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freitasm

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#220248 2-Aug-2017 09:28
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Just received:

 

 

Spark has announced a fresh and simplified new approach to roaming, with seven day packs designed to make travel easier.

 

Spark CEO of Home, Mobile and Business, Jason Paris, said, "We know staying connected while overseas on holiday or business is massively important to New Zealanders. We’ve spoken at length to our customers, listened to what they said, and designed new roaming plans to meet their real travel needs. As a result, we’re confident this is our best offer yet for the way New Zealanders really do travel.”

 

The new Spark roaming packs offer seven days of roaming across 33 destinations for just $20 (buying 500MB, 200 incoming and 200 outgoing minutes, and 200 texts) or $15 (buying 500MB data) and are available to Spark Business, Prepay and Pay Monthly customers.”

 

Paris said, “Most Kiwis don’t just travel for a day but for an average of five days at a time, so weekly packs are a much better fit for their roaming needs than other options. We also know nearly a third of customers travel to more than one destination each trip, so roaming that works across the countries they travel to makes life much easier. To cap it off, we’ve been able to cover the places that matter, including 17 of the top 20 places New Zealanders travel to. No more zones, just an awesome single price for heaps of data, texts and minutes around the world.”

 

Spark has seen roaming data use jump by nearly 60% over the past year across its most popular travel destinations. Over the same time, the number of New Zealand residents travelling abroad has risen by 11.5% according to Statistics New Zealand. This highlights the significant growth in demand for roaming services – a trend Spark expects to accelerate in coming years as the global travel boom continues.

 

“New Zealanders are more and more travel-hungry and people are now reliant on their mobile phones when travelling. We use our smart phones for dozens of things, like finding our way around a new city, searching for restaurants, keeping appointments and checking in with friends and colleagues. Customers need to know they can roam without worrying about a huge bill. These new roaming packs cater for that, they’re incredible value, working out at around $2.85 a day when spread across seven days, and much better suited to a digital world where people need to stay connected.”

 

Paris added that the allocations in the new packs deliver enough for a roamer to do the things one might typically need to do while travelling: “For example, when we’ve tested it using navigation apps, we’ve found these apps usually use less than 5MB per hour – so 500MB should easily be enough to help you find your way around for a week.

 

“For us this is about helping unleash the potential of New Zealanders, no matter where they are in the world.”

 

  • The new $20 roaming pack delivers 500MB, 200 incoming and 200 outgoing minutes, and 200 texts for seven days (about $2.85 per day).
  • On a per dollar basis, that’s up to five times as much data, and 4-10 times as many minutes and texts – depending which previous Spark roaming pack you’re comparing to.
  • The new $20 pack offers double the data, per dollar, of the old $20 Australia-only roaming pack.
  • The new $15 roaming pack delivers 500MB data for a week.

     

    • That’s around 60–95% more data per dollar, depending on which previous Spark data roaming pack you’re comparing to.





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kryptonjohn
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  #1835431 2-Aug-2017 09:38
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We visited Mexico in April and it was outside the list of countries under Spark's roaming packages. Just looked, and that's still the case. No roaming pack at all for pre-paid and lose-your-shirt for post-paid:

 

http://www.spark.co.nz/shop/mobile/internationalroaming.html.html?country=MEX

 

¡Ay, caramba!

 

 



surfisup1000
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  #1835436 2-Aug-2017 09:46
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Doesn't quite beat the optus deal of $16 for 6gb data. 

 

Until roaming gets closer to local pricing, bahhh!


Linux
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#1835487 2-Aug-2017 10:21
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surfisup1000:

 

Doesn't quite beat the optus deal of $16 for 6gb data. 

 

Until roaming gets closer to local pricing, bahhh!

 

 

I don't get these comments the purpose of roaming is to keep the same number further to this like to see you use a corporate APN

 

Linux




alasta
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  #1835513 2-Aug-2017 10:40
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Am I understanding correctly that you can't buy another one if you exhaust the initial allocation of 500Mb within seven days?


Item
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  #1835521 2-Aug-2017 10:46
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Vodafone's $5-a-day roaming to 70 countries is their strongest asset and the one that ensures that - as the Kiwi branch for a large global corporate - we will always choose them over the local competition.

 

Spark and 2 Degrees can meet/beat on monthly sub, hardware fund, bonus and value-add services, but they just can't compete on the roaming front...as you would expect given a domestic vs global provider.

 

The other thing that always annoyed me about the Spark bundles is that they didn't carry over - if you went to Oz for 3 days you would either pay $10 a day OR $5 per day equivalent for a 5 day pack, but one that expired at the end of the month, so either way Voda had them beat even in Oceania.

 

 

 

 





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andyb
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  #1835553 2-Aug-2017 11:13
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alasta:

 

Am I understanding correctly that you can't buy another one if you exhaust the initial allocation of 500Mb within seven days?

 

 

100% incorrect, not sure where you got that from. You can buy as many packs as you like if you go through an allocation. Or buy the 500MB $15 data only pack.





andyb

shk292
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  #1835560 2-Aug-2017 11:30
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I'm actually quite impressed - for my typical 7-day trip away, the $20 pack fits the bill.  Great to see the networks finally being reasonable.

 

The only thing that would still tempt me to use my UK SIM for roaming is the local number in UK, and EU roaming


 
 
 

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alasta
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  #1835610 2-Aug-2017 11:44
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andyb:

 

alasta:

 

Am I understanding correctly that you can't buy another one if you exhaust the initial allocation of 500Mb within seven days?

 

 

100% incorrect, not sure where you got that from. You can buy as many packs as you like if you go through an allocation. Or buy the 500MB $15 data only pack.

 

 

Thanks for clarifying. I was just distracted by the defensive sounding comment about '500mb should be plenty' without any further comment along the lines of 'but if you still run out then you can buy another'.

 

My other observation is that the $20 pack covers incoming as well as outgoing calls. I am assuming that the competition's $5 per day deal offers free incoming calls but I am also finding the details of their offering a bit ambiguous.


Linux
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  #1835629 2-Aug-2017 12:31
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Better competition in the roaming space is fantastic I sit back and now wait for free roaming on VFAU

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andyb
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  #1835698 2-Aug-2017 13:01
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alasta:

 

andyb:

 

alasta:

 

Am I understanding correctly that you can't buy another one if you exhaust the initial allocation of 500Mb within seven days?

 

 

100% incorrect, not sure where you got that from. You can buy as many packs as you like if you go through an allocation. Or buy the 500MB $15 data only pack.

 

 

Thanks for clarifying. I was just distracted by the defensive sounding comment about '500mb should be plenty' without any further comment along the lines of 'but if you still run out then you can buy another'.

 

My other observation is that the $20 pack covers incoming as well as outgoing calls. I am assuming that the competition's $5 per day deal offers free incoming calls but I am also finding the details of their offering a bit ambiguous.

 

 

I'm pretty sure $5/day does cover incoming, but what it doesn't cover is calls to destinations other than back home or in the roaming country, these are charged at standard international call rates, and don't come off the domestic minutes.





andyb

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  #1835783 2-Aug-2017 14:50
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Just hoping for similar announcements from Skinny. Sadly no Vietnam but glad to see Singapore on offer from Spark





Generally known online as OpenMedia, now working for Red Hat APAC as a Technology Evangelist and Portfolio Architect. Still playing with MythTV and digital media on the side.


Linux
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  #1835805 2-Aug-2017 15:16
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@andyb The VodafoneNZ $5 daily roaming charge is very easy to understand

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andyb
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  #1835818 2-Aug-2017 15:38
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Linux: @andyb The VodafoneNZ $5 daily roaming charge is very easy to understand

Linux

 

@linux, clearly not as @Alasta found it "a bit ambiguous."





andyb

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  #1835830 2-Aug-2017 15:52
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Seems to be better value than the $50 pack I just used for North America. 

 

Roaming packs are what keeps me (on a business account) directly with Spark at the moment, otherwise I probably would consider shifting to Skinny. 


surfisup1000
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  #1835835 2-Aug-2017 16:00
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Linux:

 

surfisup1000:

 

Doesn't quite beat the optus deal of $16 for 6gb data. 

 

Until roaming gets closer to local pricing, bahhh!

 

 

I don't get these comments the purpose of roaming is to keep the same number further to this like to see you use a corporate APN

 

Linux

 

 

Your mistake is to assume everyone has the same requirements as yourself. 

 

 

 

 

 

 


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