My grandparents and I could use some help!

Megatron_X

Well my grandparents have an Eircom Phone & Broadband bundle at the moment. I don't know what deal they have but my nan keeps ringing people's mobiles and the last bill was €100. They want to get rid of the phone but keep broadband for us grandchildren.

As I'm the 'tech' guy of the household I'm in charge of sorting this out. If I'm right Eircom only give broadband in bundles which isn't what they want, so I think UPC is the best offer. Still pondering whether the cheaper 5MB but 40GB cap is better than the 15MB Fibre Power Broadband.

Anyway my main question is, how do I go about cancelling what they currently have with Eircom? Just ring up? Also, they are adamant that they want the house phone gone but am I right in thinking that Pensioners get a landline for incoming calls for free? How would I go about getting that, since we're used to ringing the landline and they'd forget to turn on their mobiles a lot.

jor el

You don't have to buy a bundle, you can get eircom broadband on it's own. You still have to pay for line rental, but as you say, pensioners get free line rental anyway. They don't need to keep whatever call package they have, unless they're still within a contract period, in which case they'd have to pay out of it.

If UPC is available, then that's a good option to go with.

To cancel eircom, they'd probably need to put it in writing. You can't cancel it on their behalf, only the account holder can do it. Also check if they're out of contract first.

Broadband Kid

Hi Megatron_X this is all the info u need to cancel Eircom http://broadbandsupport.eircom.net/SRVS/CGI-BIN/WEBCGI.EXE/&/?St=16&E=0000000000209354520&K=2379&SXI=6&E=0000000000209354520&St=16&K=2379&SXI=6&case=8420&branch=4. Also you will get much faster speeds with UPC and UPC's contention ratio on their broadband packages is 12:1 while Eircom's is 48:1. Also UPC's 30MB Broadband Bundle has 250 GB monthly allowance while Eircom's 3MB has an allowance of 30GB

All the best,
Broadband Kid

phelixoflaherty

Stick yer Granny on Skype

Megatron_X

They are definitely out of contract and UPC is available. If they rang up and cancelled their phone and broadband deal with eircom, what happens to the phone line? Can they still receive calls?

If I then order the UPC 15MB Broadband do they have to come and install new 'fibre optic' cables into the house? And I read about a €7 charge if you get UPC Broadband without TV, I assume this isn't included in the €32 p/m?

Might just be me not used to paying bills but €40 p/m on broadband looks kinda steep to me.

Karmafaerie

As pensioners, your grandparents are eligible for a free phoneline from the DSFA.
However this isn't just through Eircom.
You can get this from any provider.

For instance, you can get a phoneline from Blueface or UPC, and still get the €26.00 monthly allowance.

Lets say you move your BB to UPC.

The phoneline would cost you €6.00, the Broadband would cost you either €22.00 or €32.00 depending onthe two packages you mentioned.
You could get all outbound calls blocked for a couple of euros (€2-4 I think, not sure).

That would mean that your monthly fee would be €28 or €38.
The DSFA would then lodge €26.00 into your grandparents account every month, so all in all you'd be paying no more than €5-6 for 5MB with incoming phone only, or €15-16 for 15MB with the incoming line.


It would involve contacting the DSFA and filling out a form, but otherwise it's straightforward enough.

Megatron_X

Karmafaerie wrote: »

As pensioners, your grandparents are eligible for a free phoneline from the DSFA.
However this isn't just through Eircom.
You can get this from any provider.

For instance, you can get a phoneline from Blueface or UPC, and still get the €26.00 monthly allowance.

Lets say you move your BB to UPC.

The phoneline would cost you €6.00, the Broadband would cost you either €22.00 or €32.00 depending onthe two packages you mentioned.
You could get all outbound calls blocked for a couple of euros (€2-4 I think, not sure).

That would mean that your monthly fee would be €28 or €38.
The DSFA would then lodge €26.00 into your grandparents account every month, so all in all you'd be paying no more than €5-6 for 5MB with incoming phone only, or €15-16 for 15MB with the incoming line.


It would involve contacting the DSFA and filling out a form, but otherwise it's straightforward enough.

Wow, this is very helpful... you've basicly done my job for me. They'll be delighted, €16 is a bit less than €100! Thanks so much!

Karmafaerie

Megatron_X wrote: »

Wow, this is very helpful... you've basicly done my job for me. They'll be delighted, €16 is a bit less than €100! Thanks so much!

http://www.welfare.ie/EN/Forms/Documents/hb1.pdf


This is the form as far as I know.
My parents are with UPC and get the allowance, but I didn't set it up for them, so I'm not sure.

They rang the DSFA and were posteded out a form, so I suggest you do the same.
The form above is for all allowances.

The way it works for my parents, is that they get charged full price by UPC, and then recieve the allowance paid into their bank account seperately.



You may also want to look at the UPC phone packages for local and national calls.
If you got one of those packages, your grandparents would be able to block mobile calls, and make as many local or national calls as they want for a set fee.
That way there'd be no surprises on the bill.

Solair

If you're in an upgraded cable area, UPC's bundles are the best as they will also include your digital cable television. It can work out very good value, particularly if you are an old age pensioner as you get the social welfare line rental payment!

If your grandmother makes a lot of mobile calls, perhaps she might be better doing this on her mobile?

If you can find out which networks her friends are on and ensure that your granma is on the same network as most of the people she is calling, she might be able to benefit from "free" calls.

Meteor, Vodafone, O2 all offer on-network calls for "free" if you top up by €20 every 30 days.

If your grandma makes a lot of calls this could save her a fortune.

Also, encourage her friends to switch to the same network and they all get the same benefits!

Check out the offers carefully before switching.

Eg I'm on vodafone bill pay, so I get inclusive vodafone to vodafone calls. The rest of my family have switched to vodafone billpay & prepay to save on the call costs. We've collectively saved a fortune!!

Just ask your grandma to ask her friends who they are with and pick the most popular network. Then sign her up for the free calls!