3 makes an appearance (kind off)

sirlinux

Just noticed on the most recent eircom bill it lists calls charges for 085/083 where it used to just say 085. Start dialling those 083 numbers and see what happens!

wheresmybeaver

Yup and I just noticed a mysterious new 3G store in Merchants quay in Cork, at the moment it just sells a few O2 and Meteor phones and cordless phones. I think it also sells Eircom broadband and a few other things. The cool thing is their demo phones on the stands are actual phones connected to the network, so we rang a friend and hung up from one of their demo phones, and when he noticed he had a missed call he rang the number back. So we answered and put him on speakerphone and walked away. Hehe! the simple pleasures..

technobob

thers a 3G store in waterford too
opened up about two weeks in the spot where the old eircom store used to be

OfflerCrocGod

There is another one near Stevens Green at the side of the Gaitey Theater, kinda out of the way only found it by luck.

flogen

theres one opened on henry st where the eircom store was, it is still run by eircom and they have a Broadband shop upstairs in it... guess this is them trying to undercut Carphone warehouse to 3G supplies (despite the fact that they dont have any yet)

Flogen

flywheel

anyone know if they were sold as a going concern to someone or are they still owned by Eircom? - didn't think they had anything to do with Hutchison...

funny a Vodafone display is conspicious by its absence - didn't Eircom want them to take on the stores when they sold off Eircell?

BrianG

carrotcake

3g is just a name used to deliberately mislead the cusumer. i remember reading some bullsh.t spiel from eircom a while ago and it said that the name is to represent all forms of communication technology or some nonsense like that.

on a side note, the shop on henry st has 7210 covers for €40, while the stalls just outside have the exact same ones for 15!

Faltermyer

3G Stores = Eircom stores.

And the listing of charges for "085 / 083(Hutchinson)" has been in all Eircom directories for the past year afaik!

They are not owned by Hutchinson.

And I would think that unlikely given that Ive heard that a certain Mr O Brien has been looking into setting up ANOTHER network with Eircom when their ban from the Mobile Operator market expires(I think its next year or 2005 not sure - anyone know?). They had to agree to a ban from it when selling Eircell as part of some Competition Act I think(though my memory of what I read on this is a bit flakey so feel free to correct me.).

jesus_thats_gre

Eircom are lauching their network after the non compete agreement expires this May. They are after taking on Stephen Brewer recently. Some will remember him as being the ex MD of Eircell and for a while, Vodafone Ireland. He was initially appointed by Telecom Eireann/Eircom back in the day... The man knows his stuff and its no coincidence I bet. Vodafone are also after appointing Alfie Kane to their board of directors, you gotta wonder what they are up to next. Working on memory there so correct me if I am wrong..

Eircom are seemingly in high level talks with Meteor at the moment and are approaching large corporate customers to guage their interest in moving to Meteor if they take over. I heard this from one of these corporate customers account manager so its pretty concrete. They are currently an O2 customer....

The 3G stores are Eircom stores and are nothing to do with three... Its Eircon pulling the piss and trying to confuse the publin with buzz words... You will notice that they are in all the same stores that used to Eircom stores...

rabbitinlights

LINK

Is that the same as the 3G stores your on about?

flywheel

no - that company is called 'Three' or '3'

these '3G' stores are the old eiircom stores - so nothing to do with Hutchison afaik...

still don't know if eircom still own them or sold them as a going concern to someone though? - they were trying to offload them on Vodafone at one stage...

BrianG

jesus_thats_gre

I dont understand how there is any confusion about this?

Just cause they both have three in their name and their business is phones, ye all seem to think they are the same company. Three are part of the Hutchinson Whampoa group, 3G stores owned/run by Eircom..... Stress

flywheel

you sure they are still owned / run by eircom - wasn't sure if it was just a re-branding exercise or they had sold them on...

granted it's a stupid name for a store that sells everything from fax machines to ADSL - but hey there's marketing / branding for you - they may even sell Three products / services in the future you never know...

if you read my posts i didn't say they were owned by Hutchison - so why not go out and destress - it is a saturday night....

BrianG

wheresmybeaver

Well 3 and 3G are fairly similar names... how are people to know that 3 aren't branding themselves as 3G in Ireland? After all, their technology is technically termed 3G. Anyway, the store in Merchants Quay in Cork used to be a Meteor store about a year ago, there was never any association with Eircom. I think a lot of people presumed that these stores were an attempt by 3 (hutchison) to make themselves familiar to the public and begin selling phones from other networks before selling their own 3rd generation phones. Well thats what I thought.

Ah well, I must be fairly stupid to have jumped to that conclusion! ;-)

jesus_thats_gre

Originally posted by DubWireless
if you read my posts i didn't say they were owned by Hutchison - so why not go out and destress - it is a saturday night....

Dont worry, wasnt having a go at you. Bet your delighted now

flywheel

Originally posted by wheresmybeaver
how are people to know that 3 aren't branding themselves as 3G in Ireland... the store in Merchants Quay in Cork used to be a Meteor store about a year ago, there was never any association with Eircom

Three or '3' is their global brand across the territories they (will) have a presence - so we don't get any special treatement

interesting to know about that Meteor store... still don't know if this is just eircom rebranding their stores or if they sold them off...

Originally posted by jesus_thats_gre
Bet your delighted now...

well so long as your aren't stressed anymore that's the main thing - you're supposed to store all that stress up for Monday mornings anyhow and not release it at the weekend


BrianG

v10

Actually the 3G stores are owned by Sigma Telecom.

Here is a clip from Mobile News From June this year :

Eircom retail sold

Fixed-line provider eircom has sold its 18-store chain of retail outlets to Sigma Wireless for €3.5 million.

A new Sigma division, '3G', has been created to run the operation.

The new operation will sell both fixed and mobile equipment from O2 and Meteor, and has reached a three-year agreement with eircom to sell its products and handle customer telephone bill payments.

So there you go.

flywheel

thanks for the info v10...

thought i'd heard they had been sold (as they had been trying to get rid of them before) but wasn't sure... called into one in town this afternoon and asked if eircom still owned them and they said no (and looked at me funny )...

BrianG

jesus_thats_gre

Originally posted by DubWireless
thought i'd heard they had been sold (as they had been trying to get rid of them before) but wasn't sure... called into one in town this afternoon and asked if eircom still owned them and they said no (and looked at me funny )...

Haha can imagine the look ya got..