I've been a very happy TelstraClear customer for the last 8 or so years. (Was with Slingshot before that.) I called them about six months ago to re-negotiate our contract to get a better calling/broadband package rate, based on what some of the opposition were offering. They were happy to oblige if I agreed to sign on for at least another 12 months, which I did.
Recently the original (and very basic) modem I got when I signed up with TelstraClear started playing up and, after a few calls to their technical team and finally confirming it was the modem, I negotiated with them yet again. Now I have a new wireless modem on the way. (At no cost to me :)
I can't fault TelstraClear at all, and nice to see one of their reps keeping tabs on things here. The art of negotiation is a great thing to try and master. Try it in regard to things like this forum topic and you might be pleasantly surprised. Most companies would prefer to keep current paying customers than loose them to the opposition.
yogibear01: I've been a very happy TelstraClear customer for the last 8 or so years. (Was with Slingshot before that.) I called them about six months ago to re-negotiate our contract to get a better calling/broadband package rate, based on what some of the opposition were offering. They were happy to oblige if I agreed to sign on for at least another 12 months, which I did.
Recently the original (and very basic) modem I got when I signed up with TelstraClear started playing up and, after a few calls to their technical team and finally confirming it was the modem, I negotiated with them yet again. Now I have a new wireless modem on the way. (At no cost to me :)
I can't fault TelstraClear at all, and nice to see one of their reps keeping tabs on things here. The art of negotiation is a great thing to try and master. Try it in regard to things like this forum topic and you might be pleasantly surprised. Most companies would prefer to keep current paying customers than loose them to the opposition.
Yogi
Hi yogibear. Glad that we've been able to help you out!
yogibear01: Most companies would prefer to keep current paying customers than loose them to the opposition.
Yogi
Except Telecom unfortunately.
Its a pity TelstraClear offer is encumbered by their large rates increase after the 12 month contract is up eg should get rid of the FREE 40GB DATA - EVERY MONTH FOR A YEAR and make the 40Gb data inclusive in the plan price. Cheers, Al.
Well... received the new wireless modem/router from TelstraClear today.
It's a NetComm N300 unit and only took 10 mins to set up and secure. Have to say, I'm VERY pleased with it. It's packed with plenty of features, has a great GUI and gives me the fastest broadband connection I've ever had!
Thanks Gary and the team at TelstraClear!
Al (Ageorge), I'm sure Telecom would come to the party if you politely mentioned that you were considering changing providers because they were offering 'such and such' a plan... If you don't ask, you don't get. Also I'm not quite sure where 'the large rates increase after the 12 month contract is up' comes from...? Guessing you're meaning you sign up for a lesser GB plan and they top it up to 40GB for you for a year. Then after a year you go back to whatever GB level the plan was supposed to be on...? (Have to be honest and say I haven't read all the 6 pages of posts for this forum in case you mentioned it earlier : ) Either way I certainly don't see what there is to complain about. I don't envisage my broadband/calling package monthly cost to go up after 12 month contract I'm on is up and I'm happy with any 'bonus' monthly GB they want to give me.
At the end of the day, the options are out there. Do your research on what the different providers have to offer. If you like an option and you're happy to go through the pain (and sometimes protracted delay) of changing providers and updating people with your new email address etc... then do it. If you're happy with what you've got then stick with it.
It's all common sense really. (And a bit of careful negotiation, like I mentioned earlier : )
yogibear01: Well... received the new wireless modem/router from TelstraClear today.
It's a NetComm N300 unit and only took 10 mins to set up and secure. Have to say, I'm VERY pleased with it. It's packed with plenty of features, has a great GUI and gives me the fastest broadband connection I've ever had!
Thanks Gary and the team at TelstraClear!
Al (Ageorge), I'm sure Telecom would come to the party if you politely mentioned that you were considering changing providers because they were offering 'such and such' a plan... If you don't ask, you don't get. Also I'm not quite sure where 'the large rates increase after the 12 month contract is up' comes from...? Guessing you're meaning you sign up for a lesser GB plan and they top it up to 40GB for you for a year. Then after a year you go back to whatever GB level the plan was supposed to be on...? (Have to be honest and say I haven't read all the 6 pages of posts for this forum in case you mentioned it earlier : ) Either way I certainly don't see what there is to complain about. I don't envisage my broadband/calling package monthly cost to go up after 12 month contract I'm on is up and I'm happy with any 'bonus' monthly GB they want to give me.
At the end of the day, the options are out there. Do your research on what the different providers have to offer. If you like an option and you're happy to go through the pain (and sometimes protracted delay) of changing providers and updating people with your new email address etc... then do it. If you're happy with what you've got then stick with it.
It's all common sense really. (And a bit of careful negotiation, like I mentioned earlier : )
Yogi
Hi Yogi. In short I had negotiated with Telecom as you suggested above (its in this thread), who were fixed in their price and offering the same as on their website. After 30 years with them Im quite disappointed that they have no flexibility. In business if you have any nous you try to keep customers who pay on time/good creditors.
Cheers and pleasing that you are having a great experience with Telstra clear. If you had done your homework you would know the increase in price is due to the fact that your $75/month bill is for free broadband. After 12 months you get billed for your broadband which brings the price up to around $110/month - were you aware of that? I believe that is not good advertising as many will not realise thats what will happen after the 12 month period. You will of course at that time be able to negotiate a new contract, but Telstra will not commit to saying it can be a continuance of the $75/month. Cheers, Alistair.
Yeah I was aware of the price. (Thanks for the concern though.) As an on-going TelstraClear customer I was happy to just pay the $105/month I'd negotiated. Which includes free national calling and 20GB broadband. (And now a new wireless modem/router :)
Some cunning ideas people came up with in this thread, (like leaving and coming back as a new customer) to get the good deal. Like someone also said earlier, if you joined them at $75/month on a 12 month contract, you could perhaps renegotiate to keep the same rate once the 12 months is up...?
I was turned off Telecom many years ago after they gave my mum and dad a big muck around, and as they had the monopoly at the time, seemed to think they could get away with it. They tried to do the same with me and I switched to other providers over the years and vowed never to return to Telecom. (To name a few, BellSouth, Vodafone (who I still use for my mobile), WorldExchange and Slingshot.) After 8 years with TelstraClear I'm unlikely to move away from them. They've looked after me and I do feel 'loyalty' to them as a provider for that.
Just had a look at Telecom's offering and seems I'd be paying the same ($105/month) but would get 40GB/month instead of 20. I'm not a downloader and have never come close to using 20GB so am happy for now.
Well yesterday I bit the bullet and shifted over to TClear $75 deal but with caller ID. Funny but in my negotiating with them had always gotten Indian service folks, but on the order call I perchance got a European Kiwi.
Reason I moved - A prior to contract call I asked if my account was running out today (hypothetically) if I could renegotiate the same deal and they confirmed I could, unbeatable 40Gb bandwidth, 'Big Back Yard' inclusive which is the whole area in your white pages, and a pre-order phone call to my friendly Chorus serviceman who confirmed that all providers bandwidth is the same. He thought the all purchased off Telecom, so there would be no difference in performance.
When you have your account, you get an accounts page. Even though I am a programmer it evaded me how a user sets up their own myname@clear.net email address. Have asked the question on their web interface waiting for an answer. They are supposed to have a live chat session which does not appear to work. Now that would be good, as Telecom has one of those too, but theirs does not work either!
I'll keep you all informed as to my experience. Regards, Al.
Join the GZ irc channel if you want live help, there are often a TCL bod hanging about during the day, most days, and others who have a clue.
My personal experience with the web chat/contact thing is that it's a waste of good server space that could be better used hosting video of grass growing!
The Chorus dude couldn't be more wrong if he tried. Chorus run 29 'peering' points around NZ where providers can pick up hand off.
Check out the thread about Tarunga. It would seem there is congestion in that area, but not in others.
Performance of different ISPs will be impacted in different areas based on the amount of volume they purchase from a back national haul provider (of which there are 3 in most areas) and the size of the hand over they buy from Chorus.
Customer type also impacts on this stuff, so there aren't hard and fast rules that can be applied. Two ISPs might have exactly the same number of customers, with identical plan types, with the same hand off from Chorus but have different loadings because of when the providers customers choose to use their service. Ideally providers want a balance of customer types, but it doesn't always pan out that way as can be seen in the TrueNet data that John publishes.
What will be true is the sync rate that your modem gets to the DSLAM (modem in the phone exchange), that shouldn't really change between providers. Even if you're on a service where the ISP is using their own DSLAM equipment, it's still running over the same bit of wire, so shouldn't change that much.
However, having said that, different chip-sets and DSLAM set ups will produce different results as you'd expect.
At present TelstraClear have picked up a truck load of new customers, such as yourself, so as you might expect, there are a few moans about performance.
However, even I will agree that this will sort it self out fairly quickly. Gary, from TCL, did post last week that they're adding more capacity at present.
I think we can all expect that some existing customers will also move to other providers to take advantage of deals they currently have on offer.
What I'd like to know is if the thrill of having a new service will wear off and the current demand levels will drop off a bit as the year moves on?
Promote New Zealand - Get yourself a .kiwi.nz domain name!!!
Can but learn. Will be interesting how good the 3 free months will be. Certainly cant complain at the price. The Chorus man should have been better informed - I guessed since he is mostly working for Telecom he would have promoted them, but that was not the case at all.
I did see the thread on Telstraclear Tauranga problems and from many other folks all complaining, but the complaints were pretty consistent on all ISP except Telecom. regards, Al.
TCL have been busting my balls on this for a while now, I have been with them for years. I enquired about getting this 75 dollar plan and they said no get stuffed - the best they would give me is one month free. I am very close to telling them where to go and switch. I just don?t understand why they wouldn't sign me up as an existing customer for the lock in for 12 months.
I spoke to a call centre supervisor and they simply said they would not do it, they said the only way was for them to disconnect me and reconnect me at a later time on the new deal. I am particularly cheesed to find that they have been giving others on here the deal.
enozkeeg: TCL have been busting my balls on this for a while now, I have been with them for years. I enquired about getting this 75 dollar plan and they said no get stuffed - the best they would give me is one month free. I am very close to telling them where to go and switch. I just don?t understand why they wouldn't sign me up as an existing customer for the lock in for 12 months.
I spoke to a call centre supervisor and they simply said they would not do it, they said the only way was for them to disconnect me and reconnect me at a later time on the new deal. I am particularly cheesed to find that they have been giving others on here the deal.
I suggest people are not leaving. Moving ISP's is a PIA when you're on DSL, so people just stay.
It costs more to process the credit etc, than just accept the few who do move I suspect.
Promote New Zealand - Get yourself a .kiwi.nz domain name!!!
enozkeeg: TCL have been busting my balls on this for a while now, I have been with them for years. I enquired about getting this 75 dollar plan and they said no get stuffed - the best they would give me is one month free. I am very close to telling them where to go and switch. I just don?t understand why they wouldn't sign me up as an existing customer for the lock in for 12 months.
I spoke to a call centre supervisor and they simply said they would not do it, they said the only way was for them to disconnect me and reconnect me at a later time on the new deal. I am particularly cheesed to find that they have been giving others on here the deal.
Hi what the call centre guy said he would do and what they would do in reality may be 2 different things. My question about resigning up was a hypothetical one, so there was no risk in him telling me that if my supposed contract was to run out, I could get the $75 plan. Regards, Al.
enozkeeg: They bloody should, it should be as easy as switching power companies give these incumbants a run for their money.
Yes, it would make sense for them to at least reward their previous customers with the same deal, even if it was a one-off. Cant see them making any money on the 40Gb deal, unless the customer goes over bandwidth into the $2/Gb. My previous ISP TheCloud only charged $1/Gb overage, but only had 5Gb bandwidth. However, I have never found any ISP as good as them. After coming from Orcon who were terrible in my experience TheClout were great. Unfortunately, they cant offer deals anything like the $75 TC one, and my young family are quite hungry on broadband use. Cheers, Al.
Who are you with now? TheCloud sound good, another thing that snots me about TCL is if you go over you get charged another chunk for data - say 40 GB for 30 bucks or whatever it is even if you only have a day or two left on the monthly which you then lose when it ticks over, this I think is a damn dirty trick.
I need to look at UFB as well they have it installed in our neighbourhood
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