New house, forced to connect to Eircom?

maki

I've just moved into a new house which hasn't previously been wired up for telephone/broadband. The interior of the house has all the required wiring but has no outside connection to the national system.

I had intended on getting a Vodafone phone/broadband package but was informed by them that since I don't actually have a phone number yet I'd need to contact Eircom first to get connected. Eircom then tell me it's no problem to connect the house up but I'll need to take a 6 month contract up with them first.

Now, I understand that Eircom own the telephone cable infrastructure but I always thought line rental was intended to pay for that. It doesn't seem right that I'm forced to take out a contract with the dominant market leader.

Does Competition Law not protect against scenarios much as this?

jhegarty

I had eircom connect my line , then I moved to vodafone one day later.

Total bill from eircom €2.

I must pay that soon !

happymondays

maki wrote: »

I've just moved into a new house which hasn't previously been wired up for telephone/broadband. The interior of the house has all the required wiring but has no outside connection to the national system.

I had intended on getting a Vodafone phone/broadband package but was informed by them that since I don't actually have a phone number yet I'd need to contact Eircom first to get connected. Eircom then tell me it's no problem to connect the house up but I'll need to take a 6 month contract up with them first.

Now, I understand that Eircom own the telephone cable infrastructure but I always thought line rental was intended to pay for that. It doesn't seem right that I'm forced to take out a contract with the dominant market leader.

Does Competition Law not protect against scenarios much as this?

yeah all you need is for eircom to activate the phone line,
then when you order then from Vodafone they will contact eircom and transfer it over to themselves.

your still paying line rental to eircom but instead of you paying boradband to vodafone and line rental to eircom, you just pay the whole lot as part of the vodafone package and vodaone then pay eircom the line rental. saves you having to pay two seperate bills.
(i think!!)

Cabaal

jhegarty wrote: »

I had eircom connect my line , then I moved to vodafone one day later.

Total bill from eircom €2.

I must pay that soon !

You can't just do this anymore though, Eircom now enforce a 6 month contract for ALL new PSTN line's

Cabaal

happymondays wrote: »

yeah all you need is for eircom to activate the phone line,
then when you order then from Vodafone they will contact eircom and transfer it over to themselves.

Yes this is correct
HOWEVER, if you do this you will be breaking your eircom PSTN line contract

your still paying line rental to eircom but instead of you paying boradband to vodafone and line rental to eircom, you just pay the whole lot as part of the vodafone package and vodaone then pay eircom the line rental. saves you having to pay two seperate bills.
(i think!!)

Again because you've broken your eircom PSTN line contract you will have to pay eircom a buyout contract fee

You can see this information on the eircom website and the likes of www.eircomsucks.com

OP ignore the incorrect advice given by the previous two posters, technically speaking Vodafone "should" be able to order the phone line on your behalf but its well known that eircom will drag their feet in such instances

You could try asking this query to Vodafone staff directly on the Vodafone forum on boards.ie, in relation to this being illegal...sadly its not even though in my books its certainly anti-competitive.

RoadKillTs

You can't just do this anymore though, Eircom now enforce a 6 month contract for ALL new PSTN line's

It's hard to believe that it's legal to do that! Times must be getting tough for poor old Eircom.

Anyways OP you might have to look at a different provider if you don't want to sign up to Eircom.
Not sure what else you can do. If you just wanted broadband it would be easier to advice but there aren't many decent phone / broadband providers out there.

Sponge Bob

RoadKillTs wrote: »

It's hard to believe that it's legal to do that! Times must be getting tough for poor old Eircom. .

It is not legal ( and yes eircom are desperate Roadkill ) but it is good business because it will take comreg well over 6 months to do anything about it and comreg never fine eircom.

Remember the Meteor call bundles that eircom only got rid of a month ago after they mis sold them for over a year.

Rev. Kitchen

It drives me mad when other providers sell you broadband and use the selling point of not having to pay any line rental, then in the small print it tells you you need a phone line (for which you need to pay eircom a line rental !!).

You need to factor that in, i think my line rental is 25+vat so once you add that to any broadband package it costs a lot.

The other option is wireless broadband WIMAX is launching at the moment it will offer really fast wireless access and is quite cheap. Digiweb offer it as well but after the hassle they gave me for 4 months of no signal then told me to take it or leave it i cant recommend them.

jhegarty

Cabaal wrote: »

You can't just do this anymore though, Eircom now enforce a 6 month contract for ALL new PSTN line's

How recent ? , because mine was at the start of December.

the_syco

Rev. Kitchen wrote: »

The other option is wireless broadband WIMAX is launching at the moment it will offer really fast wireless access and is quite cheap.

From what I've read, it's quite the opposite.

MugMugs

jhegarty wrote: »

How recent ? , because mine was at the start of December.

I did the exact same in July, didnt sign the contracts and just ported straight to Perlico

jor el

jhegarty wrote: »

How recent ? , because mine was at the start of December.

You were lucky. They introduced this in December.

Posters in the Broadband forum have complained to Comreg about this, and Comreg said there was nothing they could/would do. I think the complaints should be to the Competition Authority.

J_Wholesale

If you're in a Digiweb catchment area, they give you a phone number as part of the Metro package. There's no cabling involved, no line rental, and the line is as good as any landline Eircom will give you.

I moved my number from Eircom to Digiweb 6 months ago. The lack of line rental charges is a huge bonus. I really don't get why more people haven't made this switch.

When I got my original Eircom line installed (centre of Carlow town), it took them two months! So if you go the Eircom route, prepare to not have a phone line for a very long time.

wingnut

jor el wrote: »

You were lucky. They introduced this in December.

Posters in the Broadband forum have complained to Comreg about this, and Comreg said there was nothing they could/would do. I think the complaints should be to the Competition Authority.

I did this last October just to get a number and then cancelled it straight away (owner took the number and Eircom never kept track of the line). I did this in case Eircom decided to do what they started in Dec. Last Oct i got free activation etc. I paid line rental for one month but at least I have a number if I ever need to activate it.

(I use wireless BB though local guy who has an ESB fibre line)

tatli_lokma

one possible way around this is to get eircom to connect the line, then they will send you out a service agreement form. They are so slow and getting these out and processing them that probably you will have the line before you get the form - JUST DON'T SIGN IT and get the other provider to port you immediately as soon as the line is connected.
I am open to correction here as this may no longer work, but it USED TO. By the time eircom realise you didn;'t sign and return the forms your line will already be ported to the other provider meaning unless you have an outstanding bill with them they cannot disconnect it without the permission of the other provider. Just make sure that you don't owe eircom anything.

Like I said this may be old info now, so if someone knows more definitely please advise, but this is the way it used to work (in fact I know of several PSTN eircom reps who used to advise customers to do this if they didn't want a contract - that way they got the sale, but the customer wasn't stuck with eircom - win-win as far as the rep was concerned! )

Sponge Bob

If you REactivate a line in the 02 05 and 06 areas you get 10 months free rental off eircom , does not apply to new lines only ones that have been disconnected since 2008.

Customers upgrading from PSTN to ISDN will lose their discount.
Customers moving their Calls or Calls and Line Rental between telecommunications providers will lose their discount.
Customers may avail of one Trial Line promotion per account.
The Vulnerable User Scheme discount package is not available to Trial Line customers for the period that the customer is availing of the Trial Line Promotion.
PSTN
Standard Monthly Rental
The eircom Trial Line Promotions offer the above promotional discounts to eligible Residential PSTN lines within each of the geographical areas shown above, between the dates shown
This promotion relates to PSTN lines, which are inactive on the eircom network (in situ or pre-cabled) and can be electronically enabled. Within each geographic region, to be eligible for this
promotion, a line must be inactive for 12 months on the last day of the relevant promotion shown above.
Promotion 1: 18th September to 11th December 2009 (inclusive) - Dublin 01 Area
Promotion 2: 7th January to 19th March 2010 (inclusive) - 02,05 and 06 Areas
Promotion 3: 25th March to 7th May 2010 (inclusive) - 04,07 and 09 Areas
eircom PSTN Trial Line Promotion

jor el

wingnut wrote: »

I did this last October just to get a number and then cancelled it straight away (owner took the number and Eircom never kept track of the line). I did this in case Eircom decided to do what they started in Dec. Last Oct i got free activation etc. I paid line rental for one month but at least I have a number if I ever need to activate it.

Not sure if that will work for you. I think it applies to re-activations as well as new installs. The number you were given can be recycled by eircom after a period of time (think it's 6 months, could be more), so it's not yours.

foggy_lad

Cabaal wrote: »

You can't just do this anymore though, Eircom now enforce a 6 month contract for ALL new PSTN line's

afaikeircom are no longer charging a connection fee for their telephone lines but have replaced this with this new 6month contract which will cost about the same as the connection fee. so all you have to do is get eircom to connect you then move to vodafone etc and eircom will charge you the remainder of the line rental in lieu of a connection fee.

Cabaal

foggy_lad wrote: »

afaikeircom are no longer charging a connection fee for their telephone lines but have replaced this with this new 6month contract which will cost about the same as the connection fee. so all you have to do is get eircom to connect you then move to vodafone etc and eircom will charge you the remainder of the line rental in lieu of a connection fee.

Details are as follows

How Much does it cost?
* If your home previously had an eircom home phoneline and all line work is in place and you want to reconnect, the connection will be free (worth €24.99)*
* If your home has never had an eircom phoneline but all line work is in place, the connection will be free (worth €49.99)**
* If your home has never had an eircom phoneline, or all line work is not in place, the connection will be free (worth €121.93)***

For your information these are the terms we use to describe the different kinds of eircom phoneline you may have and the cost to connect:

*In-situ: €24.99. Where all line work is completely in place and there has been previous service at the address.

**Pre-cabled: €49.99. Where all line work is completely in place but there has not been any previous service at the address.

***Standard: €121.93. Standard connection: where no line work is in place and there has been no previous service at the address.

So a install fee if the line works are not in place and a 6 month contract, ain't eircom just lovely....

Jumpy

Cabaal wrote: »

Sadly this is not the case



So a install fee and a 6 month contract, ain't eircom just lovely....

Sorry Cabaal, but I read that as the connection fee being free no?

Mr. Presentable

Anyone know what it would cost Eircom to run a line to your new house and connect it to the grid?

Cabaal

Jumpy wrote: »

Sorry Cabaal, but I read that as the connection fee being free no?

sorry yeah its free once a line and the required works are already in place,

Cabaal

nipplenuts wrote: »

Anyone know what it would cost Eircom to run a line to your new house and connect it to the grid?

what eircom charge €121.93, what it actually costs them....most likely less in alot of cases

coldwood92

There must be alternative internet provider in your area

Cabaal

coldwood92 wrote: »

There must be alternative internet provider in your area

Problem is if you want ADSL Broadband you still need a PSTN line installed,

ceegee

Cabaal wrote: »

sorry yeah its free once a line and the required works are already in place,

The info you quoted earlier stated it was free for all 3 installation types though, or am i misreading something?

Mr. Presentable

Cabaal wrote: »

what eircom charge €121.93, what it actually costs them....most likely less in alot of cases

Do you think? I had a line in, it took three hours, and two men with a "mole". I bet that cost more than €121.93. And that was with a junction outside the house.

I don't have any particular fondness for Eircom, but I also have no sympathies for people who expect to get the connection for nothing - like the OP.

cgarvey

Bitstream sellers (those who resell eircom DSL like Vodafone/Magnet/Smart/Digiweb/etc.) have a facility to order a new line on someone's behalf. However very few of them use this facility (too manual/costly). I think Magnet said they were going to use this facility on boards.

So if Vodafone choose not to use this facility, then try looking for a provider that does. That is, if you definitely want DSL.

Little Miss Cutie

Hi OP,
I recently signed up to Vodafone. I am renting an apt that never had a phone line previously although the phone points were wired when the apt was built.

I rang Vodafone, they sorted everything out and I haven't paid a cent to Eircom. I am still waiting for the broadband to be connected (takes 21 days from date line is activated) but the landline is working perfectly. Vodafone don't charge a connection fee.

Who told you that you have to sign up to Eircom first?

smelltheglove

Cabaal wrote: »

what eircom charge €121.93, what it actually costs them....most likely less in alot of cases

Businesses do have to be run at profit otherwise it would be a charity.