Geekzone: technology news, blogs, forums
Guest
Welcome Guest.
You haven't logged in yet. If you don't have an account you can register now.


amigo

161 posts

Master Geek


#9817 15-Oct-2006 21:51
Send private message

Hi

Hmm... are you sure that I wasn't just censored by TelstraClear last time?? :)

OK well here's the jist of what I originally posted...


When I finally got VoIP working on my TC cable 10G service I called TC to get my landline cut off. They put me through to their 'disconnection team' and the guy asked, "so are you moving house?" I said, "no I'm just not using the landline anymore."
Then he said, "OK, well how about we give you the next month's rental free and we'll add any of the smart services that you might be interested trying...Then after the free month if you want to keep the service on with any of the extra services, we'll reduce the monthly rental to $28.99, and if you want to still cancel it, then that is fine. How about that??"

I told them no thanks! If they could give me it for cheaper then they should have offered that a long time ago! He was quite taken aback that I didn't even want his free month.

Ironically a couple of days later I got a letter in the post saying that the rental was going up $1!!

Similar thing happened when I got the Saturn Cable disconnected. I had got a new plasma and the old analogue cable looked so crap, but to get the digital box it would have cost $99 install and then an extra $5 per month, and it was going to take quite a long time for them to come to do it. At the time Sky were offering $49 install and two month's free subscription and better quality connections. When I phoned TC to disconnect the lady asked if it was because I was not watching it as much anymore. When I told her that I was switching to Sky, she was like, "Why on earth would you do that??"... She then offered to waive the install fee and increased monthly charge. But I told her, "too late, the Sky guy comes tomorrow!" :)

So I've gone from their Triple service, down to just their cable internet... and there was savings to be had there too! I had been on cable for a couple of years, then earlier this year I saw one of their fliers come in the post with their new highspeed internet pricings... At the time I was paying about $54.95 + 10.95 modem rental ($65.90) for their 5G service. The new prices were cheaper, and I though, 'cool, I'll be looking forward to my next TC bill'... when the bill came I was still getting charged the same!... Apparently the new pricing had been out for a couple of months, and I was still getting stung... So I rung up and asked why I wasn't getting the new prices.... "Oh you would like to upgrade to the new prices then??? OK sure..." They gave me a new IP number, reduced the monthly charge to $39.95, and dropped the modem rental altogether! Now, if I hadn't stopped to read that flyer, I would have still been ripped off $26 a month for exactly the same service!!


So...are you really paying as much as you need for your TC services??

Create new topic
JAMMAN2110
871 posts

Ultimate Geek

Trusted

#48746 15-Oct-2006 22:02
Send private message

You learn something new everyday



riahon
946 posts

Ultimate Geek


  #48756 16-Oct-2006 06:29
Send private message

I get the impression TC dont value their product  - you would expect that same type of service at a flea market.

sbiddle
30853 posts

Uber Geek

Retired Mod
Trusted
Biddle Corp
Lifetime subscriber

  #48757 16-Oct-2006 06:45
Send private message

The reason TCL didn't move all customers to their new cable plans was that they represented a significant shift away from the old charging split for national traffic charged at 1/10th of international. On an old 5GB plan you could xfer 50GB of national traffic in a month and unly use 5GB of billed traffic.

Many customers strongly disagreed with this - moving all customers would have disadvantaged a lot of customers who didn't want to move while the old legacy plans were still in existance.




lchiu7
6470 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

  #48792 16-Oct-2006 15:05
Send private message

I must admit as I look at the often poor picture on TCL cable, I am tempted to switch to Sky. But there would be a cost increase for me. 

1. Going from triple to two service offerings would increase the cost my second phone line from $15 to $24
2. I have two dedoders now - one analogue, one digital. For Sky I would need two STB's so that would mean another $25 for the second STB while the analogue STB from TCL is only $10

I can't see myself living with VoIP for my home phone line since I have 5 extensions in the home plus the alarm system

Best option for me seems to be wait for Freeview and see how that fares in terms of quality etc.




Staying in Wellington. Check out my AirBnB in the Wellington CBD.  https://www.airbnb.co.nz/h/wellycbd  PM me and mention GZ to get a 15% discount and no AirBnB charges.


geekiegeek
2513 posts

Uber Geek
Inactive user


  #48795 16-Oct-2006 15:28
Send private message

is it possible to have cable internet only and ditch the phone.

Or even internet and TV would be cool - the only time I use my landline is when bloody marketing people call me at dinner time.

JAMMAN2110
871 posts

Ultimate Geek

Trusted

  #48796 16-Oct-2006 15:29
Send private message

No one can FORCE you to have / use a phone... they can make it a "necessary" part of their plans...

lchiu7
6470 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

  #48797 16-Oct-2006 15:36
Send private message

It's only a necessary part of their 1G and 5G plans. Else you can take it standalone.




Staying in Wellington. Check out my AirBnB in the Wellington CBD.  https://www.airbnb.co.nz/h/wellycbd  PM me and mention GZ to get a 15% discount and no AirBnB charges.


 
 
 

Cloud spending continues to surge globally, but most organisations haven’t made the changes necessary to maximise the value and cost-efficiency benefits of their cloud investments. Download the whitepaper From Overspend to Advantage now.
sbiddle
30853 posts

Uber Geek

Retired Mod
Trusted
Biddle Corp
Lifetime subscriber

  #48798 16-Oct-2006 15:45
Send private message

Three cheers for TCL. :-)

geekiegeek
2513 posts

Uber Geek
Inactive user


  #48800 16-Oct-2006 15:50
Send private message

I notice on there site that you cant get TV without a phoneline - spose I could just stay with Sky and get the 40G lightspeed with TCL.

Would be nice if I could get net and TV on the same bill though.

sbiddle
30853 posts

Uber Geek

Retired Mod
Trusted
Biddle Corp
Lifetime subscriber

  #48803 16-Oct-2006 16:45
Send private message

You can't get TV without a phoneline but you can get TV + Cable Modem without a phoneline.


This requrement is something Sky impose on TCL - they're not allowed to offer TV by itself only as part of a bundle with another service whether that be cable internet or phone.


geekiegeek
2513 posts

Uber Geek
Inactive user


  #48804 16-Oct-2006 16:55
Send private message

I take it that its a feature you have to ask them about as the website wont let you select TV without selecting homephone as well (even with internet selected).


Anyone know what sort of price one would pay for just TV and net?


sbiddle
30853 posts

Uber Geek

Retired Mod
Trusted
Biddle Corp
Lifetime subscriber

  #48805 16-Oct-2006 17:03
Send private message

The website only lets you select the packages.

TV price is $39.95 for the basic package (this may have gone up now with the recent increase) + any addons such as sport etc which are all listed on the website. This works out cheaper than the basic entry level Sky package.

I know TCL have their cable modem pricing listed somewhere on their website however I can't find it at present to add the link. If you wanted the 4Mbps/20GB plan for example this is $69.95 per month.



amigo

161 posts

Master Geek


  #48830 17-Oct-2006 01:44
Send private message

I pay $49.95 for the 4Mb/10G cable plan. There is no package discount by having a phoneline too.

I pay $9.95 for a local phone number service though iTalk. So I'm saving $23 a month.

Being with Sky works out to be about $5 more expensive per month for me... but if you take into account the savings on the installation and the two months free subcription (startup+movies+Sports+mag) I got when I switched, that $5 extra a month is absorbed, effecitively equalling SaturnTV price for over 3 years.

Also I feel that the quality with Sky Digital is slightly better, the customer service is definately way better, and I'm considering getting MySky too, which is not an option with TC Saturn at the moment.

I'm very pleased with TC's cable internet, and I hope that they don't do anything stupid to lose me as a customer altogether!


Oh and BTW, the original intention of this post was to point out that TCL will lower their prices for you on, at personal level, if you push the matter to the extreme of proceeding to dump their service! Oh but don't blame me if you try it and they say, "OK fine...disconnected, done. Have a nice day. Oh and if you do want to rejoin, the reconnection fee will be..." :)

Create new topic





News and reviews »

Air New Zealand Starts AI adoption with OpenAI
Posted 24-Jul-2025 16:00


eero Pro 7 Review
Posted 23-Jul-2025 12:07


BeeStation Plus Review
Posted 21-Jul-2025 14:21


eero Unveils New Wi-Fi 7 Products in New Zealand
Posted 21-Jul-2025 00:01


WiZ Introduces HDMI Sync Box and other Light Devices
Posted 20-Jul-2025 17:32


RedShield Enhances DDoS and Bot Attack Protection
Posted 20-Jul-2025 17:26


Seagate Ships 30TB Drives
Posted 17-Jul-2025 11:24


Oclean AirPump A10 Water Flosser Review
Posted 13-Jul-2025 11:05


Samsung Galaxy Z Fold7: Raising the Bar for Smartphones
Posted 10-Jul-2025 02:01


Samsung Galaxy Z Flip7 Brings New Edge-To-Edge FlexWindow
Posted 10-Jul-2025 02:01


Epson Launches New AM-C550Z WorkForce Enterprise printer
Posted 9-Jul-2025 18:22


Samsung Releases Smart Monitor M9
Posted 9-Jul-2025 17:46


Nearly Half of Older Kiwis Still Write their Passwords on Paper
Posted 9-Jul-2025 08:42


D-Link 4G+ Cat6 Wi-Fi 6 DWR-933M Mobile Hotspot Review
Posted 1-Jul-2025 11:34


Oppo A5 Series Launches With New Levels of Durability
Posted 30-Jun-2025 10:15









Geekzone Live »

Try automatic live updates from Geekzone directly in your browser, without refreshing the page, with Geekzone Live now.



Are you subscribed to our RSS feed? You can download the latest headlines and summaries from our stories directly to your computer or smartphone by using a feed reader.