[Article] Eircom second dearest for landline calls

Victor

Note that due to the make-up of you bill (landline -v- internet -v- mobile -v- international), different operators may provide better value than the ones listed here.

http://www.thepost.ie/web/DocumentView/did-514997711-pageUrl--2FThe-Newspaper-2FSundays-Paper-2FNews.asp

Eircom second dearest for landline calls
30/11/03 00:00
By Kathleen Barrington

Eircom, which is preparing to refloat on the stock market next year, has emerged as the second most expensive of 13 fixed-line telecommunications operators surveyed by the Consumers' Association of Ireland (CAI).

Five years after deregulation, Eircom continues to have an 80 per cent share of the residential fixed-line market, according to the survey in the current edition of CAI's magazine, Consumer Choice.

Michael Kilcoyne, the chairman of the CAI, has called on telecoms regulator ComReg to force Eircom to speed up single billing, which he believes should increase competition in the line rental market and encourage Eircom to reduce its line rental rates.

"If Eircom continues to be allowed to hold things up, many of us will be entitled to ask who the market regulator is: Eircom or ComReg?" Kilcoyne said.

Consumers should stop complaining about the price of calls and switch to the smaller, cheaper operators, he said.

The best savings for a family with a sample two-monthly bill of €126.57 can be obtained from One Source (a saving of €34.50), Farm Telecom (a saving of €34.02), NewTel (a saving of €33.62) and Cinergi (a saving of €27.28), according to Consumer Choice.

The only operator that worked out more expensive than Eircom was VarTec.

The sample bill consisted mainly of local and national calls and calls to mobile phones.

Meanwhile, The Sunday Business Post has learned that a damning critique of the adequacy of Ireland's telecommunications services is contained in a report to be published by the National Competitiveness Council (NCC) tomorrow.

The report ranks Ireland just 13th in terms of the overall adequacy of the country's telecommunications infrastructure compared with 16 other advanced economies.

A source familiar with the NCC report said this was the key yardstick by which Ireland's telecommunications infrastructure would be judged externally, particularly by foreign companies considering investing in Ireland.

Ireland comes last under a number of headings, including in terms of the percentage of homes and businesses that have taken up broadband or high-speed telecommunications services.

The NCC report is the latest in a long line of damning reports on the country's telecommunications infrastructure published this year.

The report will be seen by Eircom's rivals as a further sign that it is time for the government to act on the vexed question of the lack of broadband provision.

It comes at a time when Bill Murphy, the chief executive of Esat BT, the second largest fixed-line operator in the country, has warned that he was considering pulling out of the residential and SME markets if he could not make a return.

"I don't think they [Eircom] are necessarily going to embrace wholesale competition or necessarily want to do what is right for Ireland Inc until they get their float away," he said.

Urban Weigl

I use VarTec, and they have easily saved me hundreds of euros over Eircom over the past 6 months. VarTec charge 0.06 to the UK, 0.06 to North America including the United States, and 0.08 to almost everywhere else including New Zealand, Australia, Hong Kong, etc.. Their national calls are cheaper than Eircom, however their local calls are more expensive. So that's probably why they worked out more expensive on that comparison. I think they also claim to have Ireland's cheapest rates to mobiles, however they have a minimum call charge on mobile calls, unlike their other calls, which makes short calls to mobiles (less than ~ 2 minutes) expensive.

Again though, VarTec have saved me hundreds of euros over the past 6 months. I do call the US a lot though.

seamus

Originally posted by Victor
Five years after deregulation, Eircom continues to have an 80 per cent share of the residential fixed-line market, according to the survey in the current edition of CAI's magazine, Consumer Choice.

0_o

80%? If that's true, that's good news. Even without any sort of proper competition (or even widepsread advertising on the part of OLO's), people are switching from Eircom for their calls. Ouch for eircom.

But I'm sceptical....wasn't this figure 90+% only 2-3 years ago?

TomF

I have UTVip for Internet access and most telephone calls, and use VarTec occasionally when I make overseas or long national calls, and of course pay Eircom for line rental (sound of teeth gnashing). I find it very difficult to know when to use VarTec on national calls, but usually tell the family if it is going to be a long call where VarTec's 15c minimum charge won't hurt too much, dial in "13636" first. You would need a computer program using fuzzy logic to really know what to do these days when you pick up the phone. I wish someone would enter the market with a cheap way to call a mobile. With three talkative offspring using them as their only means of access (the fourth not wanting a mobile) the bills can get very large.

Mad Mike

Similar opinion to TomF on Vartec - They are very dear on local and national calls and very cheap on international calls (when was the last time you made an international call for less than 15c). You can use carrier pre-select to choose vartec just for international calls and use someone cheaper for local calls.

Our man in Havana

Could UTV get shirty and cancel your service if you use 13636 for some calls? You do sign for all calls to go thru UTV.

Mad Mike

Originally posted by Bond-James Bond
Could UTV get shirty and cancel your service if you use 13636 for some calls? You do sign for all calls to go thru UTV.

Don't think COMREG would allow them to do that.

From UTV's terms and conditions:

5.3 The Customer may override the Carrier Pre-Selection options provided under this Agreement by dialing the specific short code of the alternative provider before the telephone number, subject to prior arrangement with that alternative provider. Any usage charges incurred by means of this override method shall be payable to the alternative provider.


In fact I have scanned the terms and conditions for UTV XL and it doesn't even explicitly proclude carrier pre-selecting a different carrier for international calls.

It does say:

5.5 If the Customer wishes to change from the 'All Calls' option to another option available under UTV Internet's CPS Residential Calling Service (if available), the change to the new option shall be regarded as a new Agreement between the Customer and UTV Internet.

You can interpret this as you see fit.

Ripwave

Originally posted by Mad Mike
It does say:

5.5 If the Customer wishes to change from the 'All Calls' option to another option available under UTV Internet's CPS Residential Calling Service (if available), the change to the new option shall be regarded as a new Agreement between the Customer and UTV Internet.

You can interpret this as you see fit.

That simply means that if you want to make some other company the default CPS provider (assign the "All Calls" option to the other CPS provider), but what to keep using UTV for some calls by manually dialling a prefix, you'll effectively be starting a new minimum comtract period.

Capt'n Midnight

If your phone has speed dial buttons - you could program it with the appropiate CPS prefix, and then label them LOCAL, IRE, UK , USA , EU etc..

Paddy20

ESAT BT ADVANTAGE PLUS, Residential landline telephone calls monthly [Flat-Rate] Package !..

You can now subscribe to the above residential telephone calls [Flat-Rate] package, which gives domestic users "unlimited" anytime telephone landline calls throughout all of Ireland [32 Counties] for only €25 per Month (inc VAT) !. You also get cheaper calls to mobiles, etc.

Check out the NEW 'Esat BT Advantage Plus' here; www.esatbt.com
You can even sign up online ?..

P.:ninja:

Our man in Havana

Do you work for esat?

Paddy20

No!.

Thankfully, I am retired from business and all that Capitalist crap. I just hate 'Eircom' , and I believe this (ESAT BT) offering for residential telephone users is currently the best on offer.

I may be shaken but I am not stirred, Mr Bond. If you know of a better telephone calls package deal. Then Please let me know ?...

P.:ninja:

nxbyveromdwjpg

doesnt include mobile calls... whats the point these days?
probably spend under 25 on landlines a month anyway...

nxbyveromdwjpg

altho, would it include free ISP's ?

iwb

Sorry for the tangent but does anyone know where I can find a comparison of ISDN costs in Europe?
Thanks, iwb

vibe666

i use vartec too for my international mobile calls, and my phone bill plummetted since stopping using eircom for them.

i have relatives in the UK, Holland and Australia, and Vartec have saved me loads over eircom. couldn't be happier.

johnd

I found this surfing the web. If anyone knows of any other independent surveys on the web, can you please post it here.

http://www.fonevalue.com/phone-calls/Irish-Phone-Rates-Comparison-Survey.htm

Mad Mike

Unfortunately Johnd that survey is virtually useless because it simply compares the costs of different operators for a total basket of calls. If you are serious about saving money on your phone bill you have to select different operators for different types of call. For example Vartec - who come out dearest in this survey are actually one of the cheapest for international calls (but are lousy for local calls).

You need to divide your calls into four groups: Internet (if you use dialup), local calls, national calls and international calls. Then you need to select the cheapest operator for each. You may have to accept some bundling (ie if you opt to use UTVinternet you must use them for local calls).

Unfortunately I haven't seen any surveys comparing companies on individual types of call so a bit of internet searching is required. Of course phone companies generally only tell you he good things about themselves but a bit of searching will usually reveal a full tarrif sheet.

Companies also offer bundled deals (ie Eircom options) which muddies the water further. If you are prepared to put in a bit of work with a couple of old phone bills and a spreadsheet you can soon figure out where you are spending your money and what is the best option for you.

bk

Originally posted by nm
altho, would it include free ISP's ?

No, I think all the dialup ISP's have moved to special numbers.

While it doesn't include mobile calls, it is still very good for people who make a lot of national calls. I find that I make an extra effort to call people on landlines now and often spend a lot longer on then I did in the past. Therefore even if you don't make e25 worth of calls at the moment, it could still be well worth it, I'd say around e20 per month on local and national calls and you should start thinking of going with the Esat deal.