Any reason I wasn't moved to the $53 unlimited plan other than it's the norm?

Forums › 2degrees (including Slingshot, Orcon, Flip, Stuff Fibre, MyRepublic, 2talk and Vocus) › Any reason I wasn't moved to the $53 unlimited plan other than it's the norm?

Nil Einne

469 posts

Ultimate Geek

#157375 29-Nov-2014 09:28

Hi,

This questions is somewhat similar to the now closed thread "Overcharged by Slingshot for months - warning to existing customers" except that I have a different intention (and for that reason I didn't ask for the thread to be reopened). I don't wish to complain or discuss whether this is a good or bad thing, or how common it is. I just want to understand if there's a reason in my case beyond the fact it's the way things are normally done.

I'm still on the $80 AYCE plan, basically an unbundled unlimited plan. This isn't naked DSL, but the unbundled broadband only price as I had my homeline and tolls with another provider (long reasons I won't go in to). Because of the upcoming changes, I was looking in to what to do. One thing I noticed is that if Slingshot is correct, I'm actually going to be paying less, next month $75 instead of $80.

Looking around a bit more it seems like they've had a $53 unbundled unlimited plan for people with their homeline (and as far as I can tell, tolls) with another provider which wasn't a promo or anything. I don't know how long it's existed since I don't think Slingshot actually advertised it much if as they've been trying to get people on bundled plans only but I wonder if it came about at around the same time the bundled unlimited moved to $89 in May.

Anyway my question is whether there's a reason I wasn't moved other than me being grandfathered on AYCE and it was the way things are done. I understand as mentioned in the earlier thread that these plan changes sometimes come with new new limits or other terms and conditions changes which means they're not definitely better, so people may want to stay on them. (In the other case, iTalk wasn't bundled anymore.) Wondering if that was the case here. I seem to recall someone (ScottR?) saying in the only Slingshot forums that they would generally move people if there was no disadvantage but I do understand there's no guarantee and SS isn't the only one to do this. (And for this sort of complicated question, I wasn't sure SS support is the best bet.)

In my case, the only difference between new and old I can think of is my old plan seems to be quite heavily shaped. Well it didn't used to be so bad, but it's definitely been for the past few months as I found from my own testing. I don't think this is just the prioritisation since P2P stuff can be very very slow even at offpeak times. (Actually that was one of the recent changes, it seemed to become bad even at offpeak times.) I guess similar to the Unlimited One plan although I'm on the AYCE plan which preceeded all those. Now this sounds like it's a disadvantage but depending on how they manage the traffic pools I guess it could be better for some use cases.

Cheers

tripp

3848 posts

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#1187726 3-Dec-2014 10:10

I don't see why you keep coming on here and "warning" or "demanding" answer about your account and charging.

It's your job to make sure you are on the right plan for your needs, slingshot makes an agreement with you at time of signing a contractor or putting you on a plan they agree to supply a server at x amount of money each month.
As they are still supplying you the server at the agreed amount then they don't have to tell you or move you to a cheaper plan if/when one comes out as that is not part of the agreement.

If i was you however I would be moving your adsl/vdsl and phone to the same company otherwise you may be hit with 2 line charges soon.

NZCrusader

646 posts

Ultimate Geek

#1187861 3-Dec-2014 11:42

Best option is just to bundle with one provider.

Billing is easier.
Its cheaper.

Furthermore as mrtoken says, with subscription services, it is up to you to determine what plan you are on.
ISPs generally do not move users off grandfathered plans (see the complains VF has got for moving users off 200/50 -> 200/20) unless the grandfathered plan is being retired completely.

Some providers have options for you to receive offers via email and there are plenty of ads on TV / radio / social media etc.

Abundance of opportunities to see the latest deals etc.

NZ / AU Battlefield 4 Gaming Community
http://www.sonsofvalour.net/forums/forum.php

Handsomedan

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#1187871 3-Dec-2014 11:56

I was on the unlimited plan of $53.00 per month and got a letter stating it was going up tp $75.00.

I changed to the $89.00 plan that includes home line.

The $53.00 doesn't exist anymore, as far as I know.

Handsome Dan Has Spoken.
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Handsome Dan does not currently have a side hustle as the mascot for Yale

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Nil Einne

469 posts

Ultimate Geek

#1188094 3-Dec-2014 16:33

A few points:

1) This is the first time I've raised the issue, so I'm not sure what people mean "keep coming on here".

2) I'll just re-iterate I'm not questioning the right of Slingshot to not change me off the plan, I'm simply asking if they actually have a reason for not doing so. In particular, my primary question is if there was actually any disadvantage to new plans. As I mentioned while ISPs have the right to keep you on grandfathered old plans in any case, it's much more understandable if the new plan is potentially worse in some way like if it lacks free iTalk (previous example) or is slower (200/50 > 200/20). And just to repeat I'm not saying ISPs don't have the right even in cases when it's not worse in any way, just saying it's much more understandable.

3) I'm well aware the $53 plan is disappearing, as mentioned, the fact I'm being moved from a $80 plan to a cheaper $75 plan is what made my realise my plan is much more expensive then what's been available for a few months (which is now being removed due to the Chorus pricing changes).

4) I'm planning to move to VDSL now either with a bundle or a VoIP line, the reasons I was unbundled in the past are complicated and I won't go in to them since they don't really matter to my question.

5) I didn't mention before but I am actually signed up for Slingshots promotional emails. But I checked again and I can't find any informing me of the cheaper plans. Instead I have stuff like them offering me A 5/55" TV or a BBQ for competitions, voting for them etc. (I did receive an email informing me of their new mobile plans.) I didn't mention any of this before because I didn't want to distract from my point since a I'm not complaining about Slingshot not changing me or informing me, I'm simply asking if there's a reason besides the fact that I was grandfather and they don't have to.

6) While of course people are welcome to post whatever they want, I would prefer answers relating to whether or not there was any disadvantage (or even difference besides price) of the $53 plan versus my old AYCH plan. (So far all I have is the possible shaping/user traffic group issue.) In my opinion, stuff relating to whether or not Slingshot should have moved me has already been dealt with to death in the thread by the other poster so isn't a fruitful line of discussion. Perhaps people could ask for the old thread to be reopened if they wish to continue that discussion? As I sort of indicated in my first post, I opened a new thread to try and avoid it being taken over by that sort of stuff.

RunningMan

8953 posts

Uber Geek

#1188139 3-Dec-2014 18:02

Nil Einne: [snip] I'll just re-iterate I'm not questioning the right of Slingshot to not change me off the plan, I'm simply asking if they actually have a reason for not doing so.

Have you asked Slingshot directly, or just here? This is something that really only your ISP can answer - anyone else is most likely just going to be speculating.