Eir rural FTTH thread III

shaveAbullock wrote: »

There are a number of points where there could be contention. I doubt if it was at the OLT.
Having a small number of the heavy usage customers drop down to a lower tier package would be an easy and cheap solution. Whatever it is that ISP would probabky have to spend time and money on it before they could think about giving all customers a speed upgrade.

They mentioned it was at the exchange. So out of their hands.

limnam wrote: »

I would hope not

As I dropped down I pay less so wouldn't make much sense to not try to keep me on the higher profile.

They're also highly recommended here.

But yeah the contention thing didnt make much sense.

They know they can't provide you a gigabit connection and they know you know how to test for gigabit. So...

Say they needed to upgrade their backhaul to accommodate your gigabit connection and the cost of upgrading the backhaul was greater than the difference you pay between 500Mb and 1Gb. Spin you a yarn about exchange contention and boom, you drop down and they keep a customer.

If it were me I'd be contacting other providers asking about whether they can provide a gigabit connnection at X exchange and if there is a known contention issue at X exchange. Someone like Digiweb should be able to answer you. It can be harder to get such info from the bigger operators.

If you're told there is no contention issue I would be switching and then if my new gigabit connection was working as it should you know you've been misled and I would out the original ISP here for lying to you.

fmannix10

limnam wrote: »

They mentioned it was at the exchange. So out of their hands.

I would also recommend you switch providers especially if you are within 14 day cool off. I had similar problems with poor speed when I first signed up to 1 Gig. The provider blamed contention at exchange.

I switched to eir within my cool off period. The second the line got switched I noticed a massive improvement in both ping time and speed. Now almost 1 year later I couldn't be happier. I always get over 900 Mb and their network is rock solid.

I think eir is the best option if you are going for 1 Gig and want lowest latency. They seem to have the best routing and I believe this is because other providers dont connect into openeir network at as many points and can lead to your traffic taking a longer route out to the wider internet.

Maybe Airwire can explain what the issue is at the exchange, they are usually fairly open about these things.

fmannix10 wrote: »

I would also recommend you switch providers especially if you are within 14 day cool off. I had similar problems with poor speed when I first signed up to 1 Gig. The provider blamed contention at exchange.

I switched to eir within my cool off period. The second the line got switched I noticed a massive improvement in both ping time and speed. Now almost 1 year later I couldn't be happier. I always get over 900 Mb and their network is rock solid.

I think eir is the best option if you are going for 1 Gig and want lowest latency. They seem to have the best routing and I believe this is because other providers dont connect into openeir network at as many points and can lead to your traffic taking a longer route out to the wider internet.

So you got the "contention at the exchange" excuse also. I wonder is there a common denominator between yourself and limnam. Which provider was it?

limnam, which provider are you with?

This poster, brianbruff, also seems to have been told the OpenEir network was at fault for poor gigabit speeds. They switched back to eir and miraculously gigabit is working again.

brianbruff wrote: »

After 1 year with another provider I changed back to eir.

Back on 1Gbps speeds so turns out openEir network was not the problem after all.
Also faster pings (just talking 4ms here mind!) to most if not all locations of interest.

Lord help me if i ever need to call eir support however!
I know they won't compare to the excellent service i've had with my previous provider !

(first world problems)

brianbruff, if you are reading this, care to say which provider blamed the OpenEir network for your failure to achieve gigabit?

Grnsj wrote: »

limnam, which provider are you with?

Airwire

cnocbui

I was initially with Eir but switched to Airwire when the contract ended.

Airwire easily have the best customer service as they are at least contactable and are responsive, but in the 12 months with Eir, there were only two service disruptions amounting to about 1:30 loss of service and there was no need to attempt the customer service route.

The latency with Airwire is worse. My son has frequently tracerouted connections and has observed that about 90% of the latency is within Airwire's network and he would love to know how they manage such extraordinary delays between servers, or whatever they are.

The main thing that prompted the switch was the large bump in price with Eir at the end of the contract. It's of a ridiculous size. If their long term pricing was competitive, I would have stuck with them as technically, their service is better. I think Eir have gotten far too much stick on here. Their customer service may be bad but not needing to use it is a fairly significant component of the overall customer service picture.

cnocbui wrote: »

The main thing that prompted the switch was the large bump in price with Eir at the end of the contract. It's of a ridiculous size. If their long term pricing was competitive, I would have stuck with them as technically, their service is better. I think Eir have gotten far too much stick on here. Their customer service may be bad but not needing to use it is a fairly significant component of the overall customer service picture.

It's not just technical issues with EIr, if they make mistakes with the billing it may take months to get the problem resolved. In the past they have got my bills incorrect frequently. You can almost be guaranteed that when you finally get on to a rep that the problem won't show up on the system they have access to so you will just be passed from one department to another.
But now that Eir have 1Gb at €54.99 fixed price for 24 months will some be tempted? Can you get this offer when you switch from another provider or is it for new FTTH connections only?

alec76

shaveAbullock wrote: »

But now that Eir have 1Gb at €54.99 fixed price for 24 months will some be tempted? Can you get this offer when you switch from another provider or is it for new FTTH connections only?

I am with Eir 300 Mbit/s package , almost end of contract, never had an issue with the service, never had to call customer service etc... Low latency,
great routing with very few hops to the European servers ....
I’ll definitely switch to 1 Gb package unless this price for new customers only.

alec76 wrote: »

I am with Eir 300 Mbit/s package , almost end of contract, never had an issue with the service, never had to call customer service etc... Low latency,
great routing with very few hops to the European servers ....
I’ll definitely switch to 1 Gb package unless this price for new customers only.

It's for new customers only but I'm not sure if it's also offered to people who currently have FTTH with another provider.
They are using the business stratagy that rewards new customers but screws ones they already have. I hate it but it must be profitable as this is what most large providers do.

Gonzo

alec76 wrote: »

I am with Eir 300 Mbit/s package , almost end of contract, never had an issue with the service, never had to call customer service etc... Low latency,
great routing with very few hops to the European servers ....
I’ll definitely switch to 1 Gb package unless this price for new customers only.

Eir's 1 Gb package is 54.99 a month for new customers or those changing providers.

For current customers out of contract the price for the 1gb plan is 64.99 (same price as the old 300 plan).

cnocbui

shaveAbullock wrote: »

It's not just technical issues with EIr, if they make mistakes with the billing it may take months to get the problem resolved. In the past they have got my bills incorrect frequently. You can almost be guaranteed that when you finally get on to a rep that the problem won't show up on the system they have access to so you will just be passed from one department to another.
But now that Eir have 1Gb at €54.99 fixed price for 24 months will some be tempted? Can you get this offer when you switch from another provider or is it for new FTTH connections only?

I did have an issue at the end of the contract where they charged me for the modem I didn't return, but actually did. Yes it was a bit of a pain but cancelling the direct debit mandate at the end of the contract meant they were chasing me for money rather than vise versa.

cnocbui

Gonzo wrote: »

Eir's 1 Gb package is 54.99 a month for new customers or those changing providers.

For current customers out of contract the price for the 1gb plan is 64.99 (same price as the old 300 plan).

I'm paying €49 a month for 150 with Airwire. If Eir's long term pricing for 1GBs was €55, and my son was aware of it, I would be coming under serious pressure to switch again when the contract is up, but hopefully i won't be around by then anyway, so it's likely moot.

alec76

Gonzo wrote: »

For current customers out of contract the price for the 1gb plan is 64.99 (same price as the old 300 plan).

24 months new contract ,I suppose?

cnocbui wrote: »

Airwire easily have the best customer service as they are at least contactable and are responsive, but in the 12 months with Eir, there were only two service disruptions amounting to about 1:30 loss of service and there was no need to attempt the customer service route.

Speaking of service disruptions Airwire are down again in some areas. It's an issue with a repeater in Newbridge, Galway apparently.
Airwire do seem to have frequent down time.

cnocbui wrote: »

Airwire easily have the best customer service as they are at least contactable and are responsive, but in the 12 months with Eir, there were only two service disruptions amounting to about 1:30 loss of service and there was no need to attempt the customer service route.

Speaking of service disruptions, Airwire are down again in some areas. It's an issue with a repeater in Newbridge, Galway apparently.
Airwire do seem to have frequent down time.

cnocbui wrote: »

I was initially with Eir but switched to Airwire when the contract ended.

Airwire easily have the best customer service as they are at least contactable and are responsive, but in the 12 months with Eir, there were only two service disruptions amounting to about 1:30 loss of service and there was no need to attempt the customer service route.

The latency with Airwire is worse. My son has frequently tracerouted connections and has observed that about 90% of the latency is within Airwire's network and he would love to know how they manage such extraordinary delays between servers, or whatever they are.

The main thing that prompted the switch was the large bump in price with Eir at the end of the contract. It's of a ridiculous size. If their long term pricing was competitive, I would have stuck with them as technically, their service is better. I think Eir have gotten far too much stick on here. Their customer service may be bad but not needing to use it is a fairly significant component of the overall customer service picture.

IIRC there was discussions previously around the latency and talk of overhead of ppoe

I was surprised when first connected with FTTH I was averaging 10ms to most Irish servers. I was expecting traffic especially within INEX to be far lower.

Can't imagine PPOE having that much of an impact.

But not been able to get over 500mb on 1gb when there's very few connections around was definitely surprising when the answer was contention at the exchange.

Perhaps the issue is with the interconnect they use at some exchanges?
I wish I had a better understanding of how it works exactly.

Gonzo

alec76 wrote: »

24 months new contract ,I suppose?

yeah 24 months new contract.

alec76

Gonzo wrote: »

yeah 24 months new contract.

How is Digiweb network ? Latency,routing etc?
Only 1TB FUP ,I know..
It is €25 pm for 1 Gb at the moment plus €100 for activation, working out as €33 a month , only 12 month contract.

fmannix10

Grnsj wrote: »

So you got the "contention at the exchange" excuse also. I wonder is there a common denominator between yourself and limnam. Which provider was it?

It was also Airwire for me.

fmannix10 wrote: »

It was also Airwire for me.

Really?

That's interesting.

I wonder if Martin would chime in on it to see what's going on.

fmannix10 wrote: »

It was also Airwire for me.

Do you remember what speed you were able to get?

alec76 wrote: »

How is Digiweb network ? Latency,routing etc?
Only 1TB FUP ,I know..
It is €25 pm for 1 Gb at the moment plus €100 for activation, working out as €33 a month , only 12 month contract.

25 for 1000mb and 30 for 500.....
Do they both have the same activation fee?

limnam wrote: »

Airwire

fmannix10 wrote: »

It was also Airwire for me.

So that is two customers told by Airwire that "contention at the exchange" is at fault for them not receving gigabit speeds.

brianbruff has not responded but searching his posts it seems he was with Airwire also and experienced issues with gigabit that were resolved by switching.

For what it's worth, I went with Airwire
Orders opened on my exchange today, already have had a call from Airwire this morning and install scheduled for next week.

I think questions need to be asked of Airwire as to why they are giving misleading information to customers, blaming the OpenEir network when the issue is likely to be the interconnect that Airwire has into the OpenEir network.

Shoddy behaviour.

Grnsj wrote: »

So that is two customers told by Airwire that "contention at the exchange" is at fault for them not receving gigabit speeds.

brianbruff has not responded but searching his posts it seems he was with Airwire also and experienced issues with gigabit that were resolved by switching.

I think questions need to be asked of Airwire as to why they are giving misleading information to customers, blaming the OpenEir network when the issue is likely to be the interconnect that Airwire has into the OpenEir network.

Shoddy behaviour.

They seem fairly open on things like this. Hopefully Martin can explain.

As I have nearly 12 months left on contract. Tricky to change.

Grnsj wrote: »

I think questions need to be asked of Airwire as to why they are giving misleading information to customers, blaming the OpenEir network when the issue is likely to be the interconnect that Airwire has into the OpenEir network.

Shoddy behaviour.

I don't think they blamed the open eir network.
It could be the interconnect at the exchange.

150 is plenty for me so I'm not too worried about speed. All the downtime is what I find annoying.

limnam wrote: »

They seem fairly open on things like this. Hopefully Martin can explain.

As I have nearly 12 months left on contract. Tricky to change.

I think it's pretty clear cut that you've been lied to. It's up to yourself bit I'd be doing everything possible to get away from them.

shaveAbullock wrote: »

I don't think they blamed the open eir network.
It could be the interconnect at the exchange.

150 is plenty for me so I'm not too worried about speed. All the downtime is what I find annoying.

What does "contention at the exchange" imply to you? To me, it implies that there is no point in switching as no matter who you switch to the exchange is contended.

If they were honest they would say "there is an issue with our backhaul from this exchange and we may not be able to provide a gigabit connection from here". But then the customer would likely leave.