Eircom Talktime Anytime

cormie

Yo!
Just got a "we want you back" phone call from Eircom, I'm currently with UTV BroadBand, Clicksilver and UTV Talk (Free local, national and Ireland-UK landline off peak calls included in line rental charge [€25 per month])

Now the mothership has no concept of off or on peak and will ring the country during the day no bother to her, so the bill does add up with all the on peak calls. We also do not communicate with England land lines at all really.

Anyway, Eircom now offer free local and national calls any time on or off peak for €39.99 a month including line rental, message service, itemised billing etc.

This does seem like a better offer alright (for us), just wondering, are there any other better offers out there? If I change, will I suffer anyway as I'm still in a contract with UTV and can I keep my UTV Clicksilver account if I go with this.

Any feedback appreciated.

P.S. I reside in Bray, I just check smart phone line checker and their service is not available in my area yet.

bk

Yes, I'm not sure of the exact price, it isn't on their website, you need to call and ask :rolleyes: But BTIreland have a very good deal.

You can get BB + Line Rental + Talk Plus for about €60 (check first to make sure).

Talk Plus gives you unlimited local and national calls at anytime, plus reduced mobile and international calls.

The same from Eircom costs about €70, and mobile and international calls are more expensive and they have a much lower cap then BT.

Blaster99

I'm pretty sure that UTV insists that you take their phone service with their broadband so if you're stuck with Clicksilver you're probably stuck with the phone service too.

If you're paying more than a local call for national calls in Ireland, use Telestunt. In fact, use Telestunt for any international calls as well. See www.telestunt.ie. They rock.

cormie

Ok thanks for that. So I should probably just go with BTireland for their phone and broadband and stick to that? Eircom offer only 4GB cap per month compared to ESAT at 12gb and UTV at 8gb.

Esat say they are guaranteed cheaper than Eircom too. The question is, can I just stop being with UTV or will I be charged for leaving them? I think the initial 12 month contract of both UTV TALK and ClickSilver are up, I'm pretty positive I never enetered another 12 month contract with them too.

How do I go about chaging so? Will I have to return the UTV modem and all that too?

Thanks for the feedback

RangeR

I think the initial 12 month contract of both UTV TALK and ClickSilver are up, I'm pretty positive I never enetered another 12 month contract with them too.

If this is true, then

can I just stop being with UTV

Yes

will I be charged for leaving them?

No

How do I go about chaging so?

Your new provider should handle it for you. BT in your case so just give them a ring. However, you will have DSL downtime of 10 business days to disconnect UTV and 10 business days to hook up BT DSL. Estimates and probably will be shorter.

Will I have to return the UTV modem and all that too?

More than likely

Thanks for the feedback

No problem.

cormie

Ok that's fine about the change over but the 20 days of downtime :eek: I'm not sure I can handle that, is there no way BT can set up their own DSL for my house while I'm still using UTV and when they give the go ahead that it's ok it's simply a case of putting a new UN/PW in and I wont have to wait at all? I know it's not procedure but I wonder is it possible if I explained I can't really cope with 20 days downtime

thanks again:)

P.S. What's up with UTV? They used to be the best offer and now they have increased their prices with the introduction of all these other any time offers by BTIreland/Eircom :rolleyes:

Tom Young

Solution = Buy a new house nearer to an eircom exchange.

RangeR

Ok that's fine about the change over but the 20 days of downtime :eek:

As far as I know, there is nothing you can do. If this has changed recently, somebody please state here.

is there no way BT can set up their own DSL for my house while I'm still using UTV

The only way BT can do this, is if you have a second phone line.

and when they give the go ahead that it's ok it's simply a case of putting a new UN/PW in and I wont have to wait at all?

No. Only one data connection can be live at any one time. So, if you have a second phone line [above] then you won't have a problem. With a single phone line, you WILL have downtime. You can only hope that it's not too long.

I know it's not procedure but I wonder is it possible if I explained I can't really cope with 20 days downtime

You can try but it won't get you anywhere


[Quotethanks again:)[/Quote]
Again, no problem

RangeR

Tom Young wrote:

Solution = Buy a new house nearer to an eircom exchange.

How is that a solution, mate. The fact that he has UTV means that he IS close to an Eircom exchange.

viking

Your new provider should handle it for you. BT in your case so just give them a ring. However, you will have DSL downtime of 10 business days to disconnect UTV and 10 business days to hook up BT DSL

Not sure whether 20 business days for the complete changeover is true or not.

If he gives UTV 1 months notice today (24/08), on the 24/09 his DSL will not be provided UTV anymore. A call to BT to signup with their DSL should initiate the standard new customer wait of 8-10 days (or whatever it is) for his DSL order.*

I know that if you were with Eircom and you want to transfer to another bitstream DSL provider, eircom must complete the transfer within 10 business days with "minimal disruption" to your DSL service. However this does not apply to bitstream-to-bitstream transfers.

Gareth

* Assuming UTV/Eircom Wholesale have released his line fully

cgarvey

Just a word of caution on IrishTLR's advice, as I'm not sure it's acurate (nor am I sure it's not!).. so just check with UTV before taking anything said here as gospel. I know other providers do charge an exit fee (and some make you pay the duration of your contract). You have, by implication, entered another contract with UTV, so you need to check whether it's a monthly rolling one, or yearly rolling one.

If you're prepared to give BT Ireland's notroriously poor customer service, you could ask them about Port Transfers. The idea is that the port is just switched over to the new provider (not physically, just in s/w config), with minimal downtime. However I've heard lots of nightmare stories trying to achieve this (and only 1 successful one), as, I suspect, the operators involved (bar the winning one) are not going out of their way to make this easy.

So, just double check with UTV before taking anything you read here as gsopel.

.cg

RangeR

cgarvey wrote:

Just a word of caution on IrishTLR's advice, as I'm not sure it's acurate (nor am I sure it's not!).

Agreed. I'm not too sure either.

viking

ComReg Bitstream Port Transfer - Decision Notice D1/04

http://www.comreg.ie/_fileupload/publications/ComReg0402.pdf

Applies only to Eircom, ie. Eircom customers can avail of this Port Transfer to a bitstream provider. If you are with UTV and want to move to BT then this does not appear to apply.

Contact UTV to see if there are exit fees for terminating your contract early. Their Clicksilver FAQ's say:

After the initial 1 years minimum contact period, simply post us a letter informing us that you wish to cancel the service. The cancellation notice period is one month.

If you're cancelling the service before the end of the minimum contact period you will need to speak to our Admin team.

cormie

Thanks for all that.

I'll give UTV a ring so and ask them what the story is with me leaving them. So would I ring BT the minute I get DCd from UTV or would I ring them before to notify them I will be losing connection in a month and for them to be ready to set me up.

So my steps from here are:
Ring UTV and if need be, send notification of cancellation letter
Wait a month
Ring BTIRELAND and ask them to set me up
Wait 10 days and I'll be connected.


Now in terms of the phone service, when can I take this offer up? In between which of the above steps can I do this?

RangeR

You can transfer your phone service at any time. You shouldn't have any noticable downtime.

Ring BT for advice. They will tell you what you need to know.

cormie

Cool thanks.

Has anyone heard of Euphony (Click for info)? I'm guessing the €10 doesn't include landlind cost but this is still a saving of €5 per month. They don't yet offer an internet service however.

Also, do all of these services have unlimited minutes? So after say 600 minutes (providing I hang up before it goes over an hour per call) of using the free local/national calls I wont have to pay extra will I?

RangeR

A little off topic but yeah, that's the theory. Only to landline, non premium numbers, though.

I'm signing up to Euphony soon too but only because my mate is a sales rep with them. Just giving him commission but it will probably cots me in the long run as I don't use the landline too much.

cormie

Do you think Euphony would be the best option for us to go with considering our credentials? Landline ALWAYS in use :rolleyes: EUTalk is the one with Euphony that would suit us I think.

Is it basically the same as BT/Eircom but it's €5 cheaper?

Does your friend know when their broadband service will launch?

RangeR

Start up a new thread on this one, I think. We've already gone from Eircom to UTV to BT to Euphony.

Creating a new thread just for Euphony will get you more hits. Also doa search on Euphony here and you will get all the info you need.

My personl opinion is, if you spend more than 10 Euro per month on phone calls, go with Euphony. You shouldn't be charged any more than 10 Euro for your landline calls once you don't go over the hour. Mobiles, international and premiems are extra. Not sure on the BT offering.

cormie

Ok I'll get a Euphony thread going later.

If you want, PM me your friends details and I'll get him commission if I go with them:D Least I can do for your help! He can buy you a pack of grapes or something then:)

Tom Young

IrishTLR wrote:

You can transfer your phone service at any time. You shouldn't have any noticable downtime.

Ring BT for advice. They will tell you what you need to know.

There's Veto processes with Bitstream. Cormie, see fine print in the contract with UTV, you may not be eligible for port transfer provisions if the contract duration has not expired.

ComReg failed miserably to address the issue of switching/churning within the initial DSL Bitstream offer from eircom to industry, in March 2003. The port trasnfer, while nice really only is a lever against eircom.

I retract my comment about moving house. As clearly you are near an exchange. However maybe you'd like a change? In Netherlands you can get fibre to the home now.

cormie

Are you actually suggesting I move house for faster BB connection??? :eek: hehe