[TelstraClear] Telecom has doubled its caps for no additional charge

Forums › One New Zealand (including Vodafone, WxC, Farmside) › [TelstraClear] Telecom has doubled its caps for no additional charge - perhaps time to move to them?

lchiu7

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#101876 10-May-2012 20:26

I currently am on the TCL 90GB plan with TV and phone for which I pay about $220 though I usually pay more than that since I regularly go over 90GB to about 102GB.

Telecom is now offering phone and 160GB of data for $125. My family still wants digital TV for some reason and the only way I can do that is to keep a TCL plan with no phone, digital TV, 20GB of data for $71 or $96 for the additional decoder. Therefore my total montly spend would be $96 + $125 = $201. But I would getting 160GB + 20GB for that instead of 90GB. [Of course I would have to remember to switch over the router from the TCL modem to the ADSL one once the 20GB was used up!]

Sounds like a good deal but of course it all depends on whether Telecom ADSL2(+) is halfway decent in my area. And as TCL customer with a monitored alarm I would be up for a $199 installation charge to get all the wiring setup. And I have to purchase a ADSL modem also.

Any flaws in this argument? I like TCL and have been a customer for over 8 years (I figure I have spent about $14K with them over the years but they are not coming to the party on data caps.

Staying in Wellington. Check out my AirBnB in the Wellington CBD. https://www.airbnb.co.nz/h/wellycbd PM me and mention GZ to get a 15% discount and no AirBnB charges.

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#623248 10-May-2012 22:23

Clearly you didn't read my post in this exact issue last night?

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amanzi

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#623260 10-May-2012 22:34

DonGould: Clearly you didn't read my post in this exact issue last night?

It's simple - people want more data allowances. Other telcos are offering them and TCL need to catch up.

DonGould

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#623283 10-May-2012 22:57

amanzi:
DonGould: Clearly you didn't read my post in this exact issue last night?

It's simple - people want more data allowances. Other telcos are offering them and TCL need to catch up.

Yip, totally agree. That's exactly what I said last night and I even detailed what will help move the process along.

This guy could be moving to the DOCSIS 3 network, but rather than doing that he's looking at just getting dual networks (which BTW, if he puts a Mikrotik RB 750GL router in, then he can automate the service change over once the cap is used on each network).

But the best thing right now is to take up the 100 or 150Gb 100mbit service if he wants to see more data from Telstra, in my view.

Don't get me wrong, I think it's fantastic that the 100mbit service is finally here at a price point that's affordable, but yet again they're not keeping pace on data plans and once the new capacity is on line and they've had a chance to push people to the DOCSIS 3 network then they need to pull finger.

I suspect this will be slow in coming though because I suspect there's a bit of hard commerical work going on here. SCX have just done an upgrade and will be really keen to sell Telstra a big chunk of that capacity.

I suspect, and have no proof, but tinfoil hat suggests to me that other providers have picked up capacity for a song to drive the market forward.... you can say I'm just being nuts, but if I was SCX this is exactly what I'd do to use market pressure to drive the big guys to buy up the capacity, wouldn't you?

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Ragnor

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#623287 10-May-2012 23:02

Oh come on Don you are forever making anti Telecom posts and recently making a lot of pro Telstraclear posts despite their current data caps not being competitive at all.

Are you on the payroll now or something?

In reality both of them have their pro's (eg: performance, reliability) and con's (domestic peering, customer service) but you have to admit Telstraclear has been a slow mover on price/data caps in the last year or two and Telecom has been a fast mover since Total Home Broadband.

Besides if you were truely following your "pushing forward the net in NZ ideas" wouldn't you'd be advising him to consider naked DSL options like Snap ($95 for 250GB) or Maxnet ($125 for un-metered).

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#623302 10-May-2012 23:20

lchiu7:

Sounds like a good deal but of course it all depends on whether Telecom ADSL2(+) is halfway decent in my area. And as TCL customer with a monitored alarm I would be up for a $199 installation charge to get all the wiring setup. And I have to purchase a ADSL modem also.

Most ISP's will give you a free DSL modem when you signup.

DIY install of a master splitter isn't too hard, you can get the splitter and gel caps for less than $40 on trademe for example.

What does Chorus SAT show for your address?
http://www.chorus.co.nz/sat

DonGould

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#623305 10-May-2012 23:26

Ragnor: Oh come on Don you're forever making pretty strong anti Telecom posts and recently making a lot of pro Telstraclear posts despite their current data caps not being competitive at all.

Are you on the payroll now or something?

In reality both of them have their pro's (eg: performance, reliability) and con's (domestic peering, customer service) but you have to admit Telstraclear has been a slow mover on price/data caps in the last year or two and and Telecom has been a fast mover since Total Home Broadband.

Besides if you truely followed your pushing forward the net statement you'd should be advising he switch and looking at options like Snap or Maxnet.

Oh here we go again with the anti-Telecom stuff..... blar blar...

No, I'm not on Telstra's pay roll, though if they offered me a job to help bring better value to us all then I'd look at it, but I think we'd all be kidding our selves to think that's going to happen!

You're quite right about you're presentation of the reality. Since the NGN upgrade completion Telecom do seem to be doing more to steam a head. I commented as much yesterday.

As for Snap or Maxnet - for my own part I'm land locked, if you'd like to lend me, at zero interest, the $55k it will cost to get more than ADSL2 here then give me a yell. I'm 1 building on the wrong side of the network boundary to get VDSL.

I've spent $1,200 on radio gear to see if I can get a WISP service to give me 20/20, but we have a tree line that's causing signal level ~79db from the best provider.

I've got another site ~1km away that should have good LOS, but will be 3 radio hops to get back here because of the tree issues... welcome to flat Christchurch with lots of trees!

The guy at Enabled must be sick of me ringing to find out when they're going to start pushing UFB in my area.

So in terms of not living up to my own standards - bite me!

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#623307 10-May-2012 23:29

Yeah but the OP isn't you!

He's looking at DSL pricing to reduce costs, doesn't sound like he's interested in more expensive than DSL options like VDSL2 or 100Mbit cable/Warpspeed.

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#623309 10-May-2012 23:34

lchiu7:

Any flaws in this argument? I like TCL and have been a customer for over 8 years (I figure I have spent about $14K with them over the years but they are not coming to the party on data caps.

Primary goal is: pay tv + phone service + internet service with >100GB data for less than $220

Might be worth looking at the price of Sky TV directly, depending on which channel packages could work out less than pay TV from Telstraclear.

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#623310 10-May-2012 23:35

Ragnor: Yeah but the OP isn't you!

He's looking at DSL pricing to reduce costs, doesn't sound like he's interested in more expensive than DSL options like VDSL2 or 100Mbit cable/Warpspeed.

Yip, the OP is clearly after more data, not faster data.

You're right, at present Telecom is a better choice, has been for some time from what I'm gathering.

As I said last night, I doubt that Telstra can put any more data on the DOCSIS2 network without getting congestion in Wellington with the node ratios.

If the OP wants to fix this fast then I agree, the suggestion to just pay the money and get a Chorus based connection may well be the quickest answer, though keeping that DOCSIS2 connection at the same time isn't going to help the rest of us any.

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lchiu7

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#623311 10-May-2012 23:44

Ragnor: Yeah but the OP isn't you!

He's looking at DSL pricing to reduce costs, doesn't sound like he's interested in more expensive than DSL options like VDSL2 or 100Mbit cable/Warpspeed.

Exactly. I want more data at better pricing and TCL are not looking that good.

I am not interested in 100Mbs or TCL 150GB plan at its price level but just a decent cap at a good price.

I would hope all I would lose is slower uploads because Telecom even provide fixed IP.

Staying in Wellington. Check out my AirBnB in the Wellington CBD. https://www.airbnb.co.nz/h/wellycbd PM me and mention GZ to get a 15% discount and no AirBnB charges.

lchiu7

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#623312 10-May-2012 23:48

Ragnor:
lchiu7:

Any flaws in this argument?? I like TCL and have been a customer for over 8 years (I figure I have spent about $14K with them over the years but they are not coming to the party on data caps.

Primary goal is: pay tv + phone service + internet service with >100GB data for less than $220

Might be worth looking at the price of Sky TV directly, depending on which channel packages could work out less than pay TV from Telstraclear.

If I had my choice I would ditch the TV also but the wife likes Food Network. I need two decoders and TCL is much better than Sky in that respect.

Staying in Wellington. Check out my AirBnB in the Wellington CBD. https://www.airbnb.co.nz/h/wellycbd PM me and mention GZ to get a 15% discount and no AirBnB charges.

lchiu7

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#623313 10-May-2012 23:53

Ragnor:
lchiu7:?

Sounds like a good deal but of course it all depends on whether Telecom ADSL2(+) is halfway decent in my area. And as? TCL customer with a monitored alarm I would be up for a $199 installation charge to get all the wiring setup. And I have to purchase a ADSL modem also.

Most ISP's will give you a free DSL modem when you signup.

DIY install of a master splitter isn't too hard, you can get the splitter and gel caps for less than $40 on trademe for example.

What does Chorus SAT show for your address?
http://www.chorus.co.nz/sat

Looks like VDSL2

Staying in Wellington. Check out my AirBnB in the Wellington CBD. https://www.airbnb.co.nz/h/wellycbd PM me and mention GZ to get a 15% discount and no AirBnB charges.

Ragnor

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#623315 11-May-2012 00:09

lchiu7:

If I had my choice I would ditch the TV also but the wife likes Food Network. I need two decoders and TCL is much better than Sky in that respect.

Food Television, channel 9?

That's in the Sky Basic package which is $46ish/month
http://www.skytv.co.nz/Default.aspx?tabid=973

$25/mo for 2nd decoder (multi room) if you need to be able to watch different channels in different rooms, otherwise just get a HDMI splitter.

Optional $15/month for My Sky HDI if you want a PVR, my old man loves it.

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#623318 11-May-2012 00:13

lchiu7:

Looks like VDSL2

Means you are within ~1km of cabinet or exchange and could probably get VDSL2 if you wanted to (subject to line test)

On ADSL2+ you should be able to get around 15Mbit down and 900Kbit up

* Assuming no wiring issues.

lchiu7

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#623392 11-May-2012 09:32

Ragnor:
lchiu7:

If I had my choice I would ditch the TV also but the wife likes Food Network. I need two decoders and TCL is much better than Sky in that respect.

Food Television, channel 9?

That's in the Sky Basic package which is $46ish/month
http://www.skytv.co.nz/Default.aspx?tabid=973

$25/mo for 2nd decoder (multi room) if you need to be able to watch different channels in different rooms, otherwise just get a HDMI splitter.

Optional $15/month for My Sky HDI if you want a PVR, my old man loves it.

Food Television, yet. I was confused with the US Food Network.

TCL provides Digital TV for $50 which includes their PVR (T-Box) and Saturn Extra which has the Food Television and other minor channels. They also have Discovery Travel and Learning which Sky doesn't offer. Finally the second decoder is $15.

So Sky isn't really a better option for me.

I have reworked the numbers and to get what I want from both providers I need a TCL package for $140 which is no phone, 20GB of data (can't go lower than this). digital TV, extra channels, two decoders and PVR.

To that I have to add the Telecom $125 for 160GB totalling $265. That is about $40 more than I pay now for 90GB but as I noted I regularly go over 90GB by 10 or so blocks at $2.95/2GB so about $30 for 20GB which means my effective monthly bill is more like $250 for 110GB. The new arrangement would give me 180GB for $265.

If I could convince the family to ditch digital TV and just watch Freeview and Food Network streaming (would have enough capacity to do that), it would save $50/month.

Staying in Wellington. Check out my AirBnB in the Wellington CBD. https://www.airbnb.co.nz/h/wellycbd PM me and mention GZ to get a 15% discount and no AirBnB charges.

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