When in a New Place, Just Ask a Local. (A Justin Rant)
Posted on 09 December 2008 by Justin
The moral here is simple. When you travel, especially in English speaking countries, ask your questions to a friendly local. you will get more accurate information, you will meet someone new, and you will save at least $NZ 3 on internet access.
A Few Words Regarding New Zealand Cell Phones
New Zealand, except for the amazing scenery and the lack of natural peanut butter, can begin to feel very much like home. I mean sure, New Zealanders drive on the left side of the road, refer to themselves as Kiwis, and obsess over Rugby, but these oddities are on par with some of the bizarre things I have witnessed in the States. All similarities end however, when it comes to cell phones. As a result of what I can only assume is either an infrastructure or monopoly issue, it is impossible to purchase a plan that will allow you to make calls on your cell phone without putting a sumo wrestler size whole in your monthly budget. For example, a 400 minute plan with Telecom that will allow you to make calls at anytime of the day or night will cost you $NZ 213.75 (about $US 115). If you were to go over your massive 400 minute a month allotment, Telecom would happily charge you $NZ 0.39 per minute (about $US 0.29). To make you feel better about selling your soul to the New Zealand cell phone mafia, Telecom does throw in 10 photo messages a month so you can assure your friends that you are alive but, in order to pay your phone bill, you have taken a 2nd job working nights cleaning out portable toilets. With a toothbrush. As a result, most New Zealanders use their cell phones to send text messages. It is possible to pay $NZ10 (about $US5.40) a month to send 500 text messages so this is clearly the economical option. Unlike in the States however, it does not cost you to receive calls on your cell phone. This makes it possible for your boss, doctor, or probation officer to call you from a land line as needed without costing you a cent. A neat idea really but not acceptable compensation for allowing the cell phone mafia to force a whole country to choose between buying groceries and talking on their cell phones.
New Zealand is roughly the size of Colorado with a population of about 4 million people. Logistically, creating a national cell phone infrastructure capable of handling this type of call volume should be child’s play. The Chinese, the Americans, the Europeans, heck even the Russians have figured out how to create solid cellular networks that provide affordable talking plans to their customers. What have the Kiwi cellular companies been doing for the last 10 years?!? Seriously.
Okay. This rant is finished. I promise. But, can you guess what type of plan Natalie and I went with?
Tags | New Zealand
That’s the kind of thing I had to do in Egypt. All incoming calls were free. Even the ones from my parents in the states. The phone itself was cheap and so I just bought a new phone card every few weeks or so as I used up the money on the card.
You went with the plan that will allow you to speak with me as often as possible? That’s awfully kind of you two.
Yeah, these are the same types of plans that they have in Australia, I just did pre-paid like Theresa did in Egypt, not as *cough*cheap (like the 400 minute plan is cheap) as the monthly plans, but meh, it beats paying a couple hundred bucks a month when you’re trying to save money!
You went with the plan that actually puts money into my savings account so I can come out for a visit!?! That’s so awesome! How did you get my account #? You guys are so clever!
@Theresa – Theresa, you are so smart. You SIM card swapping gypsy you! I still think you should create your own “import/export” business. And of course you are right. We went with the plan that lets us call you all the time. The problem is that we can only call you at 3:30 am in the morning. Grr. The phone only works then for some reason….
@Paulie – Paul, you are one heck of a guesser. Actually, every time Natalie and I text someone, a dollar (US of course) goes straight into your savings account. When I explained what I wanted to the cell phone people they knew exactly what I was talking about. Strange eh? In fact, if you go out into your back yard right now….there is a brand new pony. Go look.