Forced off pay-as-you-go data plan, what's good now?

Forums › Spark New Zealand (including Skinny and BigPipe) › Forced off pay-as-you-go data plan, what's good now?

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plambrechtsen

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#956084 22-Dec-2013 10:33

Sirius:
surfisup1000:

You could chuck in $20 every time you go on holiday and get 500mb...if you didn't use the whole amount, it would stick around until the next holiday.

This. I could put in $20 and it'd last for more than 6 months. Once or twice I had to top up because the credit was going to expire otherwise

I think you have both answered the reason why the plan got grandfathered. It has been around since XT launched, and I had personally thought it had already been shutdown.

If you are only topping up $20 every 6 months or every year just to keep it alive I think we can all agree it's an unsustainable plan. No one else on the market does it (even for carry over data plans you still need to be on some sort of plan to get it).

I think the one-off data extras you can purchase via the smartphone app and top-up that way too are the way to go, that way you just purchase what you need for that period you are going to use, and set the data caps via Mobile Self Service.

I personally love the smart one bill accounts as that is what I have for 3 data sim cards for various devices I own. Set the smart cap to zero so most of the year you don't get inadvertantly charged for casual usage when you switch them on, then add a one off extra when you need to use it and it gets charged to your main account. Couldn't get any easier than that IMHO.

quickymart

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#956093 22-Dec-2013 11:00

I think I had that 500MB plan, which is now showing as "data casual". Does that sound right?

Lias

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#956135 22-Dec-2013 12:08

plambrechtsen:
Sirius:
surfisup1000:

You could chuck in $20 every time you go on holiday and get 500mb...if you didn't use the whole amount, it would stick around until the next holiday.

This. I could put in $20 and it'd last for more than 6 months. Once or twice I had to top up because the credit was going to expire otherwise

I think you have both answered the reason why the plan got grandfathered. It has been around since XT launched, and I had personally thought it had already been shutdown.

If you are only topping up $20 every 6 months or every year just to keep it alive I think we can all agree it's an unsustainable plan. No one else on the market does it (even for carry over data plans you still need to be on some sort of plan to get it).

I think the one-off data extras you can purchase via the smartphone app and top-up that way too are the way to go, that way you just purchase what you need for that period you are going to use, and set the data caps via Mobile Self Service.

I personally love the smart one bill accounts as that is what I have for 3 data sim cards for various devices I own. Set the smart cap to zero so most of the year you don't get inadvertantly charged for casual usage when you switch them on, then add a one off extra when you need to use it and it gets charged to your main account. Couldn't get any easier than that IMHO.

It's not just Telecom, no-one caters for low volume users. My t-stick is on skinny, because I only use a few hundred mb per _year_ on it, and generally in short blocks like going on holiday. My phone is on 2 degrees $19 combo because of the carryover, but what's supplied is way beyond my needs.. I'd also like to put my kids on account, but where is the "20 minute calling, a few hundred texts and 50mb data" for $5/month type plans.. nowhere.. Have to spend a minimum of $30/month to be billed, its bloody annoying.

My rant :-P

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plambrechtsen

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#956144 22-Dec-2013 12:26

Lias: It's not just Telecom, no-one caters for low volume users. My t-stick is on skinny, because I only use a few hundred mb per _year_ on it, and generally in short blocks like going on holiday. My phone is on 2 degrees $19 combo because of the carryover, but what's supplied is way beyond my needs.. I'd also like to put my kids on account, but where is the "20 minute calling, a few hundred texts and 50mb data" for $5/month type plans.. nowhere.. Have to spend a minimum of $30/month to be billed, its bloody annoying.

My rant :-P

Well I highly recommend you build your own nationwide mobile coverage and cater for the sub $15 market. There is currently a 5mhz band in the 700mhz spectrum for the lte band 26 deployment available for around 10mil. I am sure it will be a profitable endeavour.

surfisup1000

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#956164 22-Dec-2013 13:30

plambrechtsen:
Well I highly recommend you build your own nationwide mobile coverage and cater for the sub $15 market. There is currently a 5mhz band in the 700mhz spectrum for the lte band 26 deployment available for around 10mil. I am sure it will be a profitable endeavour.

Are you implying that it is only possible to cater for a single market segment on a nationwide cellular network?

I'm curious as to how much load an active yet unused simcard puts on the cellsite. I wonder how telecom pays software royalties on the cellular operating system too -- is it per registered sim or sims that actually are being used for communication services , or none of the above.

How about the subscribers who have ipads with 3g/4g and also are on a 1gb phone plan? Tethering is annoying to setup -- and, telecom do not offer data sharing across devices (like 2degrees).

Do you consider data sharing to be unsustainable too, because it will be used largely for people who take ipads on holiday a couple of times a year yet the network must keep them registered for the whole year.

plambrechtsen

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#956166 22-Dec-2013 13:41

surfisup1000:
plambrechtsen:
Well I highly recommend you build your own nationwide mobile coverage and cater for the sub $15 market. There is currently a 5mhz band in the 700mhz spectrum for the lte band 26 deployment available for around 10mil. I am sure it will be a profitable endeavour.

Are you implying that it is only possible to cater for a single market segment on a nationwide cellular network?

I'm curious as to how much load an active yet unused simcard puts on the cellsite. I wonder how telecom pays software royalties on the cellular operating system too -- is it per registered sim or sims that actually are being used for communication services , or none of the above.

How about the subscribers who have ipads with 3g/4g and also are on a 1gb phone plan? Tethering is annoying to setup -- and, telecom do not offer data sharing across devices (like 2degrees).

Do you consider data sharing to be unsustainable too, because it will be used largely for people who take ipads on holiday a couple of times a year yet the network must keep them registered for the whole year.

In regards to teathering yes it can be a pain, but data sharing requires a billing system designed to handle and real time rate data/txt/voice across multiple accounts. When you have built and maintained a billing system for more than 1million subs doing real time rating the word "that's easy" and "why don't you do that" often take on a long and complex (and commercially sensitive in some situations) response.

In regards for people who have ipads who hardly use them. That is exactly what the Smart One Bill account is perfect for (and what I have my wife plus our shared 3G Wifi AP on). It costs nothing on a monthly basis (which neither 2D or Voda offer) and it's in effect a "pay as you go postpaid" account against your home account. When you need to use it put on a extra (data / mins or whatever you want) using the mobile self service either as a one off or recurring and you are away. Works a treat. Not sure why more people don't use it.

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quickymart

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#956264 22-Dec-2013 17:48

Hmm, maybe I should convert my T-Stick to "on the one bill" then after the grandfathered plan I'm on expires...

mattwnz

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#956287 22-Dec-2013 19:28

I presume it was sustainable economically when the plan was introduced, so now with more people on the network and more competition I do struggle to see why it is now unsustainable. Especially as the offering isn't any better than when it was introduced, yet other plans have improved the allowances 50 dollars a year for a low usage customer, isn't bad money for very low load on the network, and many of those users would probably have 3g turned off, and only use it when they are away, to conserve battery and so they don't risk using it when they instead want to use WiFi. So I doubt it would be causing any additional load anyway, unlike peope who always have it on. Those people who do always have it on, will likely be paying more too, as they will inadvertently be using data, including whenever they are away from WiFi.

plambrechtsen

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#956301 22-Dec-2013 20:28

mattwnz: I presume it was sustainable economically when the plan was introduced, so now with more people on the network and more competition I do struggle to see why it is now unsustainable. Especially as the offering isn't any better than when it was introduced, yet other plans have improved the allowances 50 dollars a year for a low usage customer, isn't bad money for very low load on the network, and many of those users would probably have 3g turned off, and only use it when they are away, to conserve battery and so they don't risk using it when they instead want to use WiFi. So I doubt it would be causing any additional load anyway, unlike peope who always have it on. Those people who do always have it on, will likely be paying more too, as they will inadvertently be using data, including whenever they are away from WiFi.

Because supporting a plan in your billing system which is completely different from all your others requires no regression testing at all each major or minor release you have.

There is always a cost with supporting yet another plan. It's a cost that wouldn't be obvious to someone who hasn't worked in a end to end telco environment.

surfisup1000

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#956303 22-Dec-2013 20:29

plambrechtsen:
In regards for people who have ipads who hardly use them. That is exactly what the Smart One Bill account is perfect for (and what I have my wife plus our shared 3G Wifi AP on). It costs nothing on a monthly basis (which neither 2D or Voda offer) and it's in effect a "pay as you go postpaid" account against your home account. When you need to use it put on a extra (data / mins or whatever you want) using the mobile self service either as a one off or recurring and you are away. Works a treat. Not sure why more people don't use it.

I will look into the smart one account, thanks.

With respect to the billing system not handling shared plans -- this is a cost issue rather than technical. But, it is not just the billing system either. Perhaps this is an mediation solution rather than billing? I do recall talking to some prepaid expert at one stage and they wanted to replace legacy billing systems all together :) But , in practicality there were some serious shortcomings in such an approach.

nzbnw

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#956382 23-Dec-2013 07:40

Lias:
plambrechtsen:
Sirius:
surfisup1000:

You could chuck in $20 every time you go on holiday and get 500mb...if you didn't use the whole amount, it would stick around until the next holiday.

This. I could put in $20 and it'd last for more than 6 months. Once or twice I had to top up because the credit was going to expire otherwise

I think you have both answered the reason why the plan got grandfathered. It has been around since XT launched, and I had personally thought it had already been shutdown.

If you are only topping up $20 every 6 months or every year just to keep it alive I think we can all agree it's an unsustainable plan. No one else on the market does it (even for carry over data plans you still need to be on some sort of plan to get it).

I think the one-off data extras you can purchase via the smartphone app and top-up that way too are the way to go, that way you just purchase what you need for that period you are going to use, and set the data caps via Mobile Self Service.

I personally love the smart one bill accounts as that is what I have for 3 data sim cards for various devices I own. Set the smart cap to zero so most of the year you don't get inadvertantly charged for casual usage when you switch them on, then add a one off extra when you need to use it and it gets charged to your main account. Couldn't get any easier than that IMHO.

It's not just Telecom, no-one caters for low volume users. My t-stick is on skinny, because I only use a few hundred mb per _year_ on it, and generally in short blocks like going on holiday. My phone is on 2 degrees $19 combo because of the carryover, but what's supplied is way beyond my needs.. I'd also like to put my kids on account, but where is the "20 minute calling, a few hundred texts and 50mb data" for $5/month type plans.. nowhere.. Have to spend a minimum of $30/month to be billed, its bloody annoying.

My rant :-P

While not $5 you could always get a series of $3 extras on Prepaid, one for voice, one for text and one for data.

http://www.telecom.co.nz/mobile/mobile/yourmobile/addextras/mobileextras/prepaidextras/

nzbnw

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plambrechtsen

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#956410 23-Dec-2013 09:54

surfisup1000: I will look into the smart one account, thanks.

With respect to the billing system not handling shared plans -- this is a cost issue rather than technical. But, it is not just the billing system either. Perhaps this is an mediation solution rather than billing? I do recall talking to some prepaid expert at one stage and they wanted to replace legacy billing systems all together :) But , in practicality there were some serious shortcomings in such an approach.

I would say it's a technical issue as investigation is required on how to make it work, therefor there is a cost to do it. Plus there would need to be the will of the business to do it.

Who knows what the new year will bring in regards to new plans and options eh :)

quickymart

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#956737 23-Dec-2013 23:12

Okay...so it looks like my plan is going. D'oh :(

quickymart

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#960971 3-Jan-2014 23:38

And it's gone! I got a text saying I had used 80% of my 10MB of data.
Re the 500MB plan going - was everyone notified?

Sirius

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#974826 26-Jan-2014 21:16

Oops, went overseas and forgot to update this thread. Telecom txted me on the 13th of Jan and told me my "previous plan has now been removed." Was also informed of a $9 value pack with 30 minutes and 1000 txts, and that mobile data is now $1/day up to 10MB. After 10 Feb additional data will be 30c/MB.

So I'm currently halfway through my free month of 500MB, but after this, I'm still not sure what to get. I've now gotten over the 4G hype (not the type to watch videos over mobile broadband), so looking at going to Skinny ($16 pack) or Vodafone Freebees. Telecom's top up packs system, although flexible, seems really complex and annoying when you just want to browse a few pages or check the balance on the EFTPOS card...

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