Thanks, @person. Perhaps I should investigate other TPG plans then - though I rather resent being pushed rather than choosing!! Thanks for your advice.
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It can easily be that your plan is costing you more than $25 a month - due to the conditions on the obsolete plan. I had a friend who was on one of the grandfathered TPG plans and while ostensibly the monthly cost was insanely cheap, the additional costs incurred were making it more expensive than just getting on a current plan.
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Well we do keep an eye on the balances so have avoided extra costs for the last 10 years or so, except for one occasion where my daughter was using her mobile for work and went over her internet allowance.
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For the record, even though Ukraine is not one of the “free” 37 countries, until things change, you can call Ukraine free on the TPG mobile network and I think the other two mobile networks are doing the same.
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I was on a Voda plan that was adsorbed into TPG on the merger for one phone. The rest had been ALDI plans. That’s what I was discussing first off, all my TPG 13/1300 calls had a single connection cost and no ongoing fees no matter how long the call. Now all my mobile phones plans are with ALDI. I had to have a $20 prepaid balance with Voda and then TPG for all calls not covered by the unlimited call/text benefits. This was similar for the TPG home line as well. This balance was auto topped up if it fell below $10, I assume it is still the same.
I now use ABB instead of TPG for VOIP and Internet at home and any calls not included in my VOIP plan are itemised and billed each period, ALDI still require a PAYG amount to cover calls outside their free inclusions for their mobile plans.
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For clarity to those not familiar and I suspect it is like this on all modern plans, that would be true only if one intends to use features outside the inclusions.
To wit, if one does not have a PAYG balance on a plan that does not include international calls and texts, one simply cannot make one. There is no ‘just in case’ bank account required. Want to make an international call or text - add some PAYG money to cover it before the call/text and off you go.
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I agree that you should shift from TPG ASAP as I think you could get a better deal with another telco who cares about their customers a whole lot more than TPG.
I’m with Amaysim. As a starting point, have a look at Amaysim’s mobile plans and see how they compare.
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Agree with shopping around, I was on a legacy Optus plan for $9.99 pcm and had the same issues. Now I’m with Amaysim (they don’t have 5G but have just been bought out by their network operator, Optus…) For $30 (per 28 days*) I get unlimited calls and text in Australia, Unlimited standard talk to 28 countries: Canada Chile China Colombia France Germany Guam Hong Kong Iceland India Indonesia Ireland Japan Malaysia Malta Mexico New Zealand Norway Puerto Rico Romania Singapore South Korea Sweden Taiwan Thailand UK USA Vietnam, I only recently noticed Philippines is not included… Unlimited standard text to 42 countries: Austria Bangladesh Brazil Cambodia Canada
Chile China Colombia Croatia France Germany Greece Guam Hong Kong Hungary
Iceland India Indonesia Ireland Italy Japan Malaysia Malta Mexico Netherlands
New Zealand Norway Pakistan Philippines Poland Puerto Rico Romania Singapore
South Africa South Korea Sweden Taiwan Thailand Turkey USA United Kingdom Vietnam plus 100GB data.
- This 28 day scam is basically a 13th month, but the inclusions on the plan make it worthwhile.
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It is a concern that systems are increasingly designed incorrectly. I work in ICT, and i am seeing the changes in the way designs are slapped together through very messy systems of team collaboration. If I were a contractor on a project, and expressed the view that there was a problem with the design, I would be censured or fired for lacking empathy and co-operation with other team members. It is a sort of cancel culture gone wrong.
I also spoke recently with an IT manager in a mission critical government agency, She told me “Intelligent people are annoying.”
We really do need regulation at a government level.
But that would require intelligent people (who would probably be “annoying.”)
What I do with telecos is: I get a package that has a fixed fee per month with oodles more data than I use. That way I cant really go over the top and get my service cut. If you have kids with crazy uncontrolled data usage that is way over the top, then you need to put them on a separate system.
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I take your point but in this case I suggested (purely speculatively) that the system was intentionally omitting some support for an obsolete (grandfathered) plan i.e. it would not be possible to justify the development cost to support fully a tiny fraction of customers who are still on obsolete plans. Since basic billing for those customers was still working correctly, the design and implementation on the IT side exactly matched the business requirements.
