Is "Smart" Broadband reliable?

J

Janice

Registered User
Messages
14
Hi,
Is anyone currently using the Smart home Broadband with the free line rental?
Any reasons to stay away?

I need a reliable service at home for work and was tempted to stay with Eircom but Smart would be much cheaper with the line rental free,
Apart from having to buy a wireless router myself, it seems a god deal.

They ahve promised 10 12 day delivery on receipt of order

Any advice welcome,

J
 
where are you based, is Smart available in your area as they have been promising for months to come to Lucan and other parts of Dublin but Eircom have gone down the legal route to delay them
 
Hi,
I checked on the website and as I am in the Dolphins barn exchange area, the site says it's available to me.

J
 
There are currently some doubts as to the financial stability of Smart. Not the kind of reliability that you are referring to I'm sure, but might be worth keeping in mind........
 
Janice said:
Hi,
I checked on the website and as I am in the Dolphins barn exchange area, the site says it's available to me.

J
Click to expand...

You'll need to ring them to make sure I suppose.
 
There are currently some doubts as to the financial stability of Smart.
Click to expand...

......
is there any substance to this statement? The reason I ask is that I recently had Eircon over to try & sell me BB..I told them that I'd probably wait for Smart..for which I got the wise cautioning of 'oooohh..better watch that now cause they're not the most stable around ya know' ie...was he right or just injecting doubt ?
ninsaga
 
ninsaga said:
......
is there any substance to this statement? ..
Click to expand...

There was an article in the Sunday Times some weeks back about SMART Telecom and this offer. From memory, the take-up has been much slower than they anticipated. They didn't see competitor prices falling as dramatically as they have and they have an ongoing dispute with eircom that is before the Courts.
 
I read in one of the Sunday papers that Smart are heavily in debt and are always late paying their suppliers ... this is the reason eircom are giving for wanting several million off them up front as they don't reckon Smart have a good credit rating and afair this is what the court case is over
 
I moved over to smart 4-5 months ago, as soon as the offer came out. My exchange was one of the first convereted.
- the connection setup/paper work was a little slow & one or 2 things went astray (they forgot to send me a form initially, an authorization form for the transfer from eircom I think). But I'm willing to put that down to they process being new.
- no problems with broadband or phone calls, but I'm a low volume user & almost never in the house during the day.
- not sure about the financial issues. But at this stage I'll just have to wait & see if anything comes of it.
 
Hi,
Thanks for that, on the phone they told me that all new numbers were fine for Broadband and that the free line rental is gauranteed.
I am mostly concerned about the reliability of the service provided as I will need it for work and I don't want to have to suffer down time more than I have to,

Do any of you actually have it at home yet?
J
 
Smart are alleging that Eircom are delberately dragging their heels in allowing Smart access to the fixed line network,which would allow Smart to make their version of Broadband more widely available-Smart have had a lot of interest in thier BB offer, but there have been delays in their bb becoming widely available-Im still waiting myself-thier landline billing can be a bit erratic, but no more than Eircom themselves...daithi
 
I know 2 chaps who signed up months ago, got their hardware but have not been connected yet. One in Walkinstown, one in Churchtown. Deal is good enough to wait for.....
 

This is based on what I have heard/read in the media (non-sensationalist). Some other posters have mentioned the slow take-up of Smart services, the court case with Eircom and the fact that Eirocm are demanding money upfront from Smart. To be honest, most of this appears to be a case of Eircom abusing it's dominant position. I'm not trying to scaremonger here, I just mentioned this as an issue that is topical at the moment.

For what it's worth, I am a UTV subscriber, and am a satisfied customer. Although, I am tempted to look at Magnet Networks when my UTV subscription expires.

P.S. I am not an Eircom shareholder .
 
I'm definetely holding out for SmartBB as well,theres no way Im going back to Eircom-I had enough troubles trying to get my phone line from them in the first place. If they are abusing their dominant position in the telecom market why can't the monopolies commission or, gawd help us, ComReg get involved?Is there not a conflict of interest in Eircom owning all the fixed lines with their rivals needing access to the lines for their businiess-its a bit like having 2 rival sweetshops,with one of them owning the only sweet factory...sorry about the rant,...daithi
 
Hi,
Thanks for the info folks, I have had a nightmare dealing with eircom just for the simple task of getting a number reconnected (which I have to do even if I am going with Smart)
The deal does seem worth waiting for as long as it is good service when it does arrive,

It is funny that they would tell me 10 to 12 days for connection though,

I would also love to not give in to Eircom on this, and hopefully the competition can survive the bullying long enough to get on it's feet financially.

J
 
I'm on the Dolphin's Barn exchange, and moved to Smart last month. I've found it to be technically excellent thus far but I would have some reservations over the quality of their customer service. I too suffered from lost forms and delays. I'd take that promised 10-12 days with a large grain of salt. Don't forget that until this matter before the courts is resolved you will need to change your telephone number if you move to Smart.

I have yet to receive a bill from them, and won't start singing their praises (or otherwise!) until I've received a couple, but the deal certainly seems good.

There is quite a lot of discussion of the relative technical merits of broadband companies and their offerings here on www.boards.ie

As regards the financial footing of the company, it is listed on the LSE, and I'm sure you can find a website or two out there where the share is discussed. I would be very disinclined to believe anything told to me by a customer service rep of competing company.
 
According to the Indo, SMART and Eircom have reached a settlement. SMART will pay a €2.5m bond plus an outstanding €2m bill to Eircom and this will open up the network to them. Hopefully now SMART can proceed rolling out their services to more exchanges, including the one I'm on!
Leo
 
Thanks for that Binman,
I am gonna hold out for Smart, especially as Eircom are doing my head in, the refuse to tell me what my account number is!! it's my account and I just set it up on Wednesday, it will only be active tomorrow but I have got differing reasons for why they won't give it to me, it's not up on the system for 24 hours, it won't be available untill your line is active, it's not our policy to give it out etc.....
It's a pain cause I can't get on the que for Smart untill I have the account number from Eircom,
they actually asked me "What do you need it for anyway?"

Their attitute on the phone has really stiffened my resolve to not give them my business.
J
 
Janice, I've been on Smart BB in the Dolphins Barn exchange since April this year. So far I've had no problems of note from a technical point of view.

There has been a couple of billing screwups which I have had sorted out pretty quickly due to there being one of the main SmartBB people hanging around on the boards.ie forums (GarfieldConnolly).

Anytime theres been a problem they have offered some compensation as well as sorting it out so for a start you're on a better service than you would get with Eircon.

Eircon operate a policy of not giving you your account number on a new line till you get your first bill (about a month later usually if you're lucky). So you are probably stuck till then. Smart usually seem to take about 10-15 working days to enable a line once the order has gone through, presuming you are on an enabled exchange which Dolphins Barn is.

Regarding financial stability of Smart, Smart are currently suing Eircon for €47m and Eircon are using the payment of bills as a tactic in their defense of the case. I suspect Smart may also be refusing to pay Eircon at times for services not rendered (or incompetently/maliciously rendered as seems to be the case with Eircon).

Eircon are presumably as a monopoly doing their best to hurt probably their only really aggressive competitor (BT Ireland being apparently happy to just let the status quo be).

Also given the state of lines around the general area Smart might be the only ones that can provide you with a service as they do ADSL2 vs Eircons ADSL 1 .Certainly our existing line is not capable of BB according to Eircon with ADSL1. Smart were the only other wired alternative as ADSL2 has a longer range and seems capable of dealing with poorer quality lines. Even if you have a newly installed line there is no guarantee with Eircon.

Best of luck with it.

In case anyones wondering I do mean to say EirCON. Its appropriate for that shower.
 
Hi There,
Thanks Machala,
Yea, Im gonna order as soon as I get my account number, I have asked 2ce for it to be sent out but I probably won't get anything anytime soon from them.

I spoke to them today and once my forms are all in they reckon 20 days max, Smart also told me that eircom have been frustrating them sending back forms for no reason etc.

Glad to hear that you are getting a good service though,

Janice
 
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