Eir - Only house in estate that can't get broadband

wescul

Having recently purchased a new build property in a small 6 house estate I rang Eir to inquire about getting broadband setup.
The house is within a green shaded area on the OpenEir roll out map so I didn't think there would be any problem. I knew I more than likely wouldn't get the 1000mb that they advertise but thought I would at least get a decent download speed.

Eir advised that I would first need to have a phone line installed and then they would be able to check that line to see what kind of speed it could offer. I placed an order for Eir Talk Standalone and was told an engineer would be with me 3 days later. The engineer never showed up and when I rang Eir they admitted they never passed the appointment over to KN and blamed it on 'the system'. A bad start.

This resulted in me being advised to cancel this order and start a fresh one with a 24 hour delay in between. Second order was placed and an engineer did show up this time.

Just to put some context on this; the other 5 houses in the small estate all have broadband (mixture of Air & Sky) with 40mb download speeds and my house is approx. 700 metres from the active fibre exchange by road, not as the crow flies.

The line became active the 24 hours after the install and was tested 24 hours after that again. This initial test returned no results so I was asked to call back in another 48 hours. When I called back I was advised that the line could only offer 1mb download speed which isn't going to cut it as I need to work from home at times.

I explained my location in relation to the fibre enabled exchange and also that my neighbours had decent download speeds. Having spoken to a number of customer care reps, technical support reps and sales reps in the week since, I've been given no reason as to why my line is the only one in the area that can't support broadband. What they have said is:
"It's the way the wires are", "It's just the way it is, not everyone can get broadband", "it makes no difference what your neighbours have" etc..

My questions to Eir are these:

1: How is it possible that I am the only property in my area (an area which is fibre enabled) that can't receive broadband at a greater speed than 1mb? Houses on either side of me can receive broadband.

2: If I am connected to the same exchange as those who can receive broadband, does it not stand to reason that I should also be able to receive broadband?

3: If I want to get the recently installed phone line removed and a new one installed, what do I need to do in order for this to happen?

4: As it's a new property it hasn't yet received an Eircode but every time I call Eir, I'm asked for an Eircode and told that they can't tell me what kind of broadband I can receive without it. Surely the line dictates everything about potential speed, not the Eircode. If I provide an Eircode that is somehow satisfactory to the system, then will the speed on this line magically increase? I don't see how that can be possible.

What I would like are some concrete reasons as to why my line is not working, not the waffle I've been getting up to this point, and if no concrete reasons can be provided then I would like an engineer to call back to the house to re-install the line. I refuse to believe that I can only get 1mb download when being connected to a fibre enabled exchange.

This would be laughable if I didn't have to rely on broadband as much as I do!

eir: Tracey

wescul wrote: »

Having recently purchased a new build property in a small 6 house estate I rang Eir to inquire about getting broadband setup.
The house is within a green shaded area on the OpenEir roll out map so I didn't think there would be any problem. I knew I more than likely wouldn't get the 1000mb that they advertise but thought I would at least get a decent download speed.

Eir advised that I would first need to have a phone line installed and then they would be able to check that line to see what kind of speed it could offer. I placed an order for Eir Talk Standalone and was told an engineer would be with me 3 days later. The engineer never showed up and when I rang Eir they admitted they never passed the appointment over to KN and blamed it on 'the system'. A bad start.

This resulted in me being advised to cancel this order and start a fresh one with a 24 hour delay in between. Second order was placed and an engineer did show up this time.

Just to put some context on this; the other 5 houses in the small estate all have broadband (mixture of Air & Sky) with 40mb download speeds and my house is approx. 700 metres from the active fibre exchange by road, not as the crow flies.

The line became active the 24 hours after the install and was tested 24 hours after that again. This initial test returned no results so I was asked to call back in another 48 hours. When I called back I was advised that the line could only offer 1mb download speed which isn't going to cut it as I need to work from home at times.

I explained my location in relation to the fibre enabled exchange and also that my neighbours had decent download speeds. Having spoken to a number of customer care reps, technical support reps and sales reps in the week since, I've been given no reason as to why my line is the only one in the area that can't support broadband. What they have said is:
"It's the way the wires are", "It's just the way it is, not everyone can get broadband", "it makes no difference what your neighbours have" etc..

My questions to Eir are these:

1: How is it possible that I am the only property in my area (an area which is fibre enabled) that can't receive broadband at a greater speed than 1mb? Houses on either side of me can receive broadband.

2: If I am connected to the same exchange as those who can receive broadband, does it not stand to reason that I should also be able to receive broadband?

3: If I want to get the recently installed phone line removed and a new one installed, what do I need to do in order for this to happen?

4: As it's a new property it hasn't yet received an Eircode but every time I call Eir, I'm asked for an Eircode and told that they can't tell me what kind of broadband I can receive without it. Surely the line dictates everything about potential speed, not the Eircode. If I provide an Eircode that is somehow satisfactory to the system, then will the speed on this line magically increase? I don't see how that can be possible.

What I would like are some concrete reasons as to why my line is not working, not the waffle I've been getting up to this point, and if no concrete reasons can be provided then I would like an engineer to call back to the house to re-install the line. I refuse to believe that I can only get 1mb download when being connected to a fibre enabled exchange.

This would be laughable if I didn't have to rely on broadband as much as I do!

Hi wescul,


I'm sorry to hear about the ongoing issues you are having with ourselves. 

I'm afraid the broadband and Fibre services are individual to each house, so it can be the case that not all customers on the same road or in the same estate can achieve the same speeds. 

The reason for this speed could be to do with your distance from the exchange in relation to the infrastructure of the underground cabling. 

If you require a new line installed, the sales team on 1800 503 303 can process this for you, however, it will not be guaranteed that this would be any different to the existing one. We are unable to guarantee any speeds until the line is installed and working. 

Feel free to PM me your account number, full name on the account, email address and date of birth and I can clarify this for you. 

Thanks 

Tracey 

babi-hrse

If all the houses on your road are next to each other you should be able to get the same as them
When the wiring comes to your house is it daisy chained to a bunch of other wires running around to different rooms (if so this could be causing an effect known as bridgetapping. The longer the non relevant points go around your house the more noise they can pick up which affects your speed greatly. Remove these if this is the case.
What kind of wire is it going from the connection point at your house to socket. If it's copper or cat5 cable grand. If it's crappy aluminium stranded alarm cable you need better wiring. This form of wire is rubbish and has a higher resistance and picks up too much noise.
Are you sure your on ADSL2 (read as fibre from cab or exchange) and not on DMT old school ADSL from exchange. At 700m from cab you should be able to get 40-50mbps