Campbell Live tonight 22/02/06

[k14]

Obviously Mr Far Queue is a telecon employee and has been brainwashed like the rest of their employees.

My thoughts on the reasons why the government is stepping in is because their anti-competitive behaviour is screwing up the countries economy. Due to the fact that telecon has such exhorbitantly priced and low bandwidth "broadband" plans is crippling many businesses trying to keep up with overseas customers etc. This is a very major issue for this country and the telecommunications infrastructure is one of those things that the government has to keep an eye on cause it is imperative to this countries wellbeing. Just the same as the power generation/transmission infrastructure. This is fairly heavily regulated which is just as important as the telecomms infrastructure and one of those essential services that needs government input. My 2c anyway.

[Grahameeboy]

Why can't Telecom do what they want, and what's it got to do with the government?

The government owned the whole lot (NZ Post Office) and sold it all off. As a result Telecom is now a private company. As a private company they can offer whatever services they want, and charge what they like for it, just as any other private company can. If you're not happy with what they offer, then you can go to another company (EG Vodaphone, TelstraClear). It's not Telecom's problem that no other company can offer the full range of services that Telecom can. Telecom is simply making the most of what it bought off the government. Yes, it’s a monopoly, that’s what it bought off the government.

Not happy? Oh, well too bad, that's how it is. Our government cocked up and sold off the family jewels way back in 1987, and now it wants to dictate what the new owner can do with those jewels. Telstra and co not happy? Of course not, they want to make more money for themselves, they’re not in for you and I either. Vodaphone and Telecom fixing prices with each other? Yep, probably, just like the petrol companies do.

I'm not happy with the way Telecom goes about business either, or the disgusting profits it makes, or the exorbitant money Obersturmbannfuhrer Gattung gets paid. But I can do no more about it than anyone else. Blame the government, they cocked up.

I see your point........Govt is not consistent...they ploughed $800million of our money into AirNZ, but will not get involved in saving the engineer's jobs to avoid the work going off shore........this to me is a more important issue.

Yes we are behind but big deal.......as you say there are options for people to go elsewhere......we do have a small population for the size of the country....slightly larger than UK with 58 Million which makes a difference.

[Karma]

Obviously Mr Far Queue is a telecon employee and has been brainwashed like the rest of their employees.

You quite clearly havn't been through a telecom training session... otherwise you'd know that they are the sun and the moon, and above all Telecom loves NZ like NZ loves Telecom.






But seriously...

Telecom holding back NZ?

Rubbish... what really holds back NZ is NZ.... sure Rugby is great, and chilling at the beach is cool... but why are your kids not getting an education similar to that of other countries? IT is barely even taught in many primary schools, neither are foreign languages (is there a use for Maori outside NZ?), and how about the sciences? Perhaps if NZ wants to grow mentally and economically they should concentrate on their education system rather than blaming Telecom for the fact this country can't compete.

My personal view is that if Telecom unbundled the local loop it would make no difference to 50% of the population... the only people that would be offered cheaper plans are those in Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch. Look at the higher speed plans in the UK by companies like Bulldog.... 24MBps... fuck that's fast... but only if you live within 1kilometre of an enabled exchange... which equates to about 2% of the population...

All I can ask of the community is that if you've got a complaint to make then please do it in writing, as the poor phone monkey you speak to when you phone up can't do jack shit about it

Erm... I think that's it

[sAsLEX]

All I can ask of the community is that if you've got a complaint to make then please do it in writing, as the poor phone monkey you speak to when you phone up can't do jack shit about it

and they are probally in India and cant speak jack all english!

[riffer]

Am I to understand that unbundling the local loop is the telecommunications equivalent of separating the power companies from the line companies?

I've never quite understood why the telecommunications business and lines business was sold to the same company.

Could it be that the govt. could nationalise the phone lines themselves, and this could be run separately?

And would we then have a situation similar to what we have currently with electricity, where the companies are ratching the prices up to allow for the infrastructure work we need to compete in the next 20 years?

It's all very well wanting fast internet, but in the end, there's not many of us in NZ to pay for it. Look at what's happened to the roads...


oh, and Lou - it was a Labour government that sold Telecom in 1990.

[Karma]

and they are probally in India and cant speak jack all english!

Nup... all NZ based.

[sAsLEX]

Nup... all NZ based.

maybe telecon, but some companies are moving call centres offshore as its cheaper, not as its a better service

[far queue]

Obviously Mr Far Queue is a telecon employee and has been brainwashed like the rest of their employees.

Yes, I’m one of the minions that work for the company, I’ve been here since the post office days. But I certainly haven’t been brainwashed, and don’t think any that have been here for some time really believe the tripe that’s dished out by the PR people. If you re-read what I’ve written you’ll see that I don’t agree with how Telecom goes about things and that it’s not just Telecom I refer to with regard to what I believe are morally unsound practices.

My thoughts on the reasons why the government is stepping in is because their anti-competitive behaviour is screwing up the countries economy. Due to the fact that telecon has such exhorbitantly priced and low bandwidth "broadband" plans is crippling many businesses trying to keep up with overseas customers etc.

There are other options available for customers. Much higher speeds are available both from Telecom and TelstraClear via dedicated data circuits. Yes, this option is much more expensive from both companies, but the speed is available from both companies and the competition isn’t making it real cheap. It not in either companies interests to drop the price too low – they can, but they wont. Just like petrol companies. If TelstraClear or others get access to the local loop, yes prices will drop a bit, but not too much because TelstraClear want to screw you just as much as Telecom do. They didn’t come here because they felt sorry for you, they came here to make money.

Look at all the fuss Challenge made when they opened up shop to compete with Mobil, BP and so on. They said we were being ripped off and they were going to put that right. OK, they started with lower prices to build a client base, but how do they compare now? Just the same as all the rest. Pak N Save are now putting pumps in at their supermarkets – I’m sure the prices will start low, but they’ll be up with rest soon enough.

This is a very major issue for this country and the telecommunications infrastructure is one of those things that the government has to keep an eye on cause it is imperative to this countries wellbeing. Just the same as the power generation/transmission infrastructure. This is fairly heavily regulated which is just as important as the telecomms infrastructure and one of those essential services that needs government input. My 2c anyway.

Yep, fair enough. But the problem with the power co’s is that they fail to supply the power at times due to poor management/planning. Whereas it’s rare for telecommunications to fail to the extent that the whole country has reduced service for months at a time. And yes the govt is regulating power prices as it is with telecommunication prices via the kiwi share. And what about the effect the fuel increases are having on the country? Are the govt fixing that? No, they’re happy to keep quiet about that because of all the tax money they’re pulling in for their overseas junkets and salary increases.

I see your point........Govt is not consistent...they ploughed $800million of our money into AirNZ, but will not get involved in saving the engineer's jobs to avoid the work going off shore........this to me is a more important issue.

I agree, why aren’t they protecting kiwi’s jobs.

Yes we are behind but big deal.......as you say there are options for people to go elsewhere......we do have a small population for the size of the country....slightly larger than UK with 58 Million which makes a difference.

Yes. The UK has many more Telco’s than here, which means even more competition to bring the prices down lower, and the larger customer base means lower prices still bring in a tidy profit for them.

[Karma]

Yeh that's true... British Telecom for one... they outsourced a lot of jobs from my old workplace, and a lot of my friends got made redundant... sucks eh.

[far queue]

Could it be that the govt. could nationalise the phone lines themselves, and this could be run separately?

The govt would have to buy the lines/cables etc back, like they did with the rails from Toll. But Telecom would want top dollar for it of course. Not really practical. Easier for them to just fiddle with the rules/laws then force a private company to what they want. Isn't democracy great

[scumdog]

Ah! So Telecom bashing is now the 'flavour-of-the-month'?
Excellent change!

[Karma]

The govt would have to buy the lines/cables etc back, like they did with the rails from Toll. But Telecom would want top dollar for it of course. Not really practical. Easier for them to just fiddle with the rules/laws then force a private company to what they want. Isn't democracy great

And you'd trust the government to run the telecom network????

Have I missed something?

This way they can run it via legislation but take none of the blame for it.

[sAsLEX]

Yep, fair enough. But the problem with the power co’s is that they fail to supply the power at times due to poor management/planning. Whereas it’s rare for telecommunications to fail to the extent that the whole country has reduced service for months at a time

When was this?

winter 01 or something was close but we havent't really seen a nation wide black/brown out in a while. Auckland is just generally fucked from decades of people living with their heads in the sand rather than planning and building for the ever growing pop, now they are having to play catchup!

Greenies are to blame for power shortages.

[far queue]

And you'd trust the government to run the telecom network????

Hell no, don't trust them for a minute. Just saying that the govt would have to buy the network rather than just nationilise it. Even Telecom don't get all the maintainence done that should be, because they screw the contractors down to absolutly cut price rates. Therefore the contractors can only afford to spend minimal time on maintenance work. They get paid per job not for how well the job is done. It's all down to money again.

Telecom want to pay the minimum possible to their contractors to keep profits up. Because of this contractors can't afford to spend too much time on doing a really top job - they have to plough through the work to earn a decent living, and often work longer hours to do so.

It's not the contractors fault, they do a good job, but they've got families to feed too.

The govt would probably be worse.

[sAsLEX]

They get paid per job not for how well the job is done.

It's not the contractors fault, they do a good job, but they've got families to feed too.

The govt would probably be worse.

Most Govt kinda techies I know are on a salary.