Are Eircom happy to ignore Residential customers since they feel no threat from UPC?

Hank Scorpio

Hello,

I posted a thread here last October http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?p=74752869

I've been ringing Eircom every few weeks about these problems over the duration of the past 9 months to please fix the problem.

Every night my pings are 200-500 and my download speed drops to around 1Mb, we are PAYING 80 euro for this service. I use the net for online gaming but its IMPOSSIBLE to play ANYTHING.

I contacted comreg a while back and a fault was logged with Eircom, 3 weeks after logging the fault an engineer showed up today. Eircom told me faults are generally fixed in 4 or 5 working days.

He said there was poor power or something in the kitchen wall socket and removed it. I let him know in certain terms that is not the problem, the problem is due to lack of capacity for users in the local exchange. EVERYONE I KNOW with eircom in the area is having the SAME PROBLEMS.

A week ago another engineer/technician rang. I explained the situation of having 400ms ping times and my connection dropping to 1Mb. He said, ah sure its contention. MY OLD 56K MODEM HAD HALF THE PING TIMES I'M RECIEVING NOW. IM NOT ASKING FOR FIBRE SPEED PINGS, IM EXPECT A STABLE SERVICE. A 28.8K MODEM WOULD PROVIDE A MORE ENJOYABLE ONLINE GAMING EXPERIENCE.


Copyright (c) 2009 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.

Pinging home.eircom.net [86.43.38.8] with 32 bytes of data:
Reply from 86.43.38.8: bytes=32 time=356ms TTL=58
Reply from 86.43.38.8: bytes=32 time=357ms TTL=58
Reply from 86.43.38.8: bytes=32 time=366ms TTL=58
Reply from 86.43.38.8: bytes=32 time=226ms TTL=58

Ping statistics for 86.43.38.8:
Packets: Sent = 4, Received = 4, Lost = 0 (0% loss),
Approximate round trip times in milli-seconds:
Minimum = 226ms, Maximum = 366ms, Average = 326ms

The connection looses packets every so often each night resulting in my msn/skype/games/poker clients/web pages NOT TO FUNCTION.

I don't want another engineer out here, I don't want advice about turning my router on and off, I want the problem FIXED. I'm waiting 10 months and I've had enough

Sponge Bob

Some exchanges have as little as 16mbits of copper backhaul....shared by all the DSL customers. Mind you eircom only offers 1 and 3mbit packages on those exchanges.

Hank Scorpio

Sponge Bob wrote: »

Some exchanges have as little as 16mbits of copper backhaul....shared by all the DSL customers. Mind you eircom only offers 1 and 3mbit packages on those exchanges.

I have the up to 7Mb package, in a village.

Downstream Upstream
Max Allowed Speed (kbps) 7168 384
SN Margin (dB) 12.10 12.00
Line Attenuation (dB) 10.50 8.00
CRC Errors 0 0

I don't mind if my bandwidth went down alot during peak times, I expect that. Just want a stable broadband service.

Sponge Bob

Line stats look fine. That is not to say there isn't a problem with the DSL gear in the local exchange or indeed with the line.

lockup35

The dirty word "contention" doesn't appear to exist in the Eircom vocabulary. It's just a figment of the customer's imagination..

Hank Scorpio

Sponge Bob wrote: »

Line stats look fine. That is not to say there isn't a problem with the DSL gear in the local exchange or indeed with the line.

It's not the line, everyone out here has the same problems. Thinking of getting digiweb metro anyway

eircom: Ant

nuxxx wrote: »

Hello,

I posted a thread here last October http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?p=74752869

I've been ringing Eircom every few weeks about these problems over the duration of the past 9 months to please fix the problem.

Every night my pings are 200-500 and my download speed drops to around 1Mb, we are PAYING 80 euro for this service. I use the net for online gaming but its IMPOSSIBLE to play ANYTHING.

I contacted comreg a while back and a fault was logged with Eircom, 3 weeks after logging the fault an engineer showed up today. Eircom told me faults are generally fixed in 4 or 5 working days.

He said there was poor power or something in the kitchen wall socket and removed it. I let him know in certain terms that is not the problem, the problem is due to lack of capacity for users in the local exchange. EVERYONE I KNOW with eircom in the area is having the SAME PROBLEMS.

A week ago another engineer/technician rang. I explained the situation of having 400ms ping times and my connection dropping to 1Mb. He said, ah sure its contention. MY OLD 56K MODEM HAD HALF THE PING TIMES I'M RECIEVING NOW. IM NOT ASKING FOR FIBRE SPEED PINGS, IM EXPECT A STABLE SERVICE. A 28.8K MODEM WOULD PROVIDE A MORE ENJOYABLE ONLINE GAMING EXPERIENCE.


Copyright (c) 2009 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.

Pinging home.eircom.net [86.43.38.8] with 32 bytes of data:
Reply from 86.43.38.8: bytes=32 time=356ms TTL=58
Reply from 86.43.38.8: bytes=32 time=357ms TTL=58
Reply from 86.43.38.8: bytes=32 time=366ms TTL=58
Reply from 86.43.38.8: bytes=32 time=226ms TTL=58

Ping statistics for 86.43.38.8:
Packets: Sent = 4, Received = 4, Lost = 0 (0% loss),
Approximate round trip times in milli-seconds:
Minimum = 226ms, Maximum = 366ms, Average = 326ms

The connection looses packets every so often each night resulting in my msn/skype/games/poker clients/web pages NOT TO FUNCTION.

I don't want another engineer out here, I don't want advice about turning my router on and off, I want the problem FIXED. I'm waiting 10 months and I've had enough

Hi nuxxx,


I've spoken with Technical Support. They say that the engineers were checking a fault on your line yesterday. However they are still seeing a possible error on the phoneline. They've asked if you could try a ping and broadband speed test again over Ethernet cable. If possible if could you temporarily disable your wireless while you are doing this.


As you mention your modem may be in the kitchen, may be you could just ensure that you test your modem again directly on your master phone socket. If your modem is on an extension point then take a look at the following guide to Adsl filters and Mirco Splitter


Line errors are sometimes caused by induced line noise. Whilst the eircom phone line itself can be susceptible to induced noise, approximately 90% of the time the noise is being generated in the home phone wiring.

Extension, or secondary phone, sockets can impact on a good quality ADSL signal. In general, the longer the wire run between the master socket and the socket the router is plugged into, the worse the issue. Other factors in the house can also contribute.

Fitting an ADSL filter or faceplate to an extension socket may help block out Adsl from this socket, as you're applying the filtering after the issue. An ADSL splitter therefore or dedicated faceplate may be required to be fitted to the master. This then filters out the extension wiring (where an issue may arise). If you must have the router on an extension then you may need to have this fitted. master, then run a dedicated extension, unfiltered, to the router.

Let me know after you've tested your broadband speed again and if still the same issue, I will get this escalated through Technical support.

Best wishes,
Ant

Glebee

In the same boat myself. All ok during the day but forget about it in the evening time. Have the up to 7mb package and things used to be quite good. Recently its become a joke, pings of over 300ms and download speds 0f between 1Mbps and 2.60Mbps. In a smallish sized town but I think Eircom are my only real option. But if all other suppliers are using Eircoms copper then is it not all the one which provider I use..:(

Hank Scorpio

edit: That response made me a little angry so I`ll reply tomorrow.

eircom: Ant

Glebee wrote: »

In the same boat myself. All ok during the day but forget about it in the evening time. Have the up to 7mb package and things used to be quite good. Recently its become a joke, pings of over 300ms and download speds 0f between 1Mbps and 2.60Mbps. In a smallish sized town but I think Eircom are my only real option. But if all other suppliers are using Eircoms copper then is it not all the one which provider I use..:(

Hi Glebee

I appreciate you are experiencing slow speeds at a certain time(s), while your broadband appears fine during the day. There may various reasons for this and Technical Support will need to just check these. For e.g: a program or application may be running in the background on your PC without your knowledge.

The ping results do appear to be high - 300ms and this will be a major factor in slowing down your connection.

If you PM your phone number I can check your the sync on the line and also check your connection rate on our Auth server (authentication).

If you're noticing that this is happening every evening at the same time, 7pm, you can also call directly into Broadband Support. They can then check your connection and computer while this spike is happening.

Broadband Support - 1890260260 (lowcall) - 8am-10pm (7 days).

Best wishes,
Ant

Hank Scorpio

Well I give up, worse than ever tonight. Anyone in a rural area/small town reading this beware. I was told yesterday by a guy from Eircom If i can get some signatures or more people to ring from the area they might cut down the NGB upgrade from 5 years to 2... lol

Glebee

A new record for me tonight, pings of 765ms and download speed of 0.45Mbps.

Hank Scorpio

Glebee wrote: »

A new record for me tonight, pings of 765ms and download speed of 0.45Mbps.

Pull out the old 56k modem mate, 2012 technology

irishkopite 2011

Eircom are a joke, I have a friend who's phone line stopped working, eircom came out and said the fault is inside their property under the ground and are refusing to do anything. I no they have the equipment to do it and it wouldn't take long to run in a new cable just to the front door. Shower of lazy you know what.

frozenfrozen

Had to switch to vodafone recently for the same problem. Same copper, but it means I don't have to talk to the people in Eircom's phone support any longer.

It's strange how during peak hours all of our connections become terrible, without the problems actually being related to eachother. I think the broadband fairy comes into our houses and checks his facebook around that time every night actually.

Dcully

This sound like a problem i had on two seperate occasions, which took 9 months and 7 months respectively to get sorted.
Despite countless calls from myself and neighbours eircom refused to address the issue until i eventually got somewhere on this board.
A fault was traced back to the portlaoise exchange which affected everyone here in Monasterevin at peak times.
I was sick to death ringing about it, emailing ping and speed tests.

Its an absolute joke eircom refused to accept my calls that there was an issue only for me to be proved correct 9 and 7 months later.

Ill put money on it the OP has the same issue as we had.

Hank Scorpio

My poker clients won't stay connected for more than 10 seconds this evening. This is ridiculous, not only am I getting ripped off for this service, its costing me money!!!!!!

Hank Scorpio

.

eircom: Ant

nuxxx wrote: »

Well I give up, worse than ever tonight. Anyone in a rural area/small town reading this beware. I was told yesterday by a guy from Eircom If i can get some signatures or more people to ring from the area they might cut down the NGB upgrade from 5 years to 2... lol

nuxxx, Appreciate taking my call. I've been looking at the sync history and have spoken with Technical Support. We've noticed the line noise margin slightly low at 10db (Higher is better).

I've temporarily lowered the speed slightly down to 6Mb. This appears to have improved both the attainable rates and noise margin. The latter has now increased to 25db.

Your broadband itself pre-qualifies for between 6 - 7Mb. I'm hoping that this measure will help improve your overall ping and data throughput.

Can you try to test your speed again over the next days and let me know if this has helped.

Again, I appreciate taking the call and for taking time to monitor your connection.

I will PM you shortly with a case reference for this, shortly.

Best regards,
Ant

eircom: Ant

Glebee wrote: »

A new record for me tonight, pings of 765ms and download speed of 0.45Mbps.

Hi Glebee,

Apologies for the delay. I've just tried to call you on your landline. If you want to PM me with a mobile contact and let me know when it's convenient to speak with you.

I've checked your phoneline and broadband again. Your broadband pre-qualifies for 6 - 7Mb and currently syncing at 7Mb. The noise margin is showing around 28db up and 12db down. I'd like to see if lowering the speed from 7Mb to 6Mb would help improve your throughput.

If there's any private equipment on the phoneline you might just check this (for e.g: Sky box(s), fax, private phone /rj11 cable or monitored alarm).

If you want to call Broadband Support directly they will be able to run through these checks in the evening time, when you're getting slower ping times.

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 help if you need to follow this up.

Best wishes,
Ant

Hank Scorpio

Hi Ant,

Hasn't changed anything. Do you mind restoring the previous settings, thanks. The problem occurs randomly but always in the evening/night. It might stay like the below all night or just for an hour then be fine for an hour and then shoot up to 300+ms pings for hours again. The below is from a fresh windows xp install plugged into the master socket using an Ethernet cable with wireless turned off

Reply from 86.43.38.8: bytes=32 time=185ms TTL=58
Reply from 86.43.38.8: bytes=32 time=141ms TTL=58
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Request timed out.
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Request timed out.
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daenerysstormborn3

I was in the same boat as some of the posters here and ended up having to leave Eircom altogether. Bunch of gangsters is all they are.

I think they really take advantage of customers in rural areas because Eircom know if you want/need broadband they are your only option and they can charge whatever they want and provide whatever level of service they fancy.

eircom: Ant

nuxxx wrote: »

Hi Ant,

Hasn't changed anything. Do you mind restoring the previous settings, thanks. The problem occurs randomly but always in the evening/night. It might stay like the below all night or just for an hour then be fine for an hour and then shoot up to 300+ms pings for hours again. The below is from a fresh windows xp install plugged into the master socket using an Ethernet cable with wireless turned off

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Hi nuxxx,

Thanks for running the checks and taking time to monitor your broadband. I have increased your speed again as requested (up to 7Mb).

I've spoken with Support again. They have rechecked your line. I've advised that you are not using private equipment, while your modem has been tested directly connected to the main socket, without the Adsl splitter, and all phone socket extensions are all filtered. There is no private or long internal phone cables being used.

Support have also rechecked your broadband usage and are seeing nothing unusual, while your recent upload activity appears fine High ping rates are sometimes associated with activity like u-torrents or a large amount of connections (tcp /udp) running. Your case has now been sent over over to second level to further recheck your broadband. They will escalate this if necessary.

If you need to check this on the status of your case or require an update please contact Broadband Support directly. Quote the case reference I have already sent to you via PM as this help if you need to follow up on this.

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

Best regards,
Ant

Hank Scorpio

Thanks Ant

djskip316i

Did you ever get this sorted , Im using Magnet(using eircoms's line) here in clare and having the exact same problem as above , Ridiculous ping after 9pm , all the neighbours have the same problem , their with eircom so it has to be a problem with eircom's gear .

Hank Scorpio

djskip316i wrote: »

Did you ever get this sorted , Im using Magnet(using eircoms's line) here in clare and having the exact same problem as above , Ridiculous ping after 9pm , all the neighbours have the same problem , their with eircom so it has to be a problem with eircom's gear .

Nah, they sent out a few guys to check wiring etc. The latest guy moved the router from the sitting room to the hall so there would be no "interference", he also said playing games online drains the router power... lol. Given up at this stage

djskip316i

nuxxx wrote: »

Nah, they sent out a few guys to check wiring etc. The latest guy moved the router from the sitting room to the hall so there would be no "interference", he also said playing games online drains the router power... lol. Given up at this stage

Its Ridiculous how eircom can get away with this , The Problem is clearly contention .

Glebee

djskip316i wrote: »

Its Ridiculous how eircom can get away with this , The Problem is clearly contention .

Is contention just basically to many people sharing the same main lines coming from the exchange to houses.

Cheerful Spring

djskip316i wrote: »

Its Ridiculous how eircom can get away with this , The Problem is clearly contention .

A legal case probably could be brought against Eircom, if your willing to do that. Everyone knows its contention, Eircom just play the idiot card with their customers or blame the customer. If they actually upgraded their technology this would reduce the pings dramatically. Fibre has low pings. Of course investing in modern broadband technlogy countrywide isn't normally Eircom's way of doing things.

UhOh

Why no threat from UPC Nuxx??

i had the 8mb package from Eircom but was only getting 1mb max on download....After numerous calls an engineer finally called out and said the lines that Eircom put down in the surronding area were pure garbage!!! One of their own engineers!! All this on a Saturday, had to pay them 80 euro for 30 minutes work to be told that!!
Signed up with UPC the next Monday, 25mb package, (didn't have to get their crap digital TV service with it), that must have been 7 months ago. I'm up at 20mb download speed without fail. Slowest I've had on a speed test is 11-12mb.....

Your wasting your time with Eircom. It's the lines feeding your house & surronding area, unless Eircom are going to replace them with something of higher quality (not going to happen) your up a certain creek without a paddle!!

daenerysstormborn3

I think Nuxx was referring to the fact that a huge portion of Eircom customers live in rural areas where there is no other option, well there is another option and that is, no broadband.

DesperateDan

This won't be popular

I'm sure there is a very good reason Eircom do not have fibre optic broadband laid down all over the place like UPC. It's not like Eircom are sitting in their towers watching people and giggling to themselves.

People in more rural areas should not in my opinion expect really great broadband, I mean there isn't a country on the planet (apart from possibly S.Korea/Singapore) where this is not the case. Give it 5 another years or so and Craig Doyle won't have his cold monopoly on broadband any longer, plus new tech like 4g will be rolled out.

5 years ago in Mullingar you could just about get 1mb broadband, we now have 110mb with UPC. I will agree that eircom should admit that contention rates are to blame, but as everyone knows there can be so many other factors depending on speeds.

daenerysstormborn3

I don't live in a "more rural area". I live 15 minutes from Waterford City, in Slieverue. On the main N25 between Waterford and New Ross, so not down a big loop the loop of back roads either. Yet, the highest connection my line can support is 3mb and I'm lucky to get 2mb. I lived in Dublin for years with a 25mb connection. It was my choice to move to an area with a lesser broadband connection.

What I find laughable is that Eircom have been promising NGB and connections up to 8mb in the area for the past 3 years and have made no progress. Eircom know that their customer base is largely rural (due to lack of choice) and would have a greater percentage of people over a certain age (dating back to Telecom Eireann days) so they know that they own the monopoly on rural customers.

UhOh

DesperateDan wrote: »

People in more rural areas should not in my opinion expect really great broadband

Well I'm in Waterford City & like I said, the broadband I was getting off Eircom was pure muck

DesperateDan

Hmm. I just picture people living up mountains in Kerry or villages in Donegal being the ones with the 1mb broadband, not 15 mins from Waterford.

Maybe Ant from Eircom could tell us why Eircom is being rather slow at rolling out decent broadband to 80% of the country? That would be nice, I mean there must be a good reason, it's costing them so many customers!

daenerysstormborn3

Eh no offence to Ant at Eircom, I'm sure he's great and all, but Eircom didn't care when they were losing a customer of 10+ years so they certainly won't care what I have to say no :P

Sure we're after moving to Digiweb and we're stuck with another crap provider (using Eircom's equipment).

djskip316i

DesperateDan wrote: »

People in more rural areas should not in my opinion expect really great broadband

Were Not expecting great Broadband , We just want Broadband that works , I have had to put up with 300+ pings from 9pm -1am for the past 3 months . Time to move to fixed wireless i think .

MajorMax

Cheerful Spring wrote: »

A legal case probably could be brought against Eircom, if your willing to do that. Everyone knows its contention, Eircom just play the idiot card with their customers or blame the customer. If they actually upgraded their technology this would reduce the pings dramatically. Fibre has low pings. Of course investing in modern broadband technlogy countrywide isn't normally Eircom's way of doing things.

A legal case? How would you do that exactly? BB is not a guaranteed service under the Universal service agreement. You might as well sue Santa for not being real:rolleyes:

MajorMax

pixiebean22 wrote: »

I don't live in a "more rural area". I live 15 minutes from Waterford City, in Slieverue. On the main N25 between Waterford and New Ross, so not down a big loop the loop of back roads either. Yet, the highest connection my line can support is 3mb and I'm lucky to get 2mb. I lived in Dublin for years with a 25mb connection. It was my choice to move to an area with a lesser broadband connection.

What I find laughable is that Eircom have been promising NGB and connections up to 8mb in the area for the past 3 years and have made no progress. Eircom know that their customer base is largely rural (due to lack of choice) and would have a greater percentage of people over a certain age (dating back to Telecom Eireann days) so they know that they own the monopoly on rural customers.

NGB BB was only launched in 2010, I call shenanigans

Hank Scorpio

I'm 5 km from Kilkenny City to one of the previous posters talking about how I should expect 400-500 ms pings each evening. To the other poster, unfortunately I can't get UPC here

daenerysstormborn3

MajorMax wrote: »

NGB BB was only launched in 2010, I call shenanigans

No shenanigans, they promised a connection of 8mb and then followed that up by telling us we'd be eligible for NGB when it was rolled out, that was 3 years ago.

Glebee

pixiebean22 wrote: »

No shenanigans, they promised a connection of 8mb and then followed that up by telling us we'd be eligible for NGB when it was rolled out, that was 3 years ago.

I have to laught when the roll out the old up to 8mb line. Not a whole pile we can do folks. Just grin and bear it I guess.
I know Ant from Eircom is trying hes best but please, I know theres not a problem my end of things.

daenerysstormborn3

Sure we're not demanding 8mb broadband or NBG broadband but when you're promised it and there's still no sign 3 years later you have to wonder what was the point, if they had just never promised it we'd be none the wiser, you know?

And it wasn't "up to 8mb" that's actually what they tell us now, at the time it was "8mb" period.

Hank Scorpio

My main problem is I can't game online anymore. I was/am a fairly competitive unreal tournament player, I would spend most nights playing it. I wouldn't care if my download was less than 1Mb if my pings were stable.

Cheerful Spring

MajorMax wrote: »

A legal case? How would you do that exactly? BB is not a guaranteed service under the Universal service agreement. You might as well sue Santa for not being real:rolleyes:

I'm not a lawyer, but a company like Eircom has to adhere to a code of practice in their dealings with customers. Eircom, are obliged to be truthful. If you ask them is contention the main reason for why my internet is bad, and you know it is that, and they deny it. Than you have grounds for a dispute with them. Some lines are perfect its contention and congestion thats causing the problems. You would have to find prove that Eircom is not going out of its way to sort those problems out for you and others, thats not an easy task. Comreg is the middle man between you and Eircom who's having the dispute. But to be honest they only deal with customers disputes, and don't forcibly demand, Eircom sort out the bigger problems with their network. Their may be grounds for a legal case unsure, but it would cost that's a given.

Cheerful Spring

MajorMax wrote: »

NGB BB was only launched in 2010, I call shenanigans

NGB is a gimmick it was just prove of a Eircom running out of ideas to bring better quality broadband to rural areas. The fact is if you are more than 25 miles from your exchange expect problems, it can't be helped. Upgrades do cost and Eircom recently went bankrupt those are the facts of it..They have moved focus to city areas now to battle UPC for customers. There is no competition in rural Ireland Eircom are top dog with speeds offered.

However there is no excuse for majors towns and rural villages/ 15 miles outside our main cities not having fibre broadband. Unfortunately any further than this is unrealistic longterm without Irish government involvement.

MajorMax

Cheerful Spring wrote: »

NGB is a gimmick it was just prove of a Eircom running out of ideas to bring better quality broadband to rural areas. The fact is if you are more than 25 miles from your exchange expect problems, it can't be helped. Upgrades do cost and Eircom recently went bankrupt those are the facts of it..They have moved focus to city areas now to battle UPC for customers. There is no competition in rural Ireland Eircom are top dog with speeds offered.

However there is no excuse for majors towns and rural villages/ 15 miles outside our main cities not having fibre broadband. Unfortunately any further than this is unrealistic longterm without Irish government involvement.

Howya, if you're more than 25 miles from your exchange you won't have ANY problems as you won't have broadband. After 15 miles you have zero chances of getting any broadband service with 10-15 you might get a limited 1 mb service

But I totally agree with your assesment of rural broadband, it's simply not going to make economical sense for eircom to supply decent broadband to rural communities

daenerysstormborn3

MajorMax wrote: »

But I totally agree with your assesment of rural broadband, it's simply not going to make economical sense for eircom to supply decent broadband to rural communities

I have to disagree with you there. How many of Eircom's customers are based in rural areas? My estimation would be at least 60-70%. Therefore you would think there would be a certain focus on improving broadband access in rural areas and maintaining a better service, instead of poor service or no service at all.

I mean, Ireland is a developed country. When you look at the UK and their huge variety of broadband providers we pale in comparison. There is no competition for Eircom in rural areas and they know it.

Hank Scorpio

I dont think they'll improve it pixiebean as they're isn't any other fixed broadband solution available. Eircom make money off the resellers as I'm sure you are aware, I'm not sure of the exact percentage they get but I remember reading it was as high as 40%.

Digiweb metro seems to be available here so I`ll ring them later. Apparently they provide stable low latency connections with a decent upload speed.

Its frustrating really, my eircom connection used to provide 13ms stable pings 24/7 to eircom.net. A few months ago they must have changed something as now its 33ms in the middle of the night/early day and during peak times its completly unstable. The packet loss is an annoying problem aswell, it causes disconnects from alot of applications. Some nights theres spikes of 1000ms + which causes the drops. A handy program to monitor all this stuff is visualroute.

daenerysstormborn3

Just to warn you about Digiweb nuxxx.

We contacted Digiweb after problems with Eircom and Digiweb first told us that we would be able to get Metro, one of their technicians came to the house and tested the connection and because of some trees to the front of our house he told we wouldn't be able to get metro (he said if we cut the trees, even cut them in half we might be able to get metro), so he went off and said he'd get one of the sales people to call us, person called us and said if we didn't want to make a decision on cutting the trees straight away (the trees block the view of our house from the main road so not a decision we'll take lightly) that we would be able to get an 8mb connection.

We of course were amazed and delighted, double checked with Digiweb 5 times (they knew exactly why we were leaving Eircom and they knew exactly what we were hoping for and confirmed that an 8mb connection was possible) before confirming the order. Received the router and we were only receiving the same speeds we had with Eircom.

Rang up and were told that oh yeah we can't actually offer you an 8mb connection but we might be able to offer you a 5mb connection, disappointing but still better than what we had. Waited 2 weeks between all of these phone calls, they are absolutely pathetic at customer service. Eventually we had to get Comreg involved because they just never called us back. With Comreg involved it transpired that they couldn't offer us 8mb, 5mb or metro and that we can't get their satellite broadband because of the "lie of the land". So basically they gained a customer by telling numerous lies and Comreg were about as useful as a chocolate teapot. We are stuck with them because we have so few options in our area and my boyfriend needs broadband for college and I need it for work.

Also, when we signed up we were promised a discount price of €30 for the first 3 months, received our first bill and it was over €50. Rang them up and it took 2 weeks to get any response about that and they said that they'd issue us a new bill with the discounted amount showing and the discount would apply to our next 2 monthly bills, still haven't received the new bill.

Hank Scorpio

That sounds pretty rough pixiebean, thanks for the heads up.

If anything it just slams home the point about Eircom pushing rural customers to the side while focusing on rolling out fibre in densely populated areas to try regain alot of the customers they lost to UPC. I have seen alot of threads on boards about high pings/congestion lately. Digiweb metro is an alternative but judging from your experience I doubt eircom are worried too much about them.