I’ve just discovered that for the last 6 months I’ve been paying for a phone I’ve already paid for.

Looking at the Optus site it looks like the options when you already have a phone are:

$45/month for a “plan” with up to 20GB/month of data and unlimited talk/text
$10/month for a “prepaid” sim with 30 GB/month and unlimited talk/text

Am I missing something here, or is the first one just to fleece existing customers who haven’t explored the options?

The Rev Dodgson said:

I’ve just discovered that for the last 6 months I’ve been paying for a phone I’ve already paid for.

Looking at the Optus site it looks like the options when you already have a phone are:

$45/month for a “plan” with up to 20GB/month of data and unlimited talk/text
$10/month for a “prepaid” sim with 30 GB/month and unlimited talk/text

Am I missing something here, or is the first one just to fleece existing customers who haven’t explored the options?

Also it took me a few goes to get them to stop charging me rental for my landline. I own the handset. I’ve returned the old handset to you.
Right. You shouldn’t be paying it. Excellent. Why am I still paying it?
I eventually got a goodly credit.

sarahs mum said:

The Rev Dodgson said:

I’ve just discovered that for the last 6 months I’ve been paying for a phone I’ve already paid for.

Looking at the Optus site it looks like the options when you already have a phone are:

$45/month for a “plan” with up to 20GB/month of data and unlimited talk/text
$10/month for a “prepaid” sim with 30 GB/month and unlimited talk/text

Am I missing something here, or is the first one just to fleece existing customers who haven’t explored the options?

Also it took me a few goes to get them to stop charging me rental for my landline. I own the handset. I’ve returned the old handset to you.
Right. You shouldn’t be paying it. Excellent. Why am I still paying it?
I eventually got a goodly credit.

Was that Optus?

(Not that Telstra would be any better).

The Rev Dodgson said:

sarahs mum said:

The Rev Dodgson said:

I’ve just discovered that for the last 6 months I’ve been paying for a phone I’ve already paid for.

Looking at the Optus site it looks like the options when you already have a phone are:

$45/month for a “plan” with up to 20GB/month of data and unlimited talk/text
$10/month for a “prepaid” sim with 30 GB/month and unlimited talk/text

Am I missing something here, or is the first one just to fleece existing customers who haven’t explored the options?

Also it took me a few goes to get them to stop charging me rental for my landline. I own the handset. I’ve returned the old handset to you.
Right. You shouldn’t be paying it. Excellent. Why am I still paying it?
I eventually got a goodly credit.

Was that Optus?

(Not that Telstra would be any better).

iPrimus.
But the rental on handset was Telstra’s hangover.

Probably fleecing

The Rev Dodgson said:

I’ve just discovered that for the last 6 months I’ve been paying for a phone I’ve already paid for.

Looking at the Optus site it looks like the options when you already have a phone are:

$45/month for a “plan” with up to 20GB/month of data and unlimited talk/text
$10/month for a “prepaid” sim with 30 GB/month and unlimited talk/text

Am I missing something here, or is the first one just to fleece existing customers who haven’t explored the options?

Looking at the Optus site again, the prepaid now seems to be $30/month, so not such a huge difference, but still $180/year.

The Rev Dodgson said:

The Rev Dodgson said:

I’ve just discovered that for the last 6 months I’ve been paying for a phone I’ve already paid for.

Looking at the Optus site it looks like the options when you already have a phone are:

$45/month for a “plan” with up to 20GB/month of data and unlimited talk/text
$10/month for a “prepaid” sim with 30 GB/month and unlimited talk/text

Am I missing something here, or is the first one just to fleece existing customers who haven’t explored the options?

Looking at the Optus site again, the prepaid now seems to be $30/month, so not such a huge difference, but still $180/year.

?

dv said:

The Rev Dodgson said:

The Rev Dodgson said:

I’ve just discovered that for the last 6 months I’ve been paying for a phone I’ve already paid for.

Looking at the Optus site it looks like the options when you already have a phone are:

$45/month for a “plan” with up to 20GB/month of data and unlimited talk/text
$10/month for a “prepaid” sim with 30 GB/month and unlimited talk/text

Am I missing something here, or is the first one just to fleece existing customers who haven’t explored the options?

Looking at the Optus site again, the prepaid now seems to be $30/month, so not such a huge difference, but still $180/year.

?

How can I help you?

My mobilephone plan costs me $15 a month. Unlimited calls & texts. Only 3GB data but I very rarely use the phone for internet.

I also have netphone (through my home phone) as a back-up which I rarely use and that’s just billed per call, ordinary local rates, no fees.

Bubblecar said:

My mobilephone plan costs me $15 a month. Unlimited calls & texts. Only 3GB data but I very rarely use the phone for internet.

I also have netphone (through my home phone) as a back-up which I rarely use and that’s just billed per call, ordinary local rates, no fees.

Who is that with?

The Rev Dodgson said:

Bubblecar said:

My mobilephone plan costs me $15 a month. Unlimited calls & texts. Only 3GB data but I very rarely use the phone for internet.

I also have netphone (through my home phone) as a back-up which I rarely use and that’s just billed per call, ordinary local rates, no fees.

Who is that with?

Aldi for the mobile: https://www.aldimobile.com.au/

Netphone is just with my ISP (iinet).

The Rev Dodgson said:

dv said:

The Rev Dodgson said:

Looking at the Optus site again, the prepaid now seems to be $30/month, so not such a huge difference, but still $180/year.

?

How can I help you?

$30 a month and $180 a year seem like different things but perhaps I just missed the context

dv said:

The Rev Dodgson said:

dv said:

?

How can I help you?

$30 a month and $180 a year seem like different things but perhaps I just missed the context

The difference between 45 and 30 over a 12 month period…

dv said:

The Rev Dodgson said:

dv said:

?

How can I help you?

$30 a month and $180 a year seem like different things but perhaps I just missed the context

Optus preferred plan = $45/month
Hidden plan = $30/month
Difference = $15/month or $180/year

The Rev Dodgson said:

dv said:

The Rev Dodgson said:

How can I help you?

$30 a month and $180 a year seem like different things but perhaps I just missed the context

Optus preferred plan = $45/month
Hidden plan = $30/month
Difference = $15/month or $180/year

Cheers

dv said:

The Rev Dodgson said:

dv said:

$30 a month and $180 a year seem like different things but perhaps I just missed the context

Optus preferred plan = $45/month
Hidden plan = $30/month
Difference = $15/month or $180/year

Cheers

You’re welcome…

The Rev Dodgson said:

I’ve just discovered that for the last 6 months I’ve been paying for a phone I’ve already paid for.

Looking at the Optus site it looks like the options when you already have a phone are:

$45/month for a “plan” with up to 20GB/month of data and unlimited talk/text
$10/month for a “prepaid” sim with 30 GB/month and unlimited talk/text

Am I missing something here, or is the first one just to fleece existing customers who haven’t explored the options?

My current mobile phone plan (Amaysim) is $5 a year plus calls, I seldom make calls.
Ditto mrs m, but because she does make calls that bumps it up to about $20 every 4 to 6 months.

My NBN home phone plus computer (desktop+laptop) is $65 a month from Exetel, and that includes unlimited free calls to mobiles, unlimited free interstate calls, unlimited free international calls to selected countries, and more data than I could possibly use. My NBN speed is the same as the old ADSL2+, which is plenty.

I’m also paying $5 a month to keep an old email address alive (IINET).

I called into Optus today, and now I know where I went wrong.

I was comparing a plan with a not_a_plan.

If you want a plan, the cheapest is $45/month.

But if you are happy with a not_a_plan, you can get one offering the same services for $180/year, so $30/month less.

(It only has 60GB/year data, but that’s much more than I need).

So I’ll be switching to a not_a_plan.

The Rev Dodgson said:

I called into Optus today, and now I know where I went wrong.

I was comparing a plan with a not_a_plan.

If you want a plan, the cheapest is $45/month.

But if you are happy with a not_a_plan, you can get one offering the same services for $180/year, so $30/month less.

(It only has 60GB/year data, but that’s much more than I need).

So I’ll be switching to a not_a_plan.

It’s a win/lose situation, you’re financially better off but you’ve no longer got a plan.

I switched my mobile phone from pre-paid to a plan simply so that we might have possible alternative connection if the NBN went off the air, and took the landline with it.

It was most useful during a recent change of ISP, when Dodo dragged the chain on releasing the landline account (two weeks,for which, apparently they and Telstra are notorious, but which they can get away with).

Able to communicate without worrying about running out of phone money.

captain_spalding said:

I switched my mobile phone from pre-paid to a plan simply so that we might have possible alternative connection if the NBN went off the air, and took the landline with it.

It was most useful during a recent change of ISP, when Dodo dragged the chain on releasing the landline account (two weeks,for which, apparently they and Telstra are notorious, but which they can get away with).

Able to communicate without worrying about running out of phone money.

The $180/year Optus pre-paid has unlimited talk and text, so as far as I can see the only difference from a “plan” is you have to remember to pay the bill once a year (or set up an automatic payment).

mollwollfumble said:

I’m also paying $5 a month to keep an old email address alive (IINET).

I went on to a similar plan with Optus.

I received accounts for a few months, and then they stopped arriving. I paid a few more ‘instalments’ in good faith, even though I didn’t see any invoices from them.

I haven’t received an invoice for the service for over a year now. I even dropped into an Optus store to check the account. They told me I was in credit.

I decided to leave well enough alone.

I see our DJ popped in last night.

sibeen said:

I see our DJ popped in last night.

I try to drop in for a look-see every so often.

I don’t, necessarily, always post though. (Sez he, stating the bleeding obvious!)

(popping myself)
I have to use hel$tra (or a hel$tra based provider) as I’m living in ‘the middle of nowhere’ where your choices are- helstra, helstra or helstra…
One thing they WONT tell you is that they have a data plan that is actually (for once) quite reasonable…

No I HAVEN’T been drinking… :-O

Dig deep, and helstra actually have a mobile plan (data only) that is speed capped, and actually good value for money…
(hence they do NOT advertise it lol) I get 20gb of mobile data per month for $30 on two data modems, then speed limited to 5mbs on each after they are speed capped (which is still actually faster than the old ADSL lol)
Just on one, I can surf, watch HD videos and download video files all at the same time- sure it might be ‘slower’ than some peoples- but as the alternatives are $170 a month for sat, or dialup (yes it still exists out here lol- and a lot of people still use it…)