Spark's walk off roaming

Forums › Spark New Zealand (including Skinny and BigPipe) › Spark's walk off roaming

Aucklandjafa

364 posts

Ultimate Geek

#236331 29-May-2018 08:25

I now see that Spark are able to automatically add roaming packs when you land in an eligible country - great! My question is: will packs keep adding automatically as you're needing them? So bill-shock can not ensue.... Cheers :)

corksta

2397 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

Subscriber

#2024421 29-May-2018 09:04

Yes they keep adding as you use them but within the Spark app you can choose a maximum amount you wish to be charged.

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andyb

236 posts

Master Geek

Trusted

Spark NZ

#2025520 30-May-2018 11:20

"Yes they keep adding as you use them but within the Spark app you can choose a maximum amount you wish to be charged."

Not entirely correct. The Smart cap in the app for roaming is casual roaming data only. This would only come into effect if you didn't have a roaming pack, or were roaming in a non pack country.

Yes, Walk off Working will continue to add the pack you have chosen (ie full pack or data only) as required.

A new pack is added on expiry of the previous, or at full use of one of the allocations of the previous pack. As such you will avoid casual/overage charges for destinations covered by the packs.

andyb

Aucklandjafa

364 posts

Ultimate Geek

#2026065 31-May-2018 08:01

andyb:

"Yes they keep adding as you use them but within the Spark app you can choose a maximum amount you wish to be charged."

Not entirely correct. The Smart cap in the app for roaming is casual roaming data only. This would only come into effect if you didn't have a roaming pack, or were roaming in a non pack country.

Yes, Walk off Working will continue to add the pack you have chosen (ie full pack or data only) as required.

A new pack is added on expiry of the previous, or at full use of one of the allocations of the previous pack. As such you will avoid casual/overage charges for destinations covered by the packs.

Cheers! That makes perfect sense.

Jack

corksta

2397 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

Subscriber

#2026077 31-May-2018 08:58

Yes apologies the roaming cap is just for casual data usage, packs will keep adding as and when you need them.

I used it recently and was a bit sceptical that it would work straight away, but it did the moment I turned my phone on and there were no casual data charges at all.

You may not get the notification straight away that it’s activated, but as long as you have it set up prior to leaving then it definitely will be working once you turn your device on.

andyb

236 posts

Master Geek

Trusted

Spark NZ

#2026090 31-May-2018 09:39

Totally, SMS messages can be delayed for delivery for various reasons. As long as its enabled (via MySpark or the App) you are good to go. The pack will automatically be applied and activated when usage is detected in a pack eligible country.

Pleased to hear you are using it, and its preventing those casual charges as its designed to!

andyb

c0ld

234 posts

Master Geek

#2026094 31-May-2018 09:47

Couldn't find the answer on the Spark site - ref the auto renewal if you run out - does the whole pack have to run out for it to auto-renew or does it add to any remaining balances if any one of the 4 balance types are consumed ?

Eg.

- I purchase the $20 pack on a Monday 1st. As such I receive (valid for 7 days, until Monday 8th)

200 mins IB

200 mins OB

200 sms

500MB

- On the Wednesday 3rd I have now consumed my full 500MB but still have all my other allocations left less 5 mins IB consumed. So balance looks like:

195 mins IB

200 mins OB

200 sms

0MB

So would the pack renew as I've run out of data but not mins / sms? If it did would I be charged the full $20 but only the MB are topped up (so all other balances would remain as above except the new 500Mb I receive) or do the non-consumed balances also get added again (on top of what was remaining) , with a new expiry date?

Eg.

Balances as above, $20 auto renew charged, balances now:

195 mins IB (expires Monday 8th) + 200 mins IB (expires Wednesday 10th)

200 mins OB (expires Monday 8th) + 200 mins OB (expires Wednesday 10th)

200 sms (expires Monday 8th) + 200 sms (expires Wednesday 10th)

500MB (expires Wednesday 10th)

Thanks.

andyb

236 posts

Master Geek

Trusted

Spark NZ

#2026128 31-May-2018 11:03

Auto renewal and walk off working are two different things.

Auto renewal of packs will only occur at the expiry of the previous pack, ie at the end of the 7 days.

If you have Walk Off Working enabled, a new pack will be added at utilisation of the allocation of one or more of the pack components (ie voice, text or data) or at pack expiry.

So, If you have pack 1 applied,

With:

200 min incoming
200 min outgoing
200 text
500MB

and you use all of your data allowance within the 7 day period (lets say 5 days), a new pack will be applied.

Which means you will have

200 min incoming
200 min outgoing
200 text
0 MB

expiring in 2 days time

plus

200 min incoming
200 min outgoing
200 text
500MB

expiring in 7 days time.

So in your example:

195 mins IB (expires Monday 8th) + 200 mins IB (expires Wednesday 10th)
200 mins OB (expires Monday 8th) + 200 mins OB (expires Wednesday 10th)
200 sms (expires Monday 8th) + 200 sms (expires Wednesday 10th)
500MB (expires Wednesday 10th)

You are correct.

However the better solution for you, given you have used the data allowance only is to manually purchase the data only pack, both will then run in parallel.

This would give you:
195 mins IB (expires Monday 8th)
200 mins OB (expires Monday 8th)
200 sms (expires Monday 8th)
500MB (expires Wednesday 10th)

with walk off working enabled waiting in the wings for the next allocation use or the 1st pack expiry on the 8th.

Hope that all makes sense.

andyb

c0ld

234 posts

Master Geek

#2026131 31-May-2018 11:11

Yes that makes perfect sense, thank you!