Esat Launch NetSmart

frea

Hi

Spoke with Esat's Customer Care today enquiring about NetSmart. They told me that the service isnt available (yet) and they dont have a date for when it will.

Wasnt this launched recently ???

David C

I notice the reference to the service was removed on Monday from their site:

http://www.esatbt.com/esatcom/homepage/residential/bt_residential_internet.htm

The page is still online although with the old prices:
http://www.esatbt.com/esatcom/homepage/residential/bt_residential_internet/residential_internet_netsmart.htm

I would asume they are going to revise the prices for a third time to compete with UTVIP's latest offerings and changes.. The launch of UTVIP Lite and the extention of the cut off period to 12hrs have taken away Esat's advantages..

Dangger

My big problem with all this is that you can be pretty sure that if one group didn't offer a new better package the rest would stick to the status quo.

Couldn't agree more leeroybrown.

Its always been the ISP's who have put pressure onthe telcos to jump through the hoops at the end of the day. Looking to the UK it was Freeserve, AOL etc. who raised the anté. We've been starved of any competition for so long that the dinosaur telco's themselves have stagnated in their product development and with no one to rattle a sabre at the right people they have managed to keep the status quo.

Esat's former management certainly seemed to play this way. With a new owner and new management (and of course all the knowledge of Eircom's tactics as they are the incumbent in a diferent market, lest we forget) EsatBT do seem to be *trying* to open the way for change. But by their slow manouvering and the belief that they could still cream off the market (look how netsmart's pricing changed in the space of a few days) they stand to be burnt by UTV's reaction to a true indication of product demand.

So we finally, (years overdue) have a healthy development that stands to benefit the consumer for a change!

Watch how the mammoth Eircom will react. They see no need to move quickly, they already have a direct line into every home to allow the to claw back churners with sales spiel and marketing drivel.

Most people buying computers in the run up to Christmas won't dream of tampering with the ISP offering bundled with their new machine. We're not all technically minded! This is the rumoured reaction we are to see from Eircom - an introduction of a bundled partial flat rate product in October with Dell desktops! Sure that will keep everyone happy.

During my meeting with Phil Nolan of Eircom last July he was quick to point out that the low ownership of PC's in Ireland was a greater concern to Eircom than broadband! If there are not enough machines out there there is not enough demand. This is the never ending spin from such a fat cat company. Would you believe it guys that some people will buy computers when they can get braodband connectivity? But thats the chicken and egg thing again isn't it?

Eircom have got problems, I cannot see how long they can continue with current staff figures and keep Ireland Inc in the dark ages of Internet usages. One possibility that has come to my mind (not the opinion of IOFFL) is that Eircom have been able to buy time and lobby effectively with the threat of huge job losses. There is nothing like the threat of 3,000 plus job cuts at Ireland's telecom operator to keep the regulator at bay with government help. How bleak would the economy look with such an announcment. It would not be as a result of the tech downturn
but would be spun that way. Well they are hardly going to blame it on IOFFL!

BoneCollector

I would asume they are going to revise the prices for a third time to compete with UTVIP's latest offerings and changes.. The launch of UTVIP Lite and the extention of the cut off period to 12hrs have taken away Esat's advantages..

Well we have all being crying out for some form of effective protest that would make eircom and esat take note.. and leave a great big hole in there market share.

Well here you have it...

We all! move to UTV regardless of what they offer
that should be effective enough protest and get them both to take the internet user as a serious commodity.

tell as many people as u can about UTV and get them all on it and lets all effect change on this front.

hmmm

Originally posted by Dangger
But by their slow manouvering and the belief that they could still cream off the market (look how netsmart's pricing changed in the space of a few days) they stand to be burnt by UTV's reaction to a true indication of product demand.

That's a very good point. It emphasises a point made in here by Scott Taunton in an earlier thread where he offhand mentioned Esats margins. Nothing like a nearly 50% improvement in a product offering to make customers question what the profit margin actually was.

One thing I don't necessarily agree about is the takeup Eircom will find if they offer less of a service. Most of the people here are relatively technical (at least, they understand the issues). I know in my case I continuously get asked by family and friends how they should be getting onto the net, and I imagine the rest of us get the same. It's very easy to say "UTV" don't touch Eircom. What I would like is a couple of CDs, it might be in UTV's interest to agree a tie up with some chain in the Republic that could be used to distribute (xtravision, spar, whatever).

SkepticOne

Originally posted by hmmm

That's a very good point. It emphasises a point made in here by Scott Taunton in an earlier thread where he offhand mentioned Esats margins. Nothing like a nearly 50% improvement in a product offering to make customers question what the profit margin actually was.

This would depend on the wholesale rate got from Eircom. Hitherto, the cheapest per-minute offerings were the 1891 services. The per-minute wholesale rate associated with this is: 0.561224 cents / minute according to Eircom's latest RIO. Under this wholesale rate, if you use 150 hours (the max), UTV must pay Eircom around 50 euros ex VAT. So Eircom would still benefit greatly from UTV's new scheme since hours online will increase.

I'm not sure, though, what arrangement UTV have with Eircom. It may be that recent changes to Eircom's RIO may have enabled both the UTV and the ESAT offerings.

Eircom's wholesale pricelist can be accessed here (pdf).

Stonemason

As said above Eircon with a mix of cd,s on virtually every counter and those bloody mouse adverts have planted in the minds of the less well informed that there is only one ISP.That said UTV internet is presumably a part of UTV telly group is it possible they could use this Stronger media position to level the playing field i.e. surely they could use their own TV network to advertise their new product to the max ?.I personal will be steering as many people towards UTV through my business as possible.

Ruu_Old

i was told that Netsmart isnt starting until Sept 20th, is that right? thanks

vampyre

yes Ruu that is sort of right. the amended forms came in today and may be sent out to those who have already asked, i don't know but ring up and make noise. the cds comein on Monday allegedly so if our luck is in and they process the request we may be connected before the 20th but that is the offical date.

Mossy Monk

i got the form for the Esat BT thing last week but i had decided to go for the UTV deal instead. i hadn't ordered either but my mother filled in the Esat BT form and sent it off in the post this morning. can i cancel before it officially starts?

Tellox

i cant see why some people could choose esat over utv atm. utv-i offer 30 extra hours for the same price,and I dont beleive utv went cutting off a bunch of high-end users either.

Ruu_Old

im only choosing Esat because i dont have to change telephonys to UTVi..ive been chucked around by them too, but i just forget it, and move on

Dun

Originally posted by Ruu
im only choosing Esat because i dont have to change telephonys to UTVi..ive been chucked around by them too, but i just forget it, and move on

Ditto here, got booted off SNL and am only going back to Esat cause I don't want to merge it with the phone bill.

Also, although everyone else only has praise for the UTV internet pay-as-you-go service, I always found that, even though I connected at 48 or 49.2 constantly, after a few minutes nothing would come in - it just flatlined completely. Didn't happen with Eircom/IOL though.

I am happy that they are there though - getting more hours for cheaper now from Esat

OHP

I have to say that I have tried UTV for just over 5 hours now and I'm realy dissapointed Surfing/Downloads and Game play are Totally Slower than Oceanfree. Compaired to Eircon ok its fine. But not a lot better. The thing is though I use my connection for work and just took time out to have some fun tonight seeing what UTV would be like. To be honest so far im not impressed. Oceanfree wins hands down. If anyone wants tracerts Pings etc. i have loads . But i have to say im really dissapointed

OHP

Matt Simis

Originally posted by OHP
I have to say that I have tried UTV for just over 5 hours now and I'm realy dissapointed Surfing/Downloads and Game play are Totally Slower than Oceanfree. Compaired to Eircon ok its fine. But not a lot better.,
<snipped>. But i have to say im really dissapointed

OHP

So your saying its as good as Eircom, not better than Oceanfree. Well, whats the problem then? Why did you assume it would be the fastest anyhow? AFAIK, Oceanfree is the fastest as their network has the least load, UTV and Eircom are not in that position.



Matt

Dustaz

Originally posted by OHP
I have to say that I have tried UTV for just over 5 hours now and I'm realy dissapointed Surfing/Downloads and Game play are Totally Slower than Oceanfree. Compaired to Eircon ok its fine. But not a lot better. The thing is though I use my connection for work and just took time out to have some fun tonight seeing what UTV would be like. To be honest so far im not impressed. Oceanfree wins hands down. If anyone wants tracerts Pings etc. i have loads . But i have to say im really dissapointed

OHP

Are you 56k or isdn?

If your 56k there cant be that much difference in surfing/download time surely.

If your ISDN, the same applies. The only application where speed really IS of the essence is gaming. Why not dial up oceanfree for those clan matches where your ping has to be as low as possible and use UTV for your work stuff.

edt: Just realised this is the esat thread...getting confused... Answer still applicable to both.

If you dont like the pings you get on one service or the other, dont get it. Simple.

Boston

I find it funny that one company gets so much support for there "flat rate" service and another doesn't...

O hold on wait a minute, no I don't.

UTV provided a great service when I was with them, they are smart people and not arrogant pigs, they realize they need us more then we really need them and have acted accordingly,

Esat on the other hand are a bunch of Bombay pig savages,

In closing UTV good, Esat Bad

Dustaz

^^^^^^^^^

Bostons Triumphant return to the Ioffl board

voyager

has anyone got info on this offer as i have sent them at least 3 e-mails and not one reply yet,i would go with utv but have not got access to direct debit method of payment,manythanks,voyager.

Stonemason

I typed in esat-bt netsmart offer into google and only got this site looks intresting but im to tired and pished to read.

http://www.ispreview.co.uk/ispnews/archives2002/arc2.shtml

Ronan|Raven

http://www.esatbt.com/esatcom/residential_internet_netsmart.htm They have a link to a form you can just print out and send off instead of having to wait for them to send it to you.

sceptre

Originally posted by Stonemason
I typed in esat-bt netsmart offer into google and only got this site looks intresting but im to tired and pished to read.

http://www.ispreview.co.uk/ispnews/archives2002/arc2.shtml

Stonemason, you are one lazy so and so:)

Fine, fine, here you go:rolleyes:

Esat Launch Irish Unmetered Dialup

Hot on the heels of UTV Internet, Esat (BT) has become the second ISP in Ireland to launch a limited form of unmetered dialup Internet access called NetSmart

The service is for Off-Peak (Evening & Weekend users) and should allow customers to surf between 40 and 120 hours per month for a set fee. Three packages, NetSmart40, NetSmart80 and NetSmart120 (number = hours) will be sold for EUR15, EUR25 and EUR30 respectively:

The news of the launch follows the introduction last week of UTV's new Internet product, UTVip, which lets users surf the Web for up to 150 hours per month at off-peak times for EUR29.99 per month. However, subscribers to this service have to sign up for UTV Internet's telephony package. Conversely, Esat BT's new service does not require users to sign up for its telephony service.

The ElectricNews item also reminds us that Esat plans to launch a true unmetered (FRIACO style) product from earl next year.

vampyre

They insist you need the cds (which you don't, they need their accounts department to be electrified). The original ones were for the shorter hours offerings, the new batch seem delayed by about 48hours.

JANER

I play games and was told by 1 friend that he pings 20 more with UTV then his old Eircom connection
Due my ESAT anyday but I am going with a hunch that ESAT will be nearer Eircoms high standards (though con artist expensive)

ando

well utv are working on it, their routing does seem to be a bit weird, and pings do suffer because of it. Looking at tracert's, most of the time is lost by trying to get out of the utv network

Cork

I too am unsure over UTVs phone service. If UTV had a package not tied to a phone service - I'd sign up in a minute.

ando

did anyone get onto netsmart yet? my dad's signed upto the 40hrs deal, but when he dials up (after installing software) it says 'account has been cancelled'. He's sent in the application and payed, got the cd on tuesday last?

vampyre

"did anyone get onto netsmart yet? my dad's signed upto the 40hrs deal, but when he dials up (after installing software) it says 'account has been cancelled'. He's sent in the application and payed, got the cd on tuesday last?"

Ah but he did he allow for the sheer breathtaking incompetence of these people? That they are unable to set up a database of customers due to bugs in the system? That the Marx Bros. have never even come close to such absurdity? That they really do need and attitude adjustment after a certain point in the corporate pyramid.

Snaga

Originally posted by ando
did anyone get onto netsmart yet? my dad's signed upto the 40hrs deal, but when he dials up (after installing software) it says 'account has been cancelled'. He's sent in the application and payed, got the cd on tuesday last?

Why not ring their support line and find out rather than wondering if its set up correctly.

VeeEmmy

Originally posted by dun_do_bheal


...UTV internet pay-as-you-go service, I always found that, even though I connected at 48 or 49.2 constantly, after a few minutes nothing would come in - it just flatlined completely.

I'm noticing this happening too. And I have to say it DID happen with my IOL-Free connection.

Despite this, I'm very impressed with, and pleased to have UTV, and I won't go back to Esat, no matter how much better they may be.

I have need of advice... and I know part of what I'll say here will come as a huge shock (I'm still reeling...), but... I was connecting at 16.8, and so I decided to bite the bullet, no other reasonable choice, and ordered "Hi-Speed."

Faint/shock part coming: technician said maybe I don't need ISDN, that he could change out an outdated thing ("carrier" something), and it would improve my speed. He said I could try it and see if it did the trick, and if I still wanted ISDN he'd install it. I'm at 28.8-31.2 now! NO CHARGE for doing that!! That is the faint part -voluntary improvement and no charge! Outstanding technician.

Advice-necessity part--- Because of the flatlining... I was thinking I'd get the ISDN anyway, hoping that would solve the problem. I could really use the speed, the drop in transmission, is a problem with sending large files, etc.

BUT if it's a UTV-i problem, then perhaps getting the ISDN will be of no benefit in that respect???? Any advice? Will I just have great speed when it's going, but will still experience the flatline periods???