Can anyone clarify Xtra Dialup plans for me?

Forums › Spark New Zealand (including Skinny and BigPipe) › Can anyone clarify Xtra Dialup plans for me?

BigFella

105 posts

Master Geek

#14694 16-Jul-2007 14:27

I was a Xtra Broadband customer a while back, today (for reasons I won't go into as it is very boring) I checked to see if my login still worked on Xtra webmail - suprise surprise, it does.

From what I can tell from the Xtra website I should be paying $2.81 per month for this service (which I'm not). The Self Service site thinks I'm on the "PP Xtra Dialup connection pricing plan", which kinda implies prepay, but the only prepay plans I see mentioned on the website incur a monthly charge - $5-$16.95.

Am I on some old plan that allows to keep the address at no cost, or is someone able to ring up now and request the above plan, and maintain their Xtra address indefinitely at no cost?

uncmil

48 posts

Geek

#78324 16-Jul-2007 16:43

Hmm, this reminds me of what happened when we switched to Slingshot. About a year ago (or so) we left Xtra for Slingshot and still to this day we have our Xtra email/webmail address/login. And we don't pay a single dime to Telecom (except for the standard Homeline thing).

Jama

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#78328 16-Jul-2007 17:03

You might be on the plan I was/am on which no longer exists. I used to pay $2.50 p/hour but there was no pre-pay to it.

Bung

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Subscriber

#78330 16-Jul-2007 17:06

Someone once told me that getting a billing system that could keep track of all these services was probably part of the delay in getting to the digital nirvana we have been promised.

BigFella

105 posts

Master Geek

#78335 16-Jul-2007 17:34

Jama: You might be on the plan I was/am on which no longer exists. I used to pay $2.50 p/hour but there was no pre-pay to it.

I suspect that is the case - I also expect the account would disappear if I terminated my TNZ landline service. Or am I overestimating the systems in place??

Was the plan you were on "casual", i.e. no use no charge?

BigFella

105 posts

Master Geek

#78336 16-Jul-2007 17:38

uncmil: Hmm, this reminds me of what happened when we switched to Slingshot. About a year ago (or so) we left Xtra for Slingshot and still to this day we have our Xtra email/webmail address/login. And we don't pay a single dime to Telecom (except for the standard Homeline thing).

Great, it's not just me.

If you login to Xtra webmail, go to My Account, "Change Plans or Manage Subscriptions", Xtra Dialup - what plan does it say you're on?

cokemaster

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#78340 16-Jul-2007 18:58

It will probably be peer plan, as sometimes your xtra usernames do not get deactivated when you cancel your broadband (or migrate it elsewhere). As billing as done by the line - there is minimal harm you can do, ie. you can't get free usage by using it on a friends ADSL connection, however email and dial up access remain active.

Xtra broadband connections get a 'free' dial up account (ie. no rental charges) which cover the email account, however if you use it as a dial up connection there will be charges (ie. at $2.50 a hour). You also have an 'xtra email account' which depending on how you got it, it may be free monthly (I had a free email account with my Apache PDA/wifi hotspot for instance) as well or it will cost $2.50 a month and if you use it as a dial up account - the same will apply.

Basically the current plans are 'prepaid' as in you already paid for the time, so you get prepaid 2, 10, 150 and then the 'flatrate' plans. However once you go over the limits, the regular per hour charge applies.

Disclaimer: I do not work for the Xtra dial up or Xtra broadband helpdesks and all the information discussed above is public.

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nzbnw

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Spark NZ

#78349 16-Jul-2007 20:44

cokemaster: (I had a free email account with my Apache PDA/wifi hotspotfor instance) as well or it will cost $2.50 a month and if you use it as a dial up account - the same will apply.

Cokemaster I was trying the other day to find out if Mobile Broadband customers were able to have an Xtra email adress at no charge (primarly for the hotspots). Do you know if Mobile Broadband customers can still have this?

nzbnw

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cokemaster

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#78352 16-Jul-2007 20:55

Its possible. I've sent you an PM about the process.

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BigFella

105 posts

Master Geek

#78794 19-Jul-2007 11:38

cokemaster: It will probably be peer plan, as sometimes your xtra usernames do not get deactivated when you cancel your broadband (or migrate it elsewhere). As billing as done by the line - there is minimal harm you can do, ie. you can't get free usage by using it on a friends ADSL connection, however email and dial up access remain active.

Xtra broadband connections get a 'free' dial up account (ie. no rental charges) which cover the email account, however if you use it as a dial up connection there will be charges (ie. at $2.50 a hour). You also have an 'xtra email account' which depending on how you got it, it may be free monthly (I had a free email account with my Apache PDA/wifi hotspot for instance) as well or it will cost $2.50 a month and if you use it as a dial up account - the same will apply.

Basically the current plans are 'prepaid' as in you already paid for the time, so you get prepaid 2, 10, 150 and then the 'flatrate' plans. However once you go over the limits, the regular per hour charge applies.

Disclaimer: I do not work for the Xtra dial up or Xtra broadband helpdesks and all the information discussed above is public.

Awesome answer, much clearer now - much appreciated.

cokemaster

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#78843 19-Jul-2007 17:45

Just keep in mind that if you want to take advantage of the free wifi promotion with the mobile broadband devices, you should specify that you are getting the email account for wifi for your PDA/mobile broadband data connection.

This is due to two different rates - one if you are a dial up customer (which email account normally falls under) and one if you are a broadband or mobile broadband customer.

To answer the question made in the first post - peer plans are only applied if you have a broadband connection, you can't just request it for a free (as in rental, not usage) dialup/email connection.

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