Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Odds and ends, iPhone
Worldwide Mac: Using the iPhone in New Zealand
In a previous post, I discussed some of the shortcomings of New Zealand's broadband infrastructure. A lot of you gave some great responses, which led me to realize that although it's certainly not world-class, NZ's broadband isn't quite as bad overall as I thought - it's just my ISP isn't the greatest in the country, and it doesn't help matters that I don't live in a major city like Auckland or Wellington. When we first got here last July, we were kind of bewildered by pretty much everything (moving to a new country will do that to you), so we signed up for what seemed to be the best value for our money at the time. This turned out to entail a one-year commitment to Vodafone. Well, as it turns out, Vodafone NZ's broadband plans kind of stink compared to some other offerings people brought up, so we'll be ditching them for something better as soon as that commitment is over next month. With my iPhone, however, I don't have the option of giving Vodafone the heave-ho for at least another 20 months. In fact, right now if you want to buy an iPhone in New Zealand, unless you're willing to jump through a lot of hoops and pay a lot more money, Vodafone is pretty much the only horse in town.
While some Kiwi commenters pointed out that broadband here isn't necessarily as terrible as I made it out to be, one thing they all agreed on was that the mobile phone pricing here is just barely short of criminal. No, let's not mince words: it is criminal. New Zealanders pay some of the highest mobile rates in the world, both for plans and for handsets. What we get for our money down here is pretty astonishing, and not in a good way.
First, some perspective (some fresh, clear, well-seasoned perspective):
Here's what you'll get in the United States today if you sign up for an 8 GB iPhone with AT&T and the cheapest possible plan that includes text messaging:
8 GB iPhone 3G: $99
Data Plan for iPhone ("unlimited" data): $30/month
450 minutes of talktime w/ rollover minutes: $40/month
200 text messages: $5/month
Total monthly cost: $75/month
Total two-year cost of ownership: $1899
That's actually not all that bad. I'd kill for that plan at those prices. Know why? Because here's what you'll get in New Zealand today if you sign up for an 8 GB iPhone 3G with Vodafone and their cheapest possible plan (Note: from here on out all NZ prices are converted to U.S. dollars at the current exchange rate):
8 GB iPhone 3G: $322
Monthly plan: $26
Total two-year cost of ownership: $946
Well, look at that! The two-year cost is half of AT&T's, so we must have a way better deal down here in New Zealand. Right? Right...?
Here's what $26 a month gets you in New Zealand:
20 minutes of talktime (no rollover)
100 texts
250 MB of data
So, with Vodafone NZ, for slightly over 1/3 of the cost of AT&T's cheapest plan, you get half as many text messages (not bad), data capped to 250 MB a month (Wait, what?) and less than five percent the amount of talktime with no rollover (Stop! Thief!).
Let's compare apples to apples and try to find a Vodafone plan that compares more directly with AT&T's cheapest offering.
Oh, wait. There isn't one. At $84 a month, this is the best monthly plan Vodafone sells for the iPhone right now:
8 GB iPhone 3G: $128 (this is as subsidised as it gets)
250 minutes of talktime (still no rollover)
600 texts
500 MB of data
No, your eyes aren't deceiving you. 500 MB of data is as high as you can get here.
Vodafone's most expensive iPhone plan costs $9 a month more than AT&T's cheapest, which sounds like a good deal... until you see what you're getting for your money.
The pricing was worse by far when the iPhone 3G was first launched here. Currently a 16 GB iPhone gets subsidised to $225 if you sign up for Vodafone's most expensive plan; last July, when the exchange rate was far more favorable to New Zealand and Vodafone's subsidy for the phone far less, that same plan only subsidised it down to about $480 with the exchange rate at the time.
When the iPhone 3G was launched here, Vodafone offered a "better" plan than their current best, but it cost a staggering NZ$250 per month (~US$200 a month last year, ~US$160 this year). You got 600 texts and 600 minutes of talktime on that plan, but the data cap was still only 1 GB per month.
The prices of the iPhone itself and the plans were so criminally high last year that I refused to buy one. Because I also refused to waste money on a cell phone I didn't want and that didn't do everything I wanted it to do, I went without a cell phone until this February, when I noticed that the plan prices and subsidies had improved slightly.
As horrible as the value for money of the iPhone plans sound, they're actually among the best values in New Zealand for plans that include data. If you want a comparable plan for the Blackberry Bold, for instance, you can expect to shell out close to $700 for the phone itself. The plan will cost $26 a month for 60 minutes of talktime, free weekend calls and texts, and one "bestmate", a mini-plan that allows you to call and text one person as much as you want. Want data, too? That'll cost extra: $32 a month for 200 MB of data, plus another $19 per megabyte for "roaming data" (whatever that is), which isn't included in the data allowance. Unsurprisingly, I haven't seen too many people toting Blackberry phones down here.
Aside from the highway robbery prices, it's not all bad when it comes to the service itself. Unlike AT&T, all of Vodafone's phones are unlocked right out of the box, so if you feel like paying full price for the handset ($728 for the 16 GB model), you can always hop onto Telecom's network instead - but you're only trading one devil for another by doing so, as their plans and coverage really aren't any better than Vodafone. The subsidised phones are unlocked, too, but forget about ducking out early; Vodafone's early cancellation fees are monstrous.
Voice quality is often slightly warbly over 3G, but I haven't had a single dropped call yet - although that might be because, like most New Zealanders, I now text far more often than I call, since it's way more economical.
Vodafone's 3G service is mostly limited to the major cities, but I've found it to be spotty anywhere outside of Auckland (on the North Island at least; I haven't made it down south yet, sadly). There's a new service called "3G extended" that supposedly extends 3G coverage to 97% of the nation, but the iPhone isn't supported on that network - the network runs at 900 MHz, but unfortunately even the new iPhone 3G S doesn't do 3G at that frequency. Generally 3G speed is quite good, usually only slightly slower than what I get on my broadband at home.
With such low data caps, though, forget about watching YouTube videos or downloading anything off the iTunes or app stores while on the go - and who knows if tethering will even be a realistic option here. As long as you keep that in mind, it's actually quite difficult to butt up against even the lowest data cap unless you're surfing very heavily every day; I think the most data I've used in a month was around 180 MB, but that's mostly because my iPhone is usually on my home WiFi network.
As for finding free WiFi hotspots on the go, you can pretty much forget about it in NZ. While in the States it's getting easier every day to find free public WiFi, so far I haven't found a single free hotspot in this country, except for university WiFi that requires you to be an attending student (and sign up through a cumbersome proxy server). An app on my iPhone called WiFi Finder (iTunes store link) tells me there are a small handful of free hotspots in Auckland, but the overwhelming majority of WiFi here is pay-only, and the rates are prohibitively expensive. There are also standalone "internet cafés" in most of the major cities, but I've been wary of visiting those. Perhaps due to the pervasive data caps, I've also found that people here are much better at securing their home wireless networks; I haven't found a single unlocked network yet, although admittedly I haven't been looking very hard.
Outside of 3G coverage areas, the speed of the mobile network is abysmally slow. I haven't seen an actual EDGE network anywhere down here so far, with non-3G coverage areas bringing up the blue O GPRS icon in the iPhone's menubar instead of E for EDGE. If you thought EDGE was slow, GPRS will kill you - it's basically wireless dialup. I usually don't even bother trying to get online unless I have a 3G connection, because otherwise even the most basic pages can take several minutes to load in Mobile Safari. Oddly enough, the Maps app on the iPhone is usually still fairly quick to load data even on GPRS.
Not having used an iPhone in the U.S., or really any internet-capable mobile phone, I can't say for sure how service here in NZ compares. I will say that even with the claustrophobia-inducing data cap, spotty coverage, and high prices, the iPhone has still been an invaluable tool well worth the occasional aggravation brought on by the local telecommunications environment. Plus, it's quite amazing to be able to get mobile internet access at all when most of the scenery here is so breathtaking it makes me feel like I'm living on another planet altogether.
Not pictured: Holodeck arch
All signs point to New Zealand's mobile broadband coverage and speeds improving in the future. Hopefully the pricing situation will improve along with it, because honestly, it doesn't seem like it could get much worse.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 4)
billcantfart said 11:05PM on 6-14-2009
Wow. I guess I'm gonna stay away from New Zealand, then.
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Mandrake said 11:58PM on 6-14-2009
Except theres more to life than internet and phone rates ;-)
billcantfart said 12:17AM on 6-15-2009
Blasphemy!
Philip Roy said 11:23PM on 6-14-2009
Chris,
First welcome to Palmerston North! It is unfortunately not at the heart of great broadband changes occurring in the country, such as local loop unbundling. I thought your first post was a little harsh, but I think you've learnt that perhaps looking around a bit more, you might have come up with a better plan.
I do however share your concern about the cost of using the iPhone in New Zealand.
When the original prices were announced here, they weren't received well at all. We set up a petition to get Vodafone to agree to sell the phone on prepay....
http://www.nziphone.com/news/nz/prepay-petition-closes-with-1994-signatures.html
That didn't happen for 8 months or more. TV3 had a go at Vodafone about the prices....
http://www.3news.co.nz/Video/CampbellLive/tabid/367/articleID/62352/Default.aspx
And the newspapers got involved....(see about a third down the page)....
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/blogs/tooned-in-with-mike-moreu/1880004/iPhone-therefore-I-am
Hopefully one day we might get a better deal...but I somehow doubt it. I currently have data disabled and simply use wi-fi access for data...and paid in full to avoid the plan costs.
Cheers, Phil
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Chris Rawson said 12:46AM on 6-15-2009
I remember that TV3 interview. They really had that Vodafone guy squirming in his seat. It was great to watch.
msc1974 said 11:27PM on 6-14-2009
I started this when the 3G came out (for what it was worth)
http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/iphone_rip_off_New_Zealand/signatures.html
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Hayden said 11:25PM on 6-14-2009
I will never move to New Zealand. Ever. I'll put up with all the crap here in the States if I get unlimited broadband and decent phone plans.
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Sam said 11:35PM on 6-14-2009
As a NZ citizen and fellow griper of mobile and broadband networks, I would like to point out that vodafone does actually lock handsets now. This NZHerald article details the update as of may 6th last year.
http://blogs.nzherald.co.nz/blog/griffins-tech-blog/2008/5/2/vodafones-handset-lock-down/?c_id=1501198
Basically if you want your new phone unlocked you have to pay Vodafone NZ$50 for the priviledge.
As for your previous article about broadband, my friend signed up for the telecom "unlimited" plan about 2 years ago. It was so popular telecom removed it because people were actually getting what they wanted. Luckily they couldn't remove existing users and he still has the plan, so torrenting and general web usage aren't at risk of rationing.
Keep battling. maybe one day the government will wake up and realise that having two bullies in charge of NZ's telecommunications industry and not the regulators is perhaps not a good idea.
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Mandrake said 11:52PM on 6-14-2009
Actually that information is out of date.
Vodafone started locking phones early last year but were slapped down by the Commerce commision and within a month they stopped the practice and made a pledge to unlock any locked phones on request. All phones sold since then by Vodafone including the iPhone are unlocked.
blaise said 11:35PM on 6-14-2009
as a canadian that has moved to New Zealand in the last year, I went through a similar shock. BUT! You have to keep in mind that where as in Canada, both the caller and the recipient pay for air charges when making cell calls, in New Zealand only the Caller is billed. Receiving calls on your phone is always free, as are emergency calls. (great reason to leave an old pay-as-you-go cell in the car with a charger)
Also, there aren't nearly the number of hidden charges (network access fee, emergency service fee, billing fees) in New Zealand that I had with Rogers in Canada.
Finally, in NZ all prices are inclusive of all applicable taxes, so you don't get the nasty surprise that the government gives you on each bill.
Yes, mobile phones are much more expensive here, but let's put all the facts in place.
In New Zealand, I signed up for the 40$/month plan, I pay 40$ a month unless I use more than my allocated amount of time or texts.
In Canada, I signed up for the 40$ a month plan, I payed on the order of 65$ a month after all the different fees etc and taxes were added on.
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Duran Dujam said 1:05AM on 6-15-2009
It's funny, and I couldn't help but think as I read this article:
That's ridiculous!
Data caps, lack of competition, extortionist pricing....
Oh, wait... it's just like Canada!
Craig Stanton said 1:27AM on 6-15-2009
True dat.
I hear Oregon doesn't have sales tax, but everywhere else pays more than the price on the ticket.
I think data/call plans here are a total rip off, but I vastly prefer the maths. Price on the box = money removed from my pocket. It's the only sensible way.
And if someone wants to text me a million times or call me for hours and hours, they pay the bill. If they're the sort of person who talks a lot they'll soon learn to get a plan that allows them to do that.
Øivind said 11:37PM on 6-14-2009
Can't say I find these prices that abysmal. In NZ you get a cap that most people will never exceed. I've never exceeded 500 MB a month on my iPhone, and I use it a lot. In the US you have "unlimited data", but AT&T doesn't REALLY have the capacity for true unlimited data in their network, so they limit what they'll allow the iPhone to do (all the cool stuff) in their network, which in my opinion is even worse than criminally high prices. The result is that most iPhone owners in the US use far less than 500 MB a month, despite their rather expensive "unlimited" plans.
My plan is also a lot more expensive than those found in the US, but I prefer it to the US plans because it doesn't limit what I can do with my phone. MMS, tethering, radio over 3G, you name it, there's no limit (or at least there won't be now that Apple has started to differentiate between AT&T and the rest of the world).
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Philip Roy said 11:48PM on 6-14-2009
Sam,
That decision (re locking) was reversed the same month....
http://www.stuff.co.nz/technology/462505
Phil
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lotech said 11:49PM on 6-14-2009
Our internet finally falls into the usable category. It could be better but you must remember we are an island nation on the very corner of the asian area - there are no countries after us or connected to share the costs - so we have to pay for the internets over all 4 million Kiwis.
Add to that the horrible provider monopoly we've only just broken up, and its all understandable.
We all want it faster internerd but its better than nothing.
As for the mobile phone costs - we are a country with around 105% cellphone saturation (ie everyone has a phone, some people have two).
We have also achieved a duopoly of providers - and neither want to get in to a price war, so happily say they compete but really don't. If they did start competing - they both loose their sweet profits.
But hey, what we lack in unlimited broadband and fair cellphone prices we make up for by the fact we are the most peaceful country in the planet, according to the Global Peace Index (GPI). We're easy going and have a pretty solid western society. If you want to go home and download you torrents @ 50mb/s then fine. We'll be relaxing around the bbq with a cold one without you.
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Chris Rawson said 12:49AM on 6-15-2009
Don't get me wrong. I may have spent a couple of posts griping about the telecommunications situation down here, but that's really the only complaint I have about living here.
Other than the lousy telcos, this country is easily the best place I've ever lived, much less visited, and I plan to live here for the majority of the rest of my life.
Jono said 12:05AM on 6-15-2009
Just like Øivind, you need to really think about how much data you ACTUALLY use on an iPhone. You complain that you don't have unlimited plans, but the chances of you actually using the 500MB is still fairly low.
Here in Australia, I have a 3GB data plan on my iPhone, only because I work for a telco, so get my data plan paid for by them (hence I picked the biggest one they offered). I use my iPhone a LOT, but still rarely, if ever, use more than 500MB. If I were to start paying for my data plan myself, I would quite gladly change down to one of the lower plans.
Also as Øivind noted, since our data isn't "unlimited" it means the telcos don't try and limit what we use it for. If I've paid for 500MB of data, I can use that 500MB as I please. AT&T however offer you "unlimited" data, but restrict any services (Sling, Skype etc) that would actually allow you to use large amounts.
The worst part, however, is that as Apple is based in the US and try to please AT&T with their App Store rules, services such as Skype have to follow those rules, affecting users in other countries like Australia and NZ where we should be able to use our limited data as we please.
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Jared said 4:10AM on 6-15-2009
I agree with Jono, I am on a 750mb data cap with Optus in Australia. I had my biggest month ever last month by using 330mb and I am always on it. I just can't see how you need an unlimited plan. Now once tethering comes in.....well that's a different story.
Bruce Hoult said 12:16AM on 6-15-2009
There's really no way around this, but the price for voice minutes is extremely high in NZ. This applies to all phones, dumb or smart, all networks, all plans. No excuses Vodafone and Telecom NZ, this sucks.
But the rest of of picture is nowhere near so bad.
For example, on Vodafone, you can get 2000 SMS a month for US$6. I've not seen anywhere near as good a deal with any carrier in the USA. As you say, most people here in NZ TXT a *lot*.
Also Vodafone's data is not too bad if you're not fixated on some mythical "unlimited" that you'll actually never use.
If you don't get a data plan at all then if you don't use data then you pay nothing (duh). If you use data on a given day then you get anything up to 10 MB for US$0.60. That's a pretty good amount for a day. You've got to try pretty hard to exceed it. And if you do that every day then you'll spend US$18 a month for 300 MB, or 6c/MB. And if there are days you don't use then phone then you'll pay less.
The above applies to both on-account and prepay users.
Prepay users can buy a block of 100 MB for US$6, with one month expiry. When you use up that block (or it expires) you just get another one. Or you can buy a block of 500 MB for US$24 under the same terms, which makes sense if you want to use more than 400 MB a month.
On-account users can choose from several plans with the largest being 3 GB for $42. If that runs out then you can get an additional 3 GB for US$6 (but only once each month). So, a total of 6 GB for US$48.
Note that these aren't iPhone plans. They're simply "plans", for any phone, including the iPhone.
Personally I have my iPhone on Prepay with the 100 MB for $6 add-on. I use it nearly constantly for email and Twitter and maps and RSS feeds when I'm away from WIFI and I've not yet managed to exceed 20 MB in a month.
When I was in Mountain View in the USA last month I did a bit of a survey of colleagues who have iPhones, and there were a lot of them. They all were emphatic that they *loved* unlimited data and used their phones ALL THE TIME, but when I checked the data usage on their phones I found:
1) they'd never reset it since they got the phone (it give the last reset date)
2) they didn't know how to find it anyway
3) they'd typically used 20 MB - 80 MB a month
Everyone I checked would be been just fine with the Vodafone NZ US$6 for 100 MB for a month prepay add-on. And that's *way* less expensive than the actual unlimited AT&T data plan they were on (needlessly, but with no choice in the matter).
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Chris Rawson said 12:51AM on 6-15-2009
I will say that one of the few things I actually do treasure about Vodafone's plans is BestMates. For a $6 addon, I can call and text my wife as much as I want. As she's generally the only person I call or text anyway, it's a great value.