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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#335117 26-May-2010 16:12

I would love to see the day when you can go into a "normal" retailer like DSE, HN, etc and pick up a generic phone that's not customised for any network. Unfortunately, I don't think that'll happen any time soon, at least not until the same devices can be used on all three networks.

SteveON

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#335126 26-May-2010 16:32

You can mate!

Go buy a 2d phone... I do not believe any of them really have anything customized.

richms

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#335130 26-May-2010 16:37

No, they are not heavily subsidized which is why I refuse to enter into a term contract. When a phone is free on 24 months and its not a $100 phone that for some reason retails for $300 here, then I may care. But $300 off something that isnt worth that much isnt any interest to me. Then there is the challange to debrand it. Still not managed to do my slingshot supplied VF branded nokias.

That data offering is a great start from 2 degrees, now they just need the facebook and twitter integration sorted out and they would be viable. if I didnt have the slingshot deal I would be looking at starting to use my 2 degrees sims again with the data plan since I still need my CDMA phone for the facebook anyway.

Richard rich.ms

Screeb

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#335163 26-May-2010 18:03

SteveON:
You are kidding right?

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

Yes, but not 51,132% so compared to ADSL.

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??

No, I never said that. Don't strawman me. I'm talking about the high degree of markup on fixed line. I certainly don't think it should be 0% markup. Just not 51,132%.

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

OK, let me stop you right there. That's a meaningless statistic. Most people live in cities, not mountains. As you correctly state later, NZ is very mountainous. No one expects mobile broadband at the top of every mountain. Stick to the cities and there is little difference - higher population density (eg London vs Auckland) means you need more towers, or towers with more capacity. In other words, you can cover more people with a single tower, but that is going to cost you more for the tower (or suffer slower speeds). There is a difference still, yes, but nothing like 16 : 254 (as in your population density statistic).

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.

But how is that different to ADSL? What I'm comparing is NZ ADSL with NZ mobile BB. Not UK mobile BB with NZ mobile BB. Fixed line broadband also suffers from NZ's low population density, thus your points about UK, population density, and terrain are irrelevant.

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

Same as above.

shk292

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#335208 26-May-2010 19:59

walt12: 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.

I've been on 2degrees for about 6 months and have been able to use data anywhere in the VF network ever since joining. The rates are the same as when on 2d own network. The only downside is VF is GPRS, whereas 2d is EDGE - noticeably faster as you note above

shk292

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#335211 26-May-2010 20:08

Although 2d's data charges appear high on paper, I have a Windows mobile set up for push email and my typical daily data charge is anything from $0.02 (if I only get a few emails) to $0.50 if I get more emails and follow some of the links to browse web pages etc. On VF, this would cost $1 per day at least. So for me, 2d is much better value even without these packs - which I think are great and will use when away from home/office for a few days.

walt12

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#335214 26-May-2010 20:16

shk292:
walt12: 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.

I've been on 2degrees for about 6 months and have been able to use data anywhere in the VF network ever since joining. The rates are the same as when on 2d own network. The only downside is VF is GPRS, whereas 2d is EDGE - noticeably faster as you note above

Yes, GPRS, hence the reason I said effectively ... having roamed before with 2degrees on the Vodafone network I found it unusable and gave up doing the things I was trying to do.

When they have full-blooded roaming data, which effectively means 3G, then I will come back. Can't be that far away now.

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Linuxluver

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#335226 26-May-2010 20:42

kyhwana2: Nice.. especially the 500txts to any network thing..

OTOH, $6/50MB is still more expensive than vodafone..

Depends on how you buy your data.

If you're on the VFNZ $1 / 10Mb (then $1 per 1MB) each day, then this $6 for 50MB is *vastly* cheaper. You can buy any number of these chunks each day....or they will last you a month (30 days from date of purchase assumed - this may not be the case. I have not verified this assumption). By comparison, 50MB on one day with VFNZ would cost you $41.....a lot more than $6.

I guess the annoying thing is if you wanted to do a fair bit of data in one day you'd have to stock up on data first....or send a new txt every hour or so. That could be annoying.

Even if you're on the $10 for 100MB or 200MB prepay data packs with Vodafone, this 2degrees offering still works out cheaper if you need much more than the set amounts....as Vodafone then move into $1 / 1MB.

So $12 for 100MB on 2D is the same as 102MB on Vodafone.
So $24 for 200MB on 2D is cheaper than 200MB on Vodafone ($30)
so $48 for 400MB on 2D is cheaper than $310 on Vodafone for 400MB on the 100MB option and cheaper than $230 on VF for 400MB on the 200MB option.

But for monthly data PLANS, Vodafone are much cheaper - especially for 'large' amounts of data (Broadband Ultra for 4G for $79.95 / month + $10 for another 4GB if you need it)

_____________________________________________________________________

I've been on Geekzone over 16 years..... Time flies....

kyhwana2

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#335229 26-May-2010 20:49

Linuxluver:
So $12 for 100MB on 2D is the same as 102MB on Vodafone.
So $24 for 200MB on 2D is cheaper than 200MB on Vodafone ($30)
so $48 for 400MB on 2D is cheaper than $310 on Vodafone for 400MB on the 100MB option and cheaper than $230 on VF for 400MB on the 200MB option.

But for monthly data PLANS, Vodafone are much cheaper - especially for 'large' amounts of data (Broadband Ultra for 4G for $79.95 / month + $10 for another 4GB if you need it)

That's only true if you ONLY use data and don't have any txt/voice plans..

If you use <100 txts a month, as long as you send 20 txts on 2degree's, you're better off with 2ds :)

keewee01

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#335383 27-May-2010 09:31

I can't wait for my VF contact to finish... but I will have to as I don't want to pay the high term fees. But when my contacts finished, I be jumping to 2D!! Roll on March.... sigh...

semigeek

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#335391 27-May-2010 09:49

I still have 9 months of my contract to go, unless I break it early. I think I read on the VF website that its $50 to break the contract for my plan. May be worth it to jump ship

langers1972

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#335513 27-May-2010 14:17

The only criticism I have of these add ons is the necessity to use within 30 days, would be so much better to have them last for the duration until they were used.

I can spot the obvious commercial reason for doing so but, as a very casual user, it is slightly annoying.

old3eyes

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#335567 27-May-2010 16:45

langers1972: The only criticism I have of these add ons is the necessity to use within 30 days, would be so much better to have them last for the duration until they were used.

I can spot the obvious commercial reason for doing so but, as a very casual user, it is slightly annoying.

+1. Been saying that for a long time that prepaid data should last the same time as normal prepay but allot of people in this group don't agree..

Regards,

Old3eyes

rayonline

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#335629 27-May-2010 20:09

I think it's not a bad data thing. For the occasional users who might be using it a week or longer etc .. check the email, the weather forecast like if you are a week away from home - like a skiing trip, helps if no laptop so less data. Check the email provided no heavy attachments etc etc ..

Better than paying $1/day when you might just use it for 5mins and the 2D option is $6 but you can use it for the whole month should you be away for the month.

Also, it saves some people (like me) carrying 2 phones just to take advantage of the previous data rates.

HOWEVER, for many people due to commitments they may only spend a weekend or a long weekend away from work. Therefore the few days appeal might work out better with VF. I think it would of been better 50MB for $5 therefore you take that factor out. There is no 3G data now afaik. Also those who take laptops and netbooks with them (trendy) won't be using it ......

The think the voice and SMS rates are great, competes with the bigger lot for some of their contract plans. Once 2D gets 3G data network, they should provide a cheaper data rate or a package together for more data - so those teenagers or 20s or 30s or 50s and 60s who have their laptop can use it on 2D - incl those big attachment emails - pics and of course Facebook. Who doesn't check Facebook on the go - probably for some more important than their email (!).

ojala

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#335672 28-May-2010 00:31

SteveON:
New Zealand has a lack of population
...
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.

I can understand the ease of comparing NZ to the UK, with results that people are quite familiar with.

I come from a country slightly bigger than NZ in both size and population, 15.837 people per km sq and about one million larger population. Even the list of top 10 cities is roughly equal in population. We don't get full 3G at the remote forests (GSM/GPRS yes) but the coverage is pretty reasonable. While the "core Internet" is closer than in NZ, we live on the edge of our continent, central Europe is 2-3 hour flight away.

Last week I purchased a data-only SIM for my new iPad 3G, monthly cost is about 25 NZD and it's a two-year deal (usually I don't like them). Full HSPA+ speeds and unlimited data. The other option I considered from other carrier was full HSPA+ speed at 18 NZD per month, but limited to 1 Gigabytes of traffic and then the speed is throttled down to 64 kbit/s unless I pay 9 NZD for another 1 GB. I don't have a clue how much data I use, with mobile or broadband.

With some 20 years in building ISP's and other telco work, it's quite easy to notice the pattern how things happen. From capped internet to the uncapped internet, from capped mobile data to the uncapped mobile data and suddenly they become a commodity. New services start to appear and people don't need to think how much they use. My TV PVR has been behind the internet connection for the last 2-3 years with 5 terabytes of storage, it was bundled with the broadband ADSL. High price from a small numbers of users, or small price from high number of users, both have their pro's and con's. A cable TV provider goes DOCSIS 3.0 and starts to offer 110/5 and 200/10 access and the copper ADSL2+ folks become aggressive, it's not a status quo (because of size/market/population/what/not) but competition that takes a leap forward every now and then.

PS. Some folks here actually call our country a TelcoUganda for the lack of service. And I'm in the process of moving to New Zealand

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