way get....

I dont want to chance going for it as Im on FWA at the moment at 1mb.


So if I order 3mb connection and they should call if it doesnt work?

Router stats wer 58db and 19db of noise but Im wondering if ADSL2+ will improve on what i can get.

Regards,
Nick.

Stench Blossoms

zt-OctaviaN wrote: »

Can eircom not tell me this??? Its all I wanted to know?

YOU CAN'T TEST THE SPEED OF BROADBAND ON A LINE UNLESS THERE IS ACTUALLY BROADBAND ALREADY ON IT!!

I thought that was kind of obvious.

zt-OctaviaN wrote: »

Thats exactly my point is it not a waist of internal resources to process orders in full or partial if I was to just order it online?

Because some people don't have internet access.

zt-OctaviaN wrote: »

I only wish to find out what maximum speed I can get.

Well you can't.

Ask a neighbour what speeds their are getting. You'll get an indication of what you MIGHT be able to get.

Stench Blossoms

zt-OctaviaN wrote: »

Cricky my first post had a line of sarcasm about making alot of sales.

Then Orla cam on and stated her points which are valid.
But then Barlow comes on and tells me I cant be that bad? whats that about?
So youll excuse my next post following Barlows when I had to angrily reiterate the point I was making again!

I was perfectly fine albeit in shock on the phone when attempting to get and answer from the eircom rep as to what speed can the line accross the way get....

I dont want to chance going for it as Im on FWA at the moment at 1mb.


So if I order 3mb connection and they should call if it doesnt work?

Router stats wer 58db and 19db of noise but Im wondering if ADSL2+ will improve on what i can get.

Regards,
Nick.

Basically the Eircom sales rep as a systems which allows them to check if bb is available. If it is it will allow them place an order. If this is a new line or just been enabled or if bb has only come to the area they will only be able to order 1MB broadband.

This is because not all line are suitable and not all lines are tested for higher speeds and my cause strain on the line.

No point getting angry with the sales rep, they can only do as much as the system allows them.

Oh and by the way, I don't work for Eircom.

zt-OctaviaN

orla wrote: »

Basically the Eircom sales rep as a systems which allows them to check if bb is available. If it is it will allow them place an order. If this is a new line or just been enabled or if bb has only come to the area they will only be able to order 1MB broadband.

This is because not all line are suitable and not all lines are tested for higher speeds and my cause strain on the line.

No point getting angry with the sales rep, they can only do as much as the system allows them.

Oh and by the way, I don't work for Eircom.

orla wrote: »

YOU CAN'T TEST THE SPEED OF BROADBAND ON A LINE UNLESS THERE IS ACTUALLY BROADBAND ALREADY ON IT!!

I thought that was kind of obvious.

The line I was checking was Broadband enabled re-read first post please...I thought this was obvious....

Did I say I was angry with the rep? Nope...Its Eircoms system im puzzled about only angry about some of the repsonses here like "are you that bad".

You seem to be a bit ticked off that someone cant understand why our biggest telecoms provider couldnt tell me what package I an get?

I called another provider actually the one the neighbour is with they happily tested the line and stated it may not support 3mb in fact more than likely not.

So if I lost whatever attitude you thought I had from my first post how could you have helped me anyway???

So I proved that Eircom over the phone were not prepared to even check a line in an attempt to try and make a sale to the courtesy of antoher provider checking a line and stating the results and concerns. (Rep of this provider could have continued on to make that sale and state so would you like to sign up pending further clarification on the broadband for an account with us?)
Ill have to wait for ADSL2+ to roll in and check with A provider.
Thanks for you opinions folks!
Penny has dropped.....
Night!

Stench Blossoms

zt-OctaviaN wrote: »

The line I was checking was Broadband enabled re-read first post please...I thought this was obvious....

And i said, since its not YOUR line, the agent doesn't have to give you any details about it.

zt-OctaviaN wrote: »

I called another provider actually the one the neighbour is with they happily tested the line and stated it may not support 3mb in fact more than likely not.

Oh my god are you serious? You were asking Eircom to check the speed of a line which broadband was enabled with another provider? For the love of god...!

smellslikeshoes

The bottom line is if you don't have a line, nobody is going to be able to tell you what packages you can or can not get or even if you can get broadband. Even checking the line of your neighbors would be horribly inaccurate and if the sales rep or anyone else in eircom told you what you could get based on this they wouldn't be staying there very long. This is the way that it works and there is no point whingeing about it.

Terrlock

Well it would be nice if eircom could tell you what speeds of broadband you can expect in your area before you go down purchasing a line

Surely they should know the line quality for any given area.

Its a sham that you have to first connect too them in order for them to then tell you what line speed you can have.

Its a sham that they can't rely on their own network to provide a stable broadband connection too everyone in Ireland.

smellslikeshoes

Terrlock wrote: »

Well it would be nice if eircom could tell you what speeds of broadband you can expect in your area before you go down purchasing a line

Surely they should know the line quality for any given area.

Its a sham that you have to first connect too them in order for them to then tell you what line speed you can have.

What way are they supposed to know what the line is capable of if there is no line? Even if they went by what other people around you can get. They would simply be guessing and if they done that then there would be thousands of people complaining because of how inaccurate it would be. There is too many variables for the guesses to be very accurate. There is NO 100% accurate way to tell if you can get DSL without having a phone line there.
Its the way it is and there isn't much point in complaining about it. If you don't like the idea of getting a line that broadband might not be capable of broadband there is plenty of other alternatives, or you can take the risk.

bluenose abroad

I've just moved into a new flat without an existing phone line. Obviously the €121 set up charge by eircom is steep....anyone know of any alternative providers out there who can help?

Thanks in advance.

seamus

bluenose abroad wrote: »

I've just moved into a new flat without an existing phone line. Obviously the €121 set up charge by eircom is steep....anyone know of any alternative providers out there who can help?

Thanks in advance.

If you're getting broadband from NTL or another such provider, go for a VoIP solution. It's way cheaper than eircom (for calls and no line rental!) and you still get a normal landline number.

Check out www.blueface.ie or www.freespeech.ie.

If you go to the VoIP forum, there's more info there.

Cabaal

zt-OctaviaN wrote: »

'I' cant be that bad?? :mad:
Look YOU are not getting the point here Barlow
I called the leading (apparently) supplier of Broadband and Telecomms in THIS Country....... Ireland last time I checked.

It is these people that appear to not be able to tell ME whether or not I can get Broadband in my area? (let alone just answering a query what max speed I can get)

The penny has dropped I cannot get broadband BECAUSE no one in EIRCOM can tell me unless I get the line activated for voice first?
Thats exactly what I was told on the phone and by Orla above so it was an assumption to simply waver the query and state sorry I need a number.....

Yes you do need a number, they can advise you that your telephone exchange is Broadband enabled but thats it they can't tell you what speeds you might get as this depends on line quality and they need a line to test this.

This is nothing to do with Eircom and more to do with how the tests are performed on PSTN lines in relation to the provision of ADSL services and its the exact same in the UK and many many many other countrys

I suggest you re-search what your trying to do before blaming other people/companys for your lack of knowledge regarding this process

zt-OctaviaN

Cabaal wrote: »

Yes you do need a number, they can advise you that your telephone exchange is Broadband enabled but thats it they can't tell you what speeds you might get as this depends on line quality and they need a line to test this.

This is nothing to do with Eircom and more to do with how the tests are performed on PSTN lines in relation to the provision of ADSL services and its the exact same in the UK and many many many other countrys

I suggest you re-search what your trying to do before blaming other people/companys for your lack of knowledge regarding this process

Isnt posting the experience a method of research? Where else to find this out?
Seems to be plenty in the know here so thanks for the pointers.
Obviously some dont get that I was turned down point blank from eircom and helped with result and concerns from another provider.
Eircom didnt even check my area.
Dissappointing but heck thats that now I know....research complete.

Cheers folks.

I wonder if FWA will ever offer more bandwidth soon to keep pace with some DSL offerings.

Cabaal

Eircom didn't check your area because you already answered your own questions by saying your neighbour had DSL, if he/she did then your exchange is already enabled...check done!

A form of research would be using google/wikipedia or the seatch function on this forum...or even the FAQ, once you do this make a informed post instead of jumping the gun blaming eircom for something that is not there fault when it comes to how all ADSL providers do line checks.

steve-o

While the OP has clearly gone about this the wrong way, I'd agree it's a fair question to ask what's the maximum speed you could expect. Surely Eircom can figure out what the max possible speed is for someone 5km from a given exchange on either a perfect or average line, with no contention or other network issues. Not that they'd actually want to reveal that.

Cabaal

Oh I'd agree it would be nice if eircom would advise this, but at the end of the day like there not going to do this.

The reason for this is if they advise a customer before hand that they "should" be able to get 3MB and then they can only get 1MB because of the wiring in there house then the first thing the average Joe will do is complain and say they were mis-sold the product, at the end of the day its better for eircom to base there advice on actual line test results.

It sucks but its actually better this way imho

watty

Sadly you can't tell in advance if someone's line will work for DSL at all.

The Theortical max should never be quoted. (200Mbps ). We see the problem even of Mobile Companies with their "up to" 3.6Mbps.

Even after eircom test the line they cover themselves by stating only 256k is G'tee and the package sold is "up to N Mbps."
This is not an eircom thing but inherent in the technolgy. Wheras if you can get Cable Broadband or Metro at all within the SNR limit (site test needed) at all at all, you can get any speed that the Cable or Metro does.

DSL is much more vague technology as the copper designed for only 3kHz, which is only about 18kbps max data!

lucernarian

Phone lines will carry frequencies nearer to 4kHz, what with a sampling rate of 8kHz used.

Watty and the others are correct, as it stands it's impossible to tell if a new line will pass a broadband test. Though if eircom bothered it would be possible to make a >98% accurate prediction. It would require a lot of effort and info gathering, which is costly. And better spent fixing up lines.

And some people need to pipe down in this thread. I've never seen so much passion put into such a trivial question:)

Checking your neighbour's line to see if it passes might work roughly 80% of the time?? The issue of pairgains complicates it greatly, as neighbours might be on them and you not. If you know where the line will be, look out for the creamy/white boxes beside the junction box. Made by tadiran telecomms.

Ordering the line with an explicit statement that it must not be pairgained as it's for broadband will give you very good odds of getting a DSL-capable line. Check the eircom website to see if the exchange is enabled.