Trade Me auction of an XT phone
February 23rd, 2010 at 3:30 pm by David Farrar
Someone has listed this phone on Trade Me as a Telecom XT mobile phone 
As always, the Q+A are quite hilarious.
Related posts:
- Trade Me auction for Consul lasted a week
- Dom Post Editorial on Trade Me Consulship auction
- Phone Missing
- More mobile phones than people
February 23rd, 2010 at 3:35 pm
Not that I’m with Telecom, but one of the appeals of the XT network to my mind, is it reduces the odds I can be contacted by people. And I could blame the XT network if I didn’t want to call anyone back…
Normally to get this effect I have to go feral in some wilderness area.
Vote:February 23rd, 2010 at 3:39 pm
It’s very similar to one we had at home when I was a kid (really, up to 10 rural party), but that one worked. And – you could chose your own ring tune every time you called out on it.
Vote:February 23rd, 2010 at 3:52 pm
Every Canterbury Farmer with a XT telecom cellphone has thrown the shit things away. They are livid with the network.
Vote:February 23rd, 2010 at 3:59 pm
I see Telecom have announced their XT Compensation package. It’s to be known as XTC ….
Vote:….. they send you a pill to make you forget about the phone calls you cant make
February 23rd, 2010 at 4:02 pm
What is all the Fuss?
Vote:I live 6 km from town – albeit with less than 10,000 folk in residence – and
do not have cell phone coverage from any network.
February 23rd, 2010 at 4:03 pm
You can get handsets that look like that to plug into your mobile… but that’s going one step further!
Vote:February 23rd, 2010 at 4:11 pm
And these old XT phones even had conference facilities. Kid A would code ring kid B on same party line to talk homework. They needed more help so would ring kid C on another party line, who would call kid D etc. The limit was two lines though.
There were other facilities eg if the doctor was wanted or there was an inbound international call, the operator would ring likely places round the village until the person was found.
Vote:February 23rd, 2010 at 4:17 pm
I cant see what all the fuss is about either. I’m on Vodafone and regularly drop about 4 calls a day in and around CBD Auckland…. and have done for 5 years. The coverage is shit.
Vote:i even get txt messages tuning up 4 hours after they’ve been sent
February 23rd, 2010 at 4:17 pm
Sometimes, but usually the operator already knew where everyone was and what they were doing.
And people worry about Waihopai!
I got an international text nearly a day late recently. Don’t know where it was held up (not on XT).
Vote:February 23rd, 2010 at 4:50 pm
I think my spoof of the Telecom XT advertising campaign was simply ahead of its time!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ooc6A6ekNho
Seems to be more accurate every day doesn’t it?
Vote:February 23rd, 2010 at 4:57 pm
My dad used to have one of those phones in the cowshed back in the 60s-70s as a dedicated line to call across the road to the house.
Vote:February 23rd, 2010 at 5:03 pm
interestingly, the VF data network has been struggling today, presumably under the additional load of ex XT customers>
Vote:February 23rd, 2010 at 5:16 pm
Those bakelite hand pieces were very tough.
Vote:February 23rd, 2010 at 5:22 pm
I hope it comes with the two batteries as they will be very hard to get.
Vote:They were cylindrical, about 75mm diameter and about 200/250mm high and the carbon rods made a microphone with a sharpened piece of pencil lead between two of them.
February 23rd, 2010 at 5:34 pm
Am fortunate myself that I haven’t had any major problems yet with the XT Network although their roaming sucks as it would work and then not work and then decide to work again (for a minute) when I was last in Times Square which was strange as that is supposed to be like the centre of the universe for communications, electornics, media advertising etc…
Am only on it for the cheap pre paid texts and my old Telecom phone broke and got new one that happened to be on XT and cheap…
Vote:February 23rd, 2010 at 6:20 pm
That’s almost up there with the Nick Smith cowshit sculpture DPF.
@d4j
Well, they put their cowshit in their streams and rivers, so I suspect that’s where their useless mobile phones end up too. Is there cadmium in those batteries? That would be a worry, given its toxicity.
Vote:February 23rd, 2010 at 6:40 pm
toad you sick twit, go croak some more green hyperbole too frog or big blouse you swamp thing! You are pure filith and so cowardly other swamp things think you are a pathetic disgrace. Are you really a toad or a stinger jellyfish? F off creepy lice person. Go have a slime juice with a snake like Miss Big Blouse. What a freak you are. Get a life!
Vote:February 23rd, 2010 at 6:46 pm
Topic went that way folks ———>
See also
http://www.trademe.co.nz/273606747
and even their main competitor is willing to flagrantly take the piss:
Vote:http://www.vodafone.co.nz/shop/offersDetails.jsp?selectionKey=specials&offerReference=XTSWITCH2010&voucherCode=36453d
February 23rd, 2010 at 8:08 pm
The silly thing is that the old 025 network went really well for coverage compared to the 021 which was a joke and still is.
This was because it ran around 850Mhz much lower than 021 and could bend around terrain a little better.
I had a few old cellphones like the Motorola brick and the Nokia that worked pretty good in the scrub and when it got canned I had to buy under protest an 027 that was nowhere near as good.
Now the XT network is using the old 850Mhz (and 2100Mhx) so should be good in the scrub but it has been rushed in so fast by the Telecom idiots obviously at the lowest price they could negotiate (and using a third rate provider…Alcatel/Lucent).
No bloody wonder it don’t work too well.
A couple have fallen on their swords, time the overpaid Scots git went with them.
Vote:February 23rd, 2010 at 8:21 pm
@d4j 6:40 pm
Oh dear, what did I say? Surely challenging the environmental practices of (some) Canterbury farmers doesn’t deserve that reaction.
Vote:February 23rd, 2010 at 8:31 pm
Toad
It gets better than that, on the Mallard thread D4J has this to say about Trev the Muss.
“Mallard has proved time and time again that he is nothing more than a dumb arse angry brawler”
While D4J is right about Trev, I do wonder if I am the only one who can see the humour value in D4J being the one to point it out?
Vote:February 23rd, 2010 at 8:55 pm
Get some professional help for your pathological hatred big blouse and do find some guts so we can have a meeting you creepy keyboard wimp. How many years are you going to attack me? Don’t answer you twisted scum of the earth.
Vote:February 23rd, 2010 at 9:14 pm
d4j
bruv and I are about as far apart politically you can get. We both think you are a dork.
Fuck off back to your own blog – if anyone goes there these days.
Oops, I see no-one has commented there since 14 Feb. 9 days to get a comment, even though you have made six posts in that time.
Isn’t that saying something to you d4j? Or is it just the rest of us who are fucked in the head?
Vote:February 23rd, 2010 at 9:19 pm
“fucked in the head?”
toad and blouse, well enuf said.
Vote:February 23rd, 2010 at 9:32 pm
Toad
To be fair I did try and make a comment on D4J’s blog a week or so back, but guess what????……..he censors every comment!
Next time you hear him piss and moan about being banned or censored just remember that he does the very same thing on his own site.
Oh…and thanks for banning me from Frogblog you prick
Vote:February 23rd, 2010 at 9:34 pm
More lies from big blouse.
Vote:February 23rd, 2010 at 9:45 pm
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10628043
What a bloody tosser. I suspect he is only here for his vastly excessive salary not for the tough times!
Vote:February 23rd, 2010 at 9:48 pm
Johnboy
He is also here because the pound is about as weak as it has ever been, a $3 million salary works out bloody well when you convert it at nearly 46p to the pound.
This chap is doping very nicely thanks.
Vote:February 23rd, 2010 at 9:58 pm
I thought the sad Scottish git was on about NZ$7m with bonus’s. Maybe he will donate them to the customers to make up for their losses.
Has anyone ever noticed that Telecom always seem to have been led by rather strange looking people?
http://www.independenteconomics.com/papers.htm
http://images.google.co.nz/images?hl=en&source=hp&q=theresa+gattung&um=1&ie=UTF-8&ei=NJiDS-aXL4X-sQO0psyvDw&sa=X&oi=image_result_group&ct=title&resnum=4&ved=0CBsQsAQwAw
http://images.google.co.nz/images?hl=en&q=paul+reynolds+telecom&um=1&ie=UTF-8&ei=eJiDS96-Noj8sgOfornkDw&sa=X&oi=image_result_group&ct=title&resnum=5&ved=0CCgQsAQwBA
Vote:February 24th, 2010 at 7:10 am
Usually I would be first to stick the boot into the Scottish. But,. You need to go back a lot further to understand how Telecom have cocked up their third digital rollout in a row.
Vote:Back in the dim and distant early 90′s Telecom rolled out an overlay digital network called D-AMPS. I was spruiking mobiles in hamilton at that stage and attended the big shiny launch party. Off we trotted with our nice shiny D-AMPS ericsson handsets to sell but sadly the company owners made us stick with our tried and tested analogue handsets. This caused enormous misery for us because we were selling them all over the greater Waikato and BoP. And of course. They did not work.
Every time they have rolled out a new sytem it has failed. They have chosen the wrong technology or standard on every decision since they moved away from the reliable AMPS.
They will never recover public confidence in their network now. Telco workers always say that Telecoms biggest advantage was customer apathy. This sort of catastrophic cockup will see customers overcome the apathy across all markets and product suites and sample the competition for the first time.
February 24th, 2010 at 8:09 am
Who really is to blame? Wasn’t the XT network investigated and bought by the previous Board and CEO? I refer to Teresa Gattung and the Chairman Rod Deans. Their combined efforts dragged Telecom down to what it is today
Vote: