Slingshot increasing the price of my broadband plan by $20 a month...Outrageous!

Forums › 2degrees (including Slingshot, Orcon, Flip, Stuff Fibre, MyRepublic, 2talk and Vocus) › Slingshot increasing the price of my broadband plan by $20 a month...Outrageous!

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#1168334 4-Nov-2014 11:38

quentinreade:
Handsomedan:
quentinreade: Anyone on a broadband only plan also needs to factor in their homeline only rental as well.
OP - you'll pay $53 to us, and probably at least $45 to a homeline provider. So $98 a month.
Our unlimited plan with a homeline is $89 a month.
Thanks.

And if were likely to take that offer up, what is the likelihood that the price will increase again in a few weeks/months?

There was no indication to me as a customer that the $53.00 price was going to increase until I received that email, so what sort of guarantee do I have that by changing my phone provider to Slingshot I'll have any certainty of cost going forward?

I'm not aware of any plans to put our prices up - in fact broadband prices have been trending down, so it would buck an ongoing trend if we did. And, it's a highly competitive market out there, Slingshot has always competed on price.

Sorry again for the changes to your broadband only plan. As others have pointed out, this isn't driven by us, it's a reaction to the regulated price the entire industry is charged.

Appreciate that Quentin...it's not so much the $...despite the title of my rant.

It's the percentage increase thet has really got my goat. A 50% increase in any capacity really is a massive increase...even if it were a dollar or two, or we were talking exponentially larger numbers.

For what it's worth - in answer to your earlier question - my landline is costing $50.00 from Spark. I do realise the value of the new packaged deal at $89.00, but feel that the way in which this has been communicated and the way in which the increase is presented in percentage terms, it's a shot between the eyes, a month from implementation.

The thing to remember here is that I am a Geekzoner...unlike the vast majority of your customers who would see this as simply a gouging exercise...

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Behodar

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#1168356 4-Nov-2014 11:46

hairy1: You need to be outraged at the Commerce commission who have implemented the changes to the regulated product. All ISP's are in the same boat.

Until seeing this post I was going to suggest complaining to the Commerce Commission - "forcing" phone and broadband to be rented from the same provider strikes me as anti-competitive so I'm surprised to learn that it's a Comcom decision in the first place!

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#1168368 4-Nov-2014 12:02

In a (very top level) nutshell:

- The cost of providing broadband only goes up (so ISPs will raise your prices accordingly)
- The cost of providing homeline only (if that person has broadband with another provider) goes down (so homeline providers, you would think, would drop this price).
- Bundled prices should stay roughly the same.

To Behodar's point - you still can have your broadband and phone with different providers - but will pay more than you would bundling unless your homeline provider drops its prices.

It's a question for the big homeline only providers really - what do they intend to do?

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nickb800

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#1168372 4-Nov-2014 12:07

So go from $53 + $50 per month to an $89 bundle...what's this discussion for?

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#1168390 4-Nov-2014 12:27

nickb800: So go from $53 + $50 per month to an $89 bundle...what's this discussion for?

This.

(now you have mentioned you have a phone line as well)

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Saranis

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#1168447 4-Nov-2014 13:36

Bee: Where in the world do you live to get unlimited for $53?? Thats a good deal to start with!!!

Currently pay $75 for 40GB so either of the above would suit me!

I understand its just a phrase... but my Mother in the USA pays $50 a month for unlimited Broadband 29d/22u and TV with Verizon Fios and has been paying that for about 5-6 years. When I moved to New Zealand and saw the prices you guys pay for internet I was absolutely shocked. You guys are getting completely ripped off for the price of net and TV.

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#1168464 4-Nov-2014 13:51

Saranis: When I moved to New Zealand and saw the prices you guys pay for internet I was absolutely shocked. You guys are getting completely ripped off for the price of net and TV.

Getting slightly OT but the US gets completely and utterly ripped off for healthcare... You can't really compare two countries like that.

As for internet access? Give me an internet connection in NZ any day over one in the US - which truly is the global home or poor quality internet. If you take TV out of the picture NZ's pricing for high speed plans is now pretty much on par with US pricing with better quality connections.

Handsomedan

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#1168502 4-Nov-2014 14:11

nickb800: So go from $53 + $50 per month to an $89 bundle...what's this discussion for?

Um...the fact that right now I have the ability to choose the providers that I have for each of my services, while under the new plan, to remain with my choice of providers for the same services that I currently pay $103 for, I'd be paying $125.00

That's what this discussion is for.

And the fact the increase in broadband cost is ~50%.

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#1168686 4-Nov-2014 17:49

Handsomedan:
nickb800: So go from $53 + $50 per month to an $89 bundle...what's this discussion for?

Um...the fact that right now I have the ability to choose the providers that I have for each of my services, while under the new plan, to remain with my choice of providers for the same services that I currently pay $103 for, I'd be paying $125.00

That's what this discussion is for.

And the fact the increase in broadband cost is ~50%.

If you want to do that you'll have to pay more, really as simple as that. It is still possible but an ISP is not going to make a loss because you want to be a bit different from the other 98% of people who have services all with one provider.

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adida101

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#1168723 4-Nov-2014 18:28

sbiddle:
Saranis: When I moved to New Zealand and saw the prices you guys pay for internet I was absolutely shocked. You guys are getting completely ripped off for the price of net and TV.

Getting slightly OT but the US gets completely and utterly ripped off for healthcare... You can't really compare two countries like that.

As for internet access? Give me an internet connection in NZ any day over one in the US - which truly is the global home or poor quality internet. If you take TV out of the picture NZ's pricing for high speed plans is now pretty much on par with US pricing with better quality connections.

Also:

Number of people in USA with internet access: approx 250 million
Number of people in NZ with internet access: approx. 4 million

Simple economies of scale. We actually have it pretty good considering how small the customer base is here in NZ.

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#1168746 4-Nov-2014 18:51

Handsomedan:
nickb800: So go from $53 + $50 per month to an $89 bundle...what's this discussion for?

Um...the fact that right now I have the ability to choose the providers that I have for each of my services, while under the new plan, to remain with my choice of providers for the same services that I currently pay $103 for, I'd be paying $125.00

That's what this discussion is for.

And the fact the increase in broadband cost is ~50%.

Have you asked your landline provider what they'll be doing with their $23 credit? That really is the question here.

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richms

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#1168748 4-Nov-2014 18:52

Being able to choose 2 providers to sell you stuff over the same copper pair was an anomaly dating back from when telecom was the only choice of DSL.

I would have liked to have seen this closed off so that one retailer alone could sell you everything on the copper line, but the CC have in their infanite ability to cock things up for the worse gone and made this needless shift of who pays for the copper over to the ISP and not the telco, probably naively thinking that the copper telco would provide a price cut.

Yes your price is going up. Yes it should go up, and you have been provided with a nice easy solution to make it cost less than you currently pay, or even less again if you ditch the 1900's landline technology.

Richard rich.ms