Dear Sir / Madam,
You see, I looked up the Telecom Eireann website to see the internet
rates and they have changed and they are now 2p per minute daytime and 1p
per minute evenings and weekends, but I was just wondering, at night,
when it is off-peak, well what time does it go on-peak again?? And I was
also wondering, Do you have a minim charge?? Because my brother was
saying to me that when it was 12p for 15 minutes that the minim was 12p
and even if you only stay on for 2 minutes you are paying for 15 minutes
anyway, is this true?? Well that's all I wanted to know.
My e-mail is: ardara@gofree.indigo.ie
Thank you for your time.
:-)
-- Ardara (ardara@gofree.indigo.ie), August 23, 1999
On Fri, 20 Aug 1999, Ardara wrote:
> You see, I looked up the Telecom Eireann website to see the
> internet rates and they have changed and they are now 2p per
> minute daytime and 1p per minute evenings and weekends, but I
> was just wondering, at night, when it is off-peak, well what
> time does it go on-peak again??
Hi -
This is not really my thing. The book ("The Internet in
Ireland...") and the tosach site *are* sponsored by tinet, but
the book is independently owned and published (by Best Selling
Books Ltd). So I neither work for, not speak for tinet or
Telecom Eireann.
Having said that: you can find details of all current TE pricing
for domestic customers at:
http://www.telecom.ie/AtHome/Solutions/CallCharges.html
As I read this, you are right about the basic charges for
Internet access being currently 2p per minute "peak", and 1p per
minute "off-peak" (*provided* you are accessing the ISP via an
1891 number!). Peak charging is 8.00am-6.00pm Mon-Fri - otherwise
you are on off-peak (either "evening" or "weekend" - but the
rates for both of these for 1891 calls are the same anyway).
> And I was also wondering, Do you [sic] have a minim charge??
> Because my brother was saying to me that when it was 12p for 15
> minutes that the minim was 12p and even if you only stay on for
> 2 minutes you are paying for 15 minutes anyway, is this true??
> Well that's all I wanted to know.
As far as the minimum charge issue is concerned, your brother is
quite right: as I understand it, once you make a connection you
will be charged a minimum of 12p, no matter how short the
call. So at off-peak times, you'll get 12 minutes (not 15) for
this minimum charge anyway, and you don't save anything by
connecting for a shorter time.
Note that you may be able to reduce the cost of Internet calls
(or any other regularly dialled numbers) a little bit
further by using the "circle of friends" scheme:
http://www.telecom.ie/AtHome/Products/CircleOfFriends.html
I hope that is of some help: but again, please note that these
comments are just *my* best understanding, and I do *not* speak for
Telecom Eireann (or tinet). If you have further queries on TE
phone charges, you should contact *them* directly. For contact
information, see:
http://www.telecom.ie/AtHome/ContactUs.html
Best Regards,
- Barry McMullin
-- Barry McMullin (tosach@tinet.ie), August 23, 1999.