Time to SAVE

jonnieG

Hi there,
This may have been asked numerous times before so if so....... sorry!!

I want to jump on the recession bandwagon and start saving a few quid and one area that I must be over spending is the technology area!

My monthly outgoings for the following is:

Eircom Buundle (Broadband and talk) ~€56
Sky package (Including sports) ~€56
Mobile Phone (Meteor talk 300) ~€50

so ~€160 pm on these

I was looking at Chorus NTL deal with broadband and TV starting at €44 pm which would save nearly 60 but I do not want to go to Chorus I think??

Any other ways of saving here?

On a relevant topic - I pay for the parents sky (45 pm )also. Has anyone been bold and just added sky-multiroom to their package and set it up in another house?? - Every penny counts!!
Cheers!

jor el

jonnieG wrote: »

Eircom Buundle (Broadband and talk) ~€56
Sky package (Including sports) ~€56
Mobile Phone (Meteor talk 300) ~€50

I pay nothing for TV (there's plenty of free channels) I have a PAYG phone, and spend about €5 a month on it, and I pay €55 for phone & broadband. That's €100 less than you pay. You don't need a bundled phone package, because you don't really need to ring people that much. If money is getting tight, then you just need to cut out these luxuries. Or consider VOIP, since you have broadband.

jonnieG wrote: »

I was looking at Chorus NTL deal with broadband and TV starting at €44 pm which would save nearly 60 but I do not want to go to Chorus I think??

Ruling out UPC, out of hand, is probably a mistake. It's the only realistic way of keeping your TV channels, broadband and phone, without paying what you currently pay.

jonnieG wrote: »

On a relevant topic - I pay for the parents sky (45 pm )also. Has anyone been bold and just added sky-multiroom to their package and set it up in another house?? - Every penny counts!!
Cheers!

Multi room boxes have to be connected to the phone line, to stop you from doing that.

crawler

impartial view www.callcosts.ie

Lots of FTA stuff and even FTA HD content now from BBC and ITV for free www.freesat.ie - Root top aerial for RTE etc (ensure it will also work for DTV when launched)

Loads of ways to save...including shopping around and ignoring marketing hype.

Dardania

jor el wrote: »

Multi room boxes have to be connected to the phone line, to stop you from doing that.

I've started wondering lately does the Sky box phone out, with the Sky server checking the caller ID, or does the Sky server dial the Sky box? If so -do they have a way to check if the call is coming from a landline or from an VoIP ATA with a geographic number...?

pingpongz

Chorus is cheaper because it doesn't work 50% of the time. Pay a bit more for a much better service imo.

Cabaal

I personally could live without watching any TV but the fiance pays for the Sky package which I believe is about 26e a month, I pay for Broadband which is 56e a month (unlimited ADSL) and I buy approx 30e credit a month for my PAYG Meteor plan

When I had cable I used to use VoIP with blueface as my landline which was handy and was a PAYG package also....you get a free 076 number with it and because I had a Linksys router/ATA I could use a normal phone handset

bk

If you cancel Sky, you can keep the box and you will continue to get over 80 channels for free, including all the BBC, ITV/UTV, C4 channels and even C5 amongst many others.

Note if you cancel Sky:

- you won't get the Irish channels, you will need to use an aerial for these.
- Sky+ won't work and you won't be able to watch anything you recorded in the past when you cancel.
- The EPG will only be now and next, unless you get a Freesat box.

I'm wrong about the EPG above, you will still have the full EPG, sorry for any confusion.

Despite all that, it is a great way to save hundreds of euros a year while still having a decent TV service.

Your only other alternative is a UPC (Chorus/NTL) bundle.

Even if you go with the above option, you still should look at UPC for Braodand and Phone (if you need it, remember phone is not required).

UPC 3mb BB is €28
UPC 1mb BB + phone is just €30 per month.
Free offpeak calls €5, anytime €10

So you could save as much as €26 per month over Eircom.

Meteor depends upon your usage, no point in changing to pay as you go if you continue to make lots of calls, it would end up being more expensive. If you can cut back on your mobile usage, then changing to a cheaper plan or pay as you go wil save you money. Think about using the landline to landline with free call packages, rather then yapping on the mobile.

As for your multi room question, it won't work, with multi room the second box needs to be attached to the phone line and it rings Sky to make sure that it hasn't been moved from your house. I suggest getting your parents to go Freesat and cancel the Sky sub like I described above if money is tight.

jor el

bk wrote: »

I- The EPG will only be now and next, unless you get a Freesat box.

Are you sure about that? I have two ex-Sky boxes, and I get the full EPG, just like with the subscription service. You can scroll along, to see what's on for the whole day on that channel. TV Guide works too.

Some of the Free-to-air boxes that I've seen, only have a now and next EPG.

watty

Broadband about €40 p.m (Metro) Including phone calls on a DECT phone.
O2 Mobile bill pay 50 mins €15 p.m.
Sky Satellite receiver about 40 decent TV and 20 decent Radio free, no sub
Motorised Satellite Receiver about 22 satellites, over 3500 Tv and 2000 Radio (10 worthwhile TV channels), No subscription, all legal free to air.
Aerial for Irish TV.

Meteor is cheapest for small amount of PAYG. For Bill pay O2 or Vodaphone can be cheaper depending on minimum minutes included.
Send all SMS as separate short ones as long SMS are not included in the "included SMS".

Friend has Chorus /UPC for Broadband only and Free To Air Satellite for All TV. (no aerial, RTE web feed for TV news).

watty

EPG:
Sky even if cancelled has full EPG, but Sky+ and SkyHD won't record/play internally.
Freesat and Sat4free have full EPG
Generic FTA satellite has only Now/Next (though full week on some German/Austrian channels).
There are non-Sky set boxes with recording built in, but only the Freesat & sat4Free have integrated Sky-like EPG recording.

It's possible to have one subscription Skybox and non-sub Skybox or other box for free channels only in another room. Apart from Sport channels and the 4 irish channels, all the best channels are free.

bk

jor el wrote: »

Are you sure about that? I have two ex-Sky boxes, and I get the full EPG, just like with the subscription service. You can scroll along, to see what's on for the whole day on that channel. TV Guide works too.

Some of the Free-to-air boxes that I've seen, only have a now and next EPG.

You are right, my apologies, will edit my post, I mixed it up with most FTA boxes.

jonnieG

Thanks for the advice!
Might try and get out of meteor contact and go PAYG as I hardly use it as I also have the eircom bundle!
Also might look into lowering the cost of SKY or cancelling it alltogether!!

Cheers Folks!