Re Good Phone Company

[astroron (Ron)]

This may seem like an oxymoron, but does anyone know a "GOOD PHONE COMPANY"
Landline.
I Don't want to go to Telstra
Cheers

[[1ponders] (Paul)]

when you find out let me know

[MikeyB (Michael)]

I'm a very satisfied Optus user. Never going back to Telstra - no way.

[JethroB76 (Jeff)]

Voip

[Liz]

I'm with Westnet for phone and internet, and satisfied. Good prices and service.

[multiweb (Marc)]

Originally Posted by MikeyB

I'm a very satisfied Optus user. Never going back to Telstra - no way.

I could say the same thing the otherway round. I don't think there's a good phone company. Telstra's the big boy, Optus Mini-me and the rest just there piggy backing on the big guys. That's the situation in Oz anyway until there's more competition. Telstra's not that bad. Depends who you happen to talk to when you pick up the line and ask for help. There are some good eggs too in there

[DavidTrap (David)]

Had big fights with Telstra last year when they disconnected our home phone and internet for about 6 weeks. That was because we'd asked to move to a single bill and accounts had to be renamed to bring them all into line.

Eventually sorted out.

They are fine, provided you don't disturb the system - if it ain't broke, don't fix it.

They all have the same customer service model - ie. you ring a call centre. Telstra's call centre is at least still in Australia.

Their mobile service is also the biggest and the best coverage.

DT

[astroron (Ron)]

I had only just changed my phone to the same company that provided my broadband service, when they sold the broadband business to a company
to which I did not want to join in the first place when we got the satellite service
I cannot change companies as I will loose my broadband guarantee maintainance if I do
I wanted to have only one bill and now I am back to two bills and stuck with a company I did not want to go to in the first place, for at least another year.
Telstra will not give us ADSL even though there is an exchange just down the road,we are just outside the 10 kms from a major telephone exchange.
I think it will be at least five years before we get even a half decent broadband service

[multiweb (Marc)]

Originally Posted by DavidTrap

Had big fights with Telstra last year when they disconnected our home phone and internet for about 6 weeks. That was because we'd asked to move to a single bill and accounts had to be renamed to bring them all into line.

Eventually sorted out.

They are fine, provided you don't disturb the system - if it ain't broke, don't fix it.

They all have the same customer service model - ie. you ring a call centre. Telstra's call centre is at least still in Australia.

Their mobile service is also the biggest and the best coverage.

DT

I agree with the above 100%. They're so big the right hand doesn't know what the left hand does. I went through a similar problem with account names. Took 12 months to sort out but eventually everything went back to normal and money was re-credited in full + extra goodies on rates, for the trouble caused etc... I also can't fault their network coverage.

Originally Posted by astroron

I had only just changed my phone to the same company that provided my broadband service, when they sold the broadband business to a company
to which I did not want to join in the first place when we got the satellite service
I cannot change companies as I will loose my broadband guarantee maintainance if I do
I wanted to have only one bill and now I am back to two bills and stuck with a company I did not want to go to in the first place, for at least another year.
Telstra will not give us ADSL even though there is an exchange just down the road,we are just outside the 10 kms from a major telephone exchange.
I think it will be at least five years before we get even a half decent broadband service

Looks like your problem originated from a supplier selling parts of its services to another supplier. I also think 10km is not within the 3-4km range for ADSL to work properly from the exchange. Fibre Optics will sort that distance problem once and for all when they roll it out. It's already underground. They just need to flick the switch (when they feel like it).

[acropolite (Phil)]

Mark is partly on the money, there really is only one telco all the rest are parasites. That said, it's worth talking to people and finding out their experiences. A small local telco is likely to give the best service, simply because if they don't they'll perish.

I work for a Telecommuncations company, and in my experience Telstra's performance is abysmal. Constant mistakes, delays and often failure to meet targets.

On the other hand we occasionally have to make requests for information and service rearrangements with local Telcos, the experience is always easier and quicker than with Telstra and the mistakes non existent. Rather than speak to a call centre operator in another country, the local Telco usually has a local rep who is contactable and cooperative.

I suspect that Telstra has to give a guaranteed level of service to other telcos, otherwise they would be liable for compensation.

[astroron (Ron)]

Originally Posted by JethroB76

Voip

Hi Jethro, Are you on land line or other?
What is the reliability?
Any other info would be appreciated

[Ric]

Blimey, I must be the only person in Oz who hasn't had a problem with Telstra, that's scary.

I'm with skymesh for satellite broadband because I'd have to sell bodyparts to pay for the same service with Telstra, that's probably the only beef I have with them.

Cheers

[DiamondDust (Ingrid)]

I too had a fight with Telstra last year about communication (getting different stories from customer service officers about the same problem) and contracts. It was a two month battle, and I got nowhere so I rang the Telecommunications Ombudsman for advice. Basically they told me what to say to Telstra to get what I wanted and if I wasn't satisfied mention "Ombudsman". Bingo, I even got a refund. I'm happy with the service they provide, but when something goes wrong, it's a nightmare to get it fixed

[JethroB76 (Jeff)]

Originally Posted by astroron

Hi Jethro, Are you on land line or other?
What is the reliability?
Any other info would be appreciated

I only have an ADSL1 connection so still have to maintain a telstra land line - just a very basic ~$19 connection. All my calls other than 000 and certain 13/18 numbers go through VOIP, I use Mynetfone and pay I think $4.95 a month for 80 (I think) untimed local/STD calls. Calls in excess of this are about 10c untimed.

This account includes a phone number which you can locate anywhere - I chose a Melbourne number so my family over there can call me for a local call. For a while I had friends in Queensland and I had another number up there that they could call.

I've never had an reliability problems with the provider (Mynetfone or others) but if my internet connection goes down I obviously fallback to using the telstra landline.
You do need either a VOIP capable router or a dedicated ATA box, but the providers will often throw an ATA in for near enough to free.
Best move I ever made. Prior to using VOIP I was on a ~$100 plan with telstra.

[Tandum (Robin)]

Telstra is the only landline provider in the country, everyone else rents the lines from Telstra. All the others resell the telstra line and none of them can give me dual numbers, caller ID etc etc. So I pay the $30 odd dollars to Telstra for basically an Incoming phone line with Internet on it and use mobiles for phone calls .... I'm in the middle of Brisbane and can't get ADSL2, I have an unlocked 8 meg ADSL1 link which runs at around 4MBs incoming.

[astroron (Ron)]

Thanks for the replies guys, it is all so difficult,
Mobile phones don't work very well or not at all up here otherwise I would chuck the landline and go down the mobile route
Cheers