juha: I think it'll take off too, once Vodafone (Telecom won't be able to offer this for another six months to a year I gather) stops charging like a wounded bull for the service.

simon_nz90:

juha: I think it'll take off too, once Vodafone (Telecom won't be able to offer this for another six months to a year I gather) stops charging like a wounded bull for the service.

Well to be fair, Vodafone cant make a video call cheaper than a voice call and at the moment, video calls cost exactly the same as voice calls!!

If vodafone made video calls cheaper than voice calls, ppl like me wud just video call ppl when i would have normally voice called them. - You dont have to actually use the camera feature when you video call, you can just talk with headphones instead, and thats exactly what i did for hours every day when video calling was free.

sbiddle:

simon_nz90:

juha: I think it'll take off too, once Vodafone (Telecom won't be able to offer this for another six months to a year I gather) stops charging like a wounded bull for the service.

Well to be fair, Vodafone cant make a video call cheaper than a voice call and at the moment, video calls cost exactly the same as voice calls!!

If vodafone made video calls cheaper than voice calls, ppl like me wud just video call ppl when i would have normally voice called them. - You dont have to actually use the camera feature when you video call, you can just talk with headphones instead, and thats exactly what i did for hours every day when video calling was free.

Video calls are only the same price as a voice call if you're not on a plan. For a customer on a plan that has included minutes video calling is substancially more expensive.

simon_nz90:

sbiddle: Video calls are only the same price as a voice call if you're not on a plan. For a customer on a plan that has included minutes video calling is substancially more expensive.

Thats not true...

Ok your included minutes arnt used up for video calling, but your standard calling rate, eg 79c per min on Choose 60, is the same rate for making a video call. So video calling is the same rate as vocie calling, even on a plan.

jesseycy: Personally, I use Video calling at least once every week.....

But admittedly, Video calling is more "for fun".  So I generally call from home, or from some great location (like on top of a skifield and bragging about the snow to my mates).  Not really for day-to-day calling, I had to cut a video call today while on the bus cause it's quite embarassing for everyone to hear your conversation when you use the phone's loudspeaker...

One day, when we all use Bluetooth headsets, Video Calling would be much more useful (and private!).  But for now, it's more of a "fun item".  And as that, I wouldn't really call it a flop, cause people like me do use it regularly.

cokemaster:

simon_nz90:

sbiddle: Video calls are only the same price as a voice call if you're not on a plan. For a customer on a plan that has included minutes video calling is substancially more expensive.

Thats not true...

Ok your included minutes arnt used up for video calling, but your standard calling rate, eg 79c per min on Choose 60, is the same rate for making a video call. So video calling is the same rate as vocie calling, even on a plan.

It really depends on what way you look at it. I'm sure after spending $60-70 a month on a bunch of minutes that I'd really want to fork out another 79c a minute for a video call (which probably is more expensive consider how many minutes I'm getting divided by cost).



For example, take the you choose 60 plan (exclude the '3g' bonus for argument sake) - $39.95/60 minutes = $0.67 a minute*

Make a video call - it is $0.79 a minute.



Another interesting thing is Vodafones You Choose Addon table where it clearly shows that the Video calling is effectively 33c per minute while the nights and weekends addons have 5c, 10c, 15c 'rates' per minute. While it is nitpicking, it does blow a hole in the 'same rate as voice calls' argument.



Therefore the conclusion ' So video calling is the same rate as vocie calling' is disputed at best. A better statement would be to say 'Video calling costs the same as your plans voice call charge, excludes included minutes and as a result may cost more than your cost of regular voice calling'.



Again, this comes down to the On Account vs Prepaid argument. It is much more cost effective to use Prepaid for your video calling, your MMS'ing (remember that very few plans actually have MMS's - I can only remember motormouth on account. And remember a SMS costs 20c, a MMS costs 20c too), and when it comes down to the promotions - your calling too.





* Note that this assumes that you are using your included minutes only.