# Does Eircom Phonewatch mean I can shop around for phone provider?



## taxbill (19 Jul 2007)

I have an Eircom phone line and Eircom Broadband. I also have Eircom Phonewatch. 

Recently we got NTL digital and NTL are now offering us a very attarctive Phone and Broadband package. 

The last time i tried to move my phone line a couple of years ago, I couldn't. I had to keep my Eircom land line rental going beacuse of my Phonewatch (which needs a phoneline - but why does it have to be an Eircom one?????). 
Can Eircom force me to maintain my Eircom landline rental to support the Phonewatch?

Thanks


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## ClubMan (19 Jul 2007)

taxbill said:


> Can Eircom force me to maintain my Eircom landline rental to support the Phonewatch?


I would expect so. It's part of the system.


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## z103 (19 Jul 2007)

An expensive alarm system! - It might work out cheaper to be burgled once in a while.


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## taxbill (19 Jul 2007)

Why should it matter if it is an Eircom phone line or an NTL phone line coming in over my NTL cables?

I was under the impression that product bundling of that nature was no longer tolerated (or is that only in the financial markets), i.e. forcing a customer to maintain one product/service so that he/she may avail of or maintan another seperate product/service


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## ClubMan (19 Jul 2007)

taxbill said:


> I was under the impression that product bundling of that nature was no longer tolerated (or is that only in the financial markets)


You may be thinking of the financial markets. For example I don't think that I could avail of _UTV _broadband without having line rental assigned to them.


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## Madangan (19 Jul 2007)

Can you ask COMREG about this. Sorry dont have contact details but if you google COMREG you will get them. Its websites FAQs might be useful too


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## ClubMan (19 Jul 2007)

www.askcomreg.ie

Good luck in asking them anything (in my experience)!


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## Squonk (19 Jul 2007)

I moved from Eircom line rental to BT while still maintaining Phonewatch. No problems.


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## askalot (19 Jul 2007)

taxbill said:


> Why should it matter if it is an Eircom phone line or an NTL phone line coming in over my NTL cables?



The NTL phone works down their cable network via a broadband modem and would fail in the event of a power cut. 

We have Phonewatch and last weekend we got NTL to install their phone system, so far I've been very impressed with the quality, in fact it is exactly the same as the landline only cheaper!

Going to test it out for the month and if it remains stable I will get Phonewatch to install their Eirlink box (costs about 300 euro) which monitors the alarm via GSM like a mobile phone. The monthly monitoring fee for Eirlink is an extra 8 euro per month but even with that I will save money by dumping the landline.



taxbill said:


> I was under the impression that product bundling of that nature was no longer tolerated (or is that only in the financial markets), i.e. forcing a customer to maintain one product/service so that he/she may avail of or maintan another seperate product/service



I was told by Phonewatch that if I kept the landline monitoring and installed Eirlink as a secondary monitor then the monthly fee would remain at 21 euro but  if I cancel the landline and use Eirlink for monitoring then it suddenly becomes 29 euro! 

I thought that Phonewatch had been sold off as a separate entity a few years ago but they do seem rather keen for customers to keep their Eircom landline.


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## Madangan (28 Mar 2008)

I know this is an old thread but it is relevant to the problem I have.

I have an Eircom landline and have eircom phonewatch also.

I have tv and broadband with ntl and want to avail of their phone service as it seems a lot cheaper than eircom line rental and the call charges are fairly even.

I had booked ntl to come in and hook me up as I had been told by the sales staff that I could get eircomphonewatch through my mobile. I had also contacted phonewatch who were going to charge me about €150 for the change and I had also contacted eircom to cancel my llandline after all changeovers done.

Then someone from ntl( but at pains to point out to me that she worked for a company contracted to ntl not ntl itself) phoned me to say that if i had phonewatch that i still needed to keep my landline and so did I want to cancel my appointment  with ntl.

So does anyone know what the issue is as ntl are contradicting themselves?


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## hp1702 (19 Apr 2009)

Hi Madangan

Exact same situation as you. 

Want to move to UPC for phone and BB but will need to get Eircom Phonewatch to fit the eirlink mobile device for €149, monitoring charge remains as is if you drop landline monitoring.

Also have found out from eircom that you can drop the monitoring altogether but you will only receive phone support for the Phonewatch alarm itself. If any work needs to be done on it, its €110 per hour.

So am left with choice of seeing can I get a similar non-eircom Eirlink like device (auto dialer that calls my mobile) that will work with the Eircom Phonewatch alarm. From other threads it appears as though all the equipment is proprietary and so may not be possible

Anyone know? bestalarms.ie (possible provider mentioned on other threads) site seems no longer up

HP


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## beidh (25 Apr 2009)

Yes you can have the alarm system contact your mobile if you wish to no longer have it monitored.Although remember you don't get any Garda response in the event of an activation.Your monitoring can work with any provider except VOIP ( Voice over the Internet) in this case a GSM unit would be required and as you have said it costs €149 with no extras on your monitoring fees.


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## colm (25 Apr 2009)

There is no need to go to the expense of  GSM dialler!!
Routers are now available that give an output for a normal landline phone.
These can be used to connect & monitor an alarm over VOIP
Here is more info on one example


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## beidh (26 Apr 2009)

Yes Colm this is true, only I have found there is a five second delay with these units before a dial tone is generated.In this case the alarm system will not dial out as in the event of an activation it is to quick with its response.You can programme (9) before the CS number in the case of a PABX but with VOIP this is not the case.If you have had this experience where it did work I would be very interested.

Regards


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## bigdaddy (8 Oct 2009)

beidh said:


> Yes you can have the alarm system contact your mobile if you wish to no longer have it monitored.Although remember you don't get any Garda response in the event of an activation.Your monitoring can work with any provider except VOIP ( Voice over the Internet) in this case a GSM unit would be required and as you have said it costs €149 with no extras on your monitoring fees.



sorry mate, i got a HKC secure watch alarm and used to be with phone watch, but i dropped them, does that mean if i get someone to change the auto dial number so if alarm went off i can receive call from now on? if so how and who should i contact? and how much?


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