Eircom iStream Starter Launched

CitySickness

From Eircom's press release:

"eircom has, today, formally launched i-stream starter, a high speed, low
cost, broadband service that brings broadband to Ireland's mass consumer
audience. Available from Friday 11 April and retailing at a fixed cost of
just EUR 45 per month (ex VAT), the service is up to ten times faster than a
standard telephone line, is always-on and keeps the home telephone line free for incoming and outgoing voice calls.

i-stream starter halves the price of broadband for consumers and as part of
a EUR 125 million roll-out by eircom, the service is now available to over
700,000 telephone lines around Ireland. This figure will rise to one million
lines by December 2003. Commenting on the announcement, Cathal Magee,
managing director, eircom retail said: "eircom is very proud to be at the
forefront in making broadband accessible to consumers countrywide. The
benefits of broadband have to be seen to be believed and with the
introduction of our new high value, low cost product, customers will be in a
position to experience tremendously fast download speeds for accessing
music, film, sports' broadcasts and electronic communication. There is no
doubt that this new addition to our suite of broadband products will
transform Ireland's broadband agenda."

eircom i-stream starter will operate at speeds up to 512 kilobits per second
and will be available in a self install version at a connection cost of EUR
81.81 (ex VAT), or an eircom technician install version at a connection cost
of EUR 165.00 (ex VAT). "


Nothing new here, I guess. But at least it's off the starting blocks.

eth0_

Well my "line test" failed, I just rang them about the new i-stream product. They don't have the test for radsl till the 11th :-(
I'm sure i'm failing because i'm 2800 mtrs from the exchange...she said to call on the 11th for another test.

Dangger

From ENN

For its part, consumer and lobby group Ireland Offline welcomed the move, with chairman David Long saying "It's great to see the price come down by about 50 percent. We're really pleased on that front." But Long warned that the service needed to be extended to as many customers as possible and said that further price cuts of approximately EUR10 would cause demand to triple, citing ComReg and MRBI polls from last year. "We've got to get down to that magic figure," he said.

spongebob

But IS IT a Guaranteed 512k product? ENN appear to have misquoted the Press Release in the press release, hopefully they will correct it to say either:

1. 'UP TO 512k' as Eircom say

or

2. 'Guaranteed 256k' which is probably the reality for most of their customers given the state of Eircoms lines.

M

MagicBusDriver

In the UK the RADSL adjusts the upload not the download to increase range. Eircom would need to clarify which it is.

Cabaal

Its great to hear and all but in the end is there a dcownload limit?

Its half thye price but that mean your only allowed 1.5GB a month?

shinzon

Failed the online test for the i stream starter, might give them a bell on the 11th and cheer myself up with a bit of heckling


SHIN

ando

700,000 lines.... yeah

Cabaal

Originally posted by shinzon
Failed the online test for the i stream starter, might give them a bell on the 11th and cheer myself up with a bit of heckling

Mine better nopt fail, I'm 200/250Metres away from the exchange

dahamsta

Well, I phoned today to lodge my regular request for an upgrade in Hettyfield, and yerone told me she'd ring back in ten minutes. Imagine my surprise when she didn't.

adam

MarVeL

Originally posted by Cabaal
Its great to hear and all but in the end is there a dcownload limit?

Its half thye price but that mean your only allowed 1.5GB a month?

According to their site it they've actualy increased the cap for this product to an enormous 4Gb!!!!! :-)

Is it just me or does the 512k "business" pack look like an impossible sell against this. 33% more download, roughly half the price and longer range. Contention is unlikely to be an issue initially and if it does become a problem simply upgrade if needed, by that stage the "business" packages will have to have a more reasonable pricing structure

parasite

ummm ...what's the justification for the self-install fee, that makes absolutely no sense, not even for Ireland

Meh

Originally posted by parasite
ummm ...what's the justification for the self-install fee, that makes absolutely no sense, not even for Ireland

Even if you install all the stuff on your end of the line yourself, Eircom still have to do some stuff at the exchange end of the line.

andrew163

Is it possible to get ADSL over a split line? (I know the answer is probably obvious...but I just want to be sure)

---

has anyone else here noticed that the main eircom news server address is mmm.eircom.ie.......
mmm....wouldnt it be great if I could get DSL at home?

---

parasite

Originally posted by Meh
Even if you install all the stuff on your end of the line yourself, Eircom still have to do some stuff at the exchange end of the line.

oh ok, i thought there was a seperate connection charge aswell ...i see now ...oops

Psygnosis

Hi Lads
Im a newbie this is my first post here
n e way If its say 54.50 does this fee include your current line rental or is that on top of the 54.50.

Thanks
Mick

andrew163

it's on top of the 54.50

Jorinn

On top of it, god forbid eircom wouldn't try to to charge you at any possible opportunity.

spongebob

Originally posted by mickb00
Hi Lads
Im a newbie this is my first post here
n e way If its say 54.50 does this fee include your current line rental or is that on top of the 54.50.

Thanks
Mick

€54.50 + €21.15 rental = €76.65 a month for 256k guaranteed.

Grrrrrrrrrreeeeat deal.

Raskolnikov

Not that I had any intention of getting ADSL, I failed the line test too.

I'm in Carrigaline.

Jorinn

Originally posted by Muck
€54.50 + €21.15 rental = €76.65 a month for 256k guaranteed.

Grrrrrrrrrreeeeat deal.

With the cap on top of it of course.

damnyanks

Any news on other ISP's (UTV really ) offering ADSL soon ?

oneweb

Called the ADSL line today and asked for a line test. Nice sounding guy on the other end told me to hold on a sec.... ....yep, that's fine. I was taken aback somewhat as I'd called a few months ago and was told that it was inconclusive. (I think being on a speakerphone might have had something to do with the line noise first time).

Anyways, I'm gonna look into it more in June after exams and hopefully I'll have a job to pay for it. Never know, maybe ESATBT or UTV will have something to offer in D15 by then. Or IrishBroadband (maybe not, they've been in discussions forever and a day at this stage), or even some other company. I think I'd prefer a fixed line connection for security and reliability though (?).

So the €55 odd is on top of line rental, but I'll still have the phone available while I'm online right?

Something to look forward to anyway



*yay!* 200th post

Regnak

Just rang Eircom, here are some details I got from them :

To get your line checked or Order - 1800 512 128
April 11th is the earliest date you can order this new "cheaper" adsl product.
It's €54.50 a month incl VAT
To get a Technician to install it is €199
To get the self install pack is €99
In both cases you will need Eircom's approved ADSL modem , either the USB one for €145 or the Ethernet one for €242.
If the self install goes ars*ways and you need to call an Engineer in they will charge you €130, not the full whack.
The speed is 512K download and 128K upload. They guarantee 256K download and 64K upload at busy times. There is a contention ratio of 48:1
I guess we'll see after the 11th if other companies can beat this !!
I know much of the above is probably already well known, just thought it might add to what's been said on this thread already.

Mike

LFCFan

Originally posted by Regnak
In both cases you will need Eircom's approved ADSL modem , either the USB one for €145 or the Ethernet one for €242.

I thought €ircon weren't allowed to force their modem on you anymore?

They guarantee 256K download and 64K upload at busy times. There is a contention ratio of 48:1

If there's a contention of 48:1 there's no way they can 'Guarantee' 256kb/s at busy times.

shinzon

What are Eircoms Approved modem for ADSL anyways, im sure you can get them cheaper than what eircon is offering

SHIN

why am i getting caught up in this me lines failed LOL

MarVeL

Originally posted by Regnak
Just rang Eircom, here are some details I got from them :
<snip>
In both cases you will need Eircom's approved ADSL modem , either the USB one for €145 or the Ethernet one for €242.
<snip>

I believe ComReg have told them that they can't require you to buy a specific modem from them. The mark up on these must be enormous.

eth0_

48:1 on radsl? MY A-R-S-E! At least knowing it'll slow to a crawl when people come aboard, and knowing you'll never get a guaranteed speed, you can rest easy knowing it'll be hard work to hit that generous 4GB cap!

What an AWFUL deal.
If I ever manage to get dsl i'm sure as hell not getting a residential version if that's all they can offer.

spongebob

Originally posted by Regnak
In both cases you will need Eircom's approved ADSL modem , either the USB one for €145 or the Ethernet one for €242.

Mike

All Correct and well covered except for the bit above.

Eircom may not force you to buy their overpriced crap.

If you are going to self install you may buy an internal ADSL modems as low as €50 incl VAT. If you have the name of the Biddy who told you that lie, you should ring 1800512128 again , ask for Emily the supervisor and eat her about it. It is Emilys fault that her staff are telling people they must buy the Eircom ADSL modem when Eircom ...meaning Emily.... know since last september that this is not the case....Comreg told them so.

If you are going with the Eircom install/Own Modem, you may still do it, have the modem preconfigured yourself by ringing 1800503303 which is the DSL Tech line. They will give you the settings. The tech can see the configuration screen if necessary but if its installled and ready to plug in the wall then its no bother.

M

LFCFan

Originally posted by Muck
All Correct and well covered except for the bit above.

they can't possibly guarantee 256kb/s at busy times with a 48:1 contention can they? I know the chances of everyone using the full pipe at the same time are low but if there's any chance then they can't guarantee anything like 256kb/s.

spongebob

256k as far as the DSLAM in your local exchange, contended from there to the rest of the world.

They guarantee it ONLY in the sense that the Line Test will not pass you if it senses that your line will be unable to sustain at least 256k .

As there will be up to 48 users on the DSLAM, all sharing the single 512k out the back, you could say that you are guaranteed 1/48th of the lowest possible connect speed.

I call it the Down To accounting method....the opposite of the Eircom method. Here Goes.

512k / 48Users = 10.66 KiloBITPerSecond each (the port out the back of the DSLAM is not variable unlike the inbound connection to your premises)

Guarantees 1.3k KiloBYTE that is , per second, arithmetically of course, you are not actually guaranteed 1.3k but should get it in fairness. This is the speed your your Browser Reports during long downloads for example.

Normally my dial up modem gives me 4k a second by way of comparison, thats is because The Terminal Servers your modem dials into are not horribly congested. The contention rate is arnd 48 for a 2Mb line . Some terminal servers are hooked straight into LANs in the ISP so its 56k/48:1 on a 100Mbit NIC at the back.

This fabulous Eircom service is yours only €75.65 a month including Line Rental and Vat.

Yummy , I'll have loads of that until Ardmore shows up armed with trusty Calculator and seeking to Carpet Bomb me.

M

LFCFan

Originally posted by Muck
256k as far as the DSLAM in your local exchange, contended from there to the rest of the world.

They guarantee it in the sense that the Line Test will not pass you if it senses that your will be unable to sustain at least 256k .

As there will be up to 48 users on the DSLAM, all sharing the single 512k out the back, you could say that you are guaranteed 1/48th of the lowest possible connect speed.

256/48 = 5.33 Kil0BITPerSecond

Guarantees 0.66k KiloBYTE that is , per second, arithmetically of course.

For only €75.65 a month including Line Rental and Vat

Yummy , I'll have loads of that

M

That's grand for the likes of yourself Muck with infinite knowledge of all things techy but for the average Joe Soap in the street when he sees 'guarantees' of 256kb/s then he is going to expect at least 256kb/s at all times. This won't be the case so €ircon can't actually guarantee 256kb/s at all times.

Regnak

Oops,

Nope the Eircom lady didn't say you HAD to buy their modems, I just asked what the 2 they offered were and she gave me the prices. I wasn't sure if they would refuse to help you later if you didn't use their modems, I had a feeling it might be a problem. I was obviously wrong and made an assumption in my earlier post. Sorry !

Looking at the replies to my post it doesn't look like an issue to use your own ADSL modem & that's great and thanks for clearing that up ! I'd like to get an Ethernet / Wireless enabled one for around the house and I can get 'em Much cheaper from Seg etc than from Eircom. So if I go for a self install and get it right at least the initial outlay doesn't have to be too much.

I'd better start clearing my credit card before 11th April !!! I presume they will bind you to a 12 month contract ?

Mike

crawler

1) 256k is the guarnateed speed
2) 48:1 is the contention
3) about 20% seemingly will get the full 512k service - but to be honest they done seem 100% on this
4) May be some issues on "marginal passes"
5) till uses bit interleaving ( bad pings & added latency but better reliability
6) I dont think there is a 12 month contract
7) You can provide you own modem ( netgear internet ADSL gateway is good - also a wireless version ) at a much lower cost
8) The reality is it extends the reach by about 1km over standard DSL
9) RADSL speeds can fluctuate - beware split lines
10) Muck - you really are painting the worst possible case on your old example there

50Cent

hey guys,

I passed the test. I dont know how i did because i live in Cabinteely and didnt hear of an exchange near here. Where can i find out the areas which have gone ahead with the exchange? Also, do you guys think that the service by Eircom istream will be truly not up to scratch? Is there anyway of finding out about speeds certain areas will get? I dont want to get Istream if there only going to give me 256k...that would suck...but i may have to resort to Eircom due to the fact its the only company that can suit where i live

reyner

To Regnak and Muck:

I don't know what is goin on with Eircom people then. I received a call today from one of the internet guys and he told me twice that the modem is part of the package and unfortunately I can't have my own, have to buy either their USB one for €176 or the ethernet one for €242.

So then who the hell is telling the truth here? I can't believe they
are so motherf$*^s that will lie to you just like that. Can anyone share his/her experiences on this matter?

Also said that everything counts towards the cap, even browsing web pages. Is that true?

eth0_

Originally posted by reyner

Also said that everything counts towards the cap, even browsing web pages. Is that true?

Of course it's true. As is checking your email. It all counts as "downloading".

Eircom CANNOT force you to take the hideously overpriced modems they're selling. As someone said previously, comreg forbid this. The only thing about buying your own modem is, they don't guarantee to support it.

That's not to say you can't get the very same modems they're bundling with the radsl much cheaper by yourself.

MagicBusDriver

Muck, Your input is unhelpful in my opinion. I would nearly guarantee contension will not be a issue. Most people will get 512k for the vast majority of the time. Muck, You are making out that it will be slower than a modem. Do you honestly believe that?

dahamsta

I received a call today from one of the internet guys and he told me twice that the modem is part of the package and unfortunately I can't have my own, have to buy either their USB one for €176 or the ethernet one for €242.

I've heard several reports of this too. I'll give you the same advice I gave others: If you didn't get a name, ring them back and get one, then report them directly to ComReg. (This isn't a customer service issue, it's an explicit breach of their regulatory requirements.) If possible, submit the complaint in writing. Something like this should do it:

Dear Comreg,

Recently I enquired about getting DSL from Eircom, and the salesperson, Norm Chuckmeat, told me explicitly on the phone that I was required to purchase a DSL modem from them if I wanted the service. I have been informed on the IrelandOffline forum that this is a breach of Eircom's regulatory requirements and would like to lodge an official complaint against them for this breach. Please confirm receipt of this complaint and I would appreciate if you would keep me informed on the progress of your response on this matter.

Yours sincerely,
Flange Duffhorks

And you can send it to this address:

Commission for Communications Regulation
Block DEF, Abbey Court
Irish Life Centre
Lower Abbey Street
Dublin 1

Go on, it'll only take a couple minutes and a stamp!

adam

Lex_Diamonds

I keep hearing about these wonderful adsl modems that one can get "much cheaper" than what Eircom are offering. Sadly, I cant seem to find one in any of the (irish) online shops I have looked at.

I saw one for 110 euro from Elara which isnt "much cheaper" in my book. Can anyone provide a link?

Many Thanks.

spongebob

Originally posted by reyner
To Regnak and Muck:

I don't know what is goin on with Eircom people then. I received a call today from one of the internet guys and he told me twice that the modem is part of the package and unfortunately I can't have my own, have to buy either their USB one for €176 or the ethernet one for €242.

So then who the hell is telling the truth here? I can't believe they
are so motherf$*^s that will lie to you just like that. Can anyone share his/her experiences on this matter?

Also said that everything counts towards the cap, even browsing web pages. Is that true?

The last bit is true. The cap includes uploads and downloads together.

If Eircom lie to you about having to take their overpriced DSL modem then why should you believe that a Guaranteed 256k product is a 512k product in reality. Complain to Emily the supervisor on 1800512128, her staff are crap and she is responsible for that.

Their misrepresentation is really designed to leave you with a modem which is hard to share rather than an integrated modem/hub/wireless access point/firewall and intrusion detection system which may be purchased for €200-€250 or so, and which can be shared among as many pc's as you like. Have a look at this Page Here to see the choice available around the €150 mark once you include VAT .

This gizmo Here is well worth the €280 or so it can be bought for. Eircom would have a canary if ADSL users realised that these things can be set p in 5 minutes by not very technical people. Their own yoke would take as long to set up anyway.

Complain to Comreg, its important that Comreg know that Eircom are selling teh product before the 11th of April when they are allowed to do so. Their own resellers such as Via are not allowed to order the thing yet. Eircom were directed to allow consumers choose their own equipment (DSL Modem) last September.

Eircom carefuly chose the words "Up To 512k" for their PR material and as Crawler said some 20% will get it anyway, probably more than 50%. in reality. They will all share one measly 512k pipe out the back ....irrespective of whether it is 256 or 512.

My figures pointed out what happens at the outer edge of the contention ratio of 48 users sharing one 512k pipe.

M

exiztone

Hmmm, just curious, this is an always on product right?
Hence although with that disgusting cap I can use it hassle free peak and off-peak and get decent pings for my games?
The price is quite steep, but compared to what I have now, I'd almost consider it, I'll wait untill the summer to see what other people bring out first though.
I'd have to move back to Eircom if I got this though right? May not be worth the hassle hahah.

Dasilva94

Try www.komplett.ie
they seem to have a good number of DSL modems/routers.

echomadman

whaddaya know, one of my lines passed the online test

now to wait for someone else to offer DSL in this backwater burg.
I'll be deep in the cold cold grave before i give another penny to the rat that i dont absolutely have to.

OHP

This is just an idea. But could there be a thread set up as a sticky for people all over Ireland that have had their lines tested and passed or tested and failed Eircon's ADSL / RADSL line test and to also say what area they are in? Or maybe even broaden that idea to include other details?



OHP

spongebob

they wont test you if your exchange is not enabled.

if your exchange is enabled and you fail, complain to Comreg....forcefully.

bk

Originally posted by Lex_Diamonds
I keep hearing about these wonderful adsl modems that one can get "much cheaper" than what Eircom are offering. Sadly, I cant seem to find one in any of the (irish) online shops I have looked at.

I saw one for 110 euro from Elara which isnt "much cheaper" in my book. Can anyone provide a link?

Many Thanks.

Lots on www.amazon.co.uk here are a few examples:

Dynamode PCI ADSL Modem - £29.99 - EUR 43.8403 - Cheap Internal PCI Modem

D Link DSL-200 ADSL USB Modem - £54.99 - EUR 80.3924 - Equivalent to Eircoms EUR 145 USB Modem

D-Link ADSL Ethernet Modem - £69.49 - EUR 101.584 - Equivalent to Eircoms EUR 242 Ethernet Modem !!

D Link DSL-504 ADSL Remote Router with 4 Port Switch - £99.49 - EUR 145 - Excellent ADSL modem with 4 port 10/100 router and firewall, way better then anything Eircom offer.

Unfortunately Amazon don't yet have the excellent looking D-Link DSL-604 Plus Wireless ADSL Router that Muck pointed out.

BTW delivery from Amazon to Ireland is - £3.94 - EUR5.76

Lots of DSL modem reviews and where to get them can be found at http://www.adslguide.org.uk/hardware/reviews/

Woden

i have to say i don't see peoples problem with paying line rental on top of the adsl pricing, as in most peoples case they have a phone line already which they are using for phone calls and they still pay line rental, the adsl is a service on top of this, i'd say the amount of people getting a phone line in just for broadband is small.

Piliger

Originally posted by dahamsta

Done and sent.

The actually extremely pleasant Margaret was the one who told me this today.

Lex_Diamonds

I thought the cap was only for data downloaded. Well, if its for both then its pointless getting it, sharing on p2p programmes will NUKE the cap.

Frank Grimes

Originally posted by Lex_Diamonds
I thought the cap was only for data downloaded. Well, if its for both then its pointless getting it, sharing on p2p programmes will NUKE the cap.

Well, according to their site it is,

eircom i-stream starter self-install
For a single user, on a single computer

The product has both a USB or Ethernet option
Speeds 512Kbps downstream/128Kbps upstream*
Connection fee is 81.81 excl. VAT - Monthly fee is 45 excl. VAT
Additional equipment required ADSL USB modem 120 excl. VAT or ADSL Ethernet modem 200 excl. VAT.
The monthly download allowance is 4GB**

**eircom reserves the right to charge 3c ex VAT per MB for material downloaded over and above the stated monthly allowance.