Cost of mobile data in NZ amongst worst in the world.

Forums › New Zealand Mobile and Wireless › Cost of mobile data in NZ amongst worst in the world.

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804 posts

Ultimate Geek

#2952998 10-Aug-2022 12:54

networkn:

When I first started my business 22 years ago, I was with Bell South and spent $1500 a month. I now spend about $70 a month, the mobile data is plentiful, reliable and fast. I don't have an issue with the cost of Mobile in NZ. When I have been in the USA, and used local mobile providers non-roaming I'm always blown away by how cheap it is, until I use it and feel like I am back in the dark ages for speed and coverage.

I've seen this with some of the other forums online. I guess with our population we don't have these types of constraints when it comes to mobile data becoming slow and I don't think NZ implements any QCI network priority. Seems to happen with a lot of MVNO's in the States. They have this thing called QCI network priority which limits how fast data is depending on how much people are using mobile data in their area. The lower the QCI network priority number the better. Usually those plans that cost more or first responders have better QCI network priority compared to the lower cost plans.

Linux

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#2953025 10-Aug-2022 14:27

Bet the report does not take into account 2degrees ' Data clock ' and the free hour of unlimited data I get everyday

MikeB4

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#2953026 10-Aug-2022 14:39

Lias:

It might be a good deal if you use your mobile very heavily, but I use maybe 1gb of data a month on average and maybe a few dozen minutes and texts per year. Some months of heavy use I might creep up to 3-4gb of data. Never understood peoples fascination with using huge amounts of data on mobile.

My wife easily uses in excess of 40GB of mobile data per month and probably well over 200 minutes per month. I would use around 12GB per month.

networkn

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#2953028 10-Aug-2022 14:42

MikeB4:

My wife easily uses in excess of 40GB of mobile data per month and probably well over 200 minutes per month. I would use around 12GB per month.

There is this really cool feature on modern smartphones called Wifi. You can find it in the utility pulldown :)

MikeB4

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#2953029 10-Aug-2022 14:49

networkn:

There is this really cool feature on modern smartphones called Wifi. You can find it in the utility pulldown :)

My wife is out and about all day in meetings either face to face or over Teams. She will often be in her car on the side of some road meeting with folks in China, India, USA etc. She share office space in from time to time to do Teams meetings or her data use would be a lot higher.

I use the most of my data in the car for music, maps, the occasional video, Teams meetings, email ........ I keep voice calls to a minimum, they annoy me.

quickymart

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#2953049 10-Aug-2022 15:48

It's certainly cheaper than it used to be - I remember 1GB costing $50 back in 2006 when I had a Telecom Aircard. For that same price today I can get a lot more (and it's faster than 1X or even EVDO).

panther2

374 posts

Ultimate Geek

#2953060 10-Aug-2022 16:37

Just had a 15GBP plan for 30 days. 30 gb of which 20 gb roamed all through europe

29nzd was amazing value . Sad our population doesn't allow for plans like this

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wellygary

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Uber Geek

#2953061 10-Aug-2022 16:41

panther2: Just had a 15GBP plan for 30 days. 30 gb of which 20 gb roamed all through europe

29nzd was amazing value . Sad our population doesn't allow for plans like this

Don't worry, BREXIT is going to put a stop to that for you....

Sat 2 Jul 2022
"Roaming charges are back after Brexit – beware high mobile bills
Giffgaff and Tesco have joined EE, Sky Mobile, Three and Vodafone in making contract changes"

https://www.theguardian.com/money/2022/jul/02/eu-roaming-charges-brexit-mobile-bills-ee-three-vodafone

Handsomedan

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#2953062 10-Aug-2022 16:45

I'm not unhappy with my mobile plan costs.

I get the services I want, more than enough data and it costs me what they say it will.

It's a lot less than I used to pay years ago.

I can't honestly compare it to overseas, because I don't check their pricing, but I think it's irrelevant anyway - we are paying for local infrastructure builds, local costs to run the network and local conditions.

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cshwone

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Uber Geek

#2953066 10-Aug-2022 17:02

Quite a few examples of different use cases here but you cannot just take your own use case and apply that across the board. Like a previous poster I use lots of data as I commute by train 1.45hrs each way M-F. Apart from the Rimutaka Tunnel I can work on the way in and relax on the way home.

I also share my data with wife and two daughters who are not heavy users. $50 a month I think is excellent value for me.

Handle9

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#2953070 10-Aug-2022 17:09

NZ mobile data is expensive. Here in the UAE there telcos are extortionate and have comparable pricing.

I just got back from holiday and it the normal cost for unlimited data was $35 a month. Under their current promo it cost $19 with excellent coverage in and outside cities.

loceff13

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#2953223 10-Aug-2022 22:00

For those that need data every now and then, PB Tech has cheap SIMs

https://www.pbtech.co.nz/product/MPPSPA119373/Spark-3-in-1-Prepay-SIM-Card---Pre-loaded-with-15G

Spark 1.5GB prepaid $4.99 each, sometimes you can get them for $1-2 on clearance and they don't expire for atleast a year from that point.

Or you can do a one off Warehouse Mobile 5.5GB for ~$8(could work multiple times with a transferwise card etc, untested)

Buy $2 Spark/Voda/2D SIM via PB Tech and a $1 WM SIM(plus free $5 credit maybe), transfer number and get 5GB bonus data when you top up $5 or more and purchase a pack or add-on(ie $4 500MB data)

Both expire after a month, not sure if you can rollover WM bonus data by buying more packs.

I went with Koganmobile's offer last year for $160 for 2x1yr mobile plans with 1.5GB+unlimited txt+calls monthly which came to $6.67/mo each SIM. It's likely there will be another Kogan promo between now and the end of the year.

https://www.kogan.com/nz/shop/category/prepay-plans/

mattwnz

20141 posts

Uber Geek

#2953597 11-Aug-2022 19:01

I accidently left my prepay mobile on and went through $20 of credit. The log showed it used less than 50MB of data.

everettpsycho

614 posts

Ultimate Geek

#2953613 11-Aug-2022 19:55

Dochart: [To have prepay plans still offering 1.25gb of data for the $16-20 plan per month in 2022 when they haven’t increase the amount of data since 2015/16 is unacceptable. I think it’s about time they increase the amount of data with those plans or offer reduce speeds once you hit the limit.

Prepay plans seem to rely on added value packs instead of increasing their limits, but base level monthly plans don't offer much more for your money.

I'm still on the $20 prepaid plan with spark but the data stack thing they added a couple of years ago means it's now a great value plan. I'm getting 5.75gb this month for my $20 and that's not including the 2gb bonus or rollover days I've built up. Other networks are adding things like the data clock or extra data at weekends to boost their plans without actually committing to extra data in the plan.

I could easily burn through a lot of data if I wanted to, when I had an unlimited plan in the UK I hammered it and just didn't care, but with wifi at home and work it's pretty easy now to not need a huge plan, my biggest use would be music but now I just sync done playlists on YouTube music and that solves that issue.

mattwnz

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Uber Geek

#2953637 11-Aug-2022 22:06

On prepay, you can buy addon packs for an ok price. But many people forget about it and then it runs out, and you then end up burning through the credit. The actual casual rates on prepay I don't think have changed for many years, and still calculated in MBs.

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