EsatBT Anytime product details.

Dangger

I've just received the following official press release:

ESAT BT LAUNCHES "IOL ANYTIME" IRELAND'S MOST COMPETITIVE FLAT RATE INTERNET SERVICE (FRIACO)

EARLY BIRD OFFER - €20 PER MONTH


Friday June 27th 2003 - Esat BT today announced the long awaited launch of Flat Rate Internet Access Service (FRIACO) to the Irish market. IOL Anytime is a dial-up service which enables customers pay a flat monthly charge for internet access at any time of the day or night. IOL Anytime is set to revolutionise the internet experience for Irish internet users, as the service effectively does away with traditional per-minute based charges
or metered access. IOL Anytime is available as a stand-alone service, and does not require customers to sign-up for Esat BT voice services.

IOL Anytime is a two-tiered service. The residential offering is priced at €30 incl vat which provides 180 hours access per month (average 6 hours per day). The business offering is €45 plus vat per month for 260 hours access per month (average 9 hours per day).

To celebrate the launch of IOL Anytime, Esat BT is also nnouncing a special offer which will run for one month. During this time, residential customers who subscribe to IOL Anytime between today and July 31st will enjoy a discount of 33% for the first three months of their subscription, with an unbeatable monthly charge of just €20.

Both residential and business customers can register for IOL Anytime through the IOL Anytime website at www.iol.ie or by calling 1800 923 111.

DeVore

Could you mail them back and ask them what the Modem : User ratio is?

DeV (who is like a dog with a bone regarding such questions... )

PiE

Doesn't compare very well to UTV tbh. 5euro dearer for the standard 180hrs and ~55euro (incl. VAT) is just a joke for 56k access in my opinion, though I'm sure it could save a lot of people a lot of money.

Be better off buying two accounts of UTVip XL, 50euro for 360hrs.

And no low-price offer to attract the casual users.

Nice one Esat :rolleyes:

shinzon

that business offering looks quite nice for 260 hours online, but i presume that 45 doesnt include vat as it says 45 plus vat

Still though quite nice plus 20 euro for a couple of months on the resi service also is inviting

Choices choices at last

Shin

question is how can esat do this separately to there voice calls and UTV cant still boggles the mind that one

patrickmooney

Originally posted by PiE


And no low-price offer to attract the casual users.

They appear to be keeping NetSmart 40 and 80 for the casual surfer (who by their nature would log on in the evening).

maxheadroom

Originally posted by shinzon
question is how can esat do this separately to there voice calls and UTV cant still boggles the mind that one

UTV have made it very clear that the reason they need you to take the CPS is because they are routing any calls that cannot be answered on a FRIACO port through the standard phone system at their expense. This means you will (almost) never get an engaged tone with UTV, whereas if you go with an ISP who don't provide this service, if all the FRIACO ports they have in your local exchange are busy, then tough, you don't get online.

A little reading goes a long way...

Mossy Monk

residential customers who subscribe to IOL Anytime between today and July 31st will enjoy a discount of 33% for the first three months of their subscription, with an unbeatable monthly charge of just €20.

i might sign up for 3 months then jump over to UTV unless there is some catch (sign up for a year???)

PiE

Esat do provide voice services and have many customers (mainly business?). It's not bundled with the service because they are a much bigger company than UTV and they also have BT behind them, they don't bundle it 'cos they're already getting it elsewhere.

BigEejit

Originally posted by Mossy Monk
i might sign up for 3 months then jump over to UTV unless there is some catch (sign up for a year???)

Great minds think alike! .... anyone know what the minimum contract period is?

JohnK

Originally posted by BigEejit
Great minds think alike! .... anyone know what the minimum contract period is?

I could be reading it wrong but it looks to me to be 1 year.
From http://anytime.iol.ie/tnc.htm

6.1 This Agreement shall be for initial term of 1 year and shall continue
for further periods of 1 year unless terminated in accordance with the
terms and conditions herein.

BKtje

I think this seems to be a very similar style to what the previos off peak offers were. Esat €5 more expensive but no cps bundled.
(and better ping times im assuming. Last product was)

The Business product will be very good for a lot of business.
22 working days in a 31 day month or so. ( not including Bank holidays)
260/22 = 11.8hrs or so a day. More than enough to be connected all through working hours and still have enough to leave it on a bit for those late workers. (not paying VAT can make things so much cheaper ). The real people who are going to save on FRIACO are the businesses. (as we allways knew would be the case)

Would be nice to have confirmed if they are keeping the old products as a poster above believed.

shinzon

Originally posted by maxheadroom
UTV have made it very clear that the reason they need you to take the CPS is because they are routing any calls that cannot be answered on a FRIACO port through the standard phone system at their expense. This means you will (almost) never get an engaged tone with UTV, whereas if you go with an ISP who don't provide this service, if all the FRIACO ports they have in your local exchange are busy, then tough, you don't get online.

A little reading goes a long way...

yes i would very much like to see this in operation, utv have a penchant for saying theyll do these things and then do the complete opposite, tell me in a month when the backlash will begin, because it will

regards

shin

myhandle

Originally posted by JohnK
I could be reading it wrong but it looks to me to be 1 year.
From http://anytime.iol.ie/tnc.htm

A year tied into the service? Damn, who knows what the situation will be in a years time, thats a big commitment

Scruff

Originally posted by myhandle
A year tied into the service? Damn, who knows what the situation will be in a years time, thats a big commitment

Judging by the rate of change over the last years, it probably wont be any different:rolleyes:

Dustaz

Originally posted by shinzon
yes i would very much like to see this in operation, utv have a penchant for saying theyll do these things and then do the complete opposite,

Such as?

tell me in a month when the backlash will begin, because it will

Shinzon, get back under your bridge and stop making blatant trolling comments like this.

Valentia

that business offering looks quite nice for 260 hours online

Is this a joke from the eternal UTV basher. I smell an ESat mole. How could this be considered even close to good value when you add the VAT. UTV will give you a full hundred hours extra for LESS for God's sake.

Shinzon have you an agenda here, it's beginning, well it began a long time ago, to sound like it. Some of your statements about UTV are also blatently untrue and alarmist.

Come clean!

BKtje

He might have been speaking about that product for businesses..? I'm sure that business product also includes superior tech support as well as some other small perks.

Its a business product for a reason im sure.

sceptre

Originally posted by shinzon
yes i would very much like to see this in operation, utv have a penchant for saying theyll do these things and then do the complete opposite, tell me in a month when the backlash will begin, because it will

Er, I've never seen them do that. Malcolm and Scott have made a few "what if" posts (which isn't the same thing as saying they'll do anything) - I've never seen them lie either here on the boards or anywhere else.

Rags

How could this be considered even close to good value when you add the VAT. UTV will give you a full hundred hours extra for LESS for God's sake.

Ok getting tired of telling this to people but you CANT buy 2 packages of utvxl. Only 1 per phone line. They just wont allow this. Why , I have no idea. So esats offer of 260hours for 45euro is the BEST deal out there. Why utv cant match this is beyond me. Bu Bye utv.

De Rebel

Anybody get clarification on the max connection speeds this supports? Is it 56K Analogue or 64K ISDN?

Blitzkrieger

Originally posted by Rags
Only 1 per phone line.

Are you sure it's not one per address, cos a lot of people have more than one line.

Rags

Dunno about that. Just got this brief and to the point answer when I emailed utv support about buying 2 packages of utvxl. "There is no way to purchase 2 accounts and apply them to the one line, nor are there any plans to do so"

So maybe if u have more then 1 line ur in luck.

eth0_

Originally posted by Rags
So esats offer of 260hours for 45euro is the BEST deal out there. Why utv cant match this is beyond me. Bu Bye utv.

EXCLUSIVE OF VAT!EXCLUSIVE OF VAT!EXCLUSIVE OF VAT!EXCLUSIVE OF VAT!EXCLUSIVE OF VAT!EXCLUSIVE OF VAT!EXCLUSIVE OF VAT!EXCLUSIVE OF VAT!

UTV supports a max of 64k isdn.

Ruu_Old

if Esat have a business product, why doesnt UTV have one too? Im aware of the size difference, even so

sceptre

Originally posted by Ruu
if Esat have a business product, why doesnt UTV have one too? Im aware of the size difference, even so

Worth asking that question in one of the UTV threads. There's already too much UTV discussion in the Esat threads and vice versa.

Rags

EXCLUSIVE OF VAT!EXCLUSIVE OF VAT!EXCLUSIVE OF VAT!EXCLUSIVE OF VAT!EXCLUSIVE OF VAT!EXCLUSIVE OF VAT!EXCLUSIVE OF VAT!EXCLUSIVE OF VAT!

Doesnt make a difference its still the best deal out there if you use that amount of hours. What 55euro or somein with vat.

NIBBS

So you are trying to tell me that it's better to pay more than twice as much for less than half as many hours.......

we should all just wait and see what the product is like, there are enough people p****d off with Esat at the moment for relasing information of services that don't actually exist......

Rags

So you are trying to tell me that it's better to pay more than twice as much for less than half as many hours.......

What the hell are u talking bout? If you read what I said "Doesnt make a difference its still the best deal out there if you use that amount of hours" How could u agrue with that. If you USE those hours in the 260hours esat deal then it IS the best. So what are you talking about.

bk

I'm on IOL NoLimits at the moment and it is in a very bad state. It takes multiple attempts to dialup before it connects and it has frequent disconnections (about every 15 minutes), in fact for a while last week I kept getting disconnected every 2 mintues or so.

I hope for the sake of people taking up the anytime sevice that this isn't an indication of the type of service you will receive.

BoneCollector

im a nolimits too .. but i cant say i have notced :cool:

tuxy

im on nolimits also i use it alot and dont have any of the problems you have bk on average it disconnects every 2 hrs but sometimes i can be connected for much longer

bk

It must be my problem so (or maybe my exchange), I'll take a look when I get home.

Thanks.

ct5amr2ig1nfhp

I'm on no limits. Have been since the start. Haven't had any problems really except when they first launched and no one could get connected. I don't think I ever used over 75 hours, maybe once or twice. Thats what.... at least 2 or 3 years of offpeak flat rate with no problems. Thank u Esat

I don't know if its been mentioned though but after signing up online for Anytime it told me i'd agreed to a 12 month contract.... sorry but I didn't :rolleyes: . No mention of it anywhere in the terms and conditions. Rang Esat and they told me to ignore it. Kept a web copy just in case.

Hopefully I should be on Anytime by the end of the week. Was told that I would just be migrated from no limits and my new Anytime account credited. 180 will do nicely and @ the same approx the same price with the added bonus of ANYTIME ... its all good. So far so good. :cool:

Now i've just to wait on Eircom to upgrade the Portmarnock exchange and get me some BB. It was meant to be upgraded since about Feb 02. Meant to be done by end of this month.... pah! I won't get my hopes up. Get on with it Eircom!! :rolleyes:

ambrose

myhandle

Originally posted by kingambrose
...Hopefully I should be on Anytime by the end of the week...

Are you moving to Anytime for peak usage?
Otherwise why move, doesn't nolimits have unlimited offpeak still?

Cork

I thnk that ESAT restricted usage to 75 hours to exising customers & then withdrew the package to new subscribers.

I may be wrong with the Limit. Correct me, If I am wrong.

SkepticOne

They shut it down to new users first. Then a couple of months later they kicked off the 2000 users. I don't think the 75 hours thing was ever official - possibly an internal number used to determine who would get the boot.

sceptre

Originally posted by Cork
I thnk that ESAT restricted usage to 75 hours to exising customers & then withdrew the package to new subscribers.

I may be wrong with the Limit. Correct me, If I am wrong.

OK then:D, you're wrong on the first and kind of right on the second.

They pulled the package for new signups in March 2001 and the debacle erupted in May 2001 when they dropped subscribers etc. The 75 hour thing was something someone in CS thought up apparently, it then spread as a rumour until it became regarded as fact. Derek Kickham (CEO of Esat at the time) swore blind that he never heard of it. I tend to believe him. There was (and is) no official limit.

The 75 hour rumour probably started (IMHO) because that was at or around the usage at which Esat moved from profit on an individual subscriber to loss on an individual subscriber. Why it spread to become something mentioned by quite a few Esat CS people as fact when people phoned in is something I've no idea about.

ct5amr2ig1nfhp

Originally posted by myhandle
Are you moving to Anytime for peak usage?
Otherwise why move, doesn't nolimits have unlimited offpeak still?

On no limits I'm paying around €25 + day usage ~ €20 = €45 per month. (~75 hours ...if thats even true) And only off peak.
Whereas if I move to anytime its only €20 for the first three months and I can go online whenever I need to day or night.

By the end of 3 months if Eircom hasn't upgraded my exchange i'll prob go wireless. I've hold off long enough. Getting itchy feet
Fupping dial up is a pain in the @ss.

ambrose

skrobe

Yep thats what im doin', Anytime for 3 months then hopefully IBB's Ripwave for 30e, which makes 56k'flatrate' the same price as 512/512 always on (no aerial) . When:rolleyes: IBB release Ripwave the other telecos will surely have to drop the price of 56k'flatrate'..... won't they?
j

vac

Wonder what the pings will be like. Ive seen some lads ping terrible all the time with UTVs current hours package (like 120 ingame).

If IOLs pings semi decent for games, ill go with that..

Zombrex

Originally posted by skrobe
Yep thats what im doin', Anytime for 3 months then hopefully IBB's Ripwave for 30e

I think there is a min contract with Anytime for 12 months ... u should check out the TnC carefully before you sign up.

Originally posted by vac
Wonder what the pings will be like.

I ping to english CS servers at about 100ms using Esat Netsmart 64k single line ISDN. Esat must have a good connection cause Dual-Line 128k ISDN pings about 150ms to the same servers on UTV Internet

Rags

Anyone know if it works over isdn? As usual I got no reply to the email I send esat asking that.

Urban Weigl

All Esat dialup accounts support ISDN. The best pings that I used to get (no time to play anymore) used to be 50-60ms to fast close servers.

MDR

they are pretty good pings ....

shinzon

mebbe its just me but others have posted problems with netsmart, not the connection but pings, every 3 to 4 weeks i go into a cycle of not being able to play on any game servers without 999 ing the whole time, this stays like that for another 2 weeks and then everything is ok for another 3 to 4 weeks, its basically a cycle i go through, generally though the netsmart pings are very very good,

take bf 1942 for example, its probably misreported but for 20 minutes straight last night i was pinging a barryserver at 20ms, how this is possible i have no idea but there it was. not complaining about that one bit here, tis good very good

By the way has anyone gotten there forms yet for anytime, drone took my details last friday, was expecting them today

Regards

Shin

Rags

Just rang up and asked about the contract. He said you have to give a month notice when you want to cancel the service. Thats all. (Same as netsmart) Oh ya and he confirmed it works over isdn single channel which I guess everyone supports nowadays.

<edit> Just checked the contract and it most definetly menctions min of 12months. Dont like the sounds of it.

Rags

mebbe its just me but others have posted problems with netsmart, not the connection but pings, every 3 to 4 weeks i go into a cycle of not being able to play on any game servers without 999 ing the whole time, this stays like that for another 2 weeks and then everything is ok for another 3 to 4 weeks, its basically a cycle i go through, generally though the netsmart pings are very very good

Actually I had kind of same problem, had netsmart and utvip for a month or so at same time awhile back and I found netsmart was HORRIBLE for playing games sometimes. My ping was very unstable with it. It seemed to be a phase it went through every few weeks. Some of the time I had to log off to use utvip because of it. Utvs pings are slightly higher but were more stable for me.

BKtje

Friend of mine is going through these exact problems at the moment. You'd think that if this happens regularlty that they'd think of maybe fixing it

shinzon

its ok for me at the mo, but just dreading the damn thing happening again, hope im over to anytime by the next cycle date and that theyve sorted it out on that product

fingers crossed

Shin