Should an Eir salesman on my doorstep know which provider I am currently with

[MOD353]

Demoivre: I honestly can't say for definite but I think it might have been TalkTalk.

 

[lukegriffen]

Don't Vodafone piggyback on Eir's cabling so presumably Eir knows who you're with.

I'm pretty sure it is illegal for Eir Retail Sales guys to access any info from Eir Wholesale systems, to stop them poaching.
The sales guy probably had an x% chance of guessing right, but he should have framed it as a question,even if he knew somehow, rather than making you suspicious.

 

[MrEarl]

Hi,

Your broadband provider may not be the same company that provide your landline. Also, in built up areas, there may be two or three strong signals from different providers, particularly if the houses are located very close to each other and each one gets a service from a rival provider.

Regardless of who provides your services, I would not have thought that they should be sharing individual information without your consent, and I certainly don't think a salesperson would be permitted to retain records if individual customers of Vodafone, if they were moving employment.

I wouldn't let it rest tbh. The more of us who tolerate things like this, the worse it becomes. I would log a formal complaint with Eir. Give 'em hell !

 

[Leo]

Thank you MangoJoe - apparently if you stand outside my house and check for WiFi your phone will tell you that we have Vodafone. I do not understand the hows and wherefores of this but it has now been changed. And no, someone standing outside cannot use our WiFi - it is password protected.

By default, every Vodafone router broadcasts your wireless network name, and that name starts with 'vodafone-'. Without broadcasting the name, anyone wanting to connect will have to go through a couple of extra steps of manual configuration to connect to your network.

Unless you have admin access to the router to change the network name (SSID), or to disable SSID broadcasting, then it's still advertising Vodafone to anyone within range. Password protecting the wireless network will not change this, all Vodafone routers are configured to be password protected out of the box anyway.