See below for other non-Telstra ways of saving money - with a free second line, a combined home/mobile service or even a free UK telephone and/or fax number!
Telstra's Big Secrets (or things their stupid managers don't promote too well...): This was originally about some plans for saving on long distance calls, that were not being promoted by Telstra, but could save many consumers a fair bit of money. Hence the "secrets" title.
Newer plans. There are now a range of new plans from Telstra, plus a wide range of resellers and carriers. A few points to consider when selecting a plan are:
Some carriers / providers:
Are you paying for something you don't use?
Have you bought a 'phone of your own and put the old Telstra one in the cupboard? They are probably still charging you rent on the handsets! Take it back to a Telstra shop and make sure they sign for it.
If you do still rent - send it back and buy your own. The Omni "Trimline" (CL-70T) is a nice unit which includes caller number display. You can put it on a table or wall mount it. Grace Bros / Myer are currently selling it for about $44. To remove a T-200 or T-400, (Telstra's flat, typically white, standard 'phones for the last 12 years or so) from the wall just push up 5-10 mm and pull forward. Remove the short cable from the base of the phone and/or wall, but keep it.
Note that most cordless 'phones need continous mains power for the base unit, so you need another 'phone for use in blackouts.
"Telecard" must be Peter Costello's favourite telecommunications product now that Peter Reith and his hangers-on have demonstrated that you need to be a little careful of your card number and PIN. For those outside of Australia, a quick lesson in Federal politics. We currently have the misfortune of having a conservative government, led by the "Liberal" party. Peter Costello is currently the treasurer (responsible for the GST impost on small business and pensioners. Peter Reith was the workplace relations minister. Reith was the instigator of the criminal conspiracy against waterfront workers a few years ago, and general anti-worker activity. The two Peters are rivals to replace the racist little Johnny Howard as Prime Minister. Anyway, Reith gave his card number and PIN to his son who shared it around, and various hotel operators, etc, etc... Over the last few years over A$50 000 have been spent on it from around the world! Despite him having paid the money back, (and avoiding going to jail for it) he is now very unlikely to become PM (or, hopefully for the sake of the country, the opposition leader). Hence the smirking Peter Costello.
These aren't bits of plastic you stuff into a 'phone (that's a Phonecard), but a "credit card" which has a number printed on it which you type into the phone (with a PIN) to charge calls to your home or business account. You can use a calling card from nearly any service, local or overseas, not just a pay-phone. You can, say send a fax overseas from a friend's fax machine. Unlike a phonecard you don't need to buy it "up front", and there are no fees until you actually use it. You enter the card number, PIN and called number using a tone-dialing phone or tell the operator if you are at an old rotary/pulse 'phone.
For the Cable and Wireless / Optus card you do not need to be a current Optus customer. Call C&W Optus on 1800 502 501. Or visit an OptusWorld shop.
Homelink 1800 is a way you can make a cashless call from a payphone or most other fixed-line 'phones to your home number. You enter the PIN by "TouchTone" dialing or by speakinbg to an operator. The voice recognition has been removed. (With either of the Telstra products, you can start dialling straight after the Beep-Beep.)
Unlike a pre-paid Telstra Phonecard, or the TAFECards (which, when they get their act together and put the reload machines in can be loaded with value, but don't believe the lie about copy machines, drink machines or the canteen, etc taking them), if they are lost/stolen, you don't lose any money.
What's the directory assistance number? 013? Yes, but it is being replaced by 12455. 1223 for local/STD and 1225 for International currently works too. 1223 has the benefit that they don't have the ad for through-connection, etc.
Even the stupid manager, when trying to justify charging for directory assistance from mobiles talked about "Oh one three" - can't even say "zero"... Maybe the fact that you had free directory assistance from Telstra mobiles was a reason to use Telstra, but not any more. After all, a mobile is usually when you need it most!
In Australia there are no air-time charges for calls to mobiles charged to the mobile owner. This is payed for in higher call charges for the person calling the mobile numbers, which have different prefixes to local (wired) numbers. Probably one reason they are more popular here than in the US, where the "cellphone" owner typically pays to receive calls too, while the "wireline" caller just pays for a call to the area the mobile lives in. The caller may not know it is a mobile call, as mobiles there often share the local preifix with normal phones.
As most Australian mobile telephone users know, our best mobile network, the AMPS (analogue) one run by Telstra and resold by Optus has been completely destroyed. This is due to a contract entered into between the previous Australian government and a company called Arena, now Vodafone, and the failure of the current government to use the various "outs" in the contract resulting from Arena/Vodafone's failure to assume the required Australian ownership percentage, and the minister's right to act to protect the interests of Australian mobile telephone users.
The replacement for AMPS is the CDMA network, also operated by Telstra and once again resold by Optus. Orange have their own CDMA network in certain locations, with roaming onto Telstra where this is not available.
There are a range of plans offered by these companies. Optus' per minute rates tend to be higher, but you get more dollars of included calls than with Telstra. Telstra have some very low off-peak rates to other Telstra mobiles (ANY type). Free call allowance on Optus plans exclude overseas calls while Telstra includes them. Visit the Optus, Orange and Telstra "Freedom" CDMA pages. For my usage the Telstra $20 plan seems the best. Even off peak rates to other services (ie, not Telstra mobiles) are very high on the plans with a lower lower access fee, unlike under the old $10 AMPS plan, breaking the conservative government's promise that "no rural mobile telephone user would be disadvantaged". Under the new Telstra $10 plan it is cheaper to call someone in the wilds of Alaska than your next door neighbour, even at night... (See YAC below under saving money).
Orange also have Orange One - a service that uses a CDMA handset to provide you with a "cordless" home phone (at homephone rates, with a local number) when you are at home (and in your yard, etc) and a mobile service when you are out and about. No Telstra cabling, etc needed, or keep the old T line for Internet access. Also great for shared houses - get one each and no messy arguments over splitting the bill. Only available where their own network covers your house (or office, etc). Offers forwarding from home to mobile (charges apply). Monthly fee (several options) apply. 15c local calls! Roams onto Telstra CDMA if you travel.
Amazing value is Orange One - Upfront, their new pre-paid service. You can get a pre-paid mobile and local phone service, with 20c local calls (while at home (your LocalZone)) for $49! The handset is the thin Qualcomm/Kyocera QCP-860. It includes $30 worth of calls. There are no monthly fees with this service. If someone calls your local number while you are out the call is sent to voicemail for free, and you get instant notification of the left mesages. Collection costs 16c for unlimited messages, repeats, etc in one call.
The only downside is that it only works in greater Sydney, including the Wollongong area, Central Coast and Newcastle, and in Melbourne, with mobile coverage in surrounding areas. No coverage, not even for emergency calls outside this larger area.
If you ask for your number(s) not to be listed, but want the number to be sent to caller number displays you need to ask them to turn the sending back on.
Visit: http://www.orange.net.au or call: 133 488, or drop into Tandy or an Orange shop.
One cool feature of CDMA is that you get the current local time and date displayed on your mobiles - correct to within a second - set by the network. It also knows the offset from UTC/GMT, as my Hyundai can calculate the standard time in various world cities.
CDMA features SMS. All handsets can receive and most send. The Audiovox and Qualcomm/Kyocera do not send SMS, only receive. Unlike GSM where the limit is 160 characters, CDMA to CDMA can do 240 characters. About 40 words instead of 26.
Not every Optus dealer holds stock of CDMA phones, but can get them in or direct you to one which does. Tandy generally does, as do the Optus World shops I have visited. The odd Telstra dealer might also have to get one in.
I have the cute little Hyundai GC-120E "Gulliver". Useful features include that the name search searches the whole name - TINA will find KRISTINA, JI will find FRED&JILL. You can also search using a segment of the 'phone number. The time feature timestamps incoming calls answered and missed, and outgoing calls. Pressing and holding a number, or the second number in a 2 digit location dials it. The sturdy flap (it isn't an Ericsson) prevents accidental calls. Personal handsfree is via an industry standard 2.5mm socket (to which you can plug basically anything, if you are a bit techie), and their is an in-car kit available. It includes a basic calculator, probably designed for money calcs. Not available on Optus at the moment.
The Hyundai Gulliver is no longer available in a pre-paid plan. Telstra "T-Shops" now have a very small LG800w with a flip cover in pre-paid, for $99 and Hyundai 300e without a flip for $79. These are really only suited to those who may not be able, or do not wish, to purchase/take a 'phone under contract, as this is generally more expensive than a contract.
If a tiny 'phone isn't your thing, the Qualcomm QCP860 will be - it is full length and width, with a big display, but very thin.
cdmaOne is Qualcomm's commercial implementation of CDMA - code division multiple access, and uses "spread spectrum", or frequency hopping, a modulation method often used by the military. It was was devised by actress Hedy Lamarr, who passed away recently, and she developed it with composer George Antheil.
It's benefits are that that the signal is very secure, that it is difficult to jam and that it does not generate interference. Basically rather "stealty", unlike GSM that, although also secure, screams its presence by making virtually every electronic device around it sound like they have been on a baked-beans only diet.
The other major benifit of the modulation method is that its range is not limited by the sharing method. In Time Division Multiple Access systems like GSM, each user on a channel has a short timeslot in which they can use the channel before the next user gets a turn. If the user is form that 32km in the case of GSM, the signal has not reached the base station before the timeslot expires, so the user is chucked off. This pulsing on and off is what generates the interference. Sharing on CDMA is a completely different system where the signal is spread across a wide bandwidth, and is not pulsed on and off. This method also reduces power radiated by the handset (200mW = 0.2W max) to a level far safer than that of a GSM handset (2W peak). It is also probable that the pulsed nature of GSM signals is the main cause of any risk, as cells are unable to turn their defences on in response to them like thay can with a more constant signal.
You may see references to "Dual-mode" relating to CDMA handsets. This means that the handset is designed to operate on a CDMA network and an AMPS network. (In the US, AMPS is the common system with wide, allowing their various digital handsets (CDMA, TDMA, D-AMPS etc) to roam more broadly, as many networks only cover a limmited area.) Here the AMPS network has been destroyed, so this is irrelevant. Overseas it can also mean 1700-1900MHz CDMA plus AMPS. Tri-mode means 800MHz CDMA, higher band CDMA and AMPS. (Dual-band and tri-band are GSM terms.) Overseas 800MHz handsets are called cellphones, and the higher bands units "PCS" - personal communication service. Here they are all mobiles...
More technical information and contacts can be found at http://www.cdg.com, the CDMA Development Group's website.
If you are unhappy with your GSM (or TDMA) 'phone, its coverage or the "blat-blat" and buzzing interference generated by them, give CDMA a go.
If you need a new cover, or a personal handsfree kit, or are in the US and need a new phone, see the bottom of the page!
On new Telstra contracts Saturday daytime is peak, not off-peak. They had a huge billboard on Broadway (probably the busiest road into Sydney CBD) proclaiming the low rate all weekend when they introduced it for the lower flexi-plans, and now they have changed it back. No billboards for this change. Use an Optus calling card from a payphone instead... This applies to new contracts - low rates on Saturday still apply to older existing contracts with low rates all weekend.
As Telstra now charge for calls to directory assistance like the rest, there is no real point in selecting Telstra. And they often get it WRONG!!!
Before you purchase a telephone on the Telstra network, ensure it is not through the service provider "United Telecommunications" as they give the impression of being totally incompetant. United dealers include Strathfield and Let's Talk.
Direct Telstra dealers include Grace Bros (and I expect Myers), "Tricky Dick's" (DSE) and T-Shops. Some CDMA handsets are available for $0 upfront on low monthly rate plans and sometimes there is a no connection fee deal.
Another major inefficiency in Telstra is something called "Single Bill". Your account details get sent to a section within Telstra that know VERY LITTLE about mobile telephony. If you ring the number on your bill with an account problem they get confused and send you over to MobileNet who now can't access much of your bill, so they transfer your off to Single Bill... Totally hopeless... Ensure you are billed derectly by MobileNet who can fix any problems directly. Evidently it is possible to have more than one mobile number on a MobileNet bill.
For new contracts, or as an option on an existing one these apply between Telstra mobiles: free 15 minute calls 9pm to 5am, cheap weekend calls or a lower peak rate , but you need to call 018 018 111 to register. You can only choose one, and they charge you if you change too often. If you have an existing account with off-peak calls all weekend they will take away your off-peak Saturday calls without telling you! Be aware! If you have already been trick, call Telstra MobileNet (not Single Bill), indicate that you did not provide "informed consent" for the change - that is, they failed to tell you you would lose Saturday daytime calls at off-peak, and demand to be changed back. If you have had calls overcharged on Saturday, demand that the amounts be recalculated to the off-peak rate.
If you intend to make calls from Australia to overseas destinations check the rate that applies - some carriers charge a small per minute mobile surcharge on the normal rates, others charge a fortune.
For more remote areas, Optus have a MobileSat product which uses their satelites. It is not well advertised, but works well.
This might save someone's life! One thing all the GSM network providers do not publicise is the extra emergency number for GSM, 112. Any GSM 'phone (even if locked/keyguarded, without a SIM, reported missing, disconnected) can make a call to 112 on ANY GSM network, in any country, etc. If you are connected to your network you can also call 000, the normal Australian emergency number. On Telstra CDMA either 000 or 112 can be used. Payphones, home and office phones, etc in Australia all still use 000.
If you use GSM the best way to programme your numbers into you memory is in the international format 02 9888 7777 can be programmed as +61 2 9888 7777. A UK number such as 0011 44 7092 nnn nnn becomes +44 7092 nnn nnn. + is obtained by either double pressing or pressing and holding the key with a small + on it - either * or 0. On a Motorola 3300 pressing Shift (up arrow) then 0 gets it. The benefit is that when you go overseas you can still use all your memories, rather than having to redial it with the local international service access code to replace our 0011. This applies where-ever you live in the GSM world. You typically need tell your carrier/provider you need international roaming a week before you travel. Turning roaming on is generally free, but various (sometimes high) call or forwarding rates apply, including for the leg from your home country to your
current location on a call to you.
Also, just storing 9888 7777 will get you a wrong number when you travel interstate. That is, to a different area-code, so Bourke to Broken Hill would also do it, as might going to East Timor (T runs a GSM network there, as an extension to the Australian network, with Aust. numbers).
(With CDMA you store either the full national number (including area code) for Australian numbers, or overseas numbers in 0011... format.)
Many numbers in the UK, including in Northern Ireland and Wales have recently changed. This includes various home/office numbers, and older mobile and pager numbers including on Jersey. London has become 020, the 3rd change for the city in a little over a decade! Visit: http://www.numberchange.org. YAC 07092 and other 07 personal and mobile numbers remain as they were.
Ask Optus about a free second line for Internet or other use if you connect to their local service. This service uses Telstra pairs (their engineering is generally good, it is just the T management that is useless), so is more reliable and generally better that the Optusvision pay-tv cable system, and you keep your current number. Be aware that there are minimum contract periods, unless you move to an area where the service is not available. Also, they stop your number being sent to your friends with CND at home or on their mobiles, but this is probably easily fixed by adding 1832 to the front of the number, or asking them for it back on. Also, check the duration of any free calls offers, etc. Ph: 1800 500 005. This old freecall number still works, but is not advertised any more.
Who heard "Ziggy Stardust" talking about "our new web sites, telstra.com and yellowpages.com" coming online? Sorry Ziggy, yellowpages.com isn't yours, it's a US site.
Which Telstra manager sent Telstra staff not two, but one sock attatched to an invitiation to some sort of hype-up session? None other than Ziggy...
The latest Mobilenet conditions paper (July 2000) lists www.telstra.com/mobilenet. This "/mobilenet" page is only on the .au server, not the top-level domain one... And why do they need access to your premises for a mobile service??? See p17 of the above.
They are operating a GSM network in East Timor, both illigally amd immorally... Illegal becuase the UN re-applied Indonesian law (but administered by the UN) to provide some system of law and order. This law requires any telecommunications company to have a local partner which they do not. Immoral because they make the East Timorese people use prepaid services, do not have off-peak rates on these and have very poor capacity so these people "burn" their cards collecting voicemails instead of talking direct. While this is a much needed service, the problem is the way it is being operated.
Most customer service provided by field staff is done despite management, not because of them - things like data technicians not being allowed to carry spare parts for these "urgent" services. Any move to sack management by shareholders would have strong support by staff and ex-staff shareholders. Remember Ziggys end-of-year gee-up to staff that wiped some value off your shares? Sack the useless management!!! Some call-centre staff try to be helpful, but they seem to be given very little product information and general training. One useless bunch are the One-bill section - the are great at making reasons not to fix a billing error, but that is all they are good at... Keeping your mobile with MobileNet on a MobileNet only bill is a good idea.
Cable problems! With all the spare capacity in their optical fibre network, one cannot understand why Telsra does not build a high level of redundency into their network. When one cable was cut near Gosford, the entire North Coast of NSW lost most of their telephone, Internet and other data communicatons. Why were these not instantly switched around the long way to Brisbane, then back down from there? Why didn't they learn when a similar incident cut off most of Western Sydney and a good part of rural NSW? What is more, access to 000 was lost in the local area near Gosford!
Perhaps they do, perhaps they don't, but if they do, it is the short ones they you need to worry about! The strength of the signal weakens four-fold for every doubling in distance from the antenna. Having the antennas (the actual active part located at the top) on a taller tower generally reduced radiation on the ground. More energy would probably your body from a handset beside your head that a tower. Again, moving the radiating antenna (that is, the handset) away, by using a proper in-car handsfree, or a personal handsfree is a good idea. (For the same reason it is perhaps a good idea to take a few steps back from a microwave oven while it is operating - in case it is "leaking" a little.)
Radio signal radiation, even in the microwave band, is different to nuclear (or ionising) radiaton. It will not cause anything to become "radio-active" and continue to radiate energy after the source is turned off or moved away.
Well, friends, they seem to want me to tell you that they charged my sister an extra A$6.00 because she was late paying for some overseas calls. And that they disconnected another lady (a caller to 2GB, a local talkback station) because she didn't get her bill - they changed her over to Internet based billing without telling her!
They spent 4 pages of broadsheet (full sized newsprint) telling us how wonderful their new mobile network will be, but didn't mention the underlying technology... Could be 1800MHz GSM.
Tell your friends about a company that is going bankrupt...
STOP PRESS Well, looks like the above just came true... Perhaps a few too many people were un-impressed by their late fees and went back to their old carrier...
Caller number display has another neat use. If Friend A on a home phone or private mobile calls Friend B on a work mobile, waits 2 rings and hangs up, friend B can then call Friend A back within a few seconds. Obviously you should pre-arrange this. You can also do it private mobile to private mobile where the person can call you back from an office phone.
This is really cool! Get a free UK 'phone number which can forward your calls to 22 different countries, including Australia - home, office or mobile! They also have voicemail where the messages are forwarded to your email address, or you can dial in and pick them up. You can send a voice announcement to a group by email without a PC. For personal, business or any use. A great way of gaining UK business.
They offer a fax to email service too, where the faxes are converted to .TIFF or .PDF files. This is much better than having your PC on all night waiting for a fax, and it doesn't wake you up at 3am...
Even cooler, you do not actually need a 'phone to use this service! Great if you are moving, or a student, etc who wants to have a 'phone number for messages.
The only real condition is that a call pass through your number every 2 months for it to remain current. Forwarding, etc is paid for out of revenue generated from calls to the number. It is all free to the number holder, unlike Telstra 0500. Plus a call from an Australian caller to a YAC number is probably cheaper than a call to an 0500 number!
When you sign up, please include my number 07092 289 881 in the "introduced by" box. Go to YAC (Your Always Connected) at: http://www.yac.com.
The mind-bending thing about this service is that it is cheaper on many Australian mobile plans and pre-paid deals to call the UK number than it is to call a home/office 'phone or a mobile (especially on a different network). The same may apply for a home phone to mobile call! This is true of Orange One Upront in LocalZone to mobiles, and from the MobileZone to any Australian number! Get your friends to "sign-up" for a free YAC number today. For this use, a voice only number (making sure you set it to "forward") is best the idea, as the caller will only pay once the call is answered back here, not while they listen to a menu, then select forward and listen to ring-tone... :)
07092... in the UK becomes +44 7092... from an overseas (or any) GSM handset or 0011 44 7092... from a CDMA handset or home/office 'phone.
If you wish to contact ANZ, or use phonebanking you can dial 1800 033 637. It was advertised for Telstra Visa customers ages ago, but still works (for any customer) - just press 8, then 1 (ANZ option) at the menu and you end up at the 13 13 14 type menu for free! Handy from a payphone.
On the subject of ANZ, they have a special loan-sharking interest rate they call a "charge" for people who are between jobs, taking time to study, low income earners, etc. They charge 5% of any amount above the credit limit if it is more that $100 over at the billing time. 5% x 12 = well over 60% effective annual rate...
Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman (TIO) handles general complaints. http://www.tio.com.au You can go to the online complaints form. Telstra have performed so badly the TIO have a backlog of complaints against them.
Australian Communications Authority (ACA) handles larger matters and crimminality. http://www.aca.gov.au.
Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) also deals with frauds and anti-competative behaviour. http://www.accc.gov.au.
Buy Accessories such as covers (faceplates) anywhere, or cell-phones and airtime contracts in the USA, (inc Alaska).
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