@stevenn

ok thaaaaat's shiny, that's nice. Damn!

ThatPrettyFreya:

 

@stevenn

 

ok thaaaaat's shiny, that's nice. Damn!

 

Oh and this is one I got on a 4g only tower at the right time of night.

https://www.speedtest.net/result/i/6065320987

ThatPrettyFreya:

 

This is partly a Vodafone thing, partly an NZ thing, but holy goddess, what, the actual hell, is going on with data?

 

We remember in 2016, prepay data plans were, what, $19 for 1.5GB of data, 300 minutes and 300 texts, something like that? Texts might have been unlimited.

 

Doesn't matter. Now, we have..... $19 for 1.15GB of data, unlimited minutes and unlimited texts.

 

Oh benevolent corporate darlings, you made calling unlimited. What's that, you know that calling is one of the least used purposes of a phone? And that data is the most? Then why in the name of Inanna's left tit did you make calling unlimited and charge out the ass for data!

 

Seriously One NZ are a massive massive part of this, but it seems to just be that data prices in this country have either not moved in years, or gotten worse. Trust us, we would know; we're from Seattle, and where we come from, unlimited mobile data (yes, darlings, there truly is something called unlimited) is US$25 a month. that's NZ$39.43. Taking into account Washington sales tax call it NZ$43-44. For that same price we are currently getting so-called "endless" data, wow, we get a whole 4GiB before we're dropped to sub-T1 speeds?

 

Wow, how truly generous and loving you are. not. This country is no longer connected to the world by, as it was in 2006, a coiled run of #8 fencing wire, sheep, pointy rural accents, and hope. We in fact have FTTP in this country.

 

Y'know that thing that provides everyone an unlimited home internet connec- oh wait, never mind, it's not everyone, now is it? There are still quite a number of folks who don't have fiber, or, y'know, go out? People do, in fact, leave their houses in this country, it seems to be quite the thing.

 

But we all have stupid dinky little data plans that give us the same amount of data as a T-Mobile $15 data plan, at half the speeds, with no IPV6, and worse coverage. Gods this country's mobile infra is... no, wait, the infra is great. The companies just really, really, really want to charge us for data like it's 2006 and we're still starting and ending data sessions on our Nokia E61I running Symbian.

 

Scott3:

 

I just got back to from the USA. Was surprised how high the cost of mobile connectivity was (this year we have used local sim's in Philippines, Japan an Fiji, and we live in NZ).


We went to wallmart and I got the 10GB wallmart family mobile plan, which as USD30 + a USD5 sim. My wife got the USD $45 unlimited (10 GB max hotspot) + a USD 5 sim. For comparison, USD 45 = NZD 71

 

I found the same thing last December, was about $100 NZ for 1 unlimited plan and 1 limited plan. Thought NZ was much better value.

ThatPrettyFreya:

 

This is partly a Vodafone thing, partly an NZ thing, but holy goddess, what, the actual hell, is going on with data?

 

We remember in 2016, prepay data plans were, what, $19 for 1.5GB of data, 300 minutes and 300 texts, something like that? Texts might have been unlimited.

 

Doesn't matter. Now, we have..... $19 for 1.15GB of data, unlimited minutes and unlimited texts.

 

Oh benevolent corporate darlings, you made calling unlimited. What's that, you know that calling is one of the least used purposes of a phone? And that data is the most? Then why in the name of Inanna's left tit did you make calling unlimited and charge out the ass for data!

 

Seriously One NZ are a massive massive part of this, but it seems to just be that data prices in this country have either not moved in years, or gotten worse. Trust us, we would know; we're from Seattle, and where we come from, unlimited mobile data (yes, darlings, there truly is something called unlimited) is US$25 a month. that's NZ$39.43. Taking into account Washington sales tax call it NZ$43-44. For that same price we are currently getting so-called "endless" data, wow, we get a whole 4GiB before we're dropped to sub-T1 speeds?

 

 

 

Wow, how truly generous and loving you are. not. This country is no longer connected to the world by, as it was in 2006, a coiled run of #8 fencing wire, sheep, pointy rural accents, and hope. We in fact have FTTP in this country.

 

Y'know that thing that provides everyone an unlimited home internet connec- oh wait, never mind, it's not everyone, now is it? There are still quite a number of folks who don't have fiber, or, y'know, go out? People do, in fact, leave their houses in this country, it seems to be quite the thing.

 

But we all have stupid dinky little data plans that give us the same amount of data as a T-Mobile $15 data plan, at half the speeds, with no IPV6, and worse coverage. Gods this country's mobile infra is... no, wait, the infra is great. The companies just really, really, really want to charge us for data like it's 2006 and we're still starting and ending data sessions on our Nokia E61I running Symbian.

 

Why bring exchange rates into the equation?

If you live and work in NZ then currency conversion doesn't apply, because you earn NZ dollars and spend NZ dollars. 

If you're a tourist, it still doesn't apply - because you're calculating exchange rates which have nothing to do with NZ infrastructure or mobile data costs.

Let's not talk about the population of NZ which is roughly the size of Washington State

Unlimited data plans are ~$37 I thought... 

You may be from Oregon, but sound like a Californian..(I'm from Indiana by the way). 

Heh, Americans are everywhere here - my partner is from MN.

To the OP, it sounds like mobile data offerings here are obviously not suitable for your usage scenario/case. You want to use a lot of data, but unfortunately your usage is very much on the outer limits/extremes of what most people using mobile data would use.

It is better than it used to be - back in 2006 I had a Telecom Aircard on CDMA and recall paying something like $50 for 1GB a month. Obviously prices are better today - but for the amount you want to use, mobile data is probably entirely unsuitable for you.

I would suggest sticking it out for the moment and as mentioned in the other thread, speak to Full Flavour when you get back from the US. There's a chance there will be a provider out there that can do what you want, it's just a case of hunting around to find the right one that aligns with your usage type.

Rocket mobile and mighty mobile has the best bang for the buck 😁 

Jase2985:

 

Scott3:

 

I just got back to from the USA. Was surprised how high the cost of mobile connectivity was (this year we have used local sim's in Philippines, Japan an Fiji, and we live in NZ).


We went to wallmart and I got the 10GB wallmart family mobile plan, which as USD30 + a USD5 sim. My wife got the USD $45 unlimited (10 GB max hotspot) + a USD 5 sim. For comparison, USD 45 = NZD 71

 

 

I found the same thing last December, was about $100 NZ for 1 unlimited plan and 1 limited plan. Thought NZ was much better value.

 

Must say, it is pretty convenient when we can pick up a sim card before leaving the airport (did that in japan and fiji. We go to Philippines a lot so keep our sims their active, so just need to sign up for a data pack (third world pricing, 12GB (current promo is double that to 24GB) + Unlimited calls and text, 7 day validity for NZD4.20)




For comparison, If our visitors to NZ really wanted an unlimited travel sim, 2 degrees sells 14day unlimited sims at the airport for $60. Quite a bit cheaper than our wallmart visit in the USA.

One thing I think we really need right now is to have our 4g coverage un "shrunk" because 3g right now is appalling. I can no longer load the basic google homepage and calls are now a joke over 3g.

New Zealand Mobile prices are exorbitant. I ended up using a mobimatters data eSIM when we were back in March instead of my New Zealand sim. It was much better value.

The only places I've been that are comparable are the US and here in the UAE, which is a rort due to reasons.

To be fair the cost of living is high in NZ....oh well, at least our broadband is better than Aussie's NBN. 

ThatPrettyFreya:

 

and yes, we are getting mad about the overuse of kiwiisms in especially telco branding / messaging, especially when it's kiwiisms from years, possibly decades ago. We have not heard a single person say "that's heaps!" or similar things in well over a decade

 

By your own admission you have been overseas for a long time. My kids are less than a decade old but would definitely use the phrase "that's heaps" to describe a large quantity of something (how else would one describe it?)

SpartanVXL: Not sure why Aus and US are used as comparisons, if you wanted cheap then use the Asian market as an example.

Yes we have crap data/$ but at least we don’t have aus’s shoddy coverage-maybe-depending-on-who-you’re-with.

I have no complaints regarding Testra's mobile coverage in Aus, it works great on all of my travels and rarely have a problem. Obviously the outback is a different story where there is only 1 person per 2 square km's. 

NZ has a long history of it's telecommunications providers being avaricious predators. Things have improved somewhat since the days of Telecom when they were so blatant that Theresa Gattung wasn't afraid to tell the world that ripping off customers was the norm, but there's still a long way to go and it's an area badly in need of renationalisation and stricter profit caps.