New 2degrees mobile data roaming prices to Australia

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SaltyNZ

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#483778 21-Jun-2011 17:50

timmmay: It's not like there's any significant extra cost to supply data to roaming customers. The billing arrangements are already in place, data goes direct to the destination not via NZ, it's really a huge ripoff. I wouldn't be surprised if Australasian regulations appear in the next few years.

Actually, the data DOES go via NZ.

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sbiddle

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#483800 21-Jun-2011 18:22

timmmay: It's not like there's any significant extra cost to supply data to roaming customers. The billing arrangements are already in place, data goes direct to the destination not via NZ, it's really a huge ripoff. I wouldn't be surprised if Australasian regulations appear in the next few years.

This is completely incorrect. In the mobile world all roaming data has to terminate on the SGSN on the home network. This means data from Australia has to travel back to NZ. If it didn't data usage could never be easily billed or metered in anything near real time and lots of services would break.

kyhwana2

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#483802 21-Jun-2011 18:23

Wonder how long till carriers here start blocking things like google talk voice/video like in the US..
http://androidandme.com/2011/06/carriers/t-mobile-news/blocking-google-talk-video-chat-over-3g4g-we-.../

sbiddle

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#483804 21-Jun-2011 18:25

While it's a great move (and I've been hearing whispers something big is coming from Vodafone soon) by only concern is that 2degrees are now heading down the path of writing their own Da Vinci Code book. Their marketing push was to simplify things, and while I agree differentiated pricing has it's place in the marketplace I'm not sure whether making things harder to understand is fulfilling that pledge.

SaltyNZ

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#483809 21-Jun-2011 18:34

It's a fine line to walk. On the one hand you have those who aren't happy because a simple plan doesn't suit them. On the other you have those who are confused by complex plans. That's why our base plans are fairly straightforward, and you can add value packs to suit your needs. Not that that strategy shuts everyone either, but you've got to make a call somewhere.

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timmmay

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#483838 21-Jun-2011 19:09

sbiddle:
timmmay: It's not like there's any significant extra cost to supply data to roaming customers. The billing arrangements are already in place, data goes direct to the destination not via NZ, it's really a huge ripoff. I wouldn't be surprised if Australasian regulations appear in the next few years.

This is completely incorrect. In the mobile world all roaming data has to terminate on the SGSN on the home network. This means data from Australia has to travel back to NZ. If it didn't data usage could never be easily billed or metered in anything near real time and lots of services would break.

Sorry, my mistake. That seems like a pretty crazy way to do things when you can just send data volumes back, but i'm sure there are reasons it was done that way.

Still, sending from Australia to NZ is probably not expensive. It might be reasonable to pay double, plus a convenience fee, but the markup is crazy.

johnr

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#483844 21-Jun-2011 19:20

timmmay: It's not like there's any significant extra cost to supply data to roaming customers. The billing arrangements are already in place, data goes direct to the destination not via NZ, it's really a huge ripoff. I wouldn't be surprised if Australasian regulations appear in the next few years.

You don't know how Data roaming works then.

How would managed APNs work that corporate customers use?

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timmmay

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#483999 21-Jun-2011 21:55

johnr: You don't know how Data roaming works then.

How would managed APNs work that corporate customers use?

Ok, it's more complex than I thought. The price is still pretty extortionate.

oxnsox

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#484230 22-Jun-2011 10:31

SaltyNZ: It's a fine line to walk. On the one hand you have those who aren't happy because a simple plan doesn't suit them. On the other you have those who are confused by complex plans. That's why our base plans are fairly straightforward, and you can add value packs to suit your needs. Not that that strategy shuts everyone either, but you've got to make a call somewhere.

Agreed its a fine line (bit like soft data caps) and everyone has their own unique mix of requirements. Certainly at the low end you need to have cost based limits, to prevent misuse and abuse, and put up with the gripes. But when you get to the higher end plan options (unlimited calling) where is the associated data options. But good on 2deg for making it simple.

Roaming data rates though... is it possible that at some stage in the future the AUS/NZ market might be seen as closer to a single entity? Should it cost me more to roam from Christchurch to Melbourne than Sydney to Perth?

SaltyNZ

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#484239 22-Jun-2011 10:40

That's a bit of a loaded question. :-)

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billgates

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#486480 27-Jun-2011 16:00

Vodafone has dropped the data roaming rate to $.50/MB to Australia for both prepay and postpaid users. Loving the competiton.

Do whatever you want to do man.

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