# Key Post: smart telecom broadband



## penang (14 Feb 2005)

anyone spotted any catches with the smart telecom broadband offering yet?

€35 pm for a 2mb connection with free line rental seems too good to be true.... am I missing something?


p


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## EAMONN66 (14 Feb 2005)

it seems this is some months down the line and they want you to sign up to their phone services now.


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## penang (14 Feb 2005)

Yep - they tried that with me when I phoned them.  My eircom contract is up in July which is about the same time as smart becomes available on my exchange.  I told them I'd take my chances on the free line rental - only first 100,000 subscribers get free line rental.

still looks like a good deal though.

p


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## Tonka (14 Feb 2005)

*Its an Excellent Deal*

but they wont tell you if you are in the first 100,000 if you contact them . Nor will they tell you if Voicemail is included. 

a) I am in contract for BB until May but I believe that to be counted among the first 100,000 they must first process and validate a Direct Debit from you. 

They then activate it when your exchange is upgraded. 

The problem is that I am prepared  to tolerate step a) but that I must cease the existing BB before they can proceed to step b) . 

There has to be downtime there somewhere as they are unbundling your line and disconnecting you from all Eircom services . I can tolerate about 1 week downtime but Mrs T will go spare if the New Smart Voicemail is not up and running within 24 hours. 

I'm sure they will clarify this issue in the next few weeks.


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## Dr Moriarty (15 Feb 2005)

*Re: Its an Excellent Deal*

One to watch, so...

I'm also signed up (by unwary-as-to-d'inertia-clause default!) to a 12-month contract, but I'm looking forward to initiating a spectacular unilateral rescindment, this time 8 months, 3 days and 5 hours hence... :lol 

Hopefully by then we won't have to pay E30 + E24.48 for what my French buddies get for E17.99 a month... :mad 

_Cela dit, sin scéil eile..._


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## sluice44 (15 Feb 2005)

*Re: Its an Excellent Deal*

There is much discussion on this on boards.ie.  

The main complaint seems to be the upload speed of 256k.  Apparently this is too slow for gamers, VoIP conference calls and for emailing large attachments.

A rep from Smart Telecom is answering questions from members.


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## EAMONN66 (16 Feb 2005)

*Re: Its an Excellent Deal*

256k is twice the speed of most current bb offerings so anyone moaning about it is ridiculous.
a couple of years ago , i saw an eircom dbase with all the residential phone accounts in the country. at the time there were 1.6 million. 
Of those 1.6 million, only a small proportion have bb.
of those, most are probably recent subscribers and probably still tied into a contract.
if smart start offering 2mb connections, so will eircom and esat.
i would say smart would be very lucky to ever get 100000 subscribers.


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## podgeandrodge (16 Feb 2005)

*smart telecom*

Is it as good as it initally sounds?  If you ignore the Eur35 a month charge and just call it "Broadband Rental" all your calls are going to be individually charged - minimum charge etc, unlike say Talktime with Eircom or obviously UTV where the calls are really free.  You could well end up with more than an extra Eur24.48 a month on the bill for calls - which would leave you worse off than with UTV. Does that make sense?


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## ClubMan (16 Feb 2005)

*Re: smart telecom*

*which would leave you worse off *

It's certainly possible and individuals would need to profile their phone usage and try to estimate the costs implied by the various phone/broadband packages available (easier said than done!) to see how it would work out for their individual situation but for somebody like me who hardly uses the landline for anything other than dial-up (at least prior to becoming broadband enabled recently) it could be a good deal. On the other hand, while I signed up online for _Smart_ I haven't yet clicked on the authorisation link emailed to me because I am still wary of being sold a pup... 

*256k is twice the speed of most current bb offerings so anyone moaning about it is ridiculous.*

At the rate things are going we'll need dedicated 2Mbps+ links purely for downloading _Windows Updates_ from _Microsoft_! :\


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## redstar (17 Feb 2005)

*Can I go BB or not ?*

Smart Telecoms BB line checker tells me I cannot get their BB service in Swords as the exchange is not BB capable.
UTV tell me I CAN get BB in Swords !!
The eircom BB line tester did not work for me at all (using a Mozilla browser)
Who do I believe ?
I think its probably better to wait till all these jokers get their act together before commiting to any BB service.


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## Monsieur Bond (17 Feb 2005)

*Re: Can I go BB or not ?*

*I think its probably better to wait till all these jokers get their act together before commiting to any BB service.*

To be fair, the main joker here is _eircom_.
It's they as the owner of the "last mile" who perform line checks and determine if the line is compatible, and they give inconsistent results.

You will find this sort of problem with any non-eircom BB supplier - how helpful will _eircom _be if they are not getting the business?


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## ninsaga (18 Feb 2005)

*BB*

OK....so I have BB with Eircon (on the free trial), yet according to Smart, BB is not at my exchange either!! Are smart using different lines or something?

ninsaga


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## sluice44 (18 Feb 2005)

*Re: BB*

Just to correct my earlier post - it's 128k upload and not 256k as I suggested.

Here's the broadband forum on boards.ie


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## EAMONN66 (18 Feb 2005)

*Re: BB*

128k is still absolutely fine for any domestic and a most small / medium business situations.


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## Tiger (18 Feb 2005)

*signed up*

I've decided to sign up, been with IOL BB over 12 mths so can give them 1 mth notice.  According to the website, my area should be ready March/April!

Again 128k upload is fine.  Although no one is saying it, I think its people who want to host their own websites and BitTorrent users & such like that might find this a problem


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## fatherdougalmaguire (18 Feb 2005)

*Re: BB*



> Are smart using different lines or something?



Nearly. They would appear to be using their own equipment so they need physical space in the exchange so their equipment sits beside Eircom's. When the time comes, Smart (or Eircom) will unplug the line from Eircom's equipment into Smart's. I guess it's their solution to Eircom's slow unbundling of lines.


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## MugsGame (18 Feb 2005)

*Re: BB*

They are also using different "backhaul" lines. They can only convert exchanges that are near fibre they have access to. The ESB MAN is one such fibre network:


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## ClubMan (18 Feb 2005)

*Re: BB*

*I guess it's their solution to Eircom's slow unbundling of lines. *

_Esat BT_ and probably others are doing the same thing - for example _Esat BT's_ recently launched _SDSL_ (symmetric - same speed down and up) packages are based on local loop unbundling and having their own gear in exchanges formerly off limits to all but _eircom_.


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## ninsaga (19 Feb 2005)

*access to exchanges*

...now thats a bit of a bummer...look like I'll need to have to wait an unknown period of time to take up Smart BB.... I think though that this offer from Smart is really exciting..hopefully resulting in all other BB telco's cutting their prices..

ninsaga


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## ThomasJ (23 Feb 2005)

*Re: access to exchanges*

Smart will not be able to offer BB until June/July at the earliest, but when you call them today they will tell you that they have received 70,000 customers already ?????..

to avail of this you also need to move yourr calls to them but they are considerably more expensive that other voice providers..

[broken link removed]

It seems like a carrott, to get new business and pay more that others in the meantime..then maybe you will have BB by the summer..  :-(


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## podgeandrodge (24 Feb 2005)

*smart*

Yep, heard the same thing when I rang them, "Join our telephone service now and you hopefully should get broadband by June or July" - so that means a few months of big bills before the savings (potential savings) kick in.  Wait and Watch approach methinks.


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## ClubMan (24 Feb 2005)

*Re: smart*

Yeah - the more I read the more doubtful I became. I still haven't clicked on that "confirm details/order" link that they emailed to me. Looks like one of those offers that may seem too good to be true. I'll gladly eat my words if I'm wrong. I wonder if it's some sort of "land grab" at the market by a company under pressure?


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## ninsaga (6 Mar 2005)

*Re: smart*

from this mornings [broken link removed]


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## ClubMan (6 Mar 2005)

*Re: smart*

Thanks for the link _ninsaga_. Seems that the telcos (not just _Smart_) are certainly bring their experience of obfuscating descriptions of services/charges to the broadband market too.. :\


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## Tonka (7 Mar 2005)

*Its a bet*

If it works it will be great for all of us. If not you can cancel any time it suits you.

They will not be live outside Dublin until the autumn ...thats what I heard. They will concentrate on greater Dublin till then.


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## fatherdougalmaguire (7 Mar 2005)

*Re: Its a bet*

Surely this is a case for the ASA once all 100,000 people try to access the web on a single 2MB connection   

Seriously, though, has anyone seen this congestion-based sharing mentioned in any of their advertising blurb?


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## ClubMan (7 Mar 2005)

*Re: Its a bet*

* If it works it will be great for all of us. If not you can cancel any time it suits you.*

Yeah - but in the meantime (while you wait for the service to become available and then evaluate it) you must take their voice service which may not be as competitive as, say, _UTV Talk_ for certain call use profiles.

*Seriously, though, has anyone seen this congestion-based sharing mentioned in any of their advertising blurb?*

All I've seen is that quote from the _SBPost_ and it doesn't really make any sense to me:


> “The difference is that a contention ratio is planned into the network,” said Connolly. “Whereas congestion just happens. If the service becomes congested, it could be the DSLAM, the internet in general, or a website.”


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## Tonka (7 Mar 2005)

*The Contention thing occurs in every Network , but be se!!!!*

Eircom are installing DSL into OLD exchanges with legacy copper and fibre and microwave backhaul to Dubline, sometimes all three of those.

I know people who can not get ISDN because their exchange cannot handle it, thats 128k of bandwidth .

A lot of Eircom exchanges only have 8 Mbits of backhaul altogether.  Many bigger ones have 34 Mbit fibres and the really big ones have 155mbit fibres .

Smart are installing *2.5GBPS = 2500Mbit * fibres in their exchanges so the first 1000 x 2Mbit customers on each exchanges will not be contended anyway. Their base level backhaul will be far higher than what Eircom may have in place in the same time . Of all the carriers in ireland they _should_ have the least contention problems overall.    

Thats not to say that Smart may not try to shoehorn all their customers on a 100Mbit circuit across the Atlantic but *the network within Ireland will be less contended than Eircoms* sometimes way less so. If they thy the chapo solution across the Atlantic then *ALL* their customers will know about it as they will all be affected equally. 

Eircom have hardly any 2.5Gbps stuff or higher . In many places you cannot get ISDN because they have no capacity for it in the exchange.

The story is a red herring sponsored by Eircom.

*MY* main concern about LLU is that Smart have not said if Voicemail is included in the €35 as you _Will[i/] be disconnected from Eircom Voicemail but you MAY have to pay a very high premium for Smart Voicemail in its place. Mrs T would kill me if there was no Voicemail, its an obsessive compulsion thing with her.  

Their tariffs and service for telephones have not been published although I am not too worried about some of them like local and national for example. They can charge what they like for 1850 and 15xxxx numbers too.  

They are keeping really really quiet about that stuff. There is nothing on their website at all . 

Therefore I did not sign until last week and thats because cancelling is a doddle according to their T and C s  

_


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## ClubMan (8 Mar 2005)

*Re: The Contention thing occurs in every Network , but be se*

*Smart are installing 2.5GBPS = 2500Mbit fibres in their exchanges so the first 1000 x 2Mbit customers on each exchanges will not be contended anyway. Their base level backhaul will be far higher than what Eircom may have in place in the same time . Of all the carriers in ireland they should have the least contention problems overall. *

Be that as it may it is sort of meaningless unless _Smart_ (and other service providers of course!) give some details about how they handle contention/congestion and what sort of (worst case) bandwidth and service level agreement they guarantee etc. _"Better than eircom"_ means nothing really.

For example, _Irish Broadband_ seem to have a great (non landline based wireless and backbone) system in place on paper but in the two (business) situations in which I have used it (512Kbps and more recently 3Mbps _Breeze_ setup) it has not performed to expectations - both in terms of exhibiting asymmetric rather than symmetric behaviour (i.e. higher download versus upload speed), wildly variable throughput, a few outages and poor technical support when things went wrong. As a result of these experiences I would be inclined to consider _IBB_ for non-critical home use but definitely not for critical business use.


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## sluice44 (8 Mar 2005)

*Re: The Contention thing occurs in every Network , but be se*



> Be that as it may it is sort of meaningless unless Smart (and other service providers of course!) give some details about how they handle contention/congestion and what sort of (worst case) bandwidth and service level agreement they guarantee etc. "Better than eircom" means nothing really.


 Be careful what you ask for.

Garfield Connolly, a Smart Telecom programme manager, is answering these sort of questions over on boards.ie.

Re contention ratios, he said, "_Smart don’t provide details on contention ratios? Must be a huge cover up? No conspiracy theory here, sorry. Contention ratios exist in legacy networks to manage scant resources. Engineering contention back into our network would actually take more time and effort and just isn’t worth it. If you are interested, I have a brief explanation of the difference between the two types of network below. A) Contended network. Let’s say an ISP offers 1MB at 20:1 contention and has 100 customers in an exchange. In the contended network that looks like: 20 customers: 1MB 20 customers: 1MB 20 customers: 1MB 20 customers: 1MB 20 customers: 1MB Total 100 customers: 5MB Now let’s say that the first 80 customers are on holidays, not using their Internet connection. The last 20 customers still only have access to their 1MB, even though there is another 4MB there. Because of the highly (restrictively) granular nature of the network, customers can’t benefit from the aggragate capacity available at the exchange. Make sense? B) So what about a not contended network? If the above ISP didn’t run a contended network it would like this: 100 customers: 5MB Is that the same? No, because each user can use any available, under utilised capacity. As you’re reading this, you may not be downloading any other information. The nature of usage on the Internet is stop-start. So when you’re reading this, the capacity can be re-used. Of course, in this context, if 100 users are using 5MB, that will have the same effect on the individual user as 20 users using 1MB. So how is Smart different? We commit to running an actively managed, uncongested network. On occasion, if everyone is online at the same time (unlikely), for sure you may experience congestion. That congestion point may be the DSLAM, it may be the Internet in general, or it could be the website you are trying to get to. So we don’t contend the network. Nor do we say that the network is uncontended (i.e. a Committed Information Rate CIR). The network is NOT contended. This type of network is easier to manage and our customers benefit from the aggragate capacity available in each exchange. NB. The DSLAMs are connected to a 2.5G backbone, with GigE interfaces. Upgrading the capacity is about as simple as it gets, it’s down to the network management system, just a 3 minute job._


Someone has summarised his replies [broken link removed]


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## ClubMan (8 Mar 2005)

*Re: The Contention thing occurs in every Network , but be se*

*So we don’t contend the network.*

This doesn't seem to be true. Even if they operate things at a coarser granularity (e.g. 5MB for 100 customers rather than 5 x 1MB for each 20 customers) the service still is contended as far as I can see. Pooling bandwidth in this way looks logical but it makes no difference to the worst case scenario (i.e. all users looking for their maximum bandwidth at the same time). Of course it may make a big difference in the avearge case scenario whatever that might be.

Apart from that, anybody else also a bit dubious about the "free line rental for life" offer for the first 100,000 customers or whatever it is?


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## fatherdougalmaguire (8 Mar 2005)

*Re: The Contention thing occurs in every Network , but be se*

I think that's where the compulsory uptake of their telephony service comes into play. Because they take up the connection at the exchange with their own equipment, maybe there's a reduced wholesale line rental for companies doing this rather than using Eircom's equipment lock, stock and barrel (from customer premises all the way to the switch).


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## ClubMan (8 Mar 2005)

*Re: The Contention thing occurs in every Network , but be se*

Yes - I appreciate that but even so the infrastructure will cost them something so one would expect them to charge some sort of line rental to cover these fixed assets and their maintenance. Surely subsidising 100,000 customers with "free" line rental could be hard to sustain long term?


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## Sherib (8 Mar 2005)

*Re: Who is the Smartest of them all?*

I am in a quandary.  Have been offered a second free trial of _Eircom’s_ Broadband.  The trial wasn’t due to end until Thursday but was terminated today by accident.  To make amends Customer Care made this offer but I have to decide by tomorrow.  I was all set to sign up with _utv_, which could take up to three weeks whereas _Eircom_ will be reinstated sooner if I agree.  

I know I would loose out on _utv’s_ free calls and _Eircom’s_ B’band is about €10/ month more expensive.  However, _Eircom_ have a once of charge of €65.50 for Fixed IP while _utv_ charge €5/month forever.  Apart from that, there isn’t much between them as the cap is unlikely to affect me.  

There’s just one Q remaining.  In _utv’s_ small print they will charge €99 setup fee when you sign up for the contract after the free trial.  I’m not sure if _Eircom_ charge a similar fee when their trial ends.  That could be the deciding factor.  A possible plus for _Eircom_ is that they will sell a wireless router to existing B’band customers for €50.  No mention of that with _utv_.  Is there anyone out there who would lean towards _Eircom_ in view of this turnabout?  I could still cancel before the end of the trial.  

I've read the links to Sunday Bus Post and it seems to me they're all trying to 'outsmart' each other.  The race is far from run it would appear.  Would I be smart if I keep my options open for another two months?  

8)


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## ClubMan (8 Mar 2005)

*Re: Who is the Smartest of them all?*

*Have been offered a second free trial of Eircom’s Broadband.*

Another two months free? Sounds like a no brainer to me.

* In utv’s small print they will charge €99 setup fee when you sign up for the contract after the free trial. I’m not sure if Eircom charge a similar fee when their trial ends.*

According to [broken link removed] the normal installation charge of Eur 99.99 is waived for trial customers who take up a 12 month contract in month three.

*Is there anyone out there who would lean towards Eircom in view of this turnabout? *

If _eircom's_ offering is more advantageous than alternative service providers in terms of cost and benefits then it would make sense to go with them. I've been using both _UTV_ and _eircom_ for 512Kbps/128Kbps _ADSL_ recently and found them both fine so if one has the edge on cost/benefits I'd go for that one.

*Would I be smart if I keep my options open for another two months? *

I've heard rumours that customers can go from one provider's trial to another although I don't know what the order is other than you start with _eircom_ if I recall correctly. No harm in chancing you arm!


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## Sherib (8 Mar 2005)

*Re: Who is the Smartest of them all?*

Thanks a mill for that ClubMan.  Dial-up is a real pain in the................._southern hemisphere_.  Grateful for all this expertise.  Am enjoying reading you techos discuss the finer points even if most of it sails over my head.  Tho' not as much as before.  No fear of a swelled head.  At least I can recognise when people know what they're talking about - not always the case.  While I think of it, could that be the reason for your exasperation when you spoke to the technical people?  They just didn't know.  Only people who _really_ know can admit when they're wrong!  

I'm learning to chance my arm.  Seems to me I could move from one to the other while they sort themselves.  Am a firm believer that there's no free lunch.  Neither _ntl_ nor _Smart_ are  an option now anyway.  

Thanks again.

8)


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## ClubMan (8 Mar 2005)

*Re: Who is the Smartest of them all?*

*Only people who really know can admit when they're wrong! *

I like that! Too often in my field (basically software development in many different areas over the years) I have come across people who were too arrogant or embarrassed to face up to the fact that they or others were either wrong or talking This post will be deleted if not edited to remove bad language. On the other hand, I have often found myself sheepishly asking what seem like stupid/obvious questions (sometimes dismissed as such too) only to find that they are not stupid at all and the emperor is inadequately clad after all while everybody turns a blind eye! I've had a few such incidents recently in the new company for whom I am working where everybody thinks that somebody else knows how (or even if!) certain technology/products are used only for it turn out that nobody does after all. Knowing and acknowledging the limits one one's own knowledge rather than attempting to spoof is a very valuable quality in this, and I'd imagine, other fields of endeavour. I suppose it's called honesty when you get down to brass tacks.


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## Sherib (8 Mar 2005)

*Re: Who is the Smartest of them all?*

You're welcome.  I coined an expression to describe such people - 

*they have the confidence of ignorance!*

I even like that myself!

8)


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## Tonka (8 Mar 2005)

*Who is the Smartest of them all?*

Smart have promised the discount rate to the first 100,000 signups. The signup system allowed people in remote areas to sign up for a long time. Therefore many of the first 100,000 will simply not qualify for the €35 product .

My estimate is that *no more than 30,000 of the 100,000 signups * will actually get this €35 package between refusals and recontracts and cannot provide a service  issues. 

Thereafter it seems that Smart will charge their customers €59 a month or €69 a month thereby fattening their margins and making something like a 'business case' for their product. 

An equivalent product is basic UTV where you pay €24 line rental and then €30a month for 512k basic . Thats €54 as against €59 from Smart. 

Nor will Smart be in any hurry to go to smaller exchanges even if they have this pretend trigger program on the go. I'd say they will unbundle 100 larger convenient (to them)  exchanges over time , half in Greater Dublin. An article in the Times Business section said there are 1400 exchanges in total but 1300 exchanges , the smaller ones, will never have Smart BB or any other BB apart from Eircoms packages which are what most others resell anyway. I wish those with a chopice well but I live on one of the other 1300 exchanges and KNOW that Smart will never come out my way.

I am a bit 'in hope' here but the equipment they are using is not legacy crap like Eircom equipment and is easily capable of a largely uncontended system within Ireland in terms of backhaul to Dublin and the Inex.

Time will tell if they do not have enough international capacity but that is cheap in Dublin nowadays which is where they are based. 

There is NO comparison with IBB who tend to use (MAX) 100-200Mbit wireless pipes between their masts and probably less than 100Mbit in some cases . Smart will have 2.5Gb pipes over fibre instead . 

They can still oversell an exchange and have local problems though but poeple are forgetting the sheer scale of the fibre they are using and the fact that it is 10 times faster than (typically)  the best Eircom fibre. 

Nor is it complex or dog expensive to handle 100Gbits on a LAN anymore where all this stuff joins together.


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## ClubMan (8 Mar 2005)

*Re: Who is the Smartest of them all?*

*There is NO comparison with IBB who tend to use (MAX) 100-200Mbit wireless pipes between their masts and probably less than 100Mbit in some cases . Smart will have 2.5Gb pipes over fibre instead .*

I wasn't drawing comparisons between them. I was just providing another illustration of how a service provider's system may look good on paper but not work great in practice.


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## Brendan Burgess (11 Mar 2005)

*Re: Who is the Smartest of them all?*

From Today's Irish Times:

*Five-month delay for Smart clients*



> More than 16,000 people have signed up for a new broadband service offered by Smart Telecom that may not be available for up to five monhts.
> 
> ...
> 
> ...



It should be called Smart-Alec Telecom, although I am sure someone else must have thought of this name before.


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## car (11 Mar 2005)

*contention ratio*

I understand the contention ratio term of 20:1

a)how can I find out, if at all possible, what area that my contention ratio encompasses?
b) anyone seen any utilities(pref free) that will monitor contention on a line?

(am with NTL)


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## ClubMan (12 Mar 2005)

*Re: contention ratio*

Unless your _ISP_ will answer these questions (which I doubt) I don't think that you can do much other than attempt to measure your download/upload speed at different times of the day and try to extrapolate from the results of several samples to the effective contention ratio etc. I found [broken link removed] recently which is handy for getting a rough idea of your download/upload speed.


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## Brendan Burgess (16 Mar 2005)

*Re: contention ratio*

Talk about appropriate sponsorship!

Smart Alec Telecom are sponsoring a float in the St Patrick's Day parade by a group known as the "tricksters". 

Brendan


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## Sarsfield (16 Mar 2005)

Brendan,

I believe the IT printed a correction to the report you quote, in which they accepted that the 16000 customers are to be connected between now and the autumn.  This was always the case and Smart have approx go-live dates for all the exchanges they are enabling.

The IT (Jamie Smyth I presume) was wrong in this case.


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## Sherib (16 Mar 2005)

*Re: contention ratio*

Missed ClubMan's link to Visualware and have just got my B'band speed.  It's a trial and costs a hefty $249 to buy.  If it's not OTT, think CM is worth his weight in gold to amateurs like me!

*Result*
Current download speed is 438 kbps and upload is 106 kbps. Also said the quality of service is 98%.

I don't understand this bit.  "Given your current Internet speeds, we estimate that your current Internet connection can support a maximum of 1 simultaneous high quality VoIP connections."  Is this about contention ratio or is it something else?  

8)


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## ClubMan (16 Mar 2005)

*Re: contention ratio*

*If it's not OTT, think CM is worth his weight in gold to amateurs like me!*

Thanks. Based on a weight of 12 stone (c. 72 Kg) and a current price of US$14,244.33 per Kg I'm only worth about US$1M (gross) so! :\


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## Sherib (17 Mar 2005)

*Re: contention ratio*

Any chance of going on a _reducing diet_.....?

Now -  where's that tip jar or would an AAM honorary PhD do?

:rolleyes


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## ClubMan (17 Mar 2005)

*Re: contention ratio*

Eh?


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## Jack G (22 Apr 2005)

*Re: smart telecom broadband*

Just wondering if anybody who has registered online as part of the first 100,000 customers heard anything from Smart Broadband just yet?

They promised from their widespread media campaign that they would be live during the March and April and as we are fastly approaching the month of May, just wondering if anyone has had a positive reply just yet. I have registered myself, sent a few email enquiries also, but no reply as yet. Heard various rumours also that if you uptake their offer, you will have to change your landline number, i reckon if this is the case, most people simply wont bother going with them.

Maybe proves the saying "If it sounds too good to be true, it probably isn't".

Jack G.


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## Unregistered (25 Apr 2005)

*Re: smart telecom broadband*



			
				Jack G said:
			
		

> Just wondering if anybody who has registered online as part of the first 100,000 customers heard anything from Smart Broadband just yet?
> 
> Jack G.



Got an email last week (21st Apirl) from Smart with the following info:


Smart Broadband Update!

Exchange: Coolock

We just wish to update you on your Smart Broadband registration.  Currently
we are experiencing slight delays in your exchange however we will be ready
to take your order from the 9th of May 2005.
To speed up the order process, please forward us a daytime contact number.

Regards,
Smart Broadband


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## ClubMan (25 Apr 2005)

*Re: smart telecom broadband*

I just got the same message except about the _Crown Alley (Temple Bar) _exchange. I replied to it saying that I had never authorised (by clicking on the link emailed to me as the final part of the _Smart _registration process) the transfer of my voice/broadband business from my current provider to _Smart _and asking them to ensure that I was not transferred. I have heard nothing back.


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## ClubMan (25 Apr 2005)

*Re: contention ratio*



			
				Sherib said:
			
		

> Missed ClubMan's link to Visualware and have just got my B'band speed. It's a trial and costs a hefty $249 to buy.



There's also a local version of the VisualWare speed tester hosted by _Blacknight _in _Dublin _which should probably rule out some of the latencies involved in more remote (e.g. _US_) access which might skew results.


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## tonka (25 Apr 2005)

*Re: smart telecom broadband*



			
				ClubMan said:
			
		

> ..and asking them to ensure that I was not transferred. I have heard nothing back.



Oh Ummmmm Oh Oh


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## ClubMan (25 Apr 2005)

*Re: smart telecom broadband*

Eh? I don't understand your post.


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## tiger (26 Apr 2005)

*any one up & running yet?*

I've signed up to smart, my exchange is amongst the first wave (summerhill), got the modem & documentation delivered last Thurs, they say 10 days to activate.  So that would be May 1 (or May 6 if business days)

Any one up & running yet?  I'm starting to suffer withdrawl symptoms after cancelling my IOLBB


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## tonka (26 Apr 2005)

*Re: smart telecom broadband*



			
				ClubMan said:
			
		

> Eh? I don't understand your post.


did Smart set up a DD on your a/c ?


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## ClubMan (26 Apr 2005)

*Re: smart telecom broadband*

No - I never gave them my bank details.


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## i_keano (30 Jun 2006)

all these broadband companies have their own rules, in the UK they have have these kinda switch and compare sites for TV and broadband and phones etc - does anyone know of any here? This country needs an independent site to tell the truth about these companies


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## CCOVICH (30 Jun 2006)

i_keano said:
			
		

> all these broadband companies have their own rules, in the UK they have have these kinda switch and compare sites for TV and broadband and phones etc - does anyone know of any here? This country needs an independent site to tell the truth about these companies


 
Something like this perhaps?


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## ClubMan (30 Jun 2006)

[broken link removed] that just launched but doesn't cover all providers yet. This key topic might also be of use.

_Post crossed with CCOVICH's._


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## Ballabooyeah (21 Sep 2006)

I work at a cometing ISP and I can fill you in on the smart issues.
I did not read all the posts so not sure if this has been covered.
Smart setup there own equipment in Eircom exchanges - still use Eircom copper for the last mile.
As Eircom are Twats they make it hard for smart to get in - this is half of the reasons for the delay.
If you have read a paper recently you would have heard that smart are in trouble.  They let of 27 top executives that they pay a fortune for (stole them from Eircom) and the CEO has stepped down for health reasons (So he says).
Even more recently they have let 89 sales staff selling to residental people like most here - there new market plan is to concerntrate on Business.
Also there are 18,000 BB customers - so don't rush to be in the first 100,000 - plenty of space left.
To be honest we have a pool here to see how long they will last.
They are out of money - spend €3 million a month and have 1 backer financing them untill the 3G license come through - if that doesn't happen (which is not looking good) then he is out and they will be looking for a buyer quick SMART.

But hey - If they were in my area I would go for the product.  They are selling under cost and not making money - funny business model, who thought that would work.

If anyone has stocks in them well you know you have lost your money already B4 you read this.

I am glad what they have done in the market as it has forced down the Eircom prices.
I only wish someone would do this to the ESB next as my bills are going through the roof.

Ballabooyeah


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## r2d2 (22 Sep 2006)

Ballabooyeah....

I'm in the same industry and would agree with some of your comments. The business model is somewhat flawed but failed mainly due to Eircom being a law onto themselves and maybe an egotistical desire to grow the organisation based on size and staff numbers rather than substance and EBITDA. We speculated on them failing pretty much every sales/technical meeting for the last three years but it actually now seems that they are making some serious yet intelligent decisions about how they will run their business going forward. If the infrastructure and over reliance on Eircom means that Smart have to concentrate on their core areas of profitability to prosper then you can't blame them for that. On the share issue, I don't think AAM allows discussion on particular shares so I will just say this....I have bought shares before when a company was struggling and they had bottomed out and succeeded in making a profit.....Keep in mind that there are some serious investors involved here and would appear determined to get a return on their sizeable investments......

r2d2


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