Non-Eircom line rental - who deals with line fault problems?

[DrMoriarty]

Evening all, just a quick query for anyone currently getting their line rental from anywhere other than Eircom?

Our own line rental is currently still with Eircom, but about to be switched over to Esat BT (or btIreland, as they would have it...) - in order to 'bundle' it with my BB account.

We'd a major line fault about two weeks ago, which a nice Eircom gentleman eventually came out & 'fixed' - but it's now back again, and with a vengeance. No calls in or out since Thursday afternoon, no dial tone, etc. (although the 'phone still rings every half-hour or so, but goes dead when we try to answer...). Curiously, just before the line went dead, we started getting all sorts of weird 'crossed line' problems, including sudden 'three-way' scenarios where the 999 emergency services would suddenly interrupt a conversation to say "Yes, you called us?"

Started reporting it the same day, by a neighbour's 'phone and by e-mail, but no word back from Eircom as of yet. Curiouser and curiouser, the BB connection is still working fine (else I wouldn't be writing this here now..!)

To get back to my original point - if I start paying my line rental to btIreland (presumably 'un-looped' to them by Eircom) - do I henceforth deal with them, if there's a line fault? Have had a look around their website, but I can't see anything related to this particular question.

All advice gratefully received...!

 

[sherib]

Good evening to you too Dr M - that's an interesting question. As you may have seen I haven't added much clarity to that question - see reply to brefnie. However, I do recall Stewart of Utv saying if the fault was outside the house, it's Eircom that has to deal with it. So, it might be prudent to let Eircom sort it out before switching to Esat BT.

As far as I can work out once the phone line is unbundled from Eircom, the subscriber notifies Utv or Esat BT who in turn report to Eircom. That is, unless the fault is outside the house, i.e. underground, then it's reported to Eircom. Those lines must remain their property regardless of who we pay rental to. I'd be very unhappy myself if Eircom were less attentive to an ex customer but that's a risk one runs when departing Eircom. One thing is certain, I never had to wait 3-5 days or longer as the Utv lady suggested it would take to have Eircom fix the fault she thought I had.

Maybe others who have experienced line faults after leaving Eircom could comment on this. BTW. I'm wondering why you choose Esat BT over Utv. Do you think their package is better?

 

[DrMoriarty]

Greetings, Sherib, and thanks for your reply.

Firstly, my main reason for being with Esat BT is simply that - for reasons that I won't go into here, yet again... - I got caught out by their 'inertia' clause, last year, post-'free trial' - and am therefore already locked into a 12-month BB contract. Since then, I have to say, I've found them very accommodating. And in any case, I don't think I/we could ever go back to a dial-up connection...

In the circumstances, their latest offering of course gives me all sorts of reasons for wanting to bundle the whole thing together, and move the line rental over to them.

But until such time as I officially abandon them - sob! - I will naturally try to get Eircom to sort out 'their' line problem.

Was just wondering what happens, after that...

 

[DrMoriarty]

Answer to my own question (just completed the 'migration' today, so asked the question...)

Once I become a line rental client, Esat BT assumes responsibility for dealing with any line faults.