[plug] Consolidated supply

[Tim]

2009/11/6 Brad Campbell <brad at wasp.net.au>:
> Gavin Chester wrote:
>>
>> On Thu, 2009-11-05 at 20:35 +0800, Tim wrote:
>>>
>>> Just a heads up that seems to have been missed. A few years back
>>> telstra introduced a new thing about their lowest plan (approx $21 a
>>> month) which prevents you getting broadband with anyone other than
>>> telstra. To have broadband with someone other than telstra, and a
>>> telstra land line, you need to be on the roughly $28 a month plan.
>>
>> You must have missed my previous post in this thread ...
>>
>> I posted that I have the cheapest telstra plan (21.55 with gst) yet use
>> amnet for adsl. Either what you say is no longer true or never happened
>> - or I have slipped under their radar. I'd have thought the ACCC would
>> have had a thing or two to say about unfair competition that would have
>> prevented telstra doing what you say. It would amount to consumer
>> blackmail and may be an urban myth :-)
>
> Oh, it's no urban myth. It may be the former however. There is no technical
> reason as you rightly pointed out. Whether or not it is enforceable remains
> to be seen. In communication with the telco, a quick reference to the ACCC
> seems to make the "problem" go away.
>
> http://www.telstra.com.au/homephone/plans/homeline_budget.html
> Check out footnote term 1.

Yes, I had missed the previous thread. (Due to the subject being
changed, it had split to 2 threads in Gmail, and I hadn't read the
rest of the second thread).

It is an interesting fact being pointed out though, that people are
"violating" the terms of the plan, yet Telstra Retail are powerless to
do anything about it.

This brings up another interesting point. How many people are aware of
optus' sneaky practices? Apparently, they take complete control of
your line, to the extent that when you wish to change your landline
provider, you sacrifice your phone number? I believe it's to do with
going on ULL, which is required for their really cheap land line
package ($19/month). Once they have your number ported off the telstra
system to their system, there is no going back. And they usually do it
with door to door sales people who insist your internet will be fine.
My Granny was without internet for a few months while my dad argued
with Optus about it, and they a few weeks later, they tried it on
another relative of ours!

See http://forums.whirlpool.net.au/forum-replies.cfm?t=810669 for
other peoples experiences. Steer clear of sneaky optus, especially if
you are elderly. (Somehow the door to door sales people seems to
target the elderly, honest!)

Tim
-- 
Timothy White - Somewhere in Australia