Eircom has highest call charges: report

16-02-2007

by Emmet Ryan

Eircom customers are paying over the odds for phone calls compared to users of other landline providers, according to a study by the Consumers' Association of Ireland.

The Consumers' Association of Ireland (CAI) report compared Eircom's phone call rates to 13 competitors in the fixed line market and found that the telecoms giant is the most expensive for landline calls and amongst the most expensive for mobiles.

The study was prompted by the incident last October when thousands of Smart Telecom fixed line customers had their services cut off. "In the wake of the Smart debacle nearly 40,000 of their [Smart] customers either returned to Eircom or had to look elsewhere," said John Cradden, editor of the CAI's Consumer Choice magazine, speaking with ENN. "A lot of people saw Eircom as the safe choice but it's also the most expensive choice."

Landline calls to a local number from Eircom cost just under EUR0.05 per minute at peak time, almost a cent and a half dearer than the cheapest option, which is provided by Worldtalk. Nationally, Eircom is the second most expensive landline provider at peak time, behind UTV, but the former incumbent has the highest weekend and evening rate of any operator.

The most significant difference in price can be seen in international calls; a call to France from an Eircom line for example costs over EUR0.24 per minute any time of day, compared with EUR0.05 per minute from Swiftcall.

Calls to Britain and the US are also considerably higher with Eircom. Swiftcall's rate of EUR0.04 per minute to the US is around a quarter the cost of Eircom's lowest rate, while Talktalk's evening rate of just over EUR0.01 per minute to the UK is nearly EUR0.04 per minute less than Eircom.

And it's not just landline calls that have proven pricey with Eircom. Calling a Vodafone or Three mobile customer is more expensive from an Eircom line than any other provider, with costs of EUR0.23 and EUR0.29 per minute respectively at peak time. When it comes to phoning O2 mobiles only Cinergi charges more than Eircom.

As for calling Meteor customers, Eircom offers quite a competitive rate and is only the fourth most expensive behind Chorus, UTV and VOIP Ireland. This is perhaps down to the fact that Eircom owns Meteor.

Despite the competitive rates available on the market Cradden said consumers may be wary of using another operator due to the problems faced by Smart customers. "Understandably, some people are afraid to consider switching," he said.

Cradden suggested consumers should investigate their options, of which there are many. "We were pleasantly surprised by the number of options available for fixed line service," he said. "There are over a dozen alternatives there. They are worth checking out and checking if they are available in your area."