Trying to get Smart Telecom into my area - Eircom related

Joseph

Hello

I am trying to bring Smart Telecom into my area, I have phoned and asked -> but they do not currently have plans for Rush (my town - north dublin). Near by areas like Swords have Smart Telecom but Rush does not. I asked Smart was it because of Eircom and was given no comment on the matter really.

I have heard of places taking ages to get Smart because eircom is afraid it will loose customers. Which it will of course, therefore I think Eircom may be illegally trying to keep the market to themselves by not allowing Smart Telecom into the area.

I have heard of a similar case, whereby person x contacted politician y and basically explained that he believed that eircon were doing something illegal. Couple of months later Smart was in his area thanks to to y. I am thinking about doing the same, but am wondering in what way are eircom in the wrong - what documentation can I use to back this up and what should I do about it?

Going to go to my local councillor and see if he will do anything about it. But am willing to go to comrag etcetc to get Smart into my area!

Thanks for the read, please ask if I'm being unclear on anything or if you have any information suggestions it is greatly appreciated!

Joseph.

EDIT: I was told that the Government has a deal with Smart regarding broadband services for schools? Is this true, if so, what does this deal entail?

jor el

Smart are not rolling out any new exchanges at the moment, not just Rush.

Deaddude wrote: »

I have heard of places taking ages to get Smart because eircom is afraid it will loose customers. Which it will of course, therefore I think Eircom may be illegally trying to keep the market to themselves by not allowing Smart Telecom into the area.

I doubt eircom are doing any illegal, all their exchanges are open to anyone who wants to use them, you just have to pay eircom for the privilege. Smart are not expanding due to monetary issues, I'd imagine.

I have heard of a similar case, whereby person x contacted politician y and basically explained that he believed that eircon were doing something illegal. Couple of months later Smart was in his area thanks to to y. I am thinking about doing the same, but am wondering in what way are eircom in the wrong - what documentation can I use to back this up and what should I do about it?

Without seeing actual proof of this, I'd doubt this is true. Smart may well have gotten there after the contact, but it probably had nothing to do with it. That also doesn't mean the politician didn't take the credit either. I wouldn't think any politician has the power to effect Smart's business decisions. Isn't it usually businesses that effect politician's decisions :eek:

If eircom were doing anything illegal to keep competitors out of the exchanges (other than all the feet dragging they currently do), then we'd know about it. The competitor companies would make their grievances fairly public.

Going to go to my local councillor and see if he will do anything about it. But am willing to go to comrag etcetc to get Smart into my area!

You can certainly lobby your local politicians about broadband issues, though I'd say a councilor's reach would be rather limited. Also, as I said above, I'd doubt that they can do anything to get Smart to put their equipment into an exchange if they don't already have plans to do it themselves. Comreg will be useless (because they are) and this isn't something that would be regulated by them anyway. Comreg have merely set the terms for other operators using the eircom exchanges. They can't get them to use it.

ongarite

AFAIK Smart only offer LLU broadband in and around the M50 ring. They spent a huge amount of money laying fibre cable in Dublin city centre and out as far as the M50, which would include parts of Swords.

They went bust with this strategy and with new owners are now just trying to get/keep as many users as they can with the current infastructure they laid.

board om

jor el wrote: »

I doubt eircom are doing any illegal, all their exchanges are open to anyone who wants to use them, you just have to pay eircom for the privilege. Smart are not expanding due to monetary issues, I'd imagine.

that would be right. because the cost is so high for them to buy into the exchanges and to fit their equipment, companies like Smart Telecom, BT, etc would only pick exchanges that are worth their while. so they arent going to bother going to the expense of enabling an exchange in say the arse end of cork if they know that there arent going to be many customers who will order broadband. plus if there arent many businesses in the area to take it, then it doesnt help situations.

sure when BT started their own broadband, long before they offered it over eircom lines, they only opened 40 exchanges in the whole country. and they were scattered all over the country but they were all central exchanges like D4, D1, D2, and central parts of limerick, galway, cork, etc. they didnt go into anywhere they knew there wouldnt be much take up of the product as it would have ended up costng them money. also the pricing was pretty crazy starting off. it cost €90 per month for a basic 512k line and €400 per month for a 2mb line. for 1 exchange to become cash positive would take between 1 to 3 years with a minimun of 1000+ connections. so in other words they needed 1000+ individual customers paying €90+ per month for nearly 3 years, just to pay off 1 exchange.

so that will give you an idea of the cost for putting their equipment in an exchange. and it is also a more logical explanation than eircom trying to re-establish their monolopy.

antoinolachtnai

From what I can see, the LLU process has come to an end or must be close to an end. It isn't really a matter of whether cash is available or not. Realistically, anything which hasn't been unbundled by now will not be unbundled. With NGN so close in the future, it really isn't worth doing it, because NGN will make the investment in LLU obsolete.