[WXC/VFX] New Fusion unlimited plan

Forums › One NZ (including Farmside) › [WXC/VFX] New Fusion unlimited plan

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#1084313 8-Jul-2014 19:24

I was told today that the plans aren't live yet. Another few days apparently.... New hardware was required for me (fibre) adsl might be different?

coffeebaron

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#1084318 8-Jul-2014 19:30

sultanoswing: So - to be clear (since there's nothing on the website yet): my dad can ring Xnet/WxC tonight and be upgraded to Fusion Unlimited ADSL, for $99/month, using his existing hardware (TP-Link TD-w8980 + SPA122 telephone adapter) ?

Let's hope they do drop the $21.50 / month surcharge for BYOD or older certified hardware. Makes their basic product rather expensive.

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RunningMan

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#1084327 8-Jul-2014 19:36

coffeebaron: Let's hope they do drop the $21.50 / month surcharge for BYOD or older certified hardware. Makes their basic product rather expensive.

How long has that been there?

coffeebaron

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#1084334 8-Jul-2014 19:49

RunningMan:
coffeebaron: Let's hope they do drop the $21.50 / month surcharge for BYOD or older certified hardware. Makes their basic product rather expensive.

How long has that been there?

Since last year. All the new Fusion plans require the AudioCodes hardware. For other hardware you have to combine e.g. $85 naked 20GB plan + $11.50 VFX line on either old hardware or open VFX. So $96.50 for 20GB & VoIP vs $75 for 20GB & VoIP.
The AudioCodes is a great box and I've certainly push a few new WXC customers on this, and upgraded a few others; but for existing customers upgrading to new plans, or new customers with recycled gear or customers who need a more specialised setup - this just makes their product more expensive.

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RunningMan

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#1084347 8-Jul-2014 20:12

I could understand a surcharge for BYOD but that pricing structure would deter existing customers with previous generation certified gear from upgrading.

coffeebaron

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#1084365 8-Jul-2014 20:20

RunningMan: I could understand a surcharge for BYOD but that pricing structure would deter existing customers with previous generation certified gear from upgrading.

Or send them to other providers. I have one customer with a $400 SRP527 keen to move to Fibre, but the box is not far past a year old, so no way will he pay more $$ for another box.

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sultanoswing

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#1084399 8-Jul-2014 20:58

coffeebaron:
RunningMan:
coffeebaron: Let's hope they do drop the $21.50 / month surcharge for BYOD or older certified hardware. Makes their basic product rather expensive.

How long has that been there?

Since last year. All the new Fusion plans require the AudioCodes hardware. For other hardware you have to combine e.g. $85 naked 20GB plan + $11.50 VFX line on either old hardware or open VFX. So $96.50 for 20GB & VoIP vs $75 for 20GB & VoIP.
The AudioCodes is a great box and I've certainly push a few new WXC customers on this, and upgraded a few others; but for existing customers upgrading to new plans, or new customers with recycled gear or customers who need a more specialised setup - this just makes their product more expensive.

Hopefully maverick can shed some light on what's available with these plans then. My dad just bought a $150 TD-w8980 and an $86 SPA122, as both his older boxes died a couple of months back. I really can't see any technical reason why WxC wouldn't support these devices as they're currently working fine on their ADSL/VOIP network. It's also worth noting that WxC supports PAP2T and SPAxxx's as a VOIP provider (my current arrangement).

Even if the flash-harry hardware is provided free* it's still a waste/deterrent if your newly purchased, currently compatible gear isn't supported for no decent reason.

So - here's hoping my dad can just switch to the $99 "unlimited" Fusion plan, and leave everything plugged in as it is. That's what I would expect to be able to happen. He's ready to make a phone call tomorrow. If not, well, there are other hardware agnostic providers readily available. Come 'on WxC, make it easy for we geeks to love ya again! :)

* with 24 month contract, apparently?

sultanoswing

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#1086570 10-Jul-2014 18:20

Still nothing on the WxC website.

Man, WxC are really going all in with a balls-to-the-wall-media-saturation-PR-advertising extravaganza!

RunningMan

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#1086982 11-Jul-2014 10:25

I don't know if the new plan(s) are still under consideration, but for what it's worth, here's my thoughts (in no particular order!):

1) Price. For me, I'm not looking for absolute rock bottom price - I'd rather pay a little more for a higher quality product, but it's still got to be reasonable. VFX is an excellent product, and the tech support team when needed have always been very good as well when resolving issues such as xDSL connection and so on.

2) Contract term. One of the drawcards in the earlier Xnet days was not having fixed term contracts. This flexibility is useful to a lot of people. Locking people in to a 24 month contract is a long time in the internet world (if this is in fact what the new terms are). Of course, the company needs to see a return on investment, particularly if supplying higher spec CPE hardware as standard, so there's got to be a tradeoff somewhere, but that leads to my next point...

3) CPE hardware. I can think of several reasons why customers would not want to use the AudioCodes hardware. Be it that it doesn't have particular required features, or substantial investment has already been made in existing hardware (like @coffeebaron's client with SRP series above). I can understand from an efficiency, systems design, and support perspective that standardising to one router model has significant benefits, but the the flip side is deterring customers that have something other than the one size fits all requirements. As a suggestion, what about continuing to allow VFX certified hardware other than AudioCodes (Cisco SRP, SPA etc.) to be used on Fusion connections, without the apparent price difference? By not having the expense of providing hardware to the customer, could there be a trade-off somewhere, such as reduced contract length?

4) Flexibility. The lack of fixed term contracts, pay as you go and individually set data caps are the types of things that are (were?) innovative and flexible from WxC - recognising that there has been massive change over the past years in terms of the types/prices of services delivered, it would be good to see that same innovation or flexibility applied to things like contract terms and CPE hardware as above.

Anyway, just a few somewhat disjointed ramblings on my part!

geocom

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#1088424 14-Jul-2014 11:35

Anyone had anymore information?

Wondering if I change to unlimited if I will lose my static ip address.

I think I know what the answer is going to be but I prefer not having to setup a dynamic dns or one of the other various hacky ways to connect to my home network.

Geoff E

richrdh18

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#1088445 14-Jul-2014 12:20

I contacted WXC late last week and have no other information other than whats already been posted.

Although, they said that I would be placed on a call back list to follow up with once plan details were finalized this week.

Wait and see approach.

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Niel

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#1088766 14-Jul-2014 17:17

geocom: Anyone had anymore information?

Wondering if I change to unlimited if I will lose my static ip address.

I think I know what the answer is going to be but I prefer not having to setup a dynamic dns or one of the other various hacky ways to connect to my home network.

I've changed plans many times, always asked and never lost my free static IP. You have to make major changes before they terminate anything like that. Not sure, but I think there might still be people on 1Mb (?) connection with free national data? That's one of the things I love about WxC, they honour agreements until you change.

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RunningMan

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#1089093 15-Jul-2014 09:49

Looks like details are up now.

https://www.wxc.co.nz/residential/

KShips

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#1089158 15-Jul-2014 11:18

Is the end of the 24 month contract classed as 'contract termination'? If so, the modem has to be returned to WXC or else we will be charged $250?

sultanoswing

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#1089164 15-Jul-2014 11:35

Looks good. Another question though: can I bring my own hardware, or is the mp264 a requirement? I need a router capable of running either tomato or dd-wrt, and hardware stipulations are what meant I couldn't go with Snap (need to use their Fritzbox).

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