On/Off Peak

flogen

I guess this is the right place to ask....

why is there an on and off peak rate? why does it cost more to phone before 6?

is it dearer for the likes of eircom and so they pass the rate onto us, or is it just a con?

Flogen

Serbian

Originally posted by flogen
why is there an on and off peak rate? why does it cost more to phone before 6?

I would say it is beacuse businesses generally function and make all their phone calls from 8am to 6pm. If Eircom apply an On Peak rate, this means that people are less likely to make phone calls unless they really need to (well, that's the theory anyway!) so this will lead to less congestion on the network during a time where the network is used to peak capacity.

Originally posted by flogen
is it dearer for the likes of eircom and so they pass the rate onto us, or is it just a con?

I'd say it's a bit of a con really. America have free local calls whereas countries like Australia have flat rate local calls (e.g. 9c no matter how long the call lasts). These rates apply at all times of the day.

Although Eircom shafting customers for cash would be a first...

flogen

Id say that because the businesses work from 9 to 6, they are bound to make calls.

lets say they make 5000 calls a day (just for ease sake), those calls are going to be made if the calls cost 1c a minute or 10c. Eircom feel that rather than make less than 1c profit a minute, why not make 9c a minute.....

however, your congestion explanation is probably what Eircom will say if you asked

We need a company that will shake things up abit here, but Esat BT etc have a good deal on it too, if no-one complains theres no need to do anything at all

Flogen

seamus

Originally posted by Serbian
If Eircom apply an On Peak rate, this means that people are less likely to make phone calls unless they really need to (well, that's the theory anyway!) so this will lead to less congestion on the network during a time where the network is used to peak capacity.

Heh, bless the naivety
As flogen says, the calls are going to be made regardless of how much they cost, so calls cost more during the day to milk off the corporate market. Business customers are the big revenue generators because they use services an order of magnitude more than residential customers, and they pay more for it too.

Back in the olden times, everyone was charged for a 15 minute call, regardless of the legnth of the call. Then when the big corporations began dialing up servers around the world via Eirpac (before the internet), the pricing structure was changed, since they could dial up from 9-5, Mon-Fri and only be charged the equivalent of 5 15-minute calls. Not good business for TE.