Broadband at dial-up price

Forums › Spark New Zealand › Broadband at dial-up price

BobW

90 posts

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# 20841 7-Apr-2008 15:59

I saw a TV ad yesterday in which Telecom are promoting broadband at dial-up prices - ie. $16.95/month. It is a limited time offer, and the cheap price applies for only the first 6 months, but even so it sets an interesting new benchmark for entry-level broadband.

It looks like the $16.95/month price applies only to the essentially useless 200 MB/month plan. However, they also mention $13/month off any other plan as a starter.

More info here: http://www.telecom.co.nz/broadbandoffer?link=hptile

1 | 2 | 3 | 4

14 posts

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# 121827 7-Apr-2008 16:33

The 30 day money back guarantee is incredible. On checking the terms and conditions, it covers wiring/installation, usage, excess usage.

hellonearthisman

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# 121841 7-Apr-2008 16:55

Nice and with a $90 early termination fee apply after the first month, is like no fee to stop your adsl.

Fraktul

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# 121873 7-Apr-2008 18:44

As others point out you need to have your line and tolls with Telecom for this plan and after 6 months it reverts to the standard pricing for this plan of $29.95.

If you are using a minimal amount of tolls on your land line then its a good deal for a entry level broadband product however.

compost

293 posts

Ultimate Geek

# 121903 7-Apr-2008 21:21

BobW: I saw a TV ad yesterday in which Telecom are promoting broadband at dial-up prices - ie. $16.95/month. It is a limited time offer, and the cheap price applies for only the first 6 months, but even so it sets an interesting new benchmark for entry-level broadband.

It looks like the $16.95/month price applies only to the essentially useless 200 MB/month plan. However, they also mention $13/month off any other plan as a starter.

More info here: http://www.telecom.co.nz/broadbandoffer?link=hptile

I know a few people (admittedly not geeks) who have said they would be happy if they could get something even cheaper and lower specced than the current minimum (256k download speed plans) - perhaps 128k for $10-15/month, preferably with throttling to avoid any extra costs.

This Telecom promo does push the limits but not much, with an effective price over the term of $23.50/month as opposed to the $24.95 entry level plans out there in the market already.

A time-poor geek is hardly a geek at all

jim.cox

196 posts

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# 122111 8-Apr-2008 13:41

But I'm only paying $5 per month for dial-up

They'll have to do better than that...

Batman

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# 122387 9-Apr-2008 19:24

hey which plan are you on for $5 dial up? i want one too! is it unlimited? any term contract?

Involuntary autocorrect in operation on mobile device. Apologies in advance.

tonyhughes

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# 122397 9-Apr-2008 19:59

jim.cox: But I'm only paying $5 per month for dial-up

They'll have to do better than that...

To be fair, if $16.95 broadband doesnt float your boat, you are simply not part of the profitable target market of any ISP in New Zealand.

jim.cox

196 posts

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# 122501 10-Apr-2008 11:49

tonyhughes:
jim.cox: But I'm only paying $5 per month for dial-up

They'll have to do better than that...

To be fair, if $16.95 broadband doesnt float your boat, you are simply not part of the profitable target market of any ISP in New Zealand.

Thats probably a fair call

But I get all I need (==email + a very small amount of browsing) for that

And I'm still annoyed at Telecom, because the original deal was $2.50 per hour (I'm doing way less than that) - but they arbitrarily changed to a two hour minimum

Then there was the Yahoo/bubble fiasco

And Go Large

And now this example of misleading advertising - plus as others have noted a real need to read the fineprint very carefully

So I do think they can do better (unrealsitic I know, but I'm ever hopeful)

tchart

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# 122525 10-Apr-2008 13:23

I know a few people (admittedly not geeks) who have said they would be happy if they could get something even cheaper and lower specced than the current minimum (256k download speed plans) - perhaps 128k for $10-15/month, preferably with throttling to avoid any extra costs.

This Telecom promo does push the limits but not much, with an effective price over the term of $23.50/month as opposed to the $24.95 entry level plans out there in the market already.

Indeed, Im on the 256k plan from Xnet simply because its more convinient than dialup and I dont often do big downloads at home. Having it not tie up the phone line and using a wireless router for the laptop is my only goal at the moment (besides saving money).

I do BTW use more than 200mb a month in case you were wondering why I dont use the Telecom plan for $24.95 (c'mon Telecom who uses 200mb or less?).

I dont know if I would be too keen to go down to 128k as that may make things too slow for browsing (but if it was $10-15 I might be tempted).

Trevor

tonyhughes

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# 122553 10-Apr-2008 15:34

jim.cox: So I do think they can do better (unrealsitic I know, but I'm ever hopeful)

Go Large was a failed attempt at high use broadband at a cheaper rate. Yahoo/Bubble is/was designed to captivate and service customers well (failed at the start, and still spam filled from what I gather).

Having worked for Gen-i, for an ISP, and several technology companies, I can confidently say that any profit in a $16.95 a month customer is gone the moment they make a single helpdesk call that month. I.e. zero profit.

You sign up for 12 months, and make 12 calls, they would be better off not having that customer.

For your $16.95 a month, a $50k+p/a technician has to physically connect you at the exchange, and at least 1 call center staff member to take your enquiry, plus people who physically communicate and/or check automated orders between ISP and Chorus.

Broadband is not going to get "better" in terms of pricing with the exception of loss leaders.

Instead, you may see speed & bandwidth go up, technology getting better, but $16.95 a month for always on internet access is pretty insane(ly cheap).

What is it that they should be doing better, than $16.95 a month?

P.S. I am not nitpicking or trying to be contrary, I think we obviously have very different views on the state and value of broadband in New Zealand - its a good discussion.

BiggusDoggus

346 posts

Ultimate Geek

# 122554 10-Apr-2008 15:34

jim.cox:
tonyhughes:
jim.cox: But I'm only paying $5 per month for dial-up

They'll have to do better than that...

To be fair, if $16.95 broadband doesnt float your boat, you are simply not part of the profitable target market of any ISP in New Zealand.

Thats probably a fair call

But I get all I need (==email + a very small amount of browsing) for that

And I'm still annoyed at Telecom, because the original deal was $2.50 per hour (I'm doing way less than that) - but they arbitrarily changed to a two hour minimum

Then there was the Yahoo/bubble fiasco

And Go Large

And now this example of misleading advertising - plus as others have noted a real need to read the fineprint very carefully

So I do think they can do better (unrealsitic I know, but I'm ever hopeful)

If you're on dial up how exactly did "Go Large" effect you? And how is the advertising misleading? Seemed pretty clear to me...

Your mother was a hamster and your father smelled of elderberries

richms

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# 122582 10-Apr-2008 16:34

Go large had the unleashed/unbundling confusion, it also had the advertising saying that it was going to be good, when in reality it sucked so hard they had to refund people. For a lot of people it was their first taste of broadband since it was targeted at people on dialup and it sucked, so it really soured the whole idea of it for people.

Richard rich.ms

freitasm

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# 122591 10-Apr-2008 16:43

richms: Go large had the unleashed/unbundling confusion, it also had the advertising saying that it was going to be good, when in reality it sucked so hard they had to refund people. For a lot of people it was their first taste of broadband since it was targeted at people on dialup and it sucked, so it really soured the whole idea of it for people.

We know that. But the question is how exactly Go Large affected dial-up users? I don't remember Go Large being targeted at dial-up users. The "Unleashed" campaign was but Go Large plan was for heavy downloaders, which I doubt dial-up users were.