iPhone coming to XT!
Finally after much will-they-won’t-they and then the whole website-links-coming-and-going thing, Telecom have finally stepped up and announced that they will indeed be offering the iPhone (all versions) and what’s more they will be launching the devices at 12:01am on 11th in the 4 major centres (Auckland, Wellington, Christchurch and Dunedin). Keep reading for more info and the full press release… including plans.
We got wind of this back when the iOS 5 betas came out and Telecom’s settings were already in place for the APN. We soon realised that they had a Carrier Bundle built into the phone. This got us to thinking and we had done some tests and we realised that 2degrees did not have one. There is only one way a carrier can have a bundle on the iPhone… (officially) and that is if they are an “official carrier”.
We then saw the website debacle yesterday with the iPhone link coming and going this pretty much cemented it in our minds, however we didn’t want to blow the whistle early… you know, just in case.
One thing’s for sure though… Vodafone are not going to be happy about this, but who cares! We can now hopefully have a good launch party!!
Press Release:
MEDIA RELEASE 8 November 2011
Telecom New Zealand to Offer iPhone 4S on November 11
New Zealand – November 8, 2011 – Telecom New Zealand today announced it will offer iPhone 4S beginning Friday, November 11. iPhone 4S will be available starting at $0 for the 16GB model, $49 for the 32GB model and $249 for the 64GB model with a new two-year contract and data plan. Telecom will also offer iPhone 4 8GB and iPhone 3GS starting at $0 with a new two-year contract and data plan. iPhone will be available at Telecom retail stores and online at Customers can pre-order iPhone 4S at telecom.co.nz/iPhone,and Gen-i clients can pre-order iPhone through their client manager. iPhone 4S is the most amazing iPhone yet, packed with incredible new features including Apple’s dual-core A5 chip for blazing fast performance and stunning graphics; an all new camera with advanced optics and full 1080p HD resolution video recording. With the launch of iPhone 4S also comes the launch of iOS 5, the world’s most advanced mobile operating system with over 200 new features; and iCloud, a breakthrough set of free cloud services that work with your iPhone, iPad, iPod touch, Mac or PC to automatically and wirelessly store your content in iCloud and push it to all your devices.
For more information on iPhone 4S, please visit: www.apple.com/iphone.
For more information on iPhone 4S with Telecom XT, www.telecom.co.nz/iPhone. About Telecom XT Telecom XT is New Zealand’s smartphone network. Launched in 2009, the nationwide 3G network keeps customers connected in 97% of places kiwis live and work. An HSPA+ network with fast backhaul to over 85% of it, the XT network was specifically designed to enable fast download of internet pages and applications, creating a great mobile internet and app’s experience. For more information about the XT network, visit www.telecom.co.nz/mobile/ournetwork.
“We are delighted to bring the innovative iPhone 4S to Telecom New Zealand customers,” said Telecom retail CEO, Alan Gourdie. “With the capability and performance of Telecom’s mobile services, customers will enjoy using the many new features of iPhone 4S on our network.” From 12:01 AM on Friday, November 11, customers will be able to purchase iPhone 4S from Telecom’s concept stores in central Auckland (167 Victoria St West) and central Wellington (42 Willis St). Customers will also be able to purchase from Christchurch (Moorhouse Ave) and Dunedin (101 George Street). iPhone 4S, iPhone 4 and iPhone 3GS will also be available from all other Telecom stores nationwide from November 11 from 9:00 AM. Launch Pricing and details for iPhone on Telecom XT on a 24-month term:XT iPhone Plans
So is this just what you’ve been waiting for?? Let us know in the comments below.
Super aggressive pricing and a 12:01am launch. Who needs an Apple store when you have a great Telco. Well done Telecom.
A great price and a great launch via a timely announcement. If your reading Vodafone, that wasn’t so hard was it?
Only one thing missing now ……..the old TNZ XT logo in the carrier bundle
(Paul has made 337 comments)
Anybody know about contract termination fee???
(pacharawit has made 57 comments)
Awesome news!! Sold Iphone 4 today and now start the planning on getting to my nearest Telecom Store
(camtab has made 480 comments)
When I went to their website they had different pricing options… their plans are not really that good, Vodafone is more value for sure. 2degrees would have done it perfectly right!!
I don’t wanna pay Telecom $80 a month for 24 months!
(Yaman_NZ has made 184 comments)
As an official carrier, will that make APN settings accessable now/soon?
(joel has made 4 comments)
Wonder what sort of stock they will have, if I should cancel pre-order.. guess I’ll see if I get a shipping notification by then
(WaterGoblin has made 22 comments)
@ Yaman_NZ: Let me go compare Vodafone’s pricing…oh dang they dont have any up!!! You dont have to pay Telecom $80 as they have a $40 plan as well that had 500MB of data too, unlike Voda (who I can only use Iphone 4 pricing) who dont offer 500MB until the $100 plan.
But anyways this is a “Yah Telecom have the iPhone finally post” so I will focus on that
(camtab has made 480 comments)
If I work it out… I am currently on 2d paying $50 for 1gb, 80 mins, 2500 txt… If I was to buy the 4s from the apple website it would put me back about $1049. With Txting between iphones now using imessage i don’t end up using many texts any more. So I pay telecom $149 one off and an extra $30 per month for 24 months = $869. After this time I could in theory go back to 2degrees, with the 4s which only costed me $869 so a saving of $180. Plus the added bonus of not having to have the cash up front to purchase the phone outright. Seems for me anyhow to be a pretty good deal!!
(Bert has made 14 comments)
@ Yaman_NZ:
I’m a little curious about what you don’t find “that good” about Telecom’s pricing and I am a lot curious about your “Vodafone is more value” statement.
Obviously it is not 1 minute before launch so we do not have anything concrete from Voda on the 4S but let’s compare Telecom’s prices to Vodafone’s current iPhone 4 prices.
We’ll use the 16GB model.
TELECOM:
$149 FOR THE 16GB 4S
$80 PER MONTH FOR 24 MONTHS
200 ANYTIME CALLS
300 SMS
1GB DATA
TOTAL OVER 2 YEARS $2069
VODAFONE:
$699 FOR THE 16GB 4
$85 PER MONTH FOR 24 MONTHS
300 ANYTIME CALLS
2500 SMS
250MB DATA
TOTAL OVER 2 YEARS $2739
Some points to note. Yes voda have the extra GB of data but this is only for the first 6 months. What happens after that? You are either left hoping that vodafone extend their offer or you are left with just 250MB or you will need to add on more data obviously with more expense.
Yes voda offers a stupid amount (2500) texts. In typical Vodafone fashion they offer this for one reason and one reason only. Standard SMS is on they way out. Nobody would use that amount of texts ESPECIALLY on the iPhone which has a multitude of free WORLDWIDE messaging apps in the app store and now iMessage.
What part of Telecoms pricing is not that good and what part of Vodafone’s pricing offers more value in your eyes?
(Paul has made 337 comments)
vodafial failed again.
They are even still hiding the detail (price and time) of iPhone 4s launching like last year.
(wind1084 has made 11 comments)
Has anyone done any recent data comparison testing between XT, Vodafone and 2 Degrees? Does anyone think XT is quicker than the other 2 for data or vice versa? Be interested in your thoughts as this might sway me towards this Telecom deal.
(MartyMan has made 23 comments)
Good question, I’d be interested to @ MartyMan:
(benh has made 52 comments)
Since the move from Vodafone to Telecom about 6 months ago, I’ve found Telecom to substantially faster pretty much anywhere. Sure CBD will be reasonably good with Vodafone or Degrees, but try travelling a little out and you’ll soon see where Telecom shines as well.
I had been on Vodafone my whole life until then and I’m glad I swapped.
(sp has made 7 comments)
Telecom pre-order link isn’t working
…. yet
(Bert has made 14 comments)
sp wrote:
See I live and work in the Wgtn CBD and speeds on VFNZ on my iPhone 4 are generally very sucky compared with my friend on 2Degrees. Everything is just slow. When I visit other NZ cities VFNZ does indeed perform much better but that doesn’t help me where I want to use my phone the most.
@$299 for the 2yr, $80/month plan I’m now seriously tempted to get a 4S where I wasn’t initially. Part of the fun would also be trying out XT for the first time. Any XT users in Wgtn want to boast about their speed improvements? Would be very interested to hear any first hand expericences.
(JimmyC has made 54 comments)
An interesting plan that catches my eyes is a prepay from 2degree. If you top-up $30 every month, you can get 300 free txts, buy 1gb data for $20, left over $10 can be used toward voice calls ($0.44/min. => about 22 min.) or other stuffs.
(pacharawit has made 57 comments)
great to see another competitor here in NZ hopefully bring some more competition and better pricing as telecom have done already with there plans only down side is u can’t add additional data to any of their plans
(djnav has made 1 comment)
Someone was curious about termination fees, I found this document http://www.telecom.co.nz/binarys/xt_disconnection_fees.pdf which shows fees by tier. It’s an old document so you’ll have to guess which tier each plan is.
(AndrewNZ has made 52 comments)
This is exciting news! I was wondering if anyone knows if the iPhones bought from Telecom are locked to their network? I am going overseas in the near future and want to be able to put in a local sim when I arrive to avoid any hideously large roaming data fees. I know I could just buy direct from Apple but I dont like the thought that I may not get it until the 28th Nov so would prefer to try and buy from a Telecom store.
(fotty has made 1 comment)
JimmyC wrote:
Well if CBD is a shocker, then god help Vodafone/Degrees perform any better outside…
Though one misconception about Vodafone being slow on an iPhone 3G/3GS is due the phone supporting the frequencies 850Mhz & 2100Mhz, and Vodafone’s network runs on 900Mhz & 2100Mhz. 2100Mhz is used in main city areas, anything else is 900Mhz, which is sluggish at best.
Telecom on the other hand is 850Mhz & 2100Mhz. But generally speaking 850Mhz penetrates objects better. So you’d expect to see a performance increase anyway.
Try getting into an elevator with both Vodafone and Telecom while calling. Guess which ones maintains a connection better? /tip – It ain’t the Red.
(sp has made 7 comments)