FREE Broadband from Imagine

BendiBus

www.imagine.ie

the 20 hour timed product is now FREE!

This link lists all the home products. Always on is now €9.99

https://www.imagine.ie/imagine_home_broadband.htm

djmarkus

imagine that.

Sponge Bob

BendiBus wrote:

www.ripoff.ie

Thats compete ****e. Look at their line rental.

Its the Highest Line rental in The Whole World , even higher than Eircoms .

Its the same price and cinergi and perlico for rental and bb €35 a month .

BT charge €35 a month for always on dsl and line rental

Digiweb charge €20 a month with metro lite for always on and line rental

paulm17781

Sponge, I seem to have lost my site. What / Where is the line rental written?

BendiBus

Sponge Bob wrote:

Its the Highest Line rental in The Whole World , even higher than Eircoms .

Isn't line rental @ €24.18 the same as Eircom? Except they throw in 20 hours of bb? Although you do need to sign up for a €9.99 call package too which gives unlimited landline calls within Ireland.

Sponge Bob

BendiBus wrote:

Isn't line rental @ €24.18 the same as Eircom? Except they throw in 20 hours of bb? Although you do need to sign up for a €9.99 call package too which gives unlimited landline calls within Ireland.

and router rental another €3 a month

therefore you pay them €24+10+3 or €37 a month and they throw in timed 1Mbit

its as clear as mud on the home page

BendiBus

Sponge Bob wrote:

and router rental another €3 a month

therefore you pay them €24+10+3 or €37 a month and they throw in timed 1Mbit

its as clear as mud on the home page

I know a number of people who have analysed the options and find this product suits them best. More power to any company that offers products that are attractive to a wider market than boards.ie posters. Don't forget that many people actually use their phone lines to make a lot of phonecalls! So with this package they pretty much do get free bb thrown in.

/V\etalfish

BendiBus wrote:

Don't forget that many people actually use their phone lines to make a lot of phonecallsin.

in that case they should get themselves a proper BB connection and go VoIP

CuLT

Anyone who finds timed broadband an attractive option needs their head examined.

A pointlessly crippled somewhat faster version of dialup.

RangeR

Sponge Bob wrote:

and router rental another €3 a month

therefore you pay them €24+10+3 or €37 a month and they throw in timed 1Mbit

its as clear as mud on the home page

and Family Protection for €3 a month after the first month

therefore you pay them €24+€10+€3+€3 or €40 a month and they throw in timed 1Mbit.

I can almost see past the mud...

*Edit* After the first month, if you don't want family protection, YOU have to specifically cancel it or you will pay it forever more.

Family Protection is optional. First month is for free, if after that you don't want it, just log on to www.imagine.ie and remove it from your account.

kaizersoze

Crap product and crap offer but hey, it might spur the others into action.

Oracle

It's early days but I'm not sure I'd agree with all the criticisms. I think this package could be handy for some people. Although 30 hours a month would be better, at least that would be about an hour per day. That would suit a lot of people who just check their email, and do a little on-line shopping. I noticed on the web site the following cost reducing options: 1) You can use your own modem (saving €2.99 per month.)
2) The family protection is optional, you can opt out using the web site after the first free month (saving another €2.99.)
That only leaves that old BB provider money-spinner the "connection charge". Well, applying that depends on how much they want your business; in this highly competitive market I'd say negotiate.

I also noticed they will give you a fixed IP address, I think most of the other BB providers charge extra for this.

Is it necessary to take out the calls package? I can't find that on the site.

Links:
Family protection opt out details: http://www.imagine.ie/imagine_home_broadband.htm
Use Your Own Router: http://my.imagine.ie/support/index.php?x=&mod_id=2&root=1&id=4
FAQ's (fixed IP): http://my.imagine.ie/support/index.php?x=&mod_id=2&root=34&id=100

BendiBus

CuLT wrote:

Anyone who finds timed broadband an attractive option needs their head examined.

A pointlessly crippled somewhat faster version of dialup.

That's a silly point of view. There are very many people who only want the internet for a few hours per month. Why not a timed product if it's cheaper than an always-on one?

The big downside of this new offering is that existing users have to pay €50 if they want it - even if they want to upgrade! That's a bit poor. I know a fee to downgrade is not uncommon, but charging for an upgrade is not on.

paulm17781

BendiBus wrote:

That's a silly point of view. There are very many people who only want the internet for a few hours per month. Why not a timed product if it's cheaper than an always-on one?

Because this farce of a product only exists in this farce of a place and should be replaced by cheap always on.

BendiBus

paulm17781 wrote:

...and should be replaced by cheap always on.

...and why not have an even cheaper timed service too? Why do people think a timed product is so fundamentally wrong?

Sponge Bob

BendiBus wrote:

...and why not have an even cheaper timed service too? Why do people think a timed product is so fundamentally wrong?

Its a crap product that can cost €50 a month including excess charges and aimed at the unwary.

Your thread title is misleading, its not free broadband never mind FREE broadband . Can you edit the first post and call it New Imagine BB Bundle or something along those lines . €40 a month = Line Rental+Router+Parental Thing+Calls and up to €30 in surcharges is not free.

Oracle

kaizersoze wrote:

Crap product and crap offer but hey, it might spur the others into action.

I think it already has....

http://www.smarttelecom.ie/broadbandplus.htm

paulm17781

BendiBus wrote:

...and why not have an even cheaper timed service too? Why do people think a timed product is so fundamentally wrong?

I download very little, I could probably get and use only 20hrs. Once in a while I decide I want to download something. Could be a Linux ISO on DVD, 3GB. Timed products will prevent people downloading big files, information is not distributed to it's full potential. Being timed gets rid of one of the perks of broadband. While these people may not use the internet for much, while they have a bad timed excuse for broadband, they will never see all the internet has to offer.

Leatherbelly

I like imagine and think there might be a market for time based bband. My problem with all of them is the fricking terms and conditions. have you seen the faqs for this imagine service - some real gems.

Look at this one, how is this going to help encourage 'joe soap' to buy broadband...

Q. Do I have to order on line?

A. No you can order over the phone by phoning our sales team 1890 92 93 94. However you will appreciate that taking your order that way costs us more money and therefore this way of ordering carries a once off additional charge of €25.
We want you to get the best deal and as you are considering ordering broadband we would encourage you to try out the online way. Thousands of people have ordered on line and have enjoyed a seamless connection.

https://www.imagine.ie/signups/faqs.html

€25 for ordering by phone...that's hardly fair, or am I being rough on them?

CuLT

There is a market for time-based broadband alright; the problem is that the only reason such a market exists is consumer ignorance. It's not the direction to drive broadband technologies in.

Broadband was supposed to be "always on Internet", but this has been shifted, rather surreptitiously, to "always on broadband", highlighting the possiblity for broadband that wasn't "always on".

Timed broadband only makes sense from a financial standpoint, and while I'm not naive to this being a perfectly valid route to take from that perspective, I feel it's a terribly underhanded way of exploiting public ignorance of a "new" technology.

I would imagine (har har) that the best route to take from both a consumer perspective and telecomms perspective would be to have a product with a very low cap. Say, 1.5 - 2GB per month, and actually be able to enforce this cap, and a basic data rate of 1 or 2MBit.
This way, the issue of bandwidth is resolved, it allows light users a perfectly usable product (from their position it's now the Internet without the slow speeds or having to watch the clock) and users with higher requirements (which I include myself in) can pay for more bandwidth, faster speeds etc.

Everyone wins. Even the telecomms.

MunsterCycling

Excellent point CuLT about having a low cap always on product. The Government of this Banana's own definition of Broadband is 'Always on connection to the internet' (check out Oasis.ie) so maybe consumer affairs should be doing them for false and misleading advertising???

Foxwood

paulm17781 wrote:

While these people may not use the internet for much, while they have a bad timed excuse for broadband, they will never see all the internet has to offer.

Whereas on the dialup service that they're currently using they will?

For someone who has dialup now, and only uses it occassionally, they can test the broadband waters for a once off "installation charge", and no monthly bill. If they find that they like the "newer, faster" internet so much that they are using it a lot more, then they can get always on for a tenner a month.

As long as the log-on/log-off process is pretty transparent, and the users can know how much of their 20 hours they have left each month, I think this is a very imaginative offer (no pun intended). I know that if my parents didn't already have broadband, I'd consider getting this for them. They only use the internet to exchange photos of the grandkids, and book the occassional flight. And they already have a full broadband package (averaging less than a gig a month).

cgarvey

Surely the log-on/off process shouldn't be transparent .. so that users will know explicitally to log on/off so as to avoid using their hours up?

This is a good offer for some people, but the PR is making it out to be the best thing since the introduction of BB. It's not that good.

.cg

Foxwood

cgarvey wrote:

Surely the log-on/off process shouldn't be transparent .. so that users will know explicitally to log on/off so as to avoid using their hours up?

Ideally, there wouldn't be any "log on/log off" process - it should connect automatically when a browser or e-mail client is open, and time out after 2 or 3 minutes of idle time (which will be defeated by some "busy" web pages, unfortunately), otherwise people will forget to disconnect, and find themselves caught (it happens today with dialup). Perhaps a popup "balloon" with a countdown clock whenever the machine is connected would do the job.

cgarvey

So a combination of explicit and automatic then! Just not transparent, because if that was the case leaving your IM client open would use up your 20 hours.. but with your balloon/some explicit action, you'd know you need to log off. Sure, some will get caught, but that's what they're hoping for. If it was transparent, then you'd not learn to connect/disconnect (and thus stay connected, despite automatic disconnect's best efforts).

.cg

paulm17781

Foxwood wrote:

Whereas on the dialup service that they're currently using they will?

I used to try to download the odd 10 meg file when I had dial up, I realised it was taking time / costing money. I then realised I needed broadband. All people with this timed farce will do is try to stick to 20hrs like they did with dial up.

I said in one post that this particular offer could be good to persuade people to move to real broadband but IMO timed products should only be used as free 'testers' to sell them to the public is insulting.

Foxwood

cgarvey wrote:

So a combination of explicit and automatic then! Just not transparent, because if that was the case leaving your IM client open would use up your 20 hours.. but with your balloon/some explicit action, you'd know you need to log off. Sure, some will get caught, but that's what they're hoping for. If it was transparent, then you'd not learn to connect/disconnect (and thus stay connected, despite automatic disconnect's best efforts).

It should be "transparent" in that there shouldn't be a cumbersome login process. This is easy for e-mail and browsing (at least with IE and OE, where the connection can disconnect when the application closes). It gets more complicated with other applications, especially "background" apps. I think the important thing would be a clear visual indication that the clock is counting down (a tiny little icon in the system tray wouldn't be enough, in my opinion).

The people who are looking to "upgrade" from dialup to a timed BB product probably aren't using IM (if they are, they'd be aware that it doesn't work when you're not online, and that 20 hours probably wouldn't be enough time). And I don't think Imagine are hoping that some people wll be caught - they have to pay eircom for those extra minutes, and end up with a pissed off customer. They'd much prefer to have the customer "upgrade" to the untimed product.

RTÉ carried an interesting interview with Sean Bolger from Imagine the other day about what they want to achieve with this offer.

Foxwood

paulm17781 wrote:

I used to try to download the odd 10 meg file when I had dial up, I realised it was taking time / costing money. I then realised I needed broadband. All people with this timed farce will do is try to stick to 20hrs like they did with dial up.

If that's all they want, what's the problem? Would you prefer that they stick with dialup?

I said in one post that this particular offer could be good to persuade people to move to real broadband but IMO timed products should only be used as free 'testers' to sell them to the public is insulting.

Someone has to pay for "free testers" - the infrastructure has to be put in place, and eircom aren't giving it away for free. A once off install charge might well be enough to encourage some people to "test the water" especially if the call package is going to save them money.

As long as "upgrading" to the always on product is a straightforward process, I don't see any downside to this.

seamus

Foxwood wrote:

If that's all they want, what's the problem? Would you prefer that they stick with dialup?

The problem exists with the psychological aspect of it. Broadband is one of those things that people gloss over and kind of ignore until they give it a go. Ask anyone what they thought was the best thing about broadband when they first got it, and they say;
1. The speed
2. The always-on nature
By encouraging people to use the timed product, all you're doing is giving them fast dial-up. They'll use their 20 hours and assume that's enough. Until you give them a chance to experience it always-on, then they'll assume they don't want it.

Foxwood

seamus wrote:

Until you give them a chance to experience it always-on, then they'll assume they don't want it.

Whereas you know that they really do want it? If they don't want to spend a tenner on always on broadband, then who the hell are you to tell them that they're wrong? It's their money, and it's their decision to make.

cgarvey

Foxwood wrote:

It should be "transparent" in that there shouldn't be a cumbersome login process. .. It gets more complicated with other applications, especially "background" apps.

OK, I'm back to disagreeing with you now. It shouldn't be cumbersome, but it should be explicit, so that they get the idea they need to log on and log off. If you leave it up to automatic disconnect then background apps will keep it open. Windows Update and virus update are just 2 common ones. Leaking SMB traffic (although I think that's more or less a thing of the pass), and other apps that are installed will all do the odd phone home routine.

If all the timed "broadband" providers were interested in was getting customers to upgrade to always on, they would send a letter asking, or requesting, not charge per minute there after.. IMO anyway.

.cg