Telecom New Zealand mobile data roaming changes

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freitasm

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#71291 8-Nov-2010 12:27

Telecom is now offering a capped mobile data roaming option:

"If you're going to be data roaming in Australia, the USA or United Kingdom we have a great new capped rate plan where you get 100MB worth of data for only $100. You'll be charged $8/MB for the first 12.5MB and the remaining 87.5MB are FREE. Any usage over 100MB is $8/MB. The 100MB data allowance is for your monthly billing cycle use in the selected countries."

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#401677 8-Nov-2010 13:46

Oh well a small step in the right direction I guess.

If you budgeted that much for a trip and watched your usage closely, it'd be ideal for use on a smartphone (email, Google Maps, location-based searches).

Behodar

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#401692 8-Nov-2010 14:28

Awesome. My last data roaming bill was $171 so this is a welcome improvement :)

Edit: The $8/MB rate is an improvement over the old $10 US/UK rate too.

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#402041 9-Nov-2010 12:04

Remind me again why mobile roaming data is so expensive??

Lias

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#402046 9-Nov-2010 12:23

Satch: Remind me again why mobile roaming data is so expensive??

Because Telco's are desperately trying to find any way to still be massively profitable. They want to hang on to a bygone era of profitability, much like the movie and music industries.

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joff_nz

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#402093 9-Nov-2010 13:46

How dare businesses attempt to make a profit. Scoundrels!

drquack32

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#402096 9-Nov-2010 13:49

He is right though

graemeh

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#402114 9-Nov-2010 14:22

Satch: Remind me again why mobile roaming data is so expensive??

It's complicated to provide, requires expensive infrastructure and work between at least two companies to send you the bill. If usage went up the costs should go down.

You're basically paying for convenience.

Much better to just get a local SIM or go WIFI :)

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#402245 9-Nov-2010 17:11

Lias:
Satch: Remind me again why mobile roaming data is so expensive??

Because the inbound roaming Telco is desperately trying to find any way to still be massively profitable. They want to hang on to a bygone era of profitability, much like the movie and music industries.

I've editted your post for clarity. As an inbound roaming operator you find yourself in a perfect position. People that need the service WILL use it, you can charge almost whatever premium you like and the customers will complain to their national carrier not you.

I'm struggling to find it now, but AT&T used to charge a casual rate of $USD10/mb. It must be one of the few occasions that mobile data is cheaper to an inbound roaming customer!

Telecom are billed for your data usage and they pass this on to you (albeit with a surcharge). What I'm trying to say is that the majority of the cost comes from the carrier that you are roaming with.

freitasm

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#402636 10-Nov-2010 10:53

Here's the official press release now:

Telecom has today announced new data pricing available for XT customers who roam to Australia, the United States and the United Kingdom.

The new pricing gives customers 100 megabytes (MB) of mobile data for $100 while roaming overseas in these locations that’s the equivalent of $1/MB.

Customers will be charged $8.00/MB for the first 12.5MB and a remaining 87.5MB worth of data for the rest of their billing month will be free.

Telecom’s Head of Mobile Roaming, Niki Chave says, “This means our customers get the equivalent of $800 (in Australia) and $1000 (in the US and UK) worth of data for only $100.”

The new pricing is available to all XT customers, both prepaid and postpaid and will be applied automatically to their bill without them having to do anything to activate it before they leave New Zealand.

“This will not only make it more affordable to use data while roaming but also give our customers more clarity around the cost of data use before they travel,” says Ms Chave.

The data pricing covers all types of mobile data usage, on all devices and across all networks in our three most popular roaming destinations, Australia, the US and the UK.

Telecom will look to add additional destinations to the plan at a later date.

“When travelling overseas the majority of our customers, more than 88%, roam to Australia, the US and the UK so we have started by introducing new pricing to the most popular travel destinations first, with more to follow later,” says Ms Chave.

“We think 100MB is a good amount of data for our customers to not feel too restricted when using mobile data abroad and we are excited to give them more freedom to be able to stay in touch while travelling,” says Ms Chave.

100MB is equivalent to approximately 1000 text based emails or 2000 m.facebook pages. Any usage over the 100MB total will be charged at an overage rate of $8.00 per MB.

oxnsox

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#402699 10-Nov-2010 11:30

I think it's great to see Telcos going down the path of recognising the changing dynamic that is mobile communications.... but...

Customers will be charged $8.00/MB for the first 12.5MB and a remaining 87.5MB worth of data for the rest of their billing month will be free.

... c'mon Telecom if you can give away 87.5megs of roaming data free are you in it for the long haul, or is it just a badly scripted campaign. Surely there's a better way to sell it???????

Telecom’s Head of Mobile Roaming, Niki Chave says, “This means our customers get the equivalent of $800 (in Australia) and $1000 (in the US and UK) worth of data for only $100.”

OK... and whilst I'm at it.... I'm pretty much over the whole way the Telcos manage to spin some massive numbers out of new deals or products. We aren't getting $1000 worth, we're getting $100 worth because that's what we're paying...

I'd really like to know where the spin doctors do their shopping

Behodar

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#402704 10-Nov-2010 11:32

No kidding. Plus since the US/UK overage is now $8/MB (same as Australia), saying you get $1000 worth of data is just plain misleading.

ALTRON

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#402772 10-Nov-2010 12:33

Roaming to japan is still crazy expensive.
30$ per MB!
I'll just stick to wifi while there.
And no roaming to japan on prepay account either. :(

Zeon

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#402776 10-Nov-2010 12:37

ALTRON: Roaming to japan is still crazy expensive.

30$ per MB!

I'll just stick to wifi while there.

And no roaming to japan on prepay account either. :(

Hey, I'm going to Japan very soon. Can you not just get a prepay SIM there with a local data plan?

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ALTRON

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#402787 10-Nov-2010 12:48

Yeah you can rent a sim from companies like softbank from narita airport.

http://www.softbank-rental.jp/en/phones/sim3g.php seems expensive for data though.

heres a good list of your data options while there.
http://mobileinjapan.com/2010/11/03/visiting-japan-mobile-phone-data-wifi-plans-connected/

Im gonna use http://300.wi2.co.jp/en/ wifi service while there next time. available in most train stations, MacDonalds (they're everywhere) etc and cheap for unlimited data.
Sign on ( you can cancel any time) to the monthly unlimited plan=$1.65nz and maxes out at only $15.39nz for unlimited data :)

good.

timmyh

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#402798 10-Nov-2010 13:02

When data roaming was defined by the 3GPP the telco world wanted to control access to the internet, so the way it works is that wherever you are in the world, your data has to come back to your home network to then go out to the internet - completely nuts!

What should have happened is that a single APN was defined, say "internet" which every mobile carrier implemented and every handset was pre-configured with. Then, when you were roaming, your handset connected to this APN for internet traffice and the the roamed network knew to pipe this traffic out to the internet locally. But alas...

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