€9.99 a Month Broadband is Kinda Available in Ireland (its actually €12.98)

Sponge Bob · 20-07-2005 1:36pm #1

Of course there is a catch !!!!! or two.

Its a kinda half price variant of the Eircom €20 a month yellowpack times product from Imagine. Same number of hours and same 3.5c minute excess charge up to MAX €35 not MAX €50 like some.

You must rent the MODEM however at €3 a month so its €13 a month really .

It would be Kinder to idiots to send them this way rather than Eircom but Yes!!! Thats effectively Uncapped 1Mbit Broadband for €38 a month Including VAT (and modem) lest anyone ask quietly

There are LOTS of sneaky T&Cs in there so I would be careful about them until they are fully clarified but it looks OK ish if they can handle the traffic.

EG they give the impression that

"With Imagine Broadband, you won't have to sign a 12 month contract. However, if you wish to leave our broadband service, you'll need to give us 30 days notice. "

But click onto a Product and the 30 days is actually 6 months , sneaky or careless , dunno .

Lest anyone ask, Imagine have been around with different names for years and are the telecom bit of GAA Telecom for example.

Sponge Bob · 20-07-2005 1:46pm

Jeez. In their T&Cs they say that if you exceeed the time they wil charge €0.35c a minute which is 35c a minute, ouch .

http://www.imagine.ie/faqs.php ( Number 10)

How much does Broadband cost?
Imagine Broadband 'On Demand'
First time broadband customers pay €9.99 per month for 20 hours usage. Thereafter, its €0.35c per minute.

Either its a massive gouge of the unwary or the T&C's were written by a moron .

OFDM · 20-07-2005 1:59pm

Sponge Bob wrote:

http://www.imagine.ie/faqs.php ( Number 10)

How much does Broadband cost?
Imagine Broadband 'On Demand'
First time broadband customers pay €9.99 per month for 20 hours usage. Thereafter, its €0.35c per minute.

I just checked it now and it says:
"First time broadband customers pay €9.99 per month for 20 hours usage. Thereafter, its €3.5c per minute."

That's €3.50 per minute. They can go to hell.

Solair · 20-07-2005 2:01pm

That's just a bit on the stupid side. You either write a price in cents or in Euro not in both units simultanious

is it 0.35 cents per min ?
or 0.35 euro per min ?

I don't know where you're getting 3.50 per min though?

It's 9.99 for 20 hours, that's 1200 mins ...

viking · 20-07-2005 2:05pm

The are also doing eircom (rental & call) packages for a couple of quid cheaper than eircom itself:

Anytime for Less -> €37.99 (Unlimited anytime)

Anytime For Less Off-Peak -> €32.99

Anytime For Less Basic-> €27.49

Sponge Bob · 20-07-2005 2:09pm

OFDM wrote:

That's €3.50 per minute. They can go to hell.

Twas indeed €3.50 a minute when you looked coz I saw it too AND I got the screenshot and uploaded it here

https://us.v-cdn.net/6034073/uploads/attachments/37272/15402.GIF

The fact that nobody in imagine cared enough to check and correct it in advance could be indicative of a substandard Customer Service experience.

Personally I am minded to avoid them ....save for that €38 a month uncapped version of the basic product maybe .......

JackieChan · 20-07-2005 2:54pm

Also,
there is a "family protection" at 2.99/month which you have to pay...whatever that is
Although you can buy the router for 45 instead of renting.

vinnyfitz · 20-07-2005 4:22pm

For example:

The new service costs €9.99 - including VAT - a month and offers 20 hours of broadband a month with additional hours charged at 3.5 cent a minute.

Link

zuma · 20-07-2005 8:17pm

vinnyfitz wrote:

For example:

Link

News Bulletin (Real Player Reqd.)

Stark · 20-07-2005 8:51pm

Uhm, these crowd are a joke. The prices on their website are totally inconsistent. For example, Always On is listed on some parts of the site as €19.99 a month and on other parts of the site as €25 a month. You only get 4GB of extra cap with Always On Plus even though it's €45 a month, a signifigant increase in price over Always On. There are sneaky bits of small print scattered everywhere, for example: "Migrating DSL users incur an extra €99 charge."

Cabaal · 20-07-2005 10:41pm

Professional.....I think not

Zaph · 20-07-2005 10:53pm

Is this the same Imagine that were reselling Eircell (as it was then) minutes a few years ago and went bang?

zuma · 20-07-2005 10:58pm

Whoever invested money into this company has made a big a mistake as all past ventures were, to put it mildly, not very successfull!!!

Zaph · 20-07-2005 11:01pm

If it's the same lot as the mobile company before, I totally agree. My sister and a cousin both lost their jobs after working for that lot. The way they described how the company was run made me wonder how they didn't fold sooner.

vinnyfitz · 21-07-2005 12:37am

They have three jeeps running around Dublin this afternoon dodging through the traffic, blasting their horns pointlessly and, basically, behaving dangerously.

My guess is these guys are equipped with a sophisticated marketing strategy a transparent pricing policy and are in business for the long haul :rolleyes:

ixoy · 21-07-2005 9:43am

They got an article in the Indo today URL=http://www.unison.ie/irish_independent/stories.php3?ca=9&si=1436491&issue_id=12763]link[/URL:

SHOPPERS on Dublin's Grafton Street got their hands on some free money yesterday as part of a massive giveaway to promote an Irish telecommunications company.

Hordes swarmed busily to pocket clean, crisp €10 notes before dashing off to spend their unexpected lucre. The company distributed €10,000 in just 10 minutes.

Sean Bolger, chief executive of Imag!ne, used a loudspeaker to control the bustling crowd.

"It's not easy to give away money in this country," he joked. The craftiest queued up to three times to pocket as much cash as possible, some netting €30. Imag!ne is part of the Imag!ne Communications Group and includes the subsidiaries of Access Telecom and Gaelic Telecom. The company recently raised €12.5m in funding, valuing it at approximately €50m.

Yesterday's giveaway was to publicise the launch of the company's high-speed broadband access for €9.99, which makes Ireland the lowest cost location for broadband access in Europe. Imag!ne plans to give away a further €10,000 around the country in the coming months as part of its promotion campaign.

Emphasis mine of course, but if the average punter sees such an article won't they be being misled by the hidden T&Cs?!!

OFDM · 22-07-2005 9:54am

I notice their FAQ has mysteriously lost 5 questions
Compare:http://www.imagine.ie/faqs.php
with: https://us.v-cdn.net/6034073/uploads/attachments/37272/15402.GIF

The "how much does Broadband cost?" question with the "€3.5c" has been removed completely.

Also any reference to a 6 month contract or 5 email accounts limit has been removed. Very sneeky.

jor el · 22-07-2005 10:18am

The website seems to have been updated. Now they have removed the requirement to pay for the modem and the Family Protection crap too. It's still not a great price though as you have to bundle it with their phone/rental package which is only marginally cheaper than Eircom. Plus the whole time limited broadband thing is a load of bollox anyway.

For proper always on broadband, Imagine are nearly as expensive as Eircom.

I think they were in just about every paper yesterday, at least that's what Ray Darcy was saying on the radio in the morning. The trouble is that with publicity like this, people will believe it and think it's a good deal.

The only good thing that might come from this is it may give Eircom cause to react and do something, much like their reaction to Smart back in April. Unlikely though

zuma · 22-07-2005 10:43am

Everyone

I think "Imagine" are using the members of boards.ie as a free consultancy service!!!
At least they are listening...shame some of the other ISP's cant do the same.

Sponge Bob · 22-07-2005 10:49am

No they are not, see FAQ Question 1

Is there a contract?
Yes. There is a six month minimum term contract, thereafter you have to give three months notice.

Thats a 9 month contract , it was a seven month contract 2 days ago.

Nor do the FAQs state you must take their line rental and calls package as well.

Nor do the FAQs state that 'router' rental and family protection are optional ...if indeed they are.

Its still sneaky and underhand , continue to avoid.

Wertz · 23-07-2005 2:33pm

Knew this was too good to be true.:rolleyes:
I'm resigned to paying BT €60 p/m for 2mb DSL and line rental plus whatever call charges...

is_that_so · 23-07-2005 2:44pm

IMHO these time packages are really aimed at the occasional user, who still uses dialup. They are far less likely to go over. It is also a subtle method of improving broadband user numbers

Face it guys the €9.99 unlimited pacakge is a while away yet and even then we'll still have 128k upload and no amount of "special offers" or fantastic bargains can conceal that.

AARRRGH · 26-07-2005 11:54pm

Unbelievable.

The sad thing is: we're the broadband elite. 95% of the population won't notice what we've noticed: this is one hell of a bull**** offer.

eircomtribunal · 27-07-2005 12:38am

There was an interview with the Imagine guy Sean Bolger in the latest Sunday-Times. Link to the article

P.

Sponge Bob · 27-07-2005 9:21am

dublindude wrote:

Unbelievable.

They have changed the FAQ YET AGAIN.

Question One

Now its :

Is there any contract, minimum term or cancellation penalties?
Yes. There is a six month minimum term contract, thereafter you have to give one months written notice for cancellation.

But a few days ago

Is there any contract, minimum term or cancellation penalties?
Yes. There is a six month minimum term contract, thereafter you have to give three months written notice for cancellation.

So in only one week their minimum contract has gone from 7 months to 9 months to 7 months.

I Think I'll wait nine months to see what really happens.

Note that there is no mention ONE WAY OR ANOTHER of the

cancellation penalties

The question in the FAQ asks but the answer should be either :

a) Yes there is a cancellation penalty or
b) No there is no cancellation penalty.

The muppets have to edit the damn thing yet again (even if only to remove the question

)

damien · 28-07-2005 1:22pm

Has anyone see ads for this crowd in print media or on radio yet?

jor el · 28-07-2005 4:24pm

Aparantly there are two ads on the TV at the moment, I don't watch RTE/TV3 so I haven't seen them but they are both on the website to view. Haven't heard them on the radio either, I'd imagine (no pun) that they will advertise on the radio aswell.

I had submitted to the ASAI about the website when it initially made it impossible to get the 9.99 offer. I also later submitted that they had changed the site to allow this. Got a letter from the ASAI and they say they have no control over advertising on a company's own website, only on paid advertisments. So a company is free (from the ASAI anyway) to lie away on their own site as long as they don't back it up with paid for advertising.

damien · 28-07-2005 4:31pm

The ASAI have just heard back from eircom about the eircom broadband time complaints and are processing this now. A bit slow to respond, but then this is to be expected.

zuma · 28-07-2005 5:01pm

jor el wrote:

Aparantly there are two ads on the TV at the moment, I don't watch RTE/TV3 so I haven't seen them but they are both on the website to view.

Do you have the links to those adds please as I dont watch much TV so it would be difficult for me to see them by normal means.

Much appreciated.

Wertz · 28-07-2005 5:37pm

jor el wrote:

So a company is free (from the ASAI anyway) to lie away on their own site as long as they don't back it up with paid for advertising.

The mind boggles.

€9.99 a Month Broadband is Kinda Available in Ireland (its actually €12.98)

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