Posted by carkitter
On 2009-07-24 04:57:15, Muhammad-Oli wrote:
...the proud owner of a W508a on XT...
Hmmm... aren't you on Vodafone Prepay and Bestmate? Calling/txting her will cost you a lot more unless you're about to announce that you're going to Vodafone On Account or XT. Got your eye on a W995?
Congrats on the W508a. I miss having a recent
phone.
Posted by Muhammad-Oli
Not quite, carkitter.
My girlfriend has her K770i on Vodafonbe which she uses to text me. Then she has a Telecom phone for all her friends, etc. She had an old Sanyo which was getting a bit beyond it, so I updated her to the W508a, which she had her eye on.
Still tempted by the W995 a bit, but I think I'll wait for Aino.
Posted by yea g
2degrees will launch on Wed 5 August at 9am. Services, prices and handsets announced day prior at press preview in Auckland
Source: Twitter
Posted by Muhammad-Oli
Awesome, I can't wait to see their handsets. Come oooon Aino.
Posted by yea g
They don't really seem to be aimed at smartphone users atm, not having 3g support is probably the main reson I say this. Anyway, I would hope somesone gets satio around when it comes out. I hate having to import phones
Posted by Muhammad-Oli
Yeah so am I. I will always import over buying a Vodafone phone with that horrible branding, but the Telecom branding is fine (only really a couple of links) and I assume 2degrees will be sweet. I hope either Telecom or 2degrees (preferably the latter) get Aino and Satio. Really sold on Aino at the moment, despite my first impressions.
Posted by Muhammad-Oli
Woohoo! At about quarter to 10pm tonight I became an uncle! My nephew is named Joseph and had a troubled birth but he and his mother are now ok.
Posted by frankthetank
Congrats!
Posted by carkitter
Congrats Uncle Oli!
I'm sure 2Degrees' initial handsets will be at the lower to mid range. They will likely steal away most of Telecom's $10txt market and some of Voda's prepay customers; most likely the people who are sick of having two phones. 2Degrees new CEO has said that "this is a marathon not a sprint" so expect to see their offerings come out in stages, starting with the low end.
XT is a premium service and Telecom won't be able to migrate most of it's CDMA customer base without dropping prices for everybody - XT is about getting high ARPU just as Vodafone does with it's customers. 2Degrees will snap up this low-end market who are aware that CDMA is going to be shutdown just as 025 was shutdown. I predict 2Degrees will be more of a threat to Telecom than Vodafone. Incidentally, Vodafone have released a new $18 On-Account plan:
If you want an easy plan that's simple, has lots of benefits and offers fantastic value then Easy 20 is a great option.
If you're moving to Vodafone or switching from Prepay you can also keep your existing mobile number.
Includes
20 anytime minutes - 20 national anytime minutes per month.
60 Nights & Weekends minutes - 60 Nights & Weekends minutes per month.
40 included TXTs - Send up to 40 TXTs to any NZ mobile while in NZ every month.
10 PXTs - Send 10 PXTS per month to any NZ mobile
Broadband Lite (100MB) FREE for 3mths - Get free internet (100MB per month) on your mobile for 3 months. If you use more than 100MB in a month, extra data will cost just $0.10 per MB.
Other Charges
Additional Calls - Once your included minutes have been used, National Night & Weekend voice and video calls cost $0.49 per minute. National Daytime calls cost $0.99 per minute
Additional TXTs - $0.20 per TXT message sent.
International calls - Night & Weekend calls to Australia, Canada, Ireland, UK & USA cost $0.49 per minute, daytime calls cost $1.39 per minute. Night & Weekend calls to Europe, Asia, Fiji and Africa cost $1.39 per minute, daytime calls cost $1.99 a minute.
PXT Messaging - $0.20 per PXT sent to a Vodafone mobile in NZ, $0.50 per PXT sent to other mobiles in NZ or Australia, $1.50 per PXT sent to the rest of the world.
Voicemail access - To access your voicemail messages will cost $0.20 each time.
[ This Message was edited by: carkitter on 2009-07-29 03:49 ]
Posted by yea g
Oh. My. God. 40 texts and 20 minutes for $18?!?!? Best deal, ever!
Posted by Muhammad-Oli
^^^ Not sure if that's supposed to be sarcasm.
It's an ok deal. At least they're doing a cheap plan, but once again they're not aiming at text messagers. Still if I was starting out on a new plan, I'd go for that one I guess.
And thanks for the congratulations guys. Held him today. It was awesome.
Posted by carkitter
I use less than 40 txt per month. The reason is that I MAKE CALLS!
And send emails too.
If you want more txt then add on's would allow that. What would 20 mins of calls cost you on prepay yea g?
For anyone on Esato who knows a bit about phones, I'd recommend the iPhone plan. At least for your 2 yr commitment you get a decent subsidy and data bundled in. And the knowledge that XT and Vodafone are fighting tooth and nail over whose network you sign up to!
[ This Message was edited by: carkitter on 2009-07-30 03:58 ]
Posted by 198747
HELLO EVERYBODY
This message was posted from a WAP device
Posted by soane28
congrats oli for bieng an uncle now! Gotta be good and show the young one how to behave
Still want to know 2 degrees deals. That new vodafone deal is ok for the simple user but ill stick with my contract until 2 degrees offer something better. And thats if they do.
Posted by carkitter
I took the plunge and installed another 1GB of DDR2 RAM on the Vaio today. Big improvement as you would expect.
Posted by Muhammad-Oli
The iPhone plan is great if you have that much income to spend on mobile phone usage. But us poorer folk just have to live in hope that they'll bring some decent data plans out at a lower cost.
20 minutes of calls on prepay is about $18 but depends on who you call I think.
Posted by carkitter
$40 per month = "...that much income" ??? Prior to the iPhone I was paying $130+ per month.
Have you seen the cost of Sky TV lately?
I knew someone who ran up a bill of $3,000+ with Vodafone in a month once...
Posted by carkitter
Vodafone demonstrates 21Mbps Mobile Broadband today. Test topped out at 19.2Mbps -expect 7Mbps on average.
Vodafone may skip 42Mbps and go straight to LTE.
Worth the cost yet?
Posted by Muhammad-Oli
On 2009-07-31 11:21:59, carkitter wrote:
$40 per month = "...that much income" ??? Prior to the iPhone I was paying $130+ per month.
Have you seen the cost of Sky TV lately?
I knew someone who ran up a bill of $3,000+ with Vodafone in a month once...
Well ok. I was thinking of the more expensive iPhone plans.
Posted by simomed
Hi guys. :)
This message was posted from a WAP device
Posted by yea g
I'm really tempted to wag school and go to the 2degrees announcement on tuesday at 9am
. I wonder what time the bus gets to queen street... 
Posted by frankthetank
Has anyone tried to use a C702 on XT? Is it possible? There are conflicting stories so I'd like a definitive answer
Posted by Muhammad-Oli
God damn Asia Pacific forum is full of these WAP hackers now. It's beginning to annoy me. They post in any thread that gets bumped to the top of the Asia Pacific section. I think that because they are on a limited mobile phone browser, they can't see that there is a wider and mature forum which they are messing up.
Anyways, frankthetank... XT is 850Mhz, and the C702 according to SE uses GSM/GPRS/EDGE 850/900/1800/1900. So to me that says that it should work. However I still wouldn't be 100% sure. Perhaps carkitter can clarify...
Posted by carkitter
XT uses 850MHz UMTS/HSDPA so is only compatible with SE's 'a' models. XT have chosen not to use any GSM/GPRS/EDGE frequencies. However...
Of the 950+ celltowers XT has across the country, about a dozen of them are 2100MHz UMTS/HSDPA compatible to add extra capacity in high volume areas so give it a try; as they say "You never know your luck in the big city."
I would recommend only buying 850MHz/2100MHz 'a' phones unles you want to access Vodafone's rural 900MHz 3G signal on a regular basis, that way you can swap between 3 SIM's - XT, Voda and 2Degrees.
Posted by brix25
I need to educate myself on the mobile networks you guys have in NZ, Last time I checked, I hadn't heard about XT and 2Degrees. Wiki FTW!!
Posted by carkitter
@brix25
If you want to know about the major changes to NZ's telecommunications industry such as new networks and Virtual Mobile Network Operators then keep an eye on this thread: The great New Zealand telecommunications battle. I try to keep it up to date.
I know you guys don't believe me
but I really do think that the iPhone 40 plan is the best value plan in NZ right now. I was keen enough on it in October last year to sign up, but look what you get at the moment.
A 16GB iPhone 3G for $499 $200 less than I paid for my 8GB last year. That's a $650 subsidy from last years prices.
(or a 16GB 3G s for the same $699 I paid last year - $480 subsidy)
20 anytime minutes (yes, I'd like more too but there it is)
100 txt (more than enough for me)
1000 pxt for a limited time
250MB data extended to 3.25GB for a limited time and yes, you can use this data for tethering the iPhone to your laptop.
All for only $40 per month.
Plus all the normal add-ons apply - Bestmate(s), TXT2000, Vodafone Family, but not Localzone which my wife uses.
The $60 plan adds 40 more mins, 100 more txt, cheaper calls outside of the plan, and $50 extra subsidy on the 3G s models. Bear in mind that AT&T's cheapest iPhone plan is USD$80.00
If you're not on Prepay you really should be on iPhone 40. I hope Vodafone keeps the 3GB data going after 30th Sept because this is a better option for my laptop than the horribly restricted student wifi at Unitec. 5kbps downloads anyone?
[ This Message was edited by: carkitter on 2009-08-03 00:20 ]
Posted by Muhammad-Oli
Well I'll give you this:
That iPhone plan sounds great with the limited time features.
Otherwise in my opinion they don't quite give you enough of anything. If they keep the 3gb and the pxts, then I might even consider it.
[ This Message was edited by: Muhammad-Oli on 2009-08-03 02:33 ]
Posted by carkitter
Well my advice to other VodafoneNZ iPhone owners is: Use it or Lose it!
We've been telling Vodafone to give us more data and they said 250MB is enough for anyone especially when wifi is available. Now is our chance to prove otherwise.
Are iPhone owners more likely to tether our devices than other smartphone/dumbphone owners?
Are we gonna send more PXT than other phone owners?
I think iPhone owners use their phones for more non-calling/txt functions than other phone owners on average. Let's show them we want keep what they've given us - USE IT TO THE MAX, PEOPLE!!!
Posted by Muhammad-Oli
Good call. You definitely need to show Vodafone what's what. But I get the feeling you'll need to spread the word elsewhere too, because Esato's NZ member group is tiny, and I believe you're the only iPhone user so far. You're a member on the VF forums right? I hope you've told them the same!
Posted by markphil
Muhammad oli sounds like a muslim name?
Posted by yea g
wow, I didn't even know our phones could do this:
Just added 2degrees on my rss feeder so I can follow the press release tomorrow
Posted by Muhammad-Oli
On 2009-08-03 07:41:26, markphil wrote:
Muhammad oli sounds like a muslim name?
No.
Posted by yea g
On 2009-08-02 13:11:40, Muhammad-Oli wrote:
God damn Asia Pacific forum is full of these WAP hackers now. It's beginning to annoy me. They post in any thread that gets bumped to the top of the Asia Pacific section. I think that because they are on a limited mobile phone browser, they can't see that there is a wider and mature forum which they are messing up.
Well now you see why I used to always pm masseur and get him to remove them. Why do they even bother posting if they do not live in New Zealand, and have no contribution to this thread whatsoever! Its really annoying aswell the amount of free wap threads they have, it would make much more sense to compress them into maybe 1 thread per operator, or maybe just one whole thread with info on the first page. </rant>
[ This Message was edited by: yea g on 2009-08-03 08:06 ]
Posted by Muhammad-Oli
Yeah I agree. It has been annoying me for a long time now.
Some of their threads are ridiculous. Like they'll be called "talk ab0ut ph0nez" and you go in and all they're doing is congratulating each other on the creation of another thread...
Posted by lel0uch
I will never ever going to buy a new zealand product anymore tiny country full of cows MOOoooo....
Posted by Muhammad-Oli
I'm sorry to hear your impression of New Zealand is so immature and misinformed. Don't worry, our economy will survive without you.
Posted by carkitter
On 2009-08-03 07:41:26, markphil wrote:
Muhammad oli sounds like a muslim name?
Sounds like the name of the greatest boxer of all-time, no? Yes?
@all
Did you see the thread about the most well known Esato members? I'd never heard of any of the nominees and Ive been here for 4yrs. These bludgers have no idea.
I emailed Maroc Telecom about the free WAP loop hole they're using and the trouble their causing. Perhaps I should email some providers in the Philipines too.
Posted by carkitter
My 2 Degrees SIM has arrived!
Posted by Muhammad-Oli
@carkitter: Yeah I saw that thread. I was going to post in it suggesting names like Goldenface, etc. But I couldn't be bothered with those idiots. I'm tempted to offer to moderate the Asia Pacific forum if it continues. I'll see what Masseur, etc thinks.
My 2degrees sim hasn't arrived yet. Just got my mail and it was only a bank statement!
I hope my mailman hasn't stolen it! Are you able to select your number, etc? Have you trialed the service yet?
EDIT: Just read their email properly. It says it may take up to a week for my new sim to arrive.
[ This Message was edited by: Muhammad-Oli on 2009-08-04 02:23 ]
Posted by carkitter
Works great!
Just pop in the SIM then call 200 to setup PIN code and voicemail and you're done. You can also transfer your 021 or 027 number to 2D via the 200 menu as well. Number porting means you can move to 2D and keep you current number, even with the 021/027 prefix. If you want to check which network the number you're calling/txting is on then free-txt the phone number to 300.
I've had the 2 Degrees SIM in all day and reception has been 5 bars everywhere I've been today.
Calls were crystal clear with no hiss or crackle and txts delivered promptly. I haven't tried data yet but I will once I find out how much it costs.
Well done 2 Degrees, it all works!
10/10 from me so far.
I see this network being a very big problem for Telecom...
Posted by yea g
Should come tomorrow for me, mainly because Im technically rural delivery, but stuff usually comes the next morning after people over the shore get it.
Anyway, have you heard their pirces?
9c per text
44c per minute calls
dunno if the have anything like $10txt or txt2000 yet though
Posted by Muhammad-Oli
Yep, wrote that earlier today in "The great New Zealand telecommunications battle" thread.
I just received a text from 2 degrees saying my sim should arrive tomorrow.
Posted by carkitter
Pricing
Check out the Magic top-up
I'm gonna be recommending this to everybody I know. These prices are CHEAP and I can see my wife switching to this to save us some money; her plan term has been expired for some months.
Posted by Muhammad-Oli
Mention the fact you might leave Vodafone when you cancel the plan, and sit back and watch while they throw offers at you. It's great!
You might end up staying on Vodafone if they offer you anything good enough.
Posted by yea g
$0.50 per mb is a bit much for data though.
I havn't got a txt saying my sim has been sent
[ This Message was edited by: yea g on 2009-08-04 06:04 ]
Posted by Muhammad-Oli
Yeah, especially with Vodafone's $1 data thing. Don't worry they said the simcards may take up to a week. Did you not receive the email?
Posted by yea g
Yea but I want to change my number to something... Cooler
Posted by Muhammad-Oli
Yeah I'm hoping that not all the good ones will be gone by the time I get in.
Posted by yea g
I'm pretty sure 022 F*** you (022 3825 968) has gone by now
Posted by Muhammad-Oli
Haha, I'll probably be looking for my name or some memorable numbers I guess.