UTV Launch Flat-Rate Internet Package

Yoda · 07-09-2002 6:38pm

Why does it have to be Direct Debit or Credit Card? The thing is, it's not a fixed fee per month (if you happen to go over the limit) and, well, unless one has a very fixed and regular income rate it is hard to know how much to reserve in an account.

On the other hand, that is no worse that the HIDEOUS shocks I get regularly from that vicious, greedy, shortsighted, uncaring, obnoxious mouse.

I'm moving house within the fortnight but am delighted to inform Eircom that I, too, am voting with my feet.

Ruu_Old · 07-09-2002 7:52pm

any chance of unbundling the telephony, i cant get the mother to agree to change from Eircom

great job tho

ando · 07-09-2002 8:41pm

hi scott, can you give us a word on the latency issue ? I for one would be prepared to pay extra if it meant getting lower pings for gaming. Its the only thing i find a bit dissapointing with the package !

oscarBravo · 07-09-2002 8:44pm

Originally posted by Nuphor
I'm guessing they'll just give you their DUN phone number with their confirmation email, so you can just set up a manual connection

Certainly works with the free service. UTVi strike me as a beardy-friendly company that way.

paulthelegend · 07-09-2002 10:47pm

Right this is my first post so most will skip over but...

Why not have and on and off peak for the 2 hour cut off like during the hours of 6pm - 11pm is the (peak(off-peak)) hours so have it at 2 hours but after the hours of 11pm till 8am (off-peak(off-peak)) hours have the cut off time at 4 hours for the gamers who stay up all night improving there pale complexions

other wise yea as a iol no limit cut off user i think this is bleedin amazin!! fair play to utv. and get off your ar$es republic!! or there will be more job losses

paul
the legend

Yoda · 07-09-2002 11:10pm

I *do* think that it would be a lot more attractive if UTVi could offer another payment scheme besides direct debit or credit card, since in principle the amount paid is variable and that could cause problems for customers.

dahamsta · 07-09-2002 11:28pm

I didn't pay them for it until 2 years later...

I didn't pay them at all. I never will. What many people seem to forget is that you had to pay the first month in advance, much like a security deposit for a flat. Companies take it for granted that you'll forget about it. I don't. Esat can bite me.

adam

Smiley · 07-09-2002 11:32pm

I'm with TomF *points up the thread* when he says This is all getting too complicated for me.

NoelRock says:

UTV's phone rates are 25% cheaper than eircoms. So your onpeak should be 3 cents per minute and your off peak is under 1 cent per minute.

ok, but......
I haven't yet found out how UTV's home phone costs compare with Esat (not Eircom) - looked on the site but cannot find a comparison. Also with IOLGold I am paying 4 cent per minute peak and 1 cent offpeak BUT as I have Esat home phone, this is not Eircom's money (thank god) - so "25% off Eircom rates" tells me nothing. (All I pay to Eircom is rental.)

What I'd LIKE... is to be able to use the Internet product without changing home phone provider.

Actually what I'd like is a 24/7 flat rate product if truth be told but at least these are steps in the right direction.

NeoSlicerZ · 08-09-2002 12:59am

WOW, only 400 or so more views and this thread'll have 10K views :eek: :eek: :eek:

Tellox · 08-09-2002 1:06am

yeah, its probably going to break records for veiws/replies in the end..

daveirl · 08-09-2002 8:04am

This post has been deleted.

RainyDay · 08-09-2002 9:47am

There is a very superficial comparision to Esat's call charges on the UTV site, i.e.

Standard Rate inc VAT Eircom Esat BT UTV Internet
Dublin - Dublin (Evening ) 1.26c 1.27c 0.95c
Dublin to Cork (Weekend) 1.26c 1.26c 0.95c
RoI to USA (Daytime) 19.05c 18.31c 14.29c

However, I really need to see more detail than this, i.e. full per-minute figures for local, national, mobile & international calls for each of daytime, evening & weekends. I've had no response to my mail to UTV requesting this - Did anyone get this data?

Lionheart · 08-09-2002 10:26am

A query.

I have two lines one of which has IOL no limits.

If I sign up to UTV with both lines, to obtain the 25% lower call charges, will I still be able to connect to IOL no limits.

I would then have my other line as the UTVIP flat rate line.

I can't see a problem with this but can anyone confirm?

The_Bullman · 08-09-2002 10:30am

another question

I have a business line at home so what effect wil this have on me.

will i have to change it to residential first. should i bother doing anything at all.

Mixie · 08-09-2002 10:32am

UTVip is an offpeak service... Just curious, but can you use your 'free' hours on Bank Holidays?

flamegrill · 08-09-2002 10:50am

Bank holidays are considered as off peak by eircom, therefore i suspect UTVi will also consider it off peak. so the answer is Yes.

flamegrill · 08-09-2002 11:10am

For 1891 numbers, the call costs are as follows, if you care to read the first page of your eircom phone bill.

For:
peak usuage 8am - 6pm its costs 1.9c/m exVAT.
off peak usuage 6pm - 8am it costs 1c/m exVAT.

its never 4c/m using ay 1891 internet access number.

note: there is a minium call charge of 6.35c on every call.

i had to clear this up, as it was anoying the shít out of me.

Regards,

Paul

p.s if you are unsure of this look here http://mmm.eircom.ie/winback/res/value_calc.asp

p.p.s we would all like a 24/7 flat rate product. Give it time and it will come. As long as LLU stays undone, it will never happen.

Originally posted by Smiley
Also with IOLGold I am paying 4 cent per minute peak and 1 cent offpeak BUT as I have Esat home phone, this is not Eircom's money (thank god) - so "25% off Eircom rates" tells me nothing. (All I pay to Eircom is rental.)

Actually what I'd like is a 24/7 flat rate product if truth be told but at least these are steps in the right direction. [/B]

morgana · 08-09-2002 2:06pm

Great news and a step in the right direction. I'm particularly impressed whith Scott and Martin hanging out on Boards to answer queries and even make changes to the T&C's. Imagine Eircon doing that .... oopps I just saw pigs flying by my window
How long will we <ungrateful as we are and never really happy> now have to wait for a true flat rate for us poor sods working from home and requiring unmetered day-time access <dream state induced now> ...
FRIACO is needed now!!!! Never mind ADSL / cable access as they all seem to bypass Cork alltogether

gurramok · 08-09-2002 2:08pm

Originally posted by RainyDay
However, I really need to see more detail than this, i.e. full per-minute figures for local, national, mobile & international calls for each of daytime, evening & weekends

According to esat's website here

Daytime call rates i think are same, 3.8c a min on both esat + utv
However off-peak are cheaper on utv @ 0.95 c/min in comparison to esat 1.27c/min. Mobile rates are same i think.
Internet calls on esat are 1c/min off-peak, however utv offer 150hrs worth for €30.

However i believe IOL gold is a sub service paying your 20 odd euro a month extra for 4c/min peak, 1c/min off-peak. Same applies to any eircom subs service(open to correction here).

I have two lines one of which has IOL no limits
If I sign up to UTV with both lines, to obtain the 25% lower call charges, will I still be able to connect to IOL no limits.
I would then have my other line as the UTVIP flat rate line.

Utv package is per line, so whats stopping you dialling nolimits on a utv line?...having a nolimits and utv internet package on 1 line is ok as nolimits afaik does not need to to be on esat's home phone service.

Hope this helps

Anyway, one way or another you would have lots of off-peak hours !!

morgana · 08-09-2002 2:14pm

Great news and a big step into the right direction. I'm particularly impressed with Martin and Scott hanging out on the Boards to respond to queries and even adjust T&C's.
Now I'm just waiting for a proper 24/7 flat rate <ungrateful as I am> as us poor sods working from home need flat rate day-time access .. will FRIACO ever happen <induce DreamState now> ...

Lionheart · 08-09-2002 2:18pm

Originally posted by Muirthile

That shouldn't be a problem as your phone number won't be changed by changing over to UTVi.

Thanks for that. Your view concurs with mine. However my concern is that the No Limits phone number is a special 13 digit number which Esat has some agreement with Eircom about call charges.

Presumably UTV would not charge for calls made on this number off peak but I'm beginning to wonder!

stormkeeper · 08-09-2002 2:31pm

Originally posted by dahamsta
I didn't pay them for it until 2 years later...

I didn't pay them at all. I never will. What many people seem to forget is that you had to pay the first month in advance, much like a security deposit for a flat. Companies take it for granted that you'll forget about it. I don't. Esat can bite me.

adam

My problem was that my mum was hounding me to pay them. Because of this... long incident, I've lost a lot of faith in Esat. Then there was the fact I got cut off for changing numbers, even though my mum decided to let me keep the # it was on (according to them, they got an email from my mum to change the #, even though it was through the phone and she said don't change the # :mad: ). Took me about 4 weeks before I found out what happened. Then about 2 years later, they said I wasn't taking advantage of the service

Well Esat, I've had enough. As soon as I move, I'm signing up to UTV and never looking back. Btw, congrats guys for bringing some form of Flat-Rate back to Ireland

Yoda · 08-09-2002 3:28pm

Um, if this new service kicks us off after two hours, how will it be possible to download large files that take a good deal longer than that? Large files like OS X updates or system software, for instance.

This seems a bit problematic.

flamegrill · 08-09-2002 3:38pm

Originally posted by gurramok

According to esat's website here

Daytime call rates i think are same, 3.8c a min on both esat + utv
However off-peak are cheaper on utv @ 0.95 c/min in comparison to esat 1.27c/min. Mobile rates are same i think.
Internet calls on esat are 1c/min off-peak, however utv offer 150hrs worth for €30.

However i believe IOL gold is a sub service paying your 20 odd euro a month extra for 4c/min peak, 1c/min off-peak. Same applies to any eircom subs service(open to correction here).

Utv package is per line, so whats stopping you dialling nolimits on a utv line?...having a nolimits and utv internet package on 1 line is ok as nolimits afaik does not need to to be on esat's home phone service.

Hope this helps
Anyway, one way or another you would have lots of off-peak hours !!

As i said already - IOL gold accounts and eircom Paid accounts use a 1891 number and it costs 1.9c/m peak times. not 4c/m, where you got that idea from was mad.

Ruu_Old · 08-09-2002 3:39pm

True Yoda

, good point, the only thing u can do is use download accelerator or something and hope that the server ur downloading from supports resume, so u can jus reconnect and resume where u left off, i dont know but i think most servers support resume hope it helps

tuxy · 08-09-2002 3:43pm

i havent come across many servers that dont support resume so u should be ok
imo if your downloading a large file on dial up and not using a program that lets u resume your a bit thick

El_MUERkO · 08-09-2002 4:01pm

For downloading I use Getright, it can automaticlly reconnect itself if you get disconnected. Nearly all major download servers support resuming now even fileplanet (satans on download servers).

OHP · 08-09-2002 4:46pm

Just a quick question for Martin-UTVi ( Super Cool Newbie

)
Would it be possible for you to give us some sort of indication as to how many of us have signed up for your service so far? + Thank you for all the work you have done so far.

OHP

P.S. Watch out for the Eircon RAT! / Mouse I bet he deserts the Sinking Ship too. Eircon GLUG GLUG GLUG!

acous · 08-09-2002 4:52pm

Originally posted by flamegrill
Bank holidays are considered as off peak by eircom, therefore i suspect UTVi will also consider it off peak. so the answer is Yes.

from the faq: Off-peak times are 6pm to 8am Monday to Thursday, and from 6pm on Fridays to 8am Monday mornings. Public holidays that occur on weekdays are classified as normal working days (St. Patrick’s Day, May Day, New Years Day etc).

so the answer is no

Yoda · 08-09-2002 4:59pm

I was just on to tech support asking questions -- because the web hosting service UTVi offers seemed to me to be half what Esat Business is charging me (and it was). These people know how to do business.

Anyway, the nice chap I was talking to said that there was rather a lot of interest in jumping from Eircom to UTVi net.

Frankly even if Eircom were to offer a comparable service tomorrow I would STILL change.

Lionheart · 08-09-2002 5:05pm

Originally posted by Acous

from the faq: Off-peak times are 6pm to 8am Monday to Thursday, and from 6pm on Fridays to 8am Monday mornings. Public holidays that occur on weekdays are classified as normal working days (St. Patrick’s Day, May Day, New Years Day etc).

so the answer is no

Public Holidays are different to Bank Holidays - so the answer is yes:)

acous · 08-09-2002 5:10pm

Public Holidays are different to Bank Holidays - so the answer is yes

oh... cool

Lionheart · 08-09-2002 5:11pm

Originally posted by Muirthile

AFAIK the 1332 part of the number switches you to esat's network for that call, so you shouldn't get charged by UTVi for it.

That certainly makes sense. So who bills Esat for the my no limits internet calls - will it still be Eircom even though I've signed up to UTV?

Yoda · 08-09-2002 5:25pm

Originally posted by Ruu
True Yoda , good point, the only thing u can do is use download accelerator or something and hope that the server ur downloading from supports resume, so u can jus reconnect and resume where u left off, i dont know but i think most servers support resume hope it helps

Well I can ask the Appleseed crowd if their servers support resuming (yup lads I test for 'em). Know any download accelerators for OS X?

Meh · 08-09-2002 5:42pm

Originally posted by Yoda
Well I can ask the Appleseed crowd if their servers support resuming (yup lads I test for 'em). Know any download accelerators for OS X?

If you're not afraid of the command line, GNU wget supports resuming downloads.

fabien · 08-09-2002 6:40pm

Originally posted by flamegrill
Bank holidays are considered as off peak by eircom, therefore i suspect UTVi will also consider it off peak. so the answer is Yes.

Actually if you read the small prints, if a bank/public holiday falls during the week, UTVip will consider it a normal week day i.e. peak until 6pm...I find this very unfair, Martin, can you comment on this?

Is1ldur · 08-09-2002 6:56pm

Is there anything specific I have to do to avail of the ISDN service. I currently run on just a 56k modem through the Eircom free service. I know a new modem is needed, but what about the phone line, etc.

David C · 08-09-2002 6:58pm

Actually if you read the small prints, if a bank/public holiday falls during the week, UTVip will consider it a normal week day i.e. peak until 6pm...I find this very unfair, Martin, can you comment on this?

Oh? That's a shame... I get free access on Bank Holiday Mondays, New Year, Christmas etc on Surf No Limits which is very handy since they're days when i'd be at home before 6pm.
Think i'll stick for the moment with Esat...

Lionheart · 08-09-2002 7:06pm

If Bank Holidays are not classed as off peak then this is a serious drawback. Most Bank Holidays fall on a Monday - are these classed as normal working days by UTV?

We need definite clarification on this.

tuxy · 08-09-2002 7:07pm

Originally posted by Count666
Is there anything specific I have to do to avail of the ISDN service. I currently run on just a 56k modem through the Eircom free service. I know a new modem is needed, but what about the phone line, etc.

u need to have your line upgraded to isdn cant remember how much it costs its about €100 then its €35 euro a month

Scott Taunton · 08-09-2002 7:25pm

Actually if you read the small prints, if a bank/public holiday falls during the week, UTVip will consider it a normal week day i.e. peak until 6pm...I find this very unfair, Martin, can you comment on this?

I'll follow up on this tomorrow. It will depend on how we are charged to buy the calls wholesale. We would operate the same as Esat and Eircom in that regard. The wholesale calls will simply be bundled to us as peak or off-peak and we pass that on to users.

Clear as mud? I'll get someone to confirm tomorrow.

Scott Taunton
Managing Director
UTV Internet

spongebob · 08-09-2002 7:49pm

if the wholesale deal is uk based only your bank holidays will be uk ones, england and ireland substantially overlap.

norn iron has some very unusual bank holidays , i think that giving us down here the 12th of july may not go down well........
many holidays are the same, xmas, new year, may , easter monday?

do clarify whether bank and public holidays are treated the same, eircon discounts on bank and public holidays, others on bank only. good friday is not a bank holiday for example but is a public holiday.

M

Scott Taunton · 08-09-2002 8:27pm

I'll get it all cleared up ASAP. We have a wholesale arrangement in RoI, based on the ODTR and Eircom interconnect agreements with OLOs.

We will be applying the same rates as the other operators, but let me get back to the board with exactly what that means.

Kind regards

Scott Taunton
Managing Director
UTV Internet

Lionheart · 08-09-2002 9:04pm

Another couple of questions for Scott or Martin.

1. Does the set up fee call of 3.87c also apply to peak internet usage.

2. Does the UTV call charge of eircom rate less 25% take into account the call set up. If I make a local evening call of five minutes with Eircom it costs me 6.35c. I calculate that the same call with UTV would be .95 x5 = 4.75 plus call set 3.87 = 8.62. This is 35% more. Am I making a mistake somewhere?.

exiztone · 08-09-2002 9:07pm

I havea question, I'm so sorry if you have answerd already

Urm, I'm using eircom as my telephone company right now, it says if I want UTVip I have to change to them, how do I go about doing this?

Scott Taunton · 08-09-2002 9:18pm

Call seup charges do apply.

Most calls on the PSTN system are either very short in duration (answering machines, quick voice calls etc) or very long. On our flat rate services we see call averages of 30 minutes.

In either of these cases, a call setup charge is significantly better than a min call charge. A one min call off-peak would be 32% dearer with Eircom, equally a 30 peak time call would be 29% dearer with Eircom.

Your example of a five min off-peak call holds true. We're confident users will save on their call costs, but our flag ship is UTVip - delivering choice and savings to Irish internet users.

Eircom charge a min call charge of 6.35c and, as I understand, Esat a call setup fee of 3.87c. We use a call setup fee of 3.87c. Wholesale interconnection in the Republic of Ireland is structured in such a way that we incur a call setup fee from Eircom.

We're as up front about these issues and costs as we can be to enable you to exercise that choice effectively.

Kind regards

Scott Taunton
Managing Director
UTV Internet

vicadd · 08-09-2002 9:25pm

Will it be possible to dial the UTVip number for 64k access and then a local call number for another 64k channel? I use UTVinternet already and can start a call at 64k and then activate the second channel which dials the same number to get 128k. It would be good if I could change my first number dialled to UUTVip and then set the second channel to dial UTVinternet.

Scott Taunton · 08-09-2002 9:31pm

We're working on it now. We hope to be able to allow two subscriptions to combine the 64k channels of an ISDN circuit.
Once in place, those with a single subscription should be able to connect both channels by making one local call and one free call (up to 150 hours) and those with two subscriptions will not incur off-peak charges for net access up to their 150 hours per subscription.

Hope that helps.

Scott Taunton

kamobe · 08-09-2002 9:39pm

Excellent feedback, refreshing to see a telco not taking their customers (or would be customers) for granted

I really hope this takes off for ye guys, I'll be making moves to sign up myself tomorrow

Rags · 08-09-2002 10:44pm

We're working on it now. We hope to be able to allow two subscriptions to combine the 64k channels of an ISDN circuit.

Awesome this will be great for gamers like myself. Any idea roughly when you will have this in place? I already signed up so I presume it will be easy to add it to my package :cool:

UTV Launch Flat-Rate Internet Package

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