Smart Telecom any use?

PCros

Hi guys,

Recently tried to get broadband with Chorus but they couldnt get a signal at my house so I am looking at getting Smart in? Are they good and do they charge line rental like eircom?

Any tips would be great.

hello932

I thought Smart went bankrupt?

PCros

Hmmm explains why I never got a reply off them!

jeckle

http://support.smarttelecom.ie/forums/showthread.php?t=3421

You can check to see if Smart is available on your line here & details of different packages available here

jor el

hello932 wrote: »

I thought Smart went bankrupt?

No. They are currently in examinership while a buyer is being sought.

They're one of the best DSL providers around. They do charge line rental, as all DSL providers have to. This is never going to change.

PCros

So best advice is to stay away from them at the moment. I just noticed Vodafone are doing 3mb for €40 and it includes line rental, thats around €15 cheaper than the same product from Eircom.

Oh and on the Chorus issue they are going to service my estate to try and figure out why there is no signal, they suspect sombody cut a wire.

jor el

PCros wrote: »

So best advice is to stay away from them at the moment.

No, they won't be going away, they'll just have a new owner.

PCros wrote: »

Oh and on the Chorus issue they are going to service my estate to try and figure out why there is no signal, they suspect sombody cut a wire.

If you heard that from the sales people, then you should ignore it. Sales say anything, and usually it's complete rubbish.

PCros

jor el wrote: »

If you heard that from the sales people, then you should ignore it. Sales say anything, and usually it's complete rubbish.

Talked to sales first they hadn't a clue so then talked to their technical crowd and thats what they told me, said it can take up to ten days so if nothings done by then I won't be touching chorus.

Dr. Nick

Is the linechecker accurate, the eircom one always gives a fail for me but Smart says yes...

Dr. Nick

Dr. Nick wrote: »

Is the linechecker accurate, the eircom one always gives a fail for me but Smart says yes...

That line checker doesn't work no more. Tried 046-1111111 and........

You’ve qualified for our Nationwide Bitstream products.

Yippee.

dm09

Have been with Smart Telecom almost 3yrs now and find them excellent!, saved about 35% straight away when we switched over, plus Smart offer 1:1 contention and no download cap!, and their Customer Support team are located in Ireand not half way around the world like Eircoms which was a big plus for me!
Also Smart have their own national fibre network which allows them to offer a far superior DSL service as opposed to the various Eircom ReSellers, ie Digiweb, Vodafone
Would highly recommend them!

Spear

dm09 wrote: »

Have been with Smart Telecom almost 3yrs now and find them excellent!, saved about 35% straight away when we switched over, plus Smart offer 1:1 contention and no download cap!!!
Would highly recommend them!

No, they offer a 170gig download cap on all products.

dm09

Spear wrote: »

No, they offer a 170gig download cap on all products.

Well they claimed to have no download cap when I signed up, even if it is 170GB its still 5times the amount most ISPs offer

What are your sources on this?

Spear

dm09 wrote: »

Well they claimed to have no download cap when I signed up, even if it is 170GB its still 5times the amount most ISPs offer

What are your sources on this?

The link in my sig.

jeckle

According to the Smart Website
Nov 5 2009: Smart Telecom to exit Examinership through investment from Digweb

''Smart Telecom (‘Smart’ or the ‘Company’) the Irish provider of voice, data and media communications services today announces that Digiweb, the Irish national telecommunications and managed services provider, intends to acquire the entire customer base and assets of Smart. The investment by Digiweb, which is subject to approval by creditors and the Irish High Court (the “Court”), enables Smart to emerge from a period of Examinership and to form part of the Digiweb Group.
The proposed combination would create the leading, independent Irish telecommunications company and would significantly enhance the scale and scope of the combined Digiweb-Smart service offering.''

Cabaal

hello932 wrote: »

I thought Smart went bankrupt?

Smart have never stopped trading as a company and actually offer a very good value for money ADSL package if you can avail of it.

Smart are now owned by Digiweb

MunsterCycling

Cabaal wrote: »

Smart are now owned by Digiweb

Not until the High Court says they are, waiting with baited breath for DigiWeb to strangle former Smart customers with their policies.

CutzEr

I don't recommend anyone goes with smart anymore..

kaimera

CutzEr wrote: »

I don't recommend anyone goes with smart anymore..

I don't recommend anyone take your recommendation under consideration...

Care to elaborate?

Cabaal

CutzEr wrote: »

I don't recommend anyone goes with smart anymore..

I'm curious on what basis?

sioda

Statement on the Smart site here says they will be retaining the brand(for the time being I imagine) so in the short term and hopefully long Smart will stay in existence.

Cant recommend them high enough even with the 170gb cap which is rarely enforced

drewbie

Perhaps it used to be rare to enforce the NEW 170 GB cap, but I can tell you they most certainly are enforcing it now. And I doubt they are doing it selectively either. Got my 1st letter a couple weeks ago. I've been a customer for almost 2 years now, and I'm quite certain that I used to DL much more than 170GB/mo. Can't say for certain because I never needed to check before!

I'm going to wait to see how the Digiweb transition works out, but I've already confirmed that I can get service from Magnet (who has a sometimes enforced 250GB cap).

TanG411

Been with Smart for 3 years and didn't have any problem.

We have phone and broadband.

deigo008

hi... yea Smart is now part of the Digiweb Group a move which gives Smart the solid base that its longing for to make them a major player in the comms market again!! about time we had a serious ISP to take on eircom again... it looks like it will remain the exact same with the same products... my mate has them and loves the service.. Speed is excellent...doesnt have an issue with traffic...he moved over after a bad experience with an ISP called magnet.
Jesus you guys are giving out about like 200 GB of traffic... ye must be downloading some amount of crap .I know a lot of businesses that wouldnt do that amount in a month!

thebeatlebaby

Larkin91 wrote: »

Been with Smart for 3 years and didn't have any problem.

We have phone and broadband.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!!

rikerdonegal

drewbie wrote: »

Perhaps it used to be rare to enforce the NEW 170 GB cap, but I can tell you they most certainly are enforcing it now.

Yes, they are :mad:

I got a couple of e-mails myself over the last couple of months. I just took them at face value.

Until late on Dec 26th when - bored - I took a closer look at the figures on their own website, for my account. I noticed what appeared to be a big difference between their graph and the total they indicated...



The total says 160, but the graph is under 145.

So, I decided to add up the figures on their own site...



and I got 136! A lot less than 160...

So I immediately wrote two emails asking about this...

One of those emails was answered, first business day after Christmas, but it was just to ask for the images again.

Since that: Nothing.

So, to sum up, they changed their terms in the Summer, sent me emails telling me to curb my internet use. And, when I actually sat down and looked at them, the figures they were using to measure my usage didn't make sense. And Smart have basically ignored three emails asking them to explain this.

So, today I'll start pricing the competitors and see what else is out there :mad:

pizzahead77

Smart are not enforcing the cap as yet - they are just sending out warning emails to anyoner who goes over 80% of 170GB.

There have not been any reports of anyone being penalised or throttled yet by Smart.

rikerdonegal

pizzahead77 wrote: »

Smart are not enforcing the cap as yet - they are just sending out warning emails to anyoner who goes over 80% of 170GB.

There have not been any reports of anyone being penalised or throttled yet by Smart.

You are correct. They have not used any technological means to penalise me, of course.

However, if i get an email (and I've gotten two) telling me to stop using the internet as much for a few days then, in my mind, I consider that "enforcing the cap".

Look at it this way. I pay them for this service. And, on two occasions since the Summer, I've been a position where I've had to curb/stop myself using the service for a few days. In my mind, I consider that "enforcing the cap."

AlmightyCushion

pizzahead77 wrote: »

Smart are not enforcing the cap as yet - they are just sending out warning emails to anyoner who goes over 80% of 170GB.

There have not been any reports of anyone being penalised or throttled yet by Smart.

One of my friends from work is with smart and was throttled back to dialup like speeds for a few days for exceeding his cap. Knowing him though he was probably well over it though.

rikerdonegal

Before Dec 26th I took Smart at their word. If they said I was over, I assumed it was true.

Having spotted a 26 gig difference in figures, on their own website, I am now suspicious.

I'm now comparing the figure BitMeter gives me, with the figure Smart tells me is true.



Today, for instance, there is over a half Gig difference in those figures

30 days x 0.5Gig leaves me with 15Gig discrepancy :eek:

And, Yes, I've emailed Smart about this. Three over week ago, and two today.

No replies yet...

If they were replying to me, about this, I wouldn't be airing my concerns in public like this.

My advice to everybody? Install BitMeter and compare the figures every day. See if you, too, are getting different readings.

d22ontour

rikerdonegal wrote: »

So, today I'll start pricing the competitors and see what else is out there :mad:

Simple solution would be not to go over your cap ? Apart from that there is only 2 viable options and am pretty sure both magnet and upc have similar caps ? Or you probably shouldn't dl so much pron.


Maybe go back to eircom and actually need the month to get to your current cap ...

daithimac

d22ontour wrote: »

Simple solution would be not to go over your cap ? Apart from that there is only 2 viable options and am pretty sure both magnet and upc have similar caps ? Or you probably shouldn't dl so much pron.


Maybe go back to eircom and actually need the month to get to your current cap ...

+1

Glad to hear that SMART are out of examinership. and reading this I'm very surprised to see people pissing and moaning about having to keep within a 170GB cap.

I'm with BT now but they are so frustrating, we were on 24 mb and at times could get 19-20Mb but sometimes worse than dial up. now were on 3Mb because they said that that is actually all they can provide in our area and will get 2 most of the time. and we have to contend with there 30GB cap. I was waiting to hear how smart got on and now that they appear to be out of the woods I will be looking to do business with them asap

rikerdonegal

daithimac wrote: »

I'm very surprised to see people pissing and moaning about having to keep within a 170GB cap.

I think the quiet way they introduced it is really what people are writing about.

And, in my case, I'm more concerned with the fact that the figures for my usage are much lower than 170, despite what Smart would lead me to believe.

Do you not think those are two very different points?

1. Quietly changed T&Cs
2. Incorrect measuring of customer usage

I would have thought those were valid concerns, when paying for a service, to be honest.

gordonl

I think the quiet way they introduced it is really what people are writing about.

So quiet that the first i heard about it was the warning email.

A thing to watch is that the smart graph includes todays traffic and the preceding 30 days, so its more like a 31 day rolling average. Also they are measuring data in "decimal" gigabytes, but most utilities will measure data in "binary" gigabytes. So their 170GB cap is more like 158GB. (In fairness, I think all ISPs do this)

rikerdonegal

gordonl wrote: »

So quiet that the first i heard about it was the warning email.

Me, too.

It's a service we pay for. An email to alert us, ahead of time, would have been nice.

Great points about how they gather the data, too.

It's all very hinky. Now that I've started monitoring it myself, with other software, I see that their figures are always way higher

Wolverine_1999

AlmightyCushion wrote: »

One of my friends from work is with smart and was throttled back to dialup like speeds for a few days for exceeding his cap. Knowing him though he was probably well over it though.

Ditto.. there is a certain "point" which is considered excessive

chalkitdown

I would also caution anyone thinking of signing up with Smart.
I've been with them since 2006 and always found them to be a good company, however, they introduced a cap and a rolling 30 day cap at that, with no warning.
I am now in the process of getting rid of them and what a palaver that is turning out to be. I tried to get through to them for the past week, holding on the phone for at least an hour at a time, a sure sign that things have changed at Smart.
Eventually got through and they sent a form which I filled out and returned only to receive another similar form which I think they expect me to fill out again. Along with that they are asking me to pay for the return shipping of the modem, that's not going to happen. If they want the modem they can arrange collection.
My greatest fear is that as I pay by direct debit that they will take money beyond which they are entitled.
As for those that defend Smarts behaviour you should recognise that it's now a completely different entity from the progressive company that I initially signed up with.

rikerdonegal

chalkitdown wrote: »

As for those that defend Smarts behaviour you should recognise that it's now a completely different entity from the progressive company that I initially signed up with.

Looks like I'm moving to UPC.

Smart has lost the plot. Tonight, I received another warning email for excessive use. It says that "Warnings are sent if this measure exceeds 80% of 170GB." Huh? What does that even mean? Why don't they say 136?

On July 27th last year they told me "Currently if this measure exceeds 170GB you will be flagged as having an excessive traffic usage level."

So, to re-cap:

1. They introduced a 170 cap without telling us.
2. They have lowered that cap to 136 without telling us.
3. The total they provide for my usage on their site isn't the same as when you add up the numbers on their site. That raised all my alarm bells. And they have ignored five emails from me about it.
4. They say tonight they warn everybody who goes over 136, but according to their own data, I was at 160 two weeks back and got no warning email.

It makes no sense.

BitMeter's numbers for my usage are much lower.



None of it makes sense.

It's a pity, they used to be so good.

spurious

rikerdonegal wrote: »

It's a pity, they used to be so good.

+1
I was sorry to leave them when I went to UPC for the higher speeds.
Looks like I escaped just in time.

AlmightyCushion

I don't think they have lowered the cap to 136GB, it seems to be a "careful there" sort of warning to let you know you are getting close to the cap.

rikerdonegal

Just checked my phone messages, and there was a message from Smart Customer Care yesterday afternoon re: my emails about the faulty data.

Didn't have an answer, as to why it happened, but they say they looked into it and asked me to alert them if it happens again.

No reflection on their Customer Care, or the guy who phoned and left the message (who seemed very on the ball) but I'll be phoning today to find out what cancelling entails.

eskimo

I just entered the number "99999999999" into their line checker on their website, and it told me I qualified for their "nationwide bitstream services."

I see.

rikerdonegal

AlmightyCushion wrote: »

I don't think they have lowered the cap to 136GB.

You are correct. I phoned them to get details for downgrading/cancelling and the person I spoke with said the Cap is definitely 170, not 136.

My original problems still exist, sadly, but at least I was wrong about the whole 136 thing.

RoyalMarine

ive never recieved an e-mail from smart at all.

im on the 24meg package since september.

i reckon my downloads have never been under 300gb per month as there are about 6 of us sharing the line and everyone downloads during the night and weekends.

this is from their terms and conditions on their website.

23. FAIR USAGE POLICY

23.1 There are no specific download or upload limits imposed on you by us, except for our budget entry bundle product which has a usage allowance as notified. For customers on service tiers higher than the entry level product we may require you to reduce your download and/or upload usage where we consider it excessive or for purposes outside of normal residential use to ensure a fair service to all customers. Where this occurs, we will request you to reduce your usage. In certain situations, we may suspend or terminate the services, but not before giving you a reasonable opportunity to reduce your usage first.

23.3 We reserve the right to charge for excessive usage or to limit bandwidth at our discression at all times using traffic shaping or other techniques.

rikerdonegal

RoyalMarineComm wrote: »

ive never recieved an e-mail from smart at all.

Who do you think sent me this?

Smart Telecom provides your internet service subject to a fair usage policy. This fair usage policy is detailed within our terms and conditions which are available on our website and helps us ensure that all Smart Telecom customers enjoy a high quality of service.

This email is a WARNING that your traffic usage is becoming excessive. Detailed information on your traffic usage is attached to this email. In order to determine if your traffic usage is excessive, we look at a rolling 30 day window of your upstream + downstream traffic. Warnings are sent if this measure exceeds 80% of 170GB.

We would ask that you limit the activity that is causing such high levels of traffic usage. Failure to do so could, per our terms and conditions, lead to your service being restricted or disconnected.

If you want to monitor your traffic usage you could use tools like bit meter or du meter. We have also developed our own usage tool which is described here in our support forums.

We thank you for your co-operation and trust you will continue to enjoy our services.

If you have any queries or require further information please call our Customer Support Team on 1890 945300 or email customercare@smarttelecom.ie.

Yours sincerely,

Head of Smart Telecom Contact Centre

I'd be interested in knowing.

Thank you.

mambo

I've been with Smart telecom for broadband and home phone for a few years. Generally very reliable.

Only one major problem... I lost service for about 5 days a couple of months ago due to a cock-up on either Smart or Eircom's part (they allocated my number to someone else by mistake!) and I had to phone up and complain just to get refunded for those 5 days worth of no service (about €7). No other compensation or even an apology.

RoyalMarine

rikerdonegal wrote: »

Who do you think sent me this?



I'd be interested in knowing.

Thank you.

jesus thats harsh. i might have missed it, but what package are you on?

kinda strange that they warn you about nearing the limit, but im always way over the limit and they never seem to bother me.

RoyalMarine

just turned on my pc this morning to notice my speeds were now 100kb down and 300kb up.

Rang them and they told me of the limit.

They said it wasn't in their terms and conditions, but it does state there is a fair use policy.

pissed

Rang Smart this morning. Currently with Vodafone for broadband and calls but with the recent crappy service decided to look elsewhere. They were able to offer me broadband and calls, 7 meg package but with a contention of 48 : 1. I thought they were a 1:1.

Not too well up on the contention issue so maybe somebody in the know could tell me.

I was with BT on 3 meg package and had no issues for the years I was with them. Almost guaranteed 2.6 megs at all times regardless. I swithed over automatically to vodafone and all of a sudden it goes to bits with speeds of 0.6 mb in the evenings. I assume both are using eircoms bb and just reselling.
So my question is how come there is contention issues now with vodafone where I never had them with BT using the same eircom service.

Secondly if I was to move to Smart would I be faced with the same low speeds in the evenings?

Spear

pissed wrote: »

Rang Smart this morning. Currently with Vodafone for broadband and calls but with the recent crappy service decided to look elsewhere. They were able to offer me broadband and calls, 7 meg package but with a contention of 48 : 1. I thought they were a 1:1.

Not too well up on the contention issue so maybe somebody in the know could tell me.

You're confusing their resold Eircom packages versus their LLU packages.

I was with BT on 3 meg package and had no issues for the years I was with them. Almost guaranteed 2.6 megs at all times regardless. I swithed over automatically to vodafone and all of a sudden it goes to bits with speeds of 0.6 mb in the evenings. I assume both are using eircoms bb and just reselling.
So my question is how come there is contention issues now with vodafone where I never had them with BT using the same eircom service.

Secondly if I was to move to Smart would I be faced with the same low speeds in the evenings?

As always, we need linestats to start judging what your line can and can't do, or advise further.

pissed

Spear wrote: »

You're confusing their resold Eircom packages versus their LLU packages.




As always, we need linestats to start judging what your line can and can't do, or advise further.

Sorry I should have mentioned that after the switch to Vodafone my speeds were fine. Also during the day speeds are fine coming in about 6.2 megs. Its just in the evenings now say after 6 or so and it just takes a dive. Two nights ago went as low as 0.6mb and last night averaged in about 1.2mb.
Also just off the phone to vodafones customer service and they are sending me out a new vodafone wireless modem for free to see if that will help things. Willing to give it a go anyway.