the €53.45 bill for €0.66 worth of calls from Eircom

STaN

03/08/03 (Sunday Business post)

Fixed line phone charges are driving Eircom customers to abandon the services in favour of more economical mobile phones.

A reader of The Sunday Business Post received a two month bill that showed €0.66 worth of calls in a bill that totalled €53.45.

The charges for the billing period were: line rental of €37.18, a telephone instrument charge of €4.10, a call answering charge of €2.24 and Vat of €9.27.

The customer closed his Eircom account. "I have a mobile and so does my girlfriend - the only reason we kept the landline was because we have a computer at home and wanted access to the internet.

"Both of us have computers at work and internet access. We decided that we don't use the home computer enough to justify shelling out about €400 per year. Most people are used to calling us on our mobiles at this stage - so what's the point in paying for a landline we don't use?"

Asked to justify the €53.45 bill for €0.66 worth of calls the Eircom spokeswoman said: "The cost of rental is a contribution towards providing a fixed line phone."

When it was pointed out that certain mobile phone providers can offer cheaper alternatives to fixed line telephones, she said: "Mobiles do not provide you with a physical line."

Anecdotal evidence suggests that the reader is not alone in opting for a mobile phone alternative. Other readers say that they have abandoned fixed line phones in their homes because of the expense in favour of mobile phones.

Mobile phone numbers have increased by over 90,000 in the last 12 months. Commission for Communications Regulation (ComReg) figures show that mobile phone num- bers increased by 90,291 to 3.1 million in the 12 months to June 2003.

Figures show a drop in Eircom fixed line customers of 11,000 during the 12 months to March 2003 - from 1.607 million to 1.596 million.

Eircom's spokeswoman insists that this 11,000 figure is the number of people switching to different access channels, which include ISDN lines and DSL lines. She did admit that there was some movement from fixed line telephones to mobile phones.

"Fixed line business has never been opened up to competition.They need to wake up and smell the coffee - it's simply going to die as a product once mobile portability arrives," said Dermot Jewell, chief executive of the Consumers'Association of Ireland.

"The ability to switch from 086 to 087 numbers free of charge will focus attention on mobile interchangibility, and could be the catalyst for largescale dumping of fixed line phones."

Vodafone's spokeswoman said that to make €0.66 worth of calls with them over two months would cost €40 for a Vodafone `Light' postpaid customer. This mobile deal offers free benefits: ten minutes at peak time, 50 weekend offpeak minutes and 50 `call a friend for free' minutes plus free voicemail. Peak time rates appy from 8am to 6pm, Monday to Friday.

O2 customers pay €30 over two months if they avail of the Choices 5+ plan.The monthly service charge is €15, and they can avail of one add-on free, plus they receive €5worth of free calls.

Paddy20

Quote:- " Fixed line business, has never been opened up to competition" end quote from Dermot Jewell, Consumers Association of Ireland.

This is the core problem !! This government is still allowing Eircom to be a Monopoly, which is causing countless problems for the ordinary domestic telephone user, the business sector, Internet service providers, etc, etc.

As far as I am aware the current Eircom total stranglehold monopoly position on the landline last mile fiasco, is anti-competitive and ILLEGAL. When is this Goverment going to enforce its obligations under EU law?.. and legislate for a level playing field in this vitally important area?..

Paddy20.

LFCFan

The Government should never have privatised the telecommincations infrastructure. Telecom Eireann should have been sold without the lines so we would now have Telecom Eireann (government owned) and Eircon, just another telecoms company competing against the likes of Esat and UTV. The government would dictate the wholesale prices and there would be some real competition. One solution of course would be for the Government to buy back the lines but that's never going to happen.

ToxicPaddy

[Rant]

Up until 2 months ago, the phone bill in my place (rented house with 2 others) was about €130 plus VAT every 2 months, this included line rental, phone rental (which we got rid of about 6 months before that) and an extra option for cheaper international calls, again which we got rid of about 6 months before..

So their excuse for not cancelling the phone rental and cheap international call option was that the previous call taker didnt remove it correctly, so after about 20 calls they eventually did take it off.. and the threat of legal action that is...

Now Im back to about €65 plus VAT, like that article, I only use the phone line for internet access, not even enough to justify getting something like the No Limits thing from IOL or that UTVIP package..

So in total the calls add up to about €12 - €15 per month and €50+ in line rental, charges and VAT..

Its a bloody disgrace, friends I have in the UK and the US use their phones constantly, have multiple lines in the house and all the little things like call waiting, call answering services etc and their monthly bills come to about €60..

This whole country is a complete rip off, between being taxed to the eyeballs, insurance and basic necessities like phones, its crazy..

[/Rant] :rolleyes: :rolleyes: :rolleyes: :mad: :mad: :mad:

gandalf

TBH there is no way the Government should buy back the current infrastructure.

What is needed is an alternative last mile and there are technologies out there to deliver this today. The Government would be prudent and far sighted to be prioritising these and I think there is movement within their ranks towards alternative last mile solutions.

You would also be guaranteed that the incumbant would be forced to upgrade their lines and services because of competitive pressures then.

Gandalf.

Tazz T

This news story isn't surprising. Mine is similar each month. I simply use the landline for Internet, nothing else. I have seriously considered using a mobile and laptop for connecting to the net. If I cut down my Internet usage to occasional surfing and checking email, the cost wouldn't be much more once you add on the subcription to IOL no limits.

dahamsta

Originally posted by STaN
A reader of The Sunday Business Post received a two month bill that showed €0.66 worth of calls in a bill that totalled €53.45. The charges for the billing period were: line rental of €37.18, a telephone instrument charge of €4.10, a call answering charge of €2.24 and Vat of €9.27.

But sure there's loads of us can beat that. I work from home so I have Hi Speed for the two lines and as a backup in case my wireless connection kicks out. €75 a month on line rental, not a penny on calls. Or as I call it, Etain's Legacy.

Been meaning to ask about this actually: There's nothing I can do right? Two regular lines would cost the same?

adam

STaN

That's for 2 months, but that is still weird that its exactly 74.99

32.495 sounds about right (:rolleyes:) for a months worth of ISDN

Samson

Originally posted by dahamsta
Been meaning to ask about this actually: There's nothing I can do right? Two regular lines would cost the same?

I think it actually costs a little more for two lines versus ISDN.
I used to have two lines in the house, but got rid of one when ISDN arrived, and as far as I can recall (was a few years ago) there was a slight saving in line rental.

dahamsta

Originally posted by STaN
That's for 2 months, but that is still weird that its exactly 74.99

32.495 sounds about right (:rolleyes:) for a months worth of ISDN

Ah-ha! I forgot I'd transferred back to residential. Dopey.

adam

De Rebel

Originally posted by dahamsta
There's nothing I can do right? Two regular lines would cost the same?

adam

Go back to a single analogue, like i did when i got DSL. The one time i had to fall back on it for internet access it was painfully slow, so i just did a bit of e-mail and cut the grass. I really wanted to keep the isdn, but just couldn't bring myself to live with the waste. Its a nuisance cause it was handy to RAS over ISDN into a few client sites, but no way was i throwing those bobs into o'reillys pension fund.