2 Degrees Stuffed Up (or not)?

Forums › 2degrees (including Slingshot, Orcon, Flip, Stuff Fibre, MyRepublic, 2talk and Vocus) › 2 Degrees Stuffed Up (or not)?

1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7

6473 posts

Uber Geek

Retired Mod

Trusted

Lifetime subscriber

#417582 15-Dec-2010 12:42

greengeek: You think its ok to have a strict rule about the one year expiry, but I disagree. I prefer to do business with companies that show a little more willingness to put customer satisfaction high up the list.

This is important, but how flexible does a teleco have to be before getting into the ridiculous? Instead of a 5 year expiry, why not make it 50?

You have to draw a line in the sand at some stage, and 365 days of no topping up is ample time.

amford

92 posts

Master Geek

#417597 15-Dec-2010 13:15

My Father has an alarm system which uses a sim card to text his phone and a number of others if there is a break in. Every year he has the hassle of removing the sim card and finding a vodafone phone (he has a telecom and the sim does not work in it) and topping up.

In this case the 12 months is a hassle. but in most other situations if you give someone 5 years before the number expires they will either forget about it or leave it to the last day.

12 months is ample time. if the number is important don't let it expire. simple as that.

DonGould

3892 posts

Uber Geek

#417611 15-Dec-2010 13:46

With VF you just put the sim on your web acc and top up via that.

24/36 month exp rather than 60 would make sense to me. 12m is to short but I accept the comments by others and agree 5 years is a bit ot.

this is why I like public forums, so that ppl can chat and get a better understanding :)

Promote New Zealand - Get yourself a .kiwi.nz domain name!!!

Check out mine - i.am.a.can.do.kiwi.nz - don@i.am.a.can.do.kiwi.nz

graemeh

2078 posts

Uber Geek

#417614 15-Dec-2010 13:49

Well the Telcos could do a 24 or 36 month expiry, just change the minimum topup from $20 to $40 or $60 every 24 or 36 months.

DonGould

3892 posts

Uber Geek

#417624 15-Dec-2010 14:14

ya, I'm just thinking about the flexibility of cases like sims in alarms, emergency phone in the car, that sort of thing.

I can imagine the 'boat phone' going dead over the winter and ppl forgetting to sort the sim but remembering to put charge on it.

BTW can you call 111 from a mobile without a sim in it in .nz?

I know you can in .au.

D

Promote New Zealand - Get yourself a .kiwi.nz domain name!!!

Check out mine - i.am.a.can.do.kiwi.nz - don@i.am.a.can.do.kiwi.nz

n4

959 posts

Ultimate Geek

#417639 15-Dec-2010 14:24

DonGould: I can imagine the 'boat phone' going dead over the winter and ppl forgetting to sort the sim but remembering to put charge on it.

BTW can you call 111 from a mobile without a sim in it in .nz?

D

Generally not. It has to have a SIM, but the SIM does not have to be registered or working, just readable by the phone. Minimises prank/fake calls from kids using old phones lying around.

Samsung Note20 Ultra, on 2degrees

oxnsox

1923 posts

Uber Geek

#417666 15-Dec-2010 14:58

Well the Telcos could do a 24 or 36 month expiry, just change the minimum topup from $20 to $40 or $60 every 24 or 36 months.

Yeah right!!!! And how long would this thread be then when all those othes users forget 24 or 36mths out to top up an 'important' or 'glovebox' number????

My Father has an alarm system which uses a sim card to text his phone and a number of others if there is a break in. Every year he has the hassle of removing the sim card and finding a vodafone phone and topping up. ...(edit)

There's ways of avoiding this 'hassle' but I guess they cost more than $20 a year... so it depends on what value he's placing on having the service. Or as others have said, simply register the card then do the top-up on line.

Quic Broadband

Move to New Zealand's best fibre broadband service (affiliate link). Free setup code: R587125ERQ6VE. Note that to use Quic Broadband you must be comfortable with configuring your own router.

aw

286 posts

Ultimate Geek

#417721 15-Dec-2010 15:55

Um, does auto topup not get around this problem?

edit: Actually that's a good one for someone from 2degrees to answer: Will auto-topup on a number (assuming it's not against an expired credit card) mean a prepay number will not expire?

2degreesCare

1537 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

2degrees

#417729 15-Dec-2010 16:03

Monthly auto top up would get around this issue. However the catch is that MATU is set to occur every month and currently the minimum top up is $20. It would keep the SIM live but at a bit of expense.

^MD

aw

286 posts

Ultimate Geek

#417768 15-Dec-2010 17:18

Would the normal Auto Top Up (the one that is activated if the balance falls below $2.50) not be triggered if the credit expires then? (your post seems to imply that by omission)

edit: I mean "instant" auto top up - not the one that needs you to reply Y to confirm

2degreesCare

1537 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

2degrees

#417770 15-Dec-2010 17:25

Unfortunately not. The Auto top up is triggered from a service being used to bring the balance below $2.50 as opposed to just a voiding of the balance. This may have been done such as for the case of someone who is no longer using 2degrees may have neglected to remove their Auto top up and expecting for their SIM card to time out of its own accord.

^MD

oxnsox

1923 posts

Uber Geek

#417777 15-Dec-2010 17:56

And that is a good point too.

How many people buy SIMs and let them expire because they know that will happen without them doing anything. Bet there's loads of $2 2deg Sims that have or are about to expire after folk raced out and got one to have a play with, then threw it in the drawer.

greengeek

19 posts

Geek

#417793 15-Dec-2010 18:56

nate:

This is important, but how flexible does a teleco have to be before getting into the ridiculous? Instead of a 5 year expiry, why not make it 50?

You have to draw a line in the sand at some stage, and 365 days of no topping up is ample time.

I agree with you from a hardware point of view, but not from a customer service point of view.

Both of my parents (in their eighties) have mobiles which they keep for emergencies, but neither of them understand that the entire SIM becomes useless after only one year.

One poster on this forum expressed surprise that the sim would go dead, rather than just the credit expiring.

I think it would be reasonable to allow a certain amount of credit to expire after one year (maybe $20? - lets say that is a reasonable "account servicing fee"), but the number should stay active for maybe two years. Or even 18 months. Or maybe if you had $60 prepaid on your sim (as I did when my sim was disconnected) it would not expiry until the money had counted down. ($60 = 3 years X $20).

That would be a reasonable approach to allow for the general busy-ness of people at certain times of the year.

aw

286 posts

Ultimate Geek

#417797 15-Dec-2010 19:08

Where the SIM is in set-and-forget devices like alarm notifiers, backup internet connections, and emergency phones for the elderly (as greengeek says) are valid points - these are all devices where expiry warning texts may not be received, understood and acted on by a person.

Personally I think auto topup on credit expiry would be important for applications like those.

graemeh

2078 posts

Uber Geek

#417956 16-Dec-2010 09:14

aw: Where the SIM is in set-and-forget devices like alarm notifiers, backup internet connections, and emergency phones for the elderly (as greengeek says) are valid points - these are all devices where expiry warning texts may not be received, understood and acted on by a person.

Personally I think auto topup on credit expiry would be important for applications like those.

Does Telecom still have a plan where you can have your mobile put onto your existing Telecom account and you are only charged for usage with a $0 monthly fee? This would seem ideal for this situation.

1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7