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I cant beleive how crap the plans are. After being away for a few years and working in the industry here you really see how ripped off Kiwis are by Telecom and Voda. E.g I can get a no contract sim here for £25 (Approx $65NZ) per month, get 700 anytime any network minutes and unlimited anytime any network texts, plus free evening and weekend internet. It will be expensive for me when I get back as I am so used to talkin on my mobile and txtn ALL THE TIME - coz I can here! Such a shame really. If they lowered their rates a bit - people would use their phone more and they would eventually be able to re-structure their plans and make a mint on peoples new habit of using the phone so much. Still, NZ is far more technologically advanced than Europe with Telco stuff but its a shame we have to pay 5X the price for it.
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Posted: 2008-06-26 12:38:29
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@carkitter: I don't know whether you meant to but you kind of confirmed my point there. Us South Islanders seem like an afterthought to the big Auckland-run companies.

@JiSm: I agree, and I think most people will. The plans are crap. I was talking to my mate today who is on a $35 a month plan, but he gets so little in the way of anything that its been costing him over $70 a month for the last several bills. Hes a student too, so hes not exactly rich.

I actually paid my way out of my plan just over a year ago because I found that I didn't need calls much - all I needed was texts and Vodafone offered nothing good. I realised that being on Prepay was actually heaps cheaper and now I pay $16 a month, plus maybe $2-3 for a couple of calls and maybe a few dollars of texts to Telecom phones when I need to. This way I get 2000 texts, Vodafone to Vodafone (TXT 2000 which costs $10), and I can text and call my girlfriend all I like (using Bestmate which costs $6).
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Posted: 2008-06-26 13:46:56
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Its kinda strange really. When I worked for Telecom - The whole "future plan" was to ditch landline (not completely) but have everyone run purely off mobiles - for internet and voice etc. Maybe it was a plan based on CDMA as it really cost them sweet FA to run compared to GSM and the DATA speeds were absolutely incredible, plus there would be no "Unbundling" option for the CDMA network and they could dominate the country - Just like they did with the Landline originally. I wonder if their decision to go GSM has put a spanner in the works and possibly stopped any progression to a truely wireless country? - Well, in a cost-effective sense anyways. I remember seeing the presentation containing a family and ther wireless world. After that I was thinking "Why the hell do we still have landlines now then?" But yea, I might have to talk to some Telecom buddies and find out about that again.
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Posted: 2008-06-26 13:57:57
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Yeah I think I remember seeing some ads about that. Happy rich families with their expensive wireless tech.

I think it may have been delayed more by New Zealanders and their unwillingness to accept newer mobile technology. I believe the average NZ mobile phone user just doesn't give a crap about data speeds or wireless whatever. They just want a phone that can text, take poor quality snaps and call there mum for a lift when they're out late.
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Posted: 2008-06-26 14:08:16
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K770i now available in Black on Vodafone, at the normal price of $399.
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Posted: 2008-06-26 16:01:51
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Kinda stink really. Especially since NZ is a big testing ground for new tech. I wonder if these 5 million extra chinese NZ is due to receive over the next 8 years will help with market and drive prices down. We will see I guess!
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Posted: 2008-06-26 16:46:08
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Well I'm sceptical of the 'Auckland bias' thing, I think you'll find they just run the numbers and find that Vodahug has more market penetration in certain areas and they've started there first.

@Jism
A clearer picture of VodafoneNZ is starting to emerge (well clearer to me anyway, not being on the inside...) alot of the Mobile technology we see overseas is able to generate a bigger financial return faster because of the high concentrations of people in small geographical areas, so Aucklnad comes closest to emulating that. Despite this VodafoneNZ have done fairly well in rolling out 3G and 3.5Gin a timely fashion and have plans already for 4G (LTE) in 2010/11. The plans I guess reflect supply and demand (upping the price restricts demand to manageable levels and minimises complaints) and will no doubt come down because of the iPhone 3G and increased GSM competition. Time will tell... November will be interesting indeed and my 24 month plan ends 5 March 2009 so early-renewal becomes an option from this Sept.

VodafoneNZ seems to take its cue from VodaUK - adopting the Vodafone Family plan is one instance - there was talk in 2006 of being able to bill mobiles at landline rates when at/close to home using the cell towers to triangulate your position, but nothing seems to have come of it yet although I see that technology has arrived in the UK already. At the end of the day, everything is governed by how Vodafone can generate revenue which is fair enough I suppose as they aren't a charity.

The government and the opposition have anounced plans to invest in Broadband infrastucture but mostly in fibre-optic not wireless, and even Vodafone have signalled that wireless alone is not enough to be a major player in the NZ telecommunications market with thier purchase of iHug, so I guess 'unplugged users' like myself will continue to be marginalised for the forseeable future. By the time that LTE's successor is rolled out, NZ could have 'Fibre to the home' in many urban areas and a second trans-Tasman internet cable which will speed things up significantly.

BTW, did you know that because of a lack of interconnect agreement, that all local internet traffic gets routed offshore and back again? If I can find it, I post a link to the article I read...
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Posted: 2008-06-26 23:49:40
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That will a good thing... Im kinda used to my 20mb Cable connection now... haha! Yea, def post a link if you find it.


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Posted: 2008-06-27 22:49:15
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Anyone watching C4 tonight? Uchoose 40 topic is 'dripping with cheese'

They just played Kylie Minogues Locomotion and Micheal Jackson's You are not alone, but it was Bette Midler's Wind beneath my wings that prompted my wife to switch channels...
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Posted: 2008-06-28 11:20:01
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#7 Ab man Peter Andre's 'Mysterious Girl'. Always liked that song actually...

...and MMMbop by Hanson #6. That song is addictive.

#5 Right Said Fred - I'm too sexy... That's a classic party song!

#4 Nsync - Bye bye bye

#3 David Hasselhoff - Jump in my car Now thats just creepy that song...

#2 Vanilla Ice - Ice, ice baby Don't mind that actually but he's no Eminem... :lol

and #1 is...
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Aqua - Barbie Girl I never saw it coming but quite appropriate IMO.

A pleasant interlude to lighten the mood around here.
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[ This Message was edited by: carkitter on 2008-06-28 12:25 ]
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Posted: 2008-06-28 12:59:34
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