jetstream / xtra phone bill

just got our first phone bill for jetstream
they have chargeed us:
$69.95 jetstream flat rate surf
$39.85 homeline

PLUS $27.95 internet standard connection

is this right? wtf is the standard connection?

Yeah unfortunately I think that's right You pay $69.95 for the Jetstream, and there is a charge of $27.95 for new Xtra customers according to the signup process I found on http://www.telecom.co.nz/jetstream/

yea i got my bill 2 days ago and SHIT!!
it said $69.95 jetstream flat-rate
$39.95 for the standard home phone

and $149 connection and wiring fee???
for 1 thing they were having a special where you dont pay the $99 connection fee, it should have been free...for another i didnt have anything bloody wired i already had adsl on that line the house is already done. im going to call xtra/telecom.....

Do it man, call up. If a technician didn't visit your house you shouldn't be charged that $149.

If you get ADSL switched on, they still have a tech go to your local exchange switch and hook it all up... But yeah they have said thats free for the moment?!?!?!

What? They advertised it as free setup? So they sneak in a "sign up" charge?

The jetstream connection with Telecom is free. For a new internet account with xtra is 27.95..... Obviously if you chose not to go with xtra then you would pay another isp's registration fee

Man, no wonder everyone hates telecom. They say its free to setup a Jetstream connection, then slap you with a new account setup fee? As far as I am concerned thats part of the setup of a Jetstream connection as a whole.

Will be interesting to see if it is an xtra set up fee or an account fee we will be charged monthly!!

harvey: it clearly states that on the website. so you think that if you sign up with paradise telecom should pay the connection fee for you ?

nova: its a one off thing

Can you give us a link then and where it states that the free jetstream connection promotion does not exclude you from paying an account setup fee? I have no doubt that you are right.

http://jetstream.xtra.co.nz/chm/0,5123,203112-202321,00.html

"If you are not already an Xtra customer, then charges may apply to join Xtra. Any charges that apply will be set out as part of the registration and subscription process to join Xtra"

Yes, thats all very well. But you must admit that advertising something as a "free connection setup" has the potential to be misleading.

maybe to the un-educated..... jetstream has two parts, a jetstream line with telecom and an account with an ISP. Telecom is offering to install the jetstream line for free, that is all.

It is misleading - it's a fuckup in the whole jetstream/telecom/ISP system that makes the setup confusing for 99% of consumers.
I don't consider it to be a sinister type of misleading though - the company advertising the special are fulfilling their end of the agreement and DO state that ISP charges may apply.

I agree that it SHOULD BE A LOT CLEARER though.

Wouldn't you consider the "uneducated" to be most new customers? I see this is again a case of being vague and not making things clear which leads to frustration.

As I said above - I think close to 99% of consumers probably have no idea it is setup this way.....

yeah i guess your right..... i personally get all the info about anything im going to purchase or services and products included. i dont buy a car that comes with free oil and then complain when i have to fill it with gas

Sorry, but your analogy does not really apply. Now if were a case of saying it was a car that had a free servicing when you bought it, then they said "oh, the free service covers part of car, but not all of it. And you will have to pay for the cost of that other half of the service since you've already signed the deal." after you had signed the deal, then it would be a valid comparison.

yeah the mofos got me with that too... so I showed them & cancelled my account & went with another isp.....

yeah and how much was there registration fee ?


harvey: no harvey i would say yours is worse than mine. if you buy a car you have to get things for it from other companies, you dont expect the car company to pay for the gas do you ?

Well it was nothing, Paradise don't charge any account set up fees... but yes I realise that I had already paid the setup fee so wtf I may as well of stay with xtra.... however as it has turned out I'm better off with Paradise

and why are you better off ?

heh i dont mind paying the account set up fee, ive had that with all the isp's ive been with i mean its only fair, but payin for a connection which is suppose to be setup for free is just wrong, and wiring i never had done...unless they snuck into my house?

Paradise have a better newsgroup server ( imo) & have a 10 gig limit on their jetstart , Xtra have a cap at 5 gig.
The fact that I don't even use 5 gig most months doesn't come into it... I could use 10 if I wanted & wouldn't have to pay any xtra

Also it was at that time when the xtra terms of service included something to the effect of ... all your files belong to us etc.I think that has since been changed

but must admit xtra probably do have a better support team, it takes longer to get through in the day but its always open which is good
you cna get through on their jetstream help line, we have called at 2am in the morning

The few times I have called Paradise support they have been very helpful.
Mind you I called Telecom about something today & they were vrey helpful as well.
I think standard of customer service from isp's has improved 100% compared to the late '90's

but back to the topic.... yeah I didn't think it wasn't made very clear that you had to pay a hook up fee

TELESCUM!!!!!!!!!!!!

Hows this for another TELESCUM BITCH ARSE MOAN!!!!!!!!!!!

I called up there number 123, I think it was that anyway and asked them what the number was to call for the 25% of calls. I called 3 times and got the same bitch, she said she was just going to 'transfer me through' but hung up, coincidence doesnt happen three times in a row!

lol any of them should be able to help you?
i was told by one of the CSR's that they just put a note on your account?

So we don't get any more surprises, can someone answer this. Flat rate xtra, $69.95 per month. Now there is no limit on what you can download on this as it says "unlimited data" on the list of plans ...why would xtra send us an email saying "exceeded 80 per cent of the monthly megabyte limit"? How can you exceed 80% of unlimited?

How much traffic have you used ?
Maybe they are warning you that you are about to be throttled down to 64k ?

** scratchin my head ** I hope this doesn't turn out to be another case of misleading advertising, or changing the rules ( as telecom are known to do ) 'cos I just signed up for the 256k flate rate plan yesterday

"Speed maybe reduced to a maximum of 64kbs if you exceed 10GB"

I assume it's that bit ...but why can't they just make that clear in the damn email? What is up with being so vague? Precise direct comments would be appreciated.

its basically a feature on all jetstream accounts since the beginning. i agree though that for the flatrate plan its a bit misleading, will bring it up at work on monday

and it can be turned off btw

The limiting to 64kbs can be turned off or the email informing of reaching 80% of 10GB can be turned off?

Hey, one other question, does the 10GB limit include national as well as international? Sorry for all the silly questions, but I had a quick look at the xtra website and well, I'm a lazy bugger and if all the info I want isn't where I expect it to be I don't bother investigating further myself

the email notifications can be turned off.....

everything counts towards your usage, upload, dowload, national, international

That is one huge bill, I'm considering changing from 5GB to unlimited, cos there's only $5 difference, am I right? the $69.95 and $64.95?

do any other ISPs offer flat rate ADSL plans? (at 256k or higher?)

I tried woosh, but it was shite.

all of them have the same deal for 256k, it is set by telecom not the isp's, i would have to say ihug has the best if you put your phone with them. They have really good phone rates annd you get a package discount if you combine it with your internet
i here good things about the wireless plans??

We used to have Jetstream and it was costing a shitload... we got it cut to the one down from Jetstream - hardly even notice the difference in speed. It now takes about 5 seconds to load instead of one....


GRRRRR *evil eyes* at Telecom bastards. Hidden charges SUCK

do telstra have plans for cable in auckland? cable rocks

i pay $54.95 on top of my phone bill / month for 2mb down 512k up
5gb international (national is charged at 10% of intl)

5gb is not much but are yet to go over it