Can anyone with an Apple Computer confirm that xtra is going to finish with providing Apple with email and net services. An irate friend has told me it is going to happen and that xtra never let them know. Is this a scam, maybe?

Hi Joybel, I have had a Mac for many years, since soon after they were available here. Up until this year I was a active member of the local Mac user group. While I can not answer your question directly, I can tell you that according to Mac users that were with xtra that the(xtra) were never very Mac "friendly". There was never anyone at the help desk that had any Mac knowledge etc., and were never very interested in trying to find a solution. Most left xtra after a shout time for other ISP's.

When I had dial up we have used atrix and then infogen. When we went to broadband we decided to go with slingshot mainly because of the deal that they were offering at the time. I don't know if the other ISP's are better but we have been most happy with what we have. As for the help desk, apart from needing to wait a couple of times they have been just that; helpful.

So in conclusion (after rambling on too much as usual) it seems that the Mac users I know have not been happy with xtra at all and have mostly changed.

Hi, I have been a Mac Addict for many years and have always used Xtra. Haven't heard the gossip about Xtra flicking us Mac users, but would be very brassed off if they did as we have three Macs on broadband in our home and I think having to change from Xtra after all these years would be an absolute pain!! If anyone has any fresh info, please advise, thanks

Well, that would be a bit strange, but then nothing surprises me when it comes to Telecom. Ever since 1987 when they decided AGAINST going with the GSM standard of digital technology, to which 82% of the rest of the world complied. They took the outdated Analogue option.

If they did abandon help and support for Apple Mac, what happens when there are more than one operating system in someone's home, ie, on a network like mine? Not that I am with Telecom anyway, but it could affect others.

Cheers CB

Macs are very intuitive and easy to use and I cannot see any way in which Xtra can dump Mac users other than perhaps not providing support, which they have never really done anyway. They may stop supporting Mac browsers on their web site perhaps but that's no issue as Safari and a number of other browsers can generally cope with M$oft centric web sites anyway. With some good Mac friends and the possible input of the local Mac Users groups I can see no reason why one could not continue using Mac's on Xtra. But, the question is why would you want to stay with Xtra...?
Cheers

That is well said, Techno!

Cheers CB

The main problem is that Xtra are basically just running a New Zealand version of Yahoo. Yahoo appears to run Microsoft servers and as such are proprietary rather than open standards.
Much of the demise of Internet Explorer has been because it has proprietary methods of handling what are essentially industry standards, and conversely it has "hooks" built into it that allow it to display some web pages which run on Microsoft Web Servers, which other browsers may not stoop down to incorporate in lieu of an existing standard.
Microsoft use this as a marketing ploy, the use of one (browser) supports the use of the other (MS Web Server).
This may have worked once but is currently seen as an arrogant and uneducated way of creating a web site. It would be the equivalent of having a newspaper that required you to purchase particular spectacles to read the text. Xtra have never been known as an organisation that places any credence to what a customer is asking for. It is controlled by accountants who are dismally biased to what they know and who has wined and dined them, rather than what the rest of the world is doing and what people are asking for.

You will find better service from almost any ISP in NZ. In fact on a recent survey by Consumer Group, Xtra was rated the worst ISP.I have heard very favourable reports about good service from both Orcon and (in Christchurch) Snap.net.

It could reasonably be said that Xtra, as with it's parent Telecom, has a primary motive to trick the maximum number of people into paying the most possible money for the least possible service. The government has warned them about Broadband and they have had to make changes. In general Broadband is considered as 2MB/sec and higher. You can find Xtra marketing broadband at one-eighth to one-quarter this speed. If the price was pro-rata this would be OK, but they are relying on the customer not knowing anything other than "broadband is faster than dial up". Thus when they find a speed increase they are not dissatisfied. However they are in fact paying a premium rate for a sub-standard service with some of the worst support you can imagine.

Caveat Emptor
Of course this does happen in many walks of life. It is just unfortunate that blanket advertising and give-aways can affect the majority of people.

So to Joybel who started this thread, I say speak with your subscription and move to another ISP that does support Macs. Most do, and some in very good fashion. All you will lose is the xtra email address. So just be sure to let all your friends know that your address may change, then when you get the new connection, mail them all to say what your new address is. It may even reduce your spam, as it takes a year or two for a new address to garner a spam following. It may pay to check your new ISP does in fact do some spam filtering, but most do nowadays. You may also find you can have more email addresses for one price as well.

Here is an interesting idea, I recently asked a friend for his email address. Lets say his name is Harry Smith. His address is harry@smith.co.nz. When I asked how and why he said he pays around $30.00 (I think) per year for his home page "smith.co.nz" so all his family has an email address of "first name"@smith.co.nz.

Reason REALY easy for friends to remember his address, NO HASSEL if he gets "P"ed off by his ISP>

As yet I have been too lazy to set it up but I am seriously thinking about it.

Post deleted at 15 Jan 2009 8:24am by GrownUps Administrator