[denalipop]

We'll be arriving in Nelson in a couple weeks, and need to get setup with a (prepaid) mobile phone, landline phone, and broadband internet. No TV, though.

In the US, broadband internet is usually bundled with TV (cable modems) or phone (dsl). The more services you order from one company, the better your rates.

In New Zealand, are there companies that bundle mobiles, landlines, and/or internet? If so, which companies would you recommend?

Also, are bundles a smart way to go, or is it better to use the "best" mobile company for mobiles, the "best" internet company for internet, etc.? In other words, is there a tradeoff between quality and price when you use bundles?

[denalipop]

Are these good prices for mobile phones in NZ:
https://www.2degreesmobile.co.nz/shop (click "Enter the Shop")

Can I get significantly better prices from a 2degrees store on the street?

[IanW99]

We'll be arriving in Nelson in a couple weeks, and need to get setup with a (prepaid) mobile phone, landline phone, and broadband internet. No TV, though.

In the US, broadband internet is usually bundled with TV (cable modems) or phone (dsl). The more services you order from one company, the better your rates.

In New Zealand, are there companies that bundle mobiles, landlines, and/or internet? If so, which companies would you recommend?

Also, are bundles a smart way to go, or is it better to use the "best" mobile company for mobiles, the "best" internet company for internet, etc.? In other words, is there a tradeoff between quality and price when you use bundles?

A few things you should be aware of.

First, if you take the landline and broadband from the same company then you normally get a discount e.g. $10 per month.

Telecom are the dominant company (overall) so you can get mobiles, landlines and interenet from them. You can for example link your telecom mobile to your landline and then phone between them as much as you like for a fixed monthly fee.

Mobile phone call charges are very high, so most people text.

For most broadband the local loop is owned by Telecom so all the other companies have to go through them to get any work done.

Most important for you is that most exchanges are full and so you will have to wait to get broadband, this could be days, weeks, months or even years :wah before you can get a connection. This is very area dependent though so definitely check this out.

Ian

[denalipop]

Since we'll be renting a house/apartment, internet is likely to be already handled by the owner, right? Maybe phones too, though I'm not sure about that. The point is, it might be the case that we can't fully bundle internet, phone, and mobiles until we either buy a house or find an apartment that lets us handle all that stuff ourselves.

So I'm thinking maybe I should forget about bundles and just focus on getting a good cell phone. Does that make sense? Or are the savings from bundles worth pursuing?

[IanW99]

Since we'll be renting a house/apartment, internet is likely to be already handled by the owner, right? Maybe phones too, though I'm not sure about that. The point is, it might be the case that we can't fully bundle internet, phone, and mobiles until we either buy a house or find an apartment that lets us handle all that stuff ourselves.

So I'm thinking maybe I should forget about bundles and just focus on getting a good cell phone. Does that make sense? Or are the savings from bundles worth pursuing?

I wouldn't guarantee that there will be a phone or internet available at the rental property.

Normally they are 'moved' with the customer i.e. when they leave they transfer the account to their new property or cancel it.

As soon as the account is cancelled the internet connection can be "moved" to another property on the waiting list, so even though the rental may have had internet it still may not be available by the time you get connected.

Ian

[Silverwing86]

A possible solution for the Internet issue could be Mobile Broadband. We've had a Vodafone Mobile Broadband (http://www.vodafone.co.nz/mobile-broadband/what-is-mobile-broadband.jsp) connection ever since we arrived in NZ in January 2007. It can be used anywhere with mobile coverage (speed will depend on what kind of coverage there is at your location) and we found this particularly useful when we didn't have a fixed address yet.

Of course we now have a fixed Broadband line, but we have kept the mobile connection for those instances when we travel or when the Broadband is on the blink for whatever reason.

We pay $59.95 for 1GB and not sure how exactly we did it, but we got $10 discounted for the first two years :nice1 ! It pays to be friendly with your local Vodafone shop staff :D !

Cheers,
Silver

PS We had to wait 4 months to get the fixed Broadband line due to the exchange issues mentioned previously :no !

[Wooly_Cow]

I would say that Telstra do all (voice, mobile, internet and TV) but not in Nelson for the TV.

http://www.telstraclear.co.nz/residential/homeplan/

They are quite qucik at an install but could take a week.

Bear in mind that many companies havea 12 month minimum period, so check beforehand. If you get into a 12 month contract check what the prices are to cancell early or move home. If you move you might not be able to take the service with you (except Telecom).

....oh and be preapred for MUCH higher prices and capped usage on the Internet (unless you get Telecoms Big Time package)

[mcleanja]

Have a look at Orcon http://www.orcon.net.nz/ for landline and broadband, no contract month to month great service and good price (better than Telecom)

[denalipop]

Telecom seem to have the cheapest broadband plans:
https://www.telecom.co.nz/broadband/select/

Which do you recommend: uncapped 20GB or capped unlimited?

[frootbat]

If you can bring an unlocked mobile with you, I would probably go for a 2degree mobile sim to start with, their rates seem better than vodafones, and you can always change to another provider later if they offer a better bundled deal. The mobile rates aren't too bad for calling overseas to some countries, so you can stay in touch with home as well.

[drzoidberg]

Coming from the US, you will go bugeyed crazy when you see what people pay here for mobile phone service. The worst part is that you can't call mobiles or landlines at the same rate. To call a mobile from my landline is 42c a minute!

In the US, you are used to seeing mobile plans that start at 700 minutes a month. In NZ, the most expensive plans only get you ~200 minutes of talk time a month. The big 2 companies here are screwing everyone with excessive charges and people just pay it.

I would seriously consider getting prepaid phones and trying not to use them. At these rates it becomes a money hole. Try to find some unlocked GSM phones before you get here too, you won't want to pay for electronics in NZ.

[Wooly_Cow]

Telecom seem to have the cheapest broadband plans:
https://www.telecom.co.nz/broadband/select/

Which do you recommend: uncapped 20GB or capped unlimited?

I think you mean packages with maximum download per month, or Big Time which does not have a limit but is rate adjusted according to traffic flow and type.

Depends what you are doing. We are a family with two teenage heavy downloaders and a wife who surfs a lot. Minimal VoIP use or streaming and we use about 20Gbt's per month. Some mates of ours are on a 40gbt plan and they download a lot (and give us copies :) - thanks guys who know who you are) and seem to be OK.

We are going to try out Big Time from Dec. becuase a) it's the same price as 20Gbt and b) I'm fed up of worrying about hitting the limit c) bandwidth useage will only go up :) - I'll let you know how it goes.

[GrumpyGoat]

I am on the Orcon platinum deal with 20 GB and at least one person is online at all times in our house (maybe more). We use less than 10 GB a month though. We don't download movies which is probably why we don't use that much.

I also have unlimited calling to the US included in my package. I have to hang up and redial after each hour--which is usually no problem. (unless I am on perpetual hold with the DMV in the US:wah)

[petri]

Coming from the US, you will go bugeyed crazy when you see what people pay here for mobile phone service. ...

The problem with markets that have subsidized phones and mobile phone plans is that by default the mobile operators are screwing the customers.

The customers will choose or they are sold plans that exceed their needs. It's good for operator, they get a quaranteed $xxx/mo income instead of customers paying what they actually use. With clever packaging (for example having data, text and voice separately) the customer will pay a lot more they use.

The smallest call plan for AT&T's iPhone is $40/mo. That's three times more than I pay for my calls, texts, and MMS's right now (would be 1/4 if USD was stronger). If I made more calls, I could still choose a plan -- there's actually only one plan here that's more than $40/mo, $50/mo and it's for unlimited calls & texts.

People in US, NZ and other similar places with little customer rights should make noise for freedom of choice. That's the regulators job to make sure that the operators have a force that's on the customers side.

Working regulation also makes the market more innovative.

PS. Outdated plans are another big source of income. Customers paying old prices are generating much more revenue than more recent customers with current plans but the same usage patterns.

[denalipop]

We tend to stream lots of music (maybe 50 hrs/wk for the 2 of us) and sometimes watch streamed video (e.g., YouTube). We'd like the streaming to be fast enough to be enjoyable. I also backup my data (audio, video files) online, which means uploading lots of GB. And I work from home, which means I'm doing stuff online 8-12 hours a day.

What we don't do is download torrents, play online games, or do any sort of file sharing.

Do you think the "unlimited but rate adjusted" plan will be too slow to stream mp3s and youtube clips?