Difficulty with Broadband Install

rustbucket

Hi guys just a rant really and just wondering if I have horrendous luck or if the service of all providers is this bad or perhaps its KN Engineering?

I just wanted to vent my frustrations with getting broadband installed at my mothers house (who by the way is recently disabled and needs the internet as it will be her main form of communication with extended family). Her house is in what was once considered a rural area but is now only 20 mins drive from Dublin city centre,

I have had dealings with 2 companies Sky broadband and now Eir. Both of whom appear to use KN Engineering as their telecoms installer

To summarise, I have had approx. 9 install dates and have taken 4 days off work since originally ordering broadband through Sky at the beginning of September and paying for the year in full.

Prior to ordering I asked specifically if they were 100% sure of broadband being able to be provided through a phone line to our house and they specifically checked with Eir and said yes the exchange has been upgraded.

1st Engineer arrived could not install as the order had been put through to the wrong exchange (apparently there are 2) in the area

2nd date given and engineer arrived late and said he didn’t have time to do it and that it was a 2 man job

3rd date given engineer did not arrive

4th date given engineer required more time

5th date given engineer arrived and said he only had a job to book a phone line install, not broadband. He then said that broadband would not work anyway as line too far from exchange. Pointed out that we had a fibre to the home box on our telephone pole and Eir were the only ones who could do that. I asked him if he could do it he said it was not on his job list. He then asked me if I wanted to get the phone line installed and I said no whats the point

He subsequently filed a report with his office that I had refused the install (there were other install dates given but I cant recall all of them)

Since discovering that Sky can actually not provide me with broadband and that I have an Eir fibre to the home box installed on the telephone pole in my garden I proceeded to cancel my order with sky and in fairness got a full refund (despite it being in three tranches)

I also had the pleasure of having an extra 40 euro on my phone bill as the sky customer service number is not freephone. You can imagine how many times I rang and how long I was on each time. I estimate at least 30 calls and each time being put on hold for anything between 15 mins and an hour

I ordered Eir fibre to the home last week. I had an appointment booked specifically for today (18th Oct) with Eir between 12 and 4 to come and install my broadband to the home. I made it for a Wed as its the only day I can be there. On Thursday last I got a call from KN to say they had an engineer in the area doing overtime on Sat and could they come then. Of course I agreed but guess what- they never showed up after waiting in all day.

I got a call Sat eve to say that a priority appointment on Wed 18th had been re set up and this would not be missed as it was a ‘priority’

Rang this morning to confirm it is still going ahead and they tell me that its booked for tomorrow (19th) which I cant do.


Eir were no help at all- their computer system tells me its today yet their customer service say its tomorrow. When I asked to be put through to the appointments team they put me straight through to KN who give me the same speel’ ‘ unfortuantley Eir are the only ones who book the appointment’ their favourite line seems to be ‘when that, when that, when that’- Whatever that means!

New appointment booked for next Wed 25th Oct and I am no psychic but guess what………it wont happen. I guarantee that

Why do none of them actually pick up the phone and talk to each other. Its always ‘system says this’, ‘you need to speak to Eir’, ‘KN make the bookings based on their availability’ 'It takes a few days for the system to update'

I actually asked to be given the name of the person from Eir who cancelled my install on 18th and moved it to the 19th without checking my availability to be told they could not provide that information. Eir said they never cancelled it

I get the feeling the common denominator her is KN who appear to do all telecoms work.

The whole thing appears to be an utter shambles. I have had to take 4 days off work myself and I have arranged for others to be there on a number of occasions. Do any of these companies actually know what they are doing???? E

ED E

The flow is:

Sky -> Open Eir Customer Support -> Open Eir Works Management -> KNN Works Management -> KNN Technicians
OR
Eir -> Open Eir Customer Support -> Open Eir Works Management -> KNN Works Management -> KNN Technicians

That leads to all the tail chasing that goes on as nobody can skips people in the chain contractually. Silly system.



Error was really going with Sky, though you couldnt have known. They'll never turn down a sale but a simple look at Google Maps would have told them it was a fruitless line provide. Eir sell FTTH so would have just offered that.

Prior to ordering I asked specifically if they were 100% sure of broadband being able to be provided through a phone line to our house and they specifically checked with Eir and said yes the exchange has been upgraded.

From their system they dont know really if theres no existing line. A bit of common sense as above is indicative but without a line there's no pre test to work on.


You'll have to play the will they wont they game at least once more before solving this, but once the fibre is in (involves drilling the walls FYI) then the hassle is mostly over.

rustbucket

What a ridiculous way to operate. That flow is crazy and all it leads to is immense dissatisfaction, irritation and high blood pressure on the part of the customer

As a result then every time you ring customer service it’s a total waste of time unti it’s actually installed and account is set up?

Marlow

rustbucket wrote: »

What a ridiculous way to operate. That flow is crazy and all it leads to is immense dissatisfaction, irritation and high blood pressure on the part of the customer

As a result then every time you ring customer service it’s a total waste of time unti it’s actually installed and account is set up?

There are very few options to connect your house. Depending on coverage:

- OpenEIR based line (and not all providers wholesale FTTH, but may only wholesale FTTC or maybe Bitstream) - KN does all their installation work.
- SIRO based FTTH (again .. multiple wholesale providers) - Activo does all their installation work.
- Virgin based Cable TV broadband
- Fixed Wireless Providers - every one is individual
- Mobile Broadband Providers
- Satelite Providers
and in rare cases another local provider has actually ran their own copper or fiber connectivity to the homes.

So it doesn't matter, who you order your broadband from. It depends on what platform they're using. And if you're within OpenEIR FTTH, which indicates you're rural, then SIRO and Virgin is currently not a choice.

So, it doesn't matter, if you order from Sky, Eir or anyone else using phonelines. The cabling from your house and to the exchange is always the same and handled by the same people.

The broadband packages only differ in pricing, what national infrastructure the provider is using, how good their support is and how good their upstream (connection to the remainder of the internet) is.

/M

rustbucket

Juts to update that I finally got Eir broadband to the home. They also used KN engineers but the difference on this this isntall was that the guy who came out actually cared. He was a lovely chap who talked me through everything and even offered to help cut down branches that were causing an obstruction to the line install from the box on the telephone pole.

The previous 4 or 5 guys from the same company were dismissive and didnt give a hoot about the customer and how much of an inconvenience it all was.

Heppy to have it installed finally despite the long drawn out process

rob808

rustbucket wrote: »

Juts to update that I finally got Eir broadband to the home. They also used KN engineers but the difference on this this isntall was that the guy who came out actually cared. He was a lovely chap who talked me through everything and even offered to help cut down branches that were causing an obstruction to the line install from the box on the telephone pole.

The previous 4 or 5 guys from the same company were dismissive and didnt give a hoot about the customer and how much of an inconvenience it all was.

Heppy to have it installed finally despite the long drawn out process

I had the same problem with KN but eventually got FTTH but my install was a hard one to do to be fair.