Eircom Line Fee (Is it fair?)

[allyano]

Hey there, I'm used to looking through these blogs as a guide to best telecoms & bband and never needed to ask many opinions but today when I finally said I'd take the plunge and purchase DSL brodband I was in for a bit of a teaser...

Scenario
I moved into my new place with three housemates (Dundrum) and one of the selling points for me was an eircom phone line socket located at the front door. The landlord said he never used the line and used IrishBroadband (wireless box). When I rang eircom to sign up for linerental & broadband I discovered that to get a new phone number and for them to "re-activate" the line they need to send a technician out it would cost €121 (Standard) and it would take roughly 10-15 business days & €25/month line rental and then the charges would begin!!! - When I wrote a complaint to Eircom they just said "this is the norm and you should check out the website for many great deals"

On that basis I dont want to pay Eircom to rip me off; anybody have a solution, could I get another provider (Cant get NTL, Smart in Dundrum) any ideas or should I just stop complaining and cough up the cash? Is it fair?

[dickiesam]

Hi there Allyano,
I'd say that Eircom are correct. Obviously the line is not in current use.. no-one is paying for it right now and it was probably deactivated some time ago. So it has to reactivated, tested etc and Eircom charge for that.

Unless you need a landline for a phone I'd suggest you stick with a mobile and use a wireless ISP for broadband. Good luck.
Dickiesam

PS: It doesn't matter who your eventual phone provider is, the line would still have to be activated etc by Eircom.

[foggy_lad]

they charge €123 for connecting where there is no previous line in place or where they have to physically install the line otherwise if you connect a phone to the line and can get through to the eircom operator you should not have to pay for any connection.

[Qaestar]

I haven't had an Eircom line for over two years now.
They're a complete rip-off! They always insist that you
bundle your broadband with some really confusing phone deal to discourage you from using VOIP, which is by far the cheapest way to make calls.
I live in the Rathfarnham area, not far from Dundrum, and I'm
using the Irish Broadband 2mb (symmetric) Breeze product which is perfectly adequate for VOIP, and has no usage limit.I use both Skype and Blueface for calls (both pretty good).Blueface is a bit cheaper for calls and they give you a free 076 number and voicemail.If you just want broadband for e-mail and surfing, you could try the Irish Broadband Ripwave product. It's cheap, and it's adequate for these purposes, but not for VOIP or live video downloads.
Hope this helps.
Dermot