TelstraClear Broadband: Un-metered Weekend!

[Tel Prydain]

TelstraClear is letting kiwis surf the web, watch video and email to their heart’s content all the first weekend in December. From 6pm on Friday 2 December until midnight on Sunday 4 December, data used by TelstraClear residential broadband customers will be free.

“We say we’re the home of broadband and we’re putting our money where our mouth is,” says Steve Jackson, TelstraClear’s head of consumer markets. “At 6pm on Friday we’re switching off the data counter, meaning that any data used over the weekend is free and won’t count against a customer’s monthly allocation. If you’ve been waiting to check out those YouTube videos or try your hand at online gaming, now’s your chance.

“We know that people want to get online and discover the world but sometimes worry about the amount of data that might be used. That’s why we already un-meter a range of popular sites, including TradeMe, the Mediaworks/TV3 family of sites, and our own unmetered Steam gaming server. Because people often have more time outside the working week, we’re helping Kiwis make the most of the Internet with our unmetered weekend.”

Steve Jackson says TelstraClear knows that this weekend will be very popular. "With lots of people online for longer, some customers could experience slower than normal connection speeds, but we think that being able to do much more online without using any of your data pack makes it worth doing.”

On your marks... Get set... DOWNLOAD!
(Gaming is going to SUCK on that weekend)

[accidental]

This idea makes no sense to me.

To the customers you're trying to please with this you're essentially admitting that they normally limit their ideal internet usage because they've got a lower data cap than they'd like.

[Tel Prydain]

And by showing them what a bigger cap is like you might convince them to upgrade?


We used to have toll-free weekends back in the day. Same logic now.

[accidental]

Toll free weekends didn't ruin the call quality for all the other customers.

You guys know your customers better than I. Showing them what a bigger cap is like would be better achieved through increasing regular usage by bumping everyone's caps up 20GB for a month. One weekend of splurging only allows customers to consider what huge files can think to download to take advantage of it—which isn't regular usage.

[Tel Prydain]

Well, I'm going to have fun... and at the end of the day that's what counts.

It'll be interesting to see what effect this has on the cable network. I wonder if this is their plan for load-testing.

[morehu]

I wonder how many people are gonna get farked up from downloading this weekend ?

[FaceAche]

Don't listen to Acci, Tel - it's a great idea, and as a TCL customer, i'm stoked!!

Time to blow my 3570 points on the XBL Marketplace, huah!!!

[accidental]

My download speeds have been super slow this weekend from PSN and iTunes. Coincidence?

Edit: Nope. Lots of people venting on twitter about how international web traffic has slowed to a crawl because of this unmetered weekend. Our poor little Southern Cross link cable must be straining.

[accidental]

Man, this sucks. Was hoping for a netflix movie tonight but the stream is unwatchable.
If these weekends become a regular thing I'm gonna ditch TCL, I'm not getting the service I pay for when I want it most.

[sweetasman01]

Originally Posted by accidental

My download speeds have been super slow this weekend from PSN and iTunes. Coincidence?

Edit: Nope. Lots of people venting on twitter about how international web traffic has slowed to a crawl because of this unmetered weekend. Our poor little Southern Cross link cable must be straining.

Not even close telescum limits the cable so companies only use 1/8 of its capacity combined

[Tel Prydain]

Originally Posted by accidental

Man, this sucks. Was hoping for a netflix movie tonight but the stream is unwatchable.
If these weekends become a regular thing I'm gonna ditch TCL, I'm not getting the service I pay for when I want it most.

How the heck do you have a netflixs account?

[accidental]

It's far easier to have a Netflix account than a US iTunes account. Netflix doesn't care that my credit card is from NZ (although they do care if you use a PayPal that is outside the US).

Hotspot Shield to access the website and sign up. US-based DNS or VPN service to connect your devices (in my case, Apple TV 2, iPad and iPhone). You can now get streaming-only accounts so you don't even need a US address, just a US zip-code.