phone companies

[johnnie5]

have used optus for years with no real dramas , dunno about all the down time you are talking about

tpg have an unlimited use plan through soul and optus

$60 a month unlimited , you can add data iirc $20

i did get an iphone but ended but going back since i hated the phone and the 3g on optus was shit , still using my 4 year old nokia , it gets a beating and still goes strong and does just what i need phone calls and sms

[NORTI]

lol 'iCrap' as we call it, I hate it.

[Calaber]

We live about midway between Sydney and Newcastle and used to have our phones hooked up to "3". We gave them away a few years back because of the number of black spots where reception was non-existent, combined with the total lack of "3" retail shops in our area. The nearest one was at Hornsby, about 60 km away.

Considering we are located between the two largest cities in NSW, I thought that was pretty p***weak.

[vlv8vic]

also remembering they will have the fastest wireless coverage in the world very shortly.

Which is like owning a Ferrari with no wheels assuming you are talking about Telstra.


Took them 5 days to get my phone connection moved from old house to new. Old phone was cut off the second they said it would be. New one took 5 days and hours on a payphone trying to get it sorted. They did however refund a couple of $ worth of calls i made to them on the mobile though but wouldn't fix me up for anymore.

Funnily enough i was still charged a connection fee even though Telstra didn't keep up their end of the deal and actually connect it when they said they would.

Also spent (and i shit you not) 35 hours on the phone over 6 weeks getting home message bank fixed, and that time didn't include re-doing the welcome message each time Telstra said it was fixed only to find it had gone again the next day. Oh and i paid for the service the whole time and was never allowed any refund, nor for the 100 odd calls i had to make to Telstra (local call cost but still....)

Touch wood it has been okay for a while, I don't get mobile dropouts unless i am in a more remote area (anywhere that doesn't have traffic lights seems remote to Telstra at times) but i am fed up with needing to talk 6 difference languages when i ring them for 'service'.
I think that given the price increases over the last few years they should be providing better service not worse.

[BOGANV8]

^^^^^^^^

Simliar story with the internet moved house took them 4 weeks to re connect my internet after countless stuff ups.. They gave heaps of $$$$$$ back off the bill a brand new modem due to old one being fried from their upgrade..

When the bill turns up and it has a connection fee on it will be ringing them up for a nice little chat... G/Fs phone also has $188 charge for using her phone as a modem so they will be crediting that too. along with other charges.....

With Telstra just theaten to leave and close your accounts and they will do anything to keep you.....

[joshtaylor87]

I've always been with optus since my first phone. Their coverage is pretty decent. I do notice that Telstra Next G is better in rural areas though. All our work mobiles, fixed lines and broadband are with Telstra. We've just come off a 24mnth contract so we've been speaking to all the different phone companies out there trying to find the best price/service ratio. We've decided to go with Optus. Mainly because of their mobile plans. We've signed up for the $129 timeless plan which is $129 a month and you get unlimited calls to any mobile, land line and all the 13/1300/1800etc numbers in Australia. As well as unlimited sms and unlimited voice mail. Also 2gb of data per month as well! Seemed like a pretty decent deal. I'm sure international calls would be where they hit you up but we don't make any international calls at work anyway so should be pretty good.

[NORTI]

Which is like owning a Ferrari with no wheels assuming you are talking about Telstra.


Took them 5 days to get my phone connection moved from old house to new. Old phone was cut off the second they said it would be. New one took 5 days and hours on a payphone trying to get it sorted. They did however refund a couple of $ worth of calls i made to them on the mobile though but wouldn't fix me up for anymore.

Funnily enough i was still charged a connection fee even though Telstra didn't keep up their end of the deal and actually connect it when they said they would.

Also spent (and i shit you not) 35 hours on the phone over 6 weeks getting home message bank fixed, and that time didn't include re-doing the welcome message each time Telstra said it was fixed only to find it had gone again the next day. Oh and i paid for the service the whole time and was never allowed any refund, nor for the 100 odd calls i had to make to Telstra (local call cost but still....)

Touch wood it has been okay for a while, I don't get mobile dropouts unless i am in a more remote area (anywhere that doesn't have traffic lights seems remote to Telstra at times) but i am fed up with needing to talk 6 difference languages when i ring them for 'service'.
I think that given the price increases over the last few years they should be providing better service not worse.

^^^^^^^^

Simliar story with the internet moved house took them 4 weeks to re connect my internet after countless stuff ups.. They gave heaps of $$$$$$ back off the bill a brand new modem due to old one being fried from their upgrade..

When the bill turns up and it has a connection fee on it will be ringing them up for a nice little chat... G/Fs phone also has $188 charge for using her phone as a modem so they will be crediting that too. along with other charges.....

With Telstra just theaten to leave and close your accounts and they will do anything to keep you.....

Im going to guess, you guys have a new look bill with 13 digit account numbers?

I've always been with optus since my first phone. Their coverage is pretty decent. I do notice that Telstra Next G is better in rural areas though. All our work mobiles, fixed lines and broadband are with Telstra. We've just come off a 24mnth contract so we've been speaking to all the different phone companies out there trying to find the best price/service ratio. We've decided to go with Optus. Mainly because of their mobile plans. We've signed up for the $129 timeless plan which is $129 a month and you get unlimited calls to any mobile, land line and all the 13/1300/1800etc numbers in Australia. As well as unlimited sms and unlimited voice mail. Also 2gb of data per month as well! Seemed like a pretty decent deal. I'm sure international calls would be where they hit you up but we don't make any international calls at work anyway so should be pretty good.

Be quick, timeless plans have cost them a fortune & they are trying to end date them, so sign up to a contract so you can get it.

[BOGANV8]

^^^^^

I think so not sure as this months bill is still seperate to the home phone,



Also the bit of info bout the new billing system was delivered to the old address (stupid telstra) the only reason we got the letter was because my G/F work is across the road our old house.. but the letter never said anything bout a bigger billing number will have to re-read it

[Full Spectrum]

I've been with Vodafone for, Off the top of my head... 7-8 years. Never had a reason to select another. No drop outs some issues but as issues go - Telstra has always led the way with complaints.

[vlv8vic]

Im going to guess, you guys have a new look bill with 13 digit account numbers?

Yeah i think i do now but 2.5 years ago when the stuffed it all up i didn't. Had the same number and all for years but they did change something about the billing recently. Looks like it might cost more to print hence the ever-climbing Telstra costs.

Is there a way to get the 'old look' bill and be able to talk to someone who speaka da Engriss?

[Steery]

3's also full of Indians and Pakistanis, but I haven't found one there that I can't understand.

[mrhotdog]

ive been with 3 for almost 2 yrs now (contract) and its quite pathetic. i live in suburbia and i dont even get roaming shit in my house sometimes, calls just cut out, txts come days late or not at all sometimes. their customer curry service is crap, ive had aerial components replaced under waranty on my old 6288 and still crap, contract runs out nxt month yay but ill stay on prepaid with them, like the caps and freetime

[NORTI]

Yeah i think i do now but 2.5 years ago when the stuffed it all up i didn't. Had the same number and all for years but they did change something about the billing recently. Looks like it might cost more to print hence the ever-climbing Telstra costs.

Is there a way to get the 'old look' bill and be able to talk to someone who speaka da Engriss?

FOH are all australian based centres, however they are equal oppertunity employer, so many nationalites work there (I have 4 americans, a canadan, 2 italians, a german, a englishmen with a really strong accent & a handful of indians just in my centre)

Unless you have a service thats not supported by the new billing platform then you get the new look bill tough luck Im afraid, you can have the 'detailed' flavour if you want, if you have the 'summary' type now. Thats as close as your going to get. Detailed gives an itemised list of all calls made from home phone except locals which it just gives the figure ie 50 local calls = $5.00 or whatever. It lists all calls from mobile @ sms's (be warned this can make it huge lol) or just do summary + online (best way IMO)

As staff I only get online option

[vlv8vic]

FOH are all australian based centres, however they are equal oppertunity employer, so many nationalites work there (I have 4 americans, a canadan, 2 italians, a german, a englishmen with a really strong accent & a handful of indians just in my centre)
(

So why do they lie? I ask (nicely of course) out of interest where i am calling - and i did this the first time because it was really quiet and there was lots of feedback - and have on more than one occasion been told either Fiji or Philippines (one or the other i forget now).

Wonder why they would tell me that. That shits me off if they are telling fibs for fun. Might be just the reason to finally find another company.

[NORTI]

So why do they lie? I ask (nicely of course) out of interest where i am calling - and i did this the first time because it was really quiet and there was lots of feedback - and have on more than one occasion been told either Fiji or Philippines (one or the other i forget now).

Wonder why they would tell me that. That shits me off if they are telling fibs for fun. Might be just the reason to finally find another company.

Did you call for billing? or was it activation of a phone?

Billing staff are in aust, activations are overseas, credit management can be overseas, sales are australian, but also all overflow goes to overseas, so if it was really busy that might explain why you ended up there.

I can promise im in australia, & I can usually be understood clearly

[vlv8vic]

lol yeah perhaps it was overflow. there was a screwup on my bill. Perhaps i'll ask for you next time so i don't have the same problem. Their spoken English is essentially good, but very very textbook phrased. Like a dodgy machine, if you ask a question they haven't learnt you get an answer to the closest matching question.

[NORTI]

lol yeah perhaps it was overflow. there was a screwup on my bill. Perhaps i'll ask for you next time so i don't have the same problem. Their spoken English is essentially good, but very very textbook phrased. Like a dodgy machine, if you ask a question they haven't learnt you get an answer to the closest matching question.

haha, you cant ask for me, as I dont even take calls these days but if you want to drop me a PM about your account, I can take a lookie into it

[vlv8vic]

lol solved that problem but i will do so next time i have an issue... which sadly with T is often.

[NORTI]

lol solved that problem but i will do so next time i have an issue... which sadly with T is often.

This is why I havent been on the phones for 7mths, Ive been teaching others & problem solving with the new system. Was supposed to be a 6week gig..... ha!! going into month 8 shortly....