The Commerce Commission Wants Your
Feedback Now on The Proposed Protections For Households That Only Have a
Landline to Use in Emergencies
The Commerce Commission is currently seeking submissions and feedback on a code to protect consumers who are at particular risk of needing to contact emergency services and only have access to a home phone to do so. Submissions are due by 5pm on Friday July 17, 2020.
The Copper Withdrawal Code
Information about the copper withdrawal code is available on the
Commerce Commission website here.
This copper withdrawal code sets the minimum requirements that will need to be met before Chorus can stop providing copper services.
This copper withdrawal code sets the
minimum requirements that will need to be met before Chorus can stop providing
copper services.
Before Chorus can stop providing copper services, consumers must have access to an equivalent fibre service; that is, they must be able to buy the same services over fibre that they currently have over copper. This means that it is likely Chorus won’t be permitted to stop providing the copper service until the fibre service is connected.
Chorus is required to continue supplying copper services in areas where fibre is not available. Fibre will be rolled out to 87% of the country, so Chorus will have to continue supplying copper services to the remaining 13%. The Commerce Commission has produced a map that shows the areas where Chorus can stop supplying copper services (subject to consumer protections, which will be in place by mid-2020). The map will evolve over time as fibre becomes available in more areas.
Unfortunately, there are no obligations for retailers such as Spark and Vodafone to sell the copper services to consumers that Chorus provides. Some retailers are already choosing to provide broadband and landline services over their mobile networks instead of the copper network. So the Commerce Commission’s advice to consumers is to shop around if a particular retailer is not offering copper services.
Website editor’s note:Spark and Vodafone are of course the companies that are pushing hardest to try to foist an unnecessary 5G system on NZ and 2Degrees also plans to build a 5G network. If you would like to choose an alternative telecommunications company that is not pushing 5G, there are quite a lot of alternatives that you can access via this link: https://www.5g.org.nz/boycott-5g/
Save Our Landlines Suggestions For
Your Submission to the Commerce Commission
Here are some suggestions on what you could include in your submission. Please note it is best if you express the ideas below in your own words rather than copying and pasting them.
In parts of New Zealand where there is no fibre, telcos that provide retail services should be obligated to provide access to the copper system, so that people can have a copper-based landline phone and internet if they live in an area where the internet over the copper network is satisfactory for their needs. (In some parts of the countryside which are a long way for the exchanges, the copper internet is too slow for internet banking.)
This obligation to provide access to the copper system (for phone – and internet, for customers who want this – in areas where there is no fibre) should require telcos to supply these services at a reasonable cost.
This obligation to provide access to the copper system (for phone – and internet, for customers who want this – in areas where there is no fibre) should require telcos to promptly reconnect homes/businesses that have been intentionally (or unintentionally) disconnected from the copper system.
This obligation to provide access to the copper system, for phone and internet, for customers who want this, in areas where there is no fibre, should require telcos to connect new homes/businesses in an area to the copper system promptly at a reasonable cost.
1) People
need to be reminded once a month, not just once a year that they need a back up
if their power goes down, as they need to ensure their mobile phone is charged
regularly if they rarely use it. Perhaps the reminder to ensure people
have a back up phone could be mentioned on their phone bills each month, a
notice left on the telcos’ websites, and/or in emails sent each month by the
telcos.
2) How are
people going to know what their rights are with the imminent removal of the
copper networks? The changes need to be advertised well, perhaps on the
TV news and in newspaper articles, as well as on the telcos’ websites and in
individual letters/emails sent to consumers.
3) Among
the list of ‘people of standing,’ family members should be included, as it may
be difficult for people in rural areas to get a person of standing on the
current list to assist, and it makes more sense to allow a family member to
make the judgement call, as they are the most familiar with the circumstances
at the home in question.
4) The
copper line must not be removed if there is no reasonable alternative.
5) Regular contact needs to be more than once a year by the telcos. Once every three months seems more appropriate for people who are vulnerable and need extra care.
FURTHER DETAILS ABOUT YOUR RIGHTS
Here is additional information that was provided by the Commerce Commission (CC), that may not be mentioned on their website, which we acquired by posing them questions in March, 2020. The information here may assist you with your submissions, also.
Save Our Landlines (SOL):What notice would be given to a household regarding a planned disconnection of the copper and what can a household do about any planned disconnection which they did not wish to occur, for safety/health reasons and so on?
CC: The exact details of the reasonable notice that will be required and any disconnection process will be decided as part of the Copper Withdrawal Code process. A draft code will be published in mid-May and we would appreciate any feedback on the code.
SOL: What will happen to members of the public in a fibre-designated zone, who are using copper, but do not have fiber connected when the copper is taken out?
CC: The copper withdrawal code sets the minimum requirements that will need to be met before Chorus can stop providing copper services.
For example, before Chorus can stop providing copper services, consumers must have access to an equivalent fibre service; that is, they must be able to buy the same services over fibre that they currently have over copper. This means that it is likely Chorus won’t be permitted to stop providing the copper service until the fibre service is connected. More information about the copper withdrawal code is available here.
SOL: Will the Commerce Commission intervene to assist consumers if they cannot find a retailer that offers copper service in their area?
CC: The Commission does not regulate the supply of retail copper services to consumers. It is a commercial decision what services those retailers decide to provide, and what technologies they use to provide them. The 111 contact code will protect consumers who are at particular risk of needing to contact emergency services and only have access to a home phone to do so. Please visit this page for more information and to provide feedback.
This factsheet provides information on what the Commerce Commission recommends consumers do if they are unhappy with the service their telecommunication company is providing them.
SOL: What notice would be given to a household regarding a planned disconnection of the copper and what can a household do about any planned disconnection which they did not wish to occur, for safety/health reasons and so on?
CC: The exact details of the reasonable notice that will be required and any disconnection process will be decided as part of the Copper Withdrawal Code process. A draft code will be published in mid-May and we would appreciate any feedback on the code.
SOL: An example of why we need rules in place: An elderly widow, Barbara who lives in Tikipunga, Whangarei advised me in mid-December, 2019 that she told Vodafone, her landline provider, that she wanted to retain her copper phone line. Vodafone ignored her request, disconnected the copper and installed fibre without giving her any notice. Barbara had no working landline for several weeks after the copper line was disconnected. Needless to state, this made her life very stressful and on top of this, she had to contact Vodafone 18 times before the fibre line, which Vodafone had forced her onto, was working and she had a working phone line again.
CC: I am sorry to read of this example, it sounds like a very poor process. I would recommend that this person contacts the Telecommunications Dispute Resolution (TDR) to see if there is anything they can do. It is not a requirement for copper to be withdrawn during a fibre installation. But if the customer requests that they keep the copper phone line, in addition to the fibre broadband, they will have to pay for both. This is why most fibre installers look to remove the copper during the fibre installation. Fibre cannot be installed without the permission of the property owner.
SOL: What will happen to people who have internet over copper in the countryside (where there is no fibre), as well as a copper-landline phone? Will they be able to keep their current services?
CC: Unless an equivalent fibre service is available in an area, Chorus will have to maintain its copper services there. As I mentioned, it is the retailers’ decision about whether they provide Chorus’ copper services to consumers. So the copper won’t go away for those people, but they might find that some retailers offer phone and broadband services over a mobile network instead.
SOL: Is there a requirement for retailers to keep supplying these services to customers who have them already?
CC: No, retailers may choose to move their existing customers to newer technologies. We have seen Vodafone and Spark do this in some regions.
SOL: Is there a requirement for retailers to organize new connections to the copper network for new builds in the countryside, where there is no fibre, and reconnect exiting homes in rural areas where a previous owner or tenant chose not to have the copper connected or had it disconnected?
CC: No, retailers are free to choose the technologies that they provide their services over. If the property is outside of a fibre area, Chorus will still be required to offer a copper service (even if that property has never had a copper service, or it has been disconnected), but Chorus does not have connect (or re-connect) a property for free.
our voice in defence of New Zealand’s copper landline network and your taking the time to help educate others about the importance of this important infrastructure would be most appreciated. There is a summary of the government’s actions and the campaign to date at the following link:https://saveourlandlines.nz/news/2019-update/
If you would like to help with the campaign you may contact us via our Contact Form which you can reach by clicking HERE.
A few people have reported difficulties with getting telcos in NZ to connect (or reconnect) homes to the copper landline system.
Please note that if you want a copper-based phone and/or internet system, there is no good reason why a company should refuse to supply this service to you.
While the passing of the Telecommunications (New Regulatory Framework) Amendment Bill in November 2018 means that access to copper landline phone system is going to be phased out in the parts of NZ where fibre is available, copper landline services should still be available in most parts of NZ for some time yet.
According to the Commerce Commission website, the “earliest Chorus can stop supplying these services [copper landline based phone services and internet (ADSL and VDSL broadband services – Ed)] is from mid-2020and only in the areas where fibre is available to be installed in homes and once certain consumer protections are in place.” [emphasis added]
The bottom line is that wherever you are in NZ at the moment (January 2020) you should be able to connect to the copper landline should you want to do this.
If your telco will not assist you to get a copper connection, especially if you live in an area where connecting to fibre is not an option, one possible reason for their refusal may be that the company would prefer that you have a wireless home phone system * (Please note that wireless home phone systems could expose YOU and your family to potential health risks as cordless phones may have similar brain cancer risks as mobile phones.)
If you live in an area where copper is going to be phased out, you can still have a safe hardwired phone and internet system:
If you live in a “specified fibre area” where copper is going to be phased out, you can still have a safe hardwired phone and internet system by connecting to the fibre network. The links below provide information to help you.
Please report any refusal of a telco to connect you to the copper network
Please don’t let telcos get away with refusing to supply basic services such as a connection to the copper phone network. You can report any refusal of a telco to provide you with a safe copper landline phone and/or internet system to us via the following link: https://saveourlandlines.nz/contact-us/ Thank you.
Ed note: In case you are wondering about the likely motivation for telcos to be pushing customers from safe hardwired services like copper to wireless home phone systems and wireless 4G based internet systems, one possible reason is that Spark, Vodafone and 2Degrees each operate cellular phone infrastructure. By contrast the copper system is owned by Chorus and the fibre system is usually owned by Chorus or a “Local Fibre Company”. Under these circumstances it seems likely that telcos providing retail telecommunications services (like Spark,Vodafone and 2Degrees) would be able to make more money from providing a 4G based phone and/or internet service than they could from providing a phone or internet service via a safe hardwired connection.
Spark,Vodafone and 2Degrees are also the companies that are trying to foist an untested 5G system on NZ and they are now consequently being boycotted. (For more information about the boycott, including alternative telecommunications companies, please see this link: https://www.5g.org.nz/2019/08/23/boycott-5g/.)
Please join us
Your voice in defence of New Zealand’s copper landline network and your taking the time to help educate others about the importance of this important infrastructure would be most appreciated.
If you would like to help with the campaign you may contact us via our Contact Form which you can reach by clicking HERE.
If you currently have a home phone connected to the copper
system, you may shortly receive (or may already have received) a letter from your
phone service provider.
The letter will likely say something to the effect that it’s
time to move to new technology (or words to that effect).
Your phone company may make what they are offering you sound
like the latest and greatest thing going.
In reality, the company is likely to be trying to
seduce you away from a safe, tried and true technology (a corded phone that is
connected to the copper phone system) to a new wireless phone system.
NB: Both types of wireless phones on the NZ market (cordless
home phones and cellular/mobile phones) have been linked to increased risk of
developing a particularly nasty type of brain cancer called glioma. [1] There is no such known cancer risk from using
the traditional home phone that has a cord.
In the case of Spark and Vodafone, the new wireless phone
systems that they offer connect to a cellular (mobile) phone network and
will introduce potentially carcinogenic (cancer-causing) pulsed microwave
radiation into your home. [2]
(By the way, Spark and Vodafone (and 2Degrees) are also the telecommunications
retailing companies that want to build new wireless 5G networks in NZ.)
Spark calls their 4G cellular phone infrastructure based
wireless home phone system a “wireless landline”. [3]
Vodafone calls their cellular phone infrastructure based
wireless home phone system a “home phone wireless”. [4]
2Degrees also has a wireless phone system. From the very
small amount of information on this company’s website it is unclear whether or
not this works via the company’s mobile network as the phone is designed to
communicate with a modem. However, you
can see from the video on the site that the phones supplied with this system
are cordless so they will also be producing potentially carcinogenic microwave
radiation. [5]
What are your rights if you are offered a “wireless landline” or “home phone?
You do NOT have to accept a wireless phone system if you do not want one.
NB: By refusing to
move to a wireless phone system that has cordless phones (which produce
microwave radiation) and/or an additional device that also produces microwave
radiation (in order to communicate with
the mobile/cellular system) you can help to protect your own health (and that
of family and friends who live with you or visit your home) from the
potentially carcinogenic microwave radiation that is produced by these phone
systems.
Also, by refusing to move to a wireless phone system you are helping to protect our environment and the health of other people in your area. Living close to cell phone towers has documented health risks for local residents. [6]
One of the reasons for the current proliferation of
cellular phone towers in NZ is that telecommunications companies are
aggressively marketing wireless home phone systems. [7] When people consequently choose to move from
the safe copper system to a “wireless” home phone that connects to the cellular
phone network, more cellular phone towers have to be built (because each tower
can handle only a certain number of
connections at a time).
What are your options to have a safe, corded phone system if you live in a NZ town or city where access to the copper landline system is planned to be phased out?
Option 1)
You could simply stay with the copper phone system in your area if you are happy with it because access to the copper system is not likely to be phased out anywhere in NZ until some time in 2020 at the earliest. (NB: The copper service is going to be phased out ONLY from areas of NZ where there is fibre. The Minister for Telecommunications has said that the copper system will remain in other parts of NZ [8].)
[7] Another reason
for the proliferation of cellular phone towers in NZ is the telecommunications
companies that want to introduce 5G into NZ (Spark, Vodafone and 2Degrees) into
NZ plan to use the 4G system as a
“control layer” for 5G. See: https://www.5g.org.nz/2018/10/11/facts-about-5g-in-nz/
A real lemon is beautiful and useful…If you value your health, a wireless phone system is the sort of “lemon” that you would want to avoid… Thank you to Elena Chochkova for making this image available under a GNU Free Documenttation License.
Please join us
Your voice in defence of New Zealand’s copper landline
network and your taking the time to help educate others about the
importance of this important national infrastructure would be most
appreciated.
If you would like to help with the campaign you may contact us via our Contact Form which you can reach by clicking HERE.
If you would like to sign a petition to show your support
for saving NZ’s copper landline phone system, you can access a petition
at the link below:https://saveourlandlines.nz/news/save-our-landlines-nz-launches-petition/
Save Our Landlines NZ would like to thank all of its supporters who undertook a large range of initiatives in 2018 (including writing submissions, emailing MPs and Ministers and engaging with media) in the hope of preventing the destruction of much of New Zealand’s copper landline phone system.
Also, there are ways in which New Zealanders who live in fibre areas should still be able to have a safe hardwired internet and phone connection – although unfortunately maintaining a corded phone that will function during a power outage will cost more.
Information about how to have a safe hardwired phone and internet via the fibre system may be found at the links below:
For this reason, please stay connected with Save Our Landlines NZ so that we can help New Zealanders maintain access to safe, hardwired telecommunications services.
Please take action TODAY against the Telecommunications (New Regulatory Framework) Bill which has passed its second reading.
Save Our Landlines NZ’s position is that the bill should be withdrawn and redrafted so that it PROTECTS NZers access to the copper phone line network.
According to the new Minister of Broadcasting, Communications and Digital Media, the Hon. Kris Faafoi, the copper landlines in rural NZ are safe, but the copper landlines system in NZ towns and cities are still threatened by the Telecommunications (New Regulatory Framework) Amendment Bill.
The Save Our Landlines NZ campaign therefore asks all supporters to lobby MPs and party leaders against the bill by taking the following steps:
1. Visiting party leader’s FB pages and leaving polite messages and/or comments asking them to withdraw their party’s support for the bill unless the bill is reformed to protect NZer’s access to the copper phone system. (Details of FB pages and suggested messages are below.)
2. Emailing party leaders and your local MP with a polite email asking them to withdraw their party’s support for the bill unless the bill is reformed to protect NZer’s access to the copper phone system. (Details of how to access email addresses and a template letter you can adapt for your own use are below.)
Suggested information you can use when sending a FB message or leaving a comment:
1) The copper landline phone network allows people to have a safe corded phone and hardwired internet access.
2) Corded copper landline phones will usually work when a house has lost power so are important in emergencies.
3) Removal of copper was opposed by the vast majority of NZers who made submissions on the bill; it is undemocratic for the government to have essentially ignored this feedback.
4) Keeping the copper supports consumer choice and frees up the fibre bandwidth for those people and businesses that actually need really fast internet.
5) Spark wants to move low data internet customers to fixed wireless broadband (and deny them access to fibre – https://www.computerworld.co.nz/…/spark-abandon-copper-fib…/ ) even though this would mean further proliferation of cellular phone towers. and increased health risks including potentially increased risk of cancer (see: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21741680 ) for people living close to this infrastructure.
Thank you for your support on this issue.
NB: If you have time, please make multiple postings of individual points on the comments on Facebook pages that allow members of the public to do this. Doing so will increase the visibility of this topic to leaders’ staff and also alert other New Zealanders about the implications of this bill which has had little mainstream media coverage.
Information to help you email MPs and party leaders
You will be able to find email addresses for New Zealand MPs at this link: http://haveyoursay.nz/#/
Could you please email your local MP and also email our Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, Deputy Prime Minister Winston Peters, leaders of the Green Party Marama Davidson and James Shaw and the leader of the National Party Simon Bridges and ask them to withdraw their party’s support for the Telecommunications (New Regulatory Framework) Bill unless it is reformed to PROTECT NZers access to the copper landline phone system.
Thank you very much for your support on this issue.
Please join us
Your voice in defence of New Zealand’s copper landline network and your taking the time to help educate others about the importance of this important national infrastructure would be most appreciated.
If you would like to help with the campaign you may contact us via our COntact Form which you can reach by clicking HERE.
If you would like to sign a petition to show your support for saving NZ’s copper landline phone system, you can access a petition at the link below:https://saveourlandlines.nz/news/save-our-landlines-nz-launches-petition/
We have a Facebook page that you are welcome to life and follow it is https://www.facebook.com/Save-Our-Landlines-NZ-1626155717464225/
In May 2018 Whangarei journalist Clare Swinney wrote to the Clare Curran, who was then Minister of Broadcasting, Communications and Digital Media. The topic of her letter was the Telecommunications (New Regulatory Framework) Amendment Bill. She recently received a reply from the new Minister of Broadcasting, Communications and Digital Media, Hon Kris Faafoi.
Among other things, the letter states that Chorus will not be able to withdraw the copper landlines in the rural areas of NZ, where the government does not plan to install fibre.
Nonetheless the letter from the responsible Minister provides some level of reassurance to rural New Zealanders who put a particularly high value on the copper landlines phone system
You may read the letter from the Hon Kris Faafoi by downloading the PDF at the link below:
This website is being developed by New Zealanders who want to see the copper landline network in NZ to be retained and protected. If you value having a corded landline phone that will work even if you home (and the area in which you live) loses electricity, you are very welcome to join us.
To get updates on this issue, please follow our Facebook page at the link below:
Telecommunications bill: Pushing ahead with the piecemeal destruction of New Zealand’s copper landline system.
The Telecommunications (New Regulatory Framework) Amendment Bill (which has now passed its second reading) is designed to allow the piecemeal destruction of New Zealand’s copper landline system.
The copper landline system allows people to have a safe corded phone which will usually work when a home or business loses power, proving a vital lifeline in the event of an emergency.
If the bill becomes law, New Zealanders who lose access to the copper system who want to have the security of having a working phone during a power outage will have fork out for an expensive battery back-up system for a fibre based phone.*
While the bill started its life under the previous National-led government, it is now the responsibility of Labour MP Kris Faafoi.
The Select Committee that considered the bill essentially ignored the submissions from members of the public which were overwhelmingly in favour of retaining the copper landline system to facilitate consumer choice and for public safety reasons.**
Save Our Landlines NZ urges MPs to reject the Telecommunications (New Regulatory Framework) Amendment Bill unless it is redrafted to protect New Zealanders’ access to the safe, reliable copper phone line network rather than allow for the important asset, built up over many decades to be destroyed.
ENDS
*The system recommended by Spark costs several hundred dollars.
Should you wish to talk to someone from the Save Our Landlines please email us thorugh the Contact Form and we will be in touch.
About Save Our Landlines NZ:
This website is being developed by New Zealanders who want to see the copper landline network in NZ to be retained and protected. If you value having a corded landline phone that will work even if you home (and the area in which you live) loses electricity, you are very welcome to join us.
To get updates on this issue, please follow our Facebook page at the link below:
The Telecommunications (New Regulatory Framework) Amendment Bill has passed its second reading in New Zealand’s parliament.and is now at the “Committee of the Whole House” stage of the legislative process.
Save Our Landlines NZ has put out an open letter to MPs asking them to vote against this bill as, in its present form, it allows for the piecemeal destruction of New Zealand’s copper landline infrastructure. You may read the letter at the link below:
This website is being developed by New Zealanders who want to see the copper landline network in NZ to be retained and protected. If you value having a corded landline phone that will work even if you home (and the area in which you live) loses electricity, you are very welcome to join us.
To get updates on this issue, please follow our Facebook page at the link below:
Website editor’s link: In August 2018 Green Planet FM featured a discussion between host Tim Lynch and Katherine Smith on a variety of issues relared to electromagnetic radiation and health,
The interview began with a discussion about smart meters (the new wireless meters being introduced for electricity – these are NOT compulstory in NZ – please see www.stopsmartmeters.org.nz) and then continued on the topic of the government plan to phase out mcuh of New Zealand’s copper landline phone network. A new wireless technology (5G) was also dsicussed. (For NZ-specific information about 5G please see www.5G.org.nz),.
The interview and background information may be accessed via the link below:
Save Our Landlines NZ would like to thank Tim Lynch for a great interview as well as his other efforts to inform people about the threat to NZ’s copper landline phone network and other important issues.
Please join us
Your voice in defence of New Zealand’s copper landline network and your taking the time to help educate others about the importance of this important national infrastructure would be most appreciated.
If you would like to help with the campaign you may contact us via our Contact Form which you can reach by clicking HERE.
Website editor’s note: On June 17, 2018, Oamaru acupuncturist Rick Loos, who has been providing local leadership on the campaign to save NZ’s copper landlines, was a guest on Cosmopolitan News and Views, on Hamilton’s Free FM (which is part of the Access Radio network of community radio stations.
You can hear Mr. Loos together with Cosmopolitan News and Views, Melvan Driscoll and Bruce Scott at the link below. The discussion of the landline phone issue begin around the fourteen and a half minute mark into the hour long show.
Thank you to the hosts of Cosmopolitan News and Views and Mr. Loos for their contributions to bringing this issue to the attention of the public.
Your voice in defence of New Zealand’s copper landline network and your taking the time to help educate others about the importance of this important national infrastructure would be most appreciated.
If you would like to help with the campaign you may contact us via our COntact Form which you can reach by clicking HERE.
If you would like to sign a petition to show your support for saving NZ’s copper landline phone system, you can access a petition at the link below:
