2degrees launches mobile data and SMS bundles

Forums › 2degrees (including Slingshot, Orcon, Flip, Stuff Fibre, MyRepublic, 2talk and Vocus) › 2degrees launches mobile data and SMS bundles

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#334772 25-May-2010 21:09

hats off 2dgrees, I hope these new add-ons strengthen your position in the market. Its great to see a bit of competition into the mobile space.

99% of the comments I see and hear are all positive, and you just have to look at the other discussions to realise people speak their minds and are quite honest about what they think.

I look forward to future add-ons, plans and your 3G network going live.

Screeb

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#334811 25-May-2010 22:32

johnr:
TwoSeven: $6 for 50mb is something like $120/gig.

You can get 50Gb/Month on a fixed line plan for that kind of money.

That is not comparing apples with apples when did you last use adsl sitting on the beach or driving down the southern motorway?

I find it difficult to accept that a 6048% markup (comparing the $6 for 50MB 2d package with Telecom's Pro ADSL plan as an example) is appropriate for that convenience, or justifiable in terms of the expense to telcos. And for Vodafone's casual rate after the first 10MB - $1/MB, it's even more ridiculous (a whopping 51,132% markup). Is it really that much more expensive/contentious to provide data over a cellphone network? I very much doubt it - especially for Vodafone and Telecom.

SteveON

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#334831 25-May-2010 22:59

Screeb:
johnr:
TwoSeven: $6 for 50mb is something like $120/gig.

You can get 50Gb/Month on a fixed line plan for that kind of money.

That is not comparing apples with apples when did you last use adsl sitting on the beach or driving down the southern motorway?

I find it difficult to accept that a 6048% markup (comparing the $6 for 50MB 2d package with Telecom's Pro ADSL plan as an example) is appropriate for that convenience, or justifiable in terms of the expense to telcos. And for Vodafone's casual rate after the first 10MB - $1/MB, it's even more ridiculous (a whopping 51,132% markup). Is it really that much more expensive/contentious to provide data over a cellphone network? I very much doubt it - especially for Vodafone and Telecom.

You are kidding right?

Firstly, the bandwidth of a cellphone network is limited and secondly QOS is of the up most importance.

New Zealand has a lack of population and the investment required to service our networks is significantly higher than you would believe.

XT is a fantastic network, the back hull is amazing but there are limits to the technology. You will find in time that speeds and range may decrease over time.

Fixed line networks have far higher capacity than cell networks... and you believe they could provide fixed line rates??

Lets give an example of population density per Km sq
New Zealand - 15.953
UK - 254.676

I have used this example because many people like to use the UK rates as an example, both countries have a similar size land. Now, because of our hilly landscape for the same population; NZ requires a significantly higher investment per person.

Now just think about the economies of scale required to provide these plans.

I do not know all the ins and outs of what costs are but NZ has a SMALL population and is costs MORE per person to service the area. Therefore it is hard to justify putting in such a network that can sustain these kinds of speeds. XT is close, but really if you want data on the go, wait till 4G hits town in 2014ish

tumnasgt

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#334840 25-May-2010 23:19

Shame they didn't beat the 500MB XT plan, which is 10c/MB pay as you go for the first 299.5MB. I use it like a casual data plan on my T-stick. Oh well, the calling is so cheap on 2D it more than makes up for it on a phone.

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V

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#334857 26-May-2010 00:42

Well done 2degrees.
I'm seriously considering switching over from Vodafone.
Sure I'd like to see more data plans, more expensive than $6, with a cheaper per mb rate but the only thing stopping me now really is the lack of 3G.

richms

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#334863 26-May-2010 01:06

2degrees:
reven: can you setup the data packs to automatically renew or buy another one?

i may occasionally go over 50mb a month, or i may forget to text the renew code, so that may be annoying.

When your allowance gets down to 10MB you'll get a text notification from us to say that you're nearing your limit so you don't need to worry about forgetting to text the renew code.

Only if you have somethign to recieve the texts. If its a device in a PC those SMS go nowhere unless you install some bloated annoying application.

How about grouping multiple sims together to share credit and data. That way I can have one in the USB doofer on the lappy, one on the phone and not worry about checking the ballance/expiry in several places as I have to with current telco prepay practices.

Richard rich.ms

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richms

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#334864 26-May-2010 01:11

I had massive problems with my 512 packs on vodafone. Once you are almost used up you add another pack that is different to the one that you first got. Thats fine, but then the monthly renewal for the first pack comes up, and it takes more money off your prepay.

WTF? Still had some from the last lot left. Very confusing and lead to me having some unused data lapse.

Vote for autorenewal of the packs. Otherwise its just one more thing to keep track of and to be honest I can be bothered with that.

Richard rich.ms

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#334891 26-May-2010 08:14

V: Well done 2degrees.
I'm seriously considering switching over from Vodafone.

Sure I'd like to see more data plans, more expensive than $6, with a cheaper per mb rate but the only thing stopping me now really is the lack of 3G.

i just ported my 021 number to 2degrees. i have been loyal to vodafone for 7 years!! goodbye vodafone and thank you 2degrees

i cant wait for 2degrees to launch the 3G network. so far i can cope with gprs/edge to retrieve my email

icepicknz

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#334915 26-May-2010 09:17

Behodar: Very nice; I'm currently paying Telecom $12 for 120 MB but I usually only use about 30 MB. $6 is a much better deal. Now, if only 2degrees had coverage where I live...

The difference is you'll probably get much better speeds in more places than using 2Degrees, though I haven't used 2Degrees data to compare

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#334917 26-May-2010 09:21

icepicknz:
Behodar: Very nice; I'm currently paying Telecom $12 for 120 MB but I usually only use about 30 MB. $6 is a much better deal. Now, if only 2degrees had coverage where I live...

The difference is you'll probably get much better speeds in more places than using 2Degrees, though I haven't used 2Degrees data to compare

It all depends what you want to do, and where. If you want tethering, then yes it may feel slow on a laptop. But on a smartphone, EDGE works quite well (better than GPRS no doubt).

I have used both Windows Mobile and Android devices on 2degrees. Both synchronising to an Exchange account - behind the scenes synchronisation is "invisible" so any difference in speeds really are no big deal. I have used apps like Twitter, Foursquare and had no problems getting updates - speed was not an issue. And Google Maps, even though it downloads maps on the fly, didn't seem slow at all.

Now, if you have a large document as an attachment and you want to download it to view on your device, then it may be slower than 3G and you will notice.

Again, it depends on how the data is used.

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#334921 26-May-2010 09:28

richms:
Vote for autorenewal of the packs. Otherwise its just one more thing to keep track of and to be honest I can be bothered with that.

We decided not go go with auto renewal of the data packs to give our customers more flexibility with their data use. Because this pack is designed for lower data users who have more variable data use, we didn't want to keep taking $6 out of their balance (which they may not be able to afford that day or month for data they didn't need).
If you're more of a high data user, then purchase more than one pack at a time and stockpile them. Our systems are smart enough to only alert you once you've got to the last 10MB of the very last pack before you'll get any alert from us to purchase more.

Cheers
Bryony

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Behodar

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#334922 26-May-2010 09:28

tumnasgt: Shame they didn't beat the 500MB XT plan, which is 10c/MB pay as you go for the first 299.5MB. I use it like a casual data plan on my T-stick. Oh well, the calling is so cheap on 2D it more than makes up for it on a phone.

!!!

I had never noticed that before! I'm currently paying Telecom $12 for 120 MB. I should change to the 500 MB option because it looks like it'll always be cheaper than what I'm paying now unless I use exactly 120 MB in the month.

And now we return to our previously scheduled 2degrees conversation... :P

reven

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#334928 26-May-2010 09:41

2degrees:
richms:
Vote for autorenewal of the packs. Otherwise its just one more thing to keep track of and to be honest I can be bothered with that.

We decided not go go with auto renewal of the data packs to give our customers more flexibility with their data use. Because this pack is designed for lower data users who have more variable data use, we didn't want to keep taking $6 out of their balance (which they may not be able to afford that day or month for data they didn't need).
If you're more of a high data user, then purchase more than one pack at a time and stockpile them. Our systems are smart enough to only alert you once you've got to the last 10MB of the very last pack before you'll get any alert from us to purchase more.

Cheers
Bryony

if you really wanted to make you customers happy and give them the choice to auto renew, and to cancel it later.

sounds like "oh we didnt think of that, lets just say its because we didnt want to do it, but really we're too lazy to do it".

having to text a number everytime im running out of data will annoy the crap out of me. and im not a high data user, im around wifi most of the time, thats why 50mb a month would be enough for me, but i do want internet all the time.

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#334930 26-May-2010 09:46

Behodar: Very nice; I'm currently paying Telecom $12 for 120 MB but I usually only use about 30 MB. $6 is a much better deal. Now, if only 2degrees had coverage where I live...

Telecom plans are not an upfront costs so you would still be better off with XT.

If you are on XT the $30 plan is the best to be on, you just pay 10c per MB for data until you hit 300MB and then get the next 200MB for free. If you only use 30MB per month you'd only pay $3. If you use 400MB you'll pay $30.

walt12

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#334931 26-May-2010 09:47

The only issue preventing me coming back to 2degrees now is data roaming. I assume that roaming is as it was before - ie outside of AKL/WLG/CHC there is effectively no data as we roam on the Vodafone network?

Like Mauricio, having used EDGE and 3G, for "regular" smartphone use the speed difference is barely noticeable. It certainly wouldn't prevent me hopping back to 2degrees anyway.

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