Chris Barton: Competition arrives - Telecom finally comes knocking at my door

I generally don't like unsolicited strangers at my front door trying to sell me stuff.

So when the young guy turned up last week I adopted my usual, somewhat abrupt, I'm-not-buying-anything-from-you manner.

"Hello, I'm from Telecom and just wanted to ask whether you're happy with your broadband and phone service?"

"I'm not with Telecom."

"Do you mind telling me who you're with?"

"Vodafone."

"Do you mind telling me how much you pay a month?"

"Ninety bucks."

"Is that for 20GB?"

"Yes."

"Would you use more if you could?"

"Yes."

"I think I have an offer for you - $109 a month unlimited."

As door-to-door salesmen go, this guy was good.

So was the offer, which he followed up with various other enticements, such as the first month free and a seven-day trial period.

True to form I didn't buy - telling the guy I'd think about it. I've been thinking about it ever since. Not just because it would save me at least $11 a month.

But because I may have just witnessed a landmark event in telecommunications history - the first occasion in my lifetime that Telecom has actually touted for my business.

The slothful corporate has always assumed my business was its monopoly right. Has competition finally arrived?

For more than a decade, I have worked hard at making competition happen - doing everything I could to give my business to anyone else but Telecom.

I was a pioneer - boldly going where none had gone before. I couldn't wait for number portability so I did it the hard way and changed my home phone number. Such was my dedication to the principle of consumer choice that I often suffered hardship.

Like the time I cut my Telecom line and went wireless with a rather fetching antenna on my roof.

At first it was great. I had the cheapest and fastest phone and broadband deal in town and I was free of the tyranny of Telecom.

But then it all went horribly wrong - the line of sight to the Sky Tower apparently disrupted by a tree branch on Mt Victoria.

In the end I had to give it up and go cap in hand to the fat controller.

My latest incarnation of life without Telecom is Vodafone. In truth I'm still on a Telecom wire, but it's in Vodafone's name. For broadband I go through an unbundled exchange and on to Vodafone's Red Network.

The good news is that in New Zealand terms it's quite fast - between 12-15Mbps.

But the bad news, and the reason why I'm considering the unthinkable, is that I'm constrained by a 20GB per month data cap - one which, thanks to the new-found speed, I'm regularly breaking.

The main reason for the blowout however is the fact my house is over-run with several young adults.

They are largely creatures of the night who store all their possessions on the floor and suck everything dry - my fridge, wallet and, each with their own laptop on the home wireless network, my broadband.

Vodafone does give me the option to double my data each month for an extra $30 - but even then, some months, astounding as it may seem, we threaten to break 40GB.

The creatures live online a lot - they often have Facebook conversations with each other while in the same room.

So a truly unlimited service - which I'm not sure Telecom's is - would be magnificent.

To make the switch there are a few other things I'd like, too.

First, I don't want to be locked into a 12 or 24 month contract.

Such things, unless you're getting a deal to die for, are anathema to a truly competitive market.

I'd also like not to be paying $12 a month for voicemail, call waiting and caller ID.

And I'd really like to be paying a lot less than 37c per minute for land-to-mobile phone calls.

My land-to-mobile bill this month was $84.18 and one call was 38 minutes.

By contrast my national toll calls amounted to 75c.

True competition - more service for less cost - still has a way to go.

But it's heartening to see after all these years of monopoly domination, consumer choice is at last beginning to flower.

If anyone wants me and the creatures as customers, I'm always open to offers.