Changing ISP, need some suggestions....

Forums › New Zealand Broadband › Changing ISP, need some suggestions....

chaoscreater

41 posts

Geek

Topic # 65613 4-Aug-2010 13:50

Hi all, i'm currently with Telecom using the "Big Time" plan. I'm sure most of you know, it will be closing down very soon, if i remember correctly i think it's sometime this month or next month??

Anyway, i'm done some research and searching around and couldn't find any decent plans. I've ALWAYS been a long time Telecom user, i've used "Go Large" ever since it was introduced, until it was cancelled and i still stick with it for 1 & half years, and then upgraded to Big Time and have used it for almost a year now.

I'm a VERY VERY heavy downloader, don't ask me why but the point is, these type of unlimited download plans suit me very well. Big Time hasn't given me any problems either, no slow speeds or anything.

So right now, i'm sad that it's gonna get cancelled, but i'm gonna need some suggestions to change to a plan that's hopefully not half as bad as this.

I don't mind if you suggest full packages either, i.e Internet + Homeline is ok as long as it's cheap and actually worth it. Right now, i pay about $100 for both my homeline & internet, and i'm with Telecom for both, so that's pretty affordable to me.

I'm not looking for anything higher than $60 a month for internet, and i don't want anything less than 25GB per month either. I prefer unlimited or extreme large data if possible.

Oh and don't suggest Orcon to me, i've tried them and they suck. The service sucks compare to Telecom, and it's just crappy overall for me, i've had tons of problems with them and they took 2 weeks to get things sorted for me.

So far, the currently plans i know is from Slingshot's Big Thing 3 (something like that), but that's from last year i believe so i'm most likely way out of date. I tried to sign up with them 3 times, and have sent several inquiries to them, and they never responded to any of them. So that, tells me it's crap service as well. So i'd rather not bother with them either.

Lastly, i've heard of some plan from MegaTell where you get 400GB per month and around $60 or $70, i looked up on Google and couldn't find anything.....

SO ya, plz give me some advice.

Ragnor

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Reply # 363051 4-Aug-2010 15:19

Well Slingshot is really the only ISP offering a plan <$60 month for 25GB of data with a free off peak period.

Don't be surprised if peak time performance is lackluster though, at the end of the day you get what you pay for.

chaoscreater

41 posts

Geek

Reply # 363063 4-Aug-2010 15:28

hmm well has anyone here used Slingshot be4?? How are the services and plans like??

I wanted to try them out be4, but like i already mentioned, they just don't seem to care to reply to their customers at all.

Maybe i should be more clear on this. Before Big Time came out, I wanted to try out Slingshot. The reason being is that I was still using Go Large, and it was just too slow me for so i thought it's time to move on after sticking with it for almost 2 years. I wanted a plan that offers ADSL2+ speeds, and if i remember correct, Slingshot's Big Thing 3 had that, that's why i was interested, as the price was cheap and seemed a good deal to me.

But the thing is, I live in Auckland and at that time, it's not ready for Aucklanders yet. So i've sent them an email asking when it'll be ready as it showed nothing on their websites, the only thing they had was a search field where you input your address and it'll show you whether it's available for you in that area. Anyway, they never responded to me, so i sent another one to them, and didn't respond again. So i gave up on asking them eventually. After a few months, a friend told me it's apparently ready for Auckland, so i used that search tool again to locate my address and sure enough, it showed that i can now sign up for it. But there were still a few things i wanted to ask about, so i tried emailing them again, and they still didn't respond. So basically, they have NEVER responded to me even once.

Oh and i did try to call them too, but they're always busy. I'm an Uni student so barely can call them during their office hours anyway so that's why i prefer email, but regardless they just don't give a crap at all it seems.

NZHawk

16 posts

Geek

Reply # 363087 4-Aug-2010 15:50

@chaoscreater I appear to be in the same boat as you, long time user of Telecom's GoLarge and BigTime. I am currently looking at swapping to Slingshot as they provide (at least) free off peak 2am-8am. I would love an unlimited internet plan, or even a 200GB would be rate.

I know of a true unlimited plan,Actrix's Broadband elite, but for $596 its a little pricey. (6x what I pay now.. for BT)

I think we just have to wait till NZ moves forward; when the ISPs start to realise that there is a demand for more data. (IE, 100GB, 200GB, and a 300GB plan..)

All of this makes me wanna move to a country where we get proper internet.

chaoscreater

41 posts

Geek

Reply # 363105 4-Aug-2010 16:18

ya i know right, NZ sucks so bad. You'd THINK that after so many years, our ISPs would've provided cheaper and better plans, considering how everything is evolving, technology and hardwares and phones and just STUFF all use internet and yet we're still almost back in the 2000s.......I wish Google will install fibre optic cables to every house in NZ like they do in America, i can't remember exactly but they'll be installing this 1GB/s network thing to a certain lucky state in the US just to test out their speeds, and once that works out, they'll hopefully provide to the rest of USA. But to think that we'll get something like that anytime soon is probably just wishful thinking......

And then there's Korea, with their super awesome speeds too.....

Actually, i've been reading this, and dunno if that's really true or not:

http://www.fibretothedoor.co.nz/

Oh and you said Actrix is $500+?? WOW that's insane, i did a search and found some posts on Geekzone from 2 years ago:

http://www.geekzone.co.nz/forums.asp?forumid=49&topicid=18643&page_no=1#106976

i'm not sure if it's the same but i've never heard of it 2 years ago......

And also, read the 3rd post on this site here:

http://nzgeek.org/topic/40093/telecom-closing-big-t-plan-unlimited-broadband

and check this too:

http://www.webgallery.co.nz/adsl.htm

tell me what you think aye?

And lastly, maybe these sites might help you out too:

http://www.internetchoice.co.nz/provider_list/Xnet

http://nz.whatisthis.com/broadband/dsl/

kyhwana2

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Reply # 363129 4-Aug-2010 17:03

There's xnet, which has a free 75gig (2-8am off peak) a month..

You can get "river" with is FS/128k for $34/month and pay $1.02 per GB (per MB block) that you actually use. You can also set a cap, so you can use up to say 25GB and only pay for what you use, up to a flat cap of $60 total. (You'll get slowed to 64/64k)
http://www.xnet.co.nz/hsi/

chaoscreater

41 posts

Geek

Reply # 363132 4-Aug-2010 17:16

ya i found out those 2 plans but kinda want something better, i haven't really heard of those 2 companies either so don't know exactly how good they are.......

and it's funny because for the "River" plan, if you actually go with the first option, it's cheaper. I.e, pay $34 a month and pay $1.02 per GB.

I calculated it, say if i were to use up to 25GB, then $1.02x25 = $25.5 for 25GB, and add onto the $34 and it's $59.5. Compared to the 2nd option, it's cheaper by 50 cents!! LOL

EDIT:

Hmm maybe i should go with Vodafone?? Their plans seem to be pretty good, $90 a month for phoneline & 30GB internet.......