Eircom Wireless Router Upgrade

summerhead

Hi,
We were on the eircom talktime anutime + NGB Advanced (8MB) package and I got the call on the upgrade to the NGB Ultimate package (24MB).No extra charge and the package was attractive. All I had to do was replace the old Netopia modem/router box with a new one and give eircom support a call if I had problems with the new box. Previously we had very few problems with the old Netopia, the wireless signal strong and consistent on the upper floor of the house, allowing on line gaming. The new box (ZyXEL) is a poor replacement as far as I can see. The signal is prone to drop and the wireless signal is much weaker. I contacted the support people on two occasions and they were efficient and did their technical work to improve the stability etc. The second guy I spoke to was particularly helpful and understood my issues. I contacted the customer complaints section, more as an aid to the eircom front line people to highlight this problem to their management and perhaps flag some crucial eircom in house questions to those who decided to give this box a run in the consumer market. The person who took was call was sarcastic, unhelpful and more than a little off hand. I can live with that, no problem. We all have our off days, even when dealing with the public, although if I was employed by eircom I wouldn't want this co-worker fending complaints from customers. He also smugly told me about the fact that eircom don't guarantee the signal inside the home-fair enough but surely this is a tad disingenuous. In most cases such as this, the end user only sees that the in home wireless is now inferior, despite the higher speed broadband. eircom made the upgrade call unsolicited, I agreed, the new equipment is inferior, my broadband experience is not as good as previous and I am tying up eircom resources (and my scarce time) chasing new problems.

My main question is this, do eircom intend replacing this ZyXEL box soon?

The technical guy intimated that the company were planning a replacement in August/September but a workaround would be to
1. purchase and configure a 3rd party router/wireless box or
2. purchase a signal booster to push the signal to other areas of the house.

I appreciate that you guys can't be to explicit on this forum but it seems to me that eircom may have shot themselves in both feet with this one if indeed this wireless facility has degraded. I have been with eircom for over twenty years and I suppose could be viewed as one of those who has been reluctant to change. However, I will have to consider those other providers who constantly bombard me with offers of their broadband service, despite my abhorrence of their marketing tactics (hey I know they are far from perfect-I've read the threads)

Thanks.

eircom: Mark

summerhead wrote: »

Hi,
We were on the eircom talktime anutime + NGB Advanced (8MB) package and I got the call on the upgrade to the NGB Ultimate package (24MB).No extra charge and the package was attractive. All I had to do was replace the old Netopia modem/router box with a new one and give eircom support a call if I had problems with the new box. Previously we had very few problems with the old Netopia, the wireless signal strong and consistent on the upper floor of the house, allowing on line gaming. The new box (ZyXEL) is a poor replacement as far as I can see. The signal is prone to drop and the wireless signal is much weaker. I contacted the support people on two occasions and they were efficient and did their technical work to improve the stability etc. The second guy I spoke to was particularly helpful and understood my issues. I contacted the customer complaints section, more as an aid to the eircom front line people to highlight this problem to their management and perhaps flag some crucial eircom in house questions to those who decided to give this box a run in the consumer market. The person who took was call was sarcastic, unhelpful and more than a little off hand. I can live with that, no problem. We all have our off days, even when dealing with the public, although if I was employed by eircom I wouldn't want this co-worker fending complaints from customers. He also smugly told me about the fact that eircom don't guarantee the signal inside the home-fair enough but surely this is a tad disingenuous. In most cases such as this, the end user only sees that the in home wireless is now inferior, despite the higher speed broadband. eircom made the upgrade call unsolicited, I agreed, the new equipment is inferior, my broadband experience is not as good as previous and I am tying up eircom resources (and my scarce time) chasing new problems.

My main question is this, do eircom intend replacing this ZyXEL box soon?

The technical guy intimated that the company were planning a replacement in August/September but a workaround would be to
1. purchase and configure a 3rd party router/wireless box or
2. purchase a signal booster to push the signal to other areas of the house.

I appreciate that you guys can't be to explicit on this forum but it seems to me that eircom may have shot themselves in both feet with this one if indeed this wireless facility has degraded. I have been with eircom for over twenty years and I suppose could be viewed as one of those who has been reluctant to change. However, I will have to consider those other providers who constantly bombard me with offers of their broadband service, despite my abhorrence of their marketing tactics (hey I know they are far from perfect-I've read the threads)

Thanks.

Hi summerhead,

I'm sorry to hear about the weaker wireless signal that you are getting through the Zyxel modem. Can you private message me with your telephone number or account number so I can look into your contact history with support and see if there is anything we can do from here to improve the wireless signal strength.

Thanks, Mark

summerhead

Ta Mark. Will PM now.

eircom: Mark

summerhead wrote: »

Ta Mark. Will PM now.

Hi summerhead,

Thanks for sending on your details, this may take a few days to investigate but I should be back to you later in the week.

Thanks, Mark

Sprinter12

Hi
I also have lots problems with zyxel router, before i use old silver netopia and everything works great but zyxel is bad wi-fi signal is very weak and also i can't get to work my ps3 media server and my ipad media server AIR VIDEO SERVER(both work fine on netopia).

eircom: Mark

Sprinter12 wrote: »

Hi
I also have lots problems with zyxel router, before i use old silver netopia and everything works great but zyxel is bad wi-fi signal is very weak and also i can't get to work my ps3 media server and my ipad media server AIR VIDEO SERVER(both work fine on netopia).

Hi

Have you tried the suport tutorials for online gaming set up by broadband technical support - http://bit.ly/prKvIm

It may be of some help.

Thanks, Mark