Eircom "maximum speed" - are they lying to me?

Padraig Mor

Currently with Sky broadband, but out of contract. Line sync speed is 7Mb, with actual speeds of c. 5.5Mb off peak and < 1Mb peak. Previously with Vodafone getting approx 2 - 3Mb at all times. Got a phone call from Eircom the other night trying to sign me up - so far, so usual. What interested me was that the sales guy told me that my line could get a max of 20Mb (separate from the "up to 24Mb" blanket sales pitch), and probably ~15Mb in reality. I'd be delighted with that speed - but presumed he was a liar like most of these sales reps. I told him that my sync speed was 7Mb, neighbours on Eircom complain of crappy speeds (3Mb on a good day) and that basically I didn't believe him. Yet, he persisted, insinuating that Eircom only give crappy speeds to resellers but can give higher himself. I'm still presuming he was talking through his hole - but is there any chance he wasn't? Is the Eircom 'max speed' a rough indicator of the speed you can expect to receive?

ED E

Sounds like he was selling it on the prequal of the line but you're on a legacy exchange(1/3/7Mb). Unless its been recently upgraded the best package you can get is 7.

Padraig Mor

ED E wrote: »

Sounds like he was selling it on the prequal of the line but you're on a legacy exchange(1/3/7Mb). Unless its been recently upgraded the best package you can get is 7.

I don't know what a tracker mortgage prequal is!

Doubt it's been upgraded. We have a bit of a bizarre situation with broadband in our estate. It's a large estate, serviced by two (older) cabinets (one at front of estate; one at rear). One of these was replaced by a fibre cabinet, but the other wasn't. You can guess which one I'm connected to! Apparently the non-replaced cabinet is a bit unusual, in that it also functions as a mini exchange (or something like that). Anyway, judging by the new maps posted today in the big fibre thread, it's not being replaced for the foreseeable future......

ED E

The prequal is what the line itself can take(approximately). Normally the line is the limiting factor, but in your case its the exchange(it doesnt have the tech to use the line to its full potential).

If its a full exchange packed into a cab I've no idea what happens about upgrades. Could be waiting a lonnnng time.

patrickc68

do not believe a word eircom sales rep tell you,,they just wqant a sale,,i had a whole heap of trouble over lies a sales rep told,,,plus on eircom broadband it was great for first 3 months getting speeds of upto 8 mb,,then 3 months later it turns to ****e,,they say my line is not capable of them speeds,,funny it worked fine for 3 months,,,now since 27/12/2013 my bb is reaching speed of 3 mb on a very good day,,,and all this weekend it just a half mb,,i ring to complain,,,and they use their get out of jail card,,eircom only have to supply up to 8 mb,that can be half a mb. or even lower ,,the shower of con artist,,

Larsheen

I would advise that you stay as far away as you can from Eircom.Have been with them since gawd was a child and in the last few months,the broadband has gone to hell from about teatime on.Acceptable speeds during the day,just over 6mb,see how easy I am to please and nightime, can be down to just over 1mb.Have had 3 engineers,no end of line tests and nothing.Hours spent on to so called tech support to no avail.One guy insisted that it was a problem with my socket and just couldn't seem to get his head around the fact that it worked fine all day and the day before etc but only mysteriously went wrong after 6pm and still it was my socket !!!! Then the fun starts because they won't admit that they can't fix it and just leave you with what you have whilst still screwing you each month for full rental.It sounds to me like they are in big doo doo and have all the traits of a company being wound down.Go somewhere else even for a year and then review it.