Blueface do seem to charge a monthly rental

fisab

Blueface do seem to charge a monthly rental.
I thought the 100 min/month on their basic package was a bonus on top of the E9.99 per month.
Just off the phone to blueface and it seems that you are charged E9.99 for 100 minutes - you dont get to use any of that E9.99.
Since all the calls cost E0.02 or less, the value of the 100 min of calls is less than E2. Thus you are charged over E8 per month in "rental".
This is very disappointing. I assumed you got a bonus of 100 minutes if you committed to E9.99 per month (thus you got 9.99 to spend plus 100 bonus minutes). Just off the phone to them and apparently this is not the case.

Cabaal

While it is true
You have to remember blueface need to make money somewhere and for the 8e your paying you get
- Voicemail, wav files are mailed to you
- 056 UK VoIP number for free, Local call rates
- 076 Irish VoIP number for free, local call rates (coming soon)
- 051, 01 etc Irish Geographical number for free
- List of called numbers available in A/C manager

If you just want to make calls and don't want all of the above maybe the pay as you go package worth be better value for you?
But for value for money the items above are well worth the 8e imho.

fisab

Dont get me wrong - I think that overall Blueface offers a really great alternative to Eircom.
I'm just saying that if they dont classify the monthy charge of E8+ as rental - what is it??
Surely the "say goodbye to line rental" line on the website isnt accurate.

IMHO the 'basic' package isnt good value at all compared to the other 2.

In the 'pay as you go' package, you can receive calls - you get an extn (+353-1-4361725 extn:xxxx). If you spend E10, you get E10 worth of calls.

In the 'basic' package, you get a personalised number (geographic and 076) rather than an extn, but of the E10 you spend you get less than E2 in call value).

In the 'plus' package, you again get a personalised number (geographic and 076) rather than an extn, but of the E20 you spend close to the E20 in call value).


I'm not giving out about Blueface - its great to have the alternative to Eircom, I'm just making the point that the middle package is poor value (relatively).

brav

ya i have the pay as you go one, and you get voicemail, which the wav is also sent to you by email, and i think its great value.

I am thinking of moving to the basic package just to get an 021 number, but im still not sure.

On a side note the tech support is the best i have seen in any company anywhere. Very fast and dedicated to fixing the problem even at 7 on a friday evening!(the prob ended up being a firewall problem in my wireless router)

causal

fisab wrote:

I'm just saying that if they dont classify the monthy charge of E8+ as rental - what is it??
Surely the "say goodbye to line rental" line on the website isnt accurate.

I made the same point in April
The sentence could more accurately read: "Say goodbye to line rental, say hello to service subcription"
But to answer your question, the €9.99/€19.99 is a 'subscription to services' rather than 'line rental'
- you subscribe to the services Cabaal mentioned earlier.

IMHO the 'basic' package isnt good value at all compared to the other 2.
<snip>
I'm just making the point that the middle package is poor value (relatively).

You're absolutely right.
With the other two packages you basically get all your money in call credit - with the middle one - you don't.

Skytel.ie offer 250 free minutes (local, national, international) for their €9.99 package.
They also offer unlimited (local and national) calls in their €19.99 package
They also offer unlimited (local, national, and international) calls in their €29.99 package
- all of the above free calls are to certain destinations only which is quite reasonable and the same as blueface.ie Freedom minutes are to certain destinations.

iirc blueface original tariffs had 0 free minutes for €9.99; and 250 or 500 for the €19.99 - they were changed in March to the current offering of 100 and 1000 respectively.
On balance I think the skytel tariff structure is better; but we'll await the next iteration of tariff structures from blueface

causal

capistrano

Based on an average cost of 2c/min, €20 on the Blueface basic package will get you 600 minutes (100 mins for €10 and the second €10 will get you 500 mins). On the €20 package you get 1000 minutes.

So it depends on how many calls you make - if you are going to average less that 600 minutes per month then it will be cheaper to be on the basic package.

causal

That's true.
But the point is not so much 'Given the tariff structure and my usage - which is the best option for me?'
It's more 'Wow, Freedom Basic stands out badly in terms of call minutes per euro compared to the other two options':

1) Pay-as-you-go
- all your money goes for call minutes
- €0 goes on service subscription

2) Freedom Basic
- €2 goes on 100 call minutes
- €8 goes on service subscription

3) Freedom Plus
- €20 goes on 1000 call minutes
- €0 goes on service subscription

imho, Either one of the following should happen:
1) the amount of call minutes for Freedom Basic should be increased to 500 minutes (to bring it inline with the other two tariffs of €0 service subscription) - if not 500, then at least 250 minutes to match Skytel.ie
2) the subscription for Freedom Basic should be reduced to €5

I would assume the former would be the blueface preferred option.

causal

WillieFlynn

I depends on who you call and what you need as to which will be a better package for you:

I find the freedom basic the best for me as I often call mobiles and also want an incomming number.

I would normaly spend as much as freedom pluss costs, but half goes on calls not covered in the freedom minutes.

fisab

I agree that if your usage puts you between the 'basic' and the 'plus' package, then the basic package is lighter on your pocket and thus better value.
BUT if you approach it as wanting to get the maximum number of calls per euro spent, and you are only a moderate user, then you are unlucky to be in the band where blueface offers the least value for money.

From looking, Skytel offer the best value for moderate users (better than blueface - 250min vs 100min) but personally I'd use blueface for heavy usage (the plus packet lets me split my calls between Ireland and the UK - I have to go to E30 to do that with Skytel).

air

IMHO, for business customers the most important thing blueface need to do is to set up a decent post paid / direct debit charging system.
This craic of putting in credit is for the birds as far as a business is concerned.
I believe they are working on it at present though.

capistrano

air wrote:

IMHO, for business customers the most important thing blueface need to do is to set up a decent post paid / direct debit charging system.

Agreed! And not just for businesses.

causal

causal wrote:

<snip>

imho, Either one of the following should happen:
1) the amount of call minutes for Freedom Basic should be increased to 500 minutes (to bring it inline with the other two tariffs of €0 service subscription) - if not 500, then at least 250 minutes to match Skytel.ie
2) the subscription for Freedom Basic should be reduced to €5

I would assume the former would be the blueface preferred option.

causal

Blueface have responded quickly (but it could be coincidence), check out Blueface - 2 new subscription options

causal