European broadband pricing down by 2.8% but (surprise) Irish prices up by 23.5%

bealtine

Swiss broadband prices decrease by almost 30% in 2007

The Western European broadband prices for residential users have decreased by 2.8 percent during the first three quarters of 2007, according to Telecompaper’s quarterly Western European Broadband Pricing updates . At the end of the third quarter, the average monthly fee amounted to EUR 32.88, with Switzerland and Belgium leading the way with almost 30 and 20 percent price decreases. Swiss consumers saw the average monthly broadband fee drop by 29.7 percent compared with the end of 2006 to CHF 54.6 (EUR 35.90). Ireland, however, saw average broadband prices go up by 23.5 percent due to price increases and smaller portfolios and the broadband fees in Spain increased by 4.1 percent.

thebman

Hurray for crippling your own economy.

Let all cut our noses off to spite our faces as a salute to the current government.

Note: do not cut your nose off.

jester77

Nice increase :eek: What's the justification for it?

My package her in Germany decreased €5 so far this year, down from €30 to €25 plus I've gotten a speed increase as well.

Sponge Bob

Its the lack of speed increases in Ireland that puts the price up. Prices per se are static .

If you can get 20mbits in a developed country for less than 2mbits would cost in Irleand that would explain the relative underperformance and the relative rise in prices.

Our line rental, at €26 a month , is still the highest in the world, wahAAAY for being the true leader for a change.

bealtine

Sponge Bob wrote: »

Our line rental, at €26 a month , is still the highest in the world, wahAAAY for being the true leader for a change.

The average 2mbit bill here is over E50 per month but according to Comreg we are the cheapest in the EU. I want/need some of that kool-aid.

Then of course the govmint gets the VAT so they have no incentive to do anything. It's win-win for the stakeholders and the gov but the punter can go stick his finger in a place where the sun don't shine and like it.

Sponge Bob

bealtine wrote: »

The average 2mbit bill here is over E50 per month but according to Comreg we are the cheapest in the EU. I want/need some of that kool-aid.

Including line rental maybe but its about €30 on its own . Once you add Irish line rental to anything its massive . I am unsure if this survey does ....or does it ???

bealtine

Sponge Bob wrote: »

Including line rental maybe but its about €30 on its own . Once you add Irish line rental to anything its massive . I am unsure if this survey does ....or does it ???

The survey itself costs €150 or so...
But my understanding is that line rental is not included.
But then no other country rapes its customer base quite like eircom does.

Blaster99

The only ones that I can recall having increased broadband prices in the last year or so are Digiweb and Smart.

watty

In Ireland you need to add Analogue TV cost to Cable BB and line rental to DSL for fair comparisons with rest of Europe and between Irish services. No hidden extras on most Fixed Wireless services.

Do Smart/Magnet charge a "rental" on their fibre BB prices or inclusive?

spurious

Blaster99 wrote: »

The only ones that I can recall having increased broadband prices in the last year or so are Digiweb and Smart.

I know a telecoms company could use your spin.
Smart increased their prices by the amount that eircom increased the line rental.

Blaster99

I think it was concluded somewhere above that line rental was not included in the comparison. Line rental also didn't go up by 23.5%. I would think a fair reflection is that prices have stayed more or less flat, which is not great either. But the same goes for the "competition". They only ever move when eircom moves.

bealtine

Blaster99 wrote: »

I think it was concluded somewhere above that line rental was not included in the comparison. Line rental also didn't go up by 23.5%. I would think a fair reflection is that prices have stayed more or less flat, which is not great either. But the same goes for the "competition". They only ever move when eircom moves.

2 points.

To get the full story we need to buy the report, in the report surely is the authors justification for making the claim. I can only relay the headlines.

It's actually irrelevant that prices stayed static, moved up, down or whatever, it is actually the perception abroad that Ireland is a horrendously expensive place for telecommunications. The perception is correct as the facts clearly demonstrate.

jester77

bealtine wrote: »

2 points.

To get the full story we need to buy the report, in the report surely is the authors justification for making the claim. I can only relay the headlines.

It's actually irrelevant that prices stayed static, moved up, down or whatever, it is actually the perception abroad that Ireland is a horrendously expensive place for telecommunications. The perception is correct as the facts clearly demonstrate.

Have to agree. I know my friends (or the few that can get broadband) in Ireland are paying silly prices compared to what I am. The big problem to me seems to be line rental. I can get my broadband and line rental together for less than what Eircom charges just for the line rental!

bk

watty wrote: »

Do Smart/Magnet charge a "rental" on their fibre BB prices or inclusive?

Smart don't charge line rental as such on the SmartVision service, however all their Broadband packages do come with a telephone line also. The cost of BB + phone package is €40, so about the same as Eircom with 1m BB plus line rental.

However with Smart you actually get about 13m/1m (11m/800k after overheads), so in reality it mightn't be the cheapest BB, but it is excellent value for money.

I think the story is similar for Magnet.

watty

And maybe over half that €40 goes to eircom. €17 per user per line per month. Then backhaul from exchange (sometimes only eircom), rent space in exchange for their gear goes to eircom too.

Blaster99

I think you'll find that eircom has very little to do with these FTTB schemes.

watty

I was thinking only of LLU.
I do hope eNet/DMCNR/Gov/Comreg resist the urge to sell the Fibre to B&B as part of any "regulation after split deal". I doubt the "regulation" part of any such deal would be worth the paper ...