Orcon's new vdsl unlimited plan is $110...I'm paying $119 for the same thing

Forums › 2degrees (including Slingshot, Orcon, Flip, Stuff Fibre, MyRepublic, 2talk and Vocus) › Orcon's new vdsl unlimited plan is $110...I'm paying $119 for the same thing

Snackos

243 posts

Master Geek

#165607 14-Feb-2015 23:19

But the customer rep says I cannot get the new price unless I enter into yet another 12 month contract.

It seems to me that you're forced into a new contract at Orcon for almost anything. Is this standard practice at all ISP's?

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6434 posts

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#1239179 14-Feb-2015 23:38

it standard practice at some ISPs.

If you dislike the practice, the best way to show your displeasure is to move to an ISP that doesn't do this.

nakedmolerat

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#1239196 15-Feb-2015 00:31

As above, it is a standard practise for almost every company.

If you don't like it, move to companies that has no term contract.

mattwnz

20164 posts

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#1239197 15-Feb-2015 00:32

Is it an identical plan in all ways. If so, you should ask why you are paying more, than the advertised rate for that plan. I suspect it will have slight differences, as that way they can call it something else, and call it a grandfathered plan to justify the price difference.

Snackos

243 posts

Master Geek

#1240311 16-Feb-2015 19:32

Hmmm..Spark are offering unlimited vdsl with phone for $109 + $100 credit + 12 months lightbox sub.

If I'm going to go onto a contract again I may as well just go there. Unless Spark do traffic shaping? Actually knowing them I guess they do

hio77

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Lizard Networks

#1240313 16-Feb-2015 19:35

Snackos: Hmmm..Spark are offering unlimited vdsl with phone for $109 + $100 credit + 12 months lightbox sub.

If I'm going to go onto a contract again I may as well just go there. Unless Spark do traffic shaping? Actually knowing them I guess they do

Spark dont, their traffic shaping clause they had on the unlimited plan just encase was removed.

#include <std_disclaimer>

Any comments made are personal opinion and do not reflect directly on the position my current or past employers may have.

Jase2985

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#1240314 16-Feb-2015 19:35

no they dont do shaping

richms

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#1240315 16-Feb-2015 19:35

Spark unlimited VDSL is great when I have used it at friends places. Or you could look at bigpipe which is also great.

Perhaps if they start to see people leave they may change their mind about term contracts when there is no installation cost to recover?

Richard rich.ms

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toejam316

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#1240388 16-Feb-2015 20:36

Exact reason I'm with MyRepublic now - I was given the generous offer of a 12 month contract to save $9, a whopping $117 value!

Meanwhile, swapping to MyRepublic scored me 3 months free, a router (of my own, not the ISPs), and $20 off what I was paying Orcon.

Their customer retention is not good.

Anything I say is the ramblings of an ill informed, opinionated so-and-so, and not representative of any of my past, present or future employers, and is also probably best disregarded.

Handle9

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#1240460 16-Feb-2015 22:06

It is not standard practice at most ISPs, just a few of them. Orcon will come on and try and pass it off as guaranteeing their pricing as they have to buy bandwidth in advance or some other nonsense.

IMO it's an attempt at lockin which makes a mockery of their advertising but that's just my opinion.

Nebbie

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#1240662 17-Feb-2015 10:38

mattwnz: Is it an identical plan in all ways. If so, you should ask why you are paying more, than the advertised rate for that plan. I suspect it will have slight differences, as that way they can call it something else, and call it a grandfathered plan to justify the price difference.

The answer to this will most likely be: Your old plan is the VDSL Unlimited Plan this costs $119 per month it comes with X & X for free, However the new plan for $110 is called "Ultra Fast VDSL" and comes with new features like global mode and requires a new contract.

My point is sometimes people only look at the connection its self and never add any value to any of the free features like email, global mode, free web hosting etc.

My suggestion to the problem would be send some feedback via email suggesting your concerns and why you believe you should have to enter a contract, I assure you that NO ISP will just dump this in the rubish all forms of feedback is valuable and I'm sure Orcon will agree.

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Nebukadnessar

deadlyllama

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#1240670 17-Feb-2015 10:49

toejam316: Exact reason I'm with MyRepublic now - I was given the generous offer of a 12 month contract to save $9, a whopping $117 value! Meanwhile, swapping to MyRepublic scored me 3 months free, a router (of my own, not the ISPs), and $20 off what I was paying Orcon. Their customer retention is not good.

I had an ... interesting experience with retention at Orcon when I switched to MyRepublic. They will offer you free features (static IP, tolls, etc) but can't reduce the base price of the plan. I got offered what sounded like a discounted base plan but it turned out they were offering me a capped plan to replace my unlimited plan. Their replacement offer was also something they couldn't do (unlimited + free static IP) and eventually I gave up after several calls back of "oh, sorry, that thing you just agreed to a new 12 month contract for is something we can't supply."

Snackos

243 posts

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#1240809 17-Feb-2015 13:06

Anyone have any problems switching to a new ISP? Hitches? Delays etc?

toejam316

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#1240836 17-Feb-2015 13:42

Depends on how you switch. If you stick with VDSL and give Orcon their 30 days notice, if you go to another provider for VDSL I imagine it'll be about as seamless as you can get. Going to Fibre or something else could be more interesting.
Can't hurt to try.

Anything I say is the ramblings of an ill informed, opinionated so-and-so, and not representative of any of my past, present or future employers, and is also probably best disregarded.

richms

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#1240840 17-Feb-2015 13:48

We only hear of the stuffups on the forums. Every day many many people sucessfully change ISP without issue.

Give orcon your 30 days and schedule the new ISP to change over in about 25 days or so. If you have a phone number that you want to keep you will need to port it over to 2talk or someone on the same day that the naked internet is supposed to go live. They let you choose a date but it has to be ages away. No same day porting like with mobiles.

Richard rich.ms

scuwp

3885 posts

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#1240869 17-Feb-2015 14:28

I have always stood by the recommendation when changing ISP's...do not under any circumstances contact the company you are leaving, at least not until the new service is up and running. The problems always seem to start when the 'old' company become involved. Sign up to the new company, and leave them to manage the change.

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