Spark Wifi Calling imminent?

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#2742195 10-Jul-2021 16:57

This thread is just on a year old now and I in the market for a new phone. Does anyone here from Spark know what is the state of WiFi calling on theirs or Skinny's network??

Where I live in Morrinsville Spark marginally has a better cell coverage (zero to 2 bars) over 2D and Voda. My next door neighbor is on Voda only because at the time he moved it he could get a Sure signal unit which I believe are not available any more.

My other option is to buy a new phone from 2D and port my number across. I've had a 2D SIM from day one which is my second SIM in my current phone which is the same number except for the area code as my Spark/Skinny SIM .

So anyone here from Spark with an answer??

Thanx in advance.

Regards,

Old3eyes

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#2742203 10-Jul-2021 17:07

No Spark staff member could talk about this until official comms is released from SparkNZ unless you want to see a staff member fired!

Nate001

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#2742216 10-Jul-2021 17:24

To be fair this whole thread was started from a website redesign. Probably miscommunication between marketing and engineers and project could have been canned long ago.

I’ve given up waiting for it. Be nice to be proved wrong…

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#2742223 10-Jul-2021 17:31

2degrees has done a lot of work on Wi-Fi calling recently and handover to VoLTE is now working!

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#2742259 10-Jul-2021 19:26

I'm sure they will do it eventually but the question is when and priorities. I'm guessing 5G, the move to Samsung on the networking side and IoT are probably higher on the radar.
A lot of this comes down to how much new revenue will this feature introduce or retain.

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#2742272 10-Jul-2021 20:44

On the other hand the lack of it makes Spark look a bit silly and backward looking. I'm with Spark. I don't change providers often. When I change it's usually for a long time.

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#2742278 10-Jul-2021 21:01

Fully agree - They are not alone:
* 2 Degrees offers wifi calling.
* Vodafone doesn’t. They used to offer suresignal as a fairly good compromise. They don’t offer anything for now (unless you have a sure signal).
* Either does Spark.

There are heaps of quirky things that the telcos do or don’t do:
* Vodafone charge for iMessage/FaceTime activation. Spark and 2 degrees don’t.
* Spark requires you to buy an addon if you want to wifi tether on some plans. Vodafone and 2 Degrees don’t.
* 2 degrees passes their “free hour of data” gimmick as a serious feature for their price increases. Spark requires high end plans for sharing. Vodafone pretty much shares at any endless consumer plan tier.

Ultimately to boils down to what brings them the most money (or keeps/increases their margins).

Personally I’ve been with the big three at one point or other. I left Spark because of cultural and price, I left 2 degrees because of their price increases and poor voice quality, I settled on Vodafone because the service has been great and the pricing has been awesome. My advice: switch to whatever gives you the best service at the best price. You don’t owe them anything. These days it’s a commodity service, like power.

Churning is the only language that they’ll understand.

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#2742369 11-Jul-2021 11:43

On the other hand only spark offer eSim (for now). It’s almost as if the telcos have agreed to have a point of difference so you can’t directly compete…

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#2742387 11-Jul-2021 12:53

cokemaster: * 2 degrees passes their “free hour of data” gimmick as a serious feature for their price increases. Spark requires high end plans for sharing. Vodafone pretty much shares at any endless consumer plan tier.

Just curious, do you mean Spark requires high end data plans for sharing to be free? Because I share data on my iPad with a 4GB rollover plan (plus extra promotional allowances gained when buying new handsets) for $9.95 / month

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#2742502 11-Jul-2021 16:21

I mean the group/leader follower plan. Sparks one starts at $99.99 whilst other operators offer more different options.

For instance: I have a 40GB ($69.95) group plan with four connections and a 12GB ($59.95) group plan with three connections.

On a side note, I love the PR speak on why they don’t include wifi tethering on endless plans:

Why does Spark exclude tethering and hotspots?

To protect the data experience for all customers on our network, the $59.99 Endless Mobile Plan doesn't include tethering or hotspot unless you buy a Hotspot extra.

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#2742504 11-Jul-2021 16:24

cokemaster: I mean the group/leader follower plan. Sparks one starts at $99.99 whilst other operators offer more different options.

For instance: I have a 40GB ($69.95) group plan with four connections and a 12GB ($59.95) group plan with three connections.

On a side note, I love the PR speak on why they don’t include wifi tethering on endless plans:
Why does Spark exclude tethering and hotspots?

To protect the data experience for all customers on our network, the $59.99 Endless Mobile Plan doesn't include tethering or hotspot unless you buy a Hotspot extra.

Okay.... but I'm using a $60 rollover plan (which isn't data-only) with one data sharer added? admittedly it isn't a listed plan, I enquired about my options, can hotspot on my plan too - but I agree that reasoning is a bit stupid "to protect the data experience...unless you cough up $10 measly more our network suddenly won't be affected"

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#2742509 11-Jul-2021 16:39

When I was on Spark - was definitely not on the $99.99 plan and had a sharer too. But believe they’ve withdrawn those plans.

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#2746425 19-Jul-2021 09:19

Well this thread has been open a week and not a word from anyone at Spark so I guess it's not in their immediate future so I guess the next time I'm in Hamilton I'll take a walk to the 2 Degrees store and buy a Samsung A52 5G and check out their WiFi calling at home with my 2D SIM card. If OK I'll port across.

Regards,

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#2746426 19-Jul-2021 09:26

@old3eyes Did you read my post above?

No Spark staff member could talk about this until official comms is released from SparkNZ unless you want to see a staff member fired!

old3eyes

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#2746428 19-Jul-2021 09:29

Linux:

@old3eyes Did you read my post above?

No Spark staff member could talk about this until official comms is released from SparkNZ unless you want to see a staff member fired!

I read a lot of your posts above. Would have been nice if they came back with something though. I'm sure they could have got a reply via someone in marketing.. I wonder if someone there is allowed to say if they may put a new cell site in here in Morrinsville..

Regards,

Old3eyes

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