Eircom Line test.

KdjaCL

I called today about the line test for Residential and the girl tested it and said she would have an answer in 24 hours.
I thoiught it was instant.
this happen anyone else?
im in D22
Kdja

Mountjoy Mugger

That's a new one on me, mate. I got the thumbs up in a matter of seconds.

segadreamcast

Same here ish.

Was being tested for two lines.

Line one: Failed, but she'd call me back in 24 hours because she was going to do it again...ugh, right.

Line two: Instant failure - was told I'd probably never be able to get adsl (this was a seperate call to a different person) Though she did get my address wrong when I gave my number and had to go through five minutes of checking and rechecking before they got it.

So my conclusion is perhaps their systems are glitchy right now?

I remember back at the trials the guy that tested my "Line two" was sure it was just noise on the line - and would be fixed soon. Today I was told "I'd probably never get adsl on that line"

If what I was told today is true - then I'm going to have to move country. This is getting beyond a ridiculous farce, and I won't see broadband in this decade.

logic1

I rang and the rather confused woman told me she couldn't test the line as it wasn't rolled out yet.. I explained that I had the line tested last November and would just like to see if my exchange had now been upgraded.

She was adamant that she couldn't run a test on the line and tbh she sounded like she hadn't a clue what the line test was and this *was* on the specific ADSL freephone number. She said she'd send me a pack which had all the enabled exchanges listed in it which I've seince been told doesn't have the exchanges listed in it and would be pointless if it had as I still wouldn't know if my particualr line was ADSL ready.

:rolleyes:

.logic.

mdf

If what I was told today is true - then I'm going to have to move country.

Eh, no. You'll just have to move nearer the exchange. ADSL is - and is all over the world - a distance dependent technology.

segadreamcast

Originally posted by mdf
If what I was told today is true - then I'm going to have to move country.

Eh, no. You'll just have to move nearer the exchange. ADSL is - and is all over the world - a distance dependent technology.

Eh, yes. No offence, but I'm not moving house to get a bog standard, overpriced and capped adsl. If it was in the house I'm currently in - no problem, but, no, I wouldn't move house just to get i-stream.

Supercell

IMHO the previous "line tests" were more of a lottery than anything else, have seen at least two people say in this forum that they failed the line test for the trials and magically are fine now that money has entered the equation.

I await the response I get to my inquiry with baited breath..this phoneline failed the "line test" before too..

segadreamcast

Mine has failed in both houses - both times.

Frankly, they sounded more hopeful in the trialling stages than they did this time around.

How can they say they hope to have one million households connected by x time when people in Dublin trying out now are failing?

BTW; Line One is definitely within the distance to the exchange - noise on the line or additional equipment is being blamed.

Winters

I wonder if they just dont want us to have ADSL.
they probable dont even check the lines just take a guess :rolleyes:

segadreamcast

I dunno - an ISP owning friend in America said that to me after I failed... "Look at this way, Eircom aren't very willing to sell adsl" (let's face it - the prices, the caps, the dragging of their feet - they aren't)
"If so, why would they say "Yes" on a line test that you can't verify independently?"

While I admit it's a far out conspiracy - it does remind me of the theories that went around on the last trials line test. Just out of interest, who here HAS passed the line test?

ando

My normal phone line failed the test for the trials, so i got a second line in with specific instructions to make it dsl capable... after a 6 week wait, i finally got the dsl capable line installed only to find out that it had failed the dsl test ... AHHHHH

I now have isdn on the second line ... Oh yeah, BTW, Eircom dont test the line there and then in seconds, Engineers test the lines when the lines are getting installed, or juring maintainance and the records are the things that are checked in seconds, not the line

Mountjoy Mugger

Originally posted by ando
Oh yeah, BTW, Eircom dont test the line there and then in seconds, Engineers test the lines when the lines are getting

OK - why then was I told by Eircom that my line had passed the test when I enquired about trialling ADSL? Have they not got something similar to BT's Whoosh test?

Dustaz

Originally posted by NoelRock
I dunno - an ISP owning friend in America said that to me after I failed... "Look at this way, Eircom aren't very willing to sell adsl" (let's face it - the prices, the caps, the dragging of their feet - they aren't)

There is of course the small matter of recouping the money invested in rolling out the thing.
[qupte]Just out of interest, who here HAS passed the line test? [/QUOTE]

Everybody on the trials for a start, which is a sizable number of ppl.

segadreamcast

OK, when I asked who had passed the tests, I was more or less excluding the trialists and asking for people who had got the go ahead this week for buying adsl.

Indeed, the people who trialled have got the go ahead.

Also, Eircom don't really have to make money back on the investment - they make far more on 56k. Sorry to take such a cynical view on this, but they do.

Pimp

Well my mine failed for the trial, but i phoned yesterday and my line passed....i couldnt order the thing fast enough.

segadreamcast

Awwww Pimp - you burst my one last hope that eircom was screwy *begins to cry* Damn it, I've got NO HOPE OF BROADBAND. NONE. How the heck do I do work? It's so unfair. Where's the justice? Where is it?!?

Dustaz

NoelRock, you might have DACS boxes or line splitters on your line somwhere, you could look into getting these removed somehow.

logic1

Originally posted by ando
Oh yeah, BTW, Eircom dont test the line there and then in seconds, Engineers test the lines when the lines are getting installed, or juring maintainance and the records are the things that are checked in seconds, not the line

I don't know if the people on the ADSL freephone num can do the test but I do know they can test the line in crown alley. I know people trained in to do the tests. They send a small electrical pulse down the line and test the strength of the signal or some such. I was under the assumption that's what they do when they ask you to hold for a minute.

.logic.

segadreamcast

Dustaz,

If I end up getting adsl expect some form of nice gift in the mail.

You like games? Sure you do. Who doesn't :-p.

Back to reality (for now) - I'm praying that you're right, clutching at straws appears to be my last hope...

infomat

Originally posted by NoelRock
I dunno - an ISP owning friend in America said that to me after I failed... "Look at this way, Eircom aren't very willing to sell adsl" (let's face it - the prices, the caps, the dragging of their feet - they aren't)
"If so, why would they say "Yes" on a line test that you can't verify independently?"

While I admit it's a far out conspiracy - it does remind me of the theories that went around on the last trials line test. Just out of interest, who here HAS passed the line test?

To be honest I am not inclined to believe the above. ADSL is an ideal way for Eircom to maximise the return on the copper that they have already installed. I suspect that selling ADSL to 1,000,000 households is better than selling lease lines to thousands of large business users.

During the last trial when they said that your line failed the test what they meant was that the line did not meet certain very specific criteria (i.e. they needed to try different levels of quality).

I received a letter on Tuesday from Eircom telling me that my line had passed the test and that I could order the service if I so desired. I phoned the number supplied and it was confirmed that my line was suitable.

segadreamcast

"1,000,000 households" Well if both my households failed - and there are only about 1,500,000 households at most here - I fail to see how they aim to sell to 1,000,000.

Eircom get a larger return on 56k then adsl though - that's one argument you can't really deny.

infomat

Originally posted by ando
My normal phone line failed the test for the trials, so i got a second line in with specific instructions to make it dsl capable... after a 6 week wait, i finally got the dsl capable line installed only to find out that it had failed the dsl test ... AHHHHH

I now have isdn on the second line ... Oh yeah, BTW, Eircom dont test the line there and then in seconds, Engineers test the lines when the lines are getting installed, or juring maintainance and the records are the things that are checked in seconds, not the line

Yes they can test the lines very rapidly ... there are test-heads installed at the exchanges and thousands of lines can be tested every hour ... all the operator need do is request a test and the results are returned within minutes. They can also predict the suitability of a line if their records show the exact length and configuration of the line in question.

infomat

Originally posted by NoelRock
"1,000,000 households" Well if both my households failed - and there are only about 1,500,000 households at most here - I fail to see how they aim to sell to 1,000,000.

Eircom get a larger return on 56k then adsl though - that's one argument you can't really deny.

Eircom get a larger return on 56k then adsl though - that's one argument you can't really deny ... you are correct, I can't really deny this. They get a larger return on 56K than ADSL because they are currently getting zero return for ADSL (the service is to be introduced May 14).

I assume that you were not trying to catch me in a logic trap and that you really mean that ADSL will not generate as much revenue as 56k. While it is difficult to prove you wrong I honestly believe that this is not the case.

There is no doubt but that Eircom will eventually be forced into introducing Flat Rate access for analogue connections so I suspect that ADSL will in the long term generate a better cashflow.

I did not mean to imply that they will get 1,000,000 ADSL customers however the potential market is more than a million which is much larger than the lease line business ... the theory was that Eircom were stalling in order to protect their lease line business. I have not come across any claims that they were stalling in order to protect their 56K analogue business.

Eircom's real asset is their last mile of copper connected to almost every private household in Ireland and they can enhance the value of this asset by offering additional services such as ADSL (or ISDN). The competition is really only interested in serving large corporations (it is already rumoured that Esat may drop domestic and small business customers) so if Tony and the lads want to squeeze the last penny from their recently required asset it does not make any sense for them to avoid ithe introduction of ADSL.

Eircom are claiming that the service will be made available to 1,000,000 households (500,000 in Dublin) which would indicate that they are fairly confident that the majority of lines should eventually pass. In many countries in Europe you can walk into a shop and purchase a DIY ADSL kit without any requirement for a linetest which indicates that line quality problems may be over stated.

212.2.179.66

I have been reading about Line Tests here for a while now and I still cannot understand why people have not picked up on what Eircom are saying about your Telephone line? If your line fails the test then who actually is responsible? When I got my line in first all I was gaurenteed was 9,600 (or less) Has this changed?

212.2.191.3

logic1

Originally posted by 212.2.179.66
I have been reading about Line Tests here for a while now and I still cannot understand why people have not picked up on what Eircom are saying about your Telephone line? If your line fails the test then who actually is responsible? When I got my line in first all I was gaurenteed was 9,600 (or less) Has this changed?

212.2.191.3

No it hasn't. They still only have to guarantee a maximum of 9,600. So if your line does fail I don't think anyones "responsible" per say. It just means you can't avail of a product. They have no obligation to ensure that everyone on enabled exchanges has a line that will pass the test.

.logic.

longword

Originally posted by 212.2.179.66
I have been reading about Line Tests here for a while now and I still cannot understand why people have not picked up on what Eircom are saying about your Telephone line?

If it fails, what Eircom are saying is your line is no good for ADSL. This does not necessarily imply bad things about its performance on voice or PSTN modems. Those services uses a tiny frequency range right at the bottom of the scale - less than 4kHz. ADSL uses frequencies up to 1,500kHz. In another thread, NoelRock was reporting a line test failure even though he gets 48kbps dialup speeds.

Winters

I think this whole eircom ADSL thing is a conspiracy thoery. They say they want to put adsl into ireland (At the start) and them slap us with outragus prices and caps. I would love to hire a private investigator or get someone on the inside to findout whats happening.






You never know.... it might work

infomat

Originally posted by Winters
I think this whole eircom ADSL thing is a conspiracy thoery.




You never know.... it might work

Are you saying that it is a "conspiracy" or a "conspiracy theory"? there is a big difference.

dRNk SAnTA

Originally posted by infomat


Are you saying that it is a "conspiracy" or a "conspiracy theory"? there is a big difference.

you know exactly what hes saying, you don't have to be such a smart ass everytime someone makes a mistake, it really is a waste of thread space.

(if you're going to point out that me posting about this is a waste of thread space then you'll only be proving my point)

Im just pointing this out for future reference, I'm not trying to start anything.

sceptre

Originally posted by dRNk SAnTA


you know exactly what hes saying, you don't have to be such a smart ass everytime someone makes a mistake, it really is a waste of thread space.

(if you're going to point out that me posting about this is a waste of thread space then you'll only be proving my point)

Im just pointing this out for future reference, I'm not trying to start anything.

Agree with all of that. Perfectly obvious what Winters was saying if you read the whole post (there are ways of highlighting something without pretending it's unintelligible). Take it outside, boys.

infomat

Originally posted by dRNk SAnTA


you know exactly what hes saying, you don't have to be such a smart ass everytime someone makes a mistake, it really is a waste of thread space.

(if you're going to point out that me posting about this is a waste of thread space then you'll only be proving my point)

Im just pointing this out for future reference, I'm not trying to start anything. [/QUOTE

While in this instance your comment is valid I don't agree that I act "the smart ass" everytime everyone makes a mistake ... but, nevertheless, apologies to WINTERS

212.2.179.66

Is there such a thing as Equality in Eircom? If there is I seemed to have missed it. Or is there one law set down for the Ritch and another for the pore? It is my opinion that if you pay €1,000 (just an Eg.) for a phone line you should be entitled to the same service as everyone else. Otherwise Eircom should structure their prices like this:

Jimmy is in the middle of Nowhere and he has a Copper Line to his exchange so we will charge him €500 for his ****ty connection where as John lives in Dublin and he has all the benifit of a digital line so we will charge him €1,000 for his connection.

As far as I know Eircom charge everyone at the same rate. So it goes without saying that everyone is entitled to the same service from their line. Eircom charge everyone the same price for their line/s so the service should be equal for everyone else. For far too long we have accepted disscrimation as being 'Ohh well his/her line is way out from the exchange and what do you expect?'. And while I am at it. ADSL seems to be a Dublin thing now and to hell with all the rest of the country. No fair! (No offence to the Dubs)

It's time we all stood togeather and not just look at Dublin for equal rights. Cork/Limerick/Galway/ in fact any Town/City should have the same connectivity as Dublin anything less should be treated as disscrimination by Eircom.

212.2.163.164

jd

Originally posted by 212.2.179.66
is my opinion that if you pay €1,000 (just an Eg.) for a phone line you should be entitled to the same service as everyone else. Otherwise Eircom should structure their prices like this:

Jimmy is in the middle of Nowhere and he has a Copper Line to his exchange so we will charge him €500 for his ****ty connection where as John lives in Dublin and he has all the benifit of a digital line so we will charge him €1,000 for his connection.

212.2.163.164

Acting devils advocate here-
If you are living half way up a mountain it probably costs more to provide services than if you live in the city centre:)

ando

ah man, I really hope my line passes the test (failed for trials, installed a second line, that failed to) but I seriously doubt it will pass as I'm aprox 3.1 Kilometers away from the exchange. I got 3.1Km by driving directly to the exchange, but I dunno if the layout of the wiring is shorter or longer ?

BT have Radsl out now (5km range), any sign of eircom/esat doing the same?

*me gets on me knees and prays like me's never done before* !

Boston

allmsot certain Eircom will release that, but not yet

dRNk SAnTA

what about Leap? Would their prices be competitive to Eircom or is their form of wireless DSL too expensive. I thought I read that they would be releasing late april but there hasn't been much talk about it, Im just curious as to does anyone know whats going on.

KdjaCL

Well 72 hours later and still no call back.
Guess i failed
Will ahve to ring em agian in morning .
Kdja

RicardoSmith

Originally posted by 212.2.179.66
Jimmy is in the middle of Nowhere and he has a Copper Line to his exchange so we will charge him €500 for his ****ty connection where as John lives in Dublin and he has all the benifit of a digital line so we will charge him €1,000 for his connection.

And while I am at it. ADSL seems to be a Dublin thing now and to hell with all the rest of the country. No fair! (No offence to the Dubs

Incidentally I'm in Dublin, within 1k of an enabled exchange, I'm in a newish house (2yrs) I get 45.5kps on my modem, (used to get 38/40 in my old house a half a mile away) but have failed the line test for ASDL, and no they couldn't give me a reason. No timeframe for when it would get sorted.

So in summary if you think its anything other than a lottery your barking up the wrong errorcom pole.

Supercell

Interesting to see this old post dragged up given that i'm now on a magically working adsl line..ie the one i posted a few months ago where i was wondering if it would pass now that money is involved ..mind you it really hurt my wallet initially getting hooked up.

segadreamcast

Just to bring my comments up to date in a 5 months on kind of way.

I'm still failing for ADSL*

I'm still getting connection speeds between 46.6kbps and 53kbps.

* = However, in July an interesting development occured. Eircom told me I passed. Repeatedly. Over various line tests. I got my kit sent out to me in the post and everything was good to go for <date I no longer remember>.

I sat around waiting... the appointment passed...nobody showed.

Then, three nights later my mother noticed a message on my answering machine - allegedly from the night before the installation, though I was in all night and wasn't on the net...

It told us that the engineer had been down to the exchange and said it wouldn't work out - and that they'd have to cancel the installation for tomorrow. In addition to that, I could "probably never get ADSL".

What the hell happened? I'll never know - but just a few weeks ago I was talking to a nice guy on the DSL department who said this case was completely unique and stood out, they had even "skimmed over the topic in a meeting".

Up until last week - I was still passing the line tests, I even had another appointment arranged (13/9/02). Once again, nobody showed up. There were no voice messages. I rang eircom that day - and was told that (a ) I had infact FAILED my last line test. and (b ) No appointment was ever arranged.

Now I know you're probably thinking "Well, perhaps you misheard and you just failed..." Not the case. I was talking in-depth with this guy about what had happened previously, and was assured that I had passed and that the installation would be on Friday the 13th of September - as I remember him saying "rather ominously". How can Eircom claim this appointment was never made? How can they claim I failed? Do they have rogue staff pissing me off for the hell of it? I have no idea.

I still have the dsl manual and whatnot in my closet if anyone feels like burning it on my behalf though.

Thanks for listening. End rant.

- Noel

Kevok

:eek: that would actually make a pretty good horror story. It's pretty spooky.


Whats really spooky is that this time last year when they were "about to release ADSL" I actually passed the line test, only to be subsequently told that because my line was split it was impossible to ever get adsl.

When I asked the sales person if I could get my original line "reunified", i was told "I'm sorry we don't do that."

Oh btw, for any legally inclined people here:

When Eircom did split the line they installed the box inside my house (inside the ESB cabinet). If I request they remove it (as it is their property) will they do it?

Hannibal_12

My own tale of woe is similar.
I rang up the DSL number, line test, good, would you like to order?. Decided to think about it.
Rang again ,sorry cant order or do line test because your exchange has not been upgraded??????

..and we cant give you an estimate as to when it will be.

At this point I, understandably, gave up. Its really unfair to be penalised for living in this country when you think of the range of services available in other European states not to mention better weather, better transport etc....

iwb

Sorry for the long winded post. However, it will help me to get it off my chest and may help others here also.
I am recently returned from North America where I enjoyed quite a reliable and fast cable modem connection for about 25 Euro a month. It is really hard to go back to dialup after that.
I do work for many companies over the net from my home and recently had one of them mail me some CD's as it just wasn't feasable to try to pull down files over dialup.

I first applied for DSL about mid july. There was at least a two week lapse before they could even test the line for compatibility as we had just moved here and the new phoneline records weren't fully entered yet. That was a frustrating few weeks.
Eventually, many calls later, I got the reply that they could now test for DSL.
The lady on the freephone number tested the line and got back some kind of inconclusive result. She explained that she would have to send off the request and it would take two weeks. My guess is that she was pulling from a database and the indication was that perhaps the line was marginal. The next internal step would be to get a live test done.
I was impatient and tried for the result after one week. She was very polite and understanding but no result.
At the end of the second week, I called and was told that my line failed. I was very disappointed. I got my first phone bill and I think about 100 Euro of it was dialup to internet. That was with me being very careful.
I decided to not take no for an answer. I continued to call the DSL number to no avail. They were fairly patient but couldn't help. One lady suggested I talk to the local exchange to see if they could help to fix my line. I spent a week or more tracking down the correct number for the exchange. They gave me one that doesn’t work at first. Eventually someone gave me the mobile number for the lead technician. I spoke with him and he was very professional but also very adamant that he wouldn’t discuss DSL for two reasons.
1. He was running four exchanges with eight technicians
2. He was specifically told that DSL wasn’t anything to do with him.

I did push him a bit though and he told me that distance would be an issue. He also said the problem could be anywhere.

As I really need an always on and preferably high speed service, I decided if I can’t get it on my line, I will get it on someone elses line and share it by whatever means. I did some checking. My friend with line of sight about 300M away has two lines and both failed on the spot. I was told that it was unlikely that DSL would ever be delivered on these lines. A few others in the area passed but none of them wanted DSL. I asked my neighbour in the apartment building if he would be interested. He thought he might so I got his line checked. An immediate pass. A month later he still hasn’t made up his mind if he wants the service or not.
I called the DSL people again and asked if they could swap copper with my neighbours agreement. They had no idea what I was talking about. They put me onto the PSTN side who said it was a DSL issue. Eventually I called my friend at the exchange who told me that even if they swapped copper right outside the apartment, the problem might be wiring inside the apartment and it still might fail. It would also cost me a minimum of 2 x 129 euros to try if they could ever figure out how to enter it into the system. It is a very unusual request.
I called DSL again and asked for the manager. They put me onto a lady who said she could check out the LEBA? Allocation. I never heard of it before but it sounded like something positive. She promised to call me the next day but I never heard from her again nor would she take my calls.
When I complained, they put me in touch with a guy, the first one I spoke to in nearly two months who was actually somewhat knowledgeable and seemed very sympathetic to my plight.
He asked me to call the fault number and ask for my line to be checked. No faults on the line. I asked the lady to check again. She was sure there were no faults.
I reported this back to DSL and he looked into it further. He had the line rechecked which took a while and it registered a fail again. He called me this morning and asked me to unplug everything from the wall jacks except a phone and he would get it checked again. He called me five minutes later and announced that it failed again.
I have asked several times if they can ignore the fail and come install it anyway. I am willing to risk the 200 Euro if it doesn’t work. They say it isn’t possible as the system won’t allow them to go to the next screen if it doesn’t pass. Even if it did, they pass the order on to the implementation team and if their pretest doesn’t pass, they won’t go any further.
I can’t think of anything else I can do at this stage. It has been a few months now of many, many phone calls and lots of waiting to get to this point. I can say for sure that very few people at Eircom understand DSL at all.
My biggest frustration is that they won’t install anyway. As someone stated earlier in this forum, many telcos all over will sell a kit which you install yourself and no test is done in advance. I installed a few in North America myself.
Eircom is busy connecting up the people who do qualify and my guess is that the testing is quite stringent as this means less trouble calls later. Only when all the easy to install ones are done will they come back to trouble lines like mine and remove the line taps and coils etc that may be on them after years of chopping and changing with bad maintenance practises. Although I will take anything I can get right now, I know if I have a choice in the future, I won’t use Eircom!!!!!

lphchild

One of their installation people told me that they know why most lines fail but are under orders not to give specific reasons as this would encourage people to complain and give them a foothold from which to argue for an upgrade,new copper or whatever the specific fix may be.

lph

RicardoSmith

Originally posted by iwb
Although I will take anything I can get right now, I know if I have a choice in the future, I won’t use Eircom!!!!!

I think most people are in agreement with you there. However the reality is that there may never be an alternative while they have a monopoly of the local loop nationally. They know this which is why they can afford to deliver such poor service at every level.

Ayashii

The really weird thing about Eircom's ADSL rollout is that they genuinely seem to have no plan or schedule as to which exchanges are being upgraded and in what order.

Considering that they are supposed to be spending close to 120 million in rolling the thing out, its frightening to think that they don't appear to posess any plans as to where and when the money is being spent....

I was told the other day upon inquiring about Malahide availability, that they didn't know when it would be upgraded (even though I think that exchange was one of the real original trial exchanges back in 1999) and that it "was up to the technician's to tell us when it was ready". Funny thing is that Swords (right next door) has been upgraded.

Didn't Eircom receive governent funding in some shape or form to roll this thing out and if so surely that money can only be paid out on clear and tangible deliverables...... or am I only being too realistic?!

Hannibal_12

IWB, Welcome (back?) to Ireland, land of incompetence. Your post is an amazing read simply beacuse it demonstrates the utter shambles that is Eircom and the Irish Telecoms industry. Have you ever considered fowarding that to the ODTR(whatever that would do) or the consumer association?
North America is a place I have a few relatives and friends and somewhere in the not to distant I hope to move to, where I may eventually get a decent internet connection.
I was recently in Cyprus, a country that is hardly classed as the most industrially developed in the world and to my surprise [sarcasm] thay have DSL available for a whopping [sarcasm] £12 cyp per month (roughly €22 per month) for 640kbps: http://www.cytanet.com.cy/netrunner/moreg.html#1
. What do we have in the E-Tub? €107 per month for a slower service that is effectively unavailable maintained by people that dont seem to have a clue about it.

lynchie

He asked me to call the fault number and ask for my line to be checked. No faults on the line. I asked the lady to check again. She was sure there were no faults.
I reported this back to DSL and he looked into it further. He had the line rechecked which took a while and it registered a fail again

I had the same problem. I live less than 50m from the exchange, and my line kept failing the pretest. Their excuse for my line failing - your too far from the exchange. (After me explaining that I could throw the phone out the window and hit the exchange I was that close) In the end, I asked for a new line to be put in and I asked them to note that I wanted it for DSL. When the engineer came out to install the second line I got him to look at the first line. He tested it and said there was nearly a full short circuit on the line. He said thats the reason it was failing for DSL. Rang faults, "sir, theres no problem on your line" - "Well the engineer says there is".... arguing for ages before he said he'd send somebody out to have a look at it. Anyway, the peons at the end of the phone havent got a clue, never believe what they tell you.

iwb, best bet, if you really want DSL, like I did, was order a new line, telling them that you want it for DSL and ask them to note it down on the order form.

RicardoSmith

Originally posted by lynchie

iwb, best bet, if you really want DSL, like I did, was order a new line, telling them that you want it for DSL and ask them to note it down on the order form.

I'd nearly try this myself except they'd probaby use a DAC on the line to give me a second line, and then I would have two lines neither of which would test ok. Or am I missing something?

zynaps

Originally posted by iwb Eventually someone gave me the mobile number for the lead technician. I spoke with him and he was very professional but also very adamant that he wouldn’t discuss DSL for two reasons.[/B]

Well... do you think it might be something in your apartment?
Maybe you could try following the wire back as far as you can go and replacing all the rest, or something... though maybe eircom wouldn't like that :P

Here's an idea though...
As you mentioned you were talking to an engineer guy, and he actually had a clue.. maybe it'd be an idea for the irelandoffline guys to grab an engineer in eircom somewhere, and get him to dump all the scoop and real info on dsl/adsl/...?

We'd be more likely to get somewhere by talking to someone who knows their arse from their phone jack, than by getting led around a maze of drivel by marketroids, no?

How about setting up an anonymous Q&A session or something?
zynaps

iwb

I doubt that it is something in my apartment. I can't say for sure as I don't have access to all the junction boxes etc. The stance the tech was taking is the safe answer stance.
I don't know what is to gain from having an Eircom guy spill the beans as I doubt that anyone would be any better off in the long run. They will do what suits them for the most part anyway. It would be interesting though to hear some of the stories that are doubtless out there already from the tech perspective.
The bottom line is that DSL doesn't like line taps and loaded copper. Unfortunately, through bad maintenance of the cable plant, there are lots of line taps and probably coils also. It would cost Eircom some serious cash to go out and clean up these lines one by one when requested by guys like me. They could have a policy of removing these problems as they come across them and eventually have a way better infrastructure for the likes of DSL service but that kind of thinking isn't really the telco way.
When they have exhausted their ample supply of people whose lines do qualify, in a year or two, they will then have to start looking at lines that don't, to keep the business growing.