In this edition:

• Review finds informed mobile plan decisions are still hard.
• More cell tower attacks.
• Fortinet opens NZ point of presence.

Plan data is not getting easier to find

Despite years of urging from the Commerce Commission, mobile service providers continue to obstruct customers from making informed phone plan choices.

The companies collect a wealth of data that consumers could use to get the best deal or compare with an offer from a rival service provider. Much of this data remains hidden.

A recent review carried out by Consumer NZ, working with the Commerce Commission, found Spark, 2degrees and One NZ have failed to improve mobile billing transparency in the past year.

If anything, matters have worsened since last year.

Spark ends initiative

Consumer NZ says during the year Spark ended a promising initiative to improve the information it provided to customers.

Nick Gelling, a writer for Consumer NZ, says the company’s Made For You Review... introduced last year: “included a personalised recommendation that advised customers to either stay on their current plan or switch to another one that better suited their usage patterns.”

He says new summaries are expected soon, but they will be without the right-plan information.

“In another backward step, the new summaries don’t actually include historical information. Instead, they encourage customers to follow a link to find their details.”

2degrees app offers less data

Transparency has also taken a step back at 2degrees. In the past year, the company has changed its phone app to include mobile, broadband and power accounts in a single location. The new app provides customers with less data than the one it replaces.

Gelling says: “Usage data is now only available in a daily view, instead of the monthly view that was previously offered. Spend data also used to be presented as a chart – now it’s just a list of transactions”.

One New Zealand was considered the most transparent in Consumer’s earlier review. It still is. While things have not moved forward, there has been no retreat. One NZ customers get a comprehensive annual summary email which includes details of alternative plans. Yet the company’s app only shows two or three months of history.

Mobile bills in ComCom sights

In 2020 the Commerce Commission analysed 80,000 mobile phone bills as part of its Retail Service Quality programme. At the time, this was described as one of a series of projects tackling remaining customer pain points.

Analysis found that close to two-thirds (64 percent) of users did not change plans during the year-long review. One reason for this was the difficulty of finding the necessary information to make a decision about changing.

Mobile plan details, transaction history

A report from the Commerce Commission said two sets of information can help phone users make informed decisions about plans. The first are the plan details themselves. The second is transaction history.

Telecommunications Commissioner Tristan Gilbertson told the industry he wanted it to “clean up its act”. If that didn’t happen, there might be legislation or other activity to force the issue.

Since then, there has been progress. Now, after backsliding, Gilbertson is threatening action again. He says: “We hope this (year’s review) is a one-off dip by providers, but we're concerned enough to think it’s time for us to issue guidelines to the industry. We plan to do that in the coming weeks so that requirements in this area are clear.”

See also: Regulator moves on telco comparison shopping from 2023.

Arson attack destroys One NZ Wānaka cell site

The latest in a recent spate of arson attacks seriously damaged a One NZ mobile site in Wānaka. It is the second One NZ tower attack in the area in a fortnight.

One NZ warns it will be at least four weeks before the site can be rebuilt. Other towers in the area can help to maintain a level of coverage, but customers will experience degraded mobile services and congestion at peak times.

It’s not just One NZ. Spark reports a tower in the area was also attacked. In this case, there was limited damage and no disruption.

After the Wānaka attacks, RNZ Nights presenter Emile Donovan asked me about the sabotage and cost to our communities.

In other news...

• Google says the open web is in rapid decline, then backtracks — Ars Technica.
• A New Zealand perspective on AI — Catalyst IT
• Call for power companies to make it easier to switch and choose plans — RNZ, Morning Report.
• Europe tries again to bust encryption — Interest.
• Concern over Starlink satellite re-entries — EarthSky

Fortinet adds New Zealand point of presence

Cybersecurity company Fortinet has opened a point of presence in Auckland for its Secure Access Service Edge (SASE). The move means local customers will see lower latency and better performance from SaaS apps.

A point of presence also improves resilience and keeps traffic inside the country, which is important for digital sovereignty, governance, and regulatory compliance.

Fortinet’s move is a continuation of the trend which has seen cloud giants like AWS and Microsoft Azure open local data centres to bring international services closer to the point where they are consumed.

Kordia, a Fortinet partner, says it will use the SASE point of presence for its own cybersecurity and provide connectivity to it for local customers.

In a statement, Kordia says: “We’re also preparing to launch Kordia Secure Edge, our own Fortinet-powered SASE service that unifies security and networking into one cloud-delivered platform.”

Windows 10 support ends next week

Microsoft plans to stop supporting Windows 10 next week on October 14. It marks the end of free security updates and bug fixes for an operating system still used on hundreds of millions of computers.

For ordinary users, the biggest concern is security. Once updates stop, newly discovered vulnerabilities won’t be patched, leaving older PCs more exposed to malware and cyberattacks.

Upgrading may not be easy

Many computers that run Windows 10 today can’t be upgraded to Windows 11 because they don’t meet its more demanding hardware requirements.

This means users face the choice of paying for extended security updates, replacing their computers, or accepting higher risk by staying put.

Businesses may pay for the extended support, but history suggests consumers will not. There’s evidence of a small upturn in PC sales, but not on a scale that suggests large numbers of users are upgrading. It could mean hundreds of millions of users will be left behind.

Over time, newer software and external hardware devices will become less compatible with Windows 10, making daily use more difficult for these people on top of the security risks.

When Microsoft first launched Windows 10, the company said it would be the end of frequent, disruptive operating system upgrades. Yet in the end, Windows 10 was only supported for a decade. The older Windows XP operating system enjoyed 12 years of official support.

Five years ago: Farmside numbers climb in lockdown

Vodafone’s Farmside unit said it reached 10,000 RBI customers following a surge of sign-ups during the Covid-19 lockdown. The newsletter also reported

This time last year: The New Zealand Telecommunications Forum published an upbeat annual report saying the industry was confident and in transition.