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Sounddude

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#1022959 10-Apr-2014 16:01

personally, i perfer a capped plan. ill gladly pay a spot more, for that extra level of service expectation.

You assume Unlimited ISP's treat capped better than unlimited?

We (Orcon) treat them exactly the same (which as others have said, is pretty damned good).

hio77

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#1022975 10-Apr-2014 16:24

Sounddude:

personally, i perfer a capped plan. ill gladly pay a spot more, for that extra level of service expectation.

You assume Unlimited ISP's treat capped better than unlimited?

We (Orcon) treat them exactly the same (which as others have said, is pretty damned good).

as i said, network wise.

last time i was on orcons network (ill give it to you, it was when orcon were having a bad time) it was total garbage - this was about a year or so ago now...

my comment about unlimited plans, stems from the possibility of oversold links, being put down as "its an unlimited plan". i have many friends on unlimited plans, and continue to see their connections being substandard in network quality (ill also point out here that most of thoses are not on orcon.).

worth noting, when im looking at a isps network, im looking at international transit, and peering that way alot more than anything else.

next time im near an orcon connection again, ild gladly give things a quick test though, dip my toes in the water and see if i like it.

once again ill say it, you pay for what you get...

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Any comments made are personal opinion and do not reflect directly on the position my current or past employers may have.

Sideface

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#1022983 10-Apr-2014 16:37

If you can get fiber, don't even think about getting anything slower.
But remember that with high speed connections, it is very easy to overshoot your data cap (if you have one) - and this can be VERY expensive.
This is particularly likely to happen with multiple users, especially teenagers.
So unlimited UFB is the obvious choice (I like Orcon).

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Lias

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#1023004 10-Apr-2014 16:51

hio77:
once again ill say it, you pay for what you get...

I strongly disagree.. Of late Vodafone has been particularly bad value for money. Putting the price of cable UP to match fibre was pure and naked greed. Snap, Bigpipe, Orcon, Slingshot are all MUCH better value for money than Vodafone currently is currently.

I'm a geek, a gamer, a dad, a Quic user, and an IT Professional. I have a full rack home lab, size 15 feet, an epic beard and Asperger's. I'm a bit of a Cypherpunk, who believes information wants to be free and the Net interprets censorship as damage and routes around it. If you use my Quic signup you can also use the code R570394EKGIZ8 for free setup.

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#1023026 10-Apr-2014 17:29

Demeter: .... Paying a once-off fee for a (hypothetical) overage of a few GB's is still better than paying more than $30 a month extra for something you don't normally need. ...

Disagree

I'm a heavy user.
My last overage fee was $210 for 140GB (at $3 per 2GB) downloaded on the last day of my billing cycle (I knew I was over the limit, but this was an urgent download).
I changed to an unlimited plan the next day, and have not regretted it.
Speeds are just as good.

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hio77

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#1023034 10-Apr-2014 17:49

Lias:
hio77:
once again ill say it, you pay for what you get...

I strongly disagree.. Of late Vodafone has been particularly bad value for money. Putting the price of cable UP to match fibre was pure and naked greed. Snap, Bigpipe, Orcon, Slingshot are all MUCH better value for money than Vodafone currently is currently.

i will agree with you, there are exceptions.

vodafones network is one i extensively used for years. and i did not enjoy it one bit. they dont market towards heavy users mind you..

#include <std_disclaimer>

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Sounddude

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#1023054 10-Apr-2014 19:03

hio77:

my comment about unlimited plans, stems from the possibility of oversold links, being put down as "its an unlimited plan". i have many friends on unlimited plans, and continue to see their connections being substandard in network quality (ill also point out here that most of thoses are not on orcon.).

worth noting, when im looking at a isps network, im looking at international transit, and peering that way alot more than anything else.

Fair points, and one of the reasons why Orcon went out and built its own International network. We have pops in San Jose, Sydney and looking at Singapore as we speak. We like to know exactly how our network performs rather than buying transit off someone else, who then oversells it.

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whitecd

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#1023067 10-Apr-2014 19:42

Statistics NZ (http://www.stats.govt.nz/browse_for_stats/industry_sectors/information_technology_and_communications/InternetServiceProviderSurvey_MR2013.aspx) has the average NZ data consumption at 23GB. Am I missing something? Why were the first several post recommending unlimited data plans when it is almost always worse value for money for NZ households?

I thought unlimited data was aimed at the small 5% of us who are obsessive downloaders, hence the Orcon Kim DotCom advertising disaster.

Just wanted to add, we have 80GB, stream at least 2 x 45min episodes a day + excessive news/twiter/facebook + 2 x iPads + Xbox one with the tedious amounts of updates that make me rage and have never exceeded our usage. What am I missing here?

P.S. alot of those videos are 720p and we are on the 80GB $55 naked with telecom*spark normally $85 without a mobile I think.

hio77

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#1023068 10-Apr-2014 19:48

whitecd: Statistics NZ (http://www.stats.govt.nz/browse_for_stats/industry_sectors/information_technology_and_communications/InternetServiceProviderSurvey_MR2013.aspx) has the average NZ data consumption at 23GB. Am I missing something? Why were the first several post recommending unlimited data plans when it is almost always worse value for money for NZ households?

I thought unlimited data was aimed at the small 5% of us who are obsessive downloaders, hence the Orcon Kim DotCom advertising disaster.

Just wanted to add, we have 80GB, stream at least 2 x 45min episodes a day + excessive news/twiter/facebook + 2 x iPads + Xbox one with the tedious amounts of updates that make me rage and have never exceeded our usage. What am I missing here?

P.S. alot of those videos are 720p and we are on the 80GB $55 naked with telecom*spark normally $85 without a mobile I think.

since moving out from home, the household inwhich i am living in has increased from about 80GB (what the cap was back then) to 500+.

interesting enough, thats going from a 5 person household to 2, and considering the gf uses like 2GB a month.. i guess i make up like 20 normal newzealanders?

always makes me laugh reading these stats, its just like the ones in america, it seems absurdly low.

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Sideface

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#1023088 10-Apr-2014 20:03

whitecd: Statistics NZ...has the average NZ data consumption at 23GB. Am I missing something? Why were the first several post recommending unlimited data plans when it is almost always worse value for money for NZ households? ....

Lies, Damn Lies, and Statistics.
I don't know anybody who uses 23GB per month.
I have trouble keeping my personal usage below 500GB.
My name is Sideface, and I'm a heavy user

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NonprayingMantis

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#1023103 10-Apr-2014 20:37

whitecd: Statistics NZ (http://www.stats.govt.nz/browse_for_stats/industry_sectors/information_technology_and_communications/InternetServiceProviderSurvey_MR2013.aspx) has the average NZ data consumption at 23GB. Am I missing something? Why were the first several post recommending unlimited data plans when it is almost always worse value for money for NZ households?

I thought unlimited data was aimed at the small 5% of us who are obsessive downloaders, hence the Orcon Kim DotCom advertising disaster.

Just wanted to add, we have 80GB, stream at least 2 x 45min episodes a day + excessive news/twiter/facebook + 2 x iPads + Xbox one with the tedious amounts of updates that make me rage and have never exceeded our usage. What am I missing here?

P.S. alot of those videos are 720p and we are on the 80GB $55 naked with telecom*spark normally $85 without a mobile I think.

Bear in mind that is a mean average figure, so would be skewed heavily downward by the many many accounts that use no data, or virtually none.
Think about single person houses, old people who just use email, small businesses etc.

The op, however, will not fall onto that category. His household has two teenagers in it. Unlimited data is very useful for reasons already mentioned - primarily that teenagers have no sense of responsibility so, for example, will happily leave YouTube streaming all day and all night without thinking

Coil

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#1023109 10-Apr-2014 20:57

I use the internet a LOT as most people gather, Lots of ISO's and Steam games etc. Sister sits on YouTube and iChat thing video.. Last month we used 200GB this month as below.

solaybro

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#1023136 10-Apr-2014 21:48

TimA: I use the internet a LOT as most people gather, Lots of ISO's and Steam games etc. Sister sits on YouTube and iChat thing video.. Last month we used 200GB this month as below.

Does Vodafone give you a nice discount?

Yabanize

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#1023527 11-Apr-2014 16:35

Demeter:
NonprayingMantis:
Demeter:
NonprayingMantis: with 2 teenage kids you absolutely want to stay away from ANY datacaps.

Vodafone does not do unlimited so ignore everybody who suggested them, since they seem to be ignoring your requirements.

FYI, I have two teenage daughters (and their visiting friends) who are constantly streaming and downloading. I mean constantly. Both my husband and myself game and if we watch anything, it's probably streamed. We do just fine with our 400GB cap - in fact, I don't think we've ever exceeded 300GB, so your point is invalid. With the discounts we offer for On Account mobiles (which she already pointed out she has with us) our offerings would more than satisfy Louise's requirements and still come out cheaper than the competition. Just saying.

...until the month when your kids leave their computer seeding a bunch of torrents on a 10Mbps+ upload on their computer and you use TBs of data
Or maybe they use youtube as a way to listen to music and decide to stream a music video playlist on loop in HD and just switch their monitor off when they go to school, leaving it streaming for 8 hours a day, every day at 5Mbps.

"sorry mum, I didn't realise!"

That kind of situation is very common with teenagers, and can sting you, the billpayer, for hundred, if not thousands of dollars of overage charges without you realising.

(To the OP, VF charge $1 per extra GB, with no option to add better value packs if you hit your cap early in the month, so if that happens to you, watch out! )

This is especially so with the faster speeds now available on VDSL, UFB, Cable. Things like youtube will now default to HD instead of SD, for example, so you won't even realise how much extra data you will use.

(question: why are you on a 400GB cap. 200GB with double data? That's a legacy plan and is probably more expensive than the current 500GB plan VF offer - maybe you should switch?)

Paying a once-off fee for a (hypothetical) overage of a few GB's is still better than paying more than $30 a month extra for something you don't normally need. With your example, you're paying that extra as 'insurance'. Okay I guess if it gives you peace of mind, but in my opinion, I would rather take my chances and pay (exponentially) less every month. Besides, my daughters don't use torrents because they know the majority of the content is illegal. I suppose it depends on how much you trust your kids and mine haven't given me reason not to thus far.

I am on an old legacy plan and haven't bothered changing it because it won't impact how much I pay per month and like I said we haven't exceeded our usage yet so just couldn't be stuffed, really. :P

How much do you pay then for your 400gb and home phone? I note your 150gb DSL + Phone plan is the same price as orcons unlimited

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