Vodafone raises the monthly Smart 1 price

Forums › One New Zealand (including Vodafone, WxC, Farmside) › Vodafone raises the monthly Smart 1 price

BigMal

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#153887 11-Oct-2014 13:14

Just a heads up,

My wife got a letter from vodafone saying their increasing the cost of he smart 1 from $40 to $49. I'm on the same plan but haven't received the same letter so I'm not sure if it's across the board or select customers?

The letter also suggests she switch to the $69 Red plan (which they'll discount to $59) instead of staying on her current plan.

Time to start looking at other options I think. We're both on Smart 1 because it comes with 3GB of data, are there any plans similar with that sort of data for around $40? I don't care about 4G and I have no problem moving away from Vodafone.

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#1151824 11-Oct-2014 13:34

Likely because your DOM (Date of Month / Billing date) is later than hers, Don't worry you'll get your letter :)

Believe it or not you can change your data habbits... I had to.
While employeed with VF I was using 5-6GB of mobile data a month, Now I'm on the $39 Open Term plan (With $10 off promo) and buy one extra $10 Flexi Data 500mb bundle a month and That's typically enough for me now, Only major cut back is now I use Wifi at work / home instead of purely 4G.

Personally I would be switching to a newer plan purely for Flexi Data (Data Angel), Add to that 4G and ALOT more calling minutes with current plans (iirc Smart One had 30 ish minutes?) and to Australia too. IMO with all the features that are included with the new plans by all providers Smart1 is no longer value for money.

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michaelmurfy

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#1151825 11-Oct-2014 13:34

Nothing around with 3GiB of data IIRC.

I've got 3.5GiB + 100mins + Unlimited texts on Spark prepaid for $48/mo however it was an old promotion and not available now, just going to keep hanging onto it for as long as possible just like you have with your plan. If you do go for a new plan (like the Red+ plans) you'll also get 4G.

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charsleysa

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#1151841 11-Oct-2014 15:04

Stay on your current plan because no one has 3GB + texts + minutes for $50 per month.

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Stefan Andres Charsley

PhantomNVD

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#1151847 11-Oct-2014 15:14

charsleysa: Stay on your current plan because no one has 3GB + texts + minutes for $50 per month.

And don't we all now wish they DID! :D

toejam316

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#1152416 12-Oct-2014 21:29

Sad but true - no one wants to provide big data for low costs because the more data you have the more likely you will be using VOIP instead of their calling, and messengers instead of SMS and MMS.

Anything I say is the ramblings of an ill informed, opinionated so-and-so, and not representative of any of my past, present or future employers, and is also probably best disregarded.

Handsomedan

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#1152499 13-Oct-2014 07:25

The ironic thing is, that old plan also includes plenty of min, txt and pxt.

I have regretted moving off that plan since the day I did it.

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sbiddle

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#1152502 13-Oct-2014 07:43

Handsomedan: The ironic thing is, that old plan also includes plenty of min, txt and pxt.

I have regretted moving off that plan since the day I did it.

Smart 1 only had 30 mins of calls.

There will be some people who have 60 mins if they signed up when a double your mins promo was on.

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Handsomedan

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#1152507 13-Oct-2014 07:59

sbiddle:
Handsomedan: The ironic thing is, that old plan also includes plenty of min, txt and pxt.

I have regretted moving off that plan since the day I did it.

Smart 1 only had 30 mins of calls.

There will be some people who have 60 mins if they signed up when a double your mins promo was on.

I was one of those that had 60 min...as I said...plenty of minutes...

Obviously for my usage patterns, it was all about data and pxts...now I pay for my pxts and have half the data, unlimited txts (of which I might use a couple of hundred a month) and oodles of minutes of talk time that I use around 1% of...

In saying that, if you can bear the wait on hold, it's worth a call to VF customer support to see how they can help.

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sbiddle

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#1152509 13-Oct-2014 08:07

The reality of that plan is the extra data was only ever a bonus, it was never part of the plan. The only reason it still existed was because of the rioting in the streets when Vodafone tried to actually end the limited time promo in 2011.

I moved off my Smart plan a couple of years ago as I got better value from the current plans at the time and have since moved to an Open Term plan with the 2GB data addon so get 3.25GB data and 300 mins for a lot less than I used to pay.

Handsomedan

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#1152514 13-Oct-2014 08:12

sbiddle: The reality of that plan is the extra data was only ever a bonus, it was never part of the plan. The only reason it still existed was because of the rioting in the streets when Vodafone tried to actually end the limited time promo in 2011.

I moved off my Smart plan a couple of years ago as I got better value from the current plans at the time and have since moved to an Open Term plan with the 2GB data addon so get 3.25GB data and 300 mins for a lot less than I used to pay.

I remember the "rioting in the streets" well...I lost track of the amount of times that Johnr defended the mothership and calmly and politely explained that the 3GB was only ever a bonus...

It still worked out to be a good deal for those that stuck with it...particularly the Smart1 plan at $40...nothing around now to compare to that! At least, nothing off the shelf.

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BigMal

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#1152527 13-Oct-2014 08:49

Yeah I think I'll stay with Smart1 and just put up with the price increase until a better data plan becomes available from whichever provider.

On Smart1 I get 60 mins talk, 1 best mate, 3GB data and sh * t loads of texts and pxts for $40pm (now $49).

The 3GB is the most important to me because I like to stream NFL games on the bus ride to work.

Vodafone no longer seem to have any plans that come close to that amount of data for that price.

Wade

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#1152570 13-Oct-2014 09:54

I was originally on the double minutes/3gb/mth deal with VF and yes i had to become a lot more conservative with my approach to mobile data but it is easier than you would think to curb. The massive benefit for me was the freedom of being able to use my phone as a phone as most modern plans have plenty of minutes

I moved across to 2D because of rollover minutes and data, and so far I struggle to carry across much if any of my 1.5gb/mth data allocation but as a fallback i can buy a data pack and use every last byte while accumulating my plan data

For arguments sake you could you could go on a 2D $19/mth prepay plan plus buy a $99 12gb/data pack every 6mths which all works out to an average cost of $35.50/mth for 100min/mth, unlimited texts and 2.5gb/mth of data (assuming majority of your use is within their data zones)

drajk

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#1157321 18-Oct-2014 09:29

I received my letter yesterday.

What really annoys me is that the higher price apparently applies from 6th November which is not even a month away yet they seem to want a months notice for people to cancel on-account connections.

Long term customers should in my opinion get more than a couple of weeks notice of price changes and should have more than a few weeks to consider whether they wish to change to the offered deal.

I spend well over $200 per month with VF and will probably call the Retentions Team next week as there are certainly alternatives. If I change my on-account mobile then I will possibly lose my $10/month broadband discount and so would be incentivised to move Phone, Broadband, Sky all away from Vodafone.

The short period of notice and the fact that this change was only announced by an email which could have easily been missed are not enamouring me to continue with Vodafone.

stocksp

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#1157362 18-Oct-2014 11:03

drajk: I received my letter yesterday.

What really annoys me is that the higher price apparently applies from 6th November which is not even a month away yet they seem to want a months notice for people to cancel on-account connections.

Long term customers should in my opinion get more than a couple of weeks notice of price changes and should have more than a few weeks to consider whether they wish to change to the offered deal.

I spend well over $200 per month with VF and will probably call the Retentions Team next week as there are certainly alternatives. If I change my on-account mobile then I will possibly lose my $10/month broadband discount and so would be incentivised to move Phone, Broadband, Sky all away from Vodafone.

The short period of notice and the fact that this change was only announced by an email which could have easily been missed are not enamouring me to continue with Vodafone.

Agreed. I bought my partner a new iPhone 6 the other week, and almost stayed with the spark open term contract that came with it, but instead kept the Vodafone plan. Rethinking this now

Andib

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#1157363 18-Oct-2014 11:13

drajk: I received my letter yesterday.

drajk: The short period of notice and the fact that this change was only announced by an email which could have easily been missed are not enamouring me to continue with Vodafone.

Ah you just said you also recieved a letter about it? So they emailed you and send you a letter, What else did you want... A national TV campaign advertising that the price of a 4 year + old plan with very few customers left on it is changing?

Sending a letter / emailing is the best way of comunicating about plan changes IMO.

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