Why do plans look to be cheaper for new customers than existing ones?

Forums › 2degrees (including Slingshot, Orcon, Flip, Stuff Fibre, MyRepublic, 2talk and Vocus) › Why do plans look to be cheaper for new customers than existing ones?

Varkk

643 posts

Ultimate Geek
+1 received by user: 477

#197880 16-Jun-2016 11:40

We just found out we can now get VDSL at our place so I went looking to upgrade our plan, but looking at it the price seems to jump up by $10 per month if I am an existing customer. It seems this is due to the free national calling being included in the new sign up price but as an added extra for existing customers.

Here is the costing for choosing the plan directly on the site:

New price img]

And here is the pricing once you log in as an existing customer:

existing price

It doesn't seem to indicate any special new sign up pricing or anything like that s what is the reason for this discrepancy?

bameron

305 posts

Ultimate Geek
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Trusted

2degrees

#1574960 16-Jun-2016 11:57

You'll be on an older generation plan - the plan change wizard you see when you log in will only show you plans available within the generation of plan you already have. You'll be able to get the pricing on our website, you'll just need to call the team on 0800 13 14 15 to get it processed manually. Sorry for the confusion!

Rambaldi

231 posts

Master Geek
+1 received by user: 29

#1574975 16-Jun-2016 12:09

I desperately want to change my plan, paying $30 more than I should compared to the new plans but refuse to deal with the help desk, too many people that are too hard to understand. Sent sounddude a private message but guessing it's not his department so never heard back. New thread this morning about what a nightmare it is to change plans too, I miss FireEngine, he made dealing with Orcon so easy

KrazyKid

1247 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 616

#1575018 16-Jun-2016 13:42

Rambaldi: I desperately want to change my plan, paying $30 more than I should compared to the new plans but refuse to deal with the help desk, too many people that are too hard to understand. Sent sounddude a private message but guessing it's not his department so never heard back. New thread this morning about what a nightmare it is to change plans too, I miss FireEngine, he made dealing with Orcon so easy

I don't understand this - your paying $360 a year for what is probably at worst 2 hours of your life gone.

I'd have changed plans or providers ages ago.

Tell you what for $100 I'll call the help desk for you.

Rambaldi

231 posts

Master Geek
+1 received by user: 29

#1575033 16-Jun-2016 14:15

It's more complicated than that unfortunately. You have to replace your router even though the old one can do the same speeds, nobody can answer whether the new modem has the same functionality and options as the old one (like public dns blocking to access other Netflix regions) you can go up to a week without Internet, you have to sign up for a new contract but don't get the benefits of a new contract like for example a free house move (if I decide to move), that's only offered to new customers supposedly.

Varkk

643 posts

Ultimate Geek
+1 received by user: 477

#1575051 16-Jun-2016 14:31

Two hours? it took about 10 minutes this morning when I rang, most of that was unfortunately waiting on hold for the sales team.

.New plan ordered and hoping for a seamless changeover. Thanks for the clarification about the price differential Bameran.

NonprayingMantis

6434 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 1528

#1575074 16-Jun-2016 15:03

Rambaldi: I desperately want to change my plan, paying $30 more than I should compared to the new plans but refuse to deal with the help desk, too many people that are too hard to understand. Sent sounddude a private message but guessing it's not his department so never heard back. New thread this morning about what a nightmare it is to change plans too, I miss FireEngine, he made dealing with Orcon so easy

at this point, it's probably easier to switch providers.

Switching plans with Orcon requires a new router, entirely new billing setup and even a technician visit. It will takes maybe a week or more to happen/

You could switch to another ISP, take 5 mins signing up online, and be moved across within a day or two. You can even get the sweet incentives they offer - (e.g. Bigpipe does 2 months free if you already have UFB installed)

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DarrenJ

147 posts

Master Geek
+1 received by user: 28

#1575091 16-Jun-2016 15:32

NonprayingMantis:

Rambaldi: I desperately want to change my plan, paying $30 more than I should compared to the new plans but refuse to deal with the help desk, too many people that are too hard to understand. Sent sounddude a private message but guessing it's not his department so never heard back. New thread this morning about what a nightmare it is to change plans too, I miss FireEngine, he made dealing with Orcon so easy

at this point, it's probably easier to switch providers.

Switching plans with Orcon requires a new router, entirely new billing setup and even a technician visit. It will takes maybe a week or more to happen/

You could switch to another ISP, take 5 mins signing up online, and be moved across within a day or two. You can even get the sweet incentives they offer - (e.g. Bigpipe does 2 months free if you already have UFB installed)

having just gone through the upgrade and it's been far from seamless when the work was done, and took over 1.25hrs on phone to the help desk to fix their own mistake.

I agree with the above statement - probably easier to change providers. They locked me into a contract with no incentive, despite telling me I wouldn't be locked into a contract, and have been quite unapologetic about it.

Rambaldi

231 posts

Master Geek
+1 received by user: 29

#1575119 16-Jun-2016 15:54

Any recommendations on where to go? I was looking at my republic but then found here on a diff forum that they don't order much bandwidth so aren't very good during peak. On fibre, and stream 4K regularly so don't want to be with a provider that can't handle that.

bameron

305 posts

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2degrees

#1575138 16-Jun-2016 16:21

NonprayingMantis:

at this point, it's probably easier to switch providers.

Switching plans with Orcon requires a new router, entirely new billing setup and even a technician visit. It will takes maybe a week or more to happen/

I definitely wouldn't go as far as to say it's easier to switch providers.

Depending on the situation, switching plan might involve a new modem and a new billing set up - sure - that's because we've recently upgraded some systems which requires some of this stuff to be set up again. This is a one-off thing, once you're up and running in the new system you'll be golden.

A simple plan change definitely doesn't require a tech visit. If you're upgrading from DSL to UFB, of course there will need to be a tech visit, but UFB > UFB for example won't need one.

DarrenJ

147 posts

Master Geek
+1 received by user: 28

#1575156 16-Jun-2016 16:48

bameron:

NonprayingMantis:

at this point, it's probably easier to switch providers.

Switching plans with Orcon requires a new router, entirely new billing setup and even a technician visit. It will takes maybe a week or more to happen/

A simple plan change definitely doesn't require a tech visit. If you're upgrading from DSL to UFB, of course there will need to be a tech visit, but UFB > UFB for example won't need one.

Not according to the Orcon robot that called me. He was insistent to go from 30/10 to 100/20 a tech needs to be sent out.

Nebbie

458 posts

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#1575539 17-Jun-2016 10:24

DarrenJ:Not according to the Orcon robot that called me. He was insistent to go from 30/10 to 100/20 a tech needs to be sent out.

I think that robot has a Logic error

That's one great thing about Fibre technology is for now when upgrading plans or even chaining providers no tech will need to visit the site.
Not until 10gig GPON arrives for the masses.... not far away sooner than later I think.

Got any issues message on of the Orcon Tagged guys, these guys are good guys and know what they doing.

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Varkk

643 posts

Ultimate Geek
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#1577702 21-Jun-2016 15:26

Just as a follow up apparently while upgrading our cabinet yesterday the Chorus contractor unplugged our pair in the cabinet, then went home as it was 5pm.

VDSL connection is scheduled for Thursday, I am a bit worried as to what damage the contractor will do then.