Price Increases For Out Of Contract Customers

[aparashk]

I am on the Z/21INCTEL plan, out of contract. Can I change to OCV200 and keep my PSTN number with that? Or would my current PSTN number need to be made my VOIP number with that plan? Can OCV200 take incoming PSTN line calls? I find this 'Naked', but not really, plan quite confusing.

INCTEL and OCV are both Optus, so I'm sure it is possible to keep your current PSTN line and number unchanged under the OCV plan. The "Naked but not really" plan is really a "ADSL2+ and telephone" plan; the PSTN line is a completely normal phone line and will accept calls as usual.

Thank you CoreyPlover. I have digged deep but could not find this information captured anywhere. I do think that for anyone but the lightest phone user the OCV200 plans represent great value due to the included calls. The only comparable plan I could find is Yes Fusion $79, but that is $19 more and 80GB less.

I cannot change to OCV200 via my Member Area options, though. I should probably call support tomorrow to confirm the details of a changeover.


Regards,
Atanas

[schwobj]

I am currently on a 'NF/512' plan. Can you please advise an *equivalent* plan that I may change to, in order to avoid the $10.00 price increase? Obviously I find this sort of price hike (+30%) totally unacceptable.

[Col]

I think there's been a change to the wording since I posted what you replied to. I waiting for clarification on which is the correct wording below:
"From ForumAdmin:
2) If you have paid for a plan change since October 1st 2010 then any charge made will be credited against any charge incurred in signing for a new plan this month.

2) If you have been charged for a plan change since October 1st 2010 then that charge will be refunded to you before the end of February - provided you have selected a new contract when you changed plans this month"

If the later is the correct one then I assume I can still go onto the 12 month contract for OT30 this month and the $40 charge from Jan 1 will be refunded. Again, awaiting confirmation on this.

Ah. I see the confusion now. Effectively you are asking "which plan change/contract extension is reimbursed/reversed; the current one, or the prior one"

Sort of. Assuming I sign up for OT30 12 contract now, then I would not incur any "change plan charge" (regardless of what happened last month). Based on that, the way the the first statement is writen, I would not get any refund, because "I would not have incurred a new change plan charge", therefore nothing to credit back against. But other way its written, slight variation, seems to be not tying the refund to any new charges, it's just saying, sign up to 12 months and we'll refund the $40 we charged on Jan 1.

In case I wasn't clear, please note: the two statements with "2)" infront of them have been copied from within these 28 pages. They are one and the same, it's just that at some point it was edited from A to B.

And also the first statement seems to imply that if you take the $40 existing contract option you will get any previous plan change fee (since 1st Oct) credited to your account. Yet the second statement implies that you need to go on a new contract to see any reimbursement. That's looking at it the way customers not wanting a new contract would look at it, instead of Nekcarccm's new contract perspective.

[CoreyPlover]

I am on the Z/21INCTEL plan, out of contract. Can I change to OCV200 and keep my PSTN number with that? Or would my current PSTN number need to be made my VOIP number with that plan? Can OCV200 take incoming PSTN line calls? I find this 'Naked', but not really, plan quite confusing.

INCTEL and OCV are both Optus, so I'm sure it is possible to keep your current PSTN line and number unchanged under the OCV plan. The "Naked but not really" plan is really a "ADSL2+ and telephone" plan; the PSTN line is a completely normal phone line and will accept calls as usual.

Thank you CoreyPlover. I have digged deep but could not find this information captured anywhere. I do think that for anyone but the lightest phone user the OCV200 plans represent great value due to the included calls. The only comparable plan I could find is Yes Fusion $79, but that is $19 more and 80GB less.

I cannot change to OCV200 via my Member Area options, though. I should probably call support tomorrow to confirm the details of a changeover.

That is the best course of action. I think there has been unresolved confusion as to whether something like INCTEL -> OCV is possible. Calling support or sales will be able to confirm this.

[CoreyPlover]

I am currently on a 'NF/512' plan. Can you please advise an *equivalent* plan that I may change to, in order to avoid the $10.00 price increase? Obviously I find this sort of price hike (+30%) totally unacceptable.

In order to compare to something "equivalent", what inclusions does your NF/512 have and at what cost?

If you are a light user, there are the T.256-PAYU (for a slower 256kbps service) and T1.5-PAYU for a faster one where you pay $27 and $36 respectively and then just pay $1/GB for what you use

If you are a moderate or higher user (more than 14GB usage per month it works out), then the next step up is the T1.5-30 for $50/month.

It is increasingly hard for Exetel to provide low cost ADSL1 services because of the charges incurred, though you can offset costs by bundling mobile with your plan. In fact, if it is available then ADSL2+ is cheaper (as is evident by the A-PAYU for $25 per month + $2/GB and A30 for $45/month.

Edit: Usage for A-PAYU corrected. Thanks Col

[Col]

It is increasingly hard for Exetel to provide low cost ADSL1 services because of the charges incurred, though you can offset costs by bundling mobile with your plan. In fact, if it is available then ADSL2+ is cheaper (as is evident by the A-PAYU for $25 per month + $1/GB and A30 for $45/month.

A-PAYU is $25/mth + $2/GB. I would hope Exetel would fuse the periods together so that 200MB in one period and 200MB in the other doesn't equate to $4, but instead $2. Perhaps the same for the other PAYU plans, where 200MB+200MB would only cost $1 instead of $2.

[ldeck]

1) There are three plans that include free local, national and calls to Optus mobiles.
2) Optus mobiles = any Optus mobile number irrespective of re-seller.

1) Which plans are that?

Hi there,

1) I've just read through all 29 pages of this forum's discussion and I didn't find a clear answer to the above question (from page 2 or 3). It'd be great if this could be clarified.

Furthermore, I switched to plan OTA back in July '10 and the possible plans that are presented to me in the user facilities (OT-PAYU, OT30, OT60, OT100, & OT200) do not mention anything about free local (etc) calls. The call charges that are mentioned are below.

Thanks.

• Line Rental: $30.00
  Local calls: 20 cents (untimed)
  National calls: 15 cents per min *
  Calls to mobiles: 35 cents per min *
  13/1300 Calls: 30 cents per call
  International... (etc)

So are the free calls for plans unavailable to me or does the information need to be updated in the user facilities? (It would help save confusion if the options presented in the user facilities, which are after all what you're officially digitally signing for, accurate and up to date).

Thanks.

Btw, it seems to me that much confusion would be saved if there was a single webpage that clarified all pricing and plans. An FAQ based on this forum could save others wading through the discussion trying to find the consensus of answers.

[Nekcarccm]

I think there's been a change to the wording since I posted what you replied to. I waiting for clarification on which is the correct wording below:
"From ForumAdmin:
2) If you have paid for a plan change since October 1st 2010 then any charge made will be credited against any charge incurred in signing for a new plan this month.

2) If you have been charged for a plan change since October 1st 2010 then that charge will be refunded to you before the end of February - provided you have selected a new contract when you changed plans this month"

If the later is the correct one then I assume I can still go onto the 12 month contract for OT30 this month and the $40 charge from Jan 1 will be refunded. Again, awaiting confirmation on this.

Sort of. Assuming I sign up for OT30 12 contract now, then I would not incur any "change plan charge" (regardless of what happened last month). Based on that, the way the the first statement is writen, I would not get any refund, because "I would not have incurred a new change plan charge", therefore nothing to credit back against. But other way its written, slight variation, seems to be not tying the refund to any new charges, it's just saying, sign up to 12 months and we'll refund the $40 we charged on Jan 1.

In case I wasn't clear, please note: the two statements with "2)" infront of them have been copied from within these 28 pages. They are one and the same, it's just that at some point it was edited from A to B.

And also the first statement seems to imply that if you take the $40 existing contract option you will get any previous plan change fee (since 1st Oct) credited to your account. Yet the second statement implies that you need to go on a new contract to see any reimbursement. That's looking at it the way customers not wanting a new contract would look at it, instead of Nekcarccm's new contract perspective.

Yes, good point. Hopefully then both are valid depending on whether members want to go "contract" or "no contract".

[vbap]

1) I've just read through all 29 pages of this forum's discussion and I didn't find a clear answer to the above question (from page 2 or 3). It'd be great if this could be clarified.

I believe the three plans are OCV200, OCV200/19 and OCV200/35. In other words, only the new "Naked" plans have included free calls.
There have been several posts from users who do not see these plans as an option in the CHange Service function of their user facilities. There are probably various reasons for this, but usually an email to residential sales can sort it out if you want to change to one of those plans. I believe the staff are still working on updating the systems.

Btw, it seems to me that much confusion would be saved if there was a single webpage that clarified all pricing and plans. An FAQ based on this forum could save others wading through the discussion trying to find the consensus of answers.

Agree, an FAQ was started on the "Naked USers Forgotten" thread but it's not very prominent. Ironically, the staff are probably too busy answering questions to draft up a FAQ list!

[Triggery]

So are the free calls for plans unavailable to me or does the information need to be updated in the user facilities?

This post by ForumAdmin indicates that the OCV plans should be available in the Members Facilities by the end of this week for Optus Bundled customers: viewtopic.php?p=285751#p285751

An FAQ based on this forum could save others wading through the discussion trying to find the consensus of answers.

There is a FAQ for the OCV plans on the website at: http://www.exetel.com.au/faq_naked_adsl2_ocv.php

[Ravenous]

In the members facility, I have noticed that there is no cross-infrastructure Plan Changes from Telstra available for someone I help their account with. That is no change currently available from Telstra plans to Optus or AAPT plans. Is this temporary or permanent? We are looking at what are options are indeed available in light of the 'old plan' price increases.

I have repeated the Service Availability Checks with availability confirmed for both.

[paulp]

Hi,

I am happy to proceed with the changes (either OCV200 or OCV200/19) however I would like clarification on a few points. (Our current exetel service is: NF/22NOTEL)

1a) I am living in a unit above a shop and i believe (in the past at least) that optus would not provide services for these types of dwellings. Are you aware of this since/has their policy changed?

1b) If we are unable to connect to the optus provided option/service would this compel us to remain on the current one and pay the $10 increase? Are there other options (excluding leaving)

2a) I will be moving away from this residence in the middle of November (to go overseas so almost certainly wont need to transfer the service). What is the fee for canceling (in this case 2 months early)? Are there any other alternatives that you could suggest - right now i suspect i pay the remaining two months out as a penalty.

2b) If i also purchase the mobile 19 cap as part of the bundled package (OCV200/19) and i cancel in November can i continue with the mobile service for a while longer?

2c) do we pay the $20 sim fee if ordering the OCV200/19 option?

3) Is there any benefit in purchasing a mobile phone through you at the same time?

4a) Will you provide set up instructions (i am very technology illerate) for initially setting up the PSTN phone and also how to switch between PSTN and VOIP for the phone.

4b) can we still use the VOIP phone or softphone to make cheaper international calls - in my case 2c / min calls to China mobiles

4c) can we bar international calls on the PSTN phone

4d) and also bar mobile calls on the PSTN line/phone?

1a - I see no reason why Optus cant provision a service to your location. We have done units/multi dwelling units in the past.

1b - Only other option would be changing products but that would mean going back to Telstra for line rental as our other products need this as a pre-requisite.

2a - There should be penalty of relocating within contract.

2b - You should be able to

2c - No.

3 - Purchasing mobile cap plans discounts your ADSL bill by $10. So Yes.

4 - You're confusing two things here. We can activate the phone for you by default with a random number within 3 working days from the plan change commencement. The phone will simply work and you can plug a handset (along with the necessary filter). In regards to PSTN to VOIP, which takes longer, there will be details such as username and pass details as well as SIP details to put into your router /ATA. We have documentation (http://exewiki.exetel.com.au/index.php? ... ip_support) or you can call support to help set you up.

4b - for your voip number, sure.

4c - yes

4d - No.

[mistrdamage]

Getting extremely annoyed at all this changing. Exetel keeps telling me that if I don't like it then go elsewhere. I am that much away from doing just that including the mobile phone and my internet server. How a professional business can keep telling people to go elsewhere is beyond me. I don't profess to know the working mechanics in running an ISP but I do know that if Exetel keeps going like this with all the hostile competition around, it will become EXTINCT . The customers that have remained have only done so out of LOYALTY and due to cult like status many staying because they were there from the start up. Well it wears thin Exetel and even these customers will leave. When you have too little customers with bills to pay then you may change your attitude but it may also be too late

[CoreyPlover]

In the members facility, I have noticed that there is no cross-infrastructure Plan Changes from Telstra available for someone I help their account with. That is no change currently available from Telstra plans to Optus or AAPT plans. Is this temporary or permanent? We are looking at what are options are indeed available in light of the 'old plan' price increases.

I have repeated the Service Availability Checks with availability confirmed for both.

Not sure if temporary or permanent (I'd guess temporary though). You can either wait a week or 2 to see if they appear, or contact sales directly on residentialsales@exetel.com.au to request such a change

[CoreyPlover]

How a professional business can keep telling people to go elsewhere is beyond me. I don't profess to know the working mechanics in running an ISP but I do know that if Exetel keeps going like this with all the hostile competition around, it will become EXTINCT.

Exetel's management style has been unchanged in all its operation, they have been in business 7 years and are continually growing. You are correct though: "you don't know the working mechanics in running an ISP". Granted, I'm sure most users would welcome a reduction in the frequency of plan changes, but I'm afraid the rest of your post is pure speculation, opinion, and largely incorrect as suggested by the results of Broadband surveys (for instance, levels of satisfaction and decision drivers of customers).