Farewell free hotspots

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spazz

264 posts

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# 20565 30-Mar-2008 21:10

April Fools Day will be a sad one. Not for the plethora of lame jokes, but because it'll mark the first day I won't be able to check my email / browse facebook for free while waiting for the train, or drinking coffee. I mean gosh, talk about a value-add for Xtra customers, and now they're taking it away? Telecom are missing a trick here, big time. They've never said they were the cheapest, preferring to compete on service/value instead of price. And yet they're taking away one of the biggest incentives of being an Xtra Broadband customer - unless there are plans to continue to offer this for free that I'm unaware of?

What about you guys, will you miss the free wifi? Do you also think it's a stupid decision for Telecom to remove this access?

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sbiddle

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# 119746 30-Mar-2008 21:13

I assume you are aware that these hotspots are no longer being run by Telecom from the 1st April and that these have been contracted out to SmartPay?

tonyhughes

Hawkes Bay
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# 119748 30-Mar-2008 21:16

Its a commercial service that they always said had a time limit on being free. I am surprised it has been free for so long!

spazz

264 posts

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# 119749 30-Mar-2008 21:18

Well it all amounts to the same thing - by transferring the billing responsibility to SmartPay they are, in effect, taking the free access away.

As far as the login screen is concerned, access will only be by way of credit card from now on. Talk about lame :/

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cokemaster

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# 119755 30-Mar-2008 21:29

I used to use the hotspot quite heavily, but really with cheap mobile data its just easier to open up an mini web browser. The Otka touch/blackberry just make it so easy to manage ones mailbox too.

Sad to see it go, but not going to miss it.

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tonyhughes

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# 119757 30-Mar-2008 21:37

cokemaster: I used to use the hotspot quite heavily, but really with cheap mobile data its just easier to open up an mini web browser. The Otka touch/blackberry just make it so easy to manage ones mailbox too.

Sad to see it go, but not going to miss it.

I only ever used it for testing. I have always had a data card or a data capable mobile.

jpollock

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# 119800 31-Mar-2008 07:50

I'll miss it. I loved the idea of being a broadband customer, and the carrier not caring how you got your traffic.

Although, from Telecom's point of view, it was probably under-utilised when compared to other business units, making a sale/outsource deal likely.

It did make me consider using Telecom for my broadband (TCL cable), and if I had been working downtown, I probably would have switched, or at least bought a cheap DSL package to get the free wifi. :)

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allan

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# 119835 31-Mar-2008 10:38

Interestingly the US hotspot "market" appears to be going in the opposite direction.

I spent a month in the US in the middle of last year and was impressed by the free hotspots in numerous locations and hotels etc. Spent 10 days in downtown Denver, who have city supplied free wifi up and down the length of 16th St Mall (the main street). Also all of the hotels we stayed in during a subsequent road trip - with exception of a Casino in Las Vegas (what a surprise) - provided free wifi. Several of those were in very small places - e.g. Tropic in Utah http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&q=tropic+ut&ie=UTF8&ll=37.666429,-112.085266&spn=1.226208,2.202759&z=9 where they had a completely captive market, but it was still free.