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Welcome to our November newsletter. We've got news, giveaways, community events, and we'd also like you to nominate a Taranaki family who would benefit from a free year's internet.
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Each year at this time Primo finds three deserving Taranaki families and gives them a year’s worth of free Internet as part of our Primo It Forward scheme.
We would love for you to tell us about a family who could really benefit from good broadband and nominate them via our online process.
Nominations are open till December 5 and you can like and share our Primo It Forward Facebook page to keep up to date. There's more information about Primo It Forward here.
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From agriculture to aqua-fun
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Farmers across Taranaki can hit the waves, have a BBQ and a bit of a yarn when Surfing for Farmers starts up again in December.
(And speaking of yarns, everyone who registers this surf season goes in draw to win a wool-blend surfboard!)
In Taranaki SFF starts at Opunake Beach on December 2 and in New Plymouth at Fitzroy Beach on December 7.
Primo is proud to be supporting the event, which runs till March, as a way for farming folks to get off the land for some relaxing time on the sea.
Surfboards, wetsuits, and coaching is provided, and there's no charge.
The New Plymouth event is organised by Bayley's Taranaki general manager Dean File and New Plymouth Surf Riders Club president Mark Dwyer who encourage all farmers to go down to the club on Tuesday.
"It's a great way to get farmers away from the stress of their farms, to exercise and socialise with their farming mates," Mark says
To register for New Plymouth phone Dean File on 021 544 364 or Mark Dwyer on 021 528 263.
To register for Opunake contact Simon Ripia on 027 458 7123.
For more information, dates and times go to:
facebook.com/surfingforfarmers
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WIN, WIN, WIN
It's semi finals time and there's a jersey and tickets up for grabs!
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The Taranaki Bulls play Southland this Saturday at Inglewood in the semi finals of the Bunnings NPC.
To mark the occasion Primo has another jersey and tickets to give away. (Seen here are Mel Graves and Rachel Flay who earlier scored a shirt each!)
To be in the draw, just give us your details via the link below and you're in to win! Simple as that!
Kickoff on Saturday is at 2.05pm at TET Stadium.
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It's a free-for-all at the hospital
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The data caps are off! and the Wi-Fi is surging at Taranaki Hospitals.
Primo is marking four years since putting in free Wi-Fi at Taranaki’s hospitals. Recently the daily data cap of 2 gigabytes per user was removed, along with the splash page and its advertising. People can now just log on using the FreePrimoHotspot in their Wi-Fi settings on phones, laptops or computers.
Primo owner and the instigator of the Wi-Fi scheme, Matt Harrison, says it’s very handy for patients, family and friends because keeping in touch is vital for everybody’s wellbeing.
“This is especially true in more recent times with the visitor number limits during the Covid alert levels. We know it’s been harder than ever to keep in touch with loved ones during their stay in hospital, so we want to do all we can to make that as easy as possible.
“We’re committed to continue providing this service too,” Harrison says. “It’s great for keeping the kids entertained, and for keeping people linked into their mates at a time that really matters most – from the maternity ward to the emergency department and everywhere in between.”
He knows personally how tough a stay in hospital can be - he had six months of being tested and treated for a bowel disease at Taranaki Base. He burned through more than $3000 worth of mobile data running the business from his hospital bed before working out a way to connect to Primo’s own network through a handy cable and a spare antenna – all with the help of the DHB’s IT staff of course.
The hospital Wi-Fi has proven to be very popular since it started, with more than 1200 people using the service at any one time. Demand has increased even more this year with its extension into some of the centres where the Taranaki District Health Board is doing its Covid-19 vaccinations.
As the graph above shows, in the four years it's been running more than 1580 terabytes of information has been uploaded and downloaded. And because the service has the bonus of not costing the DHB anything that's a lot of saved money that's better spent elsewhere, Harrison says.
“All that data soon adds up too, it’s equal to 790,000 2-hour movies, which if you tried to watch yourself would take 180 years non-stop.”
“I don’t think any other hospitals in New Zealand have such a free service with no data caps or any advertising, proving again Taranaki is really like no other.”
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Primo's Matt Harrison featured in NZ Entrepreneur magazine last month in partnership with Venture Taranaki. The article talks about the origins of the company, the trials and tribulations of building a firm that, literally, goes right around Taranaki, and why he is so committed to giving back to the community that supported him so much from the early days. Go here to read.
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Easy to say, tricky to spell, useful to use!
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Primo’s new accounting software system is now running and it has some excellent features for you to tap into.
Called Splynx [pronounced splinks] it lets you track data usage, buy data packs with automatic top ups and you can also access all your account information through the Primo Portal.
Logging into the Primo Portal
- Your username is the same, but you no longer need to put @primo.nz at the end
- Your password is also the same but you can now reset it yourself if you have forgotten it
- You still access the portal from the MyPrimo Portal on our website, but the link has changed so if you have it saved as a shortcut you'll need to re-save it.
We are adding more features over the coming weeks, there may be a couple of hiccups along the way, if you have any questions please let us know.
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Hello Ohawe!!
Making number 32 in Primo's network of live webcams around Taranaki is this one overlooking Ohawe Beach which went live this month.
Updated every 30 seconds, the camera is on Primo's wireless internet tower about a kilometre in from the coast and gives a nice view of the Waingongoro River and the township.
For all of the webcam views, go here.
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Yes please to the gee gees!
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Come join Primo at the twilight racing at New Plymouth Raceway on Friday, November 19.
We have VIP double passes available at our table for the La Nuova Twilight Fiesta Race Day. You’ll be based in the Scottish Charm Lounge upstairs in the Members Lounge, and as well as a great view of the course and the horses, there will be some great courses during dinner!
The gates open at 2pm with the first race at 3.17pm. There’s afternoon tea at 3.30pm, dinner at 5pm and the last race is at 7.14pm. But there’s no reason to rush off home as there will also be live music after that.
To get two tickets, just enter below to register and we’ll draw the winners on November 14.
Please note: Due to Covid there is no public admittance at this meeting and attendees are required to wear a mask (outside and in) unless seated at their table/bar leaner. Drinks will be delivered by the waiting staff.
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Last month Primo put up a tower on the southern side of Patea that will provide a wireless internet to Patea Beach and many kilometres inland as well.
The top photo shows the location of the tower to the south of the township. At bottom left Lee Diamond, left, and Sam Adlam get ready to secure the second stage of the tower. At bottom right Lee secures the base to the concrete foundations.
The tower is scheduled to be live from the end of this month.
For anyone wanting to get connected, or if you know someone living around Patea who wants quality broadand, get them to give us a call on:
0800 123 774
Remember the connect-a-mate offer - see details below.
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