internet kaspersky security: Vodafone extends free broadband deal... what I think they should offer instead.

I think the free broadband deal has past it's used-by date.

I was hoping for a fresh new offer on 1st August, like part of their other changes at Vodafone.

Just for people who only require plain home phone and broadband, here was what ihug used to offer in 2007 compared to Vodafone's current offer:

	ihug: Bundling		Vodafone: Free Broadband till the end of 2008
Minimum requirements	ihug home phone + calling plan ihug broadband		Vodafone home phone and broadband packs Vodafone talk 1
Offer	Two months free broadband Free connection	Free modem Free connection	Free modem Free connection Free broadband until 31 December 2008
Total spent in a year without offer*	$1000.95		$988.95
Total spent in a year with offer*	$759.95	$852.00	$810.00 - $930.00
Contract term	0 months		12 months

* Some notes:

Modems used to cost $99.95, but as Vodafone have dropped their prices to $49.95, this is the modem price described here (credits for modems are equivalent to the modem prices at the time of offer)
Home phone for ihug is calculated to the price at the time of the offer ($41.00)
talk plans are not included for total with/without offer on the ihug column, as for this we only want to sign up to home phone and broadband in comparison to the Vodafone offer. The extra expense for talk 1 for one year is $180.
Only the cheapest plans are selected for the offer (ihug home phone + broadband 1 and Easy pack and talk 1)

The ihug offer started in December 2006 and changed slightly in February 2007 to include two months free broadband (the whole price of the broadband plan, and not just the $30 credit Vodafone's now offering)

It was at this time that we signed up to ihug, just when Telecom got criticised for their management on Go Large (we were on it for 2 months).

We really thought that this was an excellent deal compared to any other ISP because of one thing - no contract!

I would actually like Vodafone to reinstate an offer of a similar kind. Even if it's just two months with $30 credit rather than the full broadband component price. ihug was in Vodafone ownership back then, so there isn't much of a reason why they can't now.

No contract will definitely stand out in the marketplace, because the requirement to have talk 1 really is excessive (really - $15 a month for national calls only in weekends and weeknights... come on!)

I don't think that free broadband (for 7 months from when it first started) is worth having a 12 month contract along with a calling plan.

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Arghhh. When are things going to look good for the Telecom Yahoo!Xtra team and their included premium services? Ive just posted this in our Geekzone forums and contacted Telecom - someone is looking into this now:

Hi freitasm_xtra,

Your Flickr Pro account expired on . You have 316 photos but you're now only seeing the last 200!

Perhaps you'd like to renew your Pro account?

You'll even get 3 months free for purchasing before 30 September 2008!

You can learn more here:

http://flickr.com/yay/comeback/3mo/
The Flickreenos

No date in the "expired on", and indeed my PRO status is gone. Another storm coming? Or is just my account?

I contacted the Telecom support and received a response, which is obviously not good enough. I don't think I should be contacting Flickr since this is a Telecom service:

I am sorry to hear about your Flickr Pro account has been cancelled. Unfortunately we do not support the Flickr here, I would need to refer your to the help section within www.flickr.com/help/ There is a "contact us" option on this page that maybe your best option.

I can confirm that your Xtra account is all active and can see no reason why you shouldn't have a valid Flickr account.

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Check this - interesting indeed and demonstrates the value of firsthand experience . . . . Upgrade now

http://www.mojaveexperiment.com/ - must say - I love the use of Flash too!

Been a lot happier with Vista since I got hibernate/sleep sussed properly (by default sleep won't go if you are sharing media)

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Ok.. where do I start.

0197 is doing weird things.

0197 then a normal number, Connects, but ID is passed through to both terminating cell and landline, wtf?
0197 then an 0800 number, call connects then terminates instantly.
#31# DOES work.
Response from Vodafone "0197 is not supported" ugh...

Calling 777 from the mobile , works about 25% of the time, network connects the session but the call hits the switch and just ends instantly similar to the 0197 bugs. happening since friday.

Cannot top up two of the module prepay simcards where the credit had simply expired on the 60 days (old supaprepay exp) via recharge voucher, dialling 777 from the simcard (when I FINALLY got a successful connection) said "you are barred from topping up by recharge card" and then the call is dumped on to the credit card top up menu, but guess what.....
(vodafone's response.... they don't have a clue on how to "unbar" the connections to let me top them up)

Credit card top ups are not working!!! ARGH.

Checked Manage your account online so see if I could fix it there. Logged in successfully,
Click on "accout details,... Blank screen: Firefox, opera and Microsoft Internet explorer.

So much for "use our automated self-service options" FIX THEM!!!!!!!!

Now you are trying to charge us to call the helpdesk, you really should be making sure these self-service things WORK.

Vodafone do the occasional great moves like Bestmate and the $1 for 10MB cap and there is a "network status update" in the 777 menu that ought to be applauded but they really need to look at this system and the network components of theirs which is obviously a pile of $%^$%.

The sooner somebody releases a CDMA2000 or 850MHz module to replace the Siemens MC series, the better.

I'd say the government should look into them but the resulting info might be passed on to Jamie Lockett and co.

But finally: I just called 0800 800 021 and spoke to a local staff member whom provided excellent service, I will ensure this is made known to her superior.