I received a letter today from Telecom. It contained about 6 paras of blather and fluff of little interest or consequence. But it also contained this sentence: 

"Also, from 17 February 2014, if you go over your data allowance you'll now pay 30c/MB."

They don't say what the current rate is. I couldn't recall.

I went to "MyTelecom". Couldn't find the current rate there.

I went to plans. The plans say the overage place is 20c/MB for 3 of the 4 tiers...the exception being the $99 plan which is 30c / MB. (The $139 plan is 20c/MB, as are the $69 plan and the one below that).

I then checked my bill and the overage charge there is 20c / MB.

So this is a huge price increase. the sentence - almost an afterthought - didn't make that clear. One might just as easily assume it was possibly a price reduction.

OK...so Telecom is increasing the data overage charge by 50%....to $300 / GB.  

Can you avoid this? Easily. Just buy a "Data Extra". You can buy 1.5 GB for $29...one-off or recurring monthly. So that's just under $20 / GB or just under 2c / MB.  You can get 3GB for $49 which is even cheaper. 

I guess I'm left wondering how anyone can justify a (approx) 1,500% effective penalty (or more vs the $49 option) for unplanned data use ($300 / GB vs $20 / GB). That seems extreme. 

I wonder if this is grounds for a complaint to the Commerce Commission? The vast differential between planned vs casual overages seems....well.....outrageous.   

Just to be clear: I'm on the $139 / month 3GB data , unlimited calling, unlimited txt plan. I also pay $29 / month recurring for an addtional 1.5GB of data. So this overage doesn't affect me because I pay attention and buy more data if I need it. 

But even so....the sheer severity of the penalty for not paying attention seems hostile and punitive.