# Vodafone Ending Fixed Landline SMS service



## Rob F (17 Jun 2015)

I recently received an email form Vodafone informing me that from the 30 June I will no longer be able to send or receive text messages from my landline. This is an issue for me as my house alarm texts me if it goes off. I rang Vodafone about this to see what could be done. They told me that Eircom had stopped this service and there was nothing they could do and that I should contact my alarm provider to sort the problem. Looking at €250+ to change to a sim alarm.
I now do not have a need for the landline and I asked could it change my bundle to just broadband (this is where I get really annoyed) they told me that dropping this SMS service was not a change to my contract so they could not let me out of my current contract without a termination charge of €384 as I have 15 months to run on my current contract. I complained only to get the same response, we're sorry but its not a change to my contract and you cannot get out without penalty. I then contacted Comreg to see could this be correct and they told me the exact same thing, that stopping the landline SMS service is not a change to my contact and there is nothing they could do. I believe this has to be a change to my contact and am totally at a loss to explain it!! I assume this is going to be a problem for many with monitored alarms or panic buttons. Any explanations would be welcome.


----------



## Leo (29 Jun 2015)

The ending of the SMS service was announced over a year ago. When did you take out your contract?

Eircom were always very careful to label this a 'value add' service, and so it did not form any part of the terms and conditions of their contracts. Does your contract with Vodafone specify the SMS service as part of the package? If not then I'm afraid I don't believe you have any case.


----------



## Rob F (7 Jul 2015)

Thanks Leo. Not the answer I was looking for, but it does explain.


----------



## gianni (7 Jul 2015)

Rob F said:


> Thanks Leo. Not the answer I was looking for, but it does explain.



I found out about this last year. I'm in pretty much the same boat as you RobF. There is an option to use an SMS service provided by HKC (if you have an HKC device like I do) but I would imagine SIEMENS et al might have similar. It appears to be a cheaper option than using a GSM/SIM solution. There is a lot of discussion about this on boards.ie. One of their posters, Altor, is very knowledgeable on the topic.


----------



## Rob F (7 Jul 2015)

Thanks Gianni, I'll have a look on boards.


----------



## gianni (10 Jul 2015)

Update: I've signed up for HKC's sms service. I went here: https://securecomm.hkc.ie/ and followed the instructions.
It costs €3.40 per month. I'm planning on 'installing' it myself this evening. Will let you know how I get on.


----------



## gianni (11 Jul 2015)

Job done. Simple enough to follow the HKC instructions. You'll need your engineer code. Tested it and it works fine. Messages arrived promptly.


----------

