Optus Sucks (or Vickie is an Idiot) (or Both)*
posted on Sunday, August 24, 2008 @ 3:08 pm
Like many unsuspecting foreigners who tried to get their own phone line and an acceptable broadband connection in Australia, Vickie, after some research, stupidly went with Optus’ phone line. Surely as a competitor, Optus would provide all of what Telstra could provide… or so she thought. (But they do offer an online sign-up with even their cheapest plan, which is really nice to people who have a phone anxiety like yours truly. (Don’t worry, nobody else who knows about this takes my anxiety seriously either.))
Apparently, however, with Optus’ phone line you’re pretty much stuck with Optus’ ADSL plans or nothing, which, of course, the company never mentioned or hinted because they want to sell their own overpriced products. What also irked me was that none of my Australian computerphile and technophile friends who heard about my plan of getting a new connection seem to be aware of this, or didn’t think it was necessary to warn me at all. No, it’s not their fault; I just want to blame someone, okay? THIS IS MY BLOG!
Anyway… Now I’m practically down to 5 options:
-
Continue to share the connection with the landlord’s family and let the phone line die after 12 months, all the while try not to kill the landlord’s son, and try not to let the landlord’s son kill me; or
-
find an affordable, i.e. non-existent, cable plan; or
-
go with Optus’ Internet plans, which is way out of budget and essentially a rip-off; or
-
cancel the phone line for a $200 fee, sign up with Telstra for $300, then sign up with the ISP of my choice; or
-
build a time machine and try to stop my past self from signing up with Optus.
None of which, unfortunately, particularly appeals to me.
Or maybe I really need to just GTFO of this otherwise fine country.
*Warning: This is a long, rambly rant entry. (At least I warned you somewhere!)
23 Comments »
Leave a comment
Comment rules yo:
- I'm interested in penis enlargement, but my spam filter isn't.
- Feel free to leave the email field blank.
- Swearing is totally fine.
- Know me in real life, have something to say? No problem, go ahead.
However, please kindly refrain from replying to the comments or questions that I left on your blog here — they belong on your own blog. Thanks!
August 24, 2008 at 3:38 pm
X_X;; I’m sorry that you found out about this a bit late? Maybe a better option will show up soon?
August 24, 2008 at 8:13 pm
Eeep that’s horrible. Well, I’ve nothing to say since I don’t know what you should do, but I vote for number five
August 24, 2008 at 10:37 pm
Hmmm… tricky situation.
WHERE’S THE PORN ENTRY?!?! I’VE BEEN WAITING FOREVER!
That’s all. XP
August 24, 2008 at 10:46 pm
Shit! People remember the porn entry?!
August 24, 2008 at 10:49 pm
I fucking hate Optus with all my fucking guts. Seriously. If it was physically possible, I would wrench out my guts, shove them in their face, and scream “SEE WHAT YOU’VE DONE? DO YOIU SEE THE HATRED IN MY GUTS?”
I’m in the same kind of predicament. I’m locked into Optus for another year, on a shithouse plan (some $69 monthly bollocks, sexy number not withstanding) that I run the limit on after a week. I plan on just cancelling the phone line after the contract runs out, and just using mobiles and voip…wireless internet fweeeeeeeet.
August 25, 2008 at 5:23 am
That was bad. I don’t really know what would be the wisest thing to do. Can’t you just get internet with another provider and forget about the phone line? I believe most people use mobiles anyway…
and as somebody said, phone lines connect to places,but mobile phone lines connect to people…I’d go for a mobile plan instead.
Anyway, good luck fixing it!
August 25, 2008 at 9:07 pm
Don’t go with either Telstra/BigPond or Optus!
I work for BigPond tech support and yikes.
Have you tried iiNet? maybe even AAPT (their internet is cheaper than the other Big 2) Virgin have a VOIP system that gives you free internet… I guess it depends on what you need. Have you tried Whirlpool? http://whirlpool.net.au it might come in handy
August 25, 2008 at 11:20 pm
Thanks, Sarah. I’ve been on Whirlpool but I think it’s the safest to go with Telstra for the phone line, which I’ll really only use for the ADSL connection. I’ve actually decided on TPG for the ISP, too.
Hmm, this “conversation” is being “mined”, it seems.
August 26, 2008 at 11:28 am
The mention of porn stays in my mind for crazy-long amounts of time. :\ I’ve been in a 2-year state of abstinence, and my over-active imagination gets carried away on certain keywords. Porn being one of those.
August 26, 2008 at 5:13 pm
Hey, Aisling’s not the only one hanging out for the porn entry here.
Number five sounds like a good option. I have earmuffs for you to ensure that your ears don’t pop.
And I agree with Sarah…don’t go with Bigpond.
August 27, 2008 at 12:34 pm
If you need help building a time machine, I’m here.
Anywho, I wish you luck in finding a good, reliable company. I hate when companies scam customers!
August 28, 2008 at 4:16 am
I’d go with the time machine option, personally.
August 28, 2008 at 9:27 pm
I say Aye for Numero 5.
And what’s so bad about the landlord’s son? Hahaha.
August 28, 2008 at 11:07 pm
Been with TPG for 2 years. Rock solid connection, great p2p speeds and heaps of offpeak download (handy for getting your porn, hehe). Be aware of average pings, tho.
August 29, 2008 at 5:40 pm
I can’t help but I would pick the number five. WAIT! Porn? where?
August 29, 2008 at 11:39 pm
I use Optus. I really don’t want to care about their quality of service at the moment. I leave it to Dad.
(Now I sound like a spoilt rich kid. I’ll tell you I’m not, and you may or may not believe me, hah.) Number 5 sounds good. Number 4 seems practical. Ditch the others.
August 30, 2008 at 4:39 am
I hate it when that happens and then all the company has to say is “read the small print” which is why I now feel the need to read the small print before signing up to anything that a) costs a lot of money b) I am tied into for a long period of time.
Sad to say, but I think you are going to be stuck with option 1. Just don’t let people have knives
.
September 6, 2008 at 5:32 am
If it were me, I would have written a long complaint letter to the company to point out all the flaws they have and the issues they are facing.
Sorry you have to face all these, though.
Making decisions CAN be painful.
September 8, 2008 at 10:15 am
I don’t know what the porn entry is but let me know when it’s up! Ahaha. Hm I’d say #5 as well. If you get that time machine working let me know I have some things I’d change as well.
September 9, 2008 at 11:16 am
Yes, I agree..I’d go for #5 too.
But since building a time machine will probably take a while, I say you’d have to settle for #1.
September 10, 2008 at 6:47 pm
Wow that sounds complicated… when you mean personal line do you mean a land line of a cellphone?
If one company is ripping you off, just threaten to leave for their competitor and they might give you a better deal.
September 12, 2008 at 4:11 am
I say go for number 5, it sounds the grooviest.
September 13, 2008 at 1:48 am
eeeep. i hope you’ll find a way around this predicament. i think $200 for opting out of a phone line is ridiculous.