Digicel rates & Phone prices

[disciple]

well, if you missed the spread in the papers today , here's a breakdown

Model                            Postpaid           Prepaid
Motorola V3 Razr           1995                    2495
Motorola u6 Pebl           1995                     2495
Samsung x156                299                      399
Samsung x486                 349                      499
Nokia   6101                    999                   1299
Nokia  6230                     999                     1499
Nokia 1108                      149                       199


Day PrePaid            Day           Evening               Weekend
Digi to Digi            1.15              .85                         .55
Digi to Fixed          1.25              .95                         .65
Digi to Other          1.60              1.50                     1.40



Night  PrePaid            Day           Evening               Weekend
Digi to Digi                  .55            .60                          .55
Digi to Fixed                1.60           .75                         .65
Digi to Other          1.60              1.50                        1.40


Post Paid
120 Mins                120                   95
240 Mins                 240                  175
360 Mins                  360                274



the site wasn't updated as of this posting...


still kinda confused on the Day package and Night package..will research more

and the interconnection rates subject to change

[TriniXaeno]

are these good or bad?

excuse my ignorance

[Nephilim]

i think it bad TSTT adverts say 50c after 3 mins

[AIDS]

I got this straight from the bmobile site.
http://www.bmobile.co.tt/specialoffers_ratesreduced.cfm

There are 4 aspects of rate changes: Reduced mobile to mobile rates Reduced mobile to fixed line rates Reduced fixed to mobile rates Effective Sunday April 2, 2006, bmobile has introduced a reduced rate of 50 cents after the first 3 minutes to all Mobile to Mobile, Mobile to Fixed and Fixed to Mobiles.

This rate does not apply to international calls

Any rates lower than this remain in effect. The 12 cents on Sundays does not get affected


For customers on the bmobile Basic this will represent a 25 cents savings on each additional minute after the first three minutes.

For customers on the bmobile Bonus this will represent a 20 cents savings on each additional minute after the first three minutes.

For customers on the bmobile Beyond this will represent a 10 cents savings on each additional minute after the first three minutes.

NOTE THAT: This rate does not apply for the "free or packaged " minutes allotted in the package. Customers that are on bmobile plans that offer a lower rate than the promotion rate will not be affected. These rates do not apply for phones on the mpower plans or TDMA plans.


For customers on the bmobile Standard Plan this will represent a savings of 80 cents during the day and 15 cents on the evenings on each additional minute after the first three minutes. The weekend rates will remain the same.

For customers on the bmobile Optional Plan this will represent a savings of 50 cents on each additional minute after the first three minutes.

These rates do not apply for TDMA phones.

__________________________________________________________________________________

Basically 50cents per minute (after 3 mins) is the MOST you would be expected to pay for a call with bmobile.

[Gambitt]

Basically 50cents per minute (after 3 mins) is the MOST you would be expected to pay for a call with bmobile.

This of course assumes you will be spending more than three minutes on a single call at a time. TSTT knows that for most people, most cell calls are short, lasting little more than a minute or two. It's kinda like that "smart choice" thing. You get all these extra features and all land line calls are free, for  $250 (or something so). Which is not so smart for you because you probably doh want the features, and yuh probably never spent $250 a month calling fixed lines anyways.

Basically folks should look very very close at what the options are and their usage patterns and decide what's best for them. That's why I'm waiting a while before deciding who to go with.

[SPK]

This of course assumes you will be spending more than three minutes on a single call at a time. TSTT knows that for most people, most cell calls are short, lasting little more than a minute or two. It's kinda like that "smart choice" thing. You get all these extra features and all land line calls are free, for $250 (or something so). Which is not so smart for you because you probably doh want the features, and yuh probably never spent $250 a month calling fixed lines anyways.

Basically folks should look very very close at what the options are and their usage patterns and decide what's best for them. That's why I'm waiting a while before deciding who to go with.

Speak for yourself with not spending $250 a month on fixed lines...my bill before averaged about $600 a month to just fixed lines alone...

But you are right with the whole thing of most cell calls are very short, cuz ppl have grown accostomed to keeping most calls to a minute (before per second billing), or even to as few seconds as required nowadays...so it's not gonna benefit these ppl anyway.

As for the Digicel rates, I'm not impressed to say the least....I think I'll hang on to my TSTT phone, though the J300i that they selling for $399 prepaid looking tempting, and the 1 year top up expiration date real nice...I mostly use the phone for texting, and their rates aren't anything worth fussing over...

So with that said, thank you Digicel for coming here, to give TSTT a solid kick in the b@lls and start offering services that are more affordable than ever...we couldn't have done it without you.

[Gambitt]

Boss I say probably. Of course if you living in toco and have a girl living icacos yuh phone bill will be higher. Same thing with if yuh dilaing in to a ISP-POP outside of yuh area code. But for the average user of the telephone they dialing mostly people in their area code (23 cents unlimited) and then some people outside of the area code. I used to log about 6000 minutes for about 11 dollars, just to the ISP alone.

On the other hand my family got a bill for over $1000, and they decided to switch to this smart choice thing, only to get an almost equal bill. Why? Because my dotish sister only know how to make calls to cellphones. Needless to say smart choice went out the window and my sister get told to find her tail in work and cough up a hefty chunk of the paycheck.

The trick with ther smart choice is that most people spend most of their money on cell calls anyway. Sure there are some users who rack up big bills bcause they calling their woman in icacos and spending hours on the line, but remember TSTT in this to make money. The smartest person is the one who looks very carefully at the options and ends up picking the right one. Which you clearly have done. (On the other hand yuh probably spending all that money in gas to go down icacos on the weekends.)

If yuh look at the prices, you can already see that digicel "day users" will be slightly better off than "bmobile standard" users who make calls mostly in the day, unless yuh only make calls to other cells. But you have a very valid point about how TSTT is changing to more affordable rates and services. And it seems that they are coming out with something new every other day.

Like I said, I waiting to see all what going on and then deciding later.

[Crixx_Creww]

indeed couldnt do it without them

and that was the point from the get go, not neccesarily for a company to come do it better
but just to get tstt to stop playin de a$$ and start treating us right.

THe customers supposed to be de ones benefitting from competition, not the companies.

But digicel prices are the way they are now because of tstt's nasty nasty nasty stance on the interconnect, they taxin digicel as much as they can for the interconnect, forcing their prices to be higher.

Tstt just dutty and doh business bout the customers and obviously have no respect for de competition either.

They go so far as to steal the competition ad slogans before digicel releases them, in an attempt to frustrate them.

Like for instance, when digicel first came, their colours were primarily green with red higlights
tstt went and release b mobile in a massive way using green like ah forest just so digicel couldnt do it.

Then they stole the bigger better network slogan right out the digicel CEO mout.
i mean, das just dutty.

[disciple]

i don't think it's gonna be a situation like jamaica, where digicel came and totally dominated, taking up to 60% of the market.....( which was really impressive, considering cable an wireless's monopoly status)


for the regular consumer, i don't see that much of a clear advantage for you to switch  where it comes to pricing..
quality of service remains to be seen...but since they also rollin out GSM ( albeit on a different band) they would be subject to GSM's limitations, although the mere fact that initially, the network would have far less traffic that TSTT's, virtually guarantees that your calls will get through( and stay connected) once you in a area that is covered..


 

Stephen Brewer, Digicel’s Trinidad chief executive said the company would not be responsible for increasing rates in the local market but explained that the company had made an investment and hoped to recoup part of its cost.

today's guardian.

which reinforces the fact that digicel is here to make money... not friends


with regards to smartchoice, i agree with SPK.. for some homes smartchoice is viable , and once you doh call cell phones with it, you can make it work for you..
our bill used to be like a 800 a mth before.. now.. just around 4 (with international calls)...  being the only person who would really call cellphones regularly, i make those calls on  my cell ..   

i would disagree , however, that most conversations are less than 3 minutes... apart from ' yeh , i outside' and  'i cah make that turn no more' , i would say a regular short convo lasts around 5 minutes..   

but then again, i doh use my phone much..


crixx...bmobile is an established brand up the islands..(e.g. jamaica)  it was in use before digicel came in the dance..check http://www.candw.lc/  and  http://www.cwbmobile.com/

and digicel, from what i remember seeing in my visits up the islands, as well, was always primarily red


with regards to taxin 'digicel for the interconnect'... okay, they made them pay for part of the equipment.. i don't see anything wrong with that..  remember, digicel is a business entity.. not a charity.. with assets of  USD 600MIllion ...         come on.. it's just business sense.. 



 

[Crixx_Creww]

with respect to the colour scheme

i have friends and an ex girlfriend working in digicel and they have kept me abreast with tstt dutty tactics from day 1.

Tstt didnt just make them pay for part of the equipment, they refused to give them a fair deal on interconnect charges per call.

Thas why they took so long to come to an agreement.
As you should know by now, tstt is also gonna charge their customers for calls they receive from digicel fones.

So tstt hatin an all sides, they imposin a tax on calls from digicel to tstt, then taxin they own tstt customers for receiving calls from digicel
nastttehhhh

[W1nTry]

GG dat is REAL DUTTINESS.... men sweating DotA oh wha? I mean to be honest we all knew TSTT would squeeze Digicel by the NUTZ for EVERYTHING they worth and they are doing just that. Also not that I quite am in agreement with this stance of squeezing the competition... but I mean TSTT is a TRINI thing (although I hear talk bout cable and wireless behind de scene squeezing TSTT) so I mean we should also support the local carrier as opposed to paying all we hard earned TT dollars on a FOREIGN company. I mean come on all dem other companies MILKING us dry B_, _G insert a P here and there and you get the idea. Why have yet ANOTHER foreign body milking us, might as well be our own right :p but hear what the bottom like is we as a customer now have better reception, better services and better rates than before Digicel was around, so all in all we ain't done too bad, now if Digicel BUSS is PRESSURE cause den self TSTT will play up in DMC and get on light real pole up deh @r$3.....

[disciple]

nah, digicel cah buss ..  they will get a decent sized share of the market ( though as i said, it eh go be a overwhelming chunk)
things lookin brown fuh laqtel however....


after all, they have 1.9 billion invested, i sure they gonna be here for a while.. besides, we are an integral part of their pan-caribbean network strategy

tstt's having tstt customers pay for incoming digicel calls, yeh.. thas real filth.
just called them, and the rep said while it free now, chances are, they gonna start after the Telecoms Authority finalise on the interconnect prices

a check on digicel's other country sites shows that they do not charge to receive....we'll see if that stays

but i still disappointed that tstt gonna be chargin for it.. ah well.. all the more reason not to answer my phone.. lol


cable and wireless have always had a stake in tstt.. but the government is the 51% shareholder, so they call the shots  ( unlike other caribbean territories, where c & w completely ran the show)   they made 550 million pounds in profit last year off the caribbean alone

[suzieboy]

TSTT would squeeze Digicel by the NUTZ for EVERYTHING they worth and they are doing just that.

Well Welcome to the World of Business people...healthy competition
TSTT are hustlers and u cah blame them....they cah jus do nothin to get ahead of the competition....
There tactics might sound "naasssttteehh" according to Crixx but thats jus how it is in this "Game" ...
sh!t i might have done the same thing if u asked me....lol

[Crixx_Creww]

550 mill pounds... omfg

thas more than certain oil companies making off of the caribbean a year, das disgustin.

An laqtel goin an get BULL!!

lol tstt an they ultraaa nastiness again!!

THey supportin laqtel with their cdma network an playin happy nicey right now and actin like they welcoming them BUTTTTT  tstt already as a cdma network up and running and waiting to deploy to underhand laqtel when they  release dey movin realllll ghey!!!!

[disciple]

www.digiceltt.com has been updated to reflect the launch.. has more info






in the  post paid Terms and Conditions
"all handsets will be sold locked... not permitted for third party or user to unlock"

"by signing application you have agreed to a minimum 12 month service period"

LIVE appears to be their equivalent to bmobile's Buzz

   
Digicel LIVE

Digicel Live opens up your window to sports, information, entertainment and other exciting and fun stuff:
Digicel Live is a pay-as-you-use service. Pricing will be displayed on your mobile before each download.

Digicel ringtones, games and wallpapers
Usage per month         TT$
Picture Messaging    3
Ringtones                  12
Real Tones                  15
Games - Regular      20
Games - Premium    30
Themes                     15
Videos    15

pretty pricey, imho.. and it still isn't unfettered access.... ( though they claim regular GPRS comin soon)

however, in Features, i especially like this

"A promise that means if we ever drop a call, you can call back the same number within five minutes and we'll give you back, up to a minute of talk time FREE!"

now tha's cool

[ZUSE]

Laaaawd crixx for real TSTT ultra nasty jed *ooh geeeed*. For me personally digicel aint much of a better choice unless most of my peeps get digicel phones (mainly meh GF) cuz i'll be paying more to call accross carriers. Duh when yuh see deh TSTT charging for digicel calls, doh call meh PLEEEEEEEEEEEEASE!!!

[Gambitt]

well, if you missed the spread in the papers today , here's a breakdown

Model                            Postpaid           Prepaid
Motorola V3 Razr           1995                    2495
Motorola u6 Pebl           1995                     2495
Samsung x156                299                      399
Samsung x486                 349                      499
Nokia   6101                    999                   1299
Nokia  6230                     999                     1499
Nokia 1108                      149                       199


Day PrePaid            Day           Evening               Weekend
Digi to Digi            1.15              .85                         .55
Digi to Fixed          1.25              .95                         .65
Digi to Other          1.60              1.50                     1.40



Night  PrePaid            Day           Evening               Weekend
Digi to Digi             1.55            .60                          .55
Digi to Fixed                1.60           .75                         .65
Digi to Other          1.60              1.50                        1.40


Post Paid
120 Mins                120                   95
240 Mins                 240                  175
360 Mins                  360                274



the site wasn't updated as of this posting...


still kinda confused on the Day package and Night package..will research more

and the interconnection rates subject to change

Guardian messed the price list up. Nightplan daytime charges = $1.55 NOT .55

[disciple]

thanks gambitt,
my bad

i had make out another typo, but that one had escaped me, it would appear

[Gambitt]

No worries. It had me really cornfused at the time though.

Oh yeah they say the not selling sims for the next couple of months

[38_CalibuR]

u work for tstt right