TV/Phone/Broadband (and mobile?) for me ma!

cormie

Hey folks, my mam has been asking me if there's any better deal she can get for TV/Phone/Broadband

I think the idea of going freesat/saorview would suit her fine, she really only watches the basic channels (Rte, TV3 etc) I the box is €75 in power city, is there a lot of different options when it comes to saorview at different price brackets etc or is this the only one, you just pay €75 and plug and play? Her TV only has SCART connection I think, will the box still work?

For phone/broadband, an anytime landline/mobile option would be great. I see UPC is offering a mobile service soon which seems really good value at €15 for unltd everything. If she could get landline/broadband/mobile for about €45 a month and not have to pay anything for TV since she'd have saorview, that would be great. Does anyone know if this is possible?

She'll want to keep the landline and always on/unlimited broadband would be best as I'd rather have her know her expenditure than be caught with any overcharge surprises for going over her allowance. Same with mobile and phone usage, a decent data allowance and plenty of minutes.

Any feedback would be great!

gerard2210

What setup does she have now? Does she have sky/upc? Is she with eircom?

cormie

Thanks for the reply. She's with UPC for TV, phone and broadband I think. She pays about €75 a month I believe and about €20 on PAYG credit.

Furzy

Saorview (Irish channels) most likely won't be plug and play - you'll need an aerial to pick up the channels. Freesat (UK channels) will need a satellite dish.

Furzy

Have you tried to get her the UPC bundle with phone, broadband and TV @ €25/month for 12m?

cormie

Oh I didn't realise that. Who typically installs the satellite/aerial?

What channels are available on each I wonder and I also wonder are these services going to be wound down any time soon in the next few years, or are they relatively new services to replace the old analogue tv way and likely to be around for another decade or two?

gerard2210

Ring upc they are offering free TV for 12 months. Package is 25 PM for 12 months then 75pm for remaining 6 months. Stand alone bb + phone with eircom or Vodafone will set you back at least 55/60 a month anyway.

cormie

Thanks for the suggestion, that could be a good stop gap alright, but I might prefer to just set her up with the freesat/saorview and be done with it. She's not a big tv watcher and I don't want the idea of €75 a month looming over her head as she's very much a month to month spender and she'd have spent anything she would have saved from the first 12 months by the time the €75 is due again

The vodafone home essentials ( unlimited fibre broadband/ unlimited anytime calls to all Irish landlines) could be good at €45 a month, it should be easy enough for her to remember to only call mobile numbers from her mobile if I get her a good mobile plan. Unless UPC have a better offering when they launch their mobile service.

The most suitable eircom offer would be this I think: https://www.eircom.net/mobilebundles/productdetails?b=2#tab__container3


Eircom do offer a TV deal too, but again, I think given her usage of TV, it'd probably be most economical to do the inevitable now and just get her set up with freesat/saorview and cut this from her list of future payments.

gerard2210

Combo or saorview box will need an ariel. Probably get one installed for 150-200. Hold off on mobile as upc and carphone warehouse have to launch plans with in the next few weeks might be some good plans there.

cormie

Ok, so to get saorview/freesat she'll need:

Combi box (approx €75?)
Aerial install (€150-200)
Satellite install (any ideas on this?)

then once that's sorted, there should be no more costs again, so over the course of say 5 years at a saving of maybe €20 a month on average, it's saving €1,200. I wonder would an aerial installer typically be able to install the satellite for freesat too? I just hope these combi boxes can accommodate a scart connection for her tv, don't want her having to upgrade that too, but would be nice at the same time for it to be futureproof and have HDMI etc too, if there was a combi box that had scart and hdmi that would be pefect.

Then it's just a case of finding a broadband/phone/mobile solution. Maybe UPC will come up trumps with that since they might offer a decent bundle deal on launch. Eircom and Vodafone could also offer bundle deals on all 3, but just going phone/bb and then getting a separate sim only mobile deal could be fine too.

muffler

cormie wrote: »

if I get her a good mobile plan.

Another option is Tesco mobile. You can get a plan for €15 a month with no contract.

That gets free calls (up to 1 hour) to all mobile networks and land lines in Ireland and the €15 remains in the account. That balance can then be used for texts or calling a UK no. etc. Im on that plan for about a year now and still have about €150 in the account. If I didnt need the land line for broadband I would ditch it altogether as the mobile phone plan caters for all my calls.....except for family who ring me and dont want to be out the cost of calling a mobile no.

Just for the record Tesco Mobile use the o2 network so its fairly reliable.

cormie

Thanks muffler, I'll probably just try get her on a bill pay rather than having to deal with top ups etc and having to text numbers etc. For the sake of €10 more per month she can get unlimited calls/texts and 15gb data with Tesco too I think. eMobile have an even better plan but it's for business only for €20+VAT p/m which I'm on myself.

gerard2210

Look at freetoair.ie it will give you an idea of prices for freesat and saorview. If as you said earlier your mum would be happy with rte and tv3 maybe just go with saorview

Yamanoto

Your almost always better off sourcing the boxes yourself, as Sat installers typically whack a hefty mark-up on & include it in an overall package price.

Installers will do your Mum's sat & aerial installation simultaneously OP. I'm actually organising exactly the same thing for an uncle of mine at present - he was forking out silly money to UPC on a monthly basis for channels that are all available free to air.

cormie

Where's your uncle based, Yamanato? If you had recommendations of an installer who could do both saorview and freesat that would be great and of course a combo box that would offer both and be ok to connect to Scart on TV and HDMI if ever needed. Actually if there was one that could also take in a HDMI signal that would be great (my phone can connect to HDMI tv jut with the USB cable so was thinking this could be a nice hidden addition if she ever ends up getting a similar phone and wants to watch youtube videos etc direct on tv).

Yamanoto

Will send you on a PM with details cormie.

cormie

Haven't actually gotten around to this yet but going to try get it sorted this week. I saw one thing recently about some 80 year old who ended up in court because she was asked to take a dish down from the side of her house and it said in the report it's actually illegal to have a dish on the side of your house? Could this pose problems I wonder? I think the lady was in Dublin City Council area, whereas my mam is in Dun Laoghaire/Rathdown.

I was speaking to a sky installer and they don't seem to have any issues anywhere, or at least don't worry about consequences?

muffler

cormie wrote: »

Haven't actually gotten around to this yet but going to try get it sorted this week. I saw one thing recently about some 80 year old who ended up in court because she was asked to take a dish down from the side of her house and it said in the report it's actually illegal to have a dish on the side of your house? Could this pose problems I wonder? I think the lady was in Dublin City Council area, whereas my mam is in Dun Laoghaire/Rathdown.

I was speaking to a sky installer and they don't seem to have any issues anywhere, or at least don't worry about consequences?

First of all here's a link to a thread about the lady who was taken to court. I believe she was reported on and its fair to say that Sky dishes, while they do require planning permission if erected on the front wall of a house, are generally ignored by the planners. However if the planning dept receive a report on the matter from a member of the public they are obliged to follow up on it.

The same planning rules apply nationally so the area your mum lives in is irrelevant. A single dish up to 1 metre in diameter can be fitted to the side or rear of the house without permission. So nothing to worry about

cormie

Thanks a lot for that. I just don't want to organise it for my mam only to end up with any problems. Would it matter what way the house is facing then? It might be best on the front of the house and with it being a semi-d, maybe the open side wouldn't suit either..

colm_mcm

If you look at other houses on the street, you'll see what way the dishes point.

cormie

So seems the dish will be best on the back of the house anyway

Is sky arts on saorview does anyone know?

colm_mcm

No. It's a pay channel.
Just get an Andre Rieu DVD and put it on repeat.

cormie

Yeah that's a pity, I think my mam had it with UPC and watched it from time to time!