eMobile: PrePay Thirty20 Plan

paultf

Tony from Eircom/eMobile can you answer this:

I signed up to eMobile's billpay plan Select 200: 200 minutes, 200 texts, free VM, free landline but no data => €24/month.

I was on billpay with my previous provider and I always thought billpay was better value than prepay.

I noticed today that maybe eMobile's PrePay Thirty20 Plan might have been a better choice. With this plan you get: 250 minutes, 250 texts, free landline, and 250Mb data. But you have to pay for VM and the cost of calls outside the limit are more costly than billpay. Though with prepay you get €260 worth of credit over the first 12 months!!

* With this plan you get €20 bonus credit/month. Is this unused bonus credit carried over to the next month?

* If the bonus credit is carried over + the extra minutes & texts with the prepay plan, prepay is a better choice I think. Why is this so? I would have thought billpay would always work out better? I am actually paying more for my billpay plan/month but it seems prepay is a better value plan and it's cheaper!

I am starting to wonder now I should have gone with prepay. Am I missing something here?

EDIT: just remembered I got my phone for free on billpay - would have cost €69 on prepay.

JTMan

There is no clear expiry date in the T&C's for the bonus credit. That's not to say that there is no expiry date.

For many people, prepay is a much better option financially than bill pay.

eircom: Tony

paultf wrote: »

Tony from Eircom/eMobile can you answer this:

I signed up to eMobile's billpay plan Select 200: 200 minutes, 200 texts, free VM, free landline but no data => €24/month.

I was on billpay with my previous provider and I always thought billpay was better value than prepay.

I noticed today that maybe eMobile's PrePay Thirty20 Plan might have been a better choice. With this plan you get: 250 minutes, 250 texts, free landline, and 250Mb data. But you have to pay for VM and the cost of calls outside the limit are more costly than billpay. Though with prepay you get €260 worth of credit over the first 12 months!!

* With this plan you get €20 bonus credit/month. Is this unused bonus credit carried over to the next month?

* If the bonus credit is carried over + the extra minutes & texts with the prepay plan, prepay is a better choice I think. Why is this so? I would have thought billpay would always work out better? I am actually paying more for my billpay plan/month but it seems prepay is a better value plan and it's cheaper!

I am starting to wonder now I should have gone with prepay. Am I missing something here?

EDIT: just remembered I got my phone for free on billpay - would have cost €69 on prepay.

Hi paultf
checking this for you now.
Tony

paultf

Just to add..

I had a quick check of my previous provider O2 and billpay works out better than prepay with them.

With eMobile on select 200 (billpay) I lose out in the following ways comapred to prepay:

* I signed up to a 18 month contract
* I pay more/month: €24 and get less minutes/texts
* As I have a Eircom fixed line, a €5 discount is included. So therefore my plan is actually worth/costing €29
* No bonus credit like prepay

With prepay €20/month I get:
* more text/mins
* top up when I need to
* the flexibility to leave eMobile at anytime
* a massive bonus credit

Prepay works out better. IMO this shouldn't be the case.

Tony, what do think about the above?

paultf

eircom: Tony wrote: »

Hi paultf
checking this for you now.
Tony

Bump.

Not really concerned about the prepaid credit. More interested to know why in this case the prepay package is better than billpay i.e. why do I have to subscribe to an 18 month sub, less minutes & texts and I pay more/month? IMO billpay should be getting the better deal.

JTMan

paultf wrote: »

Bump.

Not really concerned about the prepaid credit. More interested to know why in this case the prepay package is better than billpay i.e. why do I have to subscribe to an 18 month sub, less minutes & texts and I pay more/month? IMO billpay should be getting the better deal.

You get a heavily subsidised phone on billpay. You, in effect, pay back the subsidy over the 18 months.

paultf

My Dad is on a lower usage billpay package with O2. Recently he had to get a replacement Nokia phone - a basic one. Paid €30 for it from the O2 shop.

I have the exact same phone which I got from eMobile for free.

Still works out way better to be on thirty20 prepaid no matter what way you look at it. On thirty20 you have to pay €69 for the same phone. If I was on prepay I would get my phone somewhere else. I mean with the €210 bonus credit you get, you could buy a nice phone with that.

Comparing the 2 packages I am not getting a good deal despite the fact I am paying more and I have to make a bigger commitment.