Eircom BB / Phone Bundles from 9th October

Dellas

I called Eircom today to see how much a 3MB BB service with line rental and unlimited calls day or night 32 counties was and was told that on 9th October it will be a special bundle package for Eur 59.99 a month all in . Anyone know anything about this ?? Its cheaper slightly than BT's Eur 63 for the same thing. I cant find it on Eircom's website to make sure its correct information that I was given.

kaizersoze

BT includes UK calls aswell.
TBH, I can't see them doing it. Their 3meg BB is €48.40 and their talktime anytime including line rental is €39.99. Thats a total of €88.39. I doubt they'll drop by nearly €30 to €59.99. But you'd never know...pigs flying and all that.:)
May be they meant their 1meg or 2meg BB.

JNive

or he meant it excluding line rental

Creamy Goodness

or maybe he could of been talking absolute complete bull****, come on now this is the most reasonable option.

Dellas

I will have to call again or wait until the 9th to see if they introduce it. Proberbly was too good to be true but we will see.

Sponge Bob

Dellas wrote:

I will have to call again or wait until the 9th to see if they introduce it. Proberbly was too good to be true but we will see.

You can see for yourself right now that they are fairly CRAP (albeit better than whats there now) if you look here.

Expect very large scale winback activity nationwide and expect plenty of lies and misrepresentation about these products coming to yoru doorstep any day now.

aidanodr

Hi Guys,

http://www.eircom.ie/About/Activities/pending.pdf

Scroll down 4 pages of the PDF. the €59.99 is for TalkTime anytime + 2mB BBand. That is - "eircom broadband home plus + Talktime Anytime".

Still cheaper than both seperately anyway.

Cheers
Aidan

Dellas

Hi thats great thanks for that , well its a great deal for me as I make loads of calls to the North and that always put my bills high!! Now if I can get broadband ( i will know for sure next week ) I will sign up the day I get connected. 2MB is fine for me. Also I see you get free month of line rental and Broadband and a free wireless router, not bad at all.

Sponge Bob

BT prices are even better on a like for like basis and you can use the phone during the day (not offpeak) and call any UK landline not just in the north.

and there IS no 3mbit bundle from what I see , the €59.99 one is a 2mbit bundle is it not . Mindya it was 512k for €54.45 a month +NO line rental or calls included a few years ago .

Dellas

Yeah its 2MB not 3 but thats fine for me . Im not making any calls to England so the North/South anytime of day or night with Eircom would suit me . I also think that if im not making a mega saving then i may aswell stay with Eircom in case of any problems. They are more likely to look after their own customers before comming out to BT customers from my experience.

Sponge Bob

its €54 with BT Dellas for 2mbit + LR and anytime calls to landlines (59 mins max per call)

http://home.btireland.ie/echannel/BTres.portal?&_pageLabel=btres_page&_nfpb=true&homePage_actionOverride=%2Fpageflows%2Fhomepage%2FshowBroadbandTotalPage&_windowLabel=homePage

Dellas

The only thing that puts me off BT is that we have BT BB at our office and we have been having terrible trouble with download speeds the last 2 weeks and nothing seems to be being done about it

Sponge Bob

Its probably the eircom line or a dodgy modem maybe not the BT network , if it were BT then every customer of theirs would be giving out about them ..or every customer in the North Dublin area or some discernible pattern like that .

Having said that their CS is pretty dodge

Dellas

We have a Eircom back up and switched it over and it worked fine so there must be something wrong , well they know there is anyway caus they called us .

aidanodr

Sponge Bob wrote:

BT prices are even better on a like for like basis and you can use the phone during the day (not offpeak) and call any UK landline not just in the north.

and there IS no 3mbit bundle from what I see , the €59.99 one is a 2mbit bundle is it not . Mindya it was 512k for €54.45 a month +NO line rental or calls included a few years ago .

Hi Bob,

U say "and you can use the phone during the day (not offpeak)", have a look at the PDF File on the page I mentioned above. The €59.99 bundle includes "eircom broadband home plus + Talktime Anytime". Talktime Anytime is 24/7 local and national, you can use the phone during the day.

Have a look here:
http://www.eircom.ie/cgi-bin/bvsm/bveircom/bladerunner/showContent.jsp?BV_SessionID=@@@@0881265469.1160338112@@@@&BV_EngineID=ccchaddjdfkgiedcefeceiedffndffg.0&cid=TalktimeMoreInfoRes&site=Res&chanId=-536885161

Scroll down - according to Eircom blurb here - "Do you love the idea of making unlimited local and national calls anytime of the day or night, for a fixed monthly rate? eircom talktime anytime gives you the freedom to do just that"

Cheers
Aidan

Foxwood

aidanodr wrote:

The €59.99 bundle includes "eircom broadband home plus + Talktime Anytime". Talktime Anytime is 24/7 local and national, you can use the phone during the day.

Or you can save €5 ad get it from BT, who include calls to the UK, not just NI.

It's also interesting to note that calls to 076 numbers are NOT free with eircom talktime.

Dellas

I would love a rate that would give free EU calls also then I would be sorted!!! Wouldnt mind paying another 5 or 10 Euro a month for that.

Sponge Bob

shockin competitive for eircom Aidan

it was €40 for talktime anytime and €54 for 2mbits and €24.20 for line rental in January this year, now its half that :eek: ????? BT musta been murdering them all summer .

Be very careful though , they can unilaterally cancel the voice bit if you overuse it (in their opinion) and hold you to the BB and LR bundle (only) STILL at €59.99 a month but you pay for all calls everywhere .

Did you 'notice' that at all Aidan and whaddaya think anyway ????

aidanodr

Hi Bob,

First off - me no big lover of Eircom nor am I affiliated or never have been affiliated to them in any way. Unfortunately I was one of the poor Saps who got dumped off of Smart as I was a voice only client with them. SO - at the mo I have a few days to switch to another voice service.

I currently have and have had for the last 2 years or so the Eircom BBand. At the time - where I am [ Carrigaline, Co. Cork ] - I didnt have much choice. Plus, at the time I had a dialup anytime package which they offered to switch to BBand at the same price, so I took it.

With Smart my fortunes on their BBand package were not good as our exchange here in Carrig was not setup [ Yet ] for Smart.

So here I find myself as a Voice Nomad once more - for the mo I am transferring BACK to Eircom and see what happens in the future. I dont particularly like same, but the choice of non VOIP isnt that huge either in price or selection. The arguments about all the above have been trashed in other threads.

I run a small business from home [ Web related ]. During this year the whole of Carrigaline was out BBand wise - for a month. It was an exchange issue locally and at Churchfield. Businesses inc mine suffered, but at least due to me being with Eircom for BBand I could complain to them without being brushed off with 'Sorry you are with BT' etc as happened to neighbours.

"Did you 'notice' that at all Aidan and whaddaya think anyway ????"

I refer you to the bit above about not too much real choice in Irish Telco's [ non voip ]. This is now exasperated even further due to the Smart situation. Any new competition now will find it extremely difficult to move in on the market and get customers, who will now be afraid to move again. I reckon most of the 45000 Smart customers cut off will go back to Eircom Im afraid.

To be frank the overall opinion will be "I dont need this type of hastle in my life right now, too much other stuff on". AND "No one ever got fired for purchasing [ HP, IBM, Eircom ]". Unfortunately this is prevelent in the market place.Trusty old Eircom eh

The small print is in all of the contracts. As was noted in todays Sunday Business Post " If you want to research more info on bband or telephone packages, the operators websites are hit and miss - but mostly miss. Regrettably, none of them provides all relevant pricing, delivery details and installation information. Moreover several are difficult to navigate" etc etc. This is just more of it.

In a word the whole telecomms business in this country is in a shambles and is a dirty business to be involved in. Right now no matter which way you go the consumer is the loser. This until Comreg get teeth [ never ], the Government gets its head out of big businesses A**E [ never ], Eircom are forced to relinquish the copper cable and / or the last mile [ never ].

Sorry for the long winded reply,
Aidan

Sponge Bob

and there are business talktime packages coming in soon as well, further down in that doc .

I know how you feel so I do, stuck between a rock and eircom

Blaster99

Do these call bundles really make any sense in comparison to cheapie call providers like 13434?

aidanodr

Sponge Bob wrote:

and there are business talktime packages coming in soon as well, further down in that doc .

I know how you feel so I do, stuck between a rock and eircom

Yip, no doubt the only real difference will be the same price EX VAT.

Possibly even dearer and offer lower if any contention rates and or higher speeds.

I get this most weeks from clients - "Our BBand failed, Eircom told us their is no service contract with BBand, they may get out within 48 hours ... maybe, really you should get a leased line" [ Cha, Ching ... till noises please ]

As you said - stuck between a rock and eircom

Cheers
Aidan

Dellas

Sponge Bob wrote:

Be very careful though , they can unilaterally cancel the voice bit if you overuse it (in their opinion) and hold you to the BB and LR bundle (only) STILL at €59.99 a month but you pay for all calls everywhere .

What would be deemed as over use??? 24/7 or 10 hours a day etc.....

Sponge Bob

really Aidan, you should get a wireless backup if you need the BB that much. I must confess I had not heard of this 1 month DSL outage in Carrigaline , did Comreg have any view on it ....be it good, bad, awful or just Comreg .

overuse Dellas , God knows.

aidanodr

Bob,

Look up Carrigaline here under BBand [ search ] - lots about it at the time. I got a full page article with my big huge head in the business section of The Examiner [ Boy! ] when it all happened, heading the attack, end of day nothing done and we got charged for it all the same, no refund mentioned or offered. As I said we the customer are screwed and really cannot do much. Defeatist I know, but fed up with fighting city hall and wasting time on same

Aidan

Dellas

The new packages are on the Eircom website today . I think I will be going with the Eur 59.99 bundle with free 1 months line rental and free wireless router.

MarkR

Gotta love their wording. "Unlimited monthly usage", then when you select to get more info they tell you of the 10/20gb download limit. :mad:

Clover

i rang eircom on friday about getting upgraded to the 2 meg broadband and there was no mention of this deal so i rang back today and went for the €59.99 option , shame there is no 3 meg bundle .

kaizersoze

Don't forget, when you go for the bundle option the contract is 12 months not 6 as it would be with BB on it's own.

The Facility is subject to a minimum 12 month contract period. The contract period
will be deemed to commence on the initial bill date for the purposes of this
paragraph, the Initial Bill Date shall be date on which the company applies this
Facility to the customer’s account.

Dellas

Well 12 months is not bad for the price of the bundle and what you get for it . One month free line rental and a free wireless router worth Eur99!!! If you go for BT they dont give you either even though they may be slightly cheaper.

Sponge Bob

A free WIRELESS router is a poisoned chalice for most urban non techies Dellas, a free wired router is not .

BT only offer a single port (usb and ethernet) router and it must go back to them when the contract is over , I think buying it is €80 and it certainly closes the price gap between the over a 12 month contract as you pointed out.

Also note eircom do charge if you go over the cap (not always but if they reckon you are tearing the arse out of it they may ) and that an unsecured wireless router is one way to end up with a very very large bill , and it has happened.

Dunno what the standard configuration is , the wifi may be shut down unless you enable it for example.

kaizersoze

Sponge Bob wrote:

A free WIRELESS router is a poisoned chalice for most urban non techies Dellas, a free wired router is not .

BT only offer a single port (usb and ethernet) router and it must go back to them when the contract is over , I think buying it is €80 and it certainly closes the price gap between the over a 12 month contract as you pointed out.

Also note eircom do charge if you go over the cap (not always but if they reckon you are tearing the arse out of it they may ) and that an unsecured wireless router is one way to end up with a very very large bill , and it has happened.

Dunno what the standard configuration is , the wifi may be shut down unless you enable it for example.

Standard config is 'wireless on' and 'WEP security enabled' so you have to go through the ethernet port first to setup the wireless. The router remains the property of Eircom aswell and has to be returned.
BTW, they're having serious overheating problems with the new Netopia wifi router. Alot of the going back.

Sponge Bob

so its only free rental for duration and return at own expense and NOT a Free Wireless Router, where are the T&Cs for this bundle on that bloody awful site ???

kaizersoze

Sponge Bob wrote:

so its only free rental for duration and return at own expense and NOT a Free Wireless Router, where are the T&Cs for this bundle on that bloody awful site ???

Here: http://www.eircom.ie/bveircom/pdf/bb_tcs.pdf
Paragraph 7.4
Also here in the activities pending document:
http://www.eircom.ie/About/Activities/pending.pdf
Page 5, paragraph 4.

4. Where the Facility is ceased during the minimum contract period, eircom reserves
the right to charge the customer the monthly rental for the balance of the unexpired
contract period. In the event that the customer fails to return the modem within 14
days, eircom reserves the right to charge the customer the sum of €98.99 (inc
VAT) / €81.81 (ex VAT) for the wireless modem, or €49.99 (inc VAT) / €41.31 (ex
VAT) for the pocket modem.

It's a freepost address for router returns iirc.

Dellas

You are getting a free wireless router!!! If you stick to the contract for 12 months after that period its yours . Its only if you break that contract before 12 months that you have to send it back which is fair enough. For someone like myself who has two people in the home using laptops on dial up at present and hopefully getting BB end of this week the Eircom deal is a good one . Its actually the first decent offer they have ever done with the new bundles aswell !!! Credit them where it is due even if it is not that often.

When I get the wireless router Im sure I can secure it and Im not going to be downloading music or videos so I doubt I will go over the 20 GB allowance.

oisin

Kaizersoze where did you hear about the Netopia wi-fi router overheating? I have mine on 24/7, it feels warm to the touch on top but I'd like to know if there's a danger of getting toasted in my sleep.

Dellas

oisin wrote:

Kaizersoze where did you hear about the Netopia wi-fi router overheating? I have mine on 24/7, it feels warm to the touch on top but I'd like to know if there's a danger of getting toasted in my sleep.

Check your smoke alarm:D

kaizersoze

oisin wrote:

Kaizersoze where did you hear about the Netopia wi-fi router overheating? I have mine on 24/7, it feels warm to the touch on top but I'd like to know if there's a danger of getting toasted in my sleep.

I have experienced it with customers I've set up. 4 of about 22 have had this problem and had to be returned. I spoke to Eircom tech support and they said it was an 'issue' with the router and they just sent out replacements. They didn't say if the replacements had the issue resolved.
I don't know if it's a fire hazard. They just get hot (I mean seriously hot, not warm) and stop working. They come back to life when left plugged out and cool down for an hour or 2.

Dellas wrote:

If you stick to the contract for 12 months after that period its yours .

Where did you see/hear that? As far as I can see it's the same way as it always was. ie. Eircom own the router for as long as you use the service (not just the contract period) and it has to be returned to them upon termination.
I don't see any mention of the 'own it after 12 months' arrangement in their T&C's.

Check your smoke alarm

oisin

Thanks for the info kaizersoze, I've checked the smoke alarms just in case!

Dinarius

Just discovered this offer now.

Had been considering moving to BT, but when Eircom issued the press release last month I thought I'd hold out.

Yes, it's more expensive than BT, but it's only €72 difference over 12 months. By then the market will have moved on some more and I can reconsider my options.

As someone who works from home, getting 2Mb plus calls for €59.99 incl. VAT isn't cheap, but it's sure as hell an improvement! It will save me €240 a year on what I'm paying at the moment. That's almost 4 months worth!

D.

Dellas

Dinarius wrote:

As someone who works from home, getting 2Mb plus calls for €59.99 incl. VAT isn't cheap, but it's sure as hell an improvement! It will save me €240 a year on what I'm paying at the moment. That's almost 4 months worth!

D.

Yeah I totally agree with you mate its a step in the right direction to what Im paying too.

Dinarius

I should have written that the saving is €120 per annum, not €240.

Either way, it's enough for me not to embark on the hassle of moving to BT since the taxman pays a chunk of it.

Of course, the kind of inertia I'm displaying is exactly what Eircom are anticipating............. ;-)

Just signed up.

D.

Dellas

I see it this way if there is not a huge amount of difference between BT and Eircom then I would stay with Eircom purely for the reason that if theres a fault you have more of a chance getting it done with Eircom than BT. BT have to contact Eircom and they dont respond as quick as if it were their own customers. I know from experience!!!

Also the bundles at the moment BT do not offer one months free line rental or a wireless router so it out weighs the savings between the two.

tadgh

Signed up to the €59.99 package on the opening day as an existing customer and haven't even had an acknowledgement.

Dellas

Did you have broadband already or is this a new connection??? maybe you should call them. They may just have a back log. I heard that it can take up to 2 weeks to get it connected.

tadgh

Already have Broadband & Talktime anytime (both with Eircom)

Dellas

Maybe they are quicker to sign up new customers!!! I would call them just in case the orders got lost somewhere.

Dinarius

Tadgh,

I signed up online yesterday (I'm assuming you signed up online too) and the last window clearly stated that it would take up to two weeks to process the application.

Naturally, as with just about any half decent online transaction, one would have expected even an automated email reply confirming the application. But, this is Eircom we're dealing with here. Giving a rat's a** is never going to be a priority.

Sit tight and post as soon as you do hear anything.

D.

tadgh

Ok, will wait and see
Will post if there is any response from Eircom