UTVip vs Eircom ADSL CAPS and Costs

unkel · 12-09-2002 11:51am #1

Cost comparison UTVip and Eircon ADSL: (all in € incl VAT)

Setup costs(€)

UTVip 0.00
Eircon ADSL 375.10

Monthly costs(€)

UTVip 29.99
Eircon ADSL 107.69

CAP for subscription

UTVip 4.1GB*
Eircon ADSL 3.0GB

Additional GB (€)
UTVip 20.75**
Eircon ADSL 37.17

* Single ISDN 8KB/s => 4320000 KB/150hours
SHOCKER!!

**0,0095€/min & 8KB/s =>20.75€/GB

NOTE: UTVip also means discount of 25% off all phone calls compared to Eircon's rates - only benefit of Eircon is faster surf and download speed

Goodbye Eircon, I signed up for UTVip last Saturday :cool:

dahamsta · 12-09-2002 12:15pm

I don't have the brainpower to check the math this morning: Can someone confirm this is right? If it is, IrelandOffline should fire off a press release to the usual suspects. The Reg trips over it's tongue for stuff like this.

adam

strat · 12-09-2002 12:29pm

i think this person is getting confised with eircons dsl and utv's 'flat rate' with isdn

isdn isnt broadband tbh

Kenshin · 12-09-2002 12:31pm

He's not getting confused, he's comparing those two services, bytewise...

Very good post, unkel

strat · 12-09-2002 12:36pm

Originally posted by Lord of Terror
He's not getting confused, he's comparing those two services, bytewise...

erm yes but thats like comparing a cow with an apple

koneko · 12-09-2002 12:55pm

Stratty is right.

56k flat-rate although cheaper is considerably slower than ADSL. You can't compare GB downloads. We all know how frikkin slow 56k can get on download.

You can say in theory you can get a certain amount of kb/sec on 56k, but would that actually happen? Doubt it.

I think the UTV one is a good enough offer, but I'm still not liking the time restrictions and the fact it's STILL 56k.

SkepticOne · 12-09-2002 1:01pm

Originally posted by koneko
I think the UTV one is a good enough offer, but I'm still not liking the time restrictions and the fact it's STILL 56k.

and ISDN. The UTV offer is very good under the circumstances in which they have to operate, but ISDN can never compete with broadband.

spongebob · 12-09-2002 1:02pm

Unkels figures are spot on and well presented.

Here in the E-Tub of Europe ®®©™® we actually compare nappies to welding torches as well. This is after all the country where journalists think that IDSN is Broadband and are prepared to admit it live on the radio too.

Unkels figures are an ISDN to ADSL comparison.

He then correctly calculates the real cost of the Eircom ADSL product, cap and all, and show that you would download more in 150Hrs with UTV on IDSN, the UTV cap if you like is time not volume based.

Then he shows clearly what happens after the respective caps have been exceeded to show that per minute with UTV is still cheaper than per MB (their pricing method) with Eircom for a given slab of data.

Then you brought cows into it and I brouight welding torches in as well.

M

Kenshin · 12-09-2002 1:10pm

It shows that a narrowband technology such as ISDN is cheaper for downloading gigs of things than a BROADBAND technology such as ADSL...
And yes, I've downloaded gigs in under a month with my 56k modem.

SkepticOne · 12-09-2002 1:18pm

Originally posted by Muck

Unkels figures are an ISDN to ADSL comparison.

He then correctly calculates the real cost of the Eircom ADSL product, cap and all, and show that you would download more in 150Hrs with UTV on IDSN, the UTV cap if you like is time not volume based.

The interesting thing is that ADSL should be much cheaper per megabyte than ISDN since ADSL is more efficient and the IP traffic is drawn off at the exchange level. It is only in the distorted world of Irish internet access that we have the current situation.

unkel · 12-09-2002 3:11pm

more maths...

now comparing same single line ISDN 64k to Eircon's UNCAPPED ADSL for break-even:

You need to download more than 15GB/mth for Eircon's service to be cheaper***

*** based on 1 year contract @204.49/mth + install @199.65 and equipment @326.70 (all incl VAT)
(the 15GB goes down to 14GB based on 2 years and 13GB based on 3 years) This does not compensate for loss of interest / opportunity costs incurred with the heavy upfront investment in Eircon's ADSL

With UTVip,

If you download 12GB/mth you save €653 per year
If you download 10GB/mth you save €1150 per year
If you download 6.6GB/mth you save €2000 per year
If you download 4.1GB/mth or less you save €2600 per year

I reckon a lot of us are somewhere between these four figures. A m8 of mine in the Netherlands who downloads everything and anything on his 1536/256 uncapped cable (€39/mth) rarely reaches 15GB/mth

P.S. I don't work for UTV or have any relationship with them whatsoever apart from signing up with them last Saturday. I just don't want to be overcharged. I would be delighted with any broadband service at reasonable cost being available to me in this country

NeoSlicerZ · 12-09-2002 3:13pm

0_o

ISDN is more cost efficent than ADSL , god , no adsl for me untill it's cheaper , i can live with isdn on UTVip

El_MUERkO · 12-09-2002 3:24pm

There is a once off connection charge for UTVip of €30

macronot · 12-09-2002 3:33pm

Originally posted by El_MUERkO
There is a once off connection charge for UTVip of €30

I think if you join now it is waived. Some time in November it becomes active;)

unkel · 12-09-2002 3:39pm

No connection charge until next year:

http://www.utvip.com/products.asp?f=0.111777

Even more for your money! Until the 31st December 2002, new customers to UTVip can sign up free of charge with the standard sign-up fee of €30 waived. Subscribe today to take advantage of this special offer!There is a once off connection charge for UTVip of €30

daveirl · 12-09-2002 3:47pm

This post has been deleted.

LoBo · 12-09-2002 4:01pm

As interesting as these figures are, it should be noted that the 150hrs available with UTVip are only OFFPEAK, while the ADSL user could be downloading up to their 3gb cap on peak (business) hours.

The stats are interesting, but flawed because of that significant difference.

Still, it does point out how ridicolous Eircom's price and cap are.

8-O

Dustaz · 12-09-2002 4:34pm

Edit:
Weh, misjudged comment, ignore me. Im sick

Good figures.

bkehoe · 12-09-2002 4:40pm

Some little problems I see in the post;
It is assumed that if you were on ISDN that you would be downloading at max speed whenever you're connected. If you spend an evening just browsing websites, then the total you can download decreases. As previously mentioned ADSL is always on and you are not limited in terms of time for how much you can download.
Also, does Eircon give away ISDN for free now; afaik there is a monthly rental that you'd have to pay in addition to UTV's monthly fee?

Brendan.

unkel · 12-09-2002 9:26pm

Brendan, you're very right!

My cost comparisons were based on my home situation:

I used to have analog single line working as it should (about 44-48kbps) until problems with data (not voice). Eircon put the legal foot down that they don't guarantee data, only voice over analog after falsely accusing me that the error on the line (which their equipment clearly showed) was caused by 'fault in private equipment' SIC. They charged me a hefty fee for this brilliant piece of troubleshooting and problem solving (NOT). Needless to say I disputed this fiercely and got the charge credited finally.

To make matters worse, at the time I was using NTL as carrier select with their nice UNCAPPED off peak internet access. NTL and Eircon blamed each other initially, so I had no choice but to cancel NTL and go back to Eircon. Since this did not solve my problems with data (got about 2KB/s about half of the time online, other half no data transfers whatsoever)

So my only solution was to get ISDN, which is the only residential service Eircon provides for which they guarantee data traffic.
This costs €61.98 per 2 mths excl VAT. It also cost me a hefty connection fee, which I also disputed as Eircon had misled me installing the analog line into my home which I would primarily use for Internet (several mobiles could do for voice). Obstinate b*****d as I am, I got some of this deducted from my bill after again disputing heavily.

So for me the option to go for UTVip single ISDN connection brings no initial outlay. Going with Eircon's ADSL I would firstly have to change my line back to analog (I don't now how much that would set me back - this is not included in my calculations) and then pay the full whack for ADSL installation and hardware and obviously the hefty monthly charge.

Naturally I would prefer to have broadband and you're right that the flaw in my calculations is that always on (24/7) broadband is not the same as narrowband off peak. From experience, I would reckon however that my normal surfing would usually take up most of the single channel ISDN bandwidth 8KB/s.

The moral of the story: I'm divorcing Eircon and marrying UTVip

segadreamcast · 12-09-2002 9:48pm

"So for me the option to go for UTVip single ISDN connection brings no initial outlay. "

That's circumstancial - in your initial post you made it look rather general mate.

So, in conclusion - buying an ISDN modem and paying for ISDN rental will bring the costs up, thus those figures need to be revised.

UTVip vs Eircom ADSL CAPS and Costs

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