Contact Broadband bundle

Forums › New Zealand Broadband › Contact Broadband bundle - suggestions

Rmani

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#289300 26-Aug-2021 23:07

Hi,

I am with Energy Online for power & gas. Received the below update about price rise from Energy Online, effective 1st October. Not sure how it compares with other providers. Is it worth staying with Energy Online or look for something like Contact, so I can bundle my Broadband, power & gas (there is a $200 offer it seems, based on a cheapies post).

Suggestions pls.

PS: I am currently with Spark for Broadband (Unplan Netflix $120 plan), if that helps.

Cheers

[Mod edit (jdb): Moved to correct forum and removed excessive spacing]

Rmani

michaelmurfy

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#2767231 27-Aug-2021 01:30

As always bundling is often one of the most expensive ways of doing it.

Be careful! with offers from electrical companies. Often they're contracting you and electricity will not be the cheapest. You're effectively paying for "cheap broadband" by having a contact with them for power.

My recommendation as always is to not bundle. With electricity it doesn't matter what provider you go with as they're only billing you, your power delivery doesn't otherwise change in any way. With broadband however each ISP is different in terms of service, connectivity etc so determine what you need out of your broadband plan. The cost of your broadband (at $120) is actually crazy expensive compared to what is in the market right now. 2degrees are offering a pretty decent deal at $80/mo for Gigabit with a $150 credit - if you combine this with literally the cheapest power provider you can find then you're already saving far more for better service.

For example, I am with 2degrees for broadband and Electric Kiwi for power. While I find Electric Kiwi great for my personal use it is not the provider for everyone however if you want to join up and know a friend of yours who is a customer ask them to send you a referral for $50 credit for you and them - else feel free to click on the link in my signature if you wish to provide me with a referral (which earns you $50 also).

Use Consumer Powerswitch to determine what is best for you: https://www.powerswitch.org.nz/

I've got a guide here for picking a broadband provider: https://murfy.nz/2018/02/06/picking-the-right-isp/

Just note also - I wouldn't personally go into a fixed contract with any provider right now as power pricing is all over the place and frankly nuts (I just compared my own just now). All the better providers have turned off signups because of this. Flick Electric and Electric Kiwi are 2 providers that come to mind who don't do contracts; I'm not sure if they're accepting customers but I'd do this at-least for now before committing to a contract as I suspect power prices may go down soon.

But by not bundling it means you get great broadband and cheap power vs (often) average broadband and expensive power by bundling.

Michael Murphy | https://murfy.nz
Referral Links: Quic Broadband (use R122101E7CV7Q for free setup)

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quickymart

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#2767518 27-Aug-2021 12:24

Contact? Just don't. Ditto for any (most) of the power companies.

lchiu7

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#2768640 30-Aug-2021 09:47

I bundled Electricity and Internet with TrustPower when I setup my AirBnB. This is because the usage was lower than people living in the apartment full-time so costs between providers would be minimal. And the Internet was only to provide those guests WiFi while they stayed. I had no issues with the Internet over the two years I was with TrustPower. And by signing up for two years I also got a high-end Samsung washing machine :-)

Now tht the two years is up I have switched the electricity to Contact taking advantage of having two accounds with them (home and apartment) and the Internet to Spark. I use their tiered plan since the usage is intermittent based on how manu guests I get so I can take advantage of lower costs when I have fewer guests or those who don't stream so much.

Staying in Wellington. Check out my AirBnB in the Wellington CBD. https://www.airbnb.co.nz/h/wellycbd PM me and mention GZ to get a 15% discount and no AirBnB charges.