After a week being down in sunny Nelson, we're about to pack up and go. I couldn't do this sort of thing fulltime, especially after talking to some of the other people at various stands - they say it's about all they do these days. Anyway, I owe my sanity to Telecom. Yes, Telecom. I've checked my online bill many times, and this hotspot usage does actually appear to be free, and it's nice to know it'll stay that way until December 31st. I have to say, on the move I'd be reasonably happy to pay for it if they dropped the charges a bit. Paying for time seems a bit weird, especially at $9.99 / hour. $5 or so would be reasonable, as would basing the charging on data traffic compared to time.
Either way, for this week it's been most welcome indeed.