Eircom broadband problem

daenerysstormborn3

We have Eircom phone and broadband for the last 7 years. For the past month we have had little or no internet access. We have been on the phone to Eircom every single day and of course their "fix" lasts for the duration of the phone call and then back to square one.

We have had a technician out to the house and we were sent a new router. This has made no difference. When the technician was at the house he told my partner that there could be moisture in Eircom's lines, when my partner mentioned this to the person on the phone today he was asked why didn't he follow up on this? Er, since when is it the job of a customer to follow-up on that sort of problem??

My partner is trying to run a business here and when he can't get online to check stock and prices he is losing out on sales. This problem has become detrimental to his business.

Everytime we ring up the person goes through all of the same steps and always seems reluctant to believe that there is a problem.

We have been told the exchange outside our house is fine. We'll be after having a whole day of no internet access and Eircom will tell us that they can see no interference on the broadband from their end.

My partner spent 2 hours on the phone yesterday and then this morning the problem is back.

I'm hoping the Eircom rep here will be able to help turn this around.

thefinalstage

pixiebean22 wrote: »

We have Eircom phone and broadband for the last 7 years. For the past month we have had little or no internet access. We have been on the phone to Eircom every single day and of course their "fix" lasts for the duration of the phone call and then back to square one.

We have had a technician out to the house and we were sent a new router. This has made no difference.

My partner is trying to run a business here and when he can't get online to check stock and prices he is losing out on sales. This problem has become detrimental to his business.

Everytime we ring up the person goes through all of the same steps and always seems reluctant to believe that there is a problem.

We have been told the exchange outside our house is fine. We'll be after having a whole day of no internet access and Eircom will tell us that they can see no interference on the broadband from their end.

My partner spent 2 hours on the phone yesterday and then this morning the problem is back.

I'm hoping the Eircom rep here will be able to help turn this around.

The question here is are you using the wireless or wired connection?

daenerysstormborn3

Both, and both are acting up. One pc is connected to the router and then there is a second pc and a laptop that run off the wifi.

daenerysstormborn3

My partner has just been on the phone to Eircom again after being unable to get online again and he was basically told by the person on the other end of the phone that it's tough luck that it won't work. So we'll just have to put up with it until it magically resolves itself because that's what Eircom seem to believe is going to happen.

Avns1s

Where are you based, are there other options for your broadband there?

daenerysstormborn3

Based in a rural area. There are other options, we've already began looking into them. Definitely won't be staying with Eircom after the very pleasant phone calls we've had with two of their customer service reps this afternoon.

Bubblefett

My boyfriends family went through problems like this with eircom- knocked back and forth between customer service reps, technician out, router replaced and so on.
They found it very stressful and decided to leave eircom as a result, as did I (having seen how badly they were treated). Make sure if you decided to leave you give them their 30days notice and record all the details or they'll charge you for breaking contract.
Hope they sort it out for you

eircom: Ant

pixiebean22 wrote: »

We have Eircom phone and broadband for the last 7 years. For the past month we have had little or no internet access. We have been on the phone to Eircom every single day and of course their "fix" lasts for the duration of the phone call and then back to square one.

We have had a technician out to the house and we were sent a new router. This has made no difference. When the technician was at the house he told my partner that there could be moisture in Eircom's lines, when my partner mentioned this to the person on the phone today he was asked why didn't he follow up on this? Er, since when is it the job of a customer to follow-up on that sort of problem??

My partner is trying to run a business here and when he can't get online to check stock and prices he is losing out on sales. This problem has become detrimental to his business.

Everytime we ring up the person goes through all of the same steps and always seems reluctant to believe that there is a problem.

We have been told the exchange outside our house is fine. We'll be after having a whole day of no internet access and Eircom will tell us that they can see no interference on the broadband from their end.

My partner spent 2 hours on the phone yesterday and then this morning the problem is back.

I'm hoping the Eircom rep here will be able to help turn this around.

Hi pixiebean22,

Thanks for your post.

If your fundamental issue is with your phoneline, then this will affect your broadband.
it is therefore imperative that your phone line is to assessed first before considering your broadband. Once any issue with the phoneline is resolved, your broadband and Internet will likely work fine.

To test your phoneline, just call int the Phoneline Faults Team 1901 - The Faults Team will be able to assess and if necessary assign an engineering crew to fully resolve any phoneline issue.

Once this is established and your phoneline is working correctly, you should test your broadband. If you're still having a problem with your broadband connection then you will need to contact eircom Broadband Support.

Before you do this, and to save your time, please try the following :

Try to test your modem on your main phone socket, as advised below: Shut down all other computer devices (or games console(s), PS3, etc). Connect just one computer by Ethernet cable only and put the modem on the master phone socket. Please see the broadband check below -

http://bit.ly/BBcheckList

Remember to temporarily shut down all applications, while you are testing your broadband connection. This will isolate your connection and help Technical Support to rule out these options. Anti-virus, firewall(s), and other applications are sometimes difficult to close down, ever if you temporarily disable them, so try to exit them if possible. Try to avoid using heavy bandwidth programmes like Skype when testing your broadband.

Now test your conection again and if you're still experiencing broadband issues, then call directly into Broadband Support:

Broadband Technical Support : 1890 260260 (locall); Hours : 08:00 - 22:00 (7 days).

Please retain your case id /reference from Technical Support, as this will speed up your call and help if you need to follow this up. If you let me know or PM your case id /reference and I will check this with Broadband Support.

Best wishes,
Ant

daenerysstormborn3

Ant thank you for your reply.

We have been speaking to Eircom nearly everyday for the past month. I would assume that they have exercised every possible cause at this stage, including checking the phone line, particularly because a technician has been out to the house.

In relation to the rest of your post we have done this nearly everyday for the past month, 3 times on Friday alone after 6 phone calls to Eircom.

Unfortunately it seems Eircom have just given up and this is evident from our most recent telephone conversation with one of your reps when we were basically told that's just the way it is and we have to put up with it until it miraculously fixes itself.

eircom: Ant

pixiebean22 wrote: »

Ant thank you for your reply.

We have been speaking to Eircom nearly everyday for the past month. I would assume that they have exercised every possible cause at this stage, including checking the phone line, particularly because a technician has been out to the house.

In relation to the rest of your post we have done this nearly everyday for the past months, 3 times on Friday alone after 6 phone calls to Eircom.

Unfortunately it seems Eircom have just given up and this is evident from our most recent telephone conversation with one of your reps when we were basically told that's just the way it is and we have to put up with it until it miraculously fixes itself.

Thanks,

I'm still not sure if your query is related directly to your phoneline and if your phoneline works (you can make and receive phone calls). If your phoneline doesn't work then I can check if there is a current fault loggged with eircom phone faults.

If your phone line works (i.e: you can make & receive phone calls), then I can check what broadband technical support have advised that you need to do.

Please PM your phone number and I will take a look at this tomorrow.

Best wishes,
Ant

daenerysstormborn3

The problem isn't with the phone line, it's with our broadband connection. I'm pretty sure that's clear from my first post and the title of the thread.

Broadband technical support have advised us do the same thing everytime we have called for the past month. The problem resolves itself for a few minutes, sometimes a few hours and then returns and we cannot get online in the capacity that we are paying for.

daenerysstormborn3

Having the same problems again this morning. My partner couldn't get online at all to price up new stock that was delivered this morning so he rang eircom. Spoke to another unhelpful broadband technical support rep who spent the entire conversation interrupting my partner, speaking over him and contradicting him. "Well everything looks fine from our end so there's no problem" - why are we ringing then??? This rep was so rude on the phone that my partner then rang Eircom Complaints. He explained the situation, in particular how this problem is costing his business, and was put on hold for 5 minutes. The person he spoke to had no interest in the matter and also contradicted everything my partner was saying. He ended the phone call by saying "You will have to deal solely with broadband technical support. Thank you for calling Eircom Customer Complaints. Have a good day" - are you guys for real? I don't care about your complaint so go away?!

I am contacting Comreg immediately.

eircom: Ant

pixiebean22 wrote: »

The problem isn't with the phone line, it's with our broadband connection. I'm pretty sure that's clear from my first post and the title of the thread.

Broadband technical support have advised us do the same thing everytime we have called for the past month. The problem resolves itself for a few minutes, sometimes a few hours and then returns and we cannot get online in the capacity that we are paying for.

Thanks for your post.

I appreciate your position and apologise for any bad experience you've had with our Customer Support. If you PM your phone or eircom Account number I will investigate your broadband case history with Technical Support.

Your broadband connection obviously needs to be addressed. Technical Support, by nature, will often be scientific or objective. The primary aim in troubleshooting a connection problem is to locate where a fault lies; either on the customer's internal wiring setup, the broadband modem itself, or the phone line or with the exchange.

Technical support are trained to be professional and highly skilled at dealing with all broadband connection problems. The starting point in troubleshooting is to isolate the broadband modem and phoneline first. This can be the most difficult and part of troubleshooting and it is very important that they get this right. It can also be the most fraustrating part for the customer. However, once this is done, the Support agent can troubleshoot back to try to find the fault. If they can't locate this, they will escalate to the second level support process, which will normally involve arranging for an engineering crew to investigate this issue further.

Again, I am sorry for any bad experience you've had with Customer Support and can say that this is not the norm.

Let me know your phone number or eircom Account number and I will chase this up with the Technical Support team.

Kind regards,
Ant

daenerysstormborn3

Another technician came to our house today and the broadband was working when he left and now it's not working again.

We were told to operate all our computers in the same room, that the router isn't designed for multiple machines (even though it worked fine up to a month ago and did so for years), that his only job is to get the router working and whether the broadband then works on our computers etc. is irrelevant to eircom, the problem is with our software, we must have changed something (we haven't changed anything), pointing the finger at everyone except themselves.

I will pm you the line number now.

eircom: Ant

pixiebean22 wrote: »

Another technician came to our house today and the broadband was working when he left and now it's not working again.

We were told to operate all our computers in the same room, that the router isn't designed for multiple machines (even though it worked fine up to a month ago and did so for years), that his only job is to get the router working and whether the broadband then works on our computers etc. is irrelevant to eircom, the problem is with our software, we must have changed something (we haven't changed anything), pointing the finger at everyone except themselves.

I will pm you the line number now.

Thanks pixiebean22,

I will re-escalate this through Technical Support when I receive PM with your phone number.

Cheers,
Ant

daenerysstormborn3

My partner just rang Eircom to enquire about the cancellation procedure.

The first person he spoke to said because the name on the account changed (my partner's father passed away in October 2011 and my partner took over the account) and that it would cost €400 to cancel the account.

The second person he spoke to said that because a new router was sent out that created a new contract (whether this is BS or not we were never advised of this) and therefore there would be cancellation fees.

The third person he spoke to said that he would have to pay €90 to cancel his account, that he does not have to provide any notice and that once he cancels the contract it will take immediate effect.

Who to believe??

All of this after an evening and morning of an extremely slow broadband connection. Again.

eircom: Ant

pixiebean22 wrote: »

My partner just rang Eircom to enquire about the cancellation procedure.

The first person he spoke to said because the name on the account changed (my partner's father passed away in October 2011 and my partner took over the account) and that it would cost €400 to cancel the account.

The second person he spoke to said that because a new router was sent out that created a new contract (whether this is BS or not we were never advised of this) and therefore there would be cancellation fees.

The third person he spoke to said that he would have to pay €90 to cancel his account, that he does not have to provide any notice and that once he cancels the contract it will take immediate effect.

Who to believe??

All of this after an evening and morning of an extremely slow broadband connection. Again.

Thanks for your post.

I have replied to your PM, though if you haven't received this, I have edited the same below.

If you still need help with administrating your eircom Account after work has been completed, as advised below, Customer care will be able to help you with this.

From your current technical case (4*****) which is now re-esclated again to eircom engineers I see that they plan to revisit your premises. The engineers have been monitoring your broadband connection for more than 48hrs, while technical support have been monitoring your broadband for a number of days.


Your technical case history with Technical Support stateas that Technical Support have also recently logged on remotely to your modem. They are currently monitoring your modem activity and able to view your computer devices connected solidly across the eircom network.

From what they are seeing the following computer devices have been recently connected to the modem: All diagnostic tests, traceroutes and pings indicate good sync and a a solid connection over the eircom Authentication servers. Technical Support advise that your modem firewall is currently lowered and the wireless channel has been switched to facilitate your computer devices in connecting to the wireless modem.

Edited computer devices recently connected :

Host NameIP AddressMACConnectionStateActive Rate
j----PC192.168.1.1**:F*:6D:5*:E*:2E802.11Activen/a
192.1**.1.3**.6:F*:5*:3*:0*802.11Activen/a
m----m-PC192.168.1.6*8:A*:C4.C:B*:10EthernetActiven/a
j----s-PC192.168.1.20*:2*:9*:2*:B*:C0EthernetActiven/a
j----s-PC192.168.1.7*C:6*:7*:2*:5*:54EthernetActiven/a

Diagnostic checks from your modem indicate good ping times

PING home.eircom.net (8*.4*.3*.8): 56 data bytes
64 bytes from 8*.4*.3*.8: icmp_seq=0 ttl=59 time=30.0 ms
64 bytes from 8*.4*.3*.8: icmp_seq=1 ttl=59 time=30.0 ms
64 bytes from 86.43.3*.8: icmp_seq=2 ttl=59 time=30.0 ms

--- home.eircom.net ping statistics ---
3 packets transmitted, 3 packets received, 0% packet loss
round-trip min/avg/max = 30.0/30.0/30.0 ms
--IPv4 Test Fin--

While work is in progress your technical case will remain escalated until all eircom related issues are repaired, and eircom engineers are completely satisfied with this.

Until all works are completed no further action can be taken by customer service departments. If you need an update at any stage during this ongoing work, please call into Broadband Support, below:

However if you wish to cancel your eircom Account then you will need to contact customer service directly. No member of staff can do this on your behalf.

if you advise customer service that you wish to cancel then eircom engineers will discontinue to monitor your broadband and will not visit onsite tomorrow as planned..

However if you decide to wait until the engineers have completed their checks fully then please contact Broadband Support directly if you need a further update. Engineers have your phone contact number if they need to contact you directly or text you with a further update.

Please quote your case id (4******) in any correspondence with Broadband Support as this will help you follow up on your case quickly.

Best wishes,
Ant

daenerysstormborn3

The technician came to our house today and the only work he carried out was in relation to the eircom line outside our house. He said he replaced some wires. No problem with our broadband since then but time will tell. This is after he told us on Tuesday that "there's no point in me doing any work outside because it won't make a difference" and this is after the original technician that came out here nearly 3 weeks ago stated that "the problem is probably with the eircom line. There's probably moisture in the lines causing the spikes in broadband access". This information does not appear to have been relayed because eircom were not aware of the first technician's opinion. The second technician dismissed the notion of there being a problem with the eircom line straight away but now the work has been carried out, no problem, for now.

What a shambles of a company? Nearly 5 weeks to sort out a problem that a technician diagnosed 2 weeks in and eircom chose to do nothing about.

eircom: Ant

pixiebean22 wrote: »

The technician came to our house today and the only work he carried out was in relation to the eircom line outside our house. He said he replaced some wires. No problem with our broadband since then but time will tell. This is after he told us on Tuesday that "there's no point in me doing any work outside because it won't make a difference" and this is after the original technician that came out here nearly 3 weeks ago stated that "the problem is probably with the eircom line. There's probably moisture in the lines causing the spikes in broadband access". This information does not appear to have been relayed because eircom were not aware of the first technician's opinion. The second technician dismissed the notion of there being a problem with the eircom line straight away but now the work has been carried out, no problem, for now.

What a shambles of a company? Nearly 5 weeks to sort out a problem that a technician diagnosed 2 weeks in and eircom chose to do nothing about.

Glad to hear your broadband is now working again. Technicians have advised that they have completed works, after 2 separate visits onsite and at your premises.

Monitor your connection, and if you've any broadband issues over the weekend please contact Technical Support right away.

Broadband Technical Support : 1890 260260 (locall); Hours : 08:00 - 22:00 (7 days).

Best wishes,
Ant

daenerysstormborn3

Lo and behold the problem is back. 3 times today a page showing the message "No DSL connection" has shown up on our PCs and laptop, lasting a few minutes approximately, each time all of the lights have gone off on the router but then gradually have all come back on and access goes back to normal.

We have logged another fault with eircom. Back on the merry-go-round :rolleyes:

birchtree

pixiebean22 wrote: »

Lo and behold the problem is back. 3 times today a page showing the message "No DSL connection" has shown up on our PCs and laptop, lasting a few minutes approximately, each time all of the lights have gone off on the router but then gradually have all come back on and access goes back to normal.

We have logged another fault with eircom. Back on the merry-go-round :rolleyes:

I have eircom just under a year, and it worked fine for the first half of the year. Then the connection started to drop. Then it got worse. Now its on-and-off dozens time per day.

Getting the 'no DNS connection' error a lot, among other issues. Can somebody advise is that to do purely with eircom service, or are there any settings to be checked out on my laptop, like firewall?

daenerysstormborn3

No internet access and no DSL light for at least a half hour now.

foggy_lad

pixiebean22 wrote: »

No internet access and no DSL light for at least a half hour now.

You should get someone in to check the phone line from the eircom box outside on your wall to your phone sockets as eircom are not responsible for any wiring inside your house

daenerysstormborn3

Our phone is working fine so I don't think the phone line is the problem.

Also, the technician told us in his own words that "Eircom are responsible for all wiring right up to the router, they are not responsible for how the router distributes the signal around the house" - the last technician said those exact words.

eircom: Mark

pixiebean22 wrote: »

Our phone is working fine so I don't think the phone line is the problem.

Also, the technician told us in his own words that "Eircom are responsible for all wiring right up to the router, they are not responsible for how the router distributes the signal around the house" - the last technician said those exact words.

Hi pixiebean22,

I had broadband support check the connection history through the modem, yes there have been a few disconnections since the engineer was out last week.

Have you been able to access the internet at all over the last few days?

Thanks, Mark

daenerysstormborn3

We have had intermittent internet access but even when we can get online the connection is extremely slow. The router is also still going offline and then restarting itself.

Our ping test shows download at between 0.5 - 1.5 and upload at 0.3 - 0.5.

eircom: Mark

pixiebean22 wrote: »

We have had intermittent internet access but even when we can get online the connection is extremely slow. The router is also still going offline and then restarting itself.

Our ping test shows download at between 0.5 - 1.5 and upload at 0.3 - 0.5.

Hi pixiebean22,

Would you be willing to try lowering your speed slightly to 2MB to see if that improves your broadband connection?

Thanks, Mark

xil

You may have problem with the router, especially the restarting itself fault may be connected to firmware bugs etc.

Get this router (its should be about 100e), however I own it and very happy user after switching from dlink 655 and on the reviews online its one of the top shelf ones:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/ASUS-RT-N56U-Wireless-Hardware-streaming/dp/B004TPWRSK/

It will be faster and cheaper than trying to get a router from them etc.

Should be easy to set up as well.

If after this, the problem doesn't go away, at least you will be pretty much sure that there is no issues on your side.

-x

daenerysstormborn3

Since my earlier message we have had no internet access whatsoever. Internet access has just returned.

Eircom have already tried dropping us to 2mb and it didn't make a difference to the situation.

Xil we have now tried 3 different routers from Eircom and the problem we are having with the router restarting itself has only presented since last week whereas the overall broadband problem has been going on since the beginning of April.

Timfy

Without wanting to teach my granny how to suck eggs....

When you swapped out the routers, did you swap out the power supplies as well? If the routers are closing down completely (ie all lights off) it sounds more like a power issue than a connectivity one. Even if DSL is lost, the power light and wifi lights should remain lit.

daenerysstormborn3

Routers have also been tried at different power points

Timfy

That's my theory blown out of the water then!!! I assume that you have tried replacement psu's?

daenerysstormborn3

Our ping test is now download at 0.75 and upload at 0.31.

I love how proactive and helpful Eircom are being about this.

daenerysstormborn3

Another engineer came to our house today. Said that the wiring was done "arseways" and replaced it. Internet appears to be working for now. Remains to be seen how long this solution lasts.

eircom: Mark

pixiebean22 wrote: »

Another engineer came to our house today. Said that the wiring was done "arseways" and replaced it. Internet appears to be working for now. Remains to be seen how long this solution lasts.

Also, eircom had the cheek to send us a bill this morning for a service we haven't been enjoying for nearly 6 weeks now.

Hi pixiebean22,

Thanks for getting back, I confirmed what you outlined with the engineer that called out.

Can you monitor the connection over the next few days. Hopefuly it has been fully resolved. If that is the case, I will follow up with you on Friday regarding a rebate for the time-frame the issue was ongoing.

Thanks, Mark

daenerysstormborn3

Hilarious!

Got a bill this morning for eircom for €350 including a charge for early broadband cease of €219 and early residential cease of €128. Despite being told that we wouldn't have to pay these early cease charges.

My boyfriend has been a customer for 10 years, what is he even being charged for?

He was told that because the problem with broadband couldn't be fixed that he was free to leave because obviously they can't provide a service the contract is void.

What is going on with these scam artists??

daenerysstormborn3

My partner had the most ridiculous conversation with the person he ended up speaking to in Eircom. He spent about 45 minutes on the phone, 15 minutes actually speaking to a person and the rest of the time spent going through stupid automated menus or on hold.

As an aside, Eircom may want to examine how user friendly their phone menus are for people who are not customers. None of the options would work for my partner, no matter what button he pressed he just kept getting put through to accounts.

The person he spoke to kept interrupting him, speaking over him, being extremely rude (but then that's nothing new) and kept saying over and over again "just clear the balance, just clear the balance". He had absolutely no interest in the fact that my partner was told by Eircom that he would not have to pay cancellation charges due to the nature of the account. The way he spoke to my partner was disgraceful, making out as though we hadn't paid our bill. I expect a lot more from a company when a bill is paid the day it is received every two months - no exaggeration, the bill has always been paid the day it is received without fail.

It seems pretty simple contract law to me. A agrees to provide B with a service as long as A and B uphold their contractual agreement, A to provide the service as agreed and B to pay for the service as agreed. A cannot provide the service so B is forced to close the account, seems fairly self explanatory there that any contractual obligation on the part of B is null and void, particularly when B has been told by A that no cancellation charges would apply because they can't provide the service.

You can be bloody sure if the bill wasn't paid Eircom would be jumping up and and down shouting about the contractual agreement.

So my partner got nowhere with Eircom. They basically did not want to know. He sat on hold for 20 minutes before hanging up the phone and ringing Comreg who were very interested in the matter.

eircom: Mark

pixiebean22 wrote: »

My partner had the most ridiculous conversation with the person he ended up speaking to in Eircom. He spent about 45 minutes on the phone, 15 minutes actually speaking to a person and the rest of the time spent going through stupid automated menus or on hold.

As an aside, Eircom may want to examine how user friendly their phone menus are for people who are not customers. None of the options would work for my partner, no matter what button he pressed he just kept getting put through to accounts.

The person he spoke to kept interrupting him, speaking over him, being extremely rude (but then that's nothing new) and kept saying over and over again "just clear the balance, just clear the balance". He had absolutely no interest in the fact that my partner was told by Eircom that he would not have to pay cancellation charges due to the nature of the account. The way he spoke to my partner was disgraceful, making out as though we hadn't paid our bill. I expect a lot more from a company when a bill is paid the day it is received every two months - no exaggeration, the bill has always been paid the day it is received without fail.

It seems pretty simple contract law to me. A agrees to provide B with a service as long as A and B uphold their contractual agreement, A to provide the service as agreed and B to pay for the service as agreed. A cannot provide the service so B is forced to close the account, seems fairly self explanatory there that any contractual obligation on the part of B is null and void, particularly when B has been told by A that no cancellation charges would apply because they can't provide the service.

You can be bloody sure if the bill wasn't paid Eircom would be jumping up and and down shouting about the contractual agreement.

So my partner got nowhere with Eircom. They basically did not want to know. He sat on hold for 20 minutes before hanging up the phone and ringing Comreg who were very interested in the matter.

Hi pixiebean22

Apologies for the delay in getting back to you. I have sent you a Pm after investigating the issue.

Thanks, Mark

daenerysstormborn3

Just received a call from someone in Eircom advising that all cancellation charges have been written off.

Fair play to Comreg, worth their weight in gold indeed.