Switching to Spark or 2Degrees from Vodafone

Forums › New Zealand Mobile and Wireless › Switching to Spark or 2Degrees from Vodafone

Ripper

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#171242 10-Apr-2015 18:29

I'm trying to get an idea of which mobile carrier has the most perks out of Vodafone, Spark and 2 Degrees.

I'm heard a few interesting things about Spark, like that they don't have a 2G network.

Could anyone give me a bit of advice on whether or not it's worth switching to Spark from Vodafone?

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#1280686 10-Apr-2015 18:33

I guess it depends what you call a "perk"

Each provider will have its own merits , what is wrong with your provider at the moment

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#1280688 10-Apr-2015 18:34

From my experience data on Vodafone has been a lot more reliable and quicker than on Spark. Even in places with 4G LTE. So much that I avoid Spark even if their plans are better value than Vodafone's. This is just my anecdotal experience though.

Ripper

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#1280689 10-Apr-2015 18:35

marlinz: I guess it depends what you call a "perk"

Each provider will have its own merits , what is wrong with your provider at the moment

I'm mainly prompted to switch due to the fact that Vodafone are not selling the Galaxy S6 without tying you into a ridiculously overpriced contract.

Prices seem fairly comparable between the main carriers (not looking at spending more than $30 a month), is customer service and everything fairly similar between the carriers too?

marlinz

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#1280692 10-Apr-2015 18:41

Ripper:
marlinz: I guess it depends what you call a "perk"

Each provider will have its own merits , what is wrong with your provider at the moment

I'm mainly prompted to switch due to the fact that Vodafone are not selling the Galaxy S6 without tying you into a ridiculously overpriced contract.

Prices seem fairly comparable between the main carriers (not looking at spending more than $30 a month), is customer service and everything fairly similar between the carriers too?

Well you could just buy it outright , then chose your own plan that suits

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Ripper

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#1280695 10-Apr-2015 18:43

marlinz:
Ripper:
marlinz: I guess it depends what you call a "perk"

Each provider will have its own merits , what is wrong with your provider at the moment

I'm mainly prompted to switch due to the fact that Vodafone are not selling the Galaxy S6 without tying you into a ridiculously overpriced contract.

Prices seem fairly comparable between the main carriers (not looking at spending more than $30 a month), is customer service and everything fairly similar between the carriers too?

Well you could just buy it outright , then chose your own plan that suits

The S6 isn't available outright from Vodafone, unfortunately. I've read that it's much better to get a phone from the carrier you intend to run with, is that not the case?

DarkShadow

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#1280764 10-Apr-2015 20:44

I prefer my phones to not come from phone companies. Less branding and unnecessary apps.

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#1280804 10-Apr-2015 21:41

If you decide to switch from Vodafone to 2degrees and have a friend who is already on 2degrees, I recommend that your friend to send you an invite with 2degrees World .

That way both you and your friend get ongoing rewards when you both top-up.

sidders80

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#1280806 10-Apr-2015 21:53

DarkShadow: I prefer my phones to not come from phone companies. Less branding and unnecessary apps.

Vodafone doesn't put any bloatware on their phones. Spark definitely does.

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#1280811 10-Apr-2015 22:08

There's no "bloatware" really. You might see a shortcut to the operator's website but that's pretty much it. I worry more about all the Samsung apps that come pre-installed and you can't remove...

And yes, it is a good idea to get the handset from the operator you will be using it on, because of network configurations.

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andyb

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#1281037 11-Apr-2015 12:42

sidders80:
DarkShadow: I prefer my phones to not come from phone companies. Less branding and unnecessary apps.

Vodafone doesn't put any bloatware on their phones. Spark definitely does.

Spark doesn't put any "bloatware" on their devices, at the most it's a startup logo and branded bookmarks or icons for the browser.

andyb

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#1281065 11-Apr-2015 13:15

Spark relabel the whole browser on Android devices. "Y! TWorld"

And the Spark app is baked in (understandable)

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#1281085 11-Apr-2015 13:53

Vague opinions and horribly unscientific anecdotal evidence follows:

Value:
2Degrees, Spark, Vodafone
Of course it depends what plan you're on. But i find 2degrees has great value, and spark comes close to matching on cost alone. Vodafone i find to be pricier overall.
What is very significant is that 2Degrees has carryover on all plans. Vodafone has it on select prepay plans and Spark doesn't have it at all, opting for other value add services instead (eg wifi). Carry over i find makes a massive difference long term even if you only save a small amount each month.

Network/Coverage:
Varies between Spark/Vodafone
This is too variable to call one over the other because it wildly depends on what area. In general though 2Degrees is going to be behind the other two due to the fact their network is smaller and they have to roam onto vodafone outside of main towns, cities and popular destinations. But this just means you're using vodafones decent 3G network. 2Degrees however has decent 4G coverage in most main cities and their network i find plenty acceptable in coverage overall.
Spark lacking 2G is a good thing. I find 2G nearly useless for anything but SMS. Data is impossible on it and phone calls are terrible quality. Dropping onto 2G is frustrating and its unfortunate more devices don't have a "3G/4G only" mode. It's going to be great when everyone switches it off and repurposes the spectrum.
Both spark and vodafone are aggressively expanding their 4G networks, and i'd wager vodafone are a bit ahead of them in this.

Speed:
Vodafone, Spark, 2Degrees
This depends on area, but vodafone tends to have better overall capacity, but saying that it depends on how many people you're sharing the cell site with. In my anecdotal experience the bulk of auckland seems to crowd onto vodafone so some areas seem to get congested at certain times, but it really depends on the area. In many cases i've seen spark providing a better experience than vodafone and vice versa.
For the most part, i think all 3 are fine for general mobile use. Speedtests really don't matter, its all about real world use - pages loading quick, video streaming fast/reliably etc.

Support:
Spark, 2Degrees, Vodafone
Vodafone i've had poor experience with support and i hear a lot of wait time stories. 2Degrees support is mostly decent except at peak times, and they take a bit to follow up. Spark i've found usually copes with peak times better and follows up a bit quicker.

LesF

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#1281321 12-Apr-2015 09:29

I feel all wrong posting this under the Spark topic, but I have to say my experience with 2Degrees has been awesome, the carry-over is just ridiculous with the amount of data I get, and I have not had any significant problems with the service. Currently I drop $20 on it each month and get all I need from that deal.

Twice now I have tried to get a imported mobile connected up on telecom, and the staff in their stores showed little interest in helping or advising on the correct configuration. In both instances I went to 2Degrees instead and they configured it in no time (turned out afterwards that a simple tweak in settings was all that stopped the NZ network from accepting the phone but by then I was already paying less and getting more data elsewhere).

My point of view is probably not the normal, average or whatever you want to call it, I am sure Spark are excellent providers for the average consumer who is going to walk into a showroom, pick a product to buy, and get it all set up and running on the spot.

--
Les

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#1281370 12-Apr-2015 11:47

I switched from Vodafone to 2Degrees about 6 months ago after my old $40 iPhone plan (with 3 GB of data) got discontinued. Data is always most important to me, and while the 3GB was only supposed to last 6 months, it persisted until the plan got canned. So for me the $30 2Degrees post-pay plan with carry over data and minutes was best value to switch to. I'm up to about 10GB in the bank now, with carry over and promo giveaways combined, and around 1000 minutes talk time. On the down side, the data signal in my building at work is poor, leading to spotty performance, but I'm otherwise very happy with my choice. They have very good value data top up packs and roaming to Australia.

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#1281374 12-Apr-2015 11:49

Ripper: I'm trying to get an idea of which mobile carrier has the most perks out of Vodafone, Spark and 2 Degrees.

I'm heard a few interesting things about Spark, like that they don't have a 2G network.

Could anyone give me a bit of advice on whether or not it's worth switching to Spark from Vodafone?

Whatever you decide, if you are moving from Vodafone to Spark you have to consider if you your current handset supports 850 MHz WCDMA at least or the phone will not work in most locations.

If you look at phone specs and it says 850 MHz GSM only then it won't work. WCDMA = 3G, GSM = 2G, very different technologies.

Modern high end handsets will support all needed frequencies, but cheap ones may not.

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