IOL / Esat BT Launch New Product

ihatemushrooms · 03-09-2002 12:42pm #1

Hi,

I just called Esat BT ( 1800 923 111 )

New Product just launched today - its called NetSmart and it is a fixed rate product for off peak use.

Three packages available

€15 per month for 30 hrs
€25 per month for 60hrs
€35 per month for 90 hrs

Sales person I spoke to is sending out the form

50% saving on my internet access costs from home.

Its a start, what do you think?

viking · 03-09-2002 12:50pm

I've just rang and I was told that its not launching 'till next week :rolleyes:

Anywho I'm getting the forms sent out...

viking

thegills · 03-09-2002 1:04pm

I assume that it's normal 56k dial-up with no DSL/ISDN type kit attached?

Mr E · 03-09-2002 1:06pm

Sounds good, but I'd be interested in reading the terms and conditions ...

Is there an extortionate penalty for exceeding your quota? Or will you just not be able to reconnect?
Are you tied into a fixed term contract? (12 months, for instance)

Definitely a step in the right direction, though.....

- Dave.

ihatemushrooms · 03-09-2002 1:10pm

Hi,

Yeah - for 56k home users don`t know about ISDN though.

I think its a move in the right direction.

IOL had to end the "no limits" product but this is at least offering people a decent level of usage at a good price. 90 hrs for €35 isn`t bad.

Certainly beats what I`m paying at the minute to Eircom.

ihatemushrooms · 03-09-2002 1:18pm

Rang again.

No twelve month contract

1 cent per minute off peak if you use more than the hours your month.

I`ll review the form when they send out but it sounds safe enough.

should be able to use it by next week - they will send a Cd out after they receive your form

BoneCollector · 03-09-2002 1:25pm

if its off peak then its still not a great deal for the country as a whole, al where doing is moving back to no limits product with a cap.

What we realy need is a 24hr access service so we can dial in any time of day or night without clock watching..
yes its a start but its not progress since we already had this.

Scruff · 03-09-2002 1:41pm

does the off peak include weekends?

even if it does it still aint that good as you'd have exceeded the maximum of 90 hours in less than 2 weekends.....

ihatemushrooms · 03-09-2002 1:44pm

I hate to stay it but you will never get 24hr unlimited time online.

It doesn`t exist - not here or in the UK or anywhere else. All UK ISPs have restrictions on dial up patterns of customers. Thats a fact.

Calls drop every hour or two - difficulty in reconnecting etc.

We will get a Flat Rate product in the next 6 - 12 months but it won`t be a free for all.

You won`t be able to stay online 24/7 the ISPs won`t let you

I think as many people as possible should use this product and use Esat to show the ODTR the level of demand.

The goverment think that all this campaigning is being done by a niche group and it is Eircom thats feeding them this.

Mr. Fancypants · 03-09-2002 2:05pm

Just called there too. You dont have to be an Esat customer and it does include weekends.

BoneCollector · 03-09-2002 2:05pm

I hate to stay it but you will never get 24hr unlimited time online

Its not 24hr unlimited where after, its 24hr ACCESS!

yes! have your cap of 90hrs but allows us to go on line anytime. :rolleyes:

Lemming · 03-09-2002 2:07pm

Originally posted by ihatemushrooms

You won`t be able to stay online 24/7 the ISPs won`t let you

Of course they wont. They have to think about issues such as contention and bandwidth.

And to be honest, anyone who is using 56k dun "24/7" should be using a larger capacity product.

The whole point is not that users will stay on 24/7 but can connect ANYTIME 24/7 and not have to worry about costs that they can't see.

ando · 03-09-2002 2:42pm

plz ... PLZ support ISDN 1 channel

ando · 03-09-2002 2:48pm

just rang... it is suppose to support 64k isdn

))))) woohooo
also, they were very cuirous how the information has leaked.... 'a lot of ppl have called today and it hasnt been launched yet'

koneko · 03-09-2002 2:49pm

Err, are you sure you filled that in okay??

At the moment you spend approximately 90.00 hours per week online.

Note that says WEEK and the BT/Esat offer says MONTH.

90 hours per week and 90 hours per month is very different. You can't say "I can only ask everybody here to sign up to the above mentioned offer by Esat BT (90h for €35) instead of being ripped off by €ircom for either €265 or €442." when you're only comparing it to 90 hours a week.

Sure, maybe you made a mistake in your calculations there. The offer is good, but it's not *that* good.

LoBo · 03-09-2002 2:57pm

BT Openworld Anytime
(http://register.btinternet.com/cgi-bin/startup?version=ie55&ex=1&prmt=ANY007)

£15.99 (€25.08) per month, for 56k dialup access. Unmetered and you can dialup any time (ie, not restricted to offpeak only). Quote: "Online session limitations apply." - a friend of mine who does Tech Support for them tells me that you are not allowed be online for more than 12hrs consecutively. (I guess after 12hrs you are disconnected?)

Obviously the UK is a bigger market, but I would pay €50 a month for that service RIGHT NOW.

This pre-paid hours package deal... well its no good to me. Value = 0.

Colm

LoBo · 03-09-2002 3:03pm

In response to the eircom calculator post:

At the moment you spend approximately 20.80 hours per week online.
With a free account your Internet access costs would be: 67.70 EUR/month
With a subscription account your Internet access costs would be: 67.24 EUR/month
Hence with a subscription account you will make a saving of approximately 0.68%

20.80 hrs per week is about 90 hrs per month. From the other posts in this thread I gather that the package deal offered by esat is for off-peak only? So I put all 20.80 hrs/week as offpeak only.

I love this calculator. It tells me I will make basically NO saving per week using internet offpeak only, but I DO get to pay them €150 a year for it!! :P

Anyway, I think that's a more realistic figure. But seeing as its a prepaid package option, I still wouldn't go for it myself .. I need a proper (even offpeak only) unmetered system.

matthiku · 03-09-2002 3:07pm

Originally posted by koneko
(...)Note that says WEEK and the BT/Esat offer says MONTH.

90 hours per week and 90 hours per month is very different. You can't say "I can only ask everybody here to sign up to the above mentioned offer by Esat BT (90h for €35) instead of being ripped off by €ircom for either €265 or €442." when you're only comparing it to 90 hours a week.

Sure, maybe you made a mistake in your calculations there. The offer is good, but it's not *that* good.

Sorry, folks, I really made a mistake here, but it's corrected now. Thanks for pointing that out. Didn't want to mislead you.

eire_insane · 03-09-2002 3:12pm

What happens with No limits now are we all buggered into this ?i guess ll be getting a letter in the mail in a few days

or am I wrong?

koneko · 03-09-2002 3:20pm

Cool, just so people don't get confused. We all know how some people can read over things and not notice something like there. There'd be uproar then ("OMG they charge that much???").

I'm probably not going for it. It's a decent enough offer for people stuck using 56k anyway (it'll save a few quid/europeans), but personally it's too slow and limited for me. ADSL is the way to go.

LoBo · 03-09-2002 3:20pm

in fairness, I was on SNL and was kicked off... and as a result our family has probably paid €50-250 extra every two months for OFFPEAK 56k internet to eircom. Even if (and I doubt it) you were to lose it now.. you've saved a LOT of money by keeping it as long as you did

nahdoic · 03-09-2002 3:21pm

and the results are in ...

Esat Deal:

cost: €35

off-peak minutes: 5,400 (90 hrs)

cost per minute: 0.65c

Eircom Deal (standard):

cost: €68.22

off-peak minutes: 5,400 (90 hrs)

cost per minute: 1.26c

Eircom Deal (circle of friends 15% discount)

cost: €58.00

off-peak minutes: 5,400 (90 hrs)

cost per minute: 1.07c

you will save

a grand total of 22.99 each month. If you used the net for 90 hours off-peak that month.

If however you use the net for less than 3271 minutes (55 hours) that month then you will save money using the eircom circle of friends dealy with accessing the net.

BUT ...

that's not accounting for what Esat will charge for connecting for say 10 seconds and then disconnecting. Those 10 seconds would cost 6.35c with Eircom. Depending on that, there's a possiblity of even better savings with Esat.

in summary

If you are guaranteed to use the net for at least 55 hours off peak each month then you would be mad not to sign up for this cos it will save you a lot of money.

If you are not guaranteed to use net for at least 55 hours off peak each month then consider Esat's other options. They will save you money.

Personally I am guaranteed to use the net, no matter what for 55 hours each month, so I will be signing up.

LoBo · 03-09-2002 3:32pm

thanks for the breakdown nahdoic, but to present the other view:

For a grand total saving of €22/month I am not interested. I (and my family - 6 internet users) get bills of about €150/month for internet alone, mostly offpeak use(we have a separate line for the internet). SNL users pay about €25 -> €35 (w/ some onpeak use) per month.

If I signed up for the service our bills would drop by about €20/month say. I would have to set up another new internet connection for everyone, etc, and bills per month would probably be in order of €130/month.

I would still be heartily sickened looking at SNL customers, or customers of BTOW (as detailed in my earlier post on this thread) in the UK. And I would still be paying through the nose for my internet.

Its not a solution for me. Maybe its useful for people who use around 20hrs a week.

Colm

rymus · 03-09-2002 3:41pm

thats the job

Just called 'em and getting my form sent out.. now to get some software to record my usage...

Finally a move in the right direction

BoneCollector · 03-09-2002 3:44pm

What happens with No limits now are we all buggered into this ?i

I already spoke to a rep and confirmed,
NO! anyone on snl will continue with this unless they choose to go over to the new system.

ihatemushrooms · 03-09-2002 3:47pm

Don`t give up hope yet,

when you go over your 90hrs you are then charged at 1 cent per minute which is cheaper than anything else. so if your spending as much as you are the savings could add up. maybe €30 per month & at Dublin drink prices that is about 7 beer vouchers!!!! wouldn`t be the most drunk night ever but...

Delphi91 · 03-09-2002 3:55pm

Maybe it's been answered already, but I'm not sure.

Does the €35 a month for 90 hours off-peak INCLUDE the cost of the call?

Mike

Lex_Diamonds · 03-09-2002 4:07pm

After such a long wait, this is what we get? This sorry excuse for a flat rate package makes me want to move to the Phillipines, where Abu Sayef Online offers 512k access for a measly 30 dollars per month.

Seriously though, now that Esat have sold us up the river we have to hope that UTV Internet will come out with something worth while.

I'd sell my soul for a decent net connection. Satan, are you listening?

ihatemushrooms · 03-09-2002 4:08pm

it does, its a fixed rate fee for the 90hrs

strat · 03-09-2002 4:13pm

please tell me you dont have to switch all your calls etc to esat ??

BuffyBot · 03-09-2002 4:15pm

Originally posted by ihatemushrooms
I hate to stay it but you will never get 24hr unlimited time online.

It doesn`t exist - not here or in the UK or anywhere else. All UK ISPs have restrictions on dial up patterns of customers. Thats a fact.

Incorrect. AOL (in the UK at least) has no 2 hour restrictions unlike NTL etc on their unlimited package.

yankinlk · 03-09-2002 4:23pm

It doesn`t exist - not here or in the UK or anywhere else. All UK ISPs have restrictions on dial up patterns of customers. Thats a fact.

anywhere else bar the United States of course. Local calls, including calls to the internet have been free for ohhhh 5 years or more...

Snaga · 03-09-2002 4:27pm

please tell me you dont have to switch all your calls etc to esat ??

Nope you dont.

Aggie · 03-09-2002 4:44pm

just checked esat call rates for voice, and they're actually pretty damn good (national calls for the price of local calls), so hopefully, they'll do something good on packaging the new internet product with cheapie voice. Bloody bravo to them for at least attempting to get some sort of bundled offering out there...

oeNeo · 03-09-2002 5:22pm

*Phew*

Thank God I won't be kicked off from Nolimits.:D Although it is a very good step in the right direction.

BKtje · 03-09-2002 5:33pm

Can you say buy 2 products?

say the 90 hrs one and the 15 hrs one?
or will thye not allow you to do that?

Winters · 03-09-2002 5:34pm

Well...as long as they dont kick me off nolimits im happy. Its nice to see Esat BT do something though. Eircom still seem to be overpricing there stuff :rolleyes:

Stephen · 03-09-2002 5:37pm

Heh, I just rang. The guy said I was the 3rd caller in a row he's got ringing about the product from the IOFFL board.

Sending out the forms and stuff to me.

Its a step in the right direction, and will save me a lot of money compared to what I'm currently paying eircom.

unknown_a38 · 03-09-2002 6:09pm

Hi,
I was told by the sales rep. that you also get some hours free with each package.
€15 - 30 hrs + 5 hrs free
€25 - 60 hrs + 18 hrs free
€35 - 90 hrs + 32 hrs free

segadreamcast · 03-09-2002 6:17pm

So cool - I was wondering the same thing as B-K-DzR - can we buy multiple products and combine them?

I was going to call and find out but... they close at 7pm. Damn.

To all you begrudgers. This IS a major step in the right direction - we're now back on the path to flat rate, or would you prefer to just not have this and continue to pay your pretty penny to eircom while you wait for their flat-rate-product-that-will-be-coming-soon-forever.

Raskolnikov · 03-09-2002 8:34pm

I think everyone can agree that it is a step in the right direction. Since i only ever use the net at night it is an ideal solution. I rang up, forms coming to me soon

RichyX · 03-09-2002 8:38pm

Rang up as soon as I read this thread.
Forms on the way

byte · 03-09-2002 9:07pm

You tend to access the Internet frequently hence subscription Dial-up Internet Access is
the option for you.

At the moment you spend approximately 25.00 hours per week online.
With a free account your Internet access costs would be: 81.38 EUR/month
With a subscription account your Internet access costs would be: 77.74 EUR/month
Hence with a subscription account you will make a saving of approximately 4.47%

So I would be down €81 pm. Luckily I have SNL. For now anyways....
:rolleyes:

Inf · 03-09-2002 9:25pm

Can you sign up for it twice? i have two phone lines might be worth a try.

180hrs a month would be pretty decent, if not 90 will do

I agree though, this is a step in the right direction.

hmmm · 03-09-2002 9:58pm

Originally posted by unknown_a38
Hi,
I was told by the sales rep. that you also get some hours free with each package.
€15 - 30 hrs + 5 hrs free
€25 - 60 hrs + 18 hrs free
€35 - 90 hrs + 32 hrs free

ummm does that mean the packages are .e.g 35 hours, or does it mean that you are getting 30 hours for the price of 25?

Mossy Monk · 03-09-2002 10:45pm

let's see. my daytime internet calls cost me 0c/minute seeing that i'm not home during the day. it's off peak that kills my bank balance. i'll be ringing for my forms tomorrow

Delphi91 · 03-09-2002 10:51pm

Originally posted by hmmm

ummm does that mean the packages are .e.g 35 hours, or does it mean that you are getting 30 hours for the price of 25?

I think that was phrased slightly incorrectly.

When I rang up, I was told the rates, and the 30 hours per month for €15 amounts to 5 free hours, so you're paying for 25 and getting 5 free. Similarly, you pay €25 for 60 hours (43 + 17 free) and €35 for 90 hours (58 + 32 free).

If you call, ask for Caroline - she was very helpful!

Mike

longword · 04-09-2002 1:44am

Think more "Bundled minutes" than "Flat rate". Just like a mobile phone call scheme. Are they even allowed call that flat rate?

Still. Beats nothing by a fair margin.

milltown · 04-09-2002 3:02am

This is just for off peak use right?

I'm not a particularly heavy user but I do need access for 1 or 2 hours peak time on 2 or 3 days of the week, plus about 5 hours a week off peak. So far it's not looking like saving me a whole heap.

zynaps · 04-09-2002 6:29am

Originally posted by BuffyBot

Incorrect. AOL (in the UK at least) has no 2 hour restrictions unlike NTL etc on their unlimited package.

Also, as we all know, Americans get a multitude of free dialups with unlimited, unmetered calls, thanks to their free local calls and such...

According to a friend in Australia, he gets unbolloxed up dialup too, but he has to pay the cost of the call, which is something like 4 cents or so - but... 4 cents for as long as you're connected. :P
He does get hung up every 4 hours or so, but 4 cents for 4 hours online? Thanks.

It might be a step in the right direction, but as they already covered that ground with nolimits and retracted it, it's a step following a leap backwards...

*stabs eircom* capitalists!

zynaps · 04-09-2002 6:47am

oisín: how much do ye have to pay for calls there? i mean.. internet calls?
Sugar: Nope!
oisín: you pay nope?
Sugar: I pay nada. The Internet calls up a local server. Local calls are free.
oisín: so... how much do you pay for the whole deal? do you get a limited amount of time online?
Sugar: Er.. no.. my father pays a monthly bill for flat rate. So does my mom, but with Prodigy and not AOL. It's like 18 bucks monthly. That's all. No surcharges.
oisín: ...poxy americans
oisín: uckfay ouya, itchbay!

...

later...

Sugar: I can't believe the prices there. What about DSL?

*laughs, then cries*

IOL / Esat BT Launch New Product

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