2Degrees, Vodaphone and Spark have betrayed us!
They sold us cheap internet on an even cheaper network.
Instead of building resilience into their systems, they have a mere 4-8hours battery system.
Just like Councils allowing Developers to build on floodplains, the Telecommunications industry have been allowed by Government to build a bullshit network with no resilience and we are paying that price right now.
The Government must immediately look an an omnibus of legislative change as we rapidly move to adaptation and one of those new focuses should be on the Telecommunications industry and force them to spend to upgrade the resilience of our communications network.
‘Fuck allowing them to do it themselves Chippy, kick them in the balls now!
Not one Radio tower was knocked out. Not one!
2Degrees was making $30million in profit in 2020 before the made a Billion dollar merger with Orcon!
Vodaphone turns over $2billion a year while Spark tuns over almost $4billlion, yet these greedy fucks can’t build resilience into a telecommunications network they have addicted us to!
FUCK THEM!
They all pay lip service to resilience but have built their empires off the back of the cheapest network possible and it has had real life real world consequences.
How the Christ did all the radio towers manage to continue operating?
We were led away from Radio as our means of communication during a disaster for the fast exciting connection of the internet yet it has failed!
Regulate now Chippy, regulate while the incandescent rage at their naked greed is this high.
Increasingly having independent opinion in a mainstream media environment which mostly echo one another has become more important than ever, so if you value having an independent voice – please donate here.
If you can’t contribute but want to help, please always feel free to share our blogs on social media
Why did the government sell it all off in the first place?
Why didn’t the government build the fibre optic network itself? The N.B.N. Co. is publicly owned.
Why is none of the equipment (or handsets) locally assembled?
90% of the public opposed the privatisation!
For mobile services I find 2degrees the best of them all but, thats after 10 or more years signing up to each of them then dumping them for shit service and poor pricing as well as shit customer service.
But, an issue I refuse to allow them to impose, is payment in advance! Fuck that! I’m not paying for something I havent received yet! And fuck the pay as you go plans too, theyre more expensive when you compare the on account deal with the PAYGO.
The trick I found that works is, timing of payment(s), weekly part payments in arrears works!
Fuck’em with their profit making scams.
digital governance and online elections…welcome to a world of hurt.
and guess what internet down so the few ATMs don’t work or efpost turns out people do need some of the green folding tucked under the mattress after all….all hail the cashless society
This is the people’s reserve bank relinquishing control of the people’s money. Ninety seven percent of NZ money is now bank created electronic funds. More and more often we see shopkeepers putting up signs cashless payments only because they are only required to accept Legal Tender for payment of a debt. If they ask you to pay before they hand over the goods there is no debt and no obligation to accept government issued money. Now when there is disaster and bank infrastructure failure people have no cash money available and no bank branches to go and get some over the counter money.
I live in a remote rural area.
During cyclone Bola( when electricity and phone lines were state owned) We had a 4 hour power cut and the phone was not cut off.
During Gabrielle we lost electricity, internet and phone for 5 days.
Fuck the managerial classes. fuck the ignorant immigrants managing everything and fuck neoliberalism, outsourcing and privatisation.
It has always been a disaster.
The immigrants are not ignorant. They know exactly what they’re doing.
Shona you are probably hurting however a generalization about immigrants is probably a step too far. At the end of the day the vast majority of New Zealanders were immigrants I was and I don’t consider myself useless
well rose the only thing is our admin is full of brits yanks and aussies (usually FILTH– failed in london try honkers) not brown followers of islam.
While I agree with your comment I recently had to get a COF & the obviously immigrant (voice & appearance differences) staff had me biting my tongue since I didn’t want to appear racist while also making me get an expert to sign off on something they claimed was structural but I knew was not an issue. The silly thing is that I had had 4 COF’s there with the same vehicle in the same condition prior to that with local staff so I wonder if they are frightened to think for themself about issues or maybe they are used to a system where any imperfection is magnified as a way to increase fees?
Queen. There are different degrees of immigrants. Some of our families are multi- generational and worked hard to help to build this country from a cold wilderness, into something closely resembling civilisation. Others come with an eye for the main chance, others are and were wooed here to help this a low wage economy, some do better here than they could in their countries of origin or they regard it as their fiefdom, access taxpayer funding they’ve not contributed to, try and change our flag, or perpetually whinge, but our pioneering stock cannot be tritely dismissed as immigrants or, as others now try to do, be demonised as colonialists. Many of our great great grandparents self-sacrificing histories are very humbling, and command great respect.
Yes SW I agree with most of what you have said. New Zealand is a very young country in the scheme of things. ( I obviously know it existed even before Captain Cook) People who emigrated in the 1800 yes they worked hard but theoretically they didn’t buy it . Much of the land was sold unseen to immigrants by people who didn’t even own it. You call it a cold wilderness our indigenous people would have called it home.
Shona. You may have a point about immigrants when looking at Carmel Sepuloni, someone from an under-developed culture, firstly being made a horrible Minister of Social Welfare, and then, unbelievably, abolishing the much needed Commissioner for Vulnerable Children. And now, surreally,Deputy PM.
Haven’t they sold much of our cell phone tower network to overseas companies. Not our problem anymore they will say take it up with the Canadian teachers pension fund.
My mistake A Canadian outfit called Northleaf are part owners of our cell phone tower infrastructure.But not to worry because their mission statement is to form long term relationships based on the highest levels of openness, trust and integrity.
They should all be nationalized. It’s absurd how far behind our cellular infrastructure is compared to first world nations like France or China.
Power is the bigger problem, massive profits, reports galore about how they need to upgrade the infrastructure (aka in flood zones) but still they put it off.
In every disaster (and I’ve been in a few) the first thing to go down is the local cell phone system. This is because they employ ultra-high frequencies that are inherently short range and even if they do physically survive the initial problem, only have limited battery life.
If you want a robust means of communication, get an iridium phone.
what about as a nation we have robust systems instead andrew?
I kept in touch during the Cyclone, with no power for 2.5 days, and same for internet, with a $20 transistor radio, running on various batteries, tuned to Radio New Zealand–no shit. We charged our phones from an EV. I gave my son a radio/torch/powerbank thingy with hand crank option a couple of christmases ago, and even he admitted to using it!
The New Gen political campaign has to be dump Rogernomics/Ruthanaisa which ever way it can be managed. The fudged accountability lines, arguments between different agencies–and their contractors–over flogged off peoples assets has to end. We need a new Ministry of Works and People’s infrastructure.
tiger I bought a resonable 25 buck dynamo radio from aliexpress a few years ago, battery or solar power(takes ages) or mains charging, ok reception and a phone charge socket, plenty of resistance in the dynamo so it does actually charge reasonbly easily…horrid green colour but not heavy and resonably small I test it roughly every six monthes and it lives with my swedish army stove in my bug out bag….just in case
Well when the ATMs, EFTPOS and petrol pumps and shops go down, the proverbial hits the fan, as a few people have discovered recently. EVs and solar energy are the way to go–without being utopian about it–people taking action is needed to persuade the powers that be to get real on Climate Change and “De–Growth” as some put it.
In the Far North many of us grow vegetables, have rain water tanks and gas/woodburning cooking/heating facility–there is so much budget survival info around that anyone can take something from.
There is a lot of complexity in the fallout from the Cyclone, much of it relating back to the 1984 Roger Douglas sellout–but hey that is the challenge in front of us.
They sell cheap internet because everyone wants cheap internet. How bout that?
but do they compared to world prices bratty? we certainly get screwed on mobile data…juz askin
And if only we had a government with spine that would actually regulate industries to the benefit of all. If only.
Good one Sauszage–how will your Natzos relate to that? Labour won’t significantly do that but neither will the Torys. Time for a major people’s campaign to dump deeply emebeded neo liberalism and monetarism from our country.
Online whinging or problem pointing out is no substitute for direct political action–something ordinary NZers need to get back into sooner rather than later.
Don’t really give a fuck what N does as I don’t vote N. Seriously, you need a new script.
no need to be coy, I vote Green…or maybe TPM this year
Yes RB exactly what John Key did and what NACT wants to do deregulate everything.
We have a full majority L government that could regulate but does a shit job of it.
This is just one area where timidity over corporate interest versus holding them to account may well determine the next erection.
We shouldn’t forget that the supermarket duopoly and the major fuel providers are still playing silly buggers.
They seem to have forgotten various events in history.
The natives have been getting restless for 2 or 3 years now.
Que sera sera
They sold us cheap internet on an even cheaper network.
Actually @ Martyn, it wasn’t ever that cheap. The networks were and still are are. Funny thing is their customers don’t ever know what’s going on. Like going to voicemail where they assume the called subscriber is busy, when in fact there is insufficient bandwidth.
It really is a croc. There are 3rd world countries that get a better deal than in this lil ole nayshun of NuZull that punches above its weight.
But why not! The supermarkets and fuel companies are still playing silly buggers, convinced their spin meisters, marketeers and bullshit artists will see them through.
There’ll probably have to be some serious “rebranding” and “reimagining” going on before too long (in this space, going forward).
vodaphone, westpac etc etc etc have a choice if they want to continue shovelling profits out of NZ, up your game or fuck off, that’s it no 3rd option.
Telco/internet needs to be put in public ownership, along with power generation and supply.
Indeed. And those who suggest these essential state holdings should be privatized deserve the full punishment for treason, because that’s what they’re doing.
I always thought getting rid of analog communication services would be a big mistake.
Exactly the same as oil companies being allowed to hold our strategic oil reserves offshore – no multi-national company is intersted in our welfare.
Not named theTell co industry any more
Just Hell Co .