Better service but retain 01 number?

cormie

Hi,
I've had an 01 number provided by freespeech.ie for about 7 years, this was used along with an 1890 number which I initially got to SAVE customers money and advertised it as my main contact number. I'm in the process of rebranding and removing the 1890 number completely so I'd be relying solely on the 01 number.

I need all calls diverted to my mobile number and don't use a VOIP set at all and although it's been mostly reliable, I'd like to have more of a seamless line. Some times I get emails saying I missed a call, that never came through to my mobile at all, perhaps the person didn't wait long enough for it to divert. The only option is to divert the call after 5 seconds of it ringing the VOIP line to my mobile it seems. That 5 seconds might be the difference between me getting a call and not.

Another thing is that when a call comes to my mobile, it comes from my freespeech number as this is the number it's being diverted from. I'd rather have the actual callers ID displayed.

Does anyone know of any way I can keep the same 01 number I have and somehow get calls to come direct to my mobile with no diversion and have the caller ID displayed?

I'd be willing to change provider if necessary.

Any feedback appreciated

Mr. G

cormie wrote: »

Hi,
I've had an 01 number provided by freespeech.ie for about 7 years, this was used along with an 1890 number which I initially got to SAVE customers money and advertised it as my main contact number. I'm in the process of rebranding and removing the 1890 number completely so I'd be relying solely on the 01 number.

I need all calls diverted to my mobile number and don't use a VOIP set at all and although it's been mostly reliable, I'd like to have more of a seamless line. Some times I get emails saying I missed a call, that never came through to my mobile at all, perhaps the person didn't wait long enough for it to divert. The only option is to divert the call after 5 seconds of it ringing the VOIP line to my mobile it seems. That 5 seconds might be the difference between me getting a call and not.

Another thing is that when a call comes to my mobile, it comes from my freespeech number as this is the number it's being diverted from. I'd rather have the actual callers ID displayed.

Does anyone know of any way I can keep the same 01 number I have and somehow get calls to come direct to my mobile with no diversion and have the caller ID displayed?

I'd be willing to change provider if necessary.

Any feedback appreciated

Have a look into Vodafone OneNet. Might be cheaper than diverting to a mobile.

Blueface and Goldfish also allow you to do exactly what you want. They allow you to port your number, divert the call to another number instantly and send the caller's Caller ID quite easily. The Caller ID is generally standard once diverted from the provider's Control Panel. Porting a number takes 24-48 hours and there isn't any downtime.

cormie

Thanks a lot for the info on that, I'll look into all that. Freespeech have been pretty good the last few years but if they can't accommodate what I need this time I'll have to switch!

So as long as I have my 01 number, it's not tied to any provider, even though I got it from that provider in the first place?

cormie

Had a quick look and One Net might be a good solution! Are there costs for receiving calls though? I don't see anything about that? I'm used to paying costs to receive calls on the 1890 number I had and used to paying to divert calls from the freespeech number to my mobile, if this plan:



means I get one net included for only €15 more than the current plan I'm on:



and I can still take advantage of red roaming and I don't have to pay for receiving calls on my mobile from the 01 number, then this could be a brilliant solution. Providing of course I can still use my current 01 number.

I have broadband with Vodafone too at €32 a month.

If I can get all communication costs for €82, this is a pretty big saving over what I was paying in previous years (about €36 for crappy broadband, €85 for a mobile plan with limited usage and high roaming costs on top), €70 average monthly 1890 costs, then freespeech costs of maybe €15 a month too.

Mr. G

There's no charge to receive calls on an 01 or mobile number. You don't get charged for OneNet Express calls you receive on a mobile phone as there is no diversion as such.

Look into the 1890 costs, some providers are a lot cheaper.

There's no benefit to customers of having an 1890 number anymore. These days everyone has call packages and the only reason now is that the numbers are national non-geographic numbers and for some it is possible to get a very easy number (I'm thinking 1890 222222 for One Direct here).

cormie

Thanks again Mr. G. I've made the decision to ditch the 1890 number anyway so I'll definitely just be going with the 01 number exclusively.

I just had a call from a One Net rep from Vodafone and unfortunately I don't think it's going to work. They need a minimum of 3 mobiles and 1 landline, or 2 landlines and 2 mobiles on the account.

The landlines are €30 a month each for 350 minutes including mobiles
The mobiles are €50 a month each for the tariff above

Further to our conversation today, I have enclosed some information on our One Net Express system. The prices quoted are bundle packages and include all fixed line and mobile services. There is a minimum of 4 connections needed for us to offer the One Net system.



Please find view the link below for more information on ONE NET EXPRESS.



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0oEBG7xcNrI



The tariff is Office One Net Express and allows for the below;



Vodafone Red Business + - €50 per mobile

Unlimited calls & texts (Any network)
Unlimited UK roaming calls and texts
100 worldwide minutes & texts
2gb of data



One Net Express Desk phone - €30per month

No Line Rental
Free local and national calls
Free Vodafone calls
350 worldwide calls
No charges for call diverts



What is One Net Express?

One Net Express combines the features of your office phone with the flexibility and freedom of your mobile in one scalable phone system. It will make your team more productive, your customer service more responsive and your costs more controllable.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mpYmhjfDgW0&feature=player_embedded

What One Net Express gives you:

a landline number on your mobile
a range of powerful fixed phone system features on your mobile & desk phones
All mobile & desk phones on one tariff, including free local, national & Vodafone mobile calls

Here's what One Net Express can do for your business

Freedom to do more

Calls to your landline numbers can be received automatically on your mobile
Transfer desk phone calls free of charge to any colleague in the office or on their mobile
Features include auto attendant, call queuing, time based routing and many more

Simplicity at its core

One contract and one bill for your desk phones and mobiles
Your customers only need one contact number for you
You only ever need one voicemail

Greater staff efficiency

Calls can easily be directed to the correct person
Customer queries will always be dealt with by the right person through features like Hunt Groups

More control of your costs

No upfront investment required
No hidden costs for maintenance or upgrades
Inclusive internal and Vodafone mobile calls all on one great tariff

If you would like to go ahead with this and want me to send out the engineer to do the site survey please just sign the attached acceptace form and return it to me.



Let me know if you need any more information.



Kind regards,

that means it will cost me a minimum of €160 a month and I'll have lines I've absolutely no use for just to be able to use the service :mad:

Such a pain, I thought I was on to a winner there!

Looks like I'll have to look into Blueface or Goldfish so...

Mr. G

Blueface have a mobile service so you might save something there if running on a mobile.

Both Blueface and Goldfish can divert immediately. They're your best bet so. Disappointing to hear that on Vodafone..

cormie

Just off chat with Blueface, looks like it'll be a good bit more expensive than freespeech:

Cormac
Hi there..
You were suggested as a possible solution/provider to my request here: http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2057356285

Please let me know what you can offer.
Laura joined the chat
Laura
Hi Cormac
Cormac
yo
Laura
We can offer you our Business starter plan which will allow you to have an 01 number with Blueface and you can either purchase a voip handset from us to receive calls or forward calls
if you are not in contract with your mobile you could look at getting a Blueface mobile sim with landline on your mobile. This is priced at €39 per month ex vat and will provide you with Unlimited calls to Ireland and UK landline and mobile numbers
Unlimited SMS
Unlimited data
Cormac
I'm in contract with vodafone and take big advantage of their red roaming add on as I travel a lot so I'm not sure if switchng mobile plan is an option. What is the starter plan? With freespeech all I was paying was I think about €3 a month for the landline number and then paying for the call divert costs.
do note that I need to keep my current 01 number which I purchased initially from freespeech
Laura
Ok that's not problem at all. The other option is to select our Business starter plan which is priced at €9.99 p/m ex vat. and will provide you with a landline number, All diverts to your mobile incur additional charges, you can add a bundle of 100 mobile minutes for additional €14.99 p/m ex vat or you can just add pay as you go credit to the account set to top up as required. This way incoming calls diverted to your mobile will cost 15 c/m ex vat. We can port numbers from other providers as long as they can provide you with a UAN (universal account number) for the number
Cormac
ok, that could work out a little expensive compared to what I'm on at the moment. Is that the most basic you offer? Really all I need is a provider who can make my virtual 01 number ring through to my phone automatically without any secondary diversions happening.
Laura
yes the Business starter is our entry level plan. We don't have any plans lower than that I'm afraid
Cormac
Ok, so if I get my number ported, and a customer calls my 01 number, it will immediately ring on my mobile without any delay or apparent routing service in place? If there is no answer, I assume they are directed to my regular mobile voicemail and not a blueface voicemail service?
Laura
yes that's correct. The caller won't know they are being diverted and your mobile voicemail will take the call if it is not answered.
also the business starter plan is subject to a 12 month contract
Cormac
Ok, thanks a lot Laura, I'll consider my options and come back if I want to proceed. Have a nice day

I never heard of them as a mobile provider. I don't think that plan could compete with the vodafone one I'm on, especially when it comes to EU roaming. I'll try Goldfish next and see what they can offer

Mr. G

Depends how many minutes of diversions you're using every month on average.

Blueface also sell a 500 mobile minutes add-on for €59 + VAT which works out at 0.14514 € per minute. Might be cheaper with Goldfish depends on whether or not calls are at peak times. You can divert to a mobile with GF and callers won't know the difference.

With both of them you can also use a desk phone also and hunt them for no extra cost, so if you answer on the desk phone instead you won't pay the mobile minutes.

Goldfish are €3.99 + VAT for a landline number so they are cheaper on that front.

cormie

Thanks so much for all the help on this!

I've just reviewed my charges with freespeech, actually, they are kinda similar to what's on offer here. The 01 number is €5.06 a month including VAT, which is €4.11 ex VAT I think. Then the peak per minute charges are 17c a minute by the looks of things ex vat.

I jut got the impression it was much cheaper as my bills with freespeech were only when my balance went above €20 and it was rare enough, but I guess if it's going to be my primary number, it will be much more. I was phoned more on the 1890 number than the 01 number, the 1890 rates were:

From Landline €0.04 per minute
From Mobile €0.14 per minute
+ VAT

and my spend over 12 months on 1890 calls was €494.71, so €42 odd (plus €20 rental which I'm not including here) a month, plus say an average of €15 a month from freespeech (including 01 rental which I AM including as I'll be retaining this), so €57 a month it was costing me to receive calls including VAT.

So €57 a month to receive calls (I guess that works out around 350 minutes max a month at the most expensive rates)
€35 a month for my mobile plan + great savings with roaming using Vodafone red roaming
€32 a month for fibre broadband


Does the blueface mobile plan mean receiving calls on the mobile from the 01 number would then not be charged?

Mr. G

Blueface have a mobile phone service, just like Meteor/O2/Three/Vodafone/Tesco etc. I think this might be where you're getting mixed up.
If you divert calls from your Blueface landline to your Blueface mobile you *may* not be charged as they're on the same provider, or at least it would be cheaper as it's on-network. You'd need to ask them.

However, if you're in a contract for mobile and broadband with Vodafone you will need to either stay put or buy out the contract or otherwise you will get a cancellation charge.

Goldfish are marginally cheaper but in the long run you will save quite a bit. If you're diverting to a mobile, you are better off with Goldfish than Blueface price-wise assuming you don't have a Blueface mobile and that you are diverting to a mobile. Blueface also have a call setup charge on top of their rates (unless you're using minutes from a call plan) which are more than Goldfish anyway.

cormie

Ok, I've done more research into this. There was some slight confusion with the Blueface plan as you can see from the transcripts below. I thought it was €39 + €10 for unlimited diverts, but it's actually €29 + €10, but read on and see how this affects my costs over 2 years!


I've included the transcripts if anyone is interested in the finer details but I include all the main details below.

Cormac
Hi there, I'm just wondering, if I sign up to your mobile service, are there still divert charges for having an 01 number answerable on the mobile?
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Laura joined the chat
Laura
Hi Cormac,
I am sorry for the delay in answering your query
If you have an existing landline service with Blueface and you add a mobile to the same account and include our "landline on your mobile feature" this is priced at €10 per month ex vat in addition to the mobile plan and will give you unlimited diverts from your Blueface landline to your Blueface mobile
Cormac
Hi Laura, we were speaking yesterday about this, if you remember, I'd be porting my 01 number, currently hosted by freespeech. so it would be €39 + €10 + VAT for the mobile service with unlimited diverts from the 01 number?
Laura
yes that's correct
Cormac
ok, that's interesting and something to consider. How does blueface mobile work when roaming? What kind of rates do you have or do you have anything to compete with the likes of Vodafone red roaming?
Sorry, another questions, if I have the €39+€10 for divert mobile plan, do I still need to pay the €9.99 business starter price, or is this included in the €39 mobile price to have the 01 number?
Laura
Hi Cormac, with our roaming in the first 3 months we require a deposit of €50 to enable roaming. Roaming applies to any usage of your mobile service outside of Republic of Ireland.
I can send you a list of roaming rates if you wish
Cormac
yes please and if there are any roaming packages or deals too please
Laura
If you only wish to use a mobile phone for all of your calls, receiving calls from the landline diverted to your mobile and making calls from your mobile - which will only display you mobile number as caller ID. Then you do not need the €9.99 plan also. However if you wanted to have an office based handset also to use with the landline service and only occasionally divert to your mobile then you will require the €9.99 plan also. The office based phone will allow you to display your landline number when making calls
Cormac
Ok thanks for the info. Then lastly, is there any set up cost for moving to yourselves for any of these services and is there a contract term?
Laura
there aren't any set up costs as such. Initially you will pay upfront for your selected call plan and hardware, if you wish to transfer your number from freespeach there is a once off porting fee of €10 when completing the porting form.
there is no charge to port in a mobile number
Cormac
ok thanks a lot. You mentioned also that I can port the 01 number as long as I can provide a UAN, are freespeech obliged to provide this on request? I'd hate to think I would have to get a new 01 number after having used this one for 8 years
Laura
Yes that's correct. Each provider is required to confirm your UAN so that you can transfer your number away as long as they are set up to do so. Some telecoms providers do not have porting agreements and therefore they can not transfer numbers away. Free speach will be able to tell you if they are set up with a porting agreement to allow their customers to move their numbers away to another provider
Chat started
Cormac
uh oh, so there's a chance if freespeech aren't set up, that I'm stuck with them?
Brian joined the chat
Brian
Hi Cormac
I'm not sure if Freespeech have porting agreements with us already or not
they may be relying on a third party to do this on their behalf
Do you have a UAN number from them? You'll need to request this from them to be able to port your number
Call us on 01 524 2000 and we can talk through
Brian left the chat
Kevin joined the chat
Cormac
Ok cool, I'll get onto freespeech and ask them. I'm going to have to mull over my options on everything here and see what suits me best. I'll be in touch if I want to go ahead, thanks for all your help
Kevin
No problem! If there's anything we can help you with please don't hesitate to contact us!
Cormac
will do, have a good day, take care
Kevin
You too!

Cormac
Hi, me again, haha, I just wanted to ask, what network are you under for the mobile service?
Kevin joined the chat
Kevin
Hi Cormac
Our service is provided over the Three and O2 network.
Cormac
ok cool, and I think I've asked already, but is there a contract term if I port over and sign up for your mobile/01 number divert service for €39+€10 unlimited diversions per month?
Laura joined the chat
Laura
Hi Cormac
the mobile plan is based on a 30 day rolling contract and the business starter plan has a 12 month contract
Cormac
ok, but I wouldn't be using the business starter plan if I go the mobile plan you said earlier? So I'd just be paying the €39 + the €10 unltd diverts to blueface mobile on a rolling monhtly contract?
Laura
that's fine, I know we did go through the difference between each of the plans and that you can use the fixed office phone with the business starter plan so I was just outlining that this is a 12 month contract
with the mobile service and "landline on your mobile" add on its just a 30 day rolling contract. Just to be clear, the mobile plan is €29 the "landline on your mobile" is €10 so it's €39 in total for that. All your usage is through the mobile sim card from your mobile handset. Your out going caller ID can only show as your mobile number or anonymous we cannot mask the 01 number for out going calls and you will have Unlimited calls to Ireland and UK landline and mobile numbers
Unlimited SMS to Ireland or UK mobiles
Unlimited data
for usage with ROI
Cormac
wait, so it's €29 + €10 a month for all that? Not €39 + €10?

The €10 is to receive unltd diverts to the mobile from the 01 number?
so for €39 I get:
Unlimited calls to Ireland and UK landline and mobile numbers
Unlimited SMS to Ireland or UK mobiles
Unlimited data
Unlimited diverted calls received on mobile from people ringing my 01 number
Laura
yes that's correct
Cormac
do yo offer 4g?
just to be sure, you had previously confirmed the price would be €39 for the mobile plan and then €10 to have the 01 calls routed direct to my mobile. So now you're saying it's actually €29 for the mobile plan and €10 for the 01 calls to be routed direct to mobile, and the other €10 is only if I want to use a desk phone or have the option to call out from my mobile with the 01 number ID?
Laura
I think there has been some confusion because I was also including the cost of the business starter plan to allow you use the landline from a fixed office location through your internet.
Cormac
Yeah, that won't be necessary
Laura
In terms of the mobile service, you will see we only have 2 call plan options, Ireland unlimited - €25 p/m ex vat or Ireland & UK unlimited - €29 p/m ex vat. The "landline on your mobile" add on is €10 p/m ex vat. Making the total for Ireland & UK unlimited + "landline on your mobile" €39 p/m ex vat
Kevin left the chat
Cormac
that makes it much more appealing Can you please link me to, or send me your roaming rates and data roaming rates, cost for receiving calls while abroad etc. If it's piggybacking on 3 network, does this mean that it will also be like "AT HOME" in the UK and other 3 network countries?
Hello?
Laura
Hi Cormac, how can I help you?
Cormac
I'm not sure if you got my last question? that makes it much more appealing Can you please link me to, or send me your roaming rates and data roaming rates, cost for receiving calls while abroad etc. If it's piggybacking on 3 network, does this mean that it will also be like "AT HOME" in the UK and other 3 network countries?
Laura
Yes I can email you the roaming rates to review. Although we use the masts of 3 for our service that is all we are connected to. We do not have the ability to offer the"like home" roaming that they offer.
Cormac
Oh that's a pity, that would have probably sealed the deal, but I think you're still in front in terms of savings for what I want anyway so I may be switching soon, so please send on roaming and data roaming info
Laura
No problem! I'll send this through for you shortly
Cormac
Thanks a lot. This is my final question, I promise, one voip provider offers the direct diverts and can offer to divert to 5 different numbers directly, is this possible with yourselves and if so, is it included or possible as an add on?
Laura
with our service you have the ability to divert a landline number to 3 other numbers at the same time and then forward on to two other numbers if they are not answered or busy
in this case, if each mobile number you are diverting to is with Blueface each mobile sim must have the "landline on your mobile" add on to allow unlimited diverts at €10 p/m per sim
if you are diverting to one Blueface mobile and then 2 other mobile providers or landline numbers call charges apply
Cormac
ok thanks for the info. And sorry I see you missed another question posted earlier, is 4g active on your network?
or will it be soon?
Laura
we don't currently have 4g, it is being rolled out. I don't have confirmation as to when though
Cormac
ok no problem, 3g is not so bad so this wouldn't be a deal breaker for me I think that's all for now. Thanks again for your time, please remember to send on the roaming details to my email address (you can see the email address I provided to the chat, yeah?)
Laura
No problem!
the roaming rates are the way
Cormac
Cool, thanks, have a good day
Laura
Thank you, goodbye

Also, in the mean time, I was informed of another provider, digitelip.ie, they can offer me unlimited direct diverts for €30+VAT a month, there is a set up fee though, it's on special at the moment and if I divide it over the first 12 months, and add it to the €30, it works out at €52 per month for the first year and then €37 per month after (including VAT). They also have an app for smartphones which allows outgoing calls from the mobile to appear as the landline number. They can ALSO route the diverts to 5 different numbers and offer the deskphone additionally on top.



So to weigh it up so far and to give costs over 2 years say: (prices below include vat)

Current set up:
Freespeech non direct call diversion: €57 p/m x 24 = €1,368
Vodafone Red 12 month sim only play: €35 p/m x 24 = €840
Vodafone Simply Broadband with mobile account discount €32 p/m x 24 = €768
Total cost over 2 years: €2,976
advantages that no other options offer: none


Switch to Blueface:
Once off port fee: €13
Untld direct call diverts to mobile and mobile account: €48 p/m x 24 = €1,152
Vodafone Simply Broadband with no discount: €35 p/m x 24 €840
Total cost over 2 years: €1,992
higher expected roaming costs and calls outside Ire/UK
advantages that no other options offer: less bills, unltd data in Ireland compared to 2gb with VF, one account for all call services
unfortunately, although they use 3 masts to connect to the network, it doesn't piggyback on their "3 like home" offer for roaming

Switch to digitelip.ie:
Set up fee of €171 (special exclusive offer)
Unltd direct diverts to mobile: €37 p/m x 24 = €888
Vodafone Red 12 month sim only play: €35 p/m x 24 = €840
Vodafone Simply Broadband with mobile account discount €32 p/m x 24 = €768
Total cost over 2 years: €2,667
advantages that no other options offer: can divert 01 calls to 5 different numbers. Use of app to allow outgoing calls to appear with 01 ID.


I was just on to Vodafone there and I'm actually not in contract for my mobile plan so could move immediately with no penalty. I'd be very sad to lose the Vodafone red roaming, but with them savings, it will give me a roaming buffer of about €335 a year compared to the next cheapest option with digitelip, or almost €500 a year compared to my current costs.


I've yet to explore what Goldfish can offer. I'm not sure if they could compete with Blueface for this particular request though

Mr. G

No I don't.

And Blueface are on the O2 and 3 network which is nice. I know Tesco only have O2 and not three so you get the best of both worlds there. Only thing is roaming but you can use VoIP abroad on Wifi / foreign sim card.

cormie

I think I may not be able to use VOIP abroad unless I pay ANOTHER €10 per month to have the VOIP service active too, it would only be mobile use with catching calls to the 01 number on the mobile for the €39+ vat:

If you only wish to use a mobile phone for all of your calls, receiving calls from the landline diverted to your mobile and making calls from your mobile - which will only display you mobile number as caller ID. Then you do not need the €9.99 plan also. However if you wanted to have an office based handset also to use with the landline service and only occasionally divert to your mobile then you will require the €9.99 plan also. The office based phone will allow you to display your landline number when making calls > I think there has been some confusion because I was also including the cost of the business starter plan to allow you use the landline from a fixed office location through your internet.

The roaming is slightly strange and sounds a little complicated:

Please note we require a deposit payment of €50 to enable roaming. All calls while roaming require pay as you go credit to allow calls to go through. Initially we give you €5 of credit free of charge when you set up the service. This is set to top up automatically so that when it reaches €1 it will top up again with €20 which will allow you to make calls while roaming or to make calls that are not included in your above package. Credit will only top up as it hits this low balance threshold of €1.

Using a foreign sim/wifi just wouldn't be an option as most of my roaming is done behind the wheel and I could be passing through 5 different countries within 24 hours, Vodafone red roaming was such a safety net when it came to roaming and the very reason I was still with vodafone over the likes of cheaper plans offered by Tesco/Three etc.

I would often come close to 100MB data a day while roaming, so if I'm on a 3 Network, that would be €10 or €25 if I'm on another network, that's with comfortable data usage (google maps etc) and was so nice not to have to worry about it with Red Roaming. You'd then have all the call and sms costs on top. It's never clear how many days a year I'll be roaming so it's difficult to know just how much of that €335 buffer I'd be using. It might be quite easy to use 10% of it in just one day of roaming and I'd definitely be roaming more than 10 days.

I believe that EU roaming will soon be eradicated, by December 2015/January 2016 from what I read before, although I haven't heard much news on this lately. Hopefully it's still going ahead! This would of course wipe out the concern for the roaming as all work related roaming would be within the EU anyway.

EDIT: Hmm, I've just seen this: http://www.euractiv.com/sections/infosociety/eu-considers-delaying-end-mobile-roaming-charges-308663

cormie

Just adding more info on the blueface service:

Another question I had, is there any control over the 01 number? Can I login to control the times it comes through to me at, can I give it its own voice mail message? or any other features, or is it just straight cut to my mobile if somebody rings with no control?
Laura
yes, our service will give you access to your own online control panel where you can change call routing any time you wish. It also includes voicemail that you can record your own personalised greeting for and can change that greeting as often as you wish. We will also send all notifications of voicemail to your email address
Cormac
That's brilliant about the control panel, I wasn't sure whether to expect that on the €29+€10 deal and was thinking it may only be available on the €29+€10+€10 deal Do you know is it possible to set "hours" for the 01 number? so 9-5 it will divert direct to my mobile, outside of this time it will go straight to voicemail? That's cool about the UAN thanks
Laura
You can set that up but there is an additional charge for add "time of day" routing to your account. This will incur a set up 65 euro and a monthly payment 10 euro
both ex vat
Cormac
ok, at least it's an option if I want to do it in future. In the mean time is there a "straight to voicemail" option on the control panel if I want to turn the diverts off for a while manually?
Laura
Yes through the control panel all you will need to do is set the time before voicemail to 0 (zero) and this will send calls straight to your voicemal
Cormac
ok that's brilliant, finally, for now , I had a look at the roaming charges, my roaming usage can be quite high and this might negate a lot of the savings I'd be making by switching away from vodafone red roaming, is there any roaming packages you offer, or is it just the flat rate, also, with regards the "credit" going on at €20 at a time, I assume this is just added to my bill and not taken from a debit card each time a €20 top up is added as that would be a pain accounting wise
Laura
we don't have any roaming bundles to offer. You must contact our support team to request roaming is enabled your account the first time you require it and they will set this up. The credit is topped up as required from your credit or debit card as we do not bill the same as other providers. All payments are made in advance so €20 credit is added, when you use all of this it tops up again with a further €20 credit. If you wish you can increase the top up amount so that payments are not going through as fequently depending on what you think your usage will be
Cormac
Is that the same then with the monthly payments of €29+10? It will be "topped" up from visa debit as opposed to getting a bill outlining the costs each month and then a direct debit coming out later?
Laura
Yes that's correct. On the same date each month, our system will automatically process a payment to your credit or debit card for the call plan renewal
your control panel gives you access to your call history so you can see there at any time an itemised breakdown of calls made. You will receive an invoice by email as soon as the payment is processed and this will indicate if the payment is for your call plan renewal or pay as you go credit top up.
If you wish to cancel the service at any time all you need to do is provide 10 days notice via email to accounts@blueface.com
Cormac
ok that sounds fair enough freespeech actually did a similar top up charging system, as do my toll tag company. Thanks again Laura, I just need to check one more company, Goldfish, and see what they can offer, but I imagine I'll be moving to Blueface as it seems a pretty good deal and providing everything I need
Laura
No problem Cormac, glad I can answer all of your queries
To my knowledge Goldfish can provide you with a Geo number but not a unified geo / mobile solution providing the features that we have. But its always good to shop around and see what's available.
Cormac
yeah, I'll check with them but I imagine your options suit my particular requirements best Take care for now!
Laura
Thank you, goodbye

cormie

I got a very quick response from Goldfish which is great to see, but unfortunately I don't think they'll be a competitor for my requirements. It doesn't appear their diverts are as direct either?

We Port the number free of charge.
Monthly Subscription is € 3.99 per month.
Call Diversion of 350 minutes at the peak rate of 17 c
is € 59.50.
Off peak is 10 cents per minute.
We don't have contracts, all prices are ex vat.

There will however be a delay in mobile connection a quick test
was 3-4 seconds, much the same if you dial a mobile from a landline
there is a 3 second connection delay.
We dont offer any mobile phone solution or Broadband.

So it looks like Blueface is the clear winner in terms of meeting my specific requirements. I must say, I had fantastic communication with all 3 companies mentioned above when I asked them questions. I thin the initial questions I asked freespeech may have been sent to an inactive email address, I created a ticket today with them and received very quick responses so I wouldn't hesitate to go with any of the aforementioned companies if they provide a plan more suitable for an individuals needs.

cormie

I just set up an account with Blueface, my VF cycle starts again on the 13th so hopefully I'll get the sim by Monday and can be set up that day, it's going to be tight to avoid another months bill with VF, but even if I don't make it, I should still be saving around €9.

Also, the porting fee to blueface I mentioned above is actually €10 including vat, not €13

cormie

I probably scared off everyone with all the detail, but I'm using Blueface for mobile now.

Seems fine, internet is slower than the 4g I had with Vodafone. I never did a speedtest on my vodafone sim, but this is what I'm getting in my place with Blueface:



I'm not sure how good the coverage is here but I was tethering there and it loaded a full HD youtube video fine, only one little pause at the beginning while it buffered but the rest of the 8 minute video played without any pauses.

I only noticed after signing up that tethering is prohibited. I was told however that it should work fine on Android phones and I just tested there and it does indeed. Just as long as I don't get charged extra for it, it's all good

Bear in mind I only had a 2gb limit with vodafone however so 4G would be much more likely to make me go over this and get charged.

cormie

Sad to report that after having been with Blueface a few months now, I think I'm going to be forced to leave.

Have had problems sending SMS to other providers in the EU and the person who's number I'm sending too used to never have any issues receiving from my number and they are receiving sms from other Irish numbers without issue. Blueface won't even try to resolve the problem with the foreign provider.

Other messages appear to send but the recipient never receives them. Several messages are failing on first send attempt even though signal etc seems fine. It's a completely unreliable service for business use and very frustrating for personal use too.

I've also had several people tell me they were trying to call me and I was only aware of it after they told me later. So I'm imagining I may have had first time customers ringing me and hearing a dead tone and maybe thinking I'm not in service anymore.

The roaming is also a pain in the ass with very intermittent service signal when driving and the signal also isn't great.

Vodafone was far more reliable by what I've experienced.

The way the 01 number worked harmoniously with the mobile was great and the price was very competitive too, but when I might be losing out on jobs and new customers, the savings are no way worth it.

Mr. G

If it makes any difference I find Three's network infrastructure to be unreliable. Thanks for keeping us updated.

Personally I have always found Vodafone to be the best with coverage in this country. And for business, you need something that will work for you.

Mr. G

cormie wrote: »

Sad to report that after having been with Blueface a few months now, I think I'm going to be forced to leave.

Have had problems sending SMS to other providers in the EU and the person who's number I'm sending too used to never have any issues receiving from my number and they are receiving sms from other Irish numbers without issue. Blueface won't even try to resolve the problem with the foreign provider.

Other messages appear to send but the recipient never receives them. Several messages are failing on first send attempt even though signal etc seems fine. It's a completely unreliable service for business use and very frustrating for personal use too.

I've also had several people tell me they were trying to call me and I was only aware of it after they told me later. So I'm imagining I may have had first time customers ringing me and hearing a dead tone and maybe thinking I'm not in service anymore.

The roaming is also a pain in the ass with very intermittent service signal when driving and the signal also isn't great.

Vodafone was far more reliable by what I've experienced.

The way the 01 number worked harmoniously with the mobile was great and the price was very competitive too, but when I might be losing out on jobs and new customers, the savings are no way worth it.

We're the problems you experienced with inbound calls, calls direct to the mobile number or through your 01 landline that got diverted?

Was the SMS issues sent from webtext or from the handset?

cormie

All SMS were from my handset. Some appeared to send fine but never actually delivered.

I think the inbound call issue was to both the landline and mobile number direct, I can't be sure though..

cormie

Had more issues last month here: http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2057458775

This is the lastest:


I was going to post on this thread again on Friday after having ported from Blueface mobile to Emobile on Thursday as I was having issues with the landline number I have with them that calls were going straight to the blueface voicemail and not routing through as they should have been. I actually had this topic opened in a tab about to put another reply to it when I got a call off support saying it's just a routing issue and it's just a matter of waiting for the networks to updated. I then got a call Friday evening from Blueface support saying that it looks like all the updates are almost done and it should all be good in another few hours and that the guy would check his email in the morning (Saturday) if I happened to mail him with any issues (Blueface support closes at 17:00 on Friday and wouldn't be open again until Tuesday since it's a bank holiday I'm guessing).

Well Saturday morning I woke up and tried my landline number around 06:00 and it now appeared to be not in service at all, no going to voicemail, nothing. I emailed him straight away and tried to call it again a few times throughout the day from different networks, and none of them work. I've had no phone calls from customers and have had to put a notice on my website saying the number is temporarily out of service due to porting issues.

This is ridiculous. I don't know how me changing mobile provider has interfered with the landline number, but it has. Now my businesses phone number isn't working at all and it's probably going to be Tuesday until anyone at Blueface will know about it :mad:

I switched to Blueface for the apparent savings and convenience of having both the landline and mobile number and bills coupled together, but this decision has caused me so much headache and probably lost me any savings I made, multiple times over, in lost revenue.

SpaceTime

ComReg really needs to open up a non-geographic code that isn't excluded from call bundles!

0818 shouldn't be excluded from your landline minutes. Both landline and mobile networks all seem to absolutely gouge on 1890, 1850 and 0818. It makes no sense as you'd assume you were calling a normal number.

I even noticed I was ripped off by a mobile provided as 076 was excluded from my minutes!

A lot of businesses have complicated routing and don't necessarily want to seem local to one place, or might want to move areas over the years, so a non-geographic number makes sense, but they don't want to cause their customers headaches with high charges.

Johnboy1951

SpaceTime wrote: »

ComReg really needs to open up a non-geographic code that isn't excluded from call bundles!

Would it not be sufficient for the providers to include the 076 in call bundles?

Would seem to be the simplest solution .... or am I missing something?

0818 shouldn't be excluded from your landline minutes. Both landline and mobile networks all seem to absolutely gouge on 1890, 1850 and 0818. It makes no sense as you'd assume you were calling a normal number.

I even noticed I was ripped off by a mobile provided as 076 was excluded from my minutes!

A lot of businesses have complicated routing and don't necessarily want to seem local to one place, or might want to move areas over the years, so a non-geographic number makes sense, but they don't want to cause their customers headaches with high charges.

Mr. G

cormie wrote: »

Had more issues last month here: http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2057458775

This is the lastest:


I was going to post on this thread again on Friday after having ported from Blueface mobile to Emobile on Thursday as I was having issues with the landline number I have with them that calls were going straight to the blueface voicemail and not routing through as they should have been. I actually had this topic opened in a tab about to put another reply to it when I got a call off support saying it's just a routing issue and it's just a matter of waiting for the networks to updated. I then got a call Friday evening from Blueface support saying that it looks like all the updates are almost done and it should all be good in another few hours and that the guy would check his email in the morning (Saturday) if I happened to mail him with any issues (Blueface support closes at 17:00 on Friday and wouldn't be open again until Tuesday since it's a bank holiday I'm guessing).

Well Saturday morning I woke up and tried my landline number around 06:00 and it now appeared to be not in service at all, no going to voicemail, nothing. I emailed him straight away and tried to call it again a few times throughout the day from different networks, and none of them work. I've had no phone calls from customers and have had to put a notice on my website saying the number is temporarily out of service due to porting issues.

This is ridiculous. I don't know how me changing mobile provider has interfered with the landline number, but it has. Now my businesses phone number isn't working at all and it's probably going to be Tuesday until anyone at Blueface will know about it :mad:

I switched to Blueface for the apparent savings and convenience of having both the landline and mobile number and bills coupled together, but this decision has caused me so much headache and probably lost me any savings I made, multiple times over, in lost revenue.

Contact ComReg as soon as possible, this is not on and this is your best bet right now.

It may be a routing issue and mobile networks can take up to 48 hours to complete a number port (This is the same, porting from Three seems to take the longest, Blueface are on the Three network). I would also be seeking compensation for loss in business etc only once this issue is resolved.

Hang on, if you divert your landline number to antoher mobile number and see if that works? First by calling the mobile number and then by calling the landline that is diverted to that mobile number.

Keep in mind that porting to another mobile network requires routing to be reconfigured, it may work on one provider (Eircom usually fastest) and not on another (Three) for a temporary period.

The way porting works isn't great for mobiles because not every network is as fast as each other. If they scheduled it to port at a specific time on all networks it would work a lot better as there would be no downtime.

SpaceTime wrote: »

ComReg really needs to open up a non-geographic code that isn't excluded from call bundles!

0818 shouldn't be excluded from your landline minutes. Both landline and mobile networks all seem to absolutely gouge on 1890, 1850 and 0818. It makes no sense as you'd assume you were calling a normal number.

I even noticed I was ripped off by a mobile provided as 076 was excluded from my minutes!

A lot of businesses have complicated routing and don't necessarily want to seem local to one place, or might want to move areas over the years, so a non-geographic number makes sense, but they don't want to cause their customers headaches with high charges.

076 is counted in minutes with Three. 0818 isn't. Thing is, if you have an 0818 number you earn X amount per minute, even though it's a national rate. It *should* be charged at the same rate as a national call but Ireland's regulation on telephone communication charges isn't as good as it could be. Ofcom in the UK have the 01, 02 and 03 charged the same if I'm not mistaken?
076 should be treated as a local call as per the whole point, and cover 076 and 0818 in all national call packages. Very few people don't have call bundles nowadays. The whole local and national thing doesn't make a difference now. Businesses want a national number if they serve nationally, like in the uk with 03.

Johnboy1951 wrote: »

Would it not be sufficient for the providers to include the 076 in call bundles?

Would seem to be the simplest solution .... or am I missing something?

076 is more like an area code. I think 0700 personal numbers never worked, Ireland is too small for it but I can see why they've reserved it. 03 isn't in use and might be in the future for this. Or else 1890 will have to go to be included with call bundles.

SpaceTime

03 is possibly reserved for a Dublin area code change.

I remember hearing before that there may be a change to 031 for Dublin Central and 032 or something like that for the rest of the old 01 area

Or something similar to that.

Seems ComReg is slowly but surely loving towards

0XX XXX XXXX format

They could also change to 8 digit local numbers but it would fit into a standard national format much more easily.

It could ultimately end up with just 9 digit dialling and no optional area codes I guess. We already use ten digit dialling on mobiles always anyway.

I guess you could have something like :

XXX XXX XXX

031 123 4567

311 234 567

Cork : 211 234 567

And so on.

For a small country like Ireland and in post landline era, we don't need umpteen local area codes and dropping zeros from abroad and all that mad stuff.

Mr. G

I think 01 XXX XXXX will serve millions of numbers, so doubt it will be an issue.

Changing all the numbers for 01 to 03 won't work. Too many reliances being a capital. What will happen is people will gradually be put on 03 with new connections if 03 is used for such.

This might help for finding number allocations if anyone is interested: https://www.comreg.ie/numbering/numbering_search.599.numbering.html

To be honest the national Exchange system is a working mess, the attitude of many in the industry is "if it's working, don't fix it".

SpaceTime

London was changed three times and it's about 12 times bigger.

01 to 071 & 081 to 0171 and 0181 to 020 !

Mr. G

SpaceTime wrote: »

London was changed three times and it's about 12 times bigger.

01 to 071 & 081 to 0171 and 0181 to 020 !

They were running out of numbers. Is Dublin?

cormie

Mr. G wrote: »

Contact ComReg as soon as possible, this is not on and this is your best bet right now.

It may be a routing issue and mobile networks can take up to 48 hours to complete a number port (This is the same, porting from Three seems to take the longest, Blueface are on the Three network). I would also be seeking compensation for loss in business etc only once this issue is resolved.

Hang on, if you divert your landline number to antoher mobile number and see if that works? First by calling the mobile number and then by calling the landline that is diverted to that mobile number.

Keep in mind that porting to another mobile network requires routing to be reconfigured, it may work on one provider (Eircom usually fastest) and not on another (Three) for a temporary period.

The way porting works isn't great for mobiles because not every network is as fast as each other. If they scheduled it to port at a specific time on all networks it would work a lot better as there would be no downtime.

Thanks for the input. I was on to them alright but didn't request any form of compensation. They did put €50 credit on my account for the previous issues I was having, there's no real way to put a figure on any possible business I lost so wouldn't really have much of a case but the last thing I want is hassle anyway. It's working fine now thankfully. They said they didn't think it was an issue at their end..

SpaceTime

Mr. G wrote: »

They were running out of numbers. Is Dublin?

According to a report I read, yes it is.

The numbers aren't just assigned randomly. They're in blocks. Exchanges have blocks, service providers have blocks and PABXs' direct dial allocations tie up and waste lots of number ranges as most of the numbers aren't allocated and can't be.

That's why the numbers run out. If you could just assign every combination randomly, there'd be no issue.

The other alternative is overlaying 01 with an 03 code and using them side by side like they regularly do in the U.S.

It's a bit of a messy solution though.

Johnboy1951

Originally Posted by Johnboy1951 
Would it not be sufficient for the providers to include the 076 in call bundles?

Would seem to be the simplest solution .... or am I missing something?

bk wrote:

076 is more like an area code. I think 0700 personal numbers never worked, Ireland is too small for it but I can see why they've reserved it. 03 isn't in use and might be in the future for this. Or else 1890 will have to go to be included with call bundles.

I don't quite grasp what you mean.
What I was saying is that presently the likes of Eircom deliberately exclude the 076 numbers from 'bundles'.

Those bundles include all other 'area codes' in the country.

As you say 076 is "more like an area code" so why would it not be easier to force providers to treat it as such, which would mean it would be included in those bundles?

SpaceTime

They need a neutral charge "national rate" number.

Something catchy like 0808 XXX XXX might make sense.

It could also be dialled as +353 808 from abroad.

Force the providers to include it as a geographic national rate call that must be included in call bundles.

Local vs national is almost irrelevant in 2015.

Most people just need to know mobile vs landline or that it's included in a call bundle.

Otherwise, businesses will just end up using geographic numbers inappropriately and missing out on useful routing options.

Biggest issue here in Ireland is there's a vast amount of number space dedicated to landlines which will become pretty pointless in a few years anyway.

I also find 076 is confusing from a business point of view.

We briefly used 076 numbering and a lot of potential customers assumed we had relocated to the Northwest.

They know 08xx is mobile or non geographic. 076 being VoIP is really only understood by someone familiar with VoIP or who works for a telco!

We also got complaints as people has received big bills due to bundle exclusion too.