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I received a mailout today from Telecom offering me a free broadband modem and free Jetstream connection, I'm currently on dial-up. According to Telecom the modem is worth 99.95 and the Jetstream connection $99. The only condition is I sign up for 12 months.

Well, this seems quite appealing to me, the lowest priced package (1GB)costs only $12 more per month than I'm paying now.

Is this a good deal?

How quickly would P2P(WinMX and Emule) use up 1GB?

Or is there better to come?

Any comments or opinions out there?

Paul

"Paul Carter" <p-> wrote in message
news:...
>I received a mailout today from Telecom offering me a free broadband modem
>and free Jetstream connection, I'm currently on dial-up. According to
>Telecom the modem is worth 99.95 and the Jetstream connection $99. The
>only condition is I sign up for 12 months.
>
> Well, this seems quite appealing to me, the lowest priced package
> (1GB)costs only $12 more per month than I'm paying now.
>
> Is this a good deal?
>
> How quickly would P2P(WinMX and Emule) use up 1GB?
>
> Or is there better to come?
>
> Any comments or opinions out there?
>
> Paul

You don't mention the speed of this package , but I will assume to be
256Kbps. This allows you to download 32KB/s, so you could expect to exceed
1Gb after around 8 or 9 hours.

I would recommend this mainly for the always on connection. If you exceed
1GB you get the speed dropped to dial-up anyway (I assume). But, one of the
big plus's of ADSL is always on, and your phoneline is free. $12 per month
might be worthwhile just for that.

Paul Carter wrote:
> Any comments or opinions out there?

I saw a copy of that mailout today. Apart from the drawback of having to
use Xtra, it looks a reasonable deal (well, that's reasonable in a
relative sense). However, call me suspicious but I'd want clarification
of their rather vague condition regarding a minimum 12 month contract.

The exact wording used is "A 12 month term and $100 disconnection fee
apply."

What does that mean? It is an /inclusive/ clause which suggests the
disconnection fee applies regardless of length of term. Now I assume
this is not what is meant, but the wording is open to interpretation.
Heck, if you want to be really pedantic (as any good lawyer would be)
you would also be correct to interpret the clause to mean that it was a
/fixed term/ 12 month contract.

I've had a quick look at the terms and conditions that you have to agree
to when signing up online, and could not clarify this point. If I was
considering this offer I'd want written clarification on this point
before signing up.

On Thu, 04 Nov 2004 20:05:04 +1300, Paul Carter wrote:

> How quickly would P2P(WinMX and Emule) use up 1GB?

ONE hour of CD-quality audio is about 0.5GB.

One complete distro of Linux is about 1.8GB.


Divine

--
"Even the most fanatical Microsoft supporter has to see that Longhorn has
become Shorthorn."

On Thu, 04 Nov 2004 21:19:24 +1300, joe_90 <joe_90@invalid_address.com> wrote:

>Paul Carter wrote:
>> Any comments or opinions out there?
>
>I saw a copy of that mailout today. Apart from the drawback of having to
>use Xtra, it looks a reasonable deal (well, that's reasonable in a
>relative sense). However, call me suspicious but I'd want clarification
>of their rather vague condition regarding a minimum 12 month contract.
>
>The exact wording used is "A 12 month term and $100 disconnection fee
>apply."
>
I'm assuming the $100 disconnection fee applies if you terminate the contract before the end of the 12 month term, therefore after month 10 it would be cheaper to pay 2 months more than disconnect anyway. If I go for this, I'll clarify this point before signing up.

Otherwise, as you say, it looks like a fairly good deal to me.

Paul

On Thu, 04 Nov 2004 21:40:39 +1300, "" <> wrote:

>On Thu, 04 Nov 2004 20:05:04 +1300, Paul Carter wrote:
>
>> How quickly would P2P(WinMX and Emule) use up 1GB?
>
>ONE hour of CD-quality audio is about 0.5GB.
>
Ouch! Are you sure about this?

If you're right then 1GB a month isn't going to go far is it?
I guess the good thing about this plan is that if/when you exceed your data limit there are no extra charges. All that happens is that the sped drops back to that of dial-up.

>One complete distro of Linux is about 1.8GB.
>
Thanks for the info, but no interest whatsoever.
>
>Divine

wrote:
> On Thu, 04 Nov 2004 20:05:04 +1300, Paul Carter wrote:
>
<snip>
> ONE hour of CD-quality audio is about 0.5GB.
>

Using what compression? wav??????
a 256Kbps mp3 will have 1 hour worth of audio in < 150MB

On Thu, 04 Nov 2004 22:34:21 +1300, Paul Carter <p->
wrote:

>On Thu, 04 Nov 2004 21:40:39 +1300, "" <> wrote:
>
>>On Thu, 04 Nov 2004 20:05:04 +1300, Paul Carter wrote:
>>
>>> How quickly would P2P(WinMX and Emule) use up 1GB?
>>
>>ONE hour of CD-quality audio is about 0.5GB.
>>
>Ouch! Are you sure about this?
>
>If you're right then 1GB a month isn't going to go far is it?
>I guess the good thing about this plan is that if/when you exceed your data limit there are no extra charges. All that happens is that the sped drops back to that of dial-up.
>
>>One complete distro of Linux is about 1.8GB.
>>
>Thanks for the info, but no interest whatsoever.
>>
>>Divine

Xtra have an online price guide (Jetstream calculator). Worth having a
look at. I'm taking up the offer and hope I'm doing the right thing.
The only question I have is should I have taken the Single PC Kit when
I have the computers on a wireless network or should I have taken one
of the other kits?


Nelly.
If you see someone without a smile, give them one of yours

Sorry I forgot the link for the calculator
http://www.telecom.co.nz/chm/0,5123,...202343,00.html


Nelly.
If you see someone without a smile, give them one of yours

wrote:
> On Thu, 04 Nov 2004 20:05:04 +1300, Paul Carter wrote:
>
>
>>How quickly would P2P(WinMX and Emule) use up 1GB?
>
>
> ONE hour of CD-quality audio is about 0.5GB.

You've got superhuman ears or a crap codec