Can any network beat this 3 offer ?

ddub

Firstly a disclaimer, I do not work for 3 or Gocall

I came across three.ie/gocall which promotes cheap International calls from your 3 mobile ... however it also works for Irish numbers.

Whilst gocall.ie looks like a bit of a half hearted attempt, it is promoted on the three website and in their latest magazine (a small unclear mention of what it actually is)

Essentially Gocall have created a custom range of 1520 numbers which 3 charge differently than the standard 30c per minute rate quoted on their service pricing for calling 1520 numbers . For example you can ring an Irish landline by dialing 1520 323 003 and following the prompts. 3 charge 3c per minute for this number (all other countries are listed on gocall.ie , so for example UK landlines have a different number which is charged at 2c per minute). Additionally there is another number for Irish mobiles which is charged at 25c per minute (keep in mind that 3 charge 35c per minute for ringing Irish landlines and mobiles if you call without using this service). Note that when calling an Irish number you must do 00353xxx

Also, a point of note is that your caller id will still display and not random digits which can happen with some of these access number services.

I can confirm having used the Irish landline, mobile and UK landline access numbers that they do bill correctly at the 3c, 25c and 2c per minute rates respectively (billed per second). I am on 3pay. There is also a handy widget you can download which gives access to the relevant access numbers for the country you wish to call.

So let's take an example look at what we can now get with a €20 topup per month:

3,000 Text Messages < Included with topup
3,000 Weekend Minutes < Included with topup
250mb Data < Included with topup (there seems to be some confusion that you need to use €5 from your topup to get this , but I can confirm topping up by €20 and receiving a 250mb allowance without using anything from my credit)
250 Irish Landline Minutes < Using €7.50 from your topup calling gocall access
50 mobile minutes < Using €12.50 from your topup calling gocall access

Does it get any better than this in the prepay market? looking at o2's announcement this morning I don't think so myself.

I have no idea why 3 have created / promote such a service (appears to be run by phonovation) as I would imagine it can only hurt revenues but it's good news for any 3 customers.

Finally, don't expect 3 customer care to have a clue about this - they don't - I tried

ardmacha

O2 already do this kind of thing with 1call.ie, although not to ROI landlines. It gives a better deal to price sensitive customers, at the cost of some inconvenience, while keeping prices higher for casual callers.