Mobile roaming in Europe

I’ve recently been fortunate enough to enjoy an extended family trip through Europe (UK, France, Germany, Italy and Greece). This gave me the chance to test out one of the new international eSIMs that have flooded the market over the past few years, which allows you to have mobile data roaming across multiple countries for a fraction of the cost of doing so with an NZ provider.

Use Case

My family (2 adults and 2 teenagers) were all keen to stay connected throughout the trip, primarily on our smartphones, with the occasional hotspot/tethering use to allow my wife and I to stay connected to work on our laptops. We didn’t need calls (but see the note at the end….) so it was unlimited mobile data we were interested in. We were travelling across multiple countries so we were looking for something easy to use and didn’t want the hassle of buying SIM cards in each country.

Selection

I compared a few providers from an internet search and Holafly seemed to have the simplest options, and was well reviewed. They weren’t as cheap as some of the others but their options were really well laid out and their mobile app was good. We paid around 100 euros (around $200nzd) for each eSIM that provided us 41 days of unlimited mobile data throughout Europe. When you sign up you choose the number of days and the cost is calculated then. You can add more days if needed once the plan has been activated. To some this might seem expensive but keep in mind these eSIMs provide unlimited mobile data. Compare this to something like Spark which offers just 2Gb for $35!

Setup

This was fairly straightforward and can be done in a few different ways. Once I created a Holafly account and ordered the eSIMs the instructions were really clear and the only thing we learned was that it’s important not to activate the Holafly eSIM until you travel, as the allocated days start counting down as soon as you do. 

Of course, you need a phone that is capable of handling an eSIM, and to avoid roaming charges on your NZ SIM you should disable that before you leave NZ.

Usage

When we arrived at our first destination, it was a simple matter of enabling the eSIMs that we had each setup earlier on our phones. None of us had any issues connecting and the Holafly eSIM just connected to whatever network they obviously have partner agreements with. This was the case all across Europe in fact and I was really impressed with the ease of use. Connectivity and speed was generally good, apart from in really rural areas, which of course you would expect anyway. Moving from country to country was seamless, with only the occasional need to disable and re-enable the eSIM to get it to connect to the local network on arrival. Overall it worked really well for all of us and allowed us to be connected without worrying about racking up mobile roaming costs or finding wifi networks all the time.

Issues

We had problems with hotspotting in Greece. Everywhere else we were able to tether our laptops to our phones and had good enough mobile data to perform typical work tasks and even join a few Teams meetings. As I understand, the mobile networks in Greece are fairly poor anyway, and whatever network Holafly uses did not seem to support hotspotting. I tried several different things to get it to work but whilst the tethering itself worked fine, the laptops were unable to connect to the internet regardless. As I say, this was only a problem in Greece.

The only other issue that we had was something we hadn’t considered, and this was the lack of a mobile number whilst using the travel eSIM. Holafly and (from what I can tell) most of the other eSIM providers don’t provide you with a mobile number for calls or texts on their multi-country plans. This makes sense from a technical perspective as you are hopping from one mobile network to another, but what we hadn’t taken into account was the number of occasions that we needed to make or receive phone calls, or more importantly receive text messages. Everything from signing up to taxi services, booking hotels, paying for parking all rely on text verification and of course you can’t do this if you can’t receive texts! This was even more of an issue for the occasional time we needed to use our ANZ credit card which is setup for text validation for unknown transactions and unfortunately resulted in us having to enable roaming and buy roaming packs for our NZ mobile plans just so we could receive these verifications.

I’m not sure how to get around this as it seems in Europe that mobile verification is the default and preferred method for lots of things. To my knowledge ANZ (and other NZ banks?) also default to verification by text. Perhaps there are travel eSIM providers that do provide a mobile number as well as data?

Whilst this did reduce the value of the travel eSIM somewhat, and added a layer of complexity that I was hoping to avoid, I’m very confident that it was still significantly cheaper and easier than using roaming from an NZ provider, and something I would highly recommend if you are overseas for more than a few weeks and need lots of mobile data.

My experience of buying a Tesla in NZ

This is a rough description of my recent (2024) experience of buying a Dual Motor, Long Range, Tesla Model 3 in New Zealand. I write this only as it might be interesting to others considering a similar entry into the wonderful world of Tesla.

I’ll preface things with some relevant context. First, I live in a city in the far South of NZ. Whilst it’s a city, it’s a long way from the main urban centres of Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch. Second, because of the type of driving I do, from the outset I wanted the Dual Motor Long Range M3, which I’m very sure contributed to the ‘interesting’ experience of purchasing and receiving my fantastic new car. Third, and finally, I’m a ‘Tech’ guy at work and at home and I live and breathe the world of tech and buying stuff online, so purchasing a car through an app, whilst new to me, wasn’t that unfamiliar or daunting. I was more than happy to eschew the traditional model of salesmen and car yards.

Ordering

I ordered a 2024 Model 3, Long Range, Dual motor in black, at the beginning of 2024. I paid the $400 order fee and the wait began.

Waiting

From January to March, the Tesla mobile app displayed ‘delivery estimate January to March’ and it didn’t change at all during that period. The end of March came and went, and on the 2nd April the delivery estimate disappeared completely from the app.

Chasing

In the first week of April I called Tesla NZ a few times looking for updates on estimated delivery. My first call was met with a ‘we don’t have any further details’, just keep an eye on the app. The second call, when I spoke to a really helpful guy called Matty was more enlightening. His advice was to keep an eye on the existing inventory on the Tesla website to see if something suitable became available, and if so, to give them a call back to get my existing order changed. He also told me that he had been informed that the next availability from a shipment into NZ was going to be ‘sometime after August’. I was somewhat despondent after this and disappointed in the lack of clear information on anticipated delivery. There seemed to be a disconnect between the various teams within Tesla NZ and nobody was really certain what was going on.

A bit of luck

Whilst I began considering my options, I kept an eye on the existing inventory across the country, checking every morning. Whilst there seemed to be plenty of Standard Range available, there were no Long Range, until, miraculously, one showed up, in blue, in Wellington. I immediately called Tesla NZ and the agent I spoke to this time let me know that he would take care of it. I received an email a few hours later with an update to my order. A few days later I received an order confirmation and final invoice. I paid this, and a day or so later, the mobile app was updated and a VIN was allocated. As an aside, I received the good news the following day that Tesla had dropped the base price and was issued another final invoice, showing that I was due a $2000 refund (I still haven’t received this. I spoke with the accounts team last week and they said it would be processed onto the card in my Tesla account ‘sometime over the next week’).

Collection

I received a call from a Tesla agent and we agreed a time and date at the end of the second week of April for me to collect. I received a few email confirmations with the address and other details. After a typically bumpy flight into Wellington, I got an Uber out the Lower Hutt address given. I struggled to find the building and only discovered the Tesla sign after wandering around for 15 minutes after being dropped off by the bemused Uber driver. The service centre and collection depot is in an old, Cold War era building. An unlikely place, but on reflection, a pretty cool contrast to the high tech vehicles contained within. My car wasn’t there when I arrived, and I was informed that the sales guys were out getting the registration and plates sorted out! They turned up half an hour later and the remainder of the handover process was great. I spent 45 minutes inspecting the car and being instructed on the basics, and then I was off on the epic journey home.

All in all it was a weird, funny experience that worked out in the end. I’ve had friends purchase other Tesla’s in NZ that have experienced ‘Apple Store’ like slickness end to end, and I wonder with the decline in EV sales since the removal of the clean car rebate, times are tough enough that it’s affecting the ‘usual’ process. I’m not sure how others less familiar with the modern way of app based buying would cope with this weirdness, but maybe it’s just a point in time.

Regardless, the end result is that I’m fortunate enough to now own one of these wonderful machines, and I couldn’t be happier with it. I’m actually even glad I was forced into getting a blue one in the end!

Mac Mini HTPC Initial thoughts

Happy new year people! 

Following this post about using a computer as a source for my high system, I got myself an HRT MusicStreamer DAC and I've been very impressed with its performance. Compared to the old DAC I was using, music sounds livelier, punchier and generally 'better' all round. If you are using a computer to play your music through a hifi, it's definitely a cost effective upgrade and I'd highly recommend it (or the more expensive MusicStreamer 2 +) if you have the hifi to justify it :)

I tweaked the QuickTime settings on my Windows 7 based MediaCentre pc as per these guidelines, but in a back-to-back comparison with a Mac, I still thought that the sound from the Mac was better. So on to part 2, replacing my Windows MediaCenter PC with a MacMini.

I've been thinking about doing this for a while, so had done some research beforehand. To be honest, I really like the Windows Media Center experience, and after years of using it, I had a pretty slick setup that allowed me (and my wife and 6 year old daughter) to easily:

• Store and play digital music (wmv, mp3)
• Store and playback digital photos
• Play digital video files (including avi, mkv, mpg and ripped DVD's)
• Watch, pause and record freeview and view an EPG
• Control all of this with a Logitech Harmony all-in-one remote
• Break out of the Windows Media Center shell and use a Logitech wireless keyboard to browse the web (YouTube etc.)
• Store and play Apple Lossless audio files using ITunes and my iPhone to control playback

So, the task with the MacMini is to try and replicate and even improve on this.  So far I've got the Mac Mini setup, copied some audio and video files on, installed and configured Plex Media Center, and setup the Logitech remote. It all looks and works well so far, and the plugin repository for Plex means it's really easy to add functionality to Plex (i.e YouTube, Vimeo etc. within the Plex Interface).  I've purchased and installed the Plex app onto my iphone and that is also working well. So what's bugging me so far:

• I haven't got the freeview/DVR side of things going, and it's looking complicated
  
• Every time I restart Safari it resets to the default 100% zoom which is too small to read from the sofa. I guess I could install Chrome to see if that works though...
• Storage - my Windows Media Center has 2tb of storage, but the Mac Mini has only 500gb. They use 2.5" hard drives which are currently limited to 1tb in size. I could always use an external drive, but this ruins the aesthetics somewhat. I could also use another pc as a storage server, which I may end up doing. Part of the reasoning behind a Mac Mini however was to reduce our power consumption, and adding another PC doesn't really help with that...

Well, that's it for now. I'll keep going with the Mac and see how it goes...

a Bit Perfect

I'm a Hifi enthusiast, or more accurately I suppose, a music lover, but in my mind the two things go hand in hand.

In my teenage years I worked in a hifi shop and blew most of my wages on upgrades to amps, CD players, record players and even tape decks. After a while though, I realised that as my Hifi got better, the music that I was listening to got worse (I think the all time low was playing a dreaded Simply Red album to listen for some particular symbol crash or something...). So I sold my entire Hifi and all of my vinyl and CDs (this actually paid for my ticket to New Zealand back in 1999).

Over the last 5 years or so, I've been gradually getting back into it, and I've got a reasonable, mid priced stereo Hifi (Cambridge Audio amp, Mission speakers etc.). I've never been into home theatre, in fact I dislike it immensly, but I really love listening to music on a good sounding stereo. Recently, my daughter has started to get into it too, and we have some good times just sitting and listening.

I've been investigating using my computer as a source for my Hifi music. I've had my music in digital format for over 10 years (mostly in 320Kbps Mp3) but I never really thought of it as real Hifi. I've had a Windows Media Center in my lounge for even longer, and have used it for playing and recording TV, gaming, watching movies, and listening to music, but I've never really taken it seriously as part of my Hifi.

Last week however, I went into the local Hifi shop (Totally Wired) and was blown away listening to some digital music while I auditioned some Monitor Audio speakers. I came away with my mind reeling not only about the speakers, but also how I could use my PC as the main source of music through my Hifi. So having done some research over the weekend, I've decided to upgrade my DAC (Digital to Analogue Converter for those of you that aren't familiar with them). At the moment I use an ageing 'Xitel Pro HiFi Link' to go from a USB port on the PC to the analogue input on my amp. I've decided to replace this with an HRT Music Streamer 2 DAC, which has won rave reviews over the past few years.

But the sticking point has come over the computer itself. It turns out that Windows is incapable of producing 'Bit Perfect' audio (see here) which is the real key to getting the best sound from a digital device. I'm an iPhone owner, and I therefore use iTunes (and am one of the few people that seem to like it). I can copy my CD's into the Apple Lossless format and use iTunes (on my Windows PC) to play it back through the USB DAC and my Hifi. I can even use the excellent Apple Remote to control the playback from my iPhone.

But it won't sound as good on a Windows computer as it will on a Mac. I've tested this, and I think it's true. I've always thought that music from a Mac sounded tighter, punchier, even when listening on headphones, and this leaves me with the dilemma of whether I replace my Windows Media Center with a Mac (probably a Mac Mini, running XBMC or Plex as the Media Center front end), or leave things as they are. I've currently got 2 separate audio libaries on my PC, one for MP3 and another for Apple Lossless files. The setup is all pretty slick and after years of tinkering with and improving Windows Media Center, the Media Center is an intrinsic part of our TV, Movie and audio experience at home. So I'm wondering, do I leave it as it is, knowing that the sound quality isn't quite as good, or do I take the plunge and get a Mac Mini, and start all over again?

The IT department works for you and not the other way round

I had a number of feelings when I read this post fromMediaSnackers (I company that I follow, like and respect by the way). The IT Manager in me smarted a little, and I wanted to stand up and defend IT Departments around the world, glowing with pride at the helpful, appropriate, efficient service that we all deliver to our organisations.

Sadly, I don’t think I can do that.

But I can put forward some of my rambling views as to why IT Departments are often seen as barriers, rather than enablers of all of this wonderful technology that we have.

I’m the first person to agree that there are some really bad IT departments out there, and there are some really bad IT people in those departments, often running them. Being an IT person is no excuse for being an unhelpful bastard, but for some reason the industry does seem to attract its fair share of power hungry, self-centred types that seem to revel in knowing more than someone else.

But I don’t think I’m one of those, and I know of lots of other IT Managers and departments that are willing, helpful, passionate and communicative. So why is the IT department often seen in such a negative light?

I think some of it comes down to the nature of what an IT department actually does. We have to manage incredibly complex systems, and make them simple and easy to use for our end users. We have to balance usability with systems that are functional, secure, easy to scale and (normally) affordable. As well as managing the complex technical stuff, we are also often tasked with providing training for our end users. Oh, and because we can make computers work, we are also expected to be able to make projectors, printers, cabling, hifi systems and cellphones work as well. To be a good manager or member of an IT department, you have to be incredibly flexible, and unfortunately, techy people often aren’t.

Throw into the mix that often the people that are really good technically are the worst people to try and explain something useful to the end user. It’s rare to find someone who can code complex vb scripts with their eyes closed but can also explain to an end user why their 500 page full colour print job is taking more than 20 seconds to render to a printer that’s 15 years old, politely. But this is often what IT generalists in IT departments are expected to do, and this is where a lot of the problems stem from.

But the organisations have to take some of the blame. They do need to take IT ‘seriously’. They often want the world, but they don’t want to pay for it. They won’t invest in good infrastructure, good people, and professional development to train the people at the coalface. This often means that things don’t work, or they don’t work easily or efficiently, and then the IT department takes the blame, and gets bitter about it, and then things descend into the vicious “them vs us” circle that I’ve seen time and time again in businesses and schools. This is often when IT departments start saying no and being generally unhelpful.

Time was when a system or service wasn’t running, it wasn’t a big deal, but these days, if a server is down, the network isn’t functioning or (dare I say it) the Internet isn’t working, then a lot of people simply cannot do their jobs. This means that the people managing these departments have a lot of things to consider, and a lot of responsibility. But in my experience a lot of these people are woefully unqualified and lacking in the skills necessary to handle this responsibility. So when the pressure comes on, they respond by saying no to everything. But often this comes back on the organisation because they won’t pay enough to hire good people.

When I have to say no to something (more often than not it’s actually “not now” rather than no) I ask myself if I’m just saying it because it’s something I don’t want to do, or because my experience and knowledge tells me that there are some very good reasons why we shouldn’t do it. If it’s the latter, I’ll try to explain why in a way that end users, or other decision makers understand, without them having to know the in’s and out’s of Active Directory  or Cisco switches, because that’s what they pay me for.

Personally, after 15 years in the job, I’ve come to see myself as an enabler of technology, rather than someone who puts up barriers. However, I’m a ‘cautious enabler’. If I’m asked whether we can do something with technology, as a network manager I have to take into account everything that’s involved – technical, infrastructure, finance, security – all come in to play. By its very nature though, managing complex IT sometime entails playing ‘bad cop’ to some people with some brilliant ideas. If we didn’t, the IT systems (and remember, that word systems is really important) would fail, and then everyone would be pissed off, including the IT people……

IT systems do need to be managed skilfully, and sometimes that means saying no (or “not now”).

Having said that I think we’d all do well to remember once in a while that (as the post says) the IT Department works for the company, not the other way round.

End of ramble

John Driver