Comments on: Mobile roaming rates

By: krazykiwi

krazykiwi — Sat, 09 Feb 2013 05:17:56 +0000

This looks like a good step to me

Really? That clapping you can here is Stalin from his grave.

The irony of NZ’s largest monopoly (The NZ Government) which sets it’s mandatory fee levels (aka taxes) by fiat, intervening when voters will applaud is not lost on me.

By: Redbaiter

Redbaiter — Sat, 09 Feb 2013 04:03:11 +0000

“Oops, clicked on the down vote for Redbaiter comments, and you can’t undo that.”

No probs Berend, I’m over the down votes on this site. Kiwiblog is largely pro-National and as National (especially under John Key) disgusts me most of the time, and I don’t hesitate to express that disgust, the Nat blue rinsers will naturally come after me.

However I’m not about to race off and run a warm bath and buy a packet of razor blades just yet.

I’m just going to go on trying to expand the thin glimpse of the far left political spectrum that is used as the basis for most political discussion in this country.

By: Johnboy

Johnboy — Sat, 09 Feb 2013 03:38:01 +0000

It’s all right berend. I just gave him one up by telegram to cancel your one down!

By: Johnboy

Johnboy — Sat, 09 Feb 2013 03:34:54 +0000

Being an elderly chap I usually send a telegram when I’m overseas so it won’t affect me.

By: berend

berend — Sat, 09 Feb 2013 03:33:56 +0000

Oops, clicked on the down vote for Redbaiter comments, and you can’t undo that. Can that be fixed please?

I actually wanted to do +1 on Redbaiter’s comment. Spot on.

By: berend

berend — Sat, 09 Feb 2013 03:32:29 +0000

Yet another market intervention DPF is in favour of!

Please don’t whine if the unintended consequences become visible.

By: tristanb

tristanb — Sat, 09 Feb 2013 01:39:11 +0000

DPF, yet again you’re proving your score on the “political compass” is extremely inaccurate.

Change from Telecom or Vodafone, or buy a cheap local SimCard when you’re over there. We don’t need a government agreement to sort this out!

It’s well known that roaming charges are exorbitant. But we can deal with that by not using the phone in that manner! Why must we always cater to dumb people? How much is this agreement costing the taxpayer in wasted politician time?

The only people who get charged roaming charges are idiots, lazy, or politicians who have their mobile bills paid for by the taxpayer. Telecom’s flat rate is still a rip-off, and the company is inept. If anyone uses Telecom, you should leave them.

By: Ed Snack

Ed Snack — Sat, 09 Feb 2013 01:31:05 +0000

Wrong about local roaming charges, utterly and completely wrong David! You’re comparing roaming to fixed line costs. Local roaming costs are in the order of $0.10/MB or $10 for 200 MB. So more expensive by quite a lot, but not as much as you seem to think.

By: gazzmaniac

gazzmaniac — Fri, 08 Feb 2013 21:16:53 +0000

Yes 2degrees are very good – it’s actually cheaper to call a phone in Australia on a roaming 2degrees sim than it is on Telstra Prepaid (NZ44c vs A49c per minute).

By: MIKMS

MIKMS — Fri, 08 Feb 2013 21:07:02 +0000

I remember last Gold Coast trip I brought
my 2degrees android and it worked at same level as it did in NZ via one of the networks there- this was without roaming turned on, there were no more charges than the ones I got here.

By: gazzmaniac

gazzmaniac — Fri, 08 Feb 2013 20:58:48 +0000

I think they should have left it alone.
There is nothing stopping somebody getting their phone unlocked before they leave (network-locked phones are common in Aussie and unlocking costs $25-50 but you usually save that amount when you purchase the phone) and buying a sim card when they get overseas. It’s not like roaming fees are poorly publicised, they’re on the news all the time. There is no need for more regulation to protect morons from themselves.

By: Redbaiter

Redbaiter — Fri, 08 Feb 2013 20:35:40 +0000

“This looks like a good step to me.”

So much for your professed support for free markets.

Profiteering on roaming rates pisses me off as much as it pisses anyone off, but I am not ever going to support government intervention.

It is typical of Key’s frequent and casual betrayal of his party’s principles that he would team up with the extreme left ghoul Gillard in an interventionist action like this.