A lot of things are happening at Vodafone on this very special day:
- Prepay customers will start being charged a dollar per call to customer services when a Customer Service Representative is required
- Prepay customers will no longer be able to switch to the classic prepay plans
- ihug Limited will soon no longer exist and will completely be part of Vodafone New Zealand Limited.
It's not surprising that ihug will soon be completely part of Vodafone (rather than the current rebranding) as this fully makes their fixed line products to become part of Vodafone, and reduce confusion.
Things to note:
- Phone numbers won't change
Here are the numbers, just for reference:
Residential: 0800 438 448
Business: 0800 438 458
Red network: 0800 800 215 <- they finally release this!
- Billing is still separate, but pay Vodafone New Zealand Limited directly
Currently, we get a statement which needs to be paid to ihug Ltd, even though it's completely branded Vodafone
The webpage with the information about this changed from welcome to our place to our place is your place:
The Internet Home Users Group
IHUG
ihug / The Internet Group
(1994-2008)
IHUG
ihug / The Internet Group
(1994-2008)
Read MoreIsn't competition in the mobile marketplace fantastic? It's a concept that unfortunately New Zealanders are missing out on due to the cosy duopoly that exists between our two mobile providers - Telecom New Zealand and Vodafone.
Optus have just launched unlimited "timeless" mobile plans into the Australian marketplace. For A$99 per month you get unlimited calling to other mobiles and landline phones in Australia as well as unlimited SMS and MMS messages. This $99 pack however isn't quite $99 - it requires the purchase of a A$14.95 mobile pack that gives you 200MB of included data.
For A$129 however you receive unlimited calling, SMS and MMS along with 2GB of data.
Now compare that to what you're paying in NZ. Competition really is a great thing.
Read MoreI'm currently doing a Bachelor of Communications and Information Technology at UCOL, Palmerston North.
A few days ago I received an email stating I am registered with the MSDN Academic Alliance: Online Software System. I visited the link included in the email and was very pleased to find out I have access to free downloads which include; Windows Vista Business, Windows 2008 Server, Visual Studio 2008 and many more! This is great, I can download hundreds of dollars worth of software for free.
I think I'll be reaching my monthly download quota very early this month!
http://www.e-academy.com/
Read MoreCool, it's that time of the year again when the IBM Forum is on. I've attended previous events and it's always an interesting day.
Here's a bit about this event:
IBM Forum 2008 focuses on Sustainable Innovation, starting with the keynote, Ray Avery, a kiwi scientist and entrepreneur; founder CEO of Medicine Mondiale. Ray is developing sustainable products and technologies for world markets, such as his latest invention “Proteinforte”. Ray will be talking about global opportunities for high tech innovation in healthcare, education and infrastructure.
Also on the agenda, Edward Orange, Director of Lotus Software of IBM Asia Pacific, will be talking about Web 2.0 and how it can be leveraged by enterprises of all sizes to help revolutionise the way they conduct business, help employees collaborate more effectively and enhance their client outreach.
The agenda also features a session on 'Co-Web: re-mixing audio and video collaboration in the next generation of the Internet’ and ‘Demystifying SOA - driving business agility with service orientated business applications’, as well as insights into the latest advances in strategy and technology; customer stories and interactive demonstrations.
The full day event is happening in Wellington (11th August, Michael Fowler Centre), Auckland (14th August, Hyatt Hotel) and Christchurch (19th August, Convention Centre).
Registrations are open now.
Read MoreI have a phone again, amazing! My internet has only failed 3 times today (it is of course only mid morning, but that's cool.
And in reply to the comment about how retro I am still having a phone line, think of it this way, it comes with the net and it means that relatives who are still more analogue don't have to pay me, but there's a thought, maybe the ones I don't care to hear from won't lol.
Read MoreJust spotted this Scoop article on LinkedIn news . . . . Telecom and Gen-i are getting a new home in Wellington at 52 Willis Street. This will be awesome, as currently we are so fragmented across the CBD (6 buildings I believe!). Looks like a funky design - go the windmills!
Read MoreI took the opportunity to see "The Dark Knight" on saturday night, (in Reading Cinemas Gold Lounge)
and I have to admit, the hype is not totally misplaced, it is a stunning movie,
Heath Ledger truly played the part to a legendary level, the gadgets again are fantastic,
the sheer grittyness that was brough about made it all the more real, rather than having a fantastical approach, it gave it a realisticness lacking in many hero movies.
I'd love to write more but I'd hate to spoil it,
I think this movie will go down as a definite movie to watch.
Read MoreAfter going unbundled with Orcon's Gold+ Account I was having issues getting online and was recommended an Orcon HomeHub over D-Link DST-502T. The 502T was theoretically more than capable of doing ADSL2+ (as I was running it at home on the same plan already). But at $5 a month, and to solve a problem I thought, stuff it, and got one sent out.
The HomeHub is really just a Siemens SX-763 WLAN DSL Router. Its running a slightly modified firmware that has the Orcon settings preset. You can't flash newer vesions of Firmware, although Orcon can from their side of things. This could lead to an interesting future for this little hub - more on that later.
The Homehub features (according to Orcon) -
"This sleek wireless router lets you access your Broadband from anywhere in your house without plugs or cables.On the Siemens site it lists it features as -
What's more, because our network can talk to it, our helpdesk can easily support the device remotely to get you back online faster if there is ever a problem.
In the future, we'll be teaching the Homehub some cool new tricks to give you an even better Orcon experience through new and interesting services, so stay tuned..."
- High-speed wireless data transfer at up to 108 Mbps (compatible with IEEE 802.11b/g)
- Integrated ADSL 2+ modem
- 4 Port 10/100 Hub
- External broadband access modem support (e. g. VDSL, cable)
- Support for up to 6 VoIP public telephone accounts (SIP Protocol)
- USB Support (SMB/FTP/Web/Printer).
The Unit is one of the nicer Routers or modems I've seen, although it does feel a but light and plasticy. All the ports are nicely placed on the back. It can be mounted on a wall or look fine on a desk.
The web inerface is pleasent to look at, and functionally seems to include all the settings. There's wizards both for the absolutely basics and also for the security features. Add to that the normal Advanced Settings, It's feature packed but simple to get around. There's support for all the necessary wireless standards - WEP, WPA2-PSK, WPA-PSK or WPA2-PSK/WPA-PSK.
I'd love to go into the VOIP settings but as I have never been too interested in it before, I wouldn't know much. The fact they're there, and are quite feature complete shows a feature I imagine Orcon will use in the future.
Connection wise, the wireless seems solid, although I personally use an Apple Airport Extreme to run a parallel 5ghz Only 11N based network and a 2.4Ghz for older clients. Excessive. Maybe. A bonus of using the $5 a month homehub though.
Internet wise, in the Auckland CBD, just off K Rd I've got a 12286 kbps (upstream) ADSL Connection. Its strange as when the connection was first setup I was getting up to 22500kbps on the connection - close to ADSL2's limit - and now its back down to the top of ADSL1's top....... Orcon?
UPDATE See first comment.
Heres some results from speedtest.net -
Auckland -> Auckland (WorldxChange Communications) - 9907 Down / 354 Up
Auckland -> Christchurch (Snap Internet) - 6587 Down / 266 Up
Auckland -> Sydney (Mammoth Media) - 3327 Down / 333 Up
Auckland -> London (Namesco) - 1723 Down / 180 Up
Auckland -> San Francisco (Unwired) - 2739 Down / 194 Up
Things that aren't cool -
USB only does FTP no SFTP so not great for putting online.
The DHCP server won't list connected devices - Wireless status lists the Host name, Mac and IP's of any wireless clients but for the overall IP's - nothing. The settings are there - just broken, a bug that I hope Orcon will get on to fixing.
UPDATE Orcon do indeed have a forthcoming update. Orcon were nice enough to flash mine and it does indeed fix the issue.
Things that are cool -
USB Features.
Looks good.
A full featured router for only $5 a month (on Orcon).
Assumably VOIP support from Orcon in the future.
Read MoreEvery year robots get a little more capable. In Japan where there has been a short supply of security guards they've built security robots to patrols malls at night.Now Microsoft are showing off there latest foray in robotics with a new rec... (more in the full post)
Read MoreToday I received an invitation that I am able to extend to you. HP is running the HP Software BTO Tour 2008 in Wellington, 2nd September 2008.
This half day event is ahppening at the Museum of New Zealand - Te Papa Tongarewa from 8:30am through 1:30pm.
There will be conference streams during the day, designed to give IT Professionals a more practical approach to IT Management.
I won't be attending the event though, because I will be in Auckland attending the Microsoft Tech Ed, and writing the Unofficial Tech Ed Blog while there...
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