Appreciate the input, you've made your point. I'll sort this offline.
I don't blame you, people seem to have missed the title of this thread: "Spark casual data rates seem predatory?"
Yes. Yes, they are predatory, I don't care if they state them on their web site, it's banditry pure and simple, and a lot of the telcos are up to the same game.
blissfulhedgehog: I have contacted them. I'm trying again nonetheless, but they have a lot of templated responses that are centered around up-selling first.
It is the very obvious solution to your issue though when looking at face value. You've used a month's data in a half day, so it's pretty reasonable to suggest you need to be on a higher plan. They wouldn't know that it was a one off.
I saw this earlier in the day and wanted to post my 2c:
Spark does have a credit limit that is applied for Mobile data.
By default that credit limit is not $0. The implications of this may or may not be have explained. Personally I think it should be set to $0 (therefore opt-in for excess charges).
Some providers pay monthly plans do have nil excess usage (eg. it just stops) - this or endless may be a better fit. Already been discussed earlier in thread so won't relitigate them.
Endless data plans may be a better fit if you have non-predictable usage.
Overseas - eg. in AU, pay monthly plans tend to have $0 excess (upfront plans) and 'endless' like data. Hopefully this will be imported into NZ.
The whole data charging thing is wild and I think you're within "sensible land" to express that sentiment.
Somehow as part of an e.g. $19 prepay pack, a gigabyte only costs $12.60 ... but on casual rates, that's only ~30MB or a 30th of a gigabyte.
One of those numbers is, for any usage to speak of at all, totally disconnected from the cost of providing the service. More realistic would be something like 30c/MB up to $20 and then 2-5c/MB after that.
Separating for a moment from the more general discussion on casual rates, a big part of this discussion starts with...
What's reasonable to happen when you get a new device + SIM?
Its a fairly reasonable assumption that a new connection may coincide with a new device and therefore need a huge amount of data for the first day or so getting the device and updates all set up.
Could me mitigated by some sort very clear instruction at point of sale to not set up until on WiFi - but you just bought a phone and new connection and that would be discouraging you from using the connection. Which sounds to me like an admission that what they've sold you on the connection side may not be up to the task of supporting your new device.
Upgrading a monthly plan for the first few days of setup doesn't seem like the right solution, a large one-off data pack may be a good up-sell for the carrier as an in-between solution. Who is going to predict the data needs of the new setup though?
Zero-rated data for the first 24-48 hours of a new SIM connection, or as a perk with a new device bought directly from a carrier would mitigate completely and leave out the more general issue of casual rates beyond this period. It also could keep separate the issue of one-off data needs from picking the correct monthly plan.
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