[wellylug] telstraclear nz usage reporting script

[Bruce Hoult]

On Sat, Aug 16, 2008 at 11:58 AM, Sam Vilain <sam at vilain.net> wrote:
> On Sat, 2008-08-16 at 08:53 +1200, Bruce Hoult wrote:
>> Gosh.  If I don't "run out during the month" then I figure I've paid
>> them for something I haven't used.  There's no "running out" .. they
>> just happily bill you for whatever you do use, and at a considerably
>> lower rate per GB than you pay for the minimum charge GBs included in
>> your plan.  e.g. on the 40 GB plan I'm on, the first 40 GB effectively
>> cost $2.75 each if you use them all (more if you don't), while extra
>> GBs cost only $1.50.
>
> Ok, but your base charge is already twice the cost of the 10GB plan.

True, and in fact I used to have the 10 GB plan, but:

1) I'm sharing it with a friend in another suburb via wifi [1]

http://hoult.org/bruce/merakinet.jpg

2) for the price of a 10 GB plan each (assuming my friend could get
cable there, which he can't), we in fact get 20 GB included.


> http://www.telstraclear.co.nz/residential/inhome/internet/cable-broadband/plans.cfm
>
> The basis of your calculation seems a recipe for upgrading your
> connection forever.

Not at all.  It's a recipe for getting the connection size with
included GB that is almost always less than GB you actually use.


>  To compare your argument to electricity usage, you
> could divide your bill by the number of units used and see that using
> more power was relatively cheaper, because each kWh started representing
> less and less of the final bill, percentage-wise.  But it doesn't mean
> it makes fiscal sense to use more power.

And I'm not arguing to use more internet.  I'm arguing to use what you
use, but get the next plan smaller than your use, not the next one
larger (unless you're consistently very very close to the larger one)


 > It's just an artifact of there
> being a fixed line cost - though it isn't explicitly listed on your
> internet bill.

I agree.  I consider the 40 GB plan to be $50 of overhead plus GB at
$1.50 each with a minimum purchase of 40 GB.


> Say I'm on a 10GB plan, and each GB over the plan costs
> $2.95.  The 20GB plan costs $25/month more, making those
> blocks $2.50 each on prepay.  So unless my use is more
> than 18GB per month _on a regular basis_ it pays for me
> to stay on the plan I'm on.  If I were to start using 30GB or
> more regularly, then it might be worth considering moving
> to the 40GB plan.
>
> But even if I did end up using 20GB one month, it might still
> make sense overall that I stay on the plan I started with.

I agree totally.


> The TelstraClear over-usage warnings are deceiving - I've
> observed people getting them and saying, "oh, we keep going
> over our usage, we should upgrade".  Then they upgrade their
> plan and accordingly start increasing their usage to "make
> use of what they paid for".

Well that's just silly.  Use what you use and then get the plan which
is cheapest.  Which given TC's price structure is usually the one with
fewer included GB than you use.

Roughly speaking (but it's pretty close!), don't upgrade unless you're
regularly getting the 80% warning less than halfway through the month.


[1] unlike the case for people who sell you an "unlimited" "flat rate"
connection, sharing your cable modem connection with others is within
the TelstraClear T&Cs.  You use more, you pay more, everyone is happy.