Spark slashes unlimited mobile data to $79.95

Forums › Spark New Zealand (including Skinny and BigPipe) › Spark slashes unlimited mobile data to $79.95

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#1856420 1-Sep-2017 09:41

Very interesting. Competition is a very good thing.

It's rare for me to use more than 500MB of mobile data in a month, but the prospect of watching video while on the bus is tempting.

The tethering limitation is a deal breaker for me though. While it's even rarer for me to tether something to my phone than it is to use more than 500MB of mobile data in a month, I can't justify making the jump (or 100% price increase compared to my current plan) with this limitation.

If tethered data after 22GB were limited to 256k/256k or similar, I'd probably jump onto this plan.

wellygary

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#1856426 1-Sep-2017 09:50

Also No Tablets :(

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#1856429 1-Sep-2017 09:54

Look, I totally understand that they don't want people using gigs and gigs of data via tethering as there would be people that would abuse it (like using it for a home internet connection). But I would be happy pay their $5.99 for data share to a tablet and another $5 a month for up to 1 gig of hotspot/tethering.

At the moment I am on a 7.5 gig data share account for $85 dollars. I also get 2 bonus gigs of data taking it up to 9.5gigs for $85. I never use that much, most i would have used is 4 or 5gigs but i like knowing that the data is there just in case.

Now for $55 I can get 10gigs of rollover data and still share the data with my ipad for free on 2degrees and also can tether. Sure i miss the "free" spotify and cheap movie tickets (which is going at the end of this month anyway) but I also pay google $10 a month for youtube red with free play music.

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#1856433 1-Sep-2017 10:04

noroad:

michaelmurfy: Skinny Direct also cut their unlimited plan to $79/mo. People will however complain about the little things still.

Hotspot is not a little thing, its an important part of using a mobile for many people.

It's also a killer deal for me. Interestingly I was discussing this with Jason Paris on Twitter and he clearly doesn't see it as an issue.

Apparently the trial customers for the product had some tethering data.

Yabanize

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#1856441 1-Sep-2017 10:29

I think if you didn't abuse it, if you occasionally tether a little they won't care

kryptonjohn

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#1856442 1-Sep-2017 10:32

The irony is, my data usage tethering is likely less than untethered - it would mean I am using RDP to do work, which uses a tiny amount of data compared to watching an HD movie or even listening to Spotify.

I'm not sure they've thought this through...

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#1856444 1-Sep-2017 10:33

How do they technically restrict tethering ability?

allan

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#1856445 1-Sep-2017 10:35

Yes also typically use tethering for RDP/Citrix type access. As mentioned, not sure that's really been considered.

paulspain

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#1856450 1-Sep-2017 10:38

It was me on Newstalk ZB at 5.25am discussing the new Spark unlimited plan. I spoke to Spark ahead of the announcement and I think three things to consider:

Spark advised a commitment to delivering a 'good experience' for those who use more than 22GB of data. So I would imagine you can still stream video etc but you might not see 20mbps speeds.
The inclusion of Spotify and Lightbox help with making the package a good deal
Whilst Spark don't mention it, I imagine if your data usage isn't too crazy they'd not kick you off the plan for occasional tethering (I've done some tethering on 2degrees unlimited LTE plan without issues)

My personal preference would be for Spark to officially include a tethering bundle like what Three UK do. I'd pick that could happen in the future - maybe that's what 2degrees bring to the table?

Paul Spain
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#1856462 1-Sep-2017 10:44

I don't know if there's anything in a TCP packet other than the port number that would allow them to know it's data for a tethered device anyway. If based on port number then I guess they could look at ports that are not typically used by mobile devices... seems like a pretty bad way and people definitely use RDP from mobile devices. From their web site it looks like they might just guess on the basis of data volume.

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#1856463 1-Sep-2017 10:46

paulspain:
It was me on Newstalk ZB at 5.25am discussing the new Spark unlimited plan. I spoke to Spark ahead of the announcement and I think three things to consider:

Spark advised a commitment to delivering a 'good experience' for those who use more than 22GB of data. So I would imagine you can still stream video etc but you might not see 20mbps speeds.

The inclusion of Spotify and Lightbox help with making the package a good deal

Whilst Spark don't mention it, I imagine if your data usage isn't too crazy they'd not kick you off the plan for occasional tethering (I've done some tethering on 2degrees unlimited LTE plan without issues)

My personal preference would be for Spark to officially include a tethering bundle like what Three UK do. I'd pick that could happen in the future - maybe that's what 2degrees bring to the table?

So tethering isn't actually disabled? I've been on plans with local US carriers on my iPhone where personal hotspot simply disappears. So Apple clearly gives a carrier the ability to turn it off. Have Spark done this?

Jonathan

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#1856467 1-Sep-2017 10:50

I think they can do that with locked in APNs.

Coil

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#1856483 1-Sep-2017 11:11

Copy pasta from Reddit.

If you have an Android phone you can easily bypass the "No tethering" restriction on the Skinny Direct unlimited plan. On Android Lollipop (5.1) and earlier you can do it without root:

https://pmf.silvrback.com/fixing-tethering-on-android-kitkat

Enable developer mode (Go to Settings -> About phone, and click on the build number until the developer mode is enabled).

Enable USB debugging under Settings -> Developer options

Connect the device with a USB cable to a computer with the Android SDK platform tools installed

Start an adb shell: adb shell

In the adb shell, run this command: settings put global tether_dun_required 0

You may also need to set settings.db.system.tether_entitlement_check_state to 0

On Marshmallow and later if you need to root and do the following:

Install a build.prop editor
add net.tethering.noprovisioning=true to the end of the build.prop

The way this works is that usually tethering adds a step to the TTL of packets over the hotspot and the ISP can detect this. By changing this settings it makes traffic over the hotspot have the same TTL as from your phone so the ISP see's traffic as coming from the phone.

I did this when I lived in the UK on Three which had unlimited data and only 15GB a month for tethering and tethered ~200GB a month (Three said I tethered 0GB on their portal).

myndlyz

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#1856492 1-Sep-2017 11:21

If this was a true unlimited data plan then i could understand no tethering. However since there is a cap of 22 gigs, why restrict tethering as once you hit that limit, you cant do much more anyway.

surfisup1000

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#1856494 1-Sep-2017 11:27

noroad:

michaelmurfy: Skinny Direct also cut their unlimited plan to $79/mo. People will however complain about the little things still.

Hotspot is not a little thing, its an important part of using a mobile for many people.

I've often noticed that people project their own requirements and needs onto others.

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