I retired from personal blogging in July 2008.
But you can find me over at http://blog.xero.com.
Woohoo! We needed something like this to change mobile data habits. Nice one Vodafone.
Vodafone launches $1 a day mobile broadband
Vodafone has blown apart the mobile data market with the launch of its new casual rate of $1 a day.
From July 28, customers will be able to surf the net, download music and games and play on their favourite sites without committing to a fixed monthly data contract.
The $1 a day casual rate gives customers up to 10MB of data – more than enough for most casual users on their mobile devices. Customers who go over that limit will be charged at $1 per megabyte and users who regularly need more can take advantage of our suite of data plans.
Vodafone’s GM of Products and Services, Kursten Shalfoon, says the new casual rate will change the way customers use the internet on their mobile devices.
“Over the past year we’ve increased network capacity, the handsets are evolving rapidly and now we’re able to bring mobile internet alive with sharper prices.”
To make sure customers can take advantage of the new rate, Vodafone’s network is optimising websites for viewing on customers’ mobiles – a first for New Zealand.
“There’s nothing to install at the customer’s end, and it works with all our WAP-enabled mobiles. It means customers don’t spend ages downloading a page they can’t read on their mobile device. Instead they’ll get a page that’s optimised for their own personal device making the experience that much better for all concerned.”
The new pricing is simple and affordable, and now applies to almost all internet data, including the Vodafone Live! portal. Sky Mobile TV and Vodafone Compass will continue to be free of data usage costs.
“We have great content deals, and Vodafone Live will still bring the best of the internet to Vodafone customers, but it means the customers can decide what they’ll want to look at and what they want to get involved with.”
blog
I would far prefer to have data blocks available.
Why can’t I buy a 1GB data block for say $79 (which is a premium over current 1GB pricing). During this time all data usage is deducted from this. It means it’s there to use when and where you want.
Oops I meant to say
Why can’t I buy a 1GB data block for say $79 (which is a premium over current 1GB pricing) that is valid for say 3 months. During this time all data usage is deducted from this. It means it’s there to use when and where you want.
Would be nice with an iPhone :)
I am not exactly rejoicing. Compared to the unlimited plans in the US (ie iPhone has unlimited US$30).
Still better than nothing. We just need to see a reduction in on account plans now.
@Steve, this is just the casual mobile data plan. I’m sure we’ll see more professional ones.
Key point is that it should start breaking down the fear of mobile data to ordinary, non technical, folks. That’s great for content and application developers.
In Britain, I can buy 3GB over 30 days for UKP15 on a PAYG basis plus 10p per extra MB, which more than meets my needs (there’s a 7GB over 30 days option FOR ukp25). That is roughly 13 cents per 10 MB. (Account plans are half that, with free modem). VfNZ still has a way to go.
I agree it’s a fantastic move in the right direction, particularly for many “average” users.
The only real downside is that many users will end up paying extra for some Live! services such as music downloads and ringtones since you are now paying traffic charges + data charges.
walled garden OR open all hours.
Can’t have both. Either or.
Cheers
Paul
10MB is still way to small for a daily limit. I don’t think this takes away the fear at all. If it was 100MB then I would think “great, I can download a couple of videos” at 10MB I think s#%t - I can easily go over that and get charged $1 for each megabyte. 10MB over = $10 extra for a days use.
Then buy a monthly plan. They’re still available, they have the kinds of levels you’re talking about.
You really have to work to get to 100MB a month. Mauricio posted in an earlier thread here - he’s an avid mobile user who goes through 150some MB/month. So he’s on a plan. That’s not something the casual user would typically get through on a regular basis… if you ARE doing it on a regular basis, that’s what the plans are for.
Cheers
Paul
And where’s Bruce… Bruce? You out there? What do you think?
Not quite what you were after but I’m still keen on your feedback.
Cheers
Paul
excellent news Paul this is a huge step forward. I take it there will be no restrictions.
I do feel that $1.00 per MB after the inital 10MB is still a bit steep no doubt that price
will reduce over time. Will this offer be available to use with the iPhone? Thought I’d slip that in there and see if I could catch you out :)
Guys; don’t compare prices in the UK, Japan or anywhere else with NZ; it does not work like this anywhere and I think if this is what people are expecting then you are being totally unrealistic. Petrol may be 3 cents a litre in Venezuela and 15 cents in Saudi Arabia but much more here and most other places.
As Paul says you have two choices.
@paul: I was actually more referring to this statement by Rod (I should have pointed that out)
“Key point is that it should start breaking down the fear of mobile data to ordinary, non technical, folks. That’s great for content and application developers.”
10MB is fine if you are downloading text based information but as soon as you start downloading video and audio it starts to add up. I would think that casual user/pre-pay customer might want to use this type of content. So to re-phrase - Yeah it will be a good if you want to look up your flight details and movie times but is still won’t break down fears for ‘entertainment’ type applications. Just think the first time a novice gets a little carried away watching a handful of videos on YouTube and then gets stung with $20 bill for the day.
I of course will be getting an iPhone with a data plan and happily put my N73 on Trade Me.
We should have a prize to see if Paul “I can’t even talk about the iPhone” Brislen can be provoked into typing those 6 letters.
Agreed, c’mon Paul, not even a tease?
Found a statistic from 02 in the UK about their customers iPhone data usage, apparently
“About 60 percent of iPhone users are sending or receiving more than 25 megabytes of data per month, while only 1.8 percent of O2 ‘s other mobile customers on monthly contracts are consuming data at that rate”
from http://www.ilounge.com/index.php/news/comments/o2-chief-sees-steady-iphone-sales-data-usage/
So, yes, these new casual data rates will undoubtedly raise the levels of non iPhone users data consumption. However iPhone data use is in a whole different ball park, remember, “It’s the internet in your pocket”
I still argue that the $49.95 level for on account users for 1GB, (the sweet spot for iPhone use away from home wifi) is way too high.
Joe Public will not add this much monthly to their base Texter/Talker plan. Especially if the iPhone can’t be tethered to act as a 3G modem.
My (hopeful) prediction for mass market appeal, i.e. 10’s and 10’s of thousands of iPhone users in NZ, as stated in the previous thread….
iPhone Data Add on (24mth term)
200MB $9.95
1GB $19.95
3GB $39.95
5GB $49.95
Fingers crossed.
I… I… I…
couldn’t possibly comment.
aye aye cap’n.
A step in the right direction. Well done Vodafone. I fear that bill shock will creep in after the new shiny iPhone burns through at least 4 youtube videos and a couple of iTunes downloads and a bit of google map searching (yeah - everyone will want to see their house in satellite view on the iPhone screen and play with the GPS integration). Over the space of a week with the game changing phone, I suspect new iPhone users will discover that they can’t live without the data until they get their bill.
And what about Prepay users? Will they be the poor cousins to credit-enabled
leeches? or will they have the ability to use data too? I hope so - and at the same rates.
Given the unlimited nature of the plans overseas (USA et al) we’ve got a long way to go.
Overseas plans are called “unlimited” but are usually typically very “limited” in that they have data caps that simply aren’t spelled out clearly. There are a couple but they’re nowhere near as prevalent as many people think.
As for the new Vodafone casual rate, it’s available on prepay and on account if you want it.
Cheers
Paul
This is pretty cool. $1 per day (love the allusion to child sponsorship!) for up to 10MB per day. Still, that’s an extra $30 p/m that i’ll have to fork out for what one assumes will form part of all of the new iPhone data pricing.
Something like Steve’s suggestion would be more appealing, and i’ve found it works really well with CafeNet here in welly. I brought $20 worth of downloads (about 200MB at the time) 2 years ago, and I still have MB’s left for the infrequent times that i’m in town with my laptop and need wireless (usually at cafe laffare).
Can’t wait to see those plans vodafone, and if there are iPhone specific ones I just hope voda will let me transfer over from my current You Choose contract without disincentive.
Can you tell us yet if there will be anything new for On Account customers Paul?
With the directive from group to look at inclusive data (as Vodafone UK have done with their 500MB free for all On Account customers), will NZ be one of the networks to roll this out?
I can’t release anything but you’ll hear about our on account plans in the not too distant future.
But I’ve heard nothing from Group on this so I’m not sure what that’s all about.
Cheers
Paul
$30 a month but carved up into daily amounts with a very low data limit and an absurdly high “Ha! Gotcha!” charge when people inadvertently [or through desperation] go over the limit won’t stop “fear of data” which people don’t have. People have fear of paying a whole lot of money for next to no service.
It might be slightly less bad than the other choices for some people, but merely robbing a bank without also killing people doesn’t deserve a “well done”.
A better response is “Big deal!” I want a cyberphone and mobile data, but that won’t overcome my “fear of data”.
If Vodafone was to say “5c a megabyte, no limits, no time constraints, no fine print, no term contracts, just pull into the gas station and buy the amount you want” it would be attractive, but still far above what a fully competitive market would charge.
@Maurice, this isn’t a plan. This is what happens when you DON’T have a plan. If you want to use more data, go on a plan. The plans are very competitive and are priced to encourage use without breaking the bank. You won’t find many unlimited plans at 5c/MB on mobile networks because it’s simply not cost effective.
As it is if you want no limits, no time constraints, no fine print, no term contracts etc I really don’t know where you can go. I’d love to see a mobile plan that meets those requirements - if you can show me one around the world anywhere I’d love to see the link.
Cheers
Paul
“If Vodafone was to say “5c a megabyte, no limits, no time constraints, no fine print, no term contracts, just pull into the gas station and buy the amount you want” it would be attractive, but still far above what a fully competitive market would charge.”
This is a completely unrealistic offering. I’m sure the customers would love it but Vodafone aren’t a charity..
@Steve: wot he said.
the 30 limit doesn’t work for a Blackberry (just look at the junk mail that gets through and sends the bill rocketing!
If vendors really want to get an on-line world, they have to make it future and shock proof. With no reasonable way to predict data usage for either an iPhone or Blackberry, there will be corporates that just accept the cost and increase their expense budgets, but the Mom and Pop users (hey Rod, you’re a Pop too) and their kids (!!!!!!! ouch social sites are REALLY heavy with all those adverts) there has to be a reasoable volume/cost escallation capability that allows a modicum of planning and budgeting, or the market is limited to VHNWIs (a list can be bought from each of the retail banks!)
When you get a BlackBerry you get a BlackBerry specific data plan.
As above: this is not a plan. This is what you have when you DON’T HAVE a plan. This is the casual data rate. If you’re going to be using email/web surfing/whatever on a mobile device you should be on a plan. We have plans. They are good value.
If you’re using a BlackBerry you WON’T be on a casual data rate.
Cheers
Paul
Hooray ! This is way better than what we’ve got now and it actually might encourage your average mobile user to start using their mobile phone to surf as an option to surf mobile optimized websites (the new Trademe site comes to mind m.trademe.co.nz or the good ol m.facebook.com) Nice work Vodafone…. Telecom ?
Oh yes, I should tell you all about our Web 2.0 press release that mentions you can now access Trade Me from your mobile (as well as Bebo, Facebook, YouTube, Wikipedia and shortly Google)…
Actually, that would be shameful. I’ll just direct you to the website or email me if you want to see the release.
Trade Me. On the mobile. It’s well cool.
Cheers
Paul
Hi Paul, I have had full access to Trade Me, Facebook and just about every other web site for months now..and a full web browser experience to boot..i just use my iPhone. True using the GSM network has been slow (bring on 3G) but it works. Is this Vodafone web 2.0 just allowing other cell users to catch up with current iPhone users. I run auctions, respond immediately to questions and get email updates where ever I am….
This is good, a step in the right direction.
We have been debating at work what data plans to use as we have guys out of the office who want to check their email. At the previous casual rate of 10 per MB that was very, very expensive and the problem with a plan ($19 for 15MB) is that you pay even if you don’t use it.
Really the driver behind all this for Vodafone is the arrival of the iPhone, people are going to start using data and it would not be a good look for Vodafone if people suddenly got $500 bills for casually using their phone. The other driver is Vodafone have spent a lot of money adding 3G capability that at the moment is just too expensive to use.
Of course, not everyone has a high end device that could do that… from now on you don’t need one. Any live! capable handset can do it.
The difference is, as explained to me today, that the front page of http://www.stuff.co.nz on most phones would have cost about $5 to download, be unusable and take ages. Today it’ll cost 70c (more or less), is optimised for the handset and downloads in seconds. After the new $1/day rate comes in it’ll cost even less.
The moral of the story is we’re bringing the experience you’ve had for “months now” to all the handsets we can.
Cheers
Paul
> And where’s Bruce… Bruce? You out there? What do you think?
> Not quite what you were after but I’m still keen on your feedback.
I feel myself summoned ;-)
Congratulations, Paul, on bringing the prices for casual data usage approximately into line with Vodafone’s other pricing (voice and on-account data). It’s a huge improvement for those who don’t have a data plan and will make it practical to use the internet from their mobile for the first time for many of your customers.
Some people, for some uses, will see up to a 100x decrease in charges, although I expect the average will be much closer to 10x. This will enable me personally to actually use all the features on my iPhone, but I would have welcomed it on my previous phones as well.
However…
I think the overall pricing of $1 per MB is reasonable given other current Vodafone prices, but I dislike the rate structure. Getting MBs 2 - 10 for free on a given day is certainly a nice bonus, and will certainly remove the fear that people would otherwise have that they might accidentally go over 1 MB, but Vodafone clearly thinks of the rate structure as being $1 a MB, not 10c a MB, otherwise the price would not go back up once you get past 10 MB in one day.
This new rate structure will not cause me, personally, to change my habits and just leave data turned on all the time. I will have it turned firmly *off* virtually all the time mon-fri when I’m almost always in range of wifi at the office or at home. Sadly, I will not check my email or facebook while I’m in a cafe at lunch time. What I will do, though, is turn it on, at need, when I’m out and about on weekends or otherwise traveling. So probably on no more than 5 - 10 days a month.
The new casual rates are well suited to that kind of usage. But anyone who would like to use a little data every day is still better off on one of the existing on-account data plans. In particular the $40 200 MB plan is better. Sure … 200 MB is less than 30 x 10 MB … but it would take severe dedication and unusually even usage patterns to use more than 200 MB on the new casual plan without spending more than $40. Ain’t gonna happen for most people.
For some usage patterns the new rates are WORSE than the old ones.
For example: if I load up gmail in my iPhone’s web browser while I’m on wifi (thus caching the 150 KB or so of javascript) then while mobile I can turn GPRS on and refresh my inbox using 9 KB of traffic, currently costing 10c. If I do that less than ten times in a day then the new casual rates will cost more than the old ones. But few people have the knowledge or discipline to do that kind of thing.
I look forward to seeing what the new on-account plans are.
And I’d really love to see it made possible to have a data plan while being on prepay for voice.
Bruce!
As I’ve said elsewhere in the thread, this isn’t a plan as such, it’s what happens when you don’t have a plan… you can use it on prepay as well as on account.
And yes, the idea is that if you use a lot more data than “casual” rates, you would be better off on a plan. That hasn’t changed, that’s always been our approach.
But for the newbies, the entry level and the occasional user there’s now an option that allows the odd browse, the occasional email and won’t break the bank. Hopefully it will fill that gap and provide a new entry point to mobile internet for those that previously haven’t wanted to or felt that it was too costly.
The casual data rate goes hand in hand with the optimisation work that’s being done to format websites for mobile devices so (previous example again) the speed of rendering increases while the cost of access decreases sharply.
Cheers
Paul
Mr Brislen… I have been following your comments over at geekzone as well….and am trying to join the dots, where maybe there are none, but,
“gleeful news” you say……
Although the 900Mhz network launch will be good, I doubt use of “gleeful” is in order so it can’t be that.
Is it on account data plans then…, does “gleeful” mean we’ll see extremely aggressive pricing?
just what do you guys have up your sleeves????
well since you ask…
no, you’ll have to wait.
And I do think “gleeful” is the right word. Very much so.
Cheers
Paul
Paul .. can you clarify on the free access to trademe etc?
Is it sufficient to merely browse to “http://m.trademe.co.nz” and you transparently make it free?
If not, then what? I really don’t want to try it and get hit for $10/MB.
Hey Paul,
Just been looking at vodafone.co.nz for a bit more on this… but can’t find it??
–> Given the big-noting of the original scoop article quoted by Rod above(”blown apart”, “bring mobile internet alive with sharper prices”, “change the way customers use the internet on their mobile devices”, etc…), and your subsequent enthusiasm, I would have throught it would be all over the vodafone.co.nz home page, or at least the mobile broadband pages…
Also, you mention “our Web 2.0 press release” - couldn’t find that either…
Cheers
Tom
Here is the Web 2.0 press release
Thanks, Rod… didn’t want to sully the site with blatant PR (much happier with the sly, insipid stuff).
@Tom, the casual rate kicks off in July - we have to give so many days notice of a change to the terms and conditions so we’re doing that now.
See here: http://www.vodafone.co.nz/mobile-data/mobile-web.jsp for more.
@Bruce, that’s exactly right… go through there (or follow through from the live! menu) and it’s zero rated till the new casual rate kicks in in July.
Cheers
Paul
Yeah, it’s not a plan — but the smaller data plans aren’t available if you’re on prepay. Not all of us are heavy enough voice users for a voice plan to be worthwhile. And the cheaper voice plans are still pretty crap compared to prepay motormouth (if you don’t call telecom mobiles much).
Alas, no mention of what rate that under $1 usage is charged at, which matters if you’re using, say, a location-enabled social networking app that you leave on — $30/mo is a bit pricey for a megabyte a day.
Paul,
That page you just pointed to states:
“If you use less than $1 worth of data in a day, we’ll only charge for what you used.”
This is a statement that desperately needs clarification!!!
I’d been assuming that as soon as you opened PPP you would get pinged for $1. If this is not the case and you can be charged 1c or 10c or something for minimal but nonzero use in a day then many of my anti- points in my previous comment disappear.
Presumably this is “less then $1 worth of data” at the $1/MB rate? Rounded to the nearest *what*? Something less than 1 MB, obviously, otherwise the statement is meaningless. So .. to what? 10 KB, as at present? 100 KB? What?
Other key question is will you get an alert (SMS maybe) if you hit 10MB?
This will avoid the bill shock issue.
@Bruce, we’re charging at the rate of $5 per megabyte up to $1, which works out at less than 1c/KB.
Once you hit $1 there’s no charging from there to 10MB. From there it’s $1/MB until midnight and it’s reset for the next day.
@Rod, good idea and I’ll feed that back to the marketing team. Not sure how feasible it is/isn’t so I’ll report back as and when I know more.
Cheers
Paul
@Paul
Yes, but $1 will get you the entire newspaper in some places, not just the front page of Stuff…
And once our casual rate comes into effect it’ll cost a lot less than a dollar for Stuff online.
it’s a win win (or is that a giant panda?).
Cheers
Paul
Not sure if I understand.
Casual use of up to 10MB is $1?
But over that, the rate is $1/MB or $1000 per Gig?
Am I reading that right? One thousand bucks a gig?
You understand correctly.
At the moment it’s $10,485.76 a gig for non-contract data. The new rate will reduce it to $1024. Ok, actually only $1015 if you do a gig in one day. Or $754 if you spread it out over 30 days.
This is vs $1 a gig on XNET DSL, or $1.50 a gig on TelstraClear cable.
Yikes.
Then I would have thought that an SMS alert service would be an essential part of the service offering, not a random idea.
It’s so important as an industry that we remove the possibility of Bill Shock if we want consumers to start using mobile data.
We are just at the tip of the iceberg when it come to using mobile data. Products and services like Xero will mean 10MB per day will be gobbled up within seconds.. True IPTV (not this flaky Sky Live service) will provide endless opportunities.
Yes there is a cost to the providers for infrastructure and on going provision but I would guess that if I use 1GB or 10GB there is little additional cost to the service provider…
What we have is two companies that have taken the stance of recovering the cost of infrastructure from the early adaptors. When real competition is introduced watch the pricing model change dramatically.
Vodafone are in a great position to really capture the market when it comes to mobile data. If they only take the approach of making it available to the vast majority of the population rather than a select few. By that I mean having a pricing model that makes it a no-brainer to use mobile data. If the pricing model is right then more users will take advantage of the service and those users will spend more collectively than the chosen few.
“Build it and they will come”
@Stan, not our mobile optimized http://m.xero.com. :) But the rest I agree with.
@Stan, have you tried Sky Mobile TV on Vodafone? You say it’s flaky but I have to say I was surprised by how good it was. I was expecting it to be jittery and to fall apart but it’s far from it. I demo it to reporters all the time and it sells itself…
were you on the edge of a coverage area? what handset were you using? Feel free to message me directly - keen to find out why you think it’s not very good.
Cheers
Paul
[...] of the iPhone comes a huge change from Vodafone. I’ll let Rod Drury explain it, in his post $1 a day: Vodafone launches $1 a day mobile [...]
Here’s how cheaply wireless internet can be sold in mobile terrestrial services = NZ$1 for 1 gigabyte which is NZ1c for 10 megabytes, not NZ$1 for 1 megabyte, nor NZ$1 for 10 megabytes which is Vodafone’s extorquerationate “Big Deal!” http://www.mycricket.com/cricketplans/details/broadband
Vodafone is 10x as expensive as Cricket’s plan. Also, be very, very, careful and use precisely the allocated amount or you fall into Vodafone’s trap and they rip into you for $1 a megabyte. It looks very like Theresa Gattung’s “We pour out a load of confusion so people don’t really know what they are doing then we get heaps of money from them when they get it wrong”.
$1 a megabyte is absurdly high. People moan about oil companies, but they have nothing on Vodafone and Telecom.
The cost of producing mobile megabytes is well under 1c, so 5c is plenty to charge. Cricket isn’t a charity either Paul.
“Plans” are just a swindle by cellphone companies designed to drain customers’ cash. There is no reason minutes and megabytes can’t be sold like products in supermarkets, petrol in petrol pumps, coffee at cafes etc. If you want a flat white, you go and buy a flat white. You give them your money and they give you a coffee. You don’t buy a “plan”. You could do and no doubt marketers have come up with such ways of buying loyalty, giving “volume discounts” etc, but it’s not the normal way of selling coffee, petrol etc to garden variety regular humans in a retail environment. You don’t buy a “plan” for petrol with so many litres per month - use it, or lose it, and by golly don’t inadvertently use more than your “plan”.
The lack of competition is why Vodafone and Telecom charge so much. But Wi-Fi and other competition gets them on the fringes, chisels them at the margins, and those fringes and margins are growing.
Maurice - you need to relax dude (and read the fine print)
“Throughput may be limited if use exceeds 5GB per month. Internet browsing does not include: hosted computer applications, continuous web camera or broadcast, automatic data feeds, machine-to-machine connections, peer to peer (P2P) connections or other applications that denigrate network capacity or functionality.”
Also am I missing something or is cricket in the US - where market sizes, geographical layouts and population densities are far different from here.
Apparently they fly to LA from Auckland - you could always go an give AirNZ some money (or are they “extorquerationate” too?)
Let me say it again - Paul is doing his job, and being more open than 99.9% of his peers regardless of what industry they’re in. How often do we see AirNZ, Fonterra or PGG front up in a forum like this
The least we could do is use a degree of civility
Sheesh
Ben, Paul asked for information around the world on data prices [Vodafone apparently not being aware of the actual cost of providing data over wireless and thinking $1 a megabyte is a reasonable price if you fall into the trap]. So, I provided an example.
I did read the fine print you quoted [before you quoted it] and I used that information to calculate the per megabyte charges which you can scroll up and review since you perhaps missed it.
The old “If you don’t like it here, why don’t you go back where you came from” argument, eh? The point wasn’t where we should live to get cheap wireless, it was a question of how much it actually costs to provide wireless data. Thanks being a role model for “degree of civility”.
Paul isn’t really being open. Pretending that $1 a megabyte is anything other than an extorquerationate price is not being open. The little bit of burley tossed out in front of the $1 a megabyte is not charity [as he says].
They should just make it 10c a megabyte and forget all the “plan” business. That would be heaps of margin for them.
And, since you ask, yes, Air New Zealand and most other airlines are high-priced too. You should have a go at Ryanair. They are great. The pilots actually fly the aircraft too, rather than go through a whole bunch of bureaucratic rigamorale. They are smooth, fast, get it off the ground quickly, drop it down quickly, get off at the first off-ramp and get the job done.
Did you see how the boss of Ryanair explained that high fuel prices are good in that they’ll see of the inefficient airlines, which will be good for Ryanair? Mostly they are moaning about fuel prices.
Competition is good like that. More of it in wireless is a good thing too.
It should not surprise you that Telecom and Vodafone do NOT use price-cutting as their means of competition. There are only two of them which is not exactly an over-crowded market.
Stuff is a bit slow but did get some great comments:
“Shalfoon said the new plans wouldn’t be loss-making …”
Interesting. Then goes on to say:
“… and there was no plans to change the fixed rates plans designed for heavy data users.”
So are they going to make a fool of Shalfoon, or are we waiting in vain??
http://www.stuff.co.nz/4591136a28.html
@Maurice, I think you’ll find I asked to see a plan that has:
“no limits, no time constraints, no fine print, no term contracts etc I really don’t know where you can go. I’d love to see a mobile plan that meets those requirements - if you can show me one around the world anywhere I’d love to see the link”.
Not entirely sure that a plan that outlaws most of the internet apart from email and web surfing and has a 5GB soft cap as having “no limits”. I’d probably say it has “lots of limits”.
Cheers
Paul
Paul, my point is just that the Vodafone un-plan is far from cheap, especially with $1 a megabyte lying in wait for the unwary. It’s typical telecom flim-flam.
Evidence of the price being high was the example I quoted of Cricket. Do the arithmetic [I already did it for you] and you’ll see that megabytes can in fact be produced and sold for vastly less than $1 a megabyte or 10c a megabyte. The bait and switch from 10c a megabyte to $1 a megabyte after 10 megabytes are used is hardly cricket.
Vodafone’s charging what the market will bear [in their opinion]. That’s as they should do. But they shouldn’t expect to be loved while they charge like a wounded bull.
I’m not going to waste time hunting around the world for precisely that plan you described - leaders don’t copy what somebody does somewhere else, they think for themselves and lead markets. Vodafone is enjoying a duopoly in NZ and making heaps of profit accordingly.
India might be offering pretty cheap “plans” if you have a look around there. Feel free to send me the link to the cheapest there is. India is doing some seriously cheap wireless.
@Paul:
Your current problem is the initial sticker-shock. I’ve just opened the Vodafone bills for my company, and every single byte of data has been charged at the $10/MB rape-and-pillage rate, on every single one of our shiny new iPhones. So I’ve just called the call centre and deactivated GPRS on every phone in the company - we’ll stick with Wifi, thanks.
If you wanted to convince me of the business - rather than technical - merits of casual data usage, you would have given me the chance to sample it first, without the need to trawl through the various plans on offer, go into one of the retail shops or fight my way through the IVR system, simply to avoid the totally excessive and unreasonable $10/MB casual rate.
In my world - and, I’d suggest, a lot of other peoples - the acquisition of new technology goes something like this:
- Look at business/technical merits of gadget
- Acquire gadget
- See how it is used in the company, and assess merits against reality
- Optimise gadget, plans, supporting infrastructure and staff training to achieve desired cost/benefit outcome.
The problem with your “ambush” approach to casual pricing is that it forces an inversion of this process. What I would have needed to have done in this case is:
- Look at business/technical merits of gadget
- Check theoretical usage of gadget against current/future Vodafone rate plans, assuming the input of very little useful information from either retail stores or call centre on which plan would work best in the circumstances
- Commit to some arbitrary spending on rate plans that may or may not suit, and which still have ridiculously high excess usage charges
- Acquire gadget
- See how it is used in the company, and assess merits against reality
- Optimise gadget, plans, supporting infrastructure and staff training to achieve desired cost/benefit outcome.
Frankly, who’s going to bother?
Vodafone is acting exactly like any other old-school Telco - thinking that the network comes first, and the gadget comes second. As you can see from this thread, most people think the other way around. And if you want to convince me to continue using the network, here’s an idea - don’t rape and pillage the second I come through the door. Give me a chance to sample your wares at a reasonable price first.
Vodafone’s current way of operating is the absolute antithesis of the “30 day free trial” approach of the software industry. Which is a pity, really.
- Clarke
@Clarke, hence the launch of a new casual rate. I think you’ve proven the point - casual data rates need to be non-shocking. I’d hope the new rate is that.
Cheers
Paul
@Paul,
At the expense of keeping this thread running too long (no where else to post in Rod’s blog), we now can view the AT&T 3G iPhone prices for voice/data plans:
http://www.wireless.att.com/cell-phone-service/specials/iphone-info.jsp
when are we going to see Vodafone NZs offer?
We also now know that Telstra in Australia will be selling an 8 GB iPhone for $279 plus as little as $30 a month, including free wifi at Telstra hotspots (which include McD’s and Starbucks).
Admittedly we don’t yet know how many minutes/TXT/data you get for your $30, but I assume it’s nonzero :-)
By coincidence, I found this today
http://www.techcrunch.com/2008/07/01/atts-text-messages-cost-1310-per-megabyte/
So mobile data rates here are about 30% discounted over sending by text message.
I was surprised when the mention of the cost of international connectivity was tabled by Mark Rushworth during the Campbell Live interview last night. We’ve been told for years that the high prices are due to the cost of the delivery means (i.e. cellular) being much greater, and then suddenly international data costs are mentioned as having a reasonable influence. If they are such a major cost, how does my ISP (Slingshot) supply it at $1 per GB or less? Either way it’s cut, cellular data prices are delivering supernormal profits to the providers.
Bearing off for a moment, I spent a bit of time this afternoon having a look at the cost of the iPhone to Vodafone and other cellular providers (http://mothership.co.nz/blog). One can look at the rumours re: what AT&T are paying, or look at Apple’s financial reports to get an idea. There is quite a spread, but I think the fact that Apple’s financial report are required by law to be accurate whereas there are no specific legal or financial ramifications for reporting rumours.