broadband - excess broadband charges?

lightspeed

hi ok so heres my story

i was with perlico for my broadband then when eircom were updating their lines from 3mb to 8mb speed they screwed up and knocked my line down so we had no phone or internet. after about 2 weeks a guy came out and fixed the line but my internet was still down and after further days and frustrated calls to perlico
i switched back to eircom cause it seem as though eircom had successfully sabotaged perlicos abilty to supply the broadband. I think it was 6 weeks till i could switch from perlico to eircom due to some legal reasons they cant be seen to be poaching customers which i thought was qutie odd. but anyway i signed up to eircom by phone and there was no mention of excess broadband charges for going over 10 gb of broadband usage.
its working out at an extra €15 -€20 each month.
my dad pays the bill and never noticed it before. i only just looked at it when the bill was quite high and so we have been paying these charges for over 6 months. i told them i had never been told of these excess charges when signing up to eircom and then they argued that it was advertised in the media and i would have seen it was coming from previous bills but i diddnt get any as i was with perlico at the time. They said for €5 a month more i would have unlimited broadband but i would have to renew a 12 month contract and there is no way im doing that cause they have scammed me for the last time.

flyingsnail

A word or warning, their unlimited broadband has a usage cap too. :rolleyes:

Paulw

Every broadband supplier has a usage limit. Even the "unlimited" packages have a limit. It just differs from operator to operator. But, the actual limit is normally listed in their fine print in the T&Cs.

But, using that amount of data, you must be downloading movies or something (Eircom will cut you off if you're illegally downloading music/movies).

lightspeed

really what a scam.so its limited unlimited broadband, even before i was with perlico i was with eircom for a few years and back then on the 3mb speed it was unlimited. They first guy i spoke with told me there would not have been these charges on the 3 mb speed. Am i entitled to see the contract i agreed to? it would have been over the phone and i really doubt they would have a recorded copy but im quite certain that i was not given the choice of 3mb speed or 8 mb speed and these excess broadband charges, so is it a valid contract? if so are they not required to issue me a copy of the contract ive agreed to?

lightspeed

no ive noty been downloading any movies and was only xbox a few times, there is no way im using more than before. as i mentioned we signed up over the phone so there was no fine print and no mention on the phone of it. i had awful trouble getting them to send me the eircom modem but over the past 2 months that has broken down a lot. it would lose signal and i would just turn it off and on again but then it recently it got the point were it seemed to get sicker and and just couldnt stay on and all the lights on the modem were flashing very fast so i dunno if the modem i was using screwed up and made it appear as though i was using it more than i actually was. im now using an older netopia modem from when i as with eircom before and a lot of the time the internet is painfully slow. So since going from 3mb to 8 mb my internet costs a lot more and is much slower.
is it a valid contract and do i have a legal right to a copy of the contract that i actually agreed to?

Paulw

Their terms and conditions are on their website.

By taking their broadband service you implicitly agreed to abide by these terms and conditions.

Full written contracts, with full terms and conditions are seldom sent out these days.

MagicSean

Paulw wrote: »

Their terms and conditions are on their website.

By taking their broadband service you implicitly agreed to abide by these terms and conditions.

Full written contracts, with full terms and conditions are seldom sent out these days.

How can they justify having terms and conditions on the website when the product they are supplying is to provide access to the internet? You have to purchase the product before you can see the T&Cs for buying it.

Also, how can they give you a limit without providing any method of monitoring that limit. How are you supposed to know if you are exceeding the "unlimited" limit if there is no facility for you to measure your usage.

lightspeed

thats also a question i have as ive not downloaded much over the past 2 months and i use the internet each day for several hours but just for surfing the web or maybe a bit of xbox so how can i tell if i went over 10gb of download usage? i think the dodgy eircom modem may be the cause some how but how i can i prove otherwise? whats to stop them charging more excess charges next month even if i never turn the damn broadband on?

blueythebear

Seanbeag1 wrote: »

How can they justify having terms and conditions on the website when the product they are supplying is to provide access to the internet? You have to purchase the product before you can see the T&Cs for buying it.

Also, how can they give you a limit without providing any method of monitoring that limit. How are you supposed to know if you are exceeding the "unlimited" limit if there is no facility for you to measure your usage.

There would be programs available to monitor your usage so you know you're not going over the limit. Unfortunately, you have constructive notice of the terms and conditions even if you do not have the totality of the written contract. Essentially, if the company point you to where you can find the "small print" then you are on notice of it and have accepted same by proceeding with the contract.

not even wrong

lightspeed wrote: »

no ive noty been downloading any movies and was only xbox a few times, there is no way im using more than before.

Playing games actually uses almost no bandwidth. Unless you're downloading movies or buying games on Steam or watching high res youtubes or streaming music 24/7 you should not have to worry about the cap. Just browsing the web/facebook/whatever will not put you over the limit.

but then it recently it got the point were it seemed to get sicker and and just couldnt stay on and all the lights on the modem were flashing very fast so i dunno if the modem i was using screwed up and made it appear as though i was using it more than i actually was. im now using an older netopia modem from when i as with eircom before and a lot of the time the internet is painfully slow.

I would check and see if a neighbour is logged into your WiFi and using it to download. The Netopia modems in particular are notoriously insecure.

lightspeed

blueythebear wrote: »

There would be programs available to monitor your usage so you know you're not going over the limit. Unfortunately, you have constructive notice of the terms and conditions even if you do not have the totality of the written contract. Essentially, if the company point you to where you can find the "small print" then you are on notice of it and have accepted same by proceeding with the contract.

i still dont see how its legal? so what if part of their contract also said i would owe them say €1000 at the end of the year and it was not mentioned on the phone when i agreed the contract just like this case. would they be entitled to €1000. how is it not misrepresantation to not dislclose a fundamental piece of information about a contract before the othe party agrees to be legally beound by that contract? You mention small print but it was all over the phone, no contract ever sent out and such information was not not given AT THE TIME of agreement. If this is legal then does this not mean anybody cam deliberately not disclose information in a contract if its over the phone and any hidden charges or conditions would have to be met?

lightspeed

not even wrong wrote: »

Playing games actually uses almost no bandwidth. Unless you're downloading movies or buying games on Steam or watching high res youtubes or streaming music 24/7 you should not have to worry about the cap. Just browsing the web/facebook/whatever will not put you over the limit.
I would check and see if a neighbour is logged into your WiFi and using it to download. The Netopia modems in particular are notoriously insecure.

Thanks that kind amakes sense. is their anyway i can tell if someone is leeching off of my broadband?

srsly78

If your WIFI doesn't have a password people are probably leeching.

If your wifi uses WEP encryption people are probably leeching. Old eircom routers had this, ones newly deployed use better security.

Note: If you choose a silly wifi password that's in the dictionary you could get hacked even if using proper security (WPA/WPA2). Even with proper password you could get hacked, but it's very unlikely.

Log into your router and one of the screens shows a list of who is connected. Take a screenshot of that, and make sure everything on the list is one of yours (note that smartphones, game consoles etc, anything that uses wifi will show, not just pcs). Also check logs.

Karenina

Paulw wrote: »

Every broadband supplier has a usage limit. Even the "unlimited" packages have a limit. It just differs from operator to operator. But, the actual limit is normally listed in their fine print in the T&Cs.

But, using that amount of data, you must be downloading movies or something (Eircom will cut you off if you're illegally downloading music/movies).

So why do they LIE and say "unlimited" when they are limited, dickwad?

rameire

Karenina wrote: »

So why do they LIE and say "unlimited" when they are limited, dickwad?

because it is a conspiracy, dont you know,
we are all in on it.

Karenina

rameire wrote: »

because it is a conspiracy, dont you know,
we are all in on it.

Well, I am definitely wondering about the motives of those on here defending Eircom. There are definitely employed by them.

MagicSean

Karenina wrote: »

Well, I am definitely wondering about the motives of those on here defending Eircom. There are definitely employed by them.

It's actually a debate on contract law.

Zaph

Karenina will be taking a short break from Boards so that they can reconsider their posting style.

Pat Mustard

MAGNET

That is all.

Procrastastudy

Eircoms DL limits are very low IIRC check what yours is OP.

If you are worried about being hacked switch off the Wi-fi and get a nice long cable.

Been with UPC for years at this stage - I've only once been bumped up to the the 'mental download' package where I managed to go over the 500GB cap 3 months in a row.

Pat Mustard

Procrastastudy wrote: »

I've only once been bumped up to the the 'mental download' package where I managed to go over the 500GB cap 3 months in a row.

If you'll excuse the enquiry, how in hell did you manage that!?

Procrastastudy

Aside from my addiction to boards.ie and having more porn than god?

In all seriousness we use the broadband for everything - we don't have sky or UPC, just Netflix. We constantly stream music and I was downloading a shedload of games from Steam. Doesn't any self respecting nerd go through the download cap around Steam Sale time?

We also use Skype instead of the phone and my wife witters in for hours with video on.