[ILUG] Eircom by another name?

[Michael Treacy]

 From the www.Silicon.com weekly roundup:
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Take this gentleman, who got in touch with us last week. Mr X told BT that 
he had two existing BT lines at home, one analogue line for private use, and 
one ISDN line for work. He wanted the ISDN connection converted to ADSL.

BT said no problem - we need to convert your ISDN line to an analogue line 
to perform an ADSL test. If it's OK, we can use that line for ADSL. If it 
fails, we'll have to charge you £99 to convert the line back to ISDN. Oh, 
and once it's been converted to analogue, it'll take about two weeks to 
switch it back to ISDN again.

You can imagine Mr X's reaction. Flabbergasted is a good (and apt) word. He 
soon regained his composure and asked: what other options are there?

The BT rep responded: you could convert your other line for a test?

Not an option - it's his private family line. Any other suggestions?

BT said: you could install a new analogue line. If that tests OK, you could 
then get the ADSL installed and then change the number to your ISDN number.

Mr X was tempted... until BT capped the whole debacle with this: 'Of course, 
if the ADSL test fails, we would not hold you to your year's contract. But 
you would have to pay the £99 installation charge.'

So, in a nutshell, if Mr X wants to find out if he can get ADSL, he'll have 
to risk £99. Mr X spoke to a senior manager at BT to confirm that his ears 
hadn't been playing tricks on him. He was told that his take on the 
situation was accurate. He is now awaiting a response from the head of BT 
Openworld.

If anyone can explain how this state of affairs is fair, we'd like to hear 
from them too. just so we can correct our unfounded anti-BT bias, of course.



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