eircom launch residential offering €60

crawler

The Cigarette Smoking Man

More from the Times:

Eircom prepares to deliver high speed internet for €50 a month
By Jamie Smyth



Eircom will cut the price of its high-speed internet service i-stream within weeks. It plans to offer this new service using DSL technology at a monthly fee of close to €50, targeted at the consumer. The current fee for Eircom's i-stream solo product is €107 including VAT.

DSL or digital subscriber line technology is considered vital to promoting wider use of the internet and enabling a range of internet applications ranging from home working to online gaming.

It is also crucial for the provision of cheap access to the internet for small and medium firms.

The uptake of DSL services has been severely delayed by regulatory problems and the relatively high cost of purchasing a service in the Republic until now.

It is estimated that under 3,500 DSL lines have been sold to businesses and residents since the service was introduced last year, placing the Republic at the bottom of the EU in terms of DSL lines.

Eircom is expected to announce its decision to offer a consumer product possibly as early as today.

Its decision to introduce the service is not totally unexpected. Last year in an interview with The Irish Times, Mr Cathal Magee, managing director of Eircom Retail, said the firm would revisit the question of a consumer DSL service in early 2003.

The firm also faces competition from Esat BT which recently presented its consumer DSL offering in certain areas. This is available at a monthly fee of just under €50.

Eircom's decision to offer a cheap consumer DSL product is likely to have a significant impact on the domestic market. In the UK, a similar decision by British Telecom last year prompted strong growth. More than 500,000 DSL lines had been sold in Britain by December 2002 and there were 30 million DSL connections worldwide, according to the UK-based research group Point Topic.

Eircom's move to launch a consumer DSL offering will please the Government and the Commission for Communication Regulation, which this week called on Eircom to introduce a more reasonably priced DSL product.

"Current price levels are not attracting significant numbers of customers, creating the danger that Ireland will slip further behind in the take-up of broadband by small and medium-sized firms and residential users," wrote Ms Etain Doyle, chairman of the Commission, in an official paper.

Future Delivery of Broadband in Ireland also highlighted the lack of investment in the cable TV networks in the Republic for many years, and the current financial problems faced by the cable operators, removed the competitive catalyst which spurred competition in other countries, and a speedier build out of DSL.

NTL halted the roll-out of its own high-speed internet service in 2001 due to financial pressures.

But Ms Doyle argues that NTL's emergence from chapter 11 bankruptcy and the strong performance of its Irish subsidiary in recent results may prompt new interest from the firm in the direct provision of internet services.

Washout

me wonderis that if this is indeed true will it be a new offering of 256K or will it apply to the existing package.

I ordered i-stream yesterday so Im just prayin its to the existing service

crawler

It is Ex-Vat Skepticone...€60.50 including VAT.

rumour has it that contention will be VERY high - bad news for gamers....but you never know.

I suppose it is a start....we only have DSL a short while so any movement on price is to be welcomed....

It would worry me if it was a 128k service - placed as a replacement for ISDN - or more a revenue protector!

Tazz T

None of these news sources seem to be focussing on the fact that it's half the speed as well as the price. I'd love to see the press release from eircom.

They're still saying up to 30 times faster - yeah, once in a blue moon.

SkepticOne

Originally posted by Washout
me wonderis that if this is indeed true will it be a new offering of 256K or will it apply to the existing package.

I ordered i-stream yesterday so Im just prayin its to the existing service

If there's truth to these stories, then I think very unlikely that they've reduced the price on the existing i-stream 512k service. If I was forced to guess, I would say 256k at 50:1, 2 gig cap.

crawler

I think we should get up a calculator to see how much "value for money" we really are getting.

We should use some items such as :-

the Cost per Kbps/month INCLUDING VAT
Factor in a % for caps
Factor in a % for contention
Factor in a % for "extras"

This would give us a metric for a "typical" service and we could use it to benchmark.

Dont know what people think or if anyone has the time to do this?

crawler

Tazz T - Tony O'Reilly = Indo = eircom = valentia - you dont need to see how this came about.

I am in shock at the times article - Times = Murdoch = Sky - they NEVER say ANYTHING good about NTL, Nice one Jamie for free journalism , hope you dont lose your job over it!

bk

Does this mean the bitstream whole sale rate has been reduced?

Otherwise how can they do this and if they have reduced the bitstream price, then surely we will be seeing products cfrom Via and maybe even UTV might start selling DSL.

I expect this move to do two things:

1) The cap to disappear or be greatly increased on the SOHO package.

2) Esat to improve or reduce the price of their DSL (remember they are on LLU and are making large margins on their current offerings).

But this is all speculation, we will have to wait for the full details of Eircoms new service before we can figure out the real impact.

spongebob

Surely there will have to be a wholesale offering based on this 256k (presumably) product.

Eircom must make this available to its Bitstream resellers first. I can't see them make much money unless the 256k offering is pitched at €30 or so a month.....ex vat.

That affects the FRIACO cost model too.

M

SkepticOne

Originally posted by crawler
I am in shock at the times article - Times = Murdoch = Sky - they NEVER say ANYTHING good about NTL, Nice one Jamie for free journalism , hope you dont lose your job over it!

Irish Times? Nothing to do with Murdoch. Also, what have they said about NTL that is inacurate?

Tazz T

max 512kbps upstream 128 downstream
min 256kbps up 64 down

you can self-install for 81.81 ex VAT
Standard install 165 ex VAT

Soz can't reveal my source on this.

Washout

If there's truth to these stories, then I think very unlikely that they've reduced the price on the existing i-stream 512k service. If I was forced to guess, I would say 256k at 50:1, 2 gig cap.

But will they keep 512k service at the current contention ratio if this is indeed the case...Interesting times ahead.

The Cigarette Smoking Man

Originally posted by Tazz T
max 512kbps upstream 128 downstream
min 256kbps up 64 down

So your saying it's going to be a 256k or a 512k service - I could've told you that

scojones

The installation price is a bit of a kick in the stones.

SkepticOne

Originally posted by Muck
That affects the FRIACO cost model too.

Could you elaborate on that?

The Cigarette Smoking Man

Originally posted by sjones
The installation price is a bit of a kick in the stones.

That covers the price of the modem - in the UK BT charge £55 (€83) for self install.

scojones

I see, so if i called them up and ordered DSL (and if everything PASSED!) the first month would be something like €160 and then it would be €60 from then on. If flate-rate turns out to be €30 inc vat then we have dsl for double the price of flate rate. That doesn't seem too unreasonable to me.

Serbian

Well, sounds good now, but I'd put money on a ridiculous cap a 256k line and contention will definitely be 24:1 as with all Eircom ADSL offerings.

scojones

I forgot about the possibility of there being a cap. I must have been in another country for a few seconds there If there was no cap I would dance for a minute or two. If there is a cap I will just do what i've been doing since No Limits was cancelled - pray, and bitch at every eircom van i see.

Tazz T

Originally posted by The Cigarette Smoking Man
So your saying it's going to be a 256k or a 512k service - I could've told you that

What I'm saying is that it definitely isn't half price i-stream. The product is to be called eircom broadband and is a slower product. However, there's nothing mentioned about a cap.

java

Rumours and conjecture. Why dont we wait for an official news release before getting excited or annoyed. This thread could get very large with guessing games.

Dangger

Rumours and conjecture. Why dont we wait for an official news release before getting excited or annoyed.

Here, here. Let's wait and see. The official press release is due out around lunch time.

crawler

Has anyone called eircom....? I called the knitting circle but clueless stuff....

SkepticOne

Originally posted by Dangger
Here, here. Let's wait and see. The official press release is due out around lunch time.

You can get a fair amount of rumour and conjecture done in 2 hours. I say we continue speculating.

Washout

You can get a fair amount of rumour and conjecture done in 2 hours. I say we continue speculating.

Here here... its all part of being Irish

crawler

Hee hee - and we should make up "facts" too like - "my mate who works in eircom told me that it will be a 1mb service with 4:1 contention , no caps and the first 3 months are free , oh and installation is only €1.50 to cover post and packing" ( all prices VAT inclusive ofcourse. )

crawler

I wonder will they have an "off the shelf , self install" ?

Tazz T

It's called eircom broadband, it's a slower product at a lower price to 'compete' with the esat product - that's fact - not speculation.

Dustaz

Originally posted by SkepticOne
You can get a fair amount of rumour and conjecture done in 2 hours. I say we continue speculating.

I this news before christmas and you all laughed at me


When i heard this, it was €50 for 512 at 50:1 contention. I also heard that there would be the self install option. It came from a VERY good source. Price was right anway and id say the contention is correct. Hopefully they will have the foresight to offer 512.

FYI I know a guy who was testing the self install kit and its a piece of urine to use by all accounts.

De Rebel

i phoned 1800 512 128 just to see what they would say (why not, those free calls are about the only good value to be had from Eircom)

Biddy, in her best mullingareese "Daaats speculation. If you ring back in the afternoon it mightn't be speculation den." So there ya have it.

/aside: Muck, why are so many of the biddies from Mullingar?