esatbt flatrate ..again i guess

jackbauer

hi,

sorry if this has been said before but i rang esat today and was told that the flatrate is for buisness only and that i should phone back in a months time to see if they are brining it out for residential use. what business would be interested in 56k dialup these days is what i want to know...

its like being in a desert dying from thirst....

cheers,
jack.

SkepticOne

First I've heard of any EsatBT flat-rate 56k product for business and I would not listen to anyone apart from senior management about future services, residential or otherwise.

ando

Originally posted by jackbauer
what business would be interested in 56k dialup these days is what i want to know...

you'd be very supprised on how many Top companies rely on 56k dial up...

anyway, BLOODY HELL, FLat rate ??? I knew there was rumors about it for the first week of september, but didnt really give it much taught...... and now I hear Flat rate is already out :rolleyes:

Ayashii

Guess that this is what they are talking about

[URL=http://]http://www.esatbt.com/esatcom/homepage/products_solutions/internet/officelink.htm[/URL]

Esat BT OfficeLink is a self-install service for businesses requiring unlimited dial-up access to the Internet from a single computer at a reduced flat-rate charge


Suppose they reckon that most business use is from 9-5 and typically not heavy usage and so they can use their pricing structure (typically 75 hours?) from no limits to apply in this situation.

stormkeeper

I tried clicking on that link, and it wouldn't load the page, so I re-did the link below:

http://www.esatbt.com/esatcom/homepage/products_solutions/internet/officelink.htm

btw, nice bit of info... Indeed it is flat-rate dial-up.

nahdoic

this is very strange. how come no one has really commented on this service before? it say it's a full flat rate connection to the internet.

anyone know how much it costs?

i'll be ringing up and finding out tomorrow.

ando

Originally posted by nahdoic
how come no one has really commented on this service before?

was wondering the same meself

Tellox

if this is true, its a huge,huge,huge,huge step in the right direction

nahdoic

I remember seeing this thing about the "OfficeLink" on Esat's website almost 2 years ago as well though. So it's definitely not a new thing ... but they are saying it's flat rate. But no one seems to have ever used it? Very strange.

If nothing else it would give us a direct easy, like for like comparison. Unlimited Flat rate 56k access in the UK cost €20.00 a month, in ireland it costs €xxx.xx a month.

I'm guessing it must be ludicrously expensive. I'll find out tomorrow.

vinnyfitz

Welcome back Ayashii

The text on the linked page is fresh. "Esat BT" branding.

Pricing will be intriguing - Hhow early do you get on the phone nahodoc


Must say I agree with sceptic one pending (lots of) clarification.
This line from the page jars somewhat "

Options:
(Windows 3.x/95/98 or NT Workstation 4.0) or Apple Macintosh"

notwithstanding this more uptodate one a few lines down:

"For further information call your Esat BT Account Manager or Customer Care at 1800 924 924. "

vampyre

The offical press launch for the netsmart products will be Sept. 12th. (not a good day in my view but whatever) But I think they may be available to customers (ordinary ones) about a week before that date. For me the big downside is I use the service during office hours and that will be at the 4c p/min rate. Ouch!! It uses a 13xxx number like no limits which may explain the moves Eircom made to change the numbers to 1892. Wouldn't surprise me if that's all they do, change the numbers and not bring in a competeing product.

BoneCollector

I called esat bt about office link
its cost is €190 PA ex VAT
with a €63 ex VAT setup charge.
It is not! a flat rate package of any kind?
Your paying to access a new low call number charged at 1.6c per min and a setup of several email address`s

In short.. its not Flat rate dial up.

The_Bullman

just off the phone to esat meself

I rang business sales, the package is for business use not residential- the rep then transfered me to the residential sales guy(is it just me who thinks that this is strange) who told me the pricing. which i have already seen here before

€15 for 30 hours
€25 for 60 hours
€35 for 90 hours

all off peak(only)

and then a local call for anything above this.

he then told me that it is being only given to business at the moment, as a trial of sorts, and then will be aimed at residential customers.

mechanima

Hi,

I don't usually post here because I find one of the moderators grossly offensive (as he knows who he is, perhaps he would like to copy and paste the information and post it as his own when he deletes this?) but on this one I will.

I just got the same set of figures for a tiered system that WILL NOT BE AVAILABLE FOR RESIDENTIAL USE UNTIL 3rd/4th September (next week) and is not in use at present.

A virtual and theoretical Business DSL service exists for €90 a month (didn't take details, it won't affect me in the boonies in this lifetime) but that is the one they are hard selling as business flatrate over the phones.

And NOBODY HAS A CLUE WHAT "Officelink" is??? (even after looking at the webpage) they are getting back to me, and if there are any exciting developments I will post them on the OFFICIAL Irelandoffline.

Between the bytes I find it odd that BTEsat and Eircom have newly designed sites, and MANY business products are "call for details of pricing".

The signs suggest that "something is about to give".

GD Mechanima

nahdoic

just to confirm what everyone else said this morning. their so called "reduced flat rate charge" means you get charged a a reduced flat rate charge of 1.6 cent per minute no matter what time it is. great huh? :rolleyes:

hmmm

Originally posted by The_Bullman
all off peak(only)

he then told me that it is being only given to business at the moment, as a trial of sorts, and then will be aimed at residential customers.

Hello earth calling Esat, come in Esat. Off-peak is offpeak because that is when business no longer use their phones. Maybe this concept is too complex for my simple mind to grasp.

SkepticOne

Originally posted by mechanima
A virtual and theoretical Business DSL service exists for €90 a month (didn't take details, it won't affect me in the boonies in this lifetime) but that is the one they are hard selling as business flatrate over the phones.

This is their ADSL service operating under LLU and currently available in Limerick. The price quoted is ex VAT.

jackbauer

hi again,

wow thats a lot of replys:)

anyway just to get my head around whats being said here.

1st we're saying that esatbt are offering an off peak sort of flaterate to business...is it me but that flys in the face of reason...ever hear of 9 to 5 ??lol

2nd this service will be available to home users either next week or on the 12th of sept?? is this correct? and if so i assume the guy at esat i talked to thought i was talking about dsl.

what a mess.....well i'll post any info i have...

cheers,
jack

Dustaz

Originally posted by jackbauer

1st we're saying that esatbt are offering an off peak sort of flaterate to business...is it me but that flys in the face of reason...ever hear of 9 to 5 ??lol

This is the most bizzarre thing ive ever heard. I somehow doubt that even marketing droids can be this thick. I suspect there is crossed wires somewhere.

2nd this service will be available to home users either next week or on the 12th of sept?? is this correct? and if so i assume the guy at esat i talked to thought i was talking about dsl.

This is interesting. The date tallies with the other rumour about UTV. Last we heard on Flat Rate was that a group of parties had approached the ODTR about it. Assuming they had some joy, then surely they would be in the position to offer it at the same time. The plot thickens.

If it was DSL he was talking about i cant believe he didnt stress the whole 'Super-hyper-mega fast' aspect of it, as is usual from sales.

ando

Originally posted by Dustaz
The plot thickens

Please.. no more .....

*me tries hard to fight off excitement* :eek:

Dustaz

Ando, ffs ye should know better at this stage

Its entirely possible (and probable looking at past events) that nothing will come of this for a good while.

jackbauer

hi,

i would'nt be suprised if nothing came of it but all i can say is is'nt it about time we had propper net access??

i phoned esatbt again yesterday and spoke to someone more helpfull who said something along the lines of "next month we will be introducing a residential and business flaterate service but no details at the minute"

we can only hope eh...

may i ask this: why is net access so bad here compared to uk? i have read other posts here but the whole thing just makes no sense!!!...perhaps i'm too simple minded.

cheers,
jack

SkepticOne

Originally posted by jackbauer
may i ask this: why is net access so bad here compared to uk? i have read other posts here but the whole thing just makes no sense!!!...perhaps i'm too simple minded.

Monopoly.

SkepticOne

Hope that isn't to short of an answer, but that is the core of the problem.

byte

Out of curiousity, dya think we would be having these problems now if Eircom wasn't privatised?

sceptre

Originally posted by irishbyte
Out of curiousity, dya think we would be having these problems now if Eircom wasn't privatised?

Ah, now there's an interesting "what if" question. I'm assuming you mean "made public" rather than the more recent "privatised".

The same question could be asked if the actual network/phone lines hadn't been sold off. In any case the Minister for Comms would have far greater power to bring in an unmetered service. Eircom would probably say themselves that broadband rollout would be slower due to a lack of investment but given that there hasn't been an extra cent invested in the business from outside (no subsequent share issue before privatisation and no investment since as the money invested by the corporates in the form of debentures was solely for the initial purchase)

If you really meant "privatised", then my own opinion is "yes". I've a fairly low opinion of the work done by the board of directors during the period of stock market quotation (and I didn't even invest in the company so it's purely from a concerned consumer point of view)

ando

Originally posted by Dustaz
Ando, ffs ye should know better at this stage

yeah your right dustaz, I should of learnt with the whole Beam-'Flat rate in weeks' topic :rolleyes:

jackbauer

hi,

i'm not in any way trying to give false hopes to anyone just sharing what i know and find out. out of curiosity what did/is happening to beam??

cheers,
jack