Eircom offering free BB upgrade to some customers

_Whimsical_

Got a call from Eircom today offering to upgrade my call bundle and bb from 8mb to 24mb for free. Just thought I'd share in case anyone wants to ring them and look for the same deal. Does anyone have any particular reservations about the 24mb? Is it as good as the 8mb?

BArra

Free?... any more info

24mb will depend on what your line can handle, mine only syncs at just above 18mb

_Whimsical_

That seemed to be the extent of the information really. The sales people know shockingly little, they werent even aware of what modem theyd be sending me other than it was black,I asked questions but was given the usual old " its for our valued customers" patter. I'd imagine they're trying to get people who were not on a contract onto one though. I signed up though so fingers crossed it'll work out. It might be worth other people ringing up and asking for it though...maybe threatening to leave if they aren't upgraded.

Owwmykneecap

I being upgraded to that this week, which is handy as the router i have is dog**** and I was about to replace it, now no worries!

I've a felling I'm getting the upgrade because i was the **** who complained enough to get €150 back of them last year.

BArra

they will send you a zyxel, which is terrible

i use a very old netopia 3347 and its better

Doylers

The Zyxel costs a massive €1 for eircom to buy I agree totally with BArra, get them to test you line first to see what it can take before you upgrade. to get 24Mb you need to be literally beside the exchange.

ArthurG

I also got this call from eircom. The free upgrade requires you to sign up to a new 12 month contract.

Having previously tried the 24mb package, I reverted to 8 as I found my pings degraded quite a bit, very noticable when playing WOW.

The sales person suggested to me this wouldn't be the case given the ngb rollout, however was not willing to committ to it, or get someone from tech support to call me to discuss it - instead they offered me the tech support number to call.

When I pointed out that he was trying to sell to me, and I didn't really believe it was up to me to confirm the quality of the connection by paying money to call tech support, he was inclined to agree with me......

Anyway, UPC have upgraded in the area, although I'm still bloody waiting for them to offer broadband (why the hell do they offer HD and not BB????)......

Sponge Bob

eircom are losing customers at an awful rate to UPC. In the last reported quarter eircom were down 20k lines ( incl ones with no BB but at least half with BB) and UPC were up 15k BB lines alone.

This offer is ONLY in towns that have UPC I'll bet and is designed to get you locked into their new 13 month contracts They will not accept a cancel request until the 12 months are up and then 30 days in advance and in writing only.

eircom have a substantial amount of surplus ADSL2+ card capacity in some areas and can switch someone from ADSL to ADSL2 in a jiffy. They probably eventually made a connection between ease of retention and ADSL2

The offer is only in NGN areas ...feck all NGN in the countryside where these is no UPC and no backhaul either ....and is seemingly ONLY open till friday...maybe until the end of March in a bundle.


1. The eircom broadband promotion is available to existing 8Mb NGB Advanced, Home Professional and NGB Regular customers only.
2. The promotional period is 31st January to 18th March 2011 inclusive.
3. Customers who sign up during the promotional period will receive the promotional offer for 12 months

Print THIS out FIRST to make sure you are not diddled if you go for it . These offers disappear forever once they are expired.

_Whimsical_

BArra wrote: »

they will send you a zyxel, which is terrible

i use a very old netopia 3347 and its better

I have a Netopia 2247 right now. Would I still be able to use it if I upgrade to 24mb? The guy I spoke to one the phone seemed quite adamant that I'd need the new modem. However when asked what brand modem it was his only answer was "a black one" so maybe he didn't know what he was talking about.

ArthurG wrote: »

Having previously tried the 24mb package, I reverted to 8 as I found my pings degraded quite a bit, very noticable when playing WOW.

Is it likely that it might be worse than the 8mb?
That's a pretty depressing thought. I don't fancy getting stuck with eircom for a year for a substandard service. If it's likely to be worse I'd cancel it in the next day or so.

ArthurG

Well I called tech support out of curiosity, and they confirmed that ngb faster packages all come with high interleaving on, and there is no option there. That was the problem last time around, sorry I can't remember the specific impact, but latency definately went up, which was a no-no for me.

Poochie05

_Whimsical_ wrote: »

I have a Netopia 2247 right now. Would I still be able to use it if I upgrade to 24mb? The guy I spoke to one the phone seemed quite adamant that I'd need the new modem. However when asked what brand modem it was his only answer was "a black one" so maybe he didn't know what he was talking about.

Well I was upgraded last week and sent a new router (Zyxel) but I haven't changed from the Netopia 3347 yet. It's definitely faster, I'm getting download speeds of around 10MB and before on 8MB NGB they were in and around 5-6MB. Given the things I've read about these new routers, I'm not sure I'll bother to install it ...

_Whimsical_

Poochie05 wrote: »

Well I was upgraded last week and sent a new router (Zyxel) but I haven't changed from the Netopia 3347 yet. It's definitely faster, I'm getting download speeds of around 10MB and before on 8MB NGB they were in and around 5-6MB. Given the things I've read about these new routers, I'm not sure I'll bother to install it ...

You did well to hang onto your Netopia. When the delivery guy arrived with my new modem today he insisted that he had to take the Netopia router away or he couldn't give me the new one. Unfortunately I let him take it. I'm regretting it now, although I'm still on the 8mb package as they aren't upgrading my area until Monday.

Poochie05

It may not be as bad as you fear, you could be pleasantly surprised!:)

Prisoner6409

_Whimsical_ wrote: »

You did well to hang onto your Netopia. When the delivery guy arrived with my new modem today he insisted that he had to take the Netopia router away or he couldn't give me the new one. Unfortunately I let him take it. I'm regretting it now, although I'm still on the 8mb package as they aren't upgrading my area until Monday.

How long did you have the netopia. AFAIK once you have it over 12 months it's yours, not Eircoms. As a matter of intrest is the new router they gave you draft n.

conor.hogan.2

Can there lines even handle half that speed? Genuine question.

BArra

Prisoner6409 wrote: »

How long did you have the netopia. AFAIK once you have it over 12 months it's yours, not Eircoms. As a matter of intrest is the new router they gave you draft n.

It's not a n router

_Whimsical_

Prisoner6409 wrote: »

How long did you have the netopia. AFAIK once you have it over 12 months it's yours, not Eircoms. As a matter of intrest is the new router they gave you draft n.

I'm seeing anything about it being n draft anywhere. I'm not sure what that is to be honest so I might be wrong about it.

So far I'm not too happy with the new arrangement. I've been on the phone to Eircom 4 times since Thurs due to outages. Since I've got the new modem my speed has been syncing at 2mb sometimes and 7 others. It had been constantly at 8mb for the last 2 years when I had the netopia. They tried increasing speed today and I got 12mb for awhile but it kept cutting out so it was downgraded to 7mb again! Also the modem keeps cutting out, it won't forward ports despite me following instructions and the little aerial at the back won't stay upright. I'd nearly pay more just to have a fully function 8mb back now.

Poochie05

Did anyone else who took up this offer find that they have also been changed Talktime package?
I specifically asked would this impact on the phone package I was on and the rep said no and sent me an email to that effect.
I have been changed to a package that is €4 more expensive, this is not a free upgrade:mad: The customer services lady tells me that my old Talktime package is no longer available so I can't be changed back to it. I had a feeling this wouldn't be as straightforward as they were claiming, that's why I asked for the email confirming nothing else would change.

Sponge Bob

Poochie05 wrote: »

Did anyone else who took up this offer find that they have also been changed Talktime package?

therefore they missold and you can move back to your old contract/service/port exactly as was. Raise a formal complaint in writing.