SPK- Spark NZ (TELCO)

[Snoopy]

Just got fibre after lagging behind for a while.
A lady came around to 'sell' it to me.
Signed up. Date set for the next week - all steps in 1 visit.
Date comes around, they arrive on time. 3 hours later all done, running perfectly.
Now I have a $300 credit for going fibre + free Netflix for 6 months and a free speed upgrade for 1 year.
So I'm at least $300 better off for getting a better product.
Not sure that this is good for the shareholder - who pays customers to take their product?
Yes - I do know that Spark now doesn't have to pay for the copper.

As a shareholder I am always pleased to see a happy customer. If Spark give you a good service at a good price, there is every reason that you will stay with them. And that is good for both customers and shareholders.

While it is true that Spark now don't have to pay for the copper (if a customer signs up onto their fixed network mobile deal), I would be very surprised if Spark were not paying Chorus for the line into your house Dobby41. Line owner Chorus, who wholesale to Spark, owns the copper as well as the fibre. I am not sure that Spark's own mobile network is a suitable conduit for steaming Netflix. So I would say you very likely are paying indirectly for the network that Chorus now owns. And that network still contains copper, even if your own house doesn't plug directly into it. So one way or another, I think you are paying Spark for the copper Dobby41.

SNOOPY

[Snoopy]

@Snoopy, good that you finally got a good experience and better services at lower costs, but shame that you had to work so hard to get it. It would be exemplary service if it proactively came to you without having to seek it out.

The first bit did pro-actively come to me Baa. And the second bit, signing up to the fixed mobile deal, as originally offered on the snail mail promotion card, was easy too. The connecting modem arrived promptly and ahead of schedule.

None of these Telco's are proactive, they rely on customer apathy which sadly works very well for them,

Not true for Spark, as both Dobby and I can testify.

as does sh1tty customer service (i.e call centre wait times) hence resistance to bother contacting them, it sustains profitability to ignore the customers who are not insistent.

I agree that the phone line help wait can be unacceptable. The machine told me to hang on for two hours yesterday! Fortunately with this threat of audio torture, I was able to scrape back the depths of my memory to find my answer, so hung up!

However, if you go into the Spark mobile shops, which I can do now that my 'fixed ' line is mobile, I find that I can get good service. Strangely the help line waiting time seems to be less than if you had rung from home too!

Meanwhile a lot of help is now on line.

https://www.spark.co.nz/help/

Spark has signalled the migrating of help from 'on the end of a phone' to 'on line' for some time.

It's not that much different from the Gattung days as few customers in the scheme of things bother to challenge and lo and behold, discover there is a better deal for them, if only they'd bothered asking.

Not true again. Before I went onto the fixed mobile land line, my old account was upgraded to a new cheaper deal without me having to inquire about it.

SNOOPY

[dobby41]

As a shareholder I am always pleased to see a happy customer. If Spark give you a good service at a good price, there is every reason that you will stay with them. And that is good for both customers and shareholders.

While it is true that Spark now don't have to pay for the copper (if a customer signs up onto their fixed network mobile deal), I would be very surprised if Spark were not paying Chorus for the line into your house Dobby41. Line owner Chorus, who wholesale to Spark, owns the copper as well as the fibre. I am not sure that Spark's own mobile network is a suitable conduit for steaming Netflix. So I would say you very likely are paying indirectly for the network that Chorus now owns. And that network still contains copper, even if your own house doesn't plug directly into it. So one way or another, I think you are paying Spark for the copper Dobby41.

SNOOPY

Actually I'm not pay directly or indirectly for Chorus copper as I am in Hamilton and the LFC is UltraFast.
That aside the price for the fibre connection is regulated so a person on the Chorus network pays the same as a person on any of the other 3 LFCs so there is no cross subsidy. (Chorus may cross-subsidise internally but the customer isn't really paying.)
Also, it is my understanding that the fibre cost is less than the regulated copper cost (though I could be wrong on this).

Spark likes to push Wireless Broadband because it only uses Sparks network irrespective of bandwidth constraints. WBB is suitable for Netflix - a friend of mine has it and uses it for Netflix quite happily. To be fair they only use 1 stream so using it for more than one stream at a time may give a different result.

[Snoopy]

Except that we don't have to see her on TV every night telling blatant lies.
I wonder if there is a better bald-faced liar anywhere in NZ business.

Or a better example of a Trougher.

I also remember the arrogance, the moment of disbelief when Theresa found out local line un-bundling was going to happen, and the subsequent plummeting Telecom share price. It has taken ten years. But I have now recovered my capital losses and received a pretty healthy dividend stream along the way while waiting. I really think you guys need to move on. Telecom, or Spark as it is now, seem to have moved on, so why dwell on the Theresa Gattung era? There are probably plenty of Spark customers now, who don't know who Gattung is.

SNOOPY

[Snoopy]

Actually I'm not pay directly or indirectly for Chorus copper as I am in Hamilton and the LFC is UltraFast.

That is interesting. Here in ChCh most of the broadband network in the CBD is being built by Enable, a local company. I thought that this was handed over to Chorus after the construction was finished though? I imagine the same applies to Ultrafast in Hamilton? I could be wrong about this. But from what I recall, most of the broadband network is being built by Chorus, with a few exceptions (like the two examples listed), and it all links up together with the Chorus build across the country. So to say that you are not connected to the Chorus network, just because the line outside your place wasn't put in by Chorus, isn't the full picture.

That aside the price for the fibre connection is regulated so a person on the Chorus network pays the same as a person on any of the other 3 LFCs so there is no cross subsidy. (Chorus may cross-subsidise internally but the customer isn't really paying.)

OK, so from a consumer perspective, everyone with a fibre line running outside their house pays the same wholesale connection price component for their broadband, regardless of who the retail provider is.

Also, it is my understanding that the fibre cost is less than the regulated copper cost (though I could be wrong on this).

I remember hearing something like that as well. I think the aim is to ultimately nudge consumers to move from copper to fibre. I recall it being sold at retail level as the same price for either service though, at least while some consumers do not have the option to switch to fibre.

Spark likes to push Wireless Broadband because it only uses Sparks network irrespective of bandwidth constraints. WBB is suitable for Netflix - a friend of mine has it and uses it for Netflix quite happily. To be fair they only use 1 stream so using it for more than one stream at a time may give a different result.

Interesting that your friend can stream Netflix via the Spark Wireless Broadband Network. First I have heard of it. The WBB package that I signed up for has quite modest data allowances before you start paying a lot more. I presumed that the WBB charging rates are set up this way to encourage streamers onto fibre broadband. I imagine your friend would be paying through the nose for data if they watch a lot of Netflix!

SNOOPY

[dobby41]

That is interesting. Here in ChCh most of the broadband network is being built by Enable, a local company. I thought that this was handed over to Chorus after the construction was finished though? I imagine the same applies to Ultrafast in Hamilton? I could be wrong though!

Chch is Enable, Hamilton, Waikato and bits of Central, Taranaki and (I think) Hawkes Bay) are UltraFast, Northland is NorthPower.
Chorus has something like 83%.
Once the LFCs build they continue to operate their piece of paradise. It most definitely isn't handed over to Chorus.

[Snoopy]

Chch is Enable, Hamilton, Waikato and bits of Central, Taranaki and (I think) Hawkes Bay) are UltraFast, Northland is NorthPower.
Chorus has something like 83%.
Once the LFCs build they continue to operate their piece of paradise. It most definitely isn't handed over to Chorus.

I appreciate the ownership correction.

From an end line consumer's perspective though, there is nothing to say who the fibre owner is when they sign up to any retailer. And there is no difference in performance between a Chorus installed fibre or Enable, UltraFast or NorthPower installed fibre. So from an end line consumer's perspective, it doesn't really matter who owns it is the point I was trying to make. It is the likes of Spark who has to worry about such things, not the end line consumer.

SNOOPY

[dobby41]

I appreciate the ownership correction.

From an end line consumer's perspective though, there is nothing to say who the fibre owner is when they sign up to any retailer. And there is no difference in performance between a Chorus installed fibre or Enable, UltraFast or NorthPower installed fibre. So from an end line consumer's perspective, it doesn't really matter who owns it is the point I was trying to make. It is the likes of Spark who has to worry about such things, not the end line consumer.

SNOOPY

I agree 100%.
Who Spark has to deal with is Sparks issue, you have a contract with Spark (or any other ISP) and that is what matters - after all you can't choose another LFC unless you move.
I totally missed your point - I thought it was something to do with me still paying, one way or another, for Chorus' copper.
But, anyway, my point around the copper is that Spark charges the same for Copper or Fibre broadband but fibre is cheaper so they are on a win. I presume that is why it is worth them giving me $300 to change (that and the, probably, less faults to run their help desk ragged (with winter coming that is probably a very real consideration)).

[Jay]

I think it has been mentioned before, the more customers Spark or any of the others have on Wireless Broadband the less they pay to Chorus or NorthPowerr etc and therefore as the rates are (about) the same, the more profit they must be making.
Still WBB is not as fast as the faster Fibre speeds though from memory, so will not suit everyone at this point in time.

[dobby41]

I think it has been mentioned before, the more customers Spark or any of the others have on Wireless Broadband the less they pay to Chorus or NorthPowerr etc and therefore as the rates are (about) the same, the more profit they must be making.
Still WBB is not as fast as the faster Fibre speeds though from memory, so will not suit everyone at this point in time.

Needs to be carefully controlled as you run out of cell bandwidth necessitating increased cell build-out - and that costs plenty.