Eir Monthly Mobile Bill.

e220

Hi All,

Please help with the following issue if you have experienced something similar.
My wife is on a mobile contract with Eir. (formerly Eircom). Her monthly bill is typically just under €15. The bill is paid through Direct Debit on the 1st or 2nd of the month and the amount to be debited is advised on the 22nd or 23rd of the previous one. This is reasonable as it gives you time to query any issue you may have with your bill.

She did not receive a text advising of the amount to be billed on 1st or 2nd July so no opportunity to query.

Yesterday, the 2nd July 2018, I was checking my Bank statements on line when I noticed the amount debited to Eir for the previous months calls and internet usage. It was a staggering €178.60. This had to be wrong so I immediately contacted Customer Care in Eir. The situation according to them was that my wife had her Data turned on and used 7gb over her allocated 1gb and the reason for such a large bill. I was not accepting this and explained that the only time my wife used the Internet was at home - where we have Sky as our Broadband provider - and in areas where free Broadband is available. The Eir reply was that, although you may have a Broadband provider at home, the MOBILE DATA will choose it over the domestic one.
Now this where my confusion arises. I was always of the opinion one was saving on your Data when using the Internet in an available Wifi free area.
This is where I need urgent responses from members with similar experiences please.
Thank You.

ED E

1GB is pitiful, its quite likely she did indeed go over.

Get a good will gesture out of Eir then move her up to an appropriate plan.

Marlow

If you want to avoid to dig into your data allowance, turn data off on the phone.

The problem is, that yes .. wifi is preferred, but if the wifi signal is poor, the more modern phones will move to using 3G/4G data.

So it's important to keep an eye on that.

Also .. Android phones do have a limit of mobile data usage, that you can set and it'll warn you before you reach that limit.

Unfortunately, if you do go over the limits .. and a 15 EUR/month plan is extremely cheap for irish pricing ... they will charge the hell out of you.

/M

n!ghtmancometh

Would you not just move to prepay and save the hassle of this happening again? For 20 quid a month you can get 6GB of 4G data, 100 any network mobile texts & minutes as well as free Vodafone to Vodafone calls and texts with Vodafone.

48 (3G only) are upgrading their €10 Guido package to 3GB a month, as well as free any network texts, 300 any network mobile calls & 100 landline minutes

Eir prepay themselves offer decent deals too. Worth having a look around.

danm14

e220 wrote: »

Now this where my confusion arises. I was always of the opinion one was saving on your Data when using the Internet in an available Wifi free area.
This is where I need urgent responses from members with similar experiences please.
Thank You.

You have to actually connect to the free WiFi network, your phone won't automatically do so.

e220

Thank You for replying. My wife is subject to contract until year end. Yes the contract needs to be upgraded. Unfortunate she got caught for such a high bill. I am requesting an itemised bill from Eir to determine when the expensive Internet downloads took place.

spix

e220 wrote: »

Thank You for replying. My wife is subject to contract until year end. Yes the contract needs to be upgraded. Unfortunate she got caught for such a high bill. I am requesting an itemised bill from Eir to determine when the expensive Internet downloads took place.

Did she get any warning texts after getting close to/exceeding her data usage. I thought most mobile providers do this, or even have to, to help people avoid accidental high bills from excessive data usage.

"although you may have a Broadband provider at home, the MOBILE DATA will choose it over the domestic one."

This is wrong, the phone will only choose mobile data over wifi if there is no wifi connection. The only way this should happen at home is if you're out of wifi range of have your phone wifi set to turn off when the phone is sleeping. Set Wifi to always on, and disable mobile data completely unless you require it.

e220

spix wrote: »

Did she get any warning texts after getting close to/exceeding her data usage. I thought most mobile providers do this, or even have to, to help people avoid accidental high bills from excessive data usage.

"although you may have a Broadband provider at home, the MOBILE DATA will choose it over the domestic one."

This is wrong, the phone will only choose mobile data over wifi if there is no wifi connection. The only way this should happen at home is if you're out of wifi range of have your phone wifi set to turn off when the phone is sleeping. Set Wifi to always on, and disable mobile data completely unless you require it.

Thank You. Two points: she always received advisory text re coming to her allowance limit. It invariably went over a little each month - but NEVER to the extremes of the most recent bill. And point two - our domestic WiFi works well and, as I mentioned already, she was always either at home or in a WiFi free designated area when she was streaming. So don't know where this nonsensical bill has been generated from.

danm14

e220 wrote: »

she was always either at home or in a WiFi free designated area when she was streaming. So don't know where this nonsensical bill has been generated from.

Again, being in an area with free WiFi doesn't mean your phone will use it automatically - you need to enable WiFi on the phone and connect to the network. If you don't do this, your phone will obviously not use the WiFi that's available

e220

danm14 wrote: »

Again, being in an area with free WiFi doesn't mean your phone will use it automatically - you need to enable WiFi on the phone and connect to the network. If you don't do this, your phone will obviously not use the WiFi that's available

Yes. She always checks what WiFi is available and if she can connect with it - with or without a password code. Have requested an itemised billing statement. Waiting on the email.