UPC giving out free digital boxes.

CO19

Just read in the paper this evening that UPC from today are starting a major campaign to get people who only have their basic cable to upgrade to digital tv from them by giving out free digital boxes with no charge for 6 months then only €2.50 extra per month there after.
Just wondering does anyone know what exactly they're going to do ? are they going to give one of these boxes to all their analogue customers or just in select areas ? how will they go about doing that.. send letters to everyone in the areas there covering telling them that someone will be calling with the box or what ?

adamleigha

What type of boxes are they giving out do you know?
Any idea of the make,type part number

christophicus

I do believe you have to contact NTL and request it . Its not something you have to do. They were talking about it on the Matt Cooper show. I could have sworn that it would only be an extra €2 after the 6 months , not €2.50. I think the 2.50 is if you want a PVR .

boomerang

I think as of this month, the price of the basic analogue cable for NTL customers has increased from €21.49 per month to €23.50 per month.


The cost of the smaller of the two digital packages, Digital Select, is €26.00. The Digital Select channel line up is the same, whether you're Chorus, NTL, cable or MMDS.

I think what UPC are doing here is upgrading existing analogue cable customers to Digital Select, but charging them at the analogue cable rate of €23.50 for the first six months of digital service, and then charging them for the Digital Select rate of €26.00 from six months onwards.

Going on past experience with the phase out of analogue MMDS, sales will probably be sending out letters to all customers in the relevant areas.

I doubt it's the case that they're simply giving out free digital boxes - you need a service call to have the digital service installed, and the decoders remain the property of UPC.

BowWow

From their site -
"For existing customers
FREE Digital Select upgrade for 6 months and FREE connection. €26.00 a month thereafter. And now add DVR for just €2.50 a month for 6 months - that's half price!"

http://www.upc.ie/television/digitaltv/select/

watty

Ultimately if they ditch Analogue they can have more Broadband capacity and more Digital channels.

Eventually they will turn off cable Analogue. NTL MMDS already has no analogue and Chorus MMDS will have no Analogue soon.


IMO the analogue is mostly unwatchable.

CO19

boomerang wrote: »

I think as of this month, the price of the basic analogue cable for NTL customers has increased from €21.49 per month to €23.50 per month.


I think what UPC are doing here is upgrading existing analogue cable customers to Digital Select, but charging them at the analogue cable rate of €23.50 for the first six months of digital service, and then charging them for the Digital Select rate of €26.00 from six months onwards.

Thanks lads for the reply appreciate it and boomerang yeah the prices have gone up from the 1st of this month for all their services except the phone and you're right that's exactly what they're doing is trying to get everyone up to the select pack.

boomerang

Yup, the only good news seems to be that the monthly cost of the DVR has come down to €5.00 and there's now free DVR installation for existing customers.

One of the main reasons given for the price increases is the additional channels that have been launched this year, particularly on Chorus MMDS - with more to come if I remember rightly.

MMDS sucks in one way with the restricted channel capacity, but it is much more reliable compared to cable I think... I've had Chorus MMDS for two years now and it's never given an ounce of trouble. I know one MMDS customer contacted us recently to report their first service problem in ten years!

paulm17781

boomerang wrote: »

One of the main reasons given for the price increases is the additional channels that have been launched this year, particularly on Chorus MMDS - with more to come if I remember rightly.

It's not new channels though, it is only new to Chorus. I don't see why NTL customers should have to pay more if anything we've lost channels this year.

They should start to phase out less popular analogue channels now but keep them on digital to encourage people to switch. What is it, 1 analogue is something like 6 digital channels.

CO19

paulm17781 wrote: »

It's not new channels though, it is only new to Chorus. I don't see why NTL customers should have to pay more if anything we've lost channels this year..

Couldn't agree more with ye there Paul,why should we i.e NTL customers have to pay more for nothing extra or new added to the service and we're still waiting for those new channels that NTL said would be coming soon back in October and here it is 4 months on and still nothing.

paulm17781 wrote: »

They should start to phase out less popular analogue channels now but keep them on digital to encourage people to switch. What is it, 1 analogue is something like 6 digital channels.

That's a good idea especially if it meant more channels (decent ones) being added to the current line up.

boomerang

Correct me if I'm wrong, but weren't Setanta Sports News, Sky Sports News and Setanta Ireland all added to the NTL digital channel line up this year? That's just off the top of my head.

CO19

Only Setanta news was -the other 2 were already on it.

boomerang

I stand corrected!

paulm17781

CO19 wrote: »

Only Setanta news was -the other 2 were already on it.

We lost at least 3 channels this year too, possibly more.

snaps

How much extra for multiroom?

CO19

It's €8:50 for multiroom - have a look here for their new prices http://www.upc.ie/pdf/PriceChanges.pdf

CO19

Just thinking,it's €23.50 a month for basic cable and €8.50 extra for the max pack which comes to €32 a month, so when the analogue service is turned off I presume the price will be dropped considerably as they couldn't still charge for analogue when the service is no longer there.

snaps

I think this has been discussed somewhere before. UPC dont have any plans as far as i know to turn off or reduce their analogue channels. Im only with UPC for the basic channels (Its the easiest way to have all the channels in different rooms with out boxes etc) I have satellite as well but only in 2 rooms. As soon as analouge goes i will leave UPC and go completely over to satellite in all rooms. Reason being, much more choice FTA/FTV and PAY. Your not told and dictated to in channel choice. I only hope in the future perhaps the BBC/ITV channels will have +1 channels, if they do they will be available on sat before cable. Ch4+1 is a godsend on sat, for catching up. Saves recording etc.

I have high quality cable connected to most rooms in house (Currently carrying analogue cable), all i will need is sat boxes and a suitable output LNB to feed them. I have a 80cm fixed dish on 28east and a 1.1m motorised dish.

P.s you dont get nothing for free!!!!

watty

They will eventually reduce Analogue.

BTW the UPC boxes unlike a Sky install (yours from day1) is permenantly property of UPC.

deanh

paulm17781 wrote: »

I don't see why NTL customers should have to pay more if anything we've lost channels this year.

On the other hand, why should Dublin(ex NTL) customers pay less than other UPC customers when they receive more channels(UKTV; Sci-Fi; Virgin 1; MUTV; DAVE;FTN); or first to get new services (pvr; new set top box with possible interactive/VOD services)? The best option would be for UPC to standardise services as quickly as possible so that everybody pays the same price for the same service.

egan007

deanh wrote: »

.... so that everybody pays the same price for the same service.

LOL - you ever read any economics....
http://tutor2u.net/economics/revision-notes/a2-micro-price-discrimination.html

Tesco charge different prices for exactly the same products all over the country.

deanh

egan007 wrote: »

LOL - you ever read any economics....
http://tutor2u.net/economics/revision-notes/a2-micro-price-discrimination.html

Tesco charge different prices for exactly the same products all over the country.

Exactly! My point is that Ntl customers should pay more on the basis of receiving a superior service in terms of number of channels and availability of new services. In addition, price discrimination works on the ability of some customers to pay a higher price for the same product. Dublin based customers have higher average incomes and could pay more not less as a previous poster implied they should. Overall, the fairest option is to standardise the package to every consumer as seems to be upc strategy. Hope this clears up any confusion.

paulm17781

This is totally OT but by your logic, if anything everywhere else should pay less than Dublin. That isn't the same as Dublin paying more.

Also, enough of the "higher incomes" in Dublin lark, it is also far more expensive to live and buy property here.

It is fine for UPC to up prices but someone said "To pay for the new channels" I was pointing out that we didn't get any new channels so we shouldn't pay more. By the same logic those who haven't been upgraded shouldn't have to either, if anything prices should have been going inline with Dublin. Either way it makes no difference as we're all paying the same and the opinions of a message board matter little to UPC.

robo

I am thinking of taking up this offer, so if I change from analogue to digital, is it only going to cost me 26 a month, as oppose to 23.50?
And do I pay more for DVR - or is that included in the upgrade?

Sorry if this is answered elsewhere, I couldn't see it anywhere.

CO19

It'll be €26 a month after 6 months ,the DVR isn't included in this, if you want that aswell it'll be an extra €5 on top.

robo

So it is €31 altogether every month with DVR.
How good is DVR - do I really need it, as I currently have a DVD recorder, will I still be able to record digital using a normal DVD recorder?

Sorry for all these silly questions, I just got the leaflet about it and am wondering whether or not to get it?