Mobiles & broadband

[lucyalana]

Hello everyone,
I have been reading the forum for a while now and I've finally taken the plunge and posted something! I'm still in the UK at the moment, but my partner and I are moving to New Plymouth on Aug 14th.

We already have a house sorted but my query is about the best way to keep in touch with our families back home. Could anyone recommend a mobile network which has particularly good rates for calling and texting the UK?

I would also like to know about broadband providers. Just from looking at other websites, it seems that broadband in NZ is more expensive and the download limits are more restrictive than in the UK. I intend to use SKYPE quite a bit, and would therefore like a decent, fast connection. Any advice on which provider I should go for?

Many thanks in advance for your help.

Lucy

[Mazzie]

Originally Posted by lucyalana

Hello everyone,
I have been reading the forum for a while now and I've finally taken the plunge and posted something! I'm still in the UK at the moment, but my partner and I are moving to New Plymouth on Aug 14th.

We already have a house sorted but my query is about the best way to keep in touch with our families back home. Could anyone recommend a mobile network which has particularly good rates for calling and texting the UK?

I would also like to know about broadband providers. Just from looking at other websites, it seems that broadband in NZ is more expensive and the download limits are more restrictive than in the UK. I intend to use SKYPE quite a bit, and would therefore like a decent, fast connection. Any advice on which provider I should go for?

Many thanks in advance for your help.

Lucy

Good luck with your move to NZ.

Download a free program called VOIPStunt, Voipstunt | Free international calls worldwide!. If you cannot get VOIPStunt, then downlaod Freecall.com it's the same company, but you only get 90 freedays instead of 120. Add $10 to it, (actually it's Euro's, but if you have a UK bank account you can add this using direct debit from your UK bank) and you will get 120 days to call free to the UK, from your home phone as long as you have money on it. All it will cost you is 5 cents to connect the call and you can talk for as long as you want. You get 300 free minutes per week. You can also text from this programme and that will cost you 3 cents per text. If you use up your $10 then you won't have any more free days, but it's hard to use up $10. $10 lasts me about 6 months. I put $10 on it, then get the 120 free days, then when the free days have run out, I use the money on this to call the UK. It only costs 1.2 cents per minute to call the UK when you are paying for it, but a little more when you call a mobile in the UK. Once you learn how to use this programme, you won't use anything else. I am now in Canada living and I still use this programme to call my family in the UK. If you have any other questions about this once you have looked at it, let me know and I will try and answer them. I have been using this for a couple of years now and you can use it anywhere in the world.

Regarding your internet. If you can get this from New Plymouth, I used a company called Worldxchange Communications. WorldxChange :: Welcome to Exceptional Service at Better Prices they also do a great monthly plan to the UK for your phones, but using VOIPStunt is still much cheaper than this. You can check these out, but there may be better internet plans out there.

I hope the house you are going to is sufficient as houses over there are nowhere near as good as houses are in the UK. In fact in our experience housing in NZ is like living in the garage at the bottom of your garden. Be prepared to purchase a dehumidifier as the condensation is horrendous and watch out for mould as this is rife in houses. You really should make sure that there is either a wood stove or some kind of heating in the house because a lot of houses do not have any heating or insulation and houses that were built prior to 2008 do not have double glazing. Indeed one house we rented was only 7 years old it had no heating at all, little insulation and the condensation was awful and we paid $350 a WEEK to rent this. Suffice to say, we didn't stay there too long, but we couldn't find any decent houses to rent where we were located. A lot of NZ'ers buy up old cheap houses to rent out for their retirement income. However, unfortunately most don't do much to them, if anything at all and it is very rare to find a half decent house to rent, if you are comparing the houses with houses in the UK that is. We heard all this before moving to NZ, but of course we thought, hey they can't be that bad. Hmmmm, we found out to our disappointment that they certainly were.


Anyways, I don't mean to put a downer on your move, just giving you some practical advice about what to watch out for. Hope you enjoy it there.

[bubblebath]

so did you move just cos of the houses mazzie?
did you not fancy buying and upgrading with insulation?
or even getting your own built,then it would have d/g n insulation n a decent heating system!
it is cold in winter on a night,we only have a heat pump in the living area n the bought an oil heater to warm the bedroom on a night n a de-humidifier for the condensation.
but winter is only 3 months,yeh the homes aren`t the same as in the uk but then again it is new zealand,at the other side of the world,things are different,as they are in most countries,i think we just get spoilt in the uk with having d/g n c/h.depends whats important i guess,we came with an open mind to adapt to the kiwi way n not compare everything to the uk like so many do!

[heatht]

The company I work for - Truphone - is pretty good if you are looking for a cheap way to call back to the UK.

It is an application that you can download to a lot of different phones, including the iPhone, a lot of different Nokias, for free.

Once you have a Wi-Fi connection, you can make calls over the internet using this applications. Calls are just a few pence a minute, and free if the person you are calling also has Truphone and a Wi-Fi connection.

Good luck with the move to NZ - it is a fantastic country (and as an Aussie, that was a hard thing to say!)

[topcat83]

Originally Posted by Mazzie

...I hope the house you are going to is sufficient as houses over there are nowhere near as good as houses are in the UK. In fact in our experience housing in NZ is like living in the garage at the bottom of your garden. Be prepared to purchase a dehumidifier as the condensation is horrendous and watch out for mould as this is rife in houses. You really should make sure that there is either a wood stove or some kind of heating in the house because a lot of houses do not have any heating or insulation and houses that were built prior to 2008 do not have double glazing. Indeed one house we rented was only 7 years old it had no heating at all, little insulation and the condensation was awful and we paid $350 a WEEK to rent this. Suffice to say, we didn't stay there too long, but we couldn't find any decent houses to rent where we were located. A lot of NZ'ers buy up old cheap houses to rent out for their retirement income. However, unfortunately most don't do much to them, if anything at all and it is very rare to find a half decent house to rent, if you are comparing the houses with houses in the UK that is. We heard all this before moving to NZ, but of course we thought, hey they can't be that bad. Hmmmm, we found out to our disappointment that they certainly were.

Some great advice on the phones, Mazzie. I'm getting my hubby to read your post.

Must say on the housing front we haven't found it to be such doom and gloom. Certainly there are some 'garden sheds' out there, and my cousin is a 'leaky building' victim - but you can find good houses here. Just be a bit aware of what Mazzy says and be a bit picky. We love our house (although we would have preferred double glazing - it is a bit of a new concept out here)

[HKtrish]

Originally Posted by topcat83

Some great advice on the phones, Mazzie. I'm getting my hubby to read your post.

Must say on the housing front we haven't found it to be such doom and gloom. Certainly there are some 'garden sheds' out there, and my cousin is a 'leaky building' victim - but you can find good houses here. Just be a bit aware of what Mazzy says and be a bit picky. We love our house (although we would have preferred double glazing - it is a bit of a new concept out here)

I would agree that the houses are not as sturdy and we have looked at some that feel more like portacabins. However, the climate is different and the outdoor/indoor living is much more the thing.

I have just come over from UK but my husband has been here since October and we have skyped each other every day. You just need a webcam and headset or if you have a new laptop then they are usually built-in. No charge at all and you can speak and see each other as long as you like. In fact, my husband has spoken more to his mother since being here than when he was in the UK.

[HKtrish]

Originally Posted by HKtrish

I would agree that the houses are not as sturdy and we have looked at some that feel more like portacabins. However, the climate is different and the outdoor/indoor living is much more the thing.

I have just come over from UK but my husband has been here since October and we have skyped each other every day. You just need a webcam and headset or if you have a new laptop then they are usually built-in. No charge at all and you can speak and see each other as long as you like. In fact, my husband has spoken more to his mother since being here than when he was in the UK.

A word of advice. New Zealand doesn't have the attractive contracts that you do in the UK and so if you want a flash phone handset you have to buy it yourself. For the Blackberry type I wanted it would be NZD1700 (£700). Definitely advise you to get a handset in the uK. maybe get a relative to upgrade and then buy it off them before coming over. Handsets are very expensive and contracts are limited.

[HKtrish]

Originally Posted by lucyalana

Hello everyone,
I have been reading the forum for a while now and I've finally taken the plunge and posted something! I'm still in the UK at the moment, but my partner and I are moving to New Plymouth on Aug 14th.

We already have a house sorted but my query is about the best way to keep in touch with our families back home. Could anyone recommend a mobile network which has particularly good rates for calling and texting the UK?

I would also like to know about broadband providers. Just from looking at other websites, it seems that broadband in NZ is more expensive and the download limits are more restrictive than in the UK. I intend to use SKYPE quite a bit, and would therefore like a decent, fast connection. Any advice on which provider I should go for?

Many thanks in advance for your help.

Lucy

Skype is definitely the way forward....no charge and you get to see each other..