Eircom - 7 MB package but only 4 possible on line

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amc123

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I have Eircom Broadband for around four years and had an ISDN line before that.

I switched to a Home Professional package and then when I was no longer working from home I went on Broadband Home Advanced package with talk-time.

This is download speed of up to 7MB and a download allowance of 50GB. Now the broadband was never the fastest but I put it down to the difference between home and work.

Last week I got an email saying we were upgraded to NGB. I don't recall agreeing to an upgrade but may have enquired so I presume there is no price change.

Today I decided to test the speed as it is slow and I thought the NGB would have been better however it came out as 3.51 MB.

I called about it only to be told that my line was only capable of 5MB! Then after further lengthy conversations discovered that Eircom get to set how much speed they send to your modem and they were sending 4MB to my modem. They did not tell me what they were sending to the modem pre NGB.

My issue is that I was never told this. Today is the first time I was told my line was not capable of the speed. I am careful enough about what I pay for and I would always weigh up the options. I was shown a package of 3MB or 7MB. I know they say up to but if they had told me I would never possibly be able to achieve a speed of 7MB on my line and that they were only going to send 4MB to my modem max anyway then I would probably have made the decision to go for the 3MB package.

I feel that I have been paying for a service for four years that they were never going to provide.

Am I missing something or have been hoodwinked here ?

Thanks AMC.
 
Due to the fact that they can offer up to that speed as everyone knows , I think it is up to yourself to make sure that your line can accept that speed itself. How one would go about that test I don't know.

Unfortunatley it is a hard lesson but one you will never forget.

I think the only time that Eircom would make you aware of the speed problem before signing the contract would be if they could not give you any type of connection. They make alot of money on this because alot of people ask for the highest speed not knowing what their speed max is and their is alot of people out there unaware who are in the same situation as yourself.
 
But surely they have an obligation to tell me that they can't provide the service to me and never intend to. If say a bank promised me a certain return but knew there was no possible way I could ever get that return then they would not be allowed to do that. Is Eircom different ? I don't fully understand it but it seems that they have some control over what speed I get and were sending 4MB to my modem but were able to up that to 5MB today instantly when I rang but that is the max my line would take. Surely they had an obligation to tell me that I could buy up to 3 or up to 7 but that my line would only take 5 and they were only going to send me 4 anyway and leave me to make an informed decision as to which service I should take. I seem to be forever on a crusade against service providers lately but surely they have some responsibility in particular when they are selling to the home market who could not reasonably be expected to have full technical knowledge. I wonder would it be an issue for the small claims court. They did after sell me a package that they knew I would never receive.
 
I would be careful about the small claims court. Recheck the terms and conditions. If they do not fulfill the terms then you have a case, but if they do then it is money lost.

If they say on the terms and conditions "up to" then they are saying that they can provide up to that speed, but does it actually say that you will most definitely get that speed ?

Check the terms and see if it says anything about them offering a minimum connection speed?
 
I was using Eircom and getting awful download speeds - max of 350 kb/sec.
I decided to change and contacted BT. When they ran their speed test They told me not to go for a 7mb line, that the 3mb line was more than enough.
I got back to BT a little later. By that time they had been taken over by Vodafone. I transferred to them.
Since then I have been contacted by Eircom to transfer back. When I pointed out that that was their infrastructure that was in bits while Tony O'Reilly, Dennis O'Brien and Babcock & Brown were creaming it, they lost some of their enthusiasm.
They rechecked the line speed and told me that the local exchange had not been updated. I told them to get back to me when they get off their asses.
I am still waiting for them to get back to me!
 
Paddyman said:
I
When I pointed out that that was their infrastructure that was in bits while Tony O'Reilly, Dennis O'Brien and Babcock & Brown were creaming it, they lost some of their enthusiasm.


When did Denis Obrien cream it on eircom
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Speed of the line all depends on your distance from the exchange... What I found with eircom is that they give you the package applicable to your line.. so if you line is capable of 2 Mb, you get a 3 mb package, line capable of 4 mb, you get a 7mb package, etc...

LOTS of similar reported issues within the eircom support site itself... found the techies on their site quite good & open... Worth a look in there... Ask them what the max speed your line can take... ask its is possible to "bump" it up...
 
I agree with Jazz01, Eircom dont decide what speed to send out on your line. The speed on your line will depend on how far from the Exchange your line is, and not always as you would drive the route. If your line is only capable of receiving 4Mg then there is no point in trying to send 8MG over it because it wont work very well at all. If the person( Forget the name) thats getting 3.x MG is working ok then thats the best you are going to get no matter what company provides the broadband on your line.
 
I was with eircom a I was paying for upto 8mb, but the speed was so low that i could not even watch a video on youtube. I switched to Imagine, their system is wireless and I am now consistently getting 7mb. I am very happy with the service and there is no line rental.
If you are having problems with the internet speed because of your telephone line, switch to wimax.......
 
joer said:
I agree with Jazz01, Eircom dont decide what speed to send out on your line. The speed on your line will depend on how far from the Exchange your line is, and not always as you would drive the route. If your line is only capable of receiving 4Mg then there is no point in trying to send 8MG over it because it wont work very well at all. If the person( Forget the name) thats getting 3.x MG is working ok then thats the best you are going to get no matter what company provides the broadband on your line.
Click to expand...

I don't think that's true. If you have a dodgy line and your ADSL modem tries to handshake with the equipment in the exchange at too high a speed you may get un unreliable connection (even with rate adaptive ADSL). Eircom can cap your speed to something that guarantees better reliability. I don't know how often they do it, but I'm pretty sure they can.

I was in the same boat as other posters. Paying for 8Mb and getting 2.5Mb. Eircom said the problem was line quality and they couldn't/wouldn't improve it. Obviously it was me that brought it to their attention -- they wouldn't have brought it up voluntarily. I'd say there are lots of people who have never done a line test and are paying Eircom for a service that their shoddy infrastructure can't even deliver. The day that UPC became available in my area, I dumped Eircom forever.
 
Yes that can be true. If your line is noisy it will not help the speed . But distance is a true factor , the longer the line the poorer the broadband quality. By the way most people pay for up to 8 Mg even if they are only getting 1 Mg. If you bring it to their attention they can turn it down to suit your line condition.
 
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