SPK- Spark NZ (TELCO)

[dobby41]

Was the kiwishare tied up with local free calling and inflation linked maximum lines charges? Funny, I can't remember what happened to that Telecom kiwishare. Can anyone recall?

The kiwishare had nothing to do with shareholders and all to do with ensuring standards were met - standards around the PSTN (Public Switch Telephone Network) and dial Internet (at the time).

[Snoopy]

The kiwishare had nothing to do with shareholders and all to do with ensuring standards were met - standards around the PSTN (Public Switch Telephone Network) and dial Internet (at the time).

Yes I realise that the kiwishare was a stakeholder not a shareholder benefit. I wouldn't say it had nothing to do with shareholders though, as they had to pay for it! (see my quote from Blackpeter's reference below):

--------

The updated Kiwi Share:

·Clarifies that free local calls include standard calls to the Internet and fax calls;
·Brings basic Internet access to virtually all New Zealanders by upgrading Telecom’s network to provide 9.6kbps data capability to 99% and 14.4 kbps to 95% of existing lines over the next two years (Telecom to bear the capital cost of this upgrade)

--------------------

The "new"Kiwi share agreement (now 20 years old):
https://www.beehive.govt.nz/release/...are-obligation

and what happened with it:
https://teara.govt.nz/en/cartoon/256...com-kiwi-share

Attachment 12824

Actually - I think it is legally still in place in areas where customers don't have the option yet to connect to fibre ...

I guess the fact that the 'new' kiwishare arrangement is now 20 years old gives me some excuse for not being able to remember all the details! I got weaned away from PSTN by Spark onto the wireless broadband network in 2018. I got the sweetheart $53.50 a month deal (including GST), where I can have free unlimited toll calls to the landline network around NZ. That is handy when you ring up Inland Revenue and they keep you waiting on the line for two hours. I even get 5GB of wireless broadband data thrown in a month too, which is enough for my text based internet use. I am not sure if this plan is available any more. Unfortunately I read something in AR2020 about Jolie Hodson threatening to streamline the customer plans available. So my luck to be on this plan may be about to run out!

I wonder if my current wireless broadband access meets the old kiwishare standard of 9.6kbps? I should do a speed test. Not sure what will happen if it fails. Maybe I should fax Spark?

SNOOPY

[BlackPeter]

...

I wonder if my current wireless broadband access meets the old kiwishare standard of 9.6kbps? I should do a speed test. Not sure what will happen if it fails. Maybe I should fax Spark?

SNOOPY

I am sure your connection speed will be superior to 9.6 kbs - if you are connected at all. I don't see any modern internet service operating over a 9.6 kbs connection ; Obviously - with wireless broadband being a packet based service ... (perceived) speed for the individual subscriber goes down if number of connections go up.

However - if you just re-check this kiwi share agreement ... it does offer some basic service guarantees for landlines. A telephone connection via wireless broadband is NOT a landline.

I am afraid, you are with that on your own and without protection of the kiwishare agreement.

[oldtech]

From memory, I started online with a 14.4 k modem back in the nineties ...

[winner69]

From memory, I started online with a 14.4 k modem back in the nineties ...

From memory I just stuck the cord directly from computer into the phone plug

[dobby41]

From memory I just stuck the cord directly from computer into the phone plug

14.4k - fancy stuff.
Started with 2k4
Plug the cord into the PC - again fancy having a built-in modem or modem card. Standalone for me. I still have a couple, historic value only.

[winner69]

14.4k - fancy stuff.
Started with 2k4
Plug the cord into the PC - again fancy having a built-in modem or modem card. Standalone for me. I still have a couple, historic value only.

My Eason ‘laptop’ in the early 80’s was the envy of my workmates because it had a built in printer

Couldn’t connect to Internet though

[Snoopy]

Spark are running an experimental program across forty homes in the Waikato in conjunction with the professor of gerontology associated with the Waikato District Health Board.

https://sparkiot.buzzsprout.com/3898...ealth-wellness

An obvious IoT (Internet of Things) application is the 'asset tracking' of loaned hospital equipment (walkers and wheelchairs for example). But more 'cutting edge' is the application of this technology to directly help people.

Care in the community, via detecting frailty in homes in a pro-active way, and preventing re-admission of a recently discharged patient to hospital is a goal. This can be achieved by using sensor information: Checking movement, whether people are in bed or walking about; checking if lights are being turned; and even monitoring the temperature and dampness of surroundings. Movement declines may be a leading indicator of propensity to fall over. Ryman healthcare and Metlifecare are mentioned as companies interested in this technology. The price point per home for this solution is $30 per month, on top of a mobile phone or broadband plan. An app can be used to monitor this information off site. Such an app would not only be useful to health workers, but be a 'peace of mind' device to children of elderly frail parents.

Using 'sets of data' like this to feed 'artificial intelligence' machine learning might be a future benefit of such a study. Nevertheless data on its own is not an asset: some will be useful information and other irrelevant noise. You have to ask the right question for data to be useful. Data hides insights which have to be drawn out.

Global head of healthcare from Apple (who knew that had one?) visited NZ in 2019, talking about users holding their own health information on their i-phones and being able to transport it around with them so that healthcare professionals in other countries can access it if needed. In NZ healthcare there are 6500-7000 agencies on the provider side. So it is a very fragmented provider set. The thinking is consumers will be more able to adapt to the practical uses of such technology, better than the institutions. Personal vital sign monitoring technology already exists. It is personal and psychological barriers that have to be removed to make sure having such knowledge results in positive outcomes. As an example, It could be a great solution for diabetes management.

Pharmaceutical (for research purposes) and Insurance companies (for risk assessment purposes) are interested, so privacy issues arise. In the US and Canada there are already schemes where patients share data and in 'payment' receive insurance discounts. But this is voluntary.

Someone suffering a chronic asthma attack? A doctor can prescribe an asthma inhaler and the pharmacy can report to the health system if the patient picks it up. But there is no way to know if the inhaler was used in accordance with instructions - until now. Smart Asthma inhalers, that report when they were activated, could be correlated with IoT monitored environmental air quality information supplied by Councils. On a different note, 'broadcasting thermometers' are being tried in Auckland, in fridges of restaurants. A 'too warm' signal could avoid ineffectively stored food causing salmonella poisoning.

'Edison Health', a start up company in Auckland, has produced the 'Oura Ring', a device that can monitor vital signals with greater precision than the more popular wrist band and watch technology.

https://www.edisonclinic.com/post/wh...-the-oura-ring

This is an example of using data to enable the provision of personal precision health care.

St Johns Ambulance, in 2018 started on a 3 year 'digital transformation' of the St John organization. Ambulances have become their own mobile electronic terminal. Paramedics have their own linked tablets and information can be sent to the hospital before the patient arrives, and passed on directly back to the patients own personal doctor. St John Ambulance monitors emergency assistance alarms of 45,000 people. Traditionally these have been medical alarms with a base unit plugged into he fixed line at each user's home. But if you are down the back of the garden or at a friends place they do not work. St John have now implemented a mobile network based IoT solution using a pendant around a person's neck, with a battery life of two years.

This is all interesting and cutting edge stuff. It helps fill in some of the gaps in my knowledge as to where the growth in 'health applications' will come from. But how much of this 'added value' will be captured by Spark, and how much will be captured by other third party providers? That is the question I really want the answer to!

SNOOPY

[Waltzing]

Put an smart band on the wrist with some other sensors and away you go...

There is a company in the US with over 11,000 developers using Bosch accelerometers running on multiple OS's . They have multiple tracking software solutions across a range of industries including human daily otion.

we are just waiting for a multi junction box with wake up mode for field trails in europe to run with the new IOT scripting engine platform..

of course there is Apple and its emerging platform for health but more specific health platforms have been under development in the US and europe for few years now.

[peat]

Global head of healthcare from Apple (who knew that had one?) ...

Apple Health apps are amazing.
Apple Watch is doing heaps of this recording and monitoring physical stuff


Telstra has a Health Division too.