Best Package Plan - Broadband / Mobile Phone / Land-line / TV

NJOR

Hi there
I have been living abroad, recently returning to Ireland owing to a family bereavement.

I have been checking the telecoms / TV bills and for two people living in the house they seem very high. Need your advice, because it seems all the providers below have hidden costs etc, acting more and more like Ryanair

What I want it a best value package that will consolidate my mobile phone / broadband / retain home phone number / and TV. What do you recommend?

Here are the costs:
- Eircom 1 month Euro 75 (including phone calls, unlimited broadband, landline rental)... we only need the home phone number (which is hardly used).
-Vodafone (I use a vodafone 087 number) Phone Euro 40 a month. In addition my brother spends about Euro 20 a month
-Sky Euro 25 a month
- UPC Euro 20 a month

That is 160 Euros a month.

PS as of today... broadband usage for the month is about 16gb

Your thoughts recommendations would are most welcome

Niall

bk

There is no good bundle that includes all four services, however your best bet would be:

- Phone/Broadband/TV from UPC for €69 :

http://www.upc.ie/deals/tvbroadbandphone/fibrepoweressential/

- 50mb/5mb broadband
- Phone including 100 free mobile minutes
- 90 channel digital TV, including a PVR

Multiroom for €5 extra

- For mobile take a look at three, pay as you go, for €20 you get:

http://www.three.ie/products_services/priceplans/prepay/index.html

- 5GB of data Unlimited data with a 15GB fare usage cap
- Unlimited calls at any time to three numbers
- Unlimited texts to any network any time
- Unlimited calls to any network at the weekends
- Of course you can then spend the €20 on normal calls.

So in summary your bill drops to €90, saving you €70 per month!! and you actually end up with more (e.g. much faster broadband, etc.).

Fresh Pots

What bk said is probably your best bet alright, just want to point out three's 20euro offer gives you unlimited data not 5gb, it does however have a fair usage limit of 15gb per month although people on here have said in the past that they always go over and never get penalised.

bk

Thanks TheTechGuy, corrected.

Similarly it should be pointed out that Eircoms "Unlimited" data has a 250GB fair usage limit.

NJOR

Thank you for your answer.
I notice you didnt mention Eircom... So I guess even with UPC still need to rent a landline from Eircom.

What are your thoughts about
-Digiweb as a broadband provider assuming similar package to what you mention above?
-O2..

bk

NJOR wrote: »

Thank you for your answer.
I notice you didnt mention Eircom... So I guess even with UPC still need to rent a landline from Eircom.

No, if you get the UPC phone/broadband/tv package, you can then cancel Eircom and optionally transfer your landline phone number to UPC.

With UPC the phone and broadband come in over the TV cable, so no need to continue to rent a phone line from Eircom.

NJOR wrote: »

What are your thoughts about
-Digiweb as a broadband provider assuming similar package to what you mention above?
-O2..

Digiweb offer nothing like UPC above. They don't do TV and their phone and broadband comes in over wireless, which is far inferior (much slower and a much lower cap) to UPC's wired broadband.

o2, for mobile phone? Their packages are much less attractive then three, unless you have a specific reason you don't like three (e.g. most of your friends are on o2 or three have bad reception in your area).

D'Peoples Voice

bk wrote: »

o2, for mobile phone? Their packages are much less attractive then three, unless you have a specific reason you don't like three (e.g. most of your friends are on o2 or three have bad reception in your area).

in relation to Three having a bad reception, this should not be much of a problem anymore given that they share Vodafone network

Vodafone confirmed today (Friday, July 13 2012) that it had agreed to share network infrastructure in Ireland with Hutchison Whampoa's 3, marking the first such deal in the country.
Vodafone and 3 will create a joint venture to share their physical network and site infrastructure at about 2,000 locations across Ireland.

source: http://www.businessworld.ie/livenews.htm?a=2962579

bk

D'Peoples Voice wrote: »

in relation to Three having a bad reception, this should not be much of a problem anymore given that they share Vodafone network

source: http://www.businessworld.ie/livenews.htm?a=2962579

Yes, but I'd imagine it will be at best a couple of months, more likely more then a year before that becomes reality.

NJOR

OK thank you for all the advice,
I will contact UPC and 3 as the suggested best value options currently available


Have they a record for typically providing the best value in packages or does the competitive landscape change on a monthly basis?

SKY isn't mentioned in your comments..

Niall

bk

NJOR wrote: »

Have they a record for typically providing the best value in packages or does the competitive landscape change on a monthly basis?

While things can change and is worth re-evaluating once a year, UPC and three have pretty much always been the best value for money.

NJOR wrote: »

SKY isn't mentioned in your comments..

If you get TV from UPC, then you can cancel Sky too. Unless there is a particular channel you want that Sky has and UPC don't, then there is no reason to continue using Sky. To be honest I don't know why you were subscribed to both UPC and Sky for TV. Cheaper to be with one only and get multiroom.

Note that when you cancel Sky, you can continue to use the Sky dish and box to get about 50 free UK channels, including all the BBC, ITV, C4 channels, etc.

NJOR

bk Thank you :-)

DECEiFER

The only problem with UPC is whether you're in an area that they have their fiber network installed. If not, you'll only be able to get TV (and not even HD TV at that). I was in that position when I lived in Kerry, but since moving to Limerick, I've got TV, Broadband, and Phone with UPC and it has been great (though I don't use the phone service, it's cheaper just to take the triple-play package with all the services included and you'll only be charged extra if you actually make phone calls).

Click here to enter your house number and street name to see if you're covered for all the services:
http://www.upc.ie/on_demand_tv/Can_I_get_On_Demand_TV_/

NJOR

Thanks Guys.. I am back again
The UPC offer was too good to be true.................. the package noted above doesn't cover Dun Laoghaire. Still I cancelled Sky and use UPC on demand... until the phone can be sorted

Re: Broadband / Land-phone / mobile phone package

Eircom charged Euro 147.6 for 2 months which is crazy.
Included Eircom Talk Anytime Euro 65.04 (for 2 months) which included anytime national and local calls and 30 anytime minutes to any Irish mobile operator, after which a 5c per min rate applies to Meteor calls / a 22c per min to Vodafone / O2, 3, and 20c per min to UK

Eircom also charged Euro 49.58 for Next Gen. Broadband Regular (including a download speed of up to 8MB and an unlimited upload and download allowance)

Eircom also charged Euro 33.40 for Total Calls which are essentially daytime calls over the package allowance charges to Vodafone and O2

Eircom also charged Euro 2.50 a month for Eircom Mailbox
Eircom also charged Euro 5.50 a month for Corded Phone Rental.

On top of this I'm paying about Euro 30 a month for Vodafone Ready to Go mobile...

All told spending about Euro 100 a month on phone line, landline and mobile calls....

Just feel I am getting "screwed" by Eircom... sorry for my choice of words?
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

So what are my alternatives? Is there a three-in-one?

1). Dont need the landline (but want to keep the home telephone number)
2). Broadband
3). Mobile phone (which currently is Vodafone?

>>>>>>>>>>>>

Vodafone offer
...the essentials.... Euro 38 (up to 8MB speed / 40 GB usage / free evening and weekend calls)

...My Way - Euro 10 (vodafone to vodafone calls and texts ) + Euro 1.5 (worldwide text)

This package already looks like cutting the above costs by half... Is there any offer by another operation that you think is better value?


Thank you
Niall

NJOR

Thanks Guys.. I am back again
The UPC offer was too good to be true.................. the package noted above doesn't cover Dun Laoghaire. Still I cancelled Sky and use UPC on demand... until the phone can be sorted

Re: Broadband / Land-phone / mobile phone package

Eircom charged Euro 147.6 for 2 months which is crazy.
Included Eircom Talk Anytime Euro 65.04 (for 2 months) which included anytime national and local calls and 30 anytime minutes to any Irish mobile operator, after which a 5c per min rate applies to Meteor calls / a 22c per min to Vodafone / O2, 3, and 20c per min to UK

Eircom also charged Euro 49.58 for Next Gen. Broadband Regular (including a download speed of up to 8MB and an unlimited upload and download allowance)

Eircom also charged Euro 33.40 for Total Calls which are essentially daytime calls over the package allowance charges to Vodafone and O2

Eircom also charged Euro 2.50 a month for Eircom Mailbox
Eircom also charged Euro 5.50 a month for Corded Phone Rental.

On top of this I'm paying about Euro 30 a month for Vodafone Ready to Go mobile...

All told spending about Euro 100 a month on phone line, landline and mobile calls....

Just feel I am getting "screwed" by Eircom... sorry for my choice of words?
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

So what are my alternatives? Is there a three-in-one?

1). Dont need the landline (but want to keep the home telephone number)
2). Broadband
3). Mobile phone (which currently is Vodafone?

>>>>>>>>>>>>

Vodafone offer
...the essentials.... Euro 38 (up to 8MB speed / 40 GB usage / free evening and weekend calls)

...My Way - Euro 10 (vodafone to vodafone calls and texts ) + Euro 1.5 (worldwide text)

This package already looks like cutting the above costs by half... Is there any offer by another operation that you think is better value?


Thank you
Niall

bk

Some other options if available in your area:

Smart Telecom offer 24mb broadband (350GB cap) + line rental for €30:

http://www.smarttelecom.ie/home_broadband/more_details/Back_to_School_Broadband.aspx

Next would be Vodafone 24mb broand, including line rental for €30, but it only has a pretty pathetic 15GB cap:

http://www.vodafone.ie/offers/simplybroadband/

Magnet offer 24mb broadband with no cap for €40:

https://www.magnet.ie/

Again all of these aren't available every where, you will need to check availability.

BTW you can call Eircom and immediately cancel the mailbox and corded phone rental charge. If they complain, tell them they are welcome to come collect their phone.

The Sparrow

Sky are introducing broadband here soon so you could wait for that. They will be using the eircom and BT LLU network so it might be worth hanging on to see what sort of TV and phone bundles they offer with it. I'm only up the road from you and I'm near a LLU exchange so I can get 20mb broadband and I should be able to just switch to Sky when they launch it.

I don't think UPC fast broadband is available here either.

asgaard

Need some advice
Got an offer from Vodafone. For 52 euros i'll get 300GB download, 8MB speed (i've got 7MB at moment), 60 free minutes national to EU landline, 200 minutes to 3 mobile Vodafone numbers. I'm really looking for download without any limits and more than 60 free minutes to EU landline. Not interested in free minutes for Vodafone mobile numbers. Any suggestions? Living in Kildare Town.

NJOR

Thanks guys. God it's a really confusing picture. I am now hearing about Tescomobile....

Just have a feeling that the small anything without eircom is best.

Dgriff

Regarding mobile plans, I don't think you can beat Tesco Mobile (sim only) for €35 per month (including vat). 10,000 any network minutes, 10,000 any network texts, and 15 GB data. In my opinion, you'd have to be a freak to exceed those limits! And as far as I know, tesco piggy back on 02's network.

Cantona's Collars

asgaard wrote: »

Need some advice
Got an offer from Vodafone. For 52 euros i'll get 300GB download, 8MB speed (i've got 7MB at moment), 60 free minutes national to EU landline, 200 minutes to 3 mobile Vodafone numbers. I'm really looking for download without any limits and more than 60 free minutes to EU landline. Not interested in free minutes for Vodafone mobile numbers. Any suggestions? Living in Kildare Town.

I got 10.5MB & 150GB dl limit for €34.98 a month on the Vodafone Max package.I have the same phone package but never use that.I never get near the 150GB limit despite downloading a fair bit/streaming & running about 4 devices via wifi.
In order to qualify for Vodafone Max,your line has to be able to handle certain speeds,they'll be able to tell you if your line qualifies.

bluegoldmaster

I must say in Ireland we are being robbed for the basics tv phones and health etc..in england free broadband and phone calls landlines.Its madness over here u need basic tv at home and phone and wireless bband the best ur going to get is 70 euro a month around 17.50 a week no matter if use the broadband or not same with phone ..these utility companies are getting away with it ..whats the regulator doing about it nothing he she agrees when price increase comes along ..they should be looking for reductions i hope people agree its gone beyond a joke..not much chioce anyway upc have it sown up !

colm_mcm

You get free broadband in England?