Can a business get a residential BB account

digitaldr

My missus is starting a business and was looking to get a BB package with bundled local and national calls. From my researches it looks like a residential package would be cheaper even if she had to pay the VAT. Is there any reason why an ISP wouldn't let her open a residential account for her business?

BDW

I don't see any reason why not, you can always try applying for it and neglect to mention you're a business.

If I remember right the business deals generally offer higher/no caps and static ip's which alot of medium/big buisnesses need.

digitaldr

Thanks for that BDW. Just need basic broadband and bundled calls (don't need static IP, high speeds or no caps).

GerardKeating

digitaldr wrote: »

Thanks for that BDW. Just need basic broadband and bundled calls (don't need static IP, high speeds or no caps).

If you read the T&C, you will find most "residential" packages exclude the use by a business.

Also, if you want the reclaim the VAT, you might need the bill in the name of the business.

MarkR

I know a lot of businesses that have home starter accounts with eircom, and that's usually setup with the eircom account manager.

Cabaal

You should have no problem getting a home account even if your a business, one thing to remember though...if your broadband connection is very important to your business then its worth getting a business service.

The reason for this is if there is a line fault your likely to get a better turn around time on a business service then a home service, speaking from my own experience with BT Business I had a line issue once and I called tech, within the hour I had a callback and all was well again.

Couldn't fault it

niallb

I was put on Home Starter on a business account because the line will only handle about 768k.
The last time they tried to give me a "Business broadband" package,
the line failed, and I was waiting over another year for a connection.
I finally got connected in February of this year...

kaizersoze

OP, you'll only run into a problem getting residential BB for a business if the phone line was initially installed as a business line. If it's a business line, when you ring residential sales they'll say they can't accept the order and put you through to business sales.
Thats my experience with Eircom sales when trying to order BB for a customer at her home and shop. Residential sales accepted the order for the house but not the shop.

Bear in mind what Cabaal said about fault repair though, it's true.

CuLT

Residential customers get put on the backburner in lieu of business ones when things go pear shaped. Often, a business DSL connection will have a Service Level Agreement (SLA), which is designed to guarantee turnaround time on faults.

As a residential customer, if there is a fault, generally there is no SLA, and you could quite literally be without broadband for months (an extreme scenario). You will be refunded for time offline, but it's not much good if you run your business from a home Internet connection, where a few days offline could cost you quite a bit of money.

That said, rather than get a business package I usually suggest that people just get two different home connections. One ADSL, one wireless or cable. I find this level of reduncancy much more effective than any ISPs wishy washy service agreements.

If set up correctly it just means popping out one cable and popping in another. The likelyhood of two seperate ISPs using different systems being offline for the same window of time is improbable enough to be worth the additional cost.

L31mr0d

where I work we have 1 Eircom business line and 1 residential line. Its never been an issue to have a residential line here

RangeR

We have residential broadband from our ISP [we have used a few]. We were always up front when contacting ISP's saying we didn't need all the bells and whistles of business packages. We were never refused. Even had the residential account put in the name of the business so we could claim the VAT back.

With our latest ISP, we decided to order the business package. They put us on a residential package instead. On querying it with them, they said that there was no difference between the residential and business package. I checked and there wasn't, at the time. There is now and I'm not happy. But that's part my problem for not insisting. 12 Month contract is up in August.