Auckland council - thought it was free to call?

Forums › Spark New Zealand (including Skinny and BigPipe) › Auckland council - thought it was free to call?

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quickymart

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#2799130 22-Oct-2021 07:59

When I worked at Telecom and people in Orewa and Pukekohe were complaining about making to calls to call Auckland, I vaguely recall their then-response to be something like "the Auckland free-calling area covers over 60kms), implying it was already big enough.

I suppose it's like the fibre rollout - all the people on here saying "it's just 500m from my front gate! Why couldn't it be extended?"...but there has to be a cutoff somewhere, probably the same for toll-free areas.

Telecom also used to sell a plan called "City Caller" (again from memory) - a monthly fee gave you free calls to your neighbouring toll area. Dunno if Spark still do it though.

nztim

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#2799149 22-Oct-2021 08:40

This is 2021 and with almost all customers off the NEAX and on VOIP there is should be no need for LICAs - you should be able to call anyone anywhere in the country for a fixed monthly rental, landline/mobile/whatever, you should also be able to port your landline number anywhere in the country if you move out of your local area

15 - 20 years ago I could understand the cost because calls would have to be switched between 3-4 NEAXs to get from Hibiscus Coast or Pukekohe to Auckland CBD but not anymore.

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xpd

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#2799173 22-Oct-2021 09:09

Im on the HBC as well, and yes, generally calls to "Auckland" are chargeable. So to get around that, I got a "local" Auckland number via 2Talk so calls to "Auckland" are "free". Any HBC calls get charged tho - but thats fine, we dont call HBC numbers often, or just use Facebook etc.

So if your primary calls are to "Auckland", then Id recommend getting a local "Auckland" number.

If your calls are primarily to HBC, stay as you are.

Gavin / xpd / FastRaccoon / Geek of Coastguard New Zealand

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nztim

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#2799176 22-Oct-2021 09:12

xpd:

Im on the HBC as well, and yes, generally calls to "Auckland" are chargeable. So to get around that, I got a "local" Auckland number via 2Talk so calls to "Auckland" are "free". Any HBC calls get charged tho - but thats fine, we dont call HBC numbers often, or just use Facebook etc.

So if your primary calls are to "Auckland", then Id recommend getting a local "Auckland" number.

If your calls are primarily to HBC, stay as you are.

I guess my point is, in 2021 it shouldn't be that way

Any views expressed on these forums are my own and don't necessarily reflect those of my employer.

Inphinity

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#2799299 22-Oct-2021 11:08

Thing is, the way the council list it makes it seem like it should be free:

https://www.aucklandcouncil.govt.nz/report-problem/Pages/our-contact-details.aspx

fe31nz

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#2799733 23-Oct-2021 01:41

You could change to 2Degrees and get their $15/month VOIP service. That gives free calls to all landlines in NZ and Australia. There are probably other providers that have similar packages.

Given the way VOIP works, and also how the mobile networks work, the idea of charging more for "toll" calls is silly now - it would never happen on the mobile networks, so why is it still happening on landlines where the traffic gets converted to VOIP now anyway? I think the Commerce Commission needs to take a hard look at this.

richms

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#2799815 23-Oct-2021 12:08

Everyone seems to forget that when telecom was sold back in the stone ages, they made it that local calling was to be kept as it was when they sold it. So that's what you get.

Really I think the time has come to axe any local area codes, move everyone to a single area and expand the numbers to include the area code at all times to make dialing simpler and help go towards eliminating area code shaming of people that is still a thing.

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cokemaster

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#2799827 23-Oct-2021 12:41

I understand that there WAS a bespoke toll waiving solution put in place to allow all of Auckland to call that number, free of charge. I’m not sure if that is still in place anymore and whether they’ve got all operators onboard.

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nztim

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#2799854 23-Oct-2021 14:07

richms:
Really I think the time has come to axe any local area codes, move everyone to a single area and expand the numbers to include the area code at all times to make dialing simpler and help go towards eliminating area code shaming of people that is still a thing.

Bang on the money

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chevrolux

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#2799994 23-Oct-2021 16:11

cokemaster: I understand that there WAS a bespoke toll waiving solution put in place to allow all of Auckland to call that number, free of charge. I’m not sure if that is still in place anymore and whether they’ve got all operators onboard.

Might have been the case when Telecom was the only toll provider, but 100% not the case now.

Storm in a teacup though with mobile plans the way they are these days.

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