Vodafone at Home

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spazz

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Topic # 17105 12-Nov-2007 11:16

I'm surprised a topic hasn't already been started on this!

As seen in the stuff.co.nz article here - http://stuff.co.nz/4270604a28.html - it seems to contradict itself.

On the one hand, it says "Vodafone has finally launched its home line service, which lets customers use their mobile in place of their landline for toll-free calls nationwide",

but it also says you can plug in your handsets, "cordless or corded", which seems to imply a much more traditional phone service, and not nearly as enticing as being able to use your cellphone as a landline when within a certain distance of the @Home device.

Can someone clear this up? :)

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Reply # 94788 12-Nov-2007 11:27

Umm... but the it is posted in the Geekzone news section.

I do like to know what phone features it support though, like can it do fax (international and national)? From the look of it, it is a GSM gateway for wired phone. And if you got cordless phone, you will need the power to supply to both the cordless phone as well as the @Home device, not the best idea for power outage emergency calling (unless the unit itself has built in battery for a few days worth of standby? But it looks too small to have any battery)

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Reply # 94789 12-Nov-2007 11:28

spazz: As seen in the stuff.co.nz article here - http://stuff.co.nz/4270604a28.html - it seems to contradict itself.

I am surprised that some old timers in this forum still don't check our news section in the front page or subscrib to our RSS feeds...

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Reply # 94790 12-Nov-2007 11:31

Seriously though it's nothing new. You can find a couple of CDMA *and* GSM gateway models here in New Zealand already - just check APT for some CDMA examples.

What's new is the whole plan - including free national calls, which you can't get with just the device.

I wonder if Vodafone would allow you to BYO device to the plan if you could find anything here in New Zealand? Although, at $99 it's not that bad for a starter kit.

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stevonz

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Reply # 94791 12-Nov-2007 11:43

It's quite an attractive offer really... although the devil is in the detail. We have 2 cordless phones & 1 wired phone in our mix at home. I don't suppose that this would be suitable here. Then we have our broadband with Xnet, and still require a landline until the copper gets undressed (naked)...

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Reply # 94792 12-Nov-2007 11:45

The press release is now up and Peter Griffin at the Herald has some commentary around it as well.

In effect this is a voice landline replacement. For $39.95 a month you get line rental and free national tolls. No toll regions whatsoever - call any landline in NZ and talk as long as you like.

Obviously that doesn't include 0900 numbers or mobile or international but for anybody making toll calls (or, like my wife's grandmother, unwilling to make toll calls because of the cost) this is a great cost saving.

Cheers

Paul

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chiefie

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Reply # 94793 12-Nov-2007 11:46

stevonz: It's quite an attractive offer really... although the devil is in the detail. We have 2 cordless phones & 1 wired phone in our mix at home. I don't suppose that this would be suitable here. Then we have our broadband with Xnet, and still require a landline until the copper gets undressed (naked)...

For the like of my brother-in-law, where he hasn't got his homeline connected because he was still on the move. So I offered to connect his number to our homeline at the moment... I can see this will benefit him as the only need to carry the unit around whenever he moved to different house.

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spazz

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Reply # 94794 12-Nov-2007 11:46

Jeez, being clobbered about the head for not checking the news pages! I'm so very sorry..

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Reply # 94795 12-Nov-2007 11:46

Paul, what about fax ability?

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Reply # 94796 12-Nov-2007 11:48

well it just sounds too utterly good to be true - $40/month for unlimited national (ie non-021 029 027) calls! (err there is a fair use policy ... i think they should just cap it. otherwise the network WILL crash and burn from overuse)

also it sounds like you can bring the box and bring your home phone with you everywhere you go! how cool!

for people like us who are nomads this is wonderful! please share your experiences as i am considering it!

Swype on iOS is detrimental to accurate typing. Apologies in advance.

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Reply # 94797 12-Nov-2007 11:50

Voice only

Not to be used with monitered house alarms

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Reply # 94798 12-Nov-2007 11:57

joker97: also it sounds like you can bring the box and bring your home phone with you everywhere you go! how cool!

No you cannot. I have just confirmed with Paul that "Vodafone at home" is limited to a certain location, and your box will be provisioned to work on certain cellsites only. No taking the box to the bach...

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Reply # 94799 12-Nov-2007 11:59

No fax capability at this time either, I'm afraid. And if you've got a monitored alarm or one of those medic alert "send help now" devices that also isn't compatible... It's voice only for now - but it's early days yet. Watch this space!

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Reply # 94800 12-Nov-2007 12:08

I'd love to know what sort of service level guarantees there are for this. It's hugely tempting (although not where I live currently as we don't get reliable GSM coverage).

The main concern I'd have is that VF employees on these forums make it PLAINLY clear for all that VF only guarantees coverage to the street and that the results from the coverage tools on the website are given with this in mind...

Coverage from Vodafone is dicey as it is when out in the open, but what sort of guarantees are made around reliability or suitability for any given location?

Don't get me wrong, I love the idea and would be tempted to convince family and clients to look in to going down this route, but not if the service is flaky.

kfella2000

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Reply # 94801 12-Nov-2007 12:19

Free toll calls yes and 39c a minute to Vodafone cellphones and 55c a minute to other cellphones. It doesnt say anything about 0900 numbers.

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Reply # 94802 12-Nov-2007 12:20

I'd really like to know (I couldn't reach Paul for this) if Vodafone will be able to offer a single bill for mobile voice, mobile data and residential voice services...

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