Recent increase in data prices/decrease in allowances

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adida101

127 posts

Master Geek

#161864 21-Jan-2015 23:57

Is it just me or very recently has the price of data increased and/or the amount offered decreased across a number of the major telcos?

I just recently switched from vodafone to skinny because I was keen to try the $26 prepay combo with 1gb data. Im currently on the $16 plan until my 3 months of bonus 1gb data runs out, and was planning to switch after this but it now appears skinny have reduced the amount of data to 750mb on the $26 plan. That's a fairly hefty decrease in value Skinny has sneakily thrown on it's customers. Admittedly they have added rollover data, but since I use about 1gb of data per month on average that's of little use to me. The frustrating thing is that after the hassle of changing providers and getting my number switched over, skinny decide to significantly reduce the value of the plan I switched to them for.

The issue is not just with skinny, however. Vodafone used to offer a 500mb 30 day boost for $10, which i would use along with their $19 prepay plan. This has now increased to $12.

I've observed similar trends with 2 degrees, spark, etc.

What the heck is going on? I know it's not a huge change, but basically the point of my rant is aren't things supposed to be getting cheaper as technology advances and becomes more accessible? Why does it feel like things are moving in the opposite direction?

Aredwood

3885 posts

Uber Geek

#1219648 22-Jan-2015 01:31

Problem with mobile is that there is only a fixed amount of radio bandwidth available. Which has to be shared between everyone currently connected to that cell tower. So more users means either less data per user, Or slower speeds / dropped packets. And increasing total bandwidth in a mobile network costs far more than in a fixed wired network.

Also some of the lower prices may have been due to a "land grab". As users who previously had old 2g phones buy smartphones. And then start buying data when they had never done so previously. As well as Spark and Vodafone trying to block 2degrees from taking their market share. This has all probably settled down now. And they all want to start trying to increase their average revenue per user.

rp1790

738 posts

Ultimate Geek

Lifetime subscriber

#1219801 22-Jan-2015 09:28

Have also noticed this, sad to see that Skinny have downgraded their $26 plan. It appears that Vodfone are the only ones left with a 1Gb $29'sih plan and thats prepay.

2D only have 750mb at the $29 mark and then there's a big jump up to 1.5Gb on the $39 open term plan. There has definitely been a move for the worse lately all around.

adida101

127 posts

Master Geek

#1219838 22-Jan-2015 10:07

It's definitely disappointing.. I'll probably end up switching back to Vodafone after the 3gb 3 month bonus with my skinny plan runs out, unless things change.

matisyahu

1623 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

#1222516 26-Jan-2015 16:35

I was hoping given that Spark has the largest block of 700Mhz spectrum (along with re-using 850/2100Mhz for 4G) that we might see some competition when it comes to data but alas do we really need a forth player to liven things up?

"When the people are being beaten with a stick, they are not much happier if it is called 'the People's Stick'"

SteveON

1916 posts

Uber Geek

#1222572 26-Jan-2015 17:08

adida101: aren't things supposed to be getting cheaper as technology advances and becomes more accessible? Why does it feel like things are moving in the opposite direction?

Inflation: costs keep on going up.

Market penetration: NZ is at more than 100% penetration in the mobile market.

Quality of Service: if you want to have fast, accessible mobile services and decent customer service then naturally prices will go up.

COGS: NZ mobile mobile providers incur 1.5-2x the costs that most international service providers do to provide service to the same amount of customers.