2010 pricing clarification please

I often used to recommend AAISP on the previous tariffs, but the Mon-Fri daytime limits were a nuisance.

The new 2010 structure looks great to me, but being an outsider I'm a bit unclear about how it works. That makes it probable I will give wrong advice to a prospect.

First, I thought you would contract for a certain number of units per month then use them as and when, keeping check by some sort of usage monitor.

But from this post it looks like you pre-select your usage pattern. Or would that just be a ready-reckoner for estimating, then it works as above?

Secondly is the "Line only" charge a monthly standing charge for broadband supply, or is it to do with phone line bundling?

Bob's broadband help site:
www.robertos.me.uk
ISP history: Demon dialup >> Freeserve dialup >> BT Broadband >> Prodigynet >> Newnet >> O2 Standard.
Purple Cloud for domain, email and web space.

The number of gigabytes of download you get per unit depends on the type of line and time of day;
BT 20CN Peak (9am-6pm Mon-Fri) = 1GB per Unit. Evening/Weekend 100GB per Unit. Night (2am-6am) 1000GB per Unit.
BT 21CN Peak (9am-6pm Mon-Fri) = 1.25GB per Unit. Evening/Weekend 100GB per Unit. Night (2am-6am) 1000GB per Unit.
BT FTTC Peak (9am-6pm Mon-Fri) = 1.25GB per Unit. Evening/Weekend 100GB per Unit. Night (2am-6am) 1000GB per Unit.
BE Line Peak (9am-6pm Mon-Fri) = 8GB per Unit. Evening/Weekend 100GB per Unit. Night (2am-6am) 1000GB per Unit.

Your usage does not have to be whole units at certain times, you can use some of a unit during the day and some in the evening, etc. There is a minimum of two units a month of pre-paid usage. Each pre-paid unit in your tariff costs £2.55+VAT so the minimum usage charge per month is £5.10+VAT on top of the line only charge for the service. Line charges can be found on http://www.aaisp.net.uk/broadband-units.html
If you have an account with us you will have a username and password which can be used to log on and obtain usage stats.
http://www.aaisp.net.uk/broadband-services.html explains the different between a Extra line and a Phone line.

I hope all this helps but please feel free to ask further questions.

I can only imagine this was dreamt up by someone with too much time on their hands.

Sorry if it is confusing.

The "line-only" is the broadband cost per month and nothing to do with phone line rental. Maybe we can find a better phrase for that.

But yes, you pick number of units a month and they go down as you make use of the service. The speed they go down depends on time of day and type of line. For most people the type of line is fixed, but some people have a mixture of say Be and BT lines so it is more relevant.

We wanted to come up with a way to try and make the tariffs simple, and a simple number of "units" a month seems a good start. But the different types of lines have different costs and we wanted to give people better value if they can use cheaper types of lines (e.g. Be and BT 21CN) hence the different rates.

Yes, we could do all the services at the same rate and make it even simpler, but that would mean most customers worse off.

I hope that helps.

www.aaisp.net.uk

That's just what I wanted to know, thanks RevK .

I do think "line-only" needs changing to something like "Broadband service" or "BB service" if that's too long.

Then maybe a short sentence that clarifies the bit about buying a total number of units, which is what I had originally assumed. The post I linked to implied the user had to choose a fixed number of units per period-type. Although the AAISP description more fits what you just said than that interpretation.

Though an online ready-reckoner may be a good idea? So if someone wants 12GB peak, 45GB offpeak, 100GB night, it just produces the total and the cost? Complicated by the line-type mix of course. Easy enough for many of us, but ....

The reason I suggest that is there are already people commenting about being too daunted by the method and that would resolve it. It needs to be at the enquiry stage not sign-up.

Personally I think it is a great system.

Bob's broadband help site:
www.robertos.me.uk
ISP history: Demon dialup >> Freeserve dialup >> BT Broadband >> Prodigynet >> Newnet >> O2 Standard.
Purple Cloud for domain, email and web space.

The ready reckoner I suggest could be based on the existing units table. Allow people to input figures into a similar table and bingo!

Bob's broadband help site:
www.robertos.me.uk
ISP history: Demon dialup >> Freeserve dialup >> BT Broadband >> Prodigynet >> Newnet >> O2 Standard.
Purple Cloud for domain, email and web space.

The order page should make it very clear as it shows how much you get on each line you have at different times as you select the tariff. This is when ordering new service and when changing tariff.

Existing customers have been moved to a corresponding tariff, but can change to a new tariff for next month if they like.

www.aaisp.net.uk

All good points Bob. I'd suggest they called the "line charge" something like a fixed/connectivity/standing charge. Some users may be most familiar with "standing charge" as that's what you get on some gas & electricity tarrifs.

I agree that the AAisp system aims to be both fair and transparent and tries hard not to cross-subsidise or penalise certain customer groups.

I do fear that the idea will be too hard for Joe User though. I'd suggest they have some "standard tariff mixes" or something to help get new users going, especially on the sales pages. So for example a so-called 10Gb mix that gave say 2Gb daytime, 8Gb evenings and potentially loads overnight if they don't use all their units. That might give Joe User a better idea of what's going on.

And just noticed the resold Be service is way expensive. Gold plated or what!?!?

Kevin

H: Eclipse Flex 512 - Escaped their NAF Tiscali LLU, Fearing WMBC
(Was Vispa Dialup)
M: PlusNet BBYW-1 monthly 6.5Mbs - They gave up 18month madness

You miss my point .

Very few people are willing to go into an ordering system to find out how much their preferred usage pattern will cost them, and those same people are the ones that won't have worked it out themselves in the first place.

I'm just suggesting a way you may get more people into the ordering system. Which provokes another thought - a link from the ready-reckoner straight into the appropriate bit of the ordering system with the user's figures retained to be put into there automatically. With a chance to revise them of course at that point.

Most users want to do a price comparison early on, not at the buy stage.

Bob's broadband help site:
www.robertos.me.uk
ISP history: Demon dialup >> Freeserve dialup >> BT Broadband >> Prodigynet >> Newnet >> O2 Standard.
Purple Cloud for domain, email and web space.

Is there a meter available?