Help me break my addiction to UPC!!

BenEadir

Hi all,

I currently pay €101.13 per month to UPC for:-

− Digital Max TV
− Sky Sports & Movies
− Additional Sky Sports and Movies
− Multiroom Viewing
− Digital+ HD

That's my personal account at home.

I also pay (I think), €80 a month or so for a small business package of 50mb Broadband and 4 voice lines all of which terminate in my home office.

I don't feel I am getting €180 worth of value per month. I need to retain my business phone numbers so am reluctant to move from UPC but if I could somehow retain my business phone numbers, switch to a new television package which included 120MB broadband and dropped Sky Sports and Movies I think I'd be far better off as I rarely use the movie or sports channels.

Any suggestions as to what my best options might be?

Ben

campo

BenThere wrote: »

Hi all,

I currently pay €101.13 per month to UPC for:-

− Digital Max TV
− Sky Sports & Movies
− Additional Sky Sports and Movies
− Multiroom Viewing
− Digital+ HD

That's my personal account at home.

I also pay (I think), €80 a month or so for a small business package of 50mb Broadband and 4 voice lines all of which terminate in my home office.

I don't feel I am getting €180 worth of value per month. I need to retain my business phone numbers so am reluctant to move from UPC but if I could somehow retain my business phone numbers, switch to a new television package which included 120MB broadband and dropped Sky Sports and Movies I think I'd be far better off as I rarely use the movie or sports channels.

Any suggestions as to what my best options might be?

Ben

Contact UPC ask to be put through to there customer loyalty team and say you will cancel unless you are put onto this package ( seems to be everything you need for much less ) http://www.upc.ie/deals/tvbroadbandphone/horizoncompletebundle/

Five Lamps

You're certainly not getting no value for services that you pay for and don't use.

Do an audit of what you need.

I assume your 'home office' is in your 'home'. Can you share broadband between the 'office' and 'home'?

BenEadir

campo wrote: »

Contact UPC ask to be put through to there customer loyalty team and say you will cancel unless you are put onto this package ( seems to be everything you need for much less ) http://www.upc.ie/deals/tvbroadbandphone/horizoncompletebundle/

Hi Campo,

That's great advice which I'll follow. Before I do I'd like to understand how the 4 "landline" numbers I currently have with UPC would be impacted? How could I hold onto them (which I need to do) if I just went with the Horizon complete bundle?

Ben

BenEadir

Five Lamps wrote: »

Do an audit of what you need.

I assume your 'home office' is in your 'home'. Can you share broadband between the 'office' and 'home'?

I "need" fast broadband at home which I'm happy to share between my office and my home as it's just a regular house with a bedroom converted to an office. I'd prefer for my Ltd Co. to pay for the 4 landlines and broadband (which the family can also use) but the Ltd Co. can't pay for the domestic TV service without creating a problem with the Rev Comm.

In terms of TV I really only need a regular package of the domestic/free channels. I used to watch a lot of sport and movies on Sky but I don't any more. I do however "need" the TV service on 3 different TV's in order to keep peace in the house and to allow me (and the missus) to watch some of the box sets or Downton Abbey/Love Hate as it's broadcast in bed.

Ben

BenEadir

Guy's,

Here's what I'm thinking of doing and I'd really appreciate some advice on whether I'm optimising my options.

1. Drop my business broadband package with UPC which costs me €85 a month and transfer my 4 business landlines to Goldfish using their VoIP for 5 small business package. This will cost €10 a month + call charges. http://www.goldfish.ie/7448/all/1/Multi-User-VoIP.aspx#. Saving €70 a month

2. Drop my UPC TV package all together and install something like 3 X Ariva 150 combo Free to air HD Satellite and Terrestrial Digital receivers (http://www.satellite.ie/acatalog/Ariva-150-combo.html) which will give me all the "Normal" channels to the 3 TV's I have in the house. I already have a Dish so I'd need to pay for an Aerial. Total once off cost would be about €500 + I'd probably install a HDD on one of them for recording but I'd be saving €101 a month ongoing.

3. Sign up for the UPC 200mb broadband package only costing €52 a month. http://www.upc.ie/broadbandandphone/twohundred/

By implementing the above, at a once off cost of €500, I'd be saving a net €119 per month going forward which equates to €1,428 per annum. Not to be sneezed at is it??

I know I'd no longer have Sky Sports or Sky Movies but I really don't use Sky Sports much and between Netflix and the movie channels on the free to air channels I'm sure not only would we survive but we probably wouldn't miss Sky Movies at all actually.

There may be better free to air combination boxes available than the one I linked to (I'll research that more fully before making a purchase) but in principle I think this is looking like a no brainer.

Am I missing something ref the above?

Ben

Five Lamps

BenThere wrote: »

Guy's,

Here's what I'm thinking of doing and I'd really appreciate some advice on whether I'm optimising my options.

1. Drop my business broadband package with UPC which costs me €85 a month and transfer my 4 business landlines to Goldfish using their VoIP for 5 small business package. This will cost €10 a month + call charges. http://www.goldfish.ie/7448/all/1/Multi-User-VoIP.aspx#. Saving €70 a month

2. Drop my UPC TV package all together and install something like 3 X Ariva 150 combo Free to air HD Satellite and Terrestrial Digital receivers (http://www.satellite.ie/acatalog/Ariva-150-combo.html) which will give me all the "Normal" channels to the 3 TV's I have in the house. I already have a Dish so I'd need to pay for an Aerial. Total once off cost would be about €500 + I'd probably install a HDD on one of them for recording but I'd be saving €101 a month ongoing.

3. Sign up for the UPC 200mb broadband package only costing €52 a month. http://www.upc.ie/broadbandandphone/twohundred/

By implementing the above, at a once off cost of €500, I'd be saving a net €119 per month going forward which equates to €1,428 per annum. Not to be sneezed at is it??

I know I'd no longer have Sky Sports or Sky Movies but I really don't use Sky Sports much and between Netflix and the movie channels on the free to air channels I'm sure not only would we survive but we probably wouldn't miss Sky Movies at all actually.

There may be better free to air combination boxes available than the one I linked to (I'll research that more fully before making a purchase) but in principle I think this is looking like a no brainer.

Am I missing something ref the above?

Ben

Do you not need to have BB for item 1?

BTW if you are keeping UPC BB you might be better off putting that through your business. BB is mission critical for any business these days and you'd be better off not relying on a service that's billed as "domestic" - you won't get the same level of support if it goes down. Plus you can put that BB through as a legitimate business expense.

Is your dish and cabling capable of supporting 3 receivers and a recording unit.

BenEadir

Five Lamps wrote: »

Do you not need to have BB for item 1?

BTW if you are keeping UPC BB you might be better off putting that through your business. BB is mission critical for any business these days and you'd be better off not relying on a service that's billed as "domestic" - you won't get the same level of support if it goes down. Plus you can put that BB through as a legitimate business expense.

Is your dish and cabling capable of supporting 3 receivers and a recording unit.

Hi Five Lamps, thanks for the reply.

Yes, my dish is indeed capably of handling 3 receivers and a recording unit.

Ref BB. I agree that I'd prefer to put the BB through my company but if you look at the UPC SME BB packages they are crap http://business.upc.ie/your_business/small_to_medium_enterprises. €89 for 100mb if I pay via my company whereas I can get 200mb for €52 if I pay personally If I thought UPC would allow an order for residential 200mb BB to be paid by my company I'd go for it but I don't think they will.

Ref getting priority support if I'm an SME customer etc I'm not too worried about that.

Ben

Five Lamps

The pricing isn't the same as it's a business product which includes services you are not getting with the personal product e.g. "Dedicated business customer support and service delivery staff" and you're also getting 8 voice lines.

If your business depends on BB then I wouldn't use a personal product. If it goes down then you won't be able to rant and rave over how it's affecting your business as it's a domestic service you are using. Plus from a personal point of view, your business is paying for it so it's a "free" service for your personal/family use.

BenEadir

Hi Five Lamps,

My business isn't reliant on this supply of BB as its a home office and I have a mobile BB dongle I carry for backup should the "personal" service fail which in fairness to UPC is a pretty rare occasion.

IMO it's not worth paying the premium for a higher standard of customer care.

John

Five Lamps

BenThere wrote: »

Hi Five Lamps,

My business isn't reliant on this supply of BB as its a home office and I have a mobile BB dongle I carry for backup should the "personal" service fail which in fairness to UPC is a pretty rare occasion.

IMO it's not worth paying the premium for a higher standard of customer care.

John

OK, do you have another office?

The point I'm making is that if at any address you expect or need business level service for your BB then you should use an appropriate product. You have no real cause for complaint if your domestic product goes down and affects your business.

BenEadir

Five Lamps wrote: »

OK, do you have another office?

The point I'm making is that if at any address you expect or need business level service for your BB then you should use an appropriate product. You have no real cause for complaint if your domestic product goes down and affects your business.

Thanks Five Lamps, I do understand your point. My home office is not my main office so isn't critical to my business and even if UPC's BB supply went down I have a mobile broadband dongle I can use so I won't be screaming to UPC if the service is down, not that that would speed up a repair anyway. I'll just go to Starbucks, spend €3 on a triple shot Latte and use their BB

Cheers,

Ben