Slingshots Front Up! Are applauding or sceptical?

Forums › 2degrees (including Slingshot, Orcon, Flip, Stuff Fibre, MyRepublic, 2talk and Vocus) › Slingshots Front Up! Are applauding or sceptical?

gnfb

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#151456 26-Aug-2014 09:05

http://frontup.co.nz/

Is a ? what ? ploy ? concept? smart piece of marketing ?

Or am I being to cynical maybe they really do want to strike a blow in the belly of capitalism! (Wow that sounded cool!)

If they have some sort of follow up team that might show their commitment. Although I cant see there Exec team getting invited to many leader conferences in the future!

Mind you with the corporate colors being red maybe they are trying to keep the red flag flying !

Good Idea? waste of time? Thoughts

Is an English Man living in New Zealand. Not a writer, an Observer he says. Graham is a seasoned 'traveler" with his sometimes arrogant, but honest opinion on life. He loves the Internet!.

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#1115659 26-Aug-2014 09:10

So far to me it seems like just more marketing, I will be interested to see where they're going with it though.

I will say if they're really wanting to be unbiased, they should be either providing responses from non-associated third parties, or at least multiple involved parties, instead of just themselves going "Hurr durr Chorus & Telecom take our money! Herpaderp!". To me it's a clear conflict of interest to try and present it as 'exposing the facts' when it's really just 'we're trying to whinge about pricing'. Please note I am specifically referring to the broadband page here, as it is the only one I can find that has a 'response'.

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robjg63

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#1115669 26-Aug-2014 09:31

I have always been amazed when I am overseas that generally dairy products seem to be cheaper in Europe than here.
We are supposed to be a super efficient dairy producer but the price we pay here is very high.

Dont know if Slingshot is serious about the page - but Kiwis are notoriously unlikely to ever rock the boat when annoyed - probably the reason we stung with crazy prices - we just put up with it.

Nothing is impossible for the man who doesn't have to do it himself - A. H. Weiler

NonprayingMantis

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#1115679 26-Aug-2014 09:34

Inphinity: So far to me it seems like just more marketing, I will be interested to see where they're going with it though.

I will say if they're really wanting to be unbiased, they should be either providing responses from non-associated third parties, or at least multiple involved parties, instead of just themselves going "Hurr durr Chorus & Telecom take our money! Herpaderp!". To me it's a clear conflict of interest to try and present it as 'exposing the facts' when it's really just 'we're trying to whinge about pricing'. Please note I am specifically referring to the broadband page here, as it is the only one I can find that has a 'response'.

especially when the numbers don't even seem correct.

- The closest comparable unlimited broadband with homeline I believe is actually Flip, at $85, not Slingshot at $89. (ironically, owned by the same company, Calplus, but somehow 'forgotten').
ETA: come to think of it, woosh actually do unlimited+home phone for $75.

- Slingshot were 'asked' specifically about the comparison with their unlimited data plan, but for some reason chose to respond about their entry level loss leader product.

- the 'average homeline cost' to Spark (not Telecom - this was published after the name change, so they should get it right) seems unusually high. I'm quite sure it costs a lot less than that for a wholesale POTs line, considering the Retail price Spark charges is $46. There is no way Slingshot is paying $48.45 for a wholesale version of that.

- I can't find any BT homeline+unlimited broadband as low as 21GBP. closest I can find is 24GBP (8GBP for the broadband, 16GBP for the landline), and even that is a special short term offer, so shouldn't be compared to the slingshot standard pricing.
The standard pricing for BT seems to be 21GBP+15GBP for landline = 36GBP per month, about 75NZD)
http://www.productsandservices.bt.com/products/broadband/packages

- finally, the biggest question of all. Why are they including homeline in the comparison at all? The question is about broadband, not home phones. They should be comparing naked broadband prices, not broadband+homephone

charsleysa

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#1115686 26-Aug-2014 09:46

I would like to think they are serious with all the different companies and questions and such.
I don't really see how it this could be much of a marketing campaign for them since the only trace of slingshot I could see was the little "brought to you by slingshot global mode".

Regards
Stefan Andres Charsley

wellygary

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#1115688 26-Aug-2014 09:49

robjg63: I have always been amazed when I am overseas that generally dairy products seem to be cheaper in Europe than here.
We are supposed to be a super efficient dairy producer but the price we pay here is very high.

NZ dairy production is cheaper than Europe, its the 30 billion Euro in CAP subsidies that help keep food prices to consumers lower in Europe.-

And that simply highlights the fallacy about many of the points they raise,

"Starbucks is cheaper in the US than here" Well it probably is, but the US doesn't have the same Minimum wage and holiday laws as NZ, they dont have free hospital care either,

Edit: spelling

NonprayingMantis

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#1115692 26-Aug-2014 09:54

charsleysa: I would like to think they are serious with all the different companies and questions and such.
I don't really see how it this could be much of a marketing campaign for them since the only trace of slingshot I could see was the little "brought to you by slingshot global mode".

I'm sure we'll find out more soon. since it's global mode specifically , rather than just Slingshot, They'll probably make a big thing about content pricing here vs overseas, and then the publicity machine will start rolling.

Maybe they will try and play on the coat tails of Spark's Lightbox marketing, by 'asking' why Lightbox is so much more expensive than Netflix etc.

trig42

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#1115699 26-Aug-2014 10:07

NonprayingMantis:
charsleysa: I would like to think they are serious with all the different companies and questions and such.
I don't really see how it this could be much of a marketing campaign for them since the only trace of slingshot I could see was the little "brought to you by slingshot global mode".

I'm sure we'll find out more soon. since it's global mode specifically , rather than just Slingshot, They'll probably make a big thing about content pricing here vs overseas, and then the publicity machine will start rolling.

Maybe they will try and play on the coat tails of Spark's Lightbox marketing, by 'asking' why Lightbox is so much more expensive than Netflix etc.

But Lightbox isn't much more expensive than Netflix is it?
Didn't NF put their prices up recently (for multi-device streaming)?

Geektastic

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#1115703 26-Aug-2014 10:15

The idea is good - I for one would love to see some answers from these people as to why their products cost so much more here. (as an aside - dairy prices falling world-wide. We are told that we pay so much because that is the world price - anyone seen dairy costs in New World falling? No? Thought not!)

Some of the margins are an absolute disgrace and holding the companies to public scrutiny may help change that. EG Nike shoes at 100%+ markup compared to USA.

sbiddle

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#1115711 26-Aug-2014 10:29

The site fails to factor in some pretty important things such as US sales tax which they conveniently ignore.

It also ignores that US broadband is absolute rubbish - I don't think NZers realise how fantastic it is to have 100Mbps unlimited UFB plans that will deliver far better performance than many US users, at a price that's better than many US users will pay.

gnfb

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#1115712 26-Aug-2014 10:29

There is obviously so much that can be siad and argued on the matter, its endless.

As i have siad before it not only overseas pricing but local to. That comes back , largely , to population and location.

We have a limited market here which means lack of alternatives which creates monopolies at worst or duopolies which are only slightly better. (of course if you own them they are great!)

TradeMe would be and obvious case in point.

The consumer is not exempt from blame either. They should accept responsibility every time they pay there bills without question.

Oh its a tangled web life leads us down!

Is an English Man living in New Zealand. Not a writer, an Observer he says. Graham is a seasoned 'traveler" with his sometimes arrogant, but honest opinion on life. He loves the Internet!.

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Geektastic

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#1115714 26-Aug-2014 10:31

sbiddle: The site fails to factor in some pretty important things such as US sales tax which they conveniently ignore.

It also ignores that US broadband is absolute rubbish - I don't think NZers realise how fantastic it is to have 100Mbps unlimited UFB plans that will deliver far better performance than many US users, at a price that's better than many US users will pay.

Of course many of us can only dream of 100 Mbps plans!!

charsleysa

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#1115720 26-Aug-2014 10:40

sbiddle: The site fails to factor in some pretty important thing such as US sales tax which they conveniently ignore.

It also ignores that US broadband is absolute rubbish & nbsp;- I don't think NZers realise how fantastic it is to have 100Mbps unlimited UFB plans that will deliver far better performance than many US users, at a price that's better than many US users will pay.

Would be nice if I could actually use 100Mbps unlimited UFB plans but can't since you know, no fibre available in my area for another few years. Touting how amazing 100Mbps fibre is doesn't really compare to having a monopoly which really doesn't give a crap.

Regards
Stefan Andres Charsley

PhantomNVD

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#1115733 26-Aug-2014 10:51

Geektastic:
sbiddle: The site fails to factor in some pretty important things such as US sales tax which they conveniently ignore.

It also ignores that US broadband is absolute rubbish - I don't think NZers realise how fantastic it is to have 100Mbps unlimited UFB plans that will deliver far better performance than many US users, at a price that's better than many US users will pay.

Of course many of us can only dream of 100 Mbps plans!!

and some still dream of having even a 5Mb/s plan without a cap too :)

NonprayingMantis

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#1115746 26-Aug-2014 10:58

trig42:
NonprayingMantis:
charsleysa: I would like to think they are serious with all the different companies and questions and such.
I don't really see how it this could be much of a marketing campaign for them since the only trace of slingshot I could see was the little "brought to you by slingshot global mode".

I'm sure we'll find out more soon. since it's global mode specifically , rather than just Slingshot, They'll probably make a big thing about content pricing here vs overseas, and then the publicity machine will start rolling.

Maybe they will try and play on the coat tails of Spark's Lightbox marketing, by 'asking' why Lightbox is so much more expensive than Netflix etc.

But Lightbox isn't much more expensive than Netflix is it?
Didn't NF put their prices up recently (for multi-device streaming)?

Netflix is $9US per month. (about 11NZD) Lightbox is $15NZD.

If you ignore GST (which I'm sure they will) then $4 still isn't much, but they could also claim "Lightbox is 35% more expensive than Netflix, and doesn't even include movies OMG!!!111!!!"

loceff13

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#1115784 26-Aug-2014 11:35

marketing noise imo, when they get a interesting reply they will distribute it to be published with a slingshot name drop and then it's free marketing/awareness of their brand.

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