Looking to change mobile provider for a medium-sized North Island business

Forums › New Zealand Mobile and Wireless › Looking to change mobile provider for a medium-sized North Island business - Spark or 2Degrees?

Ournewhouse

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#265828 13-Feb-2020 10:35

I'm a consultant working with an organisation who have 10 offices scattered from Whangarei to Wellington, and have 180 phones/tablets in the hands of users.

Our people work in the back of beyond, at times, and drive long distances.

We're realistic about coverage and understand that none of the providers can get a perfect signal into every nook and cranny. We're realists.

Our offices/workbases are situated in towns/cities, but our people could be sent to the end of a gravel road to perform their work. We'd be accepting that they run out of signal as they traverse the gravel road, but we'd be keen to know that when they got back to SH1, or into town in Kaitaia, Morrinsville or Pahiatua that they'd be able to make a call and that they'd have a data connection.

Does anyone have experience of rolling out a handset fleet around the North Island, who would be willing to share their opinion of the coverage provided from Spark or 2Degrees?

My follow-up question is whether you have found the vendor good to deal with. Do they provide good customer service?

I'd appreciate any experience or opinions.

Cheers

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#2417195 13-Feb-2020 10:48

We're have less phones in the field than you (only about 40) and we do this same exercise every two years.

We haven't found any compelling reason to move away from Vodafone.

They are the cheapest, their coverage is good, and they give us a very generous hardware allowance.

2Degrees did come to us last year with a sharp offer (but no cheaper than VF), but their lack of coverage, and Vodafone's superior international roaming meant we stayed with VF.

We are on a Red Share plan, I think about $30ish a month per SIM, unlimited calls/texts and a pool of about 300GB a month (I think, may be 250).

Samsung

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CokemonZ

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#2417202 13-Feb-2020 10:56

On two degrees.

Excellent service, however watch out for reception.

Jashan

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#2417215 13-Feb-2020 11:23

trig42:

We're have less phones in the field than you (only about 40) and we do this same exercise every two years.

We haven't found any compelling reason to move away from Vodafone.

They are the cheapest, their coverage is good, and they give us a very generous hardware allowance.

2Degrees did come to us last year with a sharp offer (but no cheaper than VF), but their lack of coverage, and Vodafone's superior international roaming meant we stayed with VF.

We are on a Red Share plan, I think about $30ish a month per SIM, unlimited calls/texts and a pool of about 300GB a month (I think, may be 250).

The organization I work with has the exact same reason to stay with Vodafone. We have about 50 phones/tablets. We have staff travel around the world so the roaming rate work for us

Edit: spelling

BlinkyBill

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#2417228 13-Feb-2020 11:50

I pay for circa 150 devices. I am on Vodafone and see no reason to change as far as mobile goes.

tanivula

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#2428321 27-Feb-2020 15:57

We've got approx 40 in our biz (throughout NZ). Have recently changed from Spark to VF and regretting it so much that we'll be migrating some connections back to Spark soon.

Coverage in Chch seems to be non existant with VF, phones that have coverage get missed call txts (phone doesn't ring) and while having coverage, data doesn't work in Nth Cant. Not as bad, but better coverage with Spark in the central north island.

We usually do a merrigoround with cell providers (have been with all 3), I think apart from a few localised areas (eg Manapouri) Spark coverage/quality is far superior to Vodafone currently.

It wasn't so bad when we were with VF previously, but as has been mentioned by others in another thread compariing carriers, seems the previous owners kinda ran the network into the ground a wee bit.

If you're travelling or going to fringe areas, go with Spark.

Have a look at this map https://gis.geek.nz/map/celltowers/ it'll give you an idea of coverage.

chevrolux

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#2428328 27-Feb-2020 16:25

2degrees are far more "progressive" with their business plans. But Spark's network runs rings around 2degrees.... in my experience, it's a consistently better experience on Spark than 2degrees in most places.... sample size of two phones (mine on Spark and my partner on 2degrees).

Edit: our office of 40-odd is all Spark.

jjnz1

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#2428473 27-Feb-2020 21:01

We have 20 odd connections on VF business, and I can say VoLTE has helped a lot with call reliability on the fringes. Our older phones still leave a sour taste in our mouths as they don't have VoLTE.

If you get a good account manager, VF can do really sharp pricing, even better than @trig42 😉

And yes really good hardware subsidies.
Having an account manager means no wait times during business hours too 👍, and problems fixed via email!

VF downsides:
During heavily populated events etc, Vodafone coverage is generally good, but we have experienced capacity issues more than a couple of times. VF can mitigate this by giving you a class 15 SIM card - just ask, no more capacity issues. Spark won't even provision these outside of emergency services and military I believe. 😆

And yes, we have found Spark to have better capacity than VF, but we are happy-ish. Price matters.

sbiddle

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#2428559 28-Feb-2020 07:05

jjnz1:
During heavily populated events etc, Vodafone coverage is generally good, but we have experienced capacity issues more than a couple of times. VF can mitigate this by giving you a class 15 SIM card - just ask, no more capacity issues. Spark won't even provision these outside of emergency services and military I believe. 😆

I wouldn't be bragging about having something you're not supposed to have. 😀

Linux

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#2428561 28-Feb-2020 07:07

jjnz1: We have 20 odd connections on VF business, and I can say VoLTE has helped a lot with call reliability on the fringes. Our older phones still leave a sour taste in our mouths as they don't have VoLTE.

If you get a good account manager, VF can do really sharp pricing, even better than @trig42 😉

And yes really good hardware subsidies.
Having an account manager means no wait times during business hours too 👍, and problems fixed via email!

VF downsides:
During heavily populated events etc, Vodafone coverage is generally good, but we have experienced capacity issues more than a couple of times. VF can mitigate this by giving you a class 15 SIM card - just ask, no more capacity issues. Spark won't even provision these outside of emergency services and military I believe. 😆

And yes, we have found Spark to have better capacity than VF, but we are happy-ish. Price matters.

Class 15 SiM are for police only

@JasonParis are you aware of the above comment

' Vodafone coverage is generally good, but we have experienced capacity issues more than a couple of times. VF can mitigate this by giving you a class 15 SIM card - just ask, no more capacity issues. Spark won't even provision these outside of emergency services and military I believe '

Linux

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#2428563 28-Feb-2020 07:15

Some VodafoneNZ staff were issued these SIM cards and when I left in 2017 I had to make sure this SIM card was returned

Linux

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#2428564 28-Feb-2020 07:19

sbiddle:
jjnz1:
During heavily populated events etc, Vodafone coverage is generally good, but we have experienced capacity issues more than a couple of times. VF can mitigate this by giving you a class 15 SIM card - just ask, no more capacity issues. Spark won't even provision these outside of emergency services and military I believe. 😆

I wouldn't be bragging about having something you're not supposed to have. 😀

I reckon and I suspect the NZ police and some other government agencies will not be happy!

cisconz

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#2428566 28-Feb-2020 07:36

I work with a couple of customers with extensive rural requirements.

Customer 1 has over 10K sim cards in 2G and 3G Telemetry devices - they are in the process of moving from VF to a Roaming provider that has agreements with all 3 Carriers as they move from 2G to 3G devices.

Customer 2 has over 5K sim cards in GX450's with Spark (They have about 100 Vodafone for diversity in high priority vehicles).

I find that Spark delivers a better experience, but Vodafone has a higher coverage footprint.

Hmmmm

jjnz1

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#2428601 28-Feb-2020 09:05

Linux:
sbiddle:

I wouldn't be bragging about having something you're not supposed to have. 😀

I reckon and I suspect the NZ police and some other government agencies will not be happy!

I believe the policy has changed or been relaxed since you left.

Large or important companies since 2017 were eligible for 1 or 2 class 15 connections under VF. They no longer have to be Government.

Spark I believe strictly provision these for police etc.

Happy to be corrected.

I currently don't use any class 14 or 15 FYI.

jalvares

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#2428602 28-Feb-2020 09:06

In terms of reception including rural - Spark is the best. I have used 2degrees and Vodafone and found thier reception patchy.

Spark is very good in Data speeds - Especially 4G. 3G data speeds gets slower as most of the users are still on 3G for voice.

Spark has 4G calling - which makes it the best for data and voice.

Linux

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#2428610 28-Feb-2020 09:32

jalvares:

In terms of reception including rural - Spark is the best. I have used 2degrees and Vodafone and found thier reception patchy.

Spark is very good in Data speeds - Especially 4G. 3G data speeds gets slower as most of the users are still on 3G for voice.

Spark has 4G calling - which makes it the best for data and voice.

Incorrect information in your post @jalvares VodafoneNZ has VoLTE live NZ wide as well

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