Hello from Canada...I also have a question please

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#646887 27-Jun-2012 10:58

Yank: I also came from North America and the phone and internet prices were a real shocker for me as I paid about $15 for a land line and $30 a month unlimited broadband. I would not recommend a land line even though they are getting more reasonable I use voip which also has better deals on National and international calls and Naked broadband which is still fairly new here is starting to become more competitive. I recommend you shop around and find the best deal to suit your needs. Cell phone pricing I like here because unlike where I came from the prepay credit here does not expire in one month but is good for a year which reall suits me as I use them very little. I think the three major carriers are Telecom, Vodafone and 2Degrees you can check their websites and see if they have what your looking for, any questions you may have about any certain ones may be best answered here as I am sure there are people using each one of them. Good luck

Thanks Yank, Yeah I have a similar reaction with prices in the USA v Canada. We have a mobile home in Arizona and our landline and unlimited internet there is half the price we pay here. I's all swings and roundabouts and every Country in the world has its problems, you just have to figure out which one has the least problems and where you would be happiest living really. We have lived in quite a few Countries in the world and I can tell you, the grass is not greener on the other side, there's always something that people won't like. A move to New Zealand is not about money for us, indeed we are going to give up really good paying jobs here, a very good union pension and a home which we spend 4 months of the winter in in Arizona, so if it was about the money we wouldn't be coming to NZ. It's all about the lifestyle for us, less stress, friends and a good social life, which is worth a heck of a lot more than money.

Mazzie

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#646895 27-Jun-2012 11:07

oxnsox:
Mazzie: Just have to work out what to do for calls to family in the U.K. From what I have found, outgoing calls on mobiles are all the same price at approximately 44c/minute, any ideas who the best mobile phone Company would be to go with?

Thru your Broadband connection Voip based services are cheapest internationally as you know, and theres companies that offer those services. The main mobile companies Telecom/Vodafone offer some good international calling rates and deals (if you need to use your mobile) if you poke around on their websites.

If your other half is working with one of the rebuild companies they may get a mobile... again it'll be with either Telecom or Vodafone. So I'd start by knowing what those 2 are offering as each have their ways of bundling minutes and data, and friends/mates or family that are on the same network, into the calling plans.

Yes, I do use VOIP here a lot, I use Google Voice which is only supposed to work in the USA, but if you know what you are doing you can use it in Canada like I do, I also use Magicjack for North American calls and VOIPStunt to call my family in the UK. I've pretty much got it down pat as to how I use everything over here, just need to do my research to get as savvy over there.

I think hubby will get a phone as part of his package, but not sure what mobile company he will be with. However, we can always do the, "I'll call you and when you know it's me, you can call me back thing," that way it won't cost me anything on my mobile as he will be calling me. I'll check out those companies though, so thanks for mentioning them.

Azzura

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#646896 27-Jun-2012 11:09

Mazzie:
Yank: I also came from North America and the phone and internet prices were a real shocker for me as I paid about $15 for a land line and $30 a month unlimited broadband. I would not recommend a land line even though they are getting more reasonable I use voip which also has better deals on National and international calls and Naked broadband which is still fairly new here is starting to become more competitive. I recommend you shop around and find the best deal to suit your needs. Cell phone pricing I like here because unlike where I came from the prepay credit here does not expire in one month but is good for a year which reall suits me as I use them very little. I think the three major carriers are Telecom, Vodafone and 2Degrees you can check their websites and see if they have what your looking for, any questions you may have about any certain ones may be best answered here as I am sure there are people using each one of them. Good luck

Thanks Yank, Yeah I have a similar reaction with prices in the USA v Canada. We have a mobile home in Arizona and our landline and unlimited internet there is half the price we pay here. I's all swings and roundabouts and every Country in the world has its problems, you just have to figure out which one has the least problems and where you would be happiest living really. We have lived in quite a few Countries in the world and I can tell you, the grass is not greener on the other side, there's always something that people won't like. A move to New Zealand is not about money for us, indeed we are going to give up really good paying jobs here, a very good union pension and a home which we spend 4 months of the winter in in Arizona, so if it was about the money we wouldn't be coming to NZ. It's all about the lifestyle for us, less stress, friends and a good social life, which is worth a heck of a lot more than money.

I have a few questions?

This permanent move to NZ? If so...are you bring your RRSP's over (cashing out)? Shipping your stuff over? Dog or Cat?

I have one bit of advice..if you are buying a house here (or even renting)...rent or buy a well insulated house (walls, ceiling, under floor) with dbl glazed windows and either a heat pump or wood burner (I personally prefer wood). Having a house that is warm inside like you are use to in Canada.... will make it so much more enjoyable living here vs a house that has darn near the same temperature inside as it is outside (trust me).

Some houses (quite a few actually) are about as good at holding the heat in as a Canadian summer camp/cottage. Which is next to nothing.

Mazzie

31 posts

Geek

#646899 27-Jun-2012 11:15

Azzura: We are actually with Telecom, for phone and internet. I looked at a mobile....but the amount I would potentially use data would be a crazy monthly bill, I just can't bring myself to want to pay. I could imagine how many apps I would have running sucking data.

I do have a site I might suggest to you for helping to move to NZ (if you haven't found it already). They will have info on any moving companies, immigration - any question you can think of in regards to "the move" you might have - http://www.enz.org

Thanks Azzura, I'll also check out Telecom. I definitely won't be using my mobile for internet, I don't use it over here for internet, so I won't need it there I don't think. My phone here has WiFi on it, so I can get on the internet using a wifi link if needs be. I also have a Kindle Fire and an Ipod both with wifi capabilities so again, I can use those if needed. I'm not a person who needs to be on the phone all the time, or the internet and it's very rare I use internet outside the home. I do like my internet at home though because I do repair computers and I also like to stream stuff and I usually need a lot of bandwidth for streaming and doing updates etc., after I have formatted a computer or repaired it.

Thanks for the link to the site that will give me some help with the move etc., I'll check that out too.

Batman

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#646900 27-Jun-2012 11:16

suggest:

phone: 2degrees on 39 pay monthly
www.2degreesmobile.co.nz
- 1GB data, 200 mins, 2500 txts (all local) international txt additional 9c, international calls around 22c (i think)

broadband: ...

Mazzie

31 posts

Geek

#646912 27-Jun-2012 11:32

I have a few questions?

This permanent move to NZ? If so...are you bring your RRSP's over (cashing out)? Shipping your stuff over? Dog or Cat?

I have one bit of advice..if you are buying a house here (or even renting)...rent or buy a well insulated house (walls, ceiling, under floor) with dbl glazed windows and either a heat pump or wood burner (I personally prefer wood). Having a house that is warm inside like you are use to in Canada.... will make it so much more enjoyable living here vs a house that has darn near the same temperature inside as it is outside (trust me).

Some houses (quite a few actually) are about as good at holding the heat in as a Canadian summer camp/cottage. Which is next to nothing.

RRSP's.....what are those? LOL, no we don't have any RRSP's, been too busy enjoying our lives and spending our money other than saving it. Some people will likely think that's irresponsible, but you are a long time dead and if we popped our clogs tomorrow we have no regrets, we have had a fabulous life. No animals, and we will likely only bring boxes, no furniture.

Yes, this is great advice and I definitely do trust you when you say this, I know that houses there are not much better, (if at all) than the garage's are here and they cost a fortune to rent. We don't spend the winters here in Canada anyways so we are always warm in Arizona. I think we would go for a wood burner as the cost of electric is pretty high, but it will depend on what will be available to rentI guess. We don't have a home here in Canada to sell, so we won't be buying in NZ unless of course hubby gets a massive salary LOL. We do have our mobile home that we will try and sell, but the prices for those are 1/10th of the price they are in NZ, so we won't be getting rich form that either if we can sell it.

Our visa's will be work to residence I know that if you are not a permanent resident and you buy a house you need a 20% deposit, so if we do buy we will likely wait until we get our residency.

Mazzie

31 posts

Geek

#646913 27-Jun-2012 11:42

joker97: suggest:

phone: 2degrees on 39 pay monthly
www.2degreesmobile.co.nz
- 1GB data, 200 mins, 2500 txts (all local) international txt additional 9c, international calls around 22c (i think)

broadband: ...

Many thanks for your suggestions. That doesn't seem too bad. I'm not a big texter, I prefer to chat rather than text. Texting is pretty bad over here especially when people are driving, it sends me round the bend when I see it. I am a Traffic Control Technician and there are way too many accidents from people texting whilst they are driving. I was reading in the NZ Herald that Vodafone have come out with a free App in NZ to turn off your texting while driving, it sends the person who is texting you a text back automatically to say you are driving and you will text them back when it is safe to do so. This is a great idea and I hope some enterprising company over here will adopt that. It sure will save a few lives and a lot of rear enders.

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Azzura

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#646917 27-Jun-2012 11:55

I was going to stop offering advice....but I can seem to stop

I used NCIX.com when we lived in Canada for buying computer parts. If you want to compare or have a look at computer part prices in NZ. This is the online company I usually buy from - http://www.ascent.co.nz/

Ascent may not always have the cheapest prices vs some other in NZ (that I have looked around on). But they do always get the part to you pretty fast.

Mazzie

31 posts

Geek

#646926 27-Jun-2012 12:09

Azzura: I was going to stop offering advice....but I can seem to stop

I used NCIX.com when we lived in Canada for buying computer parts. If you want to compare or have a look at computer part prices in NZ. This is the online company I usually buy from - http://www.ascent.co.nz/

Ascent may not always have the cheapest prices vs some other in NZ (that I have looked around on). But they do always get the part to you pretty fast.

Hey, don't stop, I am enjoying chatting with you and I'm always open to advice. I'm actually a software technician rather than hardware person. However, I do sometimes need to buy parts, RAM and hard drives etc., I usually get the RAM from Crucial in the USA and my parts from Tiger Direct as I don't buy that many. I only do repairs on the side now, or when I am in Arizona. I used to work for myself, but I decided I had had enough of doing it full-time and got myself into a completely different job as a Traffic Control Technician and guess what....I love it. It's nuts sometimes working on these 5 lane highways with people driving at 120 miles and hour 24 hours a day, but I really enjoy what I do.

Thanks for the link to ascent, I am sure that I will need to be buying some parts at some time or another. I currently have 3 desktops, 2 laptops and a netbook. Not sure though if I will bring them all with me, we shall see.

Azzura

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#646979 27-Jun-2012 13:14

If you are shipping stuff via container....ship everything you got (well except garden and wicker, go look at MAF - bio-security - on what can and can't be shipped and ask at ENZ). Buy a few step down transformers that are at least 2000Watts out of the US ($73 us). Shipped to Canada, I think they cost me about $140cnd vs $250 NZD for a 600W.

Most electronic stuff will work here fine, either right to the wall or via our step down transformers (I am sure you probably know), all of our stuff works here to date..even our cordless phones. They only thing that did not work here ..was my APC (ups). Light fixtures will work here fine..just change the bulbs out. Our Panasonic plasma tv works...but I had to route the video signal through a computer and Hauppauge HD-PVR in order to see video (stressful for a man

). But TVs are actually fairly low here now...I hear. Order North American to NZ plug converters (order a few over what you think you need)...they are 10-20 bucks a pop for them here. I ordered 20 in Canada for around 125 to 150 cnd bucks (I think).

If you aren't shipping a container...none of the above really applies lol.

Mazzie

31 posts

Geek

#646991 27-Jun-2012 13:29

Azzura: If you are shipping stuff via container....ship everything you got (well except garden and wicker, go look at MAF - bio-security - on what can and can't be shipped and ask at ENZ). Buy a few step down transformers that are at least 2000Watts out of the US ($73 us). Shipped to Canada, I think they cost me about $140cnd vs $250 NZD for a 600W.

Most electronic stuff will work here fine, either right to the wall or via our step down transformers (I am sure you probably know), all of our stuff works here to date..even our cordless phones. They only thing that did not work here ..was my APC (ups). Light fixtures will work here fine..just change the bulbs out. Our Panasonic plasma tv works...but I had to route the video signal through a computer and Hauppauge HD-PVR in order to see video (stressful for a man ). But TVs are actually fairly low here now...I hear. Order North American to NZ plug converters (order a few over what you think you need)...they are 10-20 bucks a pop for them here. I ordered 20 in Canada for around 125 to 150 cnd bucks (I think).

If you aren't shipping a container...none of the above really applies lol.

All good advice thanks. Actually I'm not sure yet what we are shipping and what we aren't. I haven't thought about electrical items, just decided that I wasn't going to ship any furniture. I have a WDTV which I am definitely going to bring. I also have a few different routers and peripherals that I will be bringing, but that's about as far as I got to thinking about what to bring. We have a nice TV, so maybe we might bring that too. It will be cheaper to buy a step down transformer than a new TV. Whereabouts are you located Azzura?

Azzura

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#647009 27-Jun-2012 14:04

We are up in Dargaville.....Iong ways North of Chch.
We shipped our furniture and it really makes it feel like home here (left washer, dryer, fridge and freezers in Canada). Having our stuff saved us a lot of money having to replace things. We thought about it...we would have got next to nothing selling it all off and not near enough to begin to cover the cost replacing.

We shipped a house worth of stuff (1700sq/ft). When filling forums out..we figured we had $125,000 (via insurance coverage forms). If we sold this stuff off....we might have got 20k? And to replace it...wow!

40 ft container from Sussex NB to here (Dargaville) was $18,000 vs replacing everything....became an easy choice and we have our stuff to top it all off. 20 ft is roughly half. We went with Crown..said we wanted a quote door to door unloaded in the rooms...with none of these surprise charges (I had heard others had with some companies).

If undecided...go around and start looking at what you will need to replace...towels, kitchen stuff (pots pans w/e), bedroom stuff. Start adding up how much it would basically cost you to replace everything you have and would leave behind. It adds up fast (was totally shocked at the number we came up with...blew us away!) And remember it almost seems like everything to buy here in NZ is darn near double the number you come up with.

This may not be the case for you and I don't want to scare you..but when we got here at first...it felt like we hemorrhaged money. But my wife is a MD and she had a lot of licensing fees to pay...we paid cash for 2 cars. Car loans are very very expensive here (vs Canadian interest on car loans)...pay cash for a car if you can.

Fuel is roughly 1.99/L, so roughly 80 bucks a fill-up for a small echo car).
Our electric bill is roughly $220-250 (@ roughly 31c per kilowatt) a month (I think its good? comparing to others nearby on the road)..burning wood helps keep it down.
Cord of wood here seems to be roughly $450/cord (near as I figured out and perhaps can find cheaper)...we might burn a cord up this part of the country.....house is on a windy hill, but insulated (but it doesn't go below zero here).

After saying all that...was it worth moving here?

Yes it was..we love it here!

Mazzie

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#647025 27-Jun-2012 14:30

Azzura: We are up in Dargaville.....Iong ways North of Chch.
We shipped our furniture and it really makes it feel like home here (left washer, dryer, fridge and freezers in Canada). Having our stuff saved us a lot of money having to replace things. We thought about it...we would have got next to nothing selling it all off and not near enough to begin to cover the cost replacing.

We shipped a house worth of stuff (1700sq/ft). When filling forums out..we figured we had $125,000 (via insurance coverage forms). If we sold this stuff off....we might have got 20k? And to replace it...wow!

40 ft container from Sussex NB to here (Dargaville) was $18,000 vs replacing everything....became an easy choice and we have our stuff to top it all off. 20 ft is roughly half. We went with Crown..said we wanted a quote door to door unloaded in the rooms...with none of these surprise charges (I had heard others had with some companies).

If undecided...go around and start looking at what you will need to replace...towels, kitchen stuff (pots pans w/e), bedroom stuff. Start adding up how much it would basically cost you to replace everything you have and would leave behind. It adds up fast (was totally shocked at the number we came up with...blew us away!) And remember it almost seems like everything to buy here in NZ is darn near double the number you come up with.

This may not be the case for you and I don't want to scare you..but when we got here at first...it felt like we hemorrhaged money. But my wife is a MD and she had a lot of licensing fees to pay...we paid cash for 2 cars. Car loans are very very expensive here (vs Canadian interest on car loans)...pay cash for a car if you can.

Fuel is roughly 1.99/L, so roughly 80 bucks a fill-up for a small echo car).
Our electric bill is roughly $220-250 (@ roughly 31c per kilowatt) a month (I think its good? comparing to others nearby on the road)..burning wood helps keep it down.
Cord of wood here seems to be roughly $450/cord (near as I figured out and perhaps can find cheaper)...we might burn a cord up this part of the country.....house is on a windy hill, but insulated (but it doesn't go below zero here).

After saying all that...was it worth moving here?

Yes it was..we love it here!

We don't have a house full of stuff, just an apartment, but we are definitely going to ship everything that is not furniture because I know how much all the little stuff costs to replace. I must admit, we only have stuff that we use in our home so we are not overstuffed with items. I try not to buy things we don't need, what's the point, stuff you don't need just sits in the cupboard forever. I guess this comes after years of moving around the world.

As far as cars go, hubby should be getting a vehicle with his job and we would for sure pay cash for my car. We don't have any bills here or debts, and we don't want any there either. Both of our vehicles here are paid for and I haven't a clue what the interest would be on a car loan as we have never had one. Gas is $1.27L here at the moment, so a little cheaper. Our electric is included in our apartment rent, so I don't know what the cost of that would be, but $200-$250 a month seems a little excessive.

We are not under any illusions of how expensive things are in NZ and as long as we can have a reasonable standard of living we'll be happy. We're not coming to get rich that's for sure.

It was great discussing all this stuff with you, time for me to go to bed now so I'll say goodnight and thanks again for all your help.

kingjj

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#647056 27-Jun-2012 15:40

Re electricity prices in Chch, you should be able to get away at around 24c per KWH plus a daily charge between 30-70 cents. Our bill (2 adults, older ex-state house with ltd insulation and electric heating) ranges from $120 in summer to $250 in winter. Wood burners are quite hard to find currently in Chch due to EQ damage and strict rules from ECan (Environment Canterbury) but there are rumours that ECan are going to lighten their stance. Heat Pumps are the norm now, with a good modern unit costing as low as a dollar a day to run.

Most of urban Chch has ADSL-2, large parts have VDSL and rural Chch/Canterbury has good access to ADSL/Wireless. Fibre rollout has started in Urban Chch with two large areas having access by years end and the rest of the city progressively within the next 5-8 years. There is a cable network covering parts of Chch operated by TelstraClear which is expensive but offers good speeds.

I'm not sure if you'll be wanting Pay TV but NZ only has one provider (SkyTV) and the prices will likely come as a shock. A basic package costs around $47 per month with Movies and Sports being extra additions. Adding in a PVR and Basic/Movies (4 Channels)/Sports (5 channels) and your looking at over $100 per month. Free to air offers a reasonable range and is provided digitally (analogue switch off slated for April 2013).

I know some of this has been covered but always worth a re-hash. We look forward to welcoming you to New Zealand and Christchurch. I'm heartened hearing that people actually want to move to Chch considering the last 2 years and hope that you will come to make it your home. While it does get very cold here in Chch (recently -6 Celsius) the South Island becomes a winter playground which makes up for it. Queenstown (our version of say, Aspen) is only 5 hours drive from Chch, ski fields are within 2 hours, large national parks are doted across the country and you never have to go far to find a quiet piece of countryside.

If you have any questions re areas to live in, rental prices, costs of setting up a home etc please feel free to ask.

oxnsox

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#647093 27-Jun-2012 16:27

Azzura: ...(snip)....
I have one bit of advice..if you are buying a house here (or even renting)...rent or buy a well insulated house (walls, ceiling, under floor) with dbl glazed windows and either a heat pump or wood burner (I personally prefer wood). Having a house that is warm inside like you are use to in Canada.... will make it so much more enjoyable living here vs a house that has darn near the same temperature inside as it is outside (trust me).

Some houses (quite a few actually) are about as good at holding the heat in as a Canadian summer camp/cottage. Which is next to nothing.

ROFL...

Clearly you haven't tried to rent in Christchurch lately... Choice is not something you are spoilt for here.

Just as a background: Housing in NZ has a reputation, particularly amongst immigrants and visitors, as being of generally poor quality in terms of it's heat retention and it's draughtiness. Whilst these are valid points they have to be seen in context.

NZ is a relatively young country ( population in 1882 was ~ half a million, 1912 was ~1million, 1952 ~ 2mil, 1972 ~3mi, and 2012 ~4.5million ) with a generally mild climate because its a relatively small land mass surrounded by sea (you can't get more than aprox100km from the ocean). This has a great regulatory effect on air temperatures, although there are variations across the country because of it's north/south orientation.

The majority of the housing stock was built after the two world wars in a country that had plenty of natural timber (housing and heating) and coal. Sure the places weren't well sealed or insulated but they kept you dry and it was easy to get firewood / coal and later electricity (and even oil!!) for heating.

About the 1970 we started actually putting insulation in roof spaces, and later it also became mandatory in external walls. Double glazing wasn't mandated to be fitted to new builds until fairly recently (I'm talking within the last 5 yrs).

Summary: Yes there's a lot of older colder houses here because they were built that way. And because we've had plenty of room for urban growth(sprawl) there hasn't until recently been much building of new more efficient housing stock on existing residential sites. Mostly we renovate, and when it comes to improving insulation in an 80 year old house there's only so much that is economically feasible against the property value.

OK. Having said that I'll climb down off the soapbox, tuck it under my arm and slink off to the cold windy corner with the tough Kiwi blokes wearing shorts and jandals....

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