[ILUG] Esat Surf No Limits

[Vincent Cunniffe]

ilug-admin at linux.ie wrote:
> 
> Hi,
> I know this was brought up before, but I think my situation is
> different.
> 
> I have got a new phone line from Eircom, which was installed earlier
> this week. I wish to use Esat Surf No Limits on this line.
> I called into a local Esat Agent and he asked me fill in a form.
> I gave him the number of the line, and some other information/
> He's said that when the form has been processed by Esat, the line will
> be an Esat line, and when a number is dialed on it, it will be charged
> to the Esat account, rather than the Eircom account on the line.
> No special number has to be entered before dialing (3112... was
> mentioned before)
> Is this true?

Not unless you wish it to be.

You can use Surf NoLimits on an Eircom line without any problems, so 
unless you actually *want* to be billed by Esat for voice as well as
internet on that line, then go back and tell the agent that you
specifcally do *not* want it to be an Esat line, and that you're quite
happy just using and paying for NoLimits as a separate service.

If he conned you into signing up for switching to Esat for both voice
and internet, then take his agreement, fold it till it's all sharp
corners, and... make him give you a new form for just Surf NoLimits :-)

> Will Esat know that the number being dialed (01 whatever) is one of
> their internet dialup numbers, and not bill for it, apart from the IRP17
> per month for Esat Surf No Limits?

What happens normally when you connect into their service using an 
Eircom line is that the call is prefixed with (IIRC) 13342, which is
a code to tell Eircom to transfer handling of the call to Esat and not
to bill for the call in any way. They (Eircom) are legally obliged to
do this ;-)

Then Esat take the call once it's routed to them and phone the number
as usual : in this case the call would be to the relevant NoLimits
POP number.

If you were using an Esat line then you wouldn't need the 5-digit 
prefix because you'd already be on Esat's system by default.

> What would happen if I connected a phone to the phone line, and dialed a
> number, who would bill me, Eircom or Esat?

Depends on who you're signed up with :-)

If you're having your calls handled by Esat (which is possibly what that
form was about), then they'll bill you for everything, including voice
calls. If you're with Eircom, then they'll bill you for all calls as
usual *except* for ones which are explicitly redirected to Esat using the
13342 prefix, for which they are not allowed charge.

And by the nature of their NoLimits agreement with you, Esat will charge
you as relevant for any calls made to that specific number : free offpeak
and 4p/min peak.

Regards,

Vin