I just want to comment on the telecoms thing, a few years ago I would have totally agreed with you but recently things have picked up here. (All prices in NZD)
I left in NZ in 2011 where I had ADSL2 with a 60GB cap at about $100 a month. Came back in 2013 where the best I could get was ADSL2 capped at 90GB for $100 a month. VDSL was around and reasonably priced but wasn't widely available.
Within a year my plan moved to uncapped which also became the standard for everyone, and within a year of that I had uncapped Gigabit fibre for under $90 a month. And fibre is rolling out around the country at very reasonable prices.
Mobiles slowly coming down getting closer to the cheap UK pricing, $30 a month can get you unlimited calling/texting and 3GB or so. Data is still the real killer here where I was on a £16 a month unlimited 3g plan in the UK.
I left in NZ in 2011 where I had ADSL2 with a 60GB cap at about $100 a month. Came back in 2013 where the best I could get was ADSL2 capped at 90GB for $100 a month. VDSL was around and reasonably priced but wasn't widely available.
Within a year my plan moved to uncapped which also became the standard for everyone, and within a year of that I had uncapped Gigabit fibre for under $90 a month. And fibre is rolling out around the country at very reasonable prices.
Mobiles slowly coming down getting closer to the cheap UK pricing, $30 a month can get you unlimited calling/texting and 3GB or so. Data is still the real killer here where I was on a £16 a month unlimited 3g plan in the UK.