I'm on You Choose 20 as my base plan. I tried to change my plan to allow 200 texts to any NZ network a couple of months ago. So far so good - I have You Choose 20, 200 mins anytime to Vodafone, and 200 texts to any network, plus one Bestmate, for around $40 per month (might be $45).

Or so I thought.

I checked my bill after receiving it the other day, only to find that I had been charged for calls made to Vodafone numbers in the middle of a weekday. Hang on - shouldn't these be free?

I called 777 and after getting my plan checked out it turns out that I'm not on that plan anymore. Instead I get 20 minutes to any network, 200 off-peak minutes to Vodafone and 200 texts to any network (plus the Bestmate).

This is obviously not going to work as I make lots of Vodafone to Vodafone calls during weekdays. I checked their website and it seems there isn't much in the way of plans that would work for me. I guess what I'm looking for is:

20 (preferably 30 or 60) anytime minutes to any network
200 anytime minutes to Vodafone
200 texts to any network
One Bestmate

preferred price would be around $40-$45 per month...

but this doesn't seem to be even remotely possible! It's either all the on-net calls/SMS's you can handle with very little off-net allowed, or more off-net, but at an exorbitant rate (around $100 a month for a cellphone?? Come on...)

Is this situation ever going to change, or am I basically stuffed?

By the way - in my opinions all this has nothing to do with "rewarding customer loyalty" - you can't choose what networks your friends are on, and it seems that you're penalised for calling another network!

Would MTR regulation change this situation, I wonder??

I want to stay with Vodafone, don't get me wrong. But there must be SOME plan either now or in the near future that will allow this to happen, surely??

Comments/feedback (even if you think I'm being a jerk about this) appreciated.