What plans / features / changes would you like to see from Slingshot?

Forums › 2degrees (including Slingshot, Orcon, Flip, Stuff Fibre, MyRepublic, 2talk and Vocus) › What plans / features / changes would you like to see from Slingshot?

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#1045033 14-May-2014 18:46

With Chorus announcing 200Mbit today, one wonders if and when Slingshot will offer it and if they will supply better hardware to go with it :)

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#1045371 15-May-2014 10:38

Hi all,
We are def still listening to the suggestions - keep them coming!
Yes - we'll also be looking at what we can do with the new UFB plans.
We'll be migrating (at no cost) everyone on the 30/10 plan to the 100/20 plan for a starter.
The below was announced yesterday.
Cheers, Quentin

Slingshot GM Taryn Hamilton welcomed today’s new Chorus fibre plans which will give ISPs such as Slingshot greater scope to build new and innovative products for its customers.

“Slingshot already has the best value fibre plans in the market at $69 but we’ll be doing some work on what these new Chorus plans will mean for our customers in the long-term.

“In the meantime we’re going to give all existing customers on our 30Mbps plan, and anyone who signs up to this plan before 1st July, a free upgrade to the 100/20Mbps plan until July 2015.”

As well as providing more choices for the telco industry, the new Chorus fibre and VDSL plans are also designed to deliver greater speeds, enhanced HD video capability, and help drive the all-important fibre uptake in New Zealand.

“This is a great opportunity to give the UFB initiative a bit of fresh exposure,” says Hamilton.

“Slingshot is very keen to see uptake rates significantly improve as it’s a fantastic investment for the country, but only if people are using it.”

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xpd

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#1045378 15-May-2014 11:12

NZCrusader:
Maybe even a "home / office network bundle" where you pay $$$ and SS sends out a router, switch and a couple of APs and an IP phone or something.

(I'm not a SS customer)

The problem with this sort of offering is that the ISP then has to offer support for it all - and going by past comments, SS's help desk hasnt always been the most prompt/helpful with issues... they'd end up needing more staff, which is more $$, and that $$ has to come from somewhere.

Keep it simple IMHO. Most end users dont like the gear they get given by an ISP anyway and end up replacing it at their own cost ;)

XPD / Gavin

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#1045392 15-May-2014 11:23

xpd:
NZCrusader:
Maybe even a "home / office network bundle" where you pay $$$ and SS sends out a router, switch and a couple of APs and an IP phone or something.

(I'm not a SS customer)

The problem with this sort of offering is that the ISP then has to offer support for it all - and going by past comments, SS's help desk hasnt always been the most prompt/helpful with issues... they'd end up needing more staff, which is more $$, and that $$ has to come from somewhere.

Keep it simple IMHO. Most end users dont like the gear they get given by an ISP anyway and end up replacing it at their own cost ;)

Hi Gavin,
I think historically Slingshot's call centre may have had some issues, but I have to say it's a very slick operation now.
There has been massive investment and attention paid to operations over the past couple of years.
I'd be willing to bet that Slingshot's call centre would come up tops across all NZ ISPs if you looked at all the traditional call centre ratings - wait times/ handle times/ NPS etc.
It's a nice position to be in, and I know the senior managers here are keen to not only maintain this, but to improve it.
A quick look at the forums and twitter will give you a quick idea of which call centres aren't firing ;).
Cheers all, Quentin

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myfullflavour

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#1045408 15-May-2014 11:27

xpd: Most end users dont like the gear they get given by an ISP anyway and end up replacing it at their own cost ;)

I think you mean most *geeks* don't like the gear and end up replacing it.

From our experience, and I'm sure the same for Slingshot, customers who BYOD are a single digit percentage.

NZCrusader

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#1045538 15-May-2014 13:22

xpd:
NZCrusader:
Maybe even a "home / office network bundle" where you pay $$$ and SS sends out a router, switch and a couple of APs and an IP phone or something.

(I'm not a SS customer)

The problem with this sort of offering is that the ISP then has to offer support for it all - and going by past comments, SS's help desk hasnt always been the most prompt/helpful with issues... they'd end up needing more staff, which is more $$, and that $$ has to come from somewhere.

Keep it simple IMHO. Most end users dont like the gear they get given by an ISP anyway and end up replacing it at their own cost ;)

SS helpdesk is really good actually.

Longest wait time I have had in the past 3 years was under 10 mins. (Mobile call back during a peak time)

Also perhaps my idea is on the improbable / impossible side, but Slingshot "should" be able to source hardware at a cheaper price than the consumer, especially in bulk.
Furthermore I as a customer would prefer higher quality gear / package solutions as opposed to the VB104W.

If its "un do-able" then it is what it is, but if its on offer, I would be happy to buy "ready to go" home network solutions from the ISP that can be priced reasonably and saves me time shopping around.

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Krishant007

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#1057208 31-May-2014 20:37

I would actually 2nd the motion for Slingshot to offer some more higher end modem routers. If I could choose a better more powerful modem router for an extra 100 bucks or something, I could probably go with it. I think there are lot of end users out there who might be interested..

michaelt

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#1057278 31-May-2014 22:45

Unlike others I'm not too worried about included hardware, as I'm one of the single digit percentage that prefers to bring my own hardware. That said, a simple, reliable freebie modem that operates in half-bridge mode is appreciated (I'm still on ADSL using an RTA1320E, connected to a DD-WRT router).

I'd suggest updating your website to clarify the included phone plans with your VDSL and especially fibre offerings. I assume VDSL is the normal homeline, but for fibre I can't tell if there's a homeline or VoIP service included or not.

An update to naked plans would be appreciated as well. I've been on the unlimited naked ADSL plan for some time, and we have a free iTalk line included. Would be good to see a naked VDSL plan. I also can't tell from your website if the free iTalk line is still included for new customers. In addition, the $20 price premium for VDSL seem a bit steep (in comparison the price premium on Vodafone is only $10).

An iTalk feature similar to 2talk's One Number ( http://blog.2talk.co.nz/onenumber.html ) would be highly appreciated.

richms

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#1057295 31-May-2014 23:13

I would have liked unlimited naked VDSL, but it wasnt happening so im taking the downloading connection over to bigpipe.

At least if you do force me to buy an antique service I dont want, dont stick me on a term contract for it since you dont incurr a term from chorus for selling landline service.

Richard rich.ms

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#1059211 4-Jun-2014 15:14

Any news on new features or anything really?

Actually one complaint is that the longer I have the VB104W, the more I dislike it.

Wireless (while better than initial release) is still pathetic compared to other APs.

Might look at swapping it out soon for an Asus DSL66U or something.

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garvani

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#1059221 4-Jun-2014 15:37

I have my fibre install booked for the 10th, received my tripleplay150 modem the other day, fairly basic spec.

Its great you offer a free modem, some other ISP's don't. However if you could offer a subsidised Asus Rt ac66u or equivalent that would be awesome (locking into contract would be expected). I don't know why ISP's don't offer such modem at an extra $15 per month on top of your plan, like a hire purchase, you already have the customer locked into the plan, if you had a high early termination charge to recover any money on the router if said customer pulled pin before the 12months was up you would be covered.

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macuser

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#1059238 4-Jun-2014 16:23

I'd like a parent friendly modem, that allows parents or flatmates to limit internet times or speeds.

There is the time limitation by mac address in the current modem, but it's a bit of a pain to edit and the time doesn't account for daylight savings. Plus there is no ability to temporarily pause the time constraints or limit internet speed after a certain amount of usage.

I think there are devices on the market that let you do that, I think people would pay for it.

NZCrusader

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#1066158 15-Jun-2014 19:50

Just going to revive this thread again with a repetition call for a better router (fully or partially subsidised).

VB104W occasionally locks up requiring reboot.
VB104W wireless occasionally stops working also requiring reboot.

Using the latest firmware too.

Also the wireless signal is not as strong as other vendors wifi.
I get more bars from neighbours than I do from the VB104W which is about 10M away.

I suggest ASUS or router board options for SS.

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garvani

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#1069239 19-Jun-2014 14:39

Another thing that just came to mind i would love to see from slingshot is a tweak to your global mode. Allowing changes to different regions would be awesome.

So our *ahem* sweedish visitors can access their netflix instead of the American version.

This may not be a trivial task, im guessing the way it works at the moment is through the LA slingshot server.

hamish225

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#1069287 19-Jun-2014 15:40

garvani: Another thing that just came to mind i would love to see from slingshot is a tweak to your global mode. Allowing changes to different regions would be awesome.

So our *ahem* sweedish visitors can access their netflix instead of the American version.

This may not be a trivial task, im guessing the way it works at the moment is through the LA slingshot server.

sweedish netflix????

they can serve Netflix in bloody Sweden but not new zealand?

i thought they only had it in the US!

*Insert big spe*dtest result here*

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