Department of Social Welfare Line Rental subsidy available to all not just Eircom

spongebob

Ripwave posted the news earlier, buried in another thread , see Here .

That means that you could persuade your granny to move to Meteor or NTL or Chorus and she gets a c.€24 subsidy towards her rental costs every month. The payment is capped at the vulnerable user rate with Eircom but an Eircom analogue connection is no longer a prerequisite to receive the subsidy. With Meteor €24 gets you FAR more minutes than the Eircom package which is 10 mins a MONTH.

As Eircom make a huge amount of money from this captive market by gouging us all for their high Line Rental (thru the tax system) I think that a campaign to get older people to get a mobile instead would be timely .

Thanks Ripwave, have you the full title of this regulation anywhere ?

M

Lukin Black

Originally posted by Muck
I think that a campaign to get older people to get a mobile instead would be timely .

My understanding was that it had to be a landline..

Originally posted by Ripwave
The Department is willing to provide the same allowance
(EUR20.41 per month plus VAT) through other licensed land-line
service operators of the customers' choice, using the Wholesale
Line Rental agreement structure.

spongebob

That is discriminatory, as the allowance is for the telecommunications needs of the elderly individual it sould be up to them to decide which carrier best meets their needs.

What if the 'LandLine'is delivered by WLL (Wireless Local Loop) .

Ripwave

I originally posted this here (before the forum was re-merged).

I don't have any more information than that contained in the e-mail I received, so I don't know what the legislative basis for the agreement is (I doubt that the terms of such a benfit would need to be approved in detail in legislation).

As you can see from the previous thread, I suggested the mobile phone idea then too. But I don't think you'd win the discrimination argument - the benefit was originally justified on the basis of providing emergency contact, with the social benefit being a secondary reason (the "call allowance" is a pittance, a tiny fraction of the total amount). Mobiles that aren't charged are no good to anyone in an emergency, so it's likely that the "land-line only" position is actually fairly solid, and quite reasonable.

But alternative infrastructure providers, such as NTL might be able to take advantage of it. I'm not sure about "fixed wireless" solutions, because they probably rely on power being available (the phone doesn't), and being able to call someone when the lights go out in the middle of winter is probably exactly the kind of scenario that justifies this benefit in the first place.

oscarBravo

Originally posted by Ripwave
I'm not sure about "fixed wireless" solutions, because they probably rely on power being available

Eircom's FWA PSTN product includes a small lead-acid battery backup, which should provide sufficient power for a few short calls.

Urban Weigl

Originally posted by Ripwave
I originally posted this hereMobiles that aren't charged are no good to anyone in an emergency, so it's likely that the "land-line only" position is actually fairly solid, and quite reasonable.

My landline has been out of action for at least a week every year since as long as I can remember. By comparison, my mobile has always worked.

In addition, while my mobile has 17 days of standby time (meaning if I have a power outage lasting over a week for exaxmple I can still make a call), many people now have wireless phones for their landline (including myself) that do not work if there is a power outage. Period.

So I really think a mobile phone would be better for emergencies. I think people should be able to choose between Eircom, Meteor, o2, Vodafone, etc. Also, what if I go for a walk and slip and fall? I will be able to use my mobile, but can't get back to the house to use the landline... In other words, if anything, it being a mobile should be a requirement.

Edit: I think my last point is the best. You cannot take your landline with you, but you can your mobile. So if I am walking the dog or whatever, and slip and fall, my landline will be useless, but I will be able to take my mobile with me. This could save my life!

bminish

Eircom have never managed to get the emergency linepower feature of my ISDN (wired ) to work, this is apparently due to extra load that the repeater they had to use to get to my house requires. Neither Eircom's Pug and Pray box nor the older ISDN only NT have any sort of battery backup.

As a result without mains power I cannot make a Landline call. However I find myself on my mobile ringing Eircom to complain about my non-working phone line far more often than I find myself on my mobile to the ESB complaining about the lack of power.

Don't forget that in an emergency you can place a 112 (formerly 999) call with any available network, you don't even need a SIM. I for one would prefer to have a mobile to a landline for emergency use. It's portable and has considerable redundancy (I have 3 networks with a multitude of cell sites to choose from for that Vital 112 call)

.Brendan