All of a sudden XT data pricing seems expensive!

Forums › Spark New Zealand (including Skinny and BigPipe) › All of a sudden XT data pricing seems expensive!

ahmad

1937 posts

Uber Geek
Inactive user

#65543 3-Aug-2010 11:57

What a difference a couple of weeks makes.

XT has gone from having some of the most competitive and flexible data options for mobile devices ($12 for 120Mb, $18 for 240Mb, $30 for 512Mb - less if you are on prepaid due to bonus topups, and also flexible on prepaid because you "pay as you go" until you hit your selected pricing "cap") to now being quite poor in terms of value!

Postpaid
- $12 for 120Mb per billing cycle month
- $18 for 240Mb per billing cycle month
- $30 for 512Mb per billing cycle month

Prepaid
- $9.60 for 120Mb per calendar month (including minimum topup discount, pay as you go up to cap)
- $14.40 for 240Mb per calendar month
- $24 for 512Mb per calendar month

2 Degrees (let's ignore the promotional doubling of data for the sake of this analysis - Telecom also is double data on the 512Mb plan) presuming you are "in the zone":

- $20 for 512Mb for 30 consecutive days
- $50 for 2Gb for 60 consecutive days (average of $25 for 1Gb per 30 days)
- $150 for 10Gb for 90 consecutive days (average of $50 for 3.33Gb per 30 days)

Vodafone (for comparison)
- $10 for 100Mb per month, additional $10 for another 100Mb in same month for prepaid
- $10 for 100Mb per month, additional 100Mb for postpaid charged on pro-rata basis

Question - is the iPad Alpha plan on Vodafone available for other devices or iPad only? And how would they know anyway?
- $20 for 250Mb per month
- $50 for 3Gb per month

Additional note: 2degrees offers a unique flexibility feature too - you can buy additional packs at any time to avoid expensive "overage" as you experience on XT and Vodafone. 50c/Mb overage charges on XT!!

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953 posts

Ultimate Geek

#362263 3-Aug-2010 12:13

Orcon is a really good deal too, I just started using them yesterday:

1) NO contract, they just bill you per month and you can end any time (have to give 30 days notice)
2) you can rent the nokia stick for $5/month (no need for a big upfront capital expenditure)
3) 500mb for $30, 2gig for $50, 4gig for $70

http://www.orcon.net.nz/mobile/broadband-plans

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pageweon

393 posts

Ultimate Geek

#362267 3-Aug-2010 12:15

telecom are also now offering a smart phone addon

$38 for 1gb of data and 2500 txt

the 1gb of data is limited time offer but its ongoing with 500mb and 2500 txt for $38

its not a pure data addon like the ones above but it certainly adds value

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pageweon

393 posts

Ultimate Geek

#362269 3-Aug-2010 12:18

dman: Orcon is a really good deal too, I just started using them yesterday:

1) NO contract, they just bill you per month and you can end any time (have to give 30 days notice)
2) you can rent the nokia stick for $5/month (no need for a big upfront capital expenditure)
3) 500mb for $30, 2gig for $50, 4gig for $70

http://www.orcon.net.nz/mobile/broadband-plans

thats interesting, i hadnt heard of it yet

do you know which network they are running on?

.. just checked out the webite, the 50c overage would be somthing to look out for

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bonkiebonks

389 posts

Ultimate Geek

#362275 3-Aug-2010 12:23

You've got to compare their higher cap plans too like the 2GB for $59.95 (or $44.96 with $60 topup) which I think is excellent value for money and with no strings attached too.

bonkiebonks

389 posts

Ultimate Geek

#362277 3-Aug-2010 12:23

pageweon:
dman: Orcon is a really good deal too, I just started using them yesterday:

1) NO contract, they just bill you per month and you can end any time (have to give 30 days notice)
2) you can rent the nokia stick for $5/month (no need for a big upfront capital expenditure)
3) 500mb for $30, 2gig for $50, 4gig for $70

http://www.orcon.net.nz/mobile/broadband-plans

thats interesting, i hadnt heard of it yet

do you know which network they are running on?

.. just checked out the webite, the 50c overage would be somthing to look out for

Orcon runs on the Vodafone network, which puts me off.

eXDee

4032 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

#362278 3-Aug-2010 12:24

I quite like their Smartphone Extra plan, swapped to it on the weekend (im prepaid)

Topup $60 -> $80 credit due to bonus
Smartphone Extra $38
Leaving $4 credit left over for voicemail and a call if need be (i dont place calls from my mobile).

Which means for just under $30 a month (cant be bothered with an exact calculation) im getting
-2500 Texts
-512mb data (currently doubled)

Quite happy with this, even though 2degrees is cheaper, they don't have 3G zones in hamilton, compared to XT's 3G only network, which im happy to pay a bit extra for. The text bundle works out a lot better too (even though i only send ~400-800).

ahmad

1937 posts

Uber Geek
Inactive user

#362281 3-Aug-2010 12:26

pageweon: telecom are also now offering a smart phone addon

$38 for 1gb of data and 2500 txt

the 1gb of data is limited time offer but its ongoing with 500mb and 2500 txt for $38

its not a pure data addon like the ones above but it certainly adds value

For the sake of comparison I'm ignoring all promotional offers (to be fair they are pretty similar so should almost balance each other out).

I wouldn't be happy to be forced to buy the 2500 TXTs if I didn't want them. I would prefer 512Mb data (doubled to 1Gb on promotion) for $24 and just ignore the $12 TXT.

I have a prepaid XT SIM card with this offer loaded. How does it work if I don't send ANY txts? Will I just be charged $24 for the data and therefore only pay $24 in the entire calendar month?

Would balance out the comparison above a little if I knew that this was available.

Sadly for postpaid I don't think you would have the option of adding ONLY the data and not having the $12 TXT.

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ahmad

1937 posts

Uber Geek
Inactive user

#362283 3-Aug-2010 12:29

eXDee: I quite like their Smartphone Extra plan, swapped to it on the weekend (im prepaid)

Topup $60 -> $80 credit due to bonus
Smartphone Extra $38
Leaving $4 credit left over for voicemail and a call if need be (i dont place calls from my mobile).

Which means for just under $30 a month (cant be bothered with an exact calculation) im getting
-2500 Texts
-512mb data (currently doubled)

Quite happy with this, even though 2degrees is cheaper, they don't have 3G zones in hamilton, compared to XT's 3G only network, which im happy to pay a bit extra for. The text bundle works out a lot better too (even though i only send ~400-800).

Calculations correct.

If you use $20 topups (you probably wouldn't if you were on a $38/month plan) then you effectively pay $30.40.

If you use $40 topups you pay $29.23/month

If you use $60 topup you pay $28.50/month

pageweon

393 posts

Ultimate Geek

#362290 3-Aug-2010 12:33

as far as i understand it if you were to just use the data(on prepaid only) then you would only be paying $24

the txting part is charged incrementally, 20c permessage for the first 70 messages

but no you cant to that on post paid

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revolushn

128 posts

Master Geek

Trusted

#362322 3-Aug-2010 13:15

Question - is the iPad Alpha plan on Vodafone available for other devices or iPad only? And how would they know anyway?

I was told by the Vodafone store that if I put my iPad SIM in another device they would cancel the use of it. And they would be able to know.

icepicknz

309 posts

Ultimate Geek

Trusted

#362329 3-Aug-2010 13:32

yes they would be able to know, however did you sign a contract agreeing to this?
They may in some way notice you're using another device and bill you the casual rate, that could be some nasty tactic :)

Barry Murphy
ISPMap - New Zealand ISP map
Vibe Communications LTD - Business ISP and Wholesale Carrier

Any comments made by myself don't reflect the views of my employer, they are mine and mine alone

bonkiebonks

389 posts

Ultimate Geek

#362333 3-Aug-2010 13:34

Can they tell by the IMEI of the device?

icepicknz

309 posts

Ultimate Geek

Trusted

#362338 3-Aug-2010 13:38

Yup, I know Telecom can see what devices have been connected to your sim card historically, so I imagine vodafone can do the same.

Barry Murphy
ISPMap - New Zealand ISP map
Vibe Communications LTD - Business ISP and Wholesale Carrier

Any comments made by myself don't reflect the views of my employer, they are mine and mine alone

caldazar

459 posts

Ultimate Geek

#362352 3-Aug-2010 13:47

I have a prepaid XT SIM card with this offer loaded. How does it work if I don't send ANY txts? Will I just be charged $24 for the data and therefore only pay $24 in the entire calendar month?

Correct me if wrong: I thought on XT with a prepaid sim, even if you are on a "data plan" they only bill what you use, except it just max's out at whatever the monthly cost of the plan is...

So if you only use 1mb, XT only charge you for 1mb - saving you more than plans any other carrier. E.g. Vodafone charge the monthly cost regardless of usage.

revolushn

128 posts

Master Geek

Trusted

#362358 3-Aug-2010 13:56

caldazar:
I have a prepaid XT SIM card with this offer loaded. How does it work if I don't send ANY txts? Will I just be charged $24 for the data and therefore only pay $24 in the entire calendar month?

Correct me if wrong: I thought on XT with a prepaid sim, even if you are on a "data plan" they only bill what you use, except it just max's out at whatever the monthly cost of the plan is...

So if you only use 1mb, XT only charge you for 1mb - saving you more than plans any other carrier. E.g. Vodafone charge the monthly cost regardless of usage.

Normally, yes. But you are talking about a special package. You pay for both in one lot and get both. If you don't use it you lose it so to speak. While telecom's plans allow you to pick and choose to some extent, you can't just make up your own prices :)

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