2degrees roaming onto Vodafone coming to an end?

Forums › New Zealand Broadband › 2degrees roaming onto Vodafone coming to an end?

myfullflavour

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#198354 5-Jul-2016 18:41

I've got a friend who lives in Oropi (15 minutes out of Tauranga on the way to Rotorua) who received an odd phone call from someone claiming to be 2degrees a few weeks back.

The caller asked if he lived in Oropi, to which my friend said he did. The caller advised that the 2degrees-Vodafone roaming agreement was coming to an end in Oropi and on a certain date my friend would no longer have mobile service with 2degrees in the Oropi area. They would need to find a new provider.

My friend didn't pay much attention to this call, especially in light of all the Microsoft telephone scams.

Anyway, this date recently passed and lo and behold his phone no longer had reception.

He called 2degrees who confirmed this. 2degrees advised my friend that they would not charge him for the balance of the iPhone he had got from them on an interest free deal bundled with his plan. So my friend is happy he got the balance of the phone payments written off for free!

Apparently a number of my friend's neighbours and also other people he knows who had visited his house had received similar calls.

Has anyone else heard of this?

Seems a bit off that 2degrees are actively decommissioning themselves off Vodafone without having their own network in place for customers to connect to?

richms

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#1586611 5-Jul-2016 18:46

So the freeloading is coming to an end.... Good.

Richard rich.ms

andrewcnz

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#1586619 5-Jul-2016 19:00

Wow if this spreads to other areas it could seriously put a dent in customer numbers. Sounds like Oropi ain't high on the list for a 2degrees tower!

wsnz

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#1586663 5-Jul-2016 19:57

richms:

So the freeloading is coming to an end.... Good.

So are you saying that 2Degree's aren't compensating VFNZ under the agreement for handsets that roam onto their network?

richms

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#1586669 5-Jul-2016 20:04

wsnz:

richms:

So the freeloading is coming to an end.... Good.

So are you saying that 2Degree's aren't compensating VFNZ under the agreement for handsets that roam onto their network?

I am saying they have had plenty of time to build their network completely instead of just cherrypicking the profitable locations to install their own sites.

The roaming onto vodafone was forced by the government. The idea being that it was hard to build an entire network before hitting the on switch and accepting customers. While I didnt like that idea of freeloading off someone elses risk to build a network, it was understandable. What is not is how it has allowed to continue for almost a decade now, while 2 degrees have been delaying their own network build in these areas where they would not have enough customers to make it worthwhile, instead using vodafones installation of these cellsites in lower or non profitable areas to get their customers online.

This is as bad as LLU for DSL, where only profitable places get installed and the lower population ones or cabinets where ISPs cant make the sums work are left up to the infrastructure owners to provide access equipment in.

Richard rich.ms

oxnsox

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#1586734 5-Jul-2016 20:59

Or, pending an agreement on the sale of your network, its may be seen as a contentious issue/point of conflict with a potential purchaser.

coffeebaron

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#1586735 5-Jul-2016 21:00

Sites that 2degrees roam on are in location groups. I'm guessing that 2degrees have decided they have sufficient coverage in Tauranga so have asked Vodafone to drop this location from roaming. This will have the effect of dropping some further out surrounding sites. 2degrees cannot pick individual sites for roaming.

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myfullflavour

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#1587008 6-Jul-2016 10:55

Would be interesting to see how 2degrees coverage compares with Spark & Vodafone, now that they've decommissioned themselves from parts of Vodafone's network.

If it's a significant difference, it's probably something they should be disclosing to any prospective clients.

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deadlyllama

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#1587028 6-Jul-2016 11:25

richms:

wsnz:

richms:

So the freeloading is coming to an end.... Good.

So are you saying that 2Degree's aren't compensating VFNZ under the agreement for handsets that roam onto their network?

I am saying they have had plenty of time to build their network completely instead of just cherrypicking the profitable locations to install their own sites.

The roaming onto vodafone was forced by the government. The idea being that it was hard to build an entire network before hitting the on switch and accepting customers. While I didnt like that idea of freeloading off someone elses risk to build a network, it was understandable. What is not is how it has allowed to continue for almost a decade now, while 2 degrees have been delaying their own network build in these areas where they would not have enough customers to make it worthwhile, instead using vodafones installation of these cellsites in lower or non profitable areas to get their customers online.

This is as bad as LLU for DSL, where only profitable places get installed and the lower population ones or cabinets where ISPs cant make the sums work are left up to the infrastructure owners to provide access equipment in.

This sort of arrangement is very common in other countries. There are a few small-area cellcos in the USA who roam onto a larger national network. And a bunch of MVNOs able to offer competitive pricing -- you see those in Europe too.

If the government hadn't forced VFNZ to allow 2degrees handsets to roam on VFNZ's networks ... do you remember how much mobile data, let alone voice minutes cost prior to 2degrees shaking up the market? Do you remember the minnow MVNOs with their extremely unattractive pricing, that sank without trace?

I can't see any reason to be sorry for Vodafone. I used to pay $30/MB for GPRS. The monopolistic big telcos had it too good for too long.

DjShadow

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#1587071 6-Jul-2016 12:58

I recall JohnR saying a long time back that Vodafone coverage is broken up into local calling areas, hence for example when the Hamilton 2D network was built they could not lock out the Vodafone towers without cutting coverage in areas where roaming is still needed. Would seem that 2degrees have managed to build enough towers to cover the Tauranga local calling area so they can afford to switch off roaming in that area.

raytaylor

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#1587417 7-Jul-2016 02:38

One of my rural customers recently told me they lost their 2degrees coverage. She didnt know why.

I suggested it was probably because 2d had disabled vodafone roaming in the area due to napier/hastings having quite a few 2d towers pop up, and she would have been roaming on a rural vodafone tower.

She didnt believe me because all telcos are evil. Clearly the wind changed and 2d hadnt fixed it.

Anyhow a few weeks later I met the guys from sky installing a 2d site at a shared tower we are on with vodafone.

Her coverage is probably restored now.

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sbiddle

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#1588064 8-Jul-2016 11:37

deadlyllama:

If the government hadn't forced VFNZ to allow 2degrees handsets to roam on VFNZ's networks ... do you remember how much mobile data, let alone voice minutes cost prior to 2degrees shaking up the market? Do you remember the minnow MVNOs with their extremely unattractive pricing, that sank without trace?

I don't ever recall it being forced - at the end of the day it was a commercial roaming agreement. And 2d couldn't partner with Spark because they had incompatible technologies.