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Jonski

265 posts

Ultimate Geek


#151450 25-Aug-2014 22:45
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Well, it's an interesting day. My 24-month VF Mobile contract expires today, my wife wants an iPhone 5c for her birthday, and I got a letter in the post today advising that UFB is now available. Woohoo!

So it's a perfect storm to get everything sorted at the same time.

I like VF, and I intend to stay with them unless there's a compelling reason to try another provider. For many, many historical reasons, (does the word 'finger' mean anything to anyone these days?) I won't be signing up with Spork.

So I'm interested in people's thoughts and experiences with UFB, what happens to data consumption and caps, what one does with landlines and so on. Also, we don't want or need Sky.

To give y'all a feeling of current consumption, I have DSL2 at around 12 Mbits and eat say 40 GB a month. My phone chews 1-1.5 GB a month (on account) and my wife has the $19 prepay with 500 MB which also rolls around roughly once a month. Ideally, I'd like my total monthly spend (~ $170 across all three services) to remain the same or even reduce slightly. I don't want it to increase more than 10%, because we do get by on what we've got.

My 24-month plan initially was to purchase an HTC One V, and that handset sucked the fat kumara a few months later. My fault, but I wasn't sad, just pi$$ed off. I replaced it with a Nokia 620 which I like very much. My wife's HTC, same model, is a fetid piece of scheiße and she hates it dearly. I will not be purchasing a handset on a plan ever again.

So, I will keep my Winphone, a bit tatty but works like a dream. My existing mobile plan is now overkill and I think Open 1.25 GB for $39 seems about right. With my wife's move to an upcoming iPhone, I wonder if her data consumption will increase dramatically? She doesn't use much at the moment because her One V likes to imitate a glowing brick on a very regular basis, and because she's in Wifi range a lot of the time. It can take minutes or never to open a txt. So she tried my 620 but prefers the Apple. No idea why- I have a 5s for work and barely tolerate it. What's everyone's thoughts on price changes with the upcoming Apple announcement in Sept? Will the price drop happen then, or when the 6 reaches our market, and how long does that take?

I make next to no voice calls on my mobe, I txt my wife and family occasionally- perhaps no more than 5 txts a day tops. Not sure of her usage, but it won't be much more voice or txt. I imagine she'll stay on the existing prepay for a while, but I can't really see any other prepays with more data available for when the 5c comes along.

Home broadband is the kicker. I expect that I'd prefer the Ultrafast 100 to the 30, but is it worth the price difference? 80 GB or unlimited?

Additionally, I like the phones we have at home (some Uniden DECTs), but we make almost no calls from them. We do however call to Ireland in binges, say 2 hours solid once every month or few weeks. We video Skype to there as well. We keep the phone for my mother of advancing years (and other family members) who do not like to pay $$ to talk to us on our mobiles. Do we keep a home phone or go naked and work around getting voice to the house another way? Skype phones but we'd need to unplug our existing Unidens? We don't like the idea of using mobs as primary devices, mainly due to lower call quality compared with fixed lines. My mother is very hard of hearing.

What is everyone's experience with this? What happened to your data consumption? What did you do with your landline? Did you go for a single provider, or spread out depending on the service?

Are there any tips or traps, hints or observations for the unwary, or ways to do it better?

All comments appreciated. I'd like to do this right first time.




I reject your reality and substitute my own!
- Adam Savage, Mythbuster

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PeterReader
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  #1115549 25-Aug-2014 22:45
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Hello... Our robot found some keywords in your post, so here is an automated reply with some important things to note regarding broadband speeds.

 



 

If you are posting regarding DSL speeds please check that

 



 

- you have reset your modem and router

 


 

- your PC (or other PCs in your LAN) is not downloading large files when you are testing

 

- you are not being throttled by your ISP due to going over the monthly cap

 


 

- your tests are always done on an ethernet connection to the router - do not use wireless for testing

 


 

- you read this topic and follow the instructions there.

 



 

Make sure you provide information for other users to help you. If you have not already done it, please EDIT your post and add this now:

 



 

- Your ISP and plan

 


 

- Type of connection (ADSL, ADSL2, VDSL)

 


 

- Your modem DSL stats (do not worry about posting Speedtest, we need sync rate, attenuation and noise margin)

 


 

- Your general location (or street)

 


 

- If you are rural or urban

 


 

- If you know your connection is to an exchange, cabinet or conklin

 


 

- If your connection is to a ULL or wholesale service

 


 

- If you have done an isolation test as per the link above

 



 

Most of the problems with speed are likely to be related to internal wiring issues. Read this discussion to find out more about this. Your ISP is not intentionally slowing you down today (unless you are on a managed plan). Also if this is the school holidays it's likely you will notice slower than usual speed due to more users online.

 



 

A master splitter is required for VDSL2 and in most cases will improve speeds on DSL connections. Regular disconnections can be a monitored alarm or a set top box trying to connect. If there's an alarm connected to your line even if you don't have an alarm contract it may still try to connect so it's worth checking.

 



 

I recommend you read these two blog posts:

 



 

- Is your premises phone wiring impacting your broadband performance? (very technical)

 


 

- Are you receiving a substandard ULL ADSL2+ connection from your ISP?




I am the Geekzone Robot and I am here to help. I am from the Internet. I do not interact. Do not expect other replies from me.

 

These links are referral codes: Sharesies | Mighty Ape 




Jonski

265 posts

Ultimate Geek


  #1115658 26-Aug-2014 09:10
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Thanks, little robot, but no cigar this time.

Mods, is there a way to remove his (her?) contribution?

Cheers
Jon




I reject your reality and substitute my own!
- Adam Savage, Mythbuster

Hoofhaarted
103 posts

Master Geek


  #1115687 26-Aug-2014 09:48
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For the Mobile part of the equation, I would certainly look into the red share plans........ Pay a small amount on top of your own plan, and the secondary phone gets to share the data pool with yourself.......Would also be eligible for a discount off the broadband fee.

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