leaving Telstra for another Co

[mic-d]

I'm about to transfer internet, home phone and two mobiles from Telstra to TPG and save about 50% on monthly bills. Internet allowance, talk/text/data on mobiles all much better than Telstra offerings. Optus network coverage seems a bit worse than telstra but since we live in Brissie that seems to be immaterial. Anybody got anything else to think about before we jump ship?

cheers
Michael

[petersemple]

The only thing I can suggest is that we have sometimes managed to call up the company we are with and tell them the deal we are looking at taking, and they will usually manage to equal or better that deal in order to stop us jumping ship. That way you don't need to worry about changing payment options and email addresses. If they can't match the offer, then you can always still change as planned. Good luck.

Peter

[rsser]

Wot Peter said.

When 3 pulled the plug on CDMA I still had one of their mobiles under contract and went in to a 3 shop to see what to do. They offered me a std 3G package, inc a monthly payment of $10 over 2 years for a new phone. I told them what I thought about their breach of contract and they instantly dropped the monthly phone charge. Sometimes called a loyalty bonus in the industry ;-} So I got a swish new phone for nix and a $29 monthly cap.

Good news at that time. Since that phone has developed probs roaming on the Telstra network in the country, the contract is up in a couple of months, and so the prob arises again.

So I'll be using that magic phrase when dropping into a Telstra shop soon as I already have a cheap blue tick Telstra prepaid mobile for country trips.

Otherwise, I rent my landline from my ISP. No cheaper than Telstra but there's some bonuses for long-distance and international calls.

[watson]

And its your Nana here Michael...if you change providers....don't forget to change your email addy in your User CP.

[Ozkaban]

I'm with TPG. I can always tell people if they're paying too much for internet - just ask 'Are you with Telstra???'

TPG are pretty light on customer service, but I've found them to be pretty good. I've been with them for a couple of years now.

For what it's worth, I use TPG for internet (the $50 plan with about 70GB peak/60 off peak data), Telstra for line rental, MyNetFone (Voip) for home calls and 3 for mobiles (don't get me started on this one... )

One thing to be aware of with TPG is some of their fine print is a little dodgy. Not sure about their mobiles, but they once were offering '500 minutes of free voip' with their internet. It was counted in 10 minute chunks, so 50 x 10 second calls was enough to empty the allowance, hence my decision to go with another Voip provoider. I'm not saying their all dodgy, just that it pays to be sure of what the allowances they give you actually mean - ie, read the fine print carefully!

Cheers,
Dave

[Woodwould]

I had a contract with TPG quite some years ago which lasted all of one day. They introduced three clauses after the fact (once my complaint alerted them to a problem - they advertised a web hosting package with FrontPage Extensions which it turned out they didn't) and refused to honour their side of the original contract.

With unexplainable forseight, I took a screen dump of the original contract and sat on it. I contacted the Telecom Industry Ombudsman who initially told me TPG didn't have a case to answer as TPG's contracted said nothing about supporting FrontPage Extensions and I was wasting everybody's time. I then forwarded the screen dump to the TIO who went to town with TPG. Months later TPG were still beating around the bush and the TIO made a judgement in my favour and in his letter to both parties, stated he'd not previously encountered such underhand, devious and behavious on the part of a telco. After I was reimbursed and compensated (TPG had refused to relinquish my domain name), I received a really lovely call from the account manager hoping I was now satisfied and they were going to blacklist me. Back to the TIO and on and on it went.

[mic-d]

I'm with TPG. I can always tell people if they're paying too much for internet - just ask 'Are you with Telstra???'

TPG are pretty light on customer service, but I've found them to be pretty good. I've been with them for a couple of years now.

For what it's worth, I use TPG for internet (the $50 plan with about 70GB peak/60 off peak data), Telstra for line rental, MyNetFone (Voip) for home calls and 3 for mobiles (don't get me started on this one... )

One thing to be aware of with TPG is some of their fine print is a little dodgy. Not sure about their mobiles, but they once were offering '500 minutes of free voip' with their internet. It was counted in 10 minute chunks, so 50 x 10 second calls was enough to empty the allowance, hence my decision to go with another Voip provoider. I'm not saying their all dodgy, just that it pays to be sure of what the allowances they give you actually mean - ie, read the fine print carefully!

Cheers,
Dave
Thanks Fellas. tried to talk with Telstra but they are having a national computer outage and can't help today.
Dave why do you have line rental through telstra? I thought TPG told me it wwould cost just $1/month through them.
I checked through phonechoice.com.au for the best mobile deal for my useage and it came up with the TPG $19.99 cap plan. When I called and asked them about it I discovered I could bundle both our mobiles in with the $50 130GB broadband plan at a reduced rate of $14.99 for each mobile ($300 text/talk/data - way more than we get now). Then on top of that they say line rental is $1 and minimum cost for home phone is $10, for a total of $91/month.
It currently costs me $110 minimum just for broadband (12GB) and my mobile. Then the home phone and swmbo's mobile (with a ridiculous $10 included calls)on top of that is usually a further $80 -$100.
I must clarify the charges for the home phone side of things
cheers
Michael

[mic-d]

I had a contract with TPG quite some years ago which lasted all of one day. They introduced three clauses after the fact (once my complaint alerted them to a problem - they advertised a web hosting package with FrontPage Extensions which it turned out they didn't) and refused to honour their side of the original contract.

With unexplainable forseight, I took a screen dump of the original contract and sat on it. I contacted the Telecom Industry Ombudsman who initially told me TPG didn't have a case to answer as TPG's contracted said nothing about supporting FrontPage Extensions and I was wasting everybody's time. I then forwarded the screen dump to the TIO who went to town with TPG. Months later TPG were still beating around the bush and the TIO made a judgement in my favour and in his letter to both parties, stated he'd not previously encountered such underhand, devious and behavious on the part of a telco. After I was reimbursed and compensated (TPG had refused to relinquish my domain name), I received a really lovely call from the account manager hoping I was now satisfied and they were going to blacklist me. Back to the TIO and on and on it went.

:Cthanks, I'm warned. And I won't mention your name if we go with them:U
cheers
Michael

[rsser]

And its your Nana here Michael...if you change providers....don't forget to change your email addy in your User CP.

LOL .... go Grandma!

FWIW, my ADSL1 and line rental are with Westnet. Excellent service and tech support IME and acc to vox pop. Not the cheapest but they've helped me out of pickles as the domestic network admin of 3 machines :wink: when the prob wasn't even really theirs.

They also offer a mobile service IIRC but it roams with Optus. Mates with Optus mobiles call it floptus cos of poor coverage, but Optus has an aggressive tower-building program and are worth watching.

Telstra .... crikey .... account admin is so bad it beggars belief, but I have to have one of their mobiles to get the best reception in the country for emergency purposes. First 6 months there were so many errors in debiting of voice calls and phone-as-modem calls using a Browsepak. In the end, the young women in the Philipines call centre would just restore the last phone and Browsepak credits and I'd start over again. Wasn't mission-critical but it easily could have been.

[Ozkaban]

Thanks Fellas. tried to talk with Telstra but they are having a national computer outage and can't help today.
Dave why do you have line rental through telstra? I thought TPG told me it wwould cost just $1/month through them.
I checked through phonechoice.com.au for the best mobile deal for my useage and it came up with the TPG $19.99 cap plan. When I called and asked them about it I discovered I could bundle both our mobiles in with the $50 130GB broadband plan at a reduced rate of $14.99 for each mobile ($300 text/talk/data - way more than we get now). Then on top of that they say line rental is $1 and minimum cost for home phone is $10, for a total of $91/month.
It currently costs me $110 minimum just for broadband (12GB) and my mobile. Then the home phone and swmbo's mobile (with a ridiculous $10 included calls)on top of that is usually a further $80 -$100.
I must clarify the charges for the home phone side of things
cheers
Michael

I've not had anything to do with TPG mobile, so can't comment. Line rental is a dubious beast sometimes. I pay $22 per month for having the phone, and NakedDSL gets rid of this, but plans are $10 more expensive.

Interesting about TPG's bundle. I will check it out (hadn't heard of it before). Having spend more than a decade working in enterprise IT and watching big ticket items break, I usually like to keep a 'guarantee' up my sleeve. In this case, I have a corded phone plugged into a Telstra socket at home - much more reliable than mobiles or voip.

EDIT: Just noticed that the home bundle isn't available to existing TPG customers. Bummer.

Cheers,
Dave

[Ozkaban]

And its your Nana here Michael...if you change providers....don't forget to change your email addy in your User CP.

Easy solution - I NEVER use the email address from my ISP. Too hard to change!

I pay $10 a year for a domain name through Google Apps (Google Apps (http://www.google.com/a)), and get 200 defined email accounts and unlimited aliases included. Hey Presto - easy to manage web mail that can be accessed from any computer, almost no maintenance (beyond creating new accounts), and the ability to track the source of spam very easily by using aliases. Would never go back :2tsup:

Cheers,
Dave

[mic-d]

EDIT: Just noticed that the home bundle isn't available to existing TPG customers. Bummer.

Cheers,
Dave
Yep, just noted that too, but we are OK. So I'm a bit confused now. Will telstra keep charging us for their handset (which wwe don't use anyway)? ATM we have cable and phone. If we go to adsl2+ do we still use the phone as normal or do we use the confuser?
cheers
Michael

[rsser]

Yeah, I have 2 email aliases or proxies or whatever you call em ...

One son registered the family name + net.au, the other + net, so I have email addresses with both.

Also have my own domain name which costs SFA, and it points to server space on one son's account somewhere.

Two boys in the business in one way or another. Boy (sic), I'm not short of advice when needed!!

[Ozkaban]

Yep, just noted that too, but we are OK. So I'm a bit confused now. Will telstra keep charging us for their handset (which wwe don't use anyway)? ATM we have cable and phone. If we go to adsl2+ do we still use the phone as normal or do we use the confuser?
cheers
Michael

If you are renting a handset from telstra, best option is to return it and buy a cheapie from dick smith or wherever.

ADSL shares the copper with the phone line (divided frequencies), so it works by installing an ADSL filter on all phones (the modem is connected straight to the line). The Filter gets rid of all of the ADSL frequency noise.

Where is gets all existential is using voip. You can call your fixed phone from voip, so your phone call becomes IP traffic on your ADSL connection out to the Internet, goes onto the Telstra network and back down the same bit of copper. Both ends of the call are on the same piece of wire. Very Cool :D

Cheers,
Dave

[mic-d]

Where is gets all existential is using voip. You can call your fixed phone from voip, so your phone call becomes IP traffic on your ADSL connection out to the Internet, goes onto the Telstra network and back down the same bit of copper. Both ends of the call are on the same piece of wire. Very Cool :D

Cheers,
Dave

http://www.freewebs.com/calvin-hobbes-org/dadandcalvinsrecordplayer.jpg

[Ozkaban]

http://www.freewebs.com/calvin-hobbes-org/dadandcalvinsrecordplayer.jpg


Niiice. Absolutely love Calvin and Hobbes :2tsup:

My sister gave me the box-set of all of the comics for chrissy one year. Absolutely fantastic!

Oh, Ern - I love your new sig line... very cool.

Cheers,
Dave

[rsser]

Love the cartoon Michael.

Dave, thanks ... I put it up after two experienced turners on the forum didn't want to look at studies on the honing of turning tools :rolleyes: No skin off my nose; we all operate off beliefs.

This is the way I conjugate it:

I know
You have beliefs
He/she has prejudices

All part of the rich tapestry :wink:

[mic-d]

If you are renting a handset from telstra, best option is to return it and buy a cheapie from dick smith or wherever.


I can't see a line item for handset rental on the last bill but I better ask Telstra about it. We've kept it in case of blackouts. but I figure it would be cheaper in the long run to buy a cheapy than continue to rent, if indeed we do...
cheers
Michael

[Ozkaban]

I can't see a line item for handset rental on the last bill but I better ask Telstra about it. We've kept it in case of blackouts. but I figure it would be cheaper in the long run to buy a cheapy than continue to rent, if indeed we do...
cheers
Michael

*cough* if you don't get charged rent then it doesn't exist *cough*

[Ozkaban]

Love the cartoon Michael.

Dave, thanks ... put it up after two experienced turners on the forum didn't want to look at studies on the honing of turning tools :rolleyes: No skin off my nose; we all operate off beliefs.

This is the way I conjugate it:

I know
You have beliefs
He/she has prejudices

All part of the rich tapestry :wink:

Something like that. The way I heard it was 'convince someone against their will and they will hold to their beliefs still', or something more eloquent than that :rolleyes:

[mic-d]

*cough* if you don't get charged rent then it doesn't exist *cough*

yes of course, how silly of me!:doh:
what handset are you talking about Dave?:;


cheers
Michael

[Waldo]

I was with TPG since they started until about 6 months ago. When ADSL 2 came around they cancelled my old 20Mb plan, told me I'd be on a new plan and would get swapped across to ADSL 2 when available.

ADSL 2 is never going to be hooked up to my local exchange.

The plan they put me on was $20 dearer per month than ADSL 2.

So I after calmly emailing (to start with) to enquire over the space of a year as to whether the local exchange was ever going to be hooked up I eventually changed everything over to Optus on the $99 Cable plan and now save a lot of dough.

(TPG is Telstra)

[mic-d]

I assume there will be no trouble plugging my wireless router (old D-Link router) into the adsl2+ modem so the wireless network to our macs will continue to work, right?



(TPG is Telstra)

Why do they use the Optus network Waldo?

cheers
Michael

[rsser]

Michael, your T line rental will be about $26 per month.

The handset plugged into the line sounds like Telstra's, so if you go to another provider you'll have to return the handset to T. No loss in most cases as you can get replacements and choose the bells and whistles you want. I have a Panasonic with an inbuilt digital answering machine and about 50 other features I don't know how to use :- .... but it has a remote handset that sits in the shed when I'm out there so no pressing calls (from Grandma!) need to be missed.

[rsser]

You can get all in one router (wireless or otherwise)/modems/VOIP servers if you want the full catastrophe but yes, your D-link router should still work.

IME D-link router transformers are prone to failure and it's difficult to get an after-market replacement.

[mic-d]

Michael, your T line rental will be about $26 per month.

The handset plugged into the line sounds like Telstra's, so if you go to another provider you'll have to return the handset to T. No loss in most cases as you can get replacements and choose the bells and whistles you want. I have a Panasonic with an inbuilt digital answering machine and about 50 other features I don't know how to use :- .... but it has a remote handset that sits in the shed when I'm out there so no pressing calls (from Grandma!) need to be missed.

That's the line rental though, not handset rental AFAIK. Or are you implying we have to pay that whoever we go with? We have one of those bells and whistle ones too Ern, Uniden I think. The Telstra handset I don't have:; we just keep in case of power outage, when of course the powered ones will not work.


You can get all in one router (wireless or otherwise)/modems/VOIP servers if you want the full catastrophe but yes, your D-link router should still work.

IME D-link router transformers are prone to failure and it's difficult to get an after-market replacement.

The router seems more flakey than the transformer, so I doubt we'll go the same brand again. This one may never pack it in though.

cheers
Michael

[rsser]

Line rental, outside of T., can vary a lot, as you've seen above. Bundling brings discounts.

I've found D-link routers to be OK but have burned out 2 transformers.

Now have a Netgear ADSL2 all in one inc VOIP. So far so good.

Frankly, all this will be blown out of the water when the NBN is rolled out so you may benefit from waiting til then, if you can. VOIP will then be the only sensible call technology. Mind you, the economists warn about what it'll cost us, and sceptical pollies and techies say it will take ages to happen.

[Big Shed]

I use a Billion 7404 adsl2, wireless, VOIP modem router. Was supplied free of charge, under some govt scheme because we live in the country, by Internode.
The modem/router is excellent. As a result of our good run the 2 daughters and son have all bought one at some stage and they're happy too.

Internode is an excellent ISP, the one time I had a problem, I rang got connected in a minute or so to tech in Adelaide ( their HO ) could even understand him!

I use Soul as our home phone provider, cheap local calls, max $2. STD and $2/30mins most o/seas countries.

I should get off my backside and get VOIP/Skype going, I'mm gunna:D

No point in paying handset rental with all the cheap phones out there.

Have one of those white slim Telstra phone as backup, bought it at a garage sale.

[rsser]

yep; one of the sons has a Billion and likes it.

So wld I if in $$ ;-}

[Waldo]

Why do they use the Optus network Waldo?

cheers
Michael
Who, TPG? :no: they're owned by Telstra, so far as I'm aware of.

Don't worry about whoever it is you choose, as whichever router you are provided with your Macs will recognise it. I had the same concern with the bloke from Optus. Didn't even have to change anything on the two base stations - they recognised everything and it was a piece of cake.

Like all things Mac, plug and play. it's only with the other mob you have to install stuff and read manuals for. :2tsup:

[Big Shed]

Who, TPG? :no: they're owned by Telstra, so far as I'm aware of.



Not according to their website (http://www.tpg.com.au/about/profile.php)

They are owned by the same company that owns Soul, didn't know that.

[mic-d]

TPG Mobile frequently asked questions for 49 Mobile Cap Saver Plans. (http://www.tpg.com.au/mobile/faq.html#1.7)

cheers
Michael


Who, TPG? :no: they're owned by Telstra, so far as I'm aware of.

Don't worry about whoever it is you choose, as whichever router you are provided with your Macs will recognise it. I had the same concern with the bloke from Optus. Didn't even have to change anything on the two base stations - they recognised everything and it was a piece of cake.

Like all things Mac, plug and play. it's only with the other mob you have to install stuff and read manuals for. :2tsup:

[Waldo]

Well there ya go. Live and learn.

[Ozkaban]

I use a Billion 7404 adsl2, wireless, VOIP modem router. Was supplied free of charge, under some govt scheme because we live in the country, by Internode.
The modem/router is excellent. As a result of our good run the 2 daughters and son have all bought one at some stage and they're happy too.

Internode is an excellent ISP, the one time I had a problem, I rang got connected in a minute or so to tech in Adelaide ( their HO ) could even understand him!

I use Soul as our home phone provider, cheap local calls, max $2. STD and $2/30mins most o/seas countries.

I should get off my backside and get VOIP/Skype going, I'mm gunna:D



yep; one of the sons has a Billion and likes it.

So wld I if in $$ ;-}

Billion are great. I have the 7401 VGO thingy. Excellent support from the company too if anything goes wrong (I had issues about 18 months back with Voip codecs and the techs were excellent). The router costs something like $140-ish with VOIP wireless, ADSL2+ modem, router, 4 port switch (all the good bits). I had a similar netcomm (NB9W) beforehand and they were very fragile. Several people I knew had them and they all bought the dust after about 18 months or so.


Who, TPG? :no: they're owned by Telstra, so far as I'm aware of.
Nope - Owned by SOUL or some such thing. They use Agile DSLAMS (the bit of kit in the exchange that your phone line phsycally plugs into), Telstra use their own. The only common route that your data takes is the 'last mile' of copper (and of course any uplink to Telstra from TPG...). Two very, very different companies at opposite ends of the pricing (and support) spectrum.

Cheers,
Dave

[mic-d]

Put everything in place today, so the wheels are turning. So far so good, except they were wrong about being able to bundle adsl2, home phone and mobiles. It's any two of the three. So it's costing me an extra $5 a month for the mobile but still easily $80 less than our average telstra bill.
Oh and I rang T to ask wwhat they could do to entice me to stay. Pretty well zip. If fact, exactly zip. OK :bye1:

Now I need to get a modem.
cheers
Michael

[Ozkaban]

Cool! Hope the process is fairly painless - going to ADSL2 does involve physically plugging your phone line into new equipment, so there's always a slight outage.

I would recommend the Billion range (I think the relevant one is 740x...) - they have some nice all in one units (modem/router/wireless/voip), which I have found to be good and have recommended previously, with success. If you use a price search engine/google/whatever, you should be able to find somewhere fairly local that you can buy them from at reasonable price. Probably mid $150's range.

Cheers,
Dave

[mic-d]

thanks for the recommendation Dave. Bit more than I wanted to spend on the modem. I currently have a wireless D-link router dwl-900ap, 11mbps which I was hoping to get away with for a bit longer. Hope it's not too archaic.

Cheers
Michael

[Ozkaban]

thanks for the recommendation Dave. Bit more than I wanted to spend on the modem. I currently have a wireless D-link router dwl-900ap, 11mbps which I was hoping to get away with for a bit longer. Hope it's not too archaic.

Cheers
Michael

Yeah, there's always that on this forum - sombody encouraging you tp spend more than your budget :D

Were you using Voip (can't remember, and too lazy to go back and read :rolleyes:)? If so you'll need something to connect the phone to the voip provider...

Cheers,
Dave

[mic-d]

no Dave, no voip. dearly beloved and I skype each other, esp if she's away OS, but that's not the voip I think you're talking about.

cheers
Michael

[Ozkaban]

no Dave, no voip. dearly beloved and I skype each other, esp if she's away OS, but that's not the voip I think you're talking about.

cheers
Michael

ahh. just me being confused then :doh:

[mic-d]

I got an opinion from Darren at Ozcableguy this morning about what modem (<$100 ) to get and the Billion 7301vgp with voip/wireless was one of three recommendations he made. So I bought the Billion on the basis of the glowing reports from you guys! If it's no good I'll be tracking you all down...:;:U:U

TPG comms so far have been excellent, they seem to be sending a notification email for every advancement of my order.
cheers
Michael

[Ozkaban]

I got an opinion from Darren at Ozcableguy this morning about what modem (<$100 ) to get and the Billion 7301vgp with voip/wireless was one of three recommendations he made. So I bought the Billion on the basis of the glowing reports from you guys! If it's no good I'll be tracking you all down...:;:U:U

:2tsup::2tsup:

Good to hear! If you do have a problem with the product, Billion do have good support as well. I've not used the 7301 series, though it looks almost identical to my modem.


TPG comms so far have been excellent, they seem to be sending a notification email for every advancement of my order.
cheers
Michael

Good to hear as well. :2tsup:

Cheers,
Dave

[mic-d]

TPG activated the adsl today, but I had to ring for technical advice on the router set up and boy the tech person was good. Had me sorted out lickety-split. SWMBO's Mac just connected itself (well after I gave her the password), mine was a bit of a fiddle. Connection's much faster than the cable, although the old d-link wireless router might have slowed that down a tad. So far so good with tpg.:2tsup:

Cheers
Michael

[Ozkaban]

:2tsup::2tsup::2tsup: