Telephone/Broadband service

creedp

I am seeking views from those who have exeprienced problems with obtaining a phone/broadband service for a new build. Im building a house just north of Drogheda town very close to a road with over 30 houses and have just been advised that because it would take a few poles top get a line to the house Eircom won't provide me with a fixed phone line or perish the thought broadband. I was offerred an SCS wireless service instead which is phoneline only.

I have to say I was flabergasted by this. 5 miles or so from a large town with houses all around and Eircome can't even provide me with a land line. How did it come to this. How in the dark ages did rural houses get access to phone lines? Why is it so unaffordable now??

In any case I am where I am it seems. I want a broadband as well as a telephone service so I was hoping someone could give me advice on best options. I know there are mobile services out there but my understanding of mobile broadband is that its not very good at the best of time both in terms of speed and reliability. Is there any other option out there at present, e.g. satellite. I will be installing satellite TV so wondering could I access broadband via a satellite service?

Apologies for lack of knowlwdge in this area - in reallity Im a complete dinosaur around technology even in its simplest form.

So all advice welcome

Thanks

Sponge Bob

creedp wrote: »

I am seeking views from those who have exeprienced problems with obtaining a phone/broadband service for a new build. Im building a house just north of Drogheda town very close to a road with over 30 houses and have just been advised that because it would take a few poles top get a line to the house Eircom won't provide me with a fixed phone line or perish the thought broadband. I was offerred an SCS wireless service instead which is phoneline only.

Long story this, bet you never got anything in writing either

Eircom are supposed to carry the full cost of a line install up to €6000, a pole costs €600. They are supposed to deliver this line within 1 year of order.

I have to say I was flabergasted by this. 5 miles or so from a large town with houses all around and Eircome can't even provide me with a land line. How did it come to this. How in the dark ages did rural houses get access to phone lines? Why is it so unaffordable now??

Raise a formal complaint with eircom and state you will only deal with them in writing ( search boards for eircom+formal+complaint) . If they do not cop on after 10 working days you can go to the regulator.

Subject "USO, Reasonable Request for service at a Fixed Location"

In any case I am where I am it seems. I want a broadband as well as a telephone service so I was hoping someone could give me advice on best options.

Where you are www.net1.ie or try www.digiweb.ie, you can run a phone line ofver the interwoogies for a lot less than an eircom line. Skype will give you an 01 number and all your outgoing calls for a year for €60.

dubhthach

Moved this thread from "Infrastructure" to "Broadband", OP you will probably get alot more in the way of helpful responses here.

-Dubh

creedp

Sponge Bob wrote: »

Long story this, bet you never got anything in writing either

Eircom are supposed to carry the full cost of a line install up to €6000, a pole costs €600. They are supposed to deliver this line within 1 year of order.




Raise a formal complaint with eircom and state you will only deal with them in writing ( search boards for eircom+formal+complaint) . If they do not cop on after 10 working days you can go to the regulator.

Subject "USO, Reasonable Request for service at a Fixed Location"


Where you are www.net1.ie or try www.digiweb.ie, you can run a phone line ofver the interwoogies for a lot less than an eircom line. Skype will give you an 01 number and all your outgoing calls for a year for €60.

Thanks for information and advice. I will get back to Eircom using your method of persuasion and see what the reaction will be. Its funny I got a call from a mobile number to advise me that I wouldn't get a landline service and when I asked for contact details to follow up this issue of to apply for the SCS service I was advised to get back on the mobile number!

By the way when you say 'run line over the interwoogies' this conjures up images of childrens' cartoons in my mind. Are you referring to the www? If so would you recommend going with skype for a telephone service and not going through Eircom at all? As I said earlier Im lost with this technology stuff and my other half is even worse. In my current house I switched to UPC for telephone/internet/TV and my wife is continuously giving out to me when the modem goes down and has to be rebooted - this wouldn't happen if we still had the eircom line

Thanks again

Sponge Bob

creedp wrote: »

By the way when you say 'run line over the interwoogies' this conjures up images of childrens' cartoons in my mind. Are you referring to the www? If so would you recommend going with skype for a telephone service and not going through Eircom at all?

Skype or Blueface.ie ( and Net1 themselves) give you phone numbers that you access over the Broadband .

You may also need this box or similar into which you plug a DECT cordless phone rather than calling from the PC itself.

Sponge Bob

creedp wrote: »

Thanks for information and advice. I will get back to Eircom using your method of persuasion and see what the reaction will be.

Complain by registered post

eircom Customer Care,
5th Floor,
Telephone House,
Marlborough Street,
Dublin 1.

1. You made a Reasonable Request for service at a Fixed Location" under the eircom USO obligation
2. Refusal to explain what it would actually cost to do so.
3 Refusal to write down their reason for refusal of Request for service at a Fixed Location, name the guy who rang you and give his number
4. Failure to provide you with an eircom UAN (= account number) after receipt of "Request for service at a Fixed Location"

State that you expect a written reply with UAN provided and installation date within 10 days as per their complaint procedure.

Mind you they have up to a year and certainly 6 months to install this line from the date of first request.

creedp

Sponge Bob wrote: »

Skype or Blueface.ie ( and Net1 themselves) give you phone numbers that you access over the Broadband .

You may also need this box or similar into which you plug a DECT cordless phone rather than calling from the PC itself.

Thanks Sponge Bob for the above and your later message on how to contact Eircom. I take it from this that I would still be better off installing an eircom phoneline and getting broadband via this line rather than opting for a wireless/satelite broadband service. It would appear the telephone service can be got using a variety of providers once the phone line is installed. Is that correct? Also I remember at some point seeing an add for UTV broadband and was wondering how it was accessed.

Sorry if my ramblings are pretty non-sensical:o

Sponge Bob

Telephone service is accessed over Fixed Wireless Broadband such as Digiweb or Net1 , it is always on as long as you have a box like the one I showed plugged in, ie it is not reliant on a computer being switched on.

Salvation

For €47 a month with net1 you get a good deal.

The phone is sold, its says 6MB but it is more like 7 to 10 MB solid up and down.

Cant fault them either, they know their stuff and keep things small but working well.

Have them now as my back up broadband when my vodafone DSL goes down

creedp

Salvation wrote: »

For €47 a month with net1 you get a good deal.

The phone is sold, its says 6MB but it is more like 7 to 10 MB solid up and down.

Cant fault them either, they know their stuff and keep things small but working well.

Have them now as my back up broadband when my vodafone DSL goes down

Eventually I got Net1 out to do a light of sight test and have been given the green light. They have sent me on paperwork to sign up. I am opting for the €47 a month option. If you pay 12 months in advance they provide free installation (€99). Is this worth doing give nthat you have to sign up for a
12 month contract in any case?

In addition to the connection charge they gave a list of optional but essential extras: a wireless router VOIP (2 phone) 4 port Linksys/Thompson (54g) router for €85; a Linksys ATA voice adaptor PAP2T-UK (€75); a siemens ggaset dect phone (€103.45) and an Ethernet LAN plug adaptor kit 80mb/s to transmit internet using the mains wiring (€99)

I already have a Siemems gigaset and a Voyager 2110 Broadband ASDL Router from when I had a BT service. I presume phone is OK but with my existing router work with the NET1 package?

Also I presume I still need the ATA voice adaptor but do I need the ethernet LAN plug adaptor kit? I have Cat5 connection in every room so would I need this adaptor to use these connections?

As I have said before Im useless with this stuff so any and all advice very muich welcomed:)

creedp

creedp wrote: »

Eventually I got Net1 out to do a light of sight test and have been given the green light. They have sent me on paperwork to sign up. I am opting for the €47 a month option. If you pay 12 months in advance they provide free installation (€99). Is this worth doing give nthat you have to sign up for a
12 month contract in any case?

In addition to the connection charge they gave a list of optional but essential extras: a wireless router VOIP (2 phone) 4 port Linksys/Thompson (54g) router for €85; a Linksys ATA voice adaptor PAP2T-UK (€75); a siemens ggaset dect phone (€103.45) and an Ethernet LAN plug adaptor kit 80mb/s to transmit internet using the mains wiring (€99)

I already have a Siemems gigaset and a Voyager 2110 Broadband ASDL Router from when I had a BT service. I presume phone is OK but with my existing router work with the NET1 package?

Also I presume I still need the ATA voice adaptor but do I need the ethernet LAN plug adaptor kit? I have Cat5 connection in every room so would I need this adaptor to use these connections?

As I have said before Im useless with this stuff so any and all advice very muich welcomed:)

I realise the above is very meandering so I'll narrow it down to 2 Qs - would I be better off taking the router specified by Net1 above than using my existing Voyager 2110 ASDL router - Is the voyager even compatitable with the Net1 service?

Secondly, if I have my 'hub' in the attic for all cat5 cables do I have the locate the router in the attic or can I connect the Net1 external feed into the Cat5 system and locate the router at a suitable location in the house?

Thanks

jor el

creedp wrote: »

Is the voyager even compatitable with the Net1 service?

No, an ADSL modem is no good yo you here.

creedp wrote: »

Secondly, if I have my 'hub' in the attic for all cat5 cables do I have the locate the router in the attic or can I connect the Net1 external feed into the Cat5 system and locate the router at a suitable location in the house?

The Net1 connection should go straight to the WAN port of the router, before doing anything else. You can locate it anywhere you want, but don't put anything between these two. After that, your internal CAT5 network can be connected to the router's LAN ports.

creedp

jor el wrote: »

No, an ADSL modem is no good yo you here.



The Net1 connection should go straight to the WAN port of the router, before doing anything else. You can locate it anywhere you want, but don't put anything between these two. After that, your internal CAT5 network can be connected to the router's LAN ports.

Thanks for that clarification jor el. The Net1 people werre saying that I shouldn't locate router in attic as could cause poor wireless reception around house. But I suppose if I connect router to cat5 network then I will have wired connection throughtout house so should be fine. Finally, could I connect a wireless adaptor to one of the cat5 connection in the house to provide a wireless signal for a laptop etc?

Thanks

jor el

You could connect a wireless AP in a different area of the house if you wanted.

Sponge Bob

Make sure the 2 wifi APs are using DIFFERENT channels in the house. ( channels 1-11 are the options but most people use 1 6 7 or 11)

creedp

Sponge Bob wrote: »

Make sure the 2 wifi APs are using DIFFERENT channels in the house. ( channels 1-11 are the options but most people use 1 6 7 or 11)

Thanks Sponge Bob .. I'll pass that onto installer

Sponge Bob

A free app called vistastumbler will tell you what channel you use right now.