I hate Telecom

[swanman]

Long time not been on this site. Helloooo everybody!

Anyway. I have been trying to cut as many costs as possible in my monthly budget, so I can afford to pay some monthly payments on an another bike, and have come accross my telecom bill.

I pay 100 odd bucks a month for basic of 20gb download and half of that is for line rental.

Now we all know the line rental is a total rip off, so how can I get round this? Is it VOIP or something similar. Is there a better provider (I am sure there is). How do I avoid this line rental but still have a phone to call people on, and keep a decent amount of broadband to download stuff on?

Any ideas (nothing too geeky, mind) please lemme know.

Swannie

[sil3nt]

Naked DSL is what you want. Will do a search for some info.

[sil3nt]

Ok so from a quick search your best options are:

http://www.snap.net.nz/home/naked-dsl/
http://www.kiwilink.co.nz/broadband/naked-dsl.php
http://www.slingshot.co.nz/DesktopDe...id=30&subnav=1
http://www.xnet.co.nz/fusion/

You will need to spend a couple of hundred on a new router and possibly new phone. I would personally go with xnet as you can choose how much data you use or you can just pay for what you use (good if you dont use much).

I don't know a lot about how it all works and the charges associated with phone calls but if you don't use your phone that much and don't use too much data each month then you could save quite a bit of money.

[dipshit]

Rats. They don't look that much cheaper than what i am paying for phone/broadband with telecom. Maybe save $10 or $15 a month. (unless i will count as rural)

Then as i have experienced before... you end up getting the runaround between your provider and telecom if you have any problems. The new provider will tell you it is a telecom line problem... and telecom will tell you that is your provider's problem. Things can become a right royal pain in the arse if anything goes wrong.

Hardly worth it to only save only $10

[swanman]

Cheers for your thoughts. I reckon if i can save $50 a month that'd be good news for a replacement bike.

[YellowDog]

I thought VooDooFone did such a deal, but it is way too pricey.

[BuFfY]

Orcon do an unbundled deal, so you don't need a phone line. I think they start at $80 for like 20 g or something? Have a look on their website

[scracha]

Orcon do an unbundled deal, so you don't need a phone line. I think they start at $80 for like 20 g or something? Have a look on their website

$80 for 20gig...hardly a deal. They're government owned anyhoo.

20gig...what is this...1998 or something?

[Gremlin]

If you want to be able to call people on the line, and have broadband, then line rental is required.

If you don't need to call people, then yes, you can get naked DSL, subject to being within certain areas, and if you have moved since I last saw ya, you probably won't be.

Remember one thing tho. There is still a phone line for naked DSL, it just doesn't have a phone number assigned to it and since the phone side isn't hooked up, it can't be used for calling.

Naked DSL will be more expensive than normal broadband (for plan) but when you put line rental on normal broadband, naked DSL is a little cheaper.

[Forest]

If you want to be able to call people on the line, and have broadband, then line rental is required.

If you don't need to call people, then yes, you can get naked DSL, subject to being within certain areas, and if you have moved since I last saw ya, you probably won't be.

Remember one thing tho. There is still a phone line for naked DSL, it just doesn't have a phone number assigned to it and since the phone side isn't hooked up, it can't be used for calling.

Naked DSL will be more expensive than normal broadband (for plan) but when you put line rental on normal broadband, naked DSL is a little cheaper.

If you have naked DSL installed, you can run VOIP over it with no dramas. The VOIP line will have it's own dedicated number and can be used to make or receive calls.

You can even use regular analogue telephones with VOIP if you install an ATA. The phone will behave exactly as though it is a fixed line.

The only downside is that a DSL outage will also take your VOIP service down. This may be an issue if you need a phone for emergency services.

[mynameis]

$80 for 20gig...hardly a deal. They're government owned anyhoo.

20gig...what is this...1998 or something?

Not everyone downloads porn...
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Some just get it off mates

[swanman]

If you have naked DSL installed, you can run VOIP over it with no dramas. The VOIP line will have it's own dedicated number and can be used to make or receive calls.

You can even use regular analogue telephones with VOIP if you install an ATA. The phone will behave exactly as though it is a fixed line.

The only downside is that a DSL outage will also take your VOIP service down. This may be an issue if you need a phone for emergency services.

Yes this is the option I am looking for. I have looked closely at the orcon naked thing and seems the best for GB and for price, but they don't offer any VOIP service. So would I have to get a VOIP service from somewhere else at another cost? Or how about skype is that a real world alternative?

[imne1]

I have Woosh wifi which is $60 a month for 20 gigs, its often quite slow though (ie. struggles to buffer youtube faster than it can play) and then i have a telescum prepay mobile which lives at home to serve as the landline, this costs zero dollars a month, I use my 021 mobile for everything else.

Vodafone 'redzone' is another option, they do some pretty sweet packages of mobile/home/internet (remember they bought and ate iHug) so check that out, sadly for me they dont provide it for welly yet.


..also Skype is a good Voip alternative if you do alot of calling from home.

[geoffm]

Whatever you do - avoid Slingshot = slingshit
Slow, unreliable, and customer "service" that relates more to the agricultural definition of service than anything...
Geoff

[vifferman]

We were with Xtra YEARS ago, and have since been with oodles of different providers, some of which are long since defunct.
Been with ihug (now Vodafone) for yonx. They're possibly not the best, but I couldn't be bothered switching any more.
$100 a month? Ours is around $200+, but very little (about $40-$60) is for phone. Our monthly bandwidth runs to around 60-70 Gb, about 2 or 3 Mb of which is mine...