ESAT BT introduce Flat Rate Voice Calls

Mad Mike

From today's Irish independent:

"FAMILIES who run up hefty phone bills can now talk all they like for €25 a month.

The bill includes VAT and will cover unlimited local and national calls to landlines in any part of Ireland, including the North.

Esat BT says its Advantage PLUS service will provide many households with considerable savings on their phone bills. Up to 65pc of the average phone bill is made up of local and national calls."

If you have an account on Unison you can read the whole story:
http://www.unison.ie/irish_independent/stories.php3?ca=9&si=1086195

To be honest a lot of people don't spend €25 a month on local and national calls but Its nice to see something new happening on voice calls for a change. Moves like this can sometimes change peoples patterns of usage - you could imagine it might tempt some heavy users of mobiles back to using their good old landlines.

I can't see this move revolutionising the voice market in itself but it might spark off something interesting. If UTV do their usual trick of introducing a similar package at a lower price then things could get interesting. Expect Eircom to hit back "strongly" :rolleyes: with an offering something like this: flat rate voice calls (local only) (outside of business hours) (with a limit of 15 minutes on every call) fo only €29.99 per month (excluding VAT.)

Now if only I can remember that old local dial up internet number I used to use before the advent of the 189X special internet lines :

spongebob

ESAT also became the first Irish telco to issue a press release in Irish since the days of the oul P7T , see Here . Now for a copy of the T&C's

M

Our man in Havana

Originally posted by Muck
ESAT also became the first Irish telco to issue a press release in Irish since the days of the oul P7T , see Here . Now for a copy of the T&C's

M

Is there a traslation anywhere?

NóMur

The main terms of Service are (not an exact translation):

1) Its for normal phone calls only - not internet calls

2) Its for Local, National and calls to Northern Ireland

3) Its for calls shorter than 60min but, you can finish your call and redial the same number again. If the call does last longer than 60min there's a special rate for every extra minute

Cork

It is not a bad deal. I wonder if Eircom will respond?

niallb

I wonder if Nevada will respond -
it could put UTV in an awkward position if they don't.

NiallB

crawler

Nevada?? Please - it's "Energis" - And Worldcom is MCI......ya da ya da ya da...

They get Stoppy about these things seemingly!

Our man in Havana

Originally posted by crawler
Nevada?? Please - it's "Energis" -

If Energis dont respond UTV will have a churn rate not seen since when people first started to leave eircom 5 years ago.

They will at least have to match ESAT BT or loose out.

BrianD

Do you still have to pay line rental to Eircom? If so, you are looking at a bill of a minimum €75 over two months (including line rental). Add on your internet access and mobile calls and it's not as great as it looks.
Still it's a start ...

Occidental

Originally posted by BrianD
Do you still have to pay line rental to Eircom? If so, you are looking at a bill of a minimum €75 over two months (including line rental). Add on your internet access and mobile calls and it's not as great as it looks.
Still it's a start ...

Brian,

You will indeed still have to give Eircom their pound of flesh (as per the terms and conditions found in the small print on your birth cert).

Mad Mike

Originally posted by Bond-James Bond
If Energis dont respond UTV will have a churn rate not seen since when people first started to leave eircom 5 years ago.

They will at least have to match ESAT BT or loose out.

€25 a month for local and national calls only is not a good deal for everybody. If you look at a recent phone bill - many of us are now spending more on calls to mobiles and internet calls. Nevertheless there are some people who will benfit greatly. Anyone who makes a lot of national calls during daytime hours should make a killing - I'm just not sure who that is.

IrishMike

Originally posted by Mad Mike
€25 a month for local and national calls only is not a good deal for everybody. If you look at a recent phone bill - many of us are now spending more on calls to mobiles and internet calls. Nevertheless there are some people who will benfit greatly. Anyone who makes a lot of national calls during daytime hours should make a killing - I'm just not sure who that is.

thats not true m8
if u look at the website it shows they are cheaper for mobile calls and almost all international calls
disaster about the line rental but for anyone with a large bill this is a godsend

Capt'n Midnight

Originally posted by NóMur
The main terms of Service are (not an exact translation):

1) Its for normal phone calls only - not internet calls

2) Its for Local, National and calls to Northern Ireland

3) Its for calls shorter than 60min but, you can finish your call and redial the same number again. If the call does last longer than 60min there's a special rate for every extra minute

1) Hmm a dial up to broadband at work
2) Hmm are there any NI ISP's that still use ordinary numbers ?
3) Must be some way of rigging a clock so the minute hand disconnects all calls on the hour - some thing idiot proof - cos ya might forget to start your count down timer..