ESAT lost their online RADSL orders (Allegedly)

spongebob

This is fairly typical of ESAT and their miserable ongoing 'efforts' to provide Broadband to the Residential Market. In the 5 months or so that ESAT have had a residential product (the mythical 256k one mainly) , they have installed about 30 in the whole country......6 installs a month maybe 7,

They opened up an IOL Broadband Booking Form on the IOL website about 2 months ago. Many here filled the form in and did so in good faith, some were told that you have passed the 'test' but nobody has actually got the product yet (launched 11/04 you may remember). Some were asked to submit details in case it arrived in the 'hood later on.

It now appears that ESAT may have never stored the data from the form (they are blaming a 'Computer Error' in one story over on the BB board) so anyone who has filled it out and patiently waited could well be in the same position as this poster Here on the subject. He sez he rang them weekly for the last month before they finally admitted it to him this morning.

M

eth0_

Muck, don't you think posting idle hearsay about a company is a little dangerous? All you have to back this story up is that some guy on an internet message board told you...how do you know the person that guy spoke to didn't tell him that story just to cover their own ass because they forgot to send him a sign-up form?

Now, I don't know if it's true or not, but I do know two people living in the north-east who registered online and were sent their sign up forms in the past week or two....which sort of casts a little doubt on this story...

spongebob

None of us failed to notice the full page ad guff about 'IOL Anytime' over the past week.

Why did ESAT not take out full page ads to apologise for this grossly misleading press release they put out 2 months back.
...you know the one where they said they would be up and running by May 2003 . Nobody in Ireland has hooked to the service yet, this is the 09 June. No apology in the newspapers either, just the sh1te about IOL Anytime.

M

Dangger

If this truly is nothing but idle heresay, can I ask the mods, is this really the place for it?

Dustaz

Originally posted by Dangger
If this truly is nothing but idle heresay, can I ask the mods, is this really the place for it?

Well, its as much idle hearsay as we see about everything here:)

tbh, if Esat want to keep telling thier customers the first thing that comes into their heads (be it the awful truth or a stalling tactic) then i have no problem with people reporting it.

(Sceptre may feel differently, him being the law...talkin....guy and all)

sceptre

Originally posted by Dustaz
(Sceptre may feel differently, him being the law...talkin....guy and all)

I'm following the same line tbh - from a legal point of view it's fine. Muck hasn't mis-represented what he's read, it may be hearsay but it's not quite idle. Besides we do thrive on that kind of thing & it's the kind of thing prospective customers would want to know about, whether it's totally true or some CS agent ass-covering.

Tell you what though - if Esat are willing to admit the accuracy of the report OR swear blind that it's not true, I'm sure we'd love to hear it. I'll even happily amend the thread title to reflect the "Esat say it's not true!" nature of any possible statement.

(this isn't an open invitation to post baseless speculation btw - it's just that this could be rather important)

Anyone who's ordered online in the time period indicated can confirm or deny the truth of the reported statement.

jonski

the night before utv announce their b/b package ,I get this e-mail ,while reading remember that i applied for this ages ago.

Dear John Stapleton,

Thank you for enquiring about IOL Broadband, the affordable Broadband
service from Esat BT. I am delighted to inform you that your line has
been passed for this service, and I enclose a link to an application form which
you can print out, fill in and return to us.
http://register.iol.ie/broadband/IOL_Broadband.pdf

By signing this form you are agreeing to adhere to Esat BT's terms &
conditions for the service, these can be found by going to:
http://register.iol.ie/broadband/TermsAndConds.pdf

We will need to allocate you a username and password for this service, in order
to do this you will need to call into our sales team on freephone 1800 923 111
a couple of days after you post back the application form and they will set
this up for you. Your order cannot be processed without this information. So it
is vital that once you have sent off your application form you call us so that
we can log this information for you"

Do u think that maybe they are worried about utv getting in just under the wire.

dahamsta

Well, I've registered five times now, just in case they lose my registration another four times, to be sure, to be sure. I'm tempted to send wget in, to be sure, to be sure, to be sure. Then maybe a dose of cURL, and a little fsockopen() for flavour.

Tools.

adam

spongebob

Anyone remember this notorious Product Launch by ESAT ?

Madsl came up with the really juicy research.

Synkronite

Uhm, Ive never heard of these 'rumours'

I registered online around April.. and in May was sent an advertisment (two actually) about IOL Broadband and the application form, which I promptly filled out, and returned. Within 3 days I got a phone call asking me to choose a login/password and they now say they will send out the modem and Ill be hooked up by the end of this week or early next week

(All this after the posts you can read about how Eircom kept on continously rejecting my application for DSL, and now when I went with EsatBT Eircom are back saying 'Oh we can give you DSL..').

Eircom- definately my worst hated company. They should be ashamed of themselves of holding a whole country hostage.

eth0_

Originally posted by sceptre

Tell you what though - if Esat are willing to admit the accuracy of the report OR swear blind that it's not true, I'm sure we'd love to hear it. I'll even happily amend the thread title to reflect the "Esat say it's not true!" nature of any possible statement.

eth0_

Originally posted by sceptre

Tell you what though - if Esat are willing to admit the accuracy of the report OR swear blind that it's not true, I'm sure we'd love to hear it. I'll even happily amend the thread title to reflect the "Esat say it's not true!" nature of any possible statement.

Surely your piece on newstalk in the morning would be a good time to speak to someone in Esat who'd know if this did or did not happen?

qwertyup

Meh. Just got a test failure email from IOL. Guess my line hasn't magically improved yet

Dear Qwertyup,

Thank you for enquiring about IOL Broadband the affordable Broadband
service from Esat BT. Unfortunately we have tested your line and you are
currently unable to avail of this service, however with new exchanges
being enabled and improvements in technology you may be able to avail of
it at some point in the future. If you are still interested in the
service in a few months time, we can retest your line for you at that
point.

In the meantime we are about to launch the new IOL Anytime service, this
service you can go online, anytime of the day or night for a fixed
monthly charge, offers you a flat rate fee for your monthly internet
usage and will save you money over pay as you use dial-up services. The
launch date for this service is 27 June 2003, if you would like to check
the latest details on our website go to http://register.iol.ie/anytime
to register your interest and we will send you information relating to
the service contact you when the service is available.

Thank you again for your interest in Esat BT.

Yours sincerely
Angela Keegan
SME Business and Residential Director

bizmark

i dont bleave the rumors either.

Not only did i get my forums 2 weeks ago had a phone call on thusday last for my password and username. AND got a email yesterday with info on where to download the forms for printing (really shouldnt have aplyed online and by phone lol).

really though i like esat thier support and staff are good (other than the accounting department) i really dont think they would be that stupid

dahamsta

Originally posted by Synkronite
holding a whole country hostage.

Nice soundbite for tomorrow. Plus the whole ONE BILLION EUROS thing is a little Austin Powers-eque.

<cue dave saying "oh behave" to eircom>

adam

flav0rflav

It's patently obvious they did not in reality lose the applications. FFS they have backups. It's an excuse.

I'm not sure which is worse, incompetency or sneaky customer tactics?

MadsL

/me decloaks after getting a namecheck from Muck

Whew, thanks Muck...I'm a little in awe...

:rolleyes:


Anyway, guess what i was told by Esat yesterday. They are no longer selling the residential product. That's right, after being given (how much cash, Muck?) by the Government (us) they have decided not to offer it anymore. So the grand total of Residential ADSL subscribers was, what? 30? 35? At those prices everyone could have had a 2Mb leased line each!!

uzami

I ordered the residential DSL product off of Esat in February, by the time eircom launched their *COUGH* low cost product in April there was still no sign of it being delivered, despite weekly calls for updates.....though I was told that if I ordered the business DSL then it would be provisioned (within 10 days), and once delivered I could downgrade the package, and if I waited for the residential to be installed I may be waiting sometime.....

So I ordered of eircom, which went against every grain in my body, but i couldn't afford to wait on esat/iol to get their act together.

You can't talk about competition in this country when the management of esat are still a bunch of marketeers unable to deliver on any promises....they still come across like a mismanaged start up.

spongebob

Originally posted by MadsL

Anyway, guess what i was told by Esat yesterday. They are no longer selling the residential product. That's right, after being given (how much cash, Muck?) by the Government (us) they have decided not to offer it anymore. So the grand total of Residential ADSL subscribers was, what? 30? 35? At those prices everyone could have had a 2Mb leased line each!!

I believe that the subsidy to ESAT , in order that they could lay fibre to the 40 exchanges and then provide their 'own' DSL rather than resell Eircoms , was IEP 10m. Shall we say €12m

ESAT then connected c.30 Residential users to this fibre, Nationwide, as you yourself found out MaDSL.

Therefore it could be said that EVERY residential DSL connection , so far provided by ESAT, has cost the taxpayer €400,000 each.

Thats a bit unfair but persistently launching packages and not delivering on your promises is more unfair IMO .

M

delop

Originally posted by uzami
So I ordered of eircom, which went against every grain in my body, but i couldn't afford to wait on esat/iol to get their act together.

This is typical of what I expected of a % of people who were passionate about the topics discussed on this site.

I wonder how many people who frequent IOFF, and almost felt that Eircoms behavior towards providing Broadband was offensive and extremely upsetting went ahead and ordered from Eircom anyway...

seems a bit hypocritical to me!

Ya, Power to the people! and all that bull

MadsL

Therefore it could be said that EVERY residential DSL connection , so far provided by ESAT, has cost the taxpayer €400,000 each.

:rolleyes: why does this not suprise me...can we ask for our money back??? :mad:

At least they say that they will continue to provide this service! Sure, a 256/128 service at 60 a month...that'll be attractive, ...although given the contention ratio of 1:1

dahamsta

Well, he says he "couldn't afford" to wait, which is a pretty good reason in my book. I dislike Eircom and EsatBT intensely, but if they offered me a broadband product tomorrow I'd have to take it. Ethics are enormously important, but economics sometimes force you into things you don't want to do.

adam

sceptre

Originally posted by delop
I wonder how many people who frequent IOFF, and almost felt that Eircoms behavior towards providing Broadband was offensive and extremely upsetting went ahead and ordered from Eircom anyway...

seems a bit hypocritical to me!

We've had this one out before. For people who need broadband (or just want it and can't get it anywhere else), there's no argument. They can buy from Eircom or live without the service they want, perhaps paying hundreds or euros extra a month in the process.

Personally, I can afford to wait. Actually, being a scummy cheapo student with no money, I probably can't afford to pay the extra per month and couldn't justify it with a 5gig (or less) cap anyway, though any amount of extra speed would just make my year. That's me though - I'm in a different category to those who need DSL from anywhere that provides it.

(plus I can always go out to UL and download stuff over a 10Mps line when the mood strikes me so I'm not too badly off really)

uzami

felt that Eircoms behavior towards providing Broadband was offensive and extremely upsetting went ahead and ordered from Eircom anyway...

i think the fact that eircom have a monopoly is fairly well established, what is a concern is that esat are driving customers to them with their inefficiencies.

Why market a product when you can't deliver, and obviously have no intention/interest in it? esat got their residential broadand wholesale rate (not at what they wanted). They created a residential product and offered it to the public after being subsidised by the governement for their roll out....and promptly did feck all about it.

I ordered off of esat in Feb, how long should I wait to avoid becoming hypocritical one month, two months? Is there a standard timeframe for this?

Broken promises after the third month wear a little thin. I don't feel that there is any viable (for me) alternative to the monopoly.
I actually cancelled the order with eircom once before I went through with it, as I wanted to order with Netsource, but their actual commitments, (as opposed to their sales talk) turned me right off.

Also Netsource's modular based offering (domain name etc) this was more distasteful to me than eircom's cap (I am no warez monkey).

Why should I suffer/wait while other companies get their act together.

delop

Why should I suffer/wait while other companies get their act together

If you dont need the service for business I cant see how you are suffering...

I assume from you post that you not have the eircom connection for a period of time. Did BroadBand meet all you expectations? Do you use it as much as you expected? IS it worth the cash you pay out for it? Do you pay for the connection out of your own pocket?

Im not trying to get at you personally! When I first saw this Bulliten Board I though Wow, now that Eircom are selling wholesale, what would happen if everyone ordered off Netsource, and EsatBT even though they may never get connected. It would have made a powerfull statement. I think it woudl have made a huge difference.. Well its only my opinion...

I had a similar problem with internet in the early 90's I grew up in the SW of Ireland, I had to dial into the internet Via Dublin, that was what they called a trunk call at that time and on a 2400 modem you can emagine it was just a waste of tme. I got a bit frustrated with Telecom Eireann, I believed that if they setup a POP in Kerry many people would benifit. Needless to say that took some time. I personally chose not to use this expensive connection untill it got sorted out. Not for everyone I agree but ohhh wellll....

uzami

Originally posted by delop
If you dont need the service for business I cant see how you are suffering...

humph...:rolleyes:....other than my natural narkiness of being let down again by esat/bt,

Did BroadBand meet all you expectations? Yes, to date. I have even bought a new pc, which was a surprise.
Do you use it as much as you expected? Probably more than expected, though it is a honeymoon period at the moment

IS it worth the cash you pay out for it?
It currently is worth more to me than Sky Movies and Sky Sports, both of which I have cancelled, not because of cash, but because I haven't gone near them. That combined with the cancellation of the UTV dial up account means I am actually saving money.

Do you pay for the connection out of your own pocket?
Yes


Also, quick question, is esat/bt's (IOL) current product similarly priced to their UK openworld product (stg£29.99 = €45 ), at what level do esat/bt see an affordable pricepoint for DSL.