$500 new connection fee!

Forums › Spark New Zealand (including Skinny and BigPipe) › $500 new connection fee!

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28 posts

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#262172 7-Oct-2009 17:18

Vaguely mentioned it, they are such a nice old retired couple that I hardly wanna throw 500 bucks at them either. Unsure as to what my rights as a tenant there are either.

ryanhunt

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#262173 7-Oct-2009 17:20

hairy1: Telecom charge the fee in places where they are the incumbent without competition. The way around it is to move to Pukekohe where there is Compass Wireless. Telecom only charge $69 for new connections in Pukekohe due to competition!

As much as I love internet it doesn't mean enough to me to move to Pukekohe :P

billgates

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#262180 7-Oct-2009 17:29

I suppose you could check on your legal rights as a tenant. If landlord has to pay for it (doubted), you could pay half each and keep them happy as well.

Do whatever you want to do man.

BartManGeek

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#262181 7-Oct-2009 17:33

alternative = http://www.compass.net.nz/residential/internet/wireless.asp or http://www.no8wireless.co.nz/coverage or http://www.inzonecorp.com/Ruralinzone.htm

e: linkages

rscole86

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#262182 7-Oct-2009 17:33

I doubt you could make them pay it, and if they are such a lovely couple do you want to go down that route? Really it would come down to whether or not you checked before moving in.

nate

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#262192 7-Oct-2009 18:00

ryanhunt: I talked to telecom and they said it would cost $500 big ones to put a new connection into the property.

Could it be that your new home isn't loaded in their system properly, so they are quoting the worst case scenario?

I would try and contact a cabling company (I know of one we used to use for installations). He was a Telecom certified provider, and would give us a more specific price than Telecom used to.

hairy1

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#262217 7-Oct-2009 19:09

$500 is the standard connection fee for any new phone line that has never been connected. The only time I have seen it waived or reduced is when there is direct aggressive competition....

My views (except when I am looking out their windows) are not those of my employer.

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scorpiworld

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#262231 7-Oct-2009 20:21

I wonder what space is left in the roadside cabinet's and if the line is 100% connected from home to the exchange, different groups / companies are required for the different components down the line and although $500 does sound heavy, split across these resources I doubt Telecom makes much out of it.

It's worth checking other ISP's and seeing what their charging? Being in a rural area all ISP's will probably use Telecom Wholesale's service but will have offers to compete with Telecom Retail.

nzbnw

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#262243 7-Oct-2009 21:06

hairy1: Telecom charge the fee in places where they are the incumbent without competition. The way around it is to move to Pukekohe where there is Compass Wireless. Telecom only charge $69 for new connections in Pukekohe due to competition!

Incorrect. Chorus charge connection fees based on population density. If you live in Rural New Zealand you have to accept that there is a higher cost to connect your property to the phone network than someone living in Auckland or Wellington city for example.

hairy1: $500 is the standard connection fee for any new phone line that has never been connected. The only time I have seen it waived or reduced is when there is direct aggressive competition...

Again incorrect, there are different densities. High medium, low and one where the developer has pre-paid the connection charges. $500 is the charge for low density areas AFAIK. I believe medium density is about $250, and high is around $95.

nzbnw

hairy1

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#262246 7-Oct-2009 21:10

OK. When we connected 3 years ago I was told the info by the telecom CSR.

My views (except when I am looking out their windows) are not those of my employer.

nzbnw

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#262254 7-Oct-2009 21:35

It would be a standard charge for a low density area :)

nzbnw

richms

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#262269 7-Oct-2009 22:22

Vodafone at home will sort your landline out, its a tolerable service. There are mobile data plans from both telecom and vodafone that support light use of the net.

The landlords are in no way required to pay up for the cost of installing a landline, just like they dont have to have tv antennas or sky dishes.

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#262287 8-Oct-2009 00:29

richms:
The landlords are in no way required to pay up for the cost of installing a landline, just like they dont have to have tv antennas or sky dishes.

I was under the impression that it was mandatory for telecom to run copper to every new house/subdivision that was built (or offer a suitable alternative). If so then you would think that there would be a similar mandate for a landlord to terminate that line in a house offered for rental - much like the utilities of electricty, water, etc.

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ryanhunt

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#262288 8-Oct-2009 00:36

Geez, who knows, there seems to be alot of differing suggestions!

richms

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#262292 8-Oct-2009 01:49

Nope, only power (and even then they can get away with a very inadiquite supply) water and sewage are the mandatory ones to provide.

Not mandatory for telecom to run the cables, they charge developers a hell of a lot to put the cabling in, until someone else comes along and offers to do it for free for exclusivity.

Richard rich.ms

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