Commission releases final decision on wholesale broadband prices 2015

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#1451625 16-Dec-2015 14:46

richms: The issue with that is when people still using a landline want to call you it costs, and to old people they find the idea of people having to pay to call you a problem. Friends keep a $50 landline just so the grandparents can call the kids.

That's the same reason I can't talk my wife into ditching our phone line. She's worried it would put people off calling us, especially older relatives.

ajw

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#1451627 16-Dec-2015 14:51

dclegg:
richms: The issue with that is when people still using a landline want to call you it costs, and to old people they find the idea of people having to pay to call you a problem. Friends keep a $50 landline just so the grandparents can call the kids.

That's the same reason I can't talk my wife into ditching our phone line. She's worried it would put people off calling us, especially older relatives.

Or they could use Vodafone wireless for $26 per month.

richms

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#1451629 16-Dec-2015 14:53

Can't reach the reply button for some reason with that crazy link. Anyway. Stop answering the landline and leave it to the wife if she wants it and all the spam it attracts.

IMO no calls from cheap people is a plus.

Richard rich.ms

sorceror

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#1451630 16-Dec-2015 14:55

Beccara:
sorceror:
coffeebaron: So this is great news for the consumer as the price has actually dropped from original $44.98 to final pricing of $41.19. A great result!
Not sure where all this price hiking FUD comes from??

eh? the current price is $34.44 - it's a hike.

That was an interim price, The price prior to review was $44.98 and now it looks like the post review price will be $41.19

sure but how is that relevant? current retail prices are based on the $34.44 cost input.

andrew027

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#1451642 16-Dec-2015 15:09

richms: The issue with that is when people still using a landline want to call you it costs, and to old people they find the idea of people having to pay to call you a problem. Friends keep a $50 landline just so the grandparents can call the kids.

Same here - we currently have a landline just so my wife's parents (who do not have a mobile, and never will) can phone us. Personally I think that's the best reason to not have a landline but that's a different story. But we're locked into copper for broadband anyway (Chorus map says "UFB fibre up to 200 Mbps by Oct-2016" and "Planned by Jun-17" depending on which part of the page you look at) so we won't bother rethinking the landline until we switch to fibre.

NonprayingMantis

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#1451661 16-Dec-2015 15:14

dclegg:
richms: The issue with that is when people still using a landline want to call you it costs, and to old people they find the idea of people having to pay to call you a problem. Friends keep a $50 landline just so the grandparents can call the kids.

That's the same reason I can't talk my wife into ditching our phone line. She's worried it would put people off calling us, especially older relatives.

yeah, there is a downside.

But consider the upside - at least it will stop your older relatives calling you.

Detruire

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#1451665 16-Dec-2015 15:23

dclegg:
richms: The issue with that is when people still using a landline want to call you it costs, and to old people they find the idea of people having to pay to call you a problem. Friends keep a $50 landline just so the grandparents can call the kids.

That's the same reason I can't talk my wife into ditching our phone line. She's worried it would put people off calling us, especially older relatives.

Should be able to port your number to a VoIP service and it'll work the same (cost/region-wise) for people calling you.

rm *

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dclegg

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#1451672 16-Dec-2015 15:26

Detruire:
Should be able to port your number to a VoIP service and it'll work the same (cost/region-wise) for people calling you.

Good to know, thanks. Will keep that in mind when we re-evaluate our connectivity options next year.

richms

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#1451678 16-Dec-2015 15:31

My issue with basing it on a foward thing with factoring in people jumping ship for fiber, is applying that to non fiber areas, or places that are not deployed yet.

IMO let them crank the price up massivly only where there is fiber. No Fiber? then dont account for it in your price determination.

Might get them to pull finger and speed up the deployment if they are then able to crank the income from the copper in those areas as soon as fiber is live.

Richard rich.ms

DarkShadow

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#1452109 17-Dec-2015 09:36

Flip seems to be putting prices up by $5 next year, looking at their Facebook.

staticnz

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#1452258 17-Dec-2015 13:11

DarkShadow: Flip seems to be putting prices up by $5 next year, looking at their Facebook.

From Jan 4 apparently. Tough xmas!

freitasm

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#1452371 17-Dec-2015 15:59

And first one:

$5 a month increase for ADSL / VDSL broadband customers
$3.50 a month increase for home landline customers in Auckland, Wellington, Christchurch (bringing the price in line with the rest of NZ)
Prices unchanged for home landline customers across the rest of New Zealand
Prices unchanged for Ultra Fibre plans

Spark said today it will raise prices for some of its broadband and landline plans from 1 February 2016.

This is a result of this week’s Commerce Commission decision to significantly hike regulated Chorus line charges for copper broadband and landline services. The new Chorus charges, which took effect from yesterday, are almost $8 per month (including GST) higher for broadband services and just over $7 higher for landline voice services, compared with the previous charges. Chorus line charges make up more than half what most New Zealanders pay for their broadband or landline services.

Spark’s CEO for Home, Mobile and Business, Jason Paris, said he was extremely disappointed about the need for Spark to increase prices.

“We have worked hard over the past few years to keep prices as low as possible, and we want to keep them that way. However, this regulatory decision means a significant and unexpected increase in our underlying costs, so unfortunately we have been forced to reflect these costs in our customer pricing.”

Spark stands by commitment to return savings to customers

Paris said the decision not to backdate when the new higher Chorus line charges came into effect was the only sliver of good news in the Commerce Commission’s decision.

“In light of the Commerce Commission’s earlier threat of backdating, we put up our prices in February this year. At the time, we said that if there was no backdating, we would do the right thing and return savings where we could to customers who were affected by the price increases in February and remained on their impacted plan. We’re the only broadband provider who has publicly committed to do this.

“We intend to make good on this commitment and give something back to our customers in the coming months, as long as the decision on backdating is not subject to appeal.”

Paris said eligible home landline customers in Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch would receive a credit on their monthly bills, while eligible 40GB and 80GB ADSL/VDSL broadband customers nationwide would have the choice of a few options, one of which will be an account credit. Spark will proceed with giving these savings back from March, provided there are no appeal proceedings.

Home landline customers outside the three main centres will not receive any credit but their prices will not be increased in February, despite the cost of higher Chorus lines charges Spark will face.

ADSL / VDSL customers on Unlimited plans will also not be eligible for a savings credit, as their plan prices did not increase earlier this year and instead were reduced by $10 a month.

More information on the return of savings will be available for customers in the next few weeks.

Spark customers on Ultra Fibre broadband plans will not face price increases, as their services are not dependent on the Chorus copper network and thus are not affected by the increases in Chorus regulated charges.

GregV

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#1452374 17-Dec-2015 16:03

...we would do the right thing and return savings where we could to customers who were affected by the price increases in February and remained on their impacted plan. We’re the only broadband provider who has publicly committed to do this.

But only if you remained on the plan until November this year. I jumped to Fibre at the end of May from one of the affected plans, so it looks like I won't see any "savings return"

http://www.sparknz.co.nz/news/pricechanges2015

Eligible customers are those who were on affected broadband and landline plans in February 2015 when the price increases were applied, and were still on those plans in November 2015.

coffeebaron

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#1452829 18-Dec-2015 08:39

Beccara: To be atleast a little bit fair the wholesale price has been dropped for a little while and you'd all be screaming murder if they didn't drop the price when their price was dropped. It just means if wholesale prices go up so do consumer prices

Actually several ISP's put their price up when the price dropped last year. Now they're doing another round of putting prices up.

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christherider

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#1452842 18-Dec-2015 09:08

Are people here really trying to argue that broadband in NZ is too expensive? I've watched prices tumble and tumble while service has gotten better and better over the last 15-20 years. We're paying historically low prices and have historically great plans. To add to that, everyone knows that provider margins are intensely low.

If an extra $3-$5 is going to break your back, maybe your broadband should be the biggest of your worries.

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