Skinny Mobile's New Combos

Forums › Spark New Zealand (including Skinny and BigPipe) › Skinny Mobile's New Combos

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unowho08

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#1853142 27-Aug-2017 04:39

MarkH67:

$16 Core Combo - Hmmm, I'm considering changing to this. Now that it is 1GB rollover data (the data matters more to me than the minutes or texts) my interest is piqued.

I'm currently with Vodafone on a Pay & Go plan - the advantage has been only needing to pay $20 per year. But now the texts will cost 10x as much (Skinny are worse with the texts going from 1c ea to 20c each since I last looked at it) so I'll end up going through my $20 much faster. The main drawback to my cheap plan is that I don't get data so I can only use my smartphone fully when WiFi is available. I've been thinking about how nice it would be to have a good bit of data available and then yesterday I got the text from Vodafone telling me about the price of texts going from 1c to 10c each and minutes going from 20c to 30c each - I guess they don't really care if they lose a $20/year customer. So now I'm thinking about popping out and buying a Skinny SIM and moving my number over, going on the $16 Core Combo and getting access to way more minutes and texts than I need and having 1GB data added every renewal.

One advantage that I haven't seen mentioned in this thread is that with the 28 day renewal there is more data on this plan. If it was 1GB with monthly renewal there would be a total of 12GB per year, but with this 28 day plan you get 13GB data per year. The 1GB gets added every 28 days which is a little bit more often. Sure, there is more money going out per year - but the competition is charging $19. On 2Deg you pay $19 x 12 = $228, on Skinny you pay $16 x 13 = $208. So you pay $20 less for 13GB data per year than 2Deg charge for 12GB data per year - more data for less money. Vodafone charges $19 x 13 = $247 per year for 13GB which is even worse value.

So overall there isn't a huge difference in what each mobile provider is offering but Skinny is ahead and so I'm considering becoming a customer and adding a couple of hundred dollars to their annual revenue. If the data didn't roll over or if it was still 750MB then I'd pass on this and go elsewhere, but the decision to make it rollover data and to increase to 1GB - they have made me stop and consider changing providers.

Based on updates Warehouse Mobile has made (not sure when exactly), if 2Degrees coverage is good where you need it (home, work, etc), why not look at Warehouse Mobile (https://www.warehousemobile.co.nz) as they have a pack of 1GB data for $8 valid for 31 days. You could also get a pack for minutes and texts or just go with the casual rates of 2c per text and 4c per min. It's a minimum top up of $10 every 90 days and any unused credit will rollover so long as you meet that minimum top up requirement. Over the course of a year, 365/31 = 11.77 31-day cycles per year. Round this up to 12 and multiply by $8 for 1GB data = $96 for 12GB of data for just over a year (372 days). Then just pay for calls and texts based on your usage requirements. Seems like a significantly cheaper option than Vodafone, Skinny and 2Degrees.

MarkH67

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#1853196 27-Aug-2017 10:14

unowho08:

Based on updates Warehouse Mobile has made (not sure when exactly), if 2Degrees coverage is good where you need it (home, work, etc), why not look at Warehouse Mobile (https://www.warehousemobile.co.nz) as they have a pack of 1GB data for $8 valid for 31 days. You could also get a pack for minutes and texts or just go with the casual rates of 2c per text and 4c per min. It's a minimum top up of $10 every 90 days and any unused credit will rollover so long as you meet that minimum top up requirement. Over the course of a year, 365/31 = 11.77 31-day cycles per year. Round this up to 12 and multiply by $8 for 1GB data = $96 for 12GB of data for just over a year (372 days). Then just pay for calls and texts based on your usage requirements. Seems like a significantly cheaper option than Vodafone, Skinny and 2Degrees.

Well, that is certainly food for thought!

Yes, Warehouse Mobile is definitely cheaper - by quite a lot. At 2c per text, 4c per minute and 6c per MB the casual rates are a LOT less than Spark, Skinny, Vodafone or 2Degrees. Even if you NEED unlimited texts, 1GB data and over 100 minutes - that would cost $16 for 31 days which is still cheaper than Skinny. I could just pay 2c per text, avoid making calls unless needed and pay 4c per minute for the rare occasions that I do need it and buy data at $4 for 500MB as required.

My only concern would be when travelling the country and having no coverage in some places that Spark & Vodafone would easily work in. Or do they use Vodafone where there is no 2 Degrees coverage? Their coverage map looks pretty good, no problem where I usually spend my time and most of the areas I would travel around in. I have read that 4G my be a bit more restricted on 2D than Vodafone or Spark but it is hard to know how bad that would be without using each network to compare. I'm inclined to not worry about the coverage, I used to be with 2Degrees for a few years and never had a problem with coverage.

I would never have considered Warehouse Mobile on their original terms & conditions, but they seem to have made some rather considerable changes to how their credit and data rolls over. A while ago all credit expired after 31 days and you had to top up every 31 days, this made it a minimum of $120 per year, now the minimum would only be $40 per year which is not bad at all.

MarkH67

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#1853233 27-Aug-2017 12:19

MarkH67:

$26 combo - I might consider it if there was 2GB or more data but I don't really want to pay that much.

$46 combo - nice, but more than I want to spend.

Further feedback on these 2 plans:

Both suck big time, I wouldn't consider the $26 combo even with 2GB now that I've looked further into it.

$26 for 300 rollover minutes, unlimited texts and 1.5GB data? For $30 you can get a plan with Skinny Direct that gives you the same unlimited texts, unlimited minutes and 3GB data. Twice the data and no limit on calls for only $4 more? Wait - Skinny Direct is $30 per MONTH compared to Skinny at $26 per 28 days . . . calculating . . . $338 per year vs $ $360 per year . . . $22 per year more is under $2 per month more. OK for less than $2 per month extra you can have twice the data and no limit on calls.

$46 for unlimited texts and calls and 3.5GB data? For $30 with Skinny direct you can get unlimited texts & calls and 3GB data. If 3GB isn't enough you could go with the $50 Skinny Direct plan and have 10GB data. $46 x 13 = $598 per year, $50 x 12 is $600 per year. For almost the same price you can have 10GB instead of 3.5GB.

To be fair the Skinny combos have rollover data, but the $50 Skinny Direct combo has 10GB data per month so you probably don't need rollover data with that combo.

Jase2985

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#1853236 27-Aug-2017 12:37

there is no roll over on skinny direct, and for some people thats more important.

MarkH67

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#1853240 27-Aug-2017 12:48

Jase2985:

there is no roll over on skinny direct, and for some people thats more important.

I'd definitely agree if the amount of data was closer. But surely for most people having twice as much data per month (comparing $26 to $30 plans) or almost three times as much data (comparing $46 to $50) would compensate for that? I'd rather have 2.5GB roll over data than 3GB data for example.

I'd certainly agree that for someone that uses under a couple of hundred MB per month but once a year goes on a road trip and uses 20+ GB of data over a couple of weeks - yes, that person may care a LOT more about rollover data. But for everyone else?

Jase2985

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#1853241 27-Aug-2017 12:52

i would rather have lower data and roll-over as if i need to download anything i can just use wifi

i dont need to spend extra money every month.

everyone's use cases are different hence why skinny have done skinny direct as a different product to their other offerings

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MarkH67

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#1853246 27-Aug-2017 13:09

Jase2985:

i dont need to spend extra money every month.

It feels to me like you haven't actually read my post.

The $46/28days combo costs $598 per year and the $50 combo costs $600 per year - are you saying that you don't need to spend $2 extra per year? If so then I hope you put the money you saved to good use.

My point was that the Skinny Direct combos were NOT dearer by any significant amount despite offering between twice & three times as much data.

MarkH67

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#1853247 27-Aug-2017 13:11

Jase2985:

i would rather have lower data and roll-over as if i need to download anything i can just use wifi

I'm in the same situation and am therefore considering the $16 combo. My point stands though that when looking at the dearer combos you aren't getting good enough value and you are better off looking at Skinny Direct if you are going to spend that much.

Jase2985

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#1853300 27-Aug-2017 16:21

MarkH67:

Jase2985:

i dont need to spend extra money every month.

It feels to me like you haven't actually read my post.

The $46/28days combo costs $598 per year and the $50 combo costs $600 per year - are you saying that you don't need to spend $2 extra per year? If so then I hope you put the money you saved to good use.

My point was that the Skinny Direct combos were NOT dearer by any significant amount despite offering between twice & three times as much data.

but im not looking to spend that sort of money, i can get 2 phones worth of combos for that sort of money and have change

my point is people dont always shop based on price but shop based on data and usage habits. the amount of data i recieve covers me for the month and there is a little to spare come times when im not near wifi

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