[plug] consolidated supply

[Bret Busby]

On Thu, 29 Oct 2009, David Dartnall wrote:

> Date: Thu, 29 Oct 2009 16:35:33 +0800
> From: David Dartnall <darts at dialix.com.au>
> Reply-To: plug at plug.org.au
> To: "plug [off-topic]" <plug at plug.org.au>
> Subject: [plug] consolidated supply
> 
> Maybe someone can help please.
>
> The following is an email I sent to Amnet, my current adsl2+ supplier, and 
> their reply.
> Does anyone have any suggestions / hints to help in the very confusing (to 
> me) process
> of getting organised in this regard. It's hard to assess the merits of the 
> multitude of
> offerings!
>
> I have had a conversation with a gentleman from iinet, and he has emailed a 
> fairly
> comprehensive summary of their range, but I still find it hard to assess.
> I'm not too sure about their BOB proposal - seems to be too high initial 
> outlay and
> the lack of a phone in the case of a power outage bothers me.
>
> ***************
> Amnet email:
>
> I'm one of your customers.
> You provide our adsl2+ service on a bi-yearly pre-paid basis - 2G + 2G.
> Our local telephone service is provided by Telstra, paid on monthly invoice.
> Optus provides our international landline telephone service, no contract, 
> paid on monthly invoice.
> My mobile phone service is also Optus, no contract, paid on monthly invoice.
> And I'm sick of this shemozzle, it's costing too much - we need to 
> consolidate with one supplier.
> We do not accept direct debit arrangements.
> Please email your proposition(s) / options in the event that you can offer a 
> suitable service.
>
> ***************
> Amnet reply:
>
> Hi Dave, unfortunately we only supply ADSL services on top of already active 
> phone services.
> We are unable to offer a substitute that you require.
>
> ***************
> regards to all, (looking forward to karmic soon).
> Dave Dartnall
>

I switched everything to Optus, some time ago.

We get free calls between our two mobile phones, with duration of up to 
five minutes per call, and free calls from our mobile phones to a single 
landline number, of up to five minutes per call, for which I selected 
our primary landline number.

The accounts involve discounting, for having all of mobile phones and 
landlines and ADSL with Optus.

The primary landline is on an Optus Home Classic plan, at 31.98 per 
month plus GST (about $35 per month total) and the ADSL2 is "MyHome 
Freedom" at $54.54 per month plus GST (about $60 per month total).

The second landline is on an Optus Home Lite plan, at 18.13 plus GST per 
month, about $20 per month total. Monthly access is cheaper, but call 
rates would be higher (we do not use it for phone calls, as a rule).

You would need to phone Optus, and speak to a sales rep, to sort out 
the details. Phone number (from bill) to phone, for bundling, is 1800 
700 293.

They do not deal with email (lousy, for a company of their nature).

A problem with Optus, is that Optus insists on billing mobile phones 
seprately to landline/ADSL billing.

The bills are monthly, and, for two mobile phones, two landlines, and 
ADSL2, I receive two bills each month; one for the landlines/ADSL, and 
one for the mobile phones

Due to the insistence of Optus in having two separate accounts, I have 
managed to reduce the monthly billing fee to a single fee (each account 
has an account keeping fee, as I insist on printed, paper, bills). 
Accounts can be sent via email (no fee, I think), or printed, via postal 
mail (a fee is charged, but, it usually gets through, even when the 
Internet breaks down).

One problem with Optus, is that they have a (expletive deleted) bad web 
site, that simply does not work with iceape (Debian version of 
seamonkey). Also lousy, for a company of their nature. A well designed 
web site should be universally accessible, to all web browsers, and 
should use exclusively server side processing, so that the most basic 
web browsers still work fully with a web site.

Given that Optus is a telecommunications company, and, an ISP,  it has 
shortcomings, but, for telephone and Internet access, it appears to be 
the best (of a bad bunch - in Australia, telecommunications companies 
have bad reputations, overall) for us, for what we have.

I hope that this is helpful.

--
Bret Busby
Armadale
West Australia
..............

"So once you do know what the question actually is,
  you'll know what the answer means."
- Deep Thought,
   Chapter 28 of Book 1 of
   "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy:
   A Trilogy In Four Parts",
   written by Douglas Adams,
   published by Pan Books, 1992

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