Price Increase For Out Of Contract Customers - Continued

[Better Gary]

One other issue, not directly related.

i just received a PM from a melanieB offering to look into my query, she appears to be exetel staff by her 'rank'. And the username is in that light blue colour. She has asked for my service number which I assume is my phone number.

memberlist.php?mode=viewprofile&u=34649

The reason I raise this, is I thought MelanieB was legitimate as result of the checks I did, but after trying to reply to her PM, I find a message that says username doesnt exist? Not sure if its something to worry about, but better safe than sorry.

If I can get a response from FA on this in this thread, I will try and resend MelanieB the pm. Maybe its just some glitch, the members facility had not responded for a few minutes, so maybe the failed pm is related to whatever was causing members facilities to hang and Im just getting paranoid.

[SR]

Those screen caps look correct to me. $40 to change plans with no contract, or $0 to change plans with a contract.

Maybe FA thought you meant you were being charged extra $40 evry month? The $40 is a one-off plan change fee.

The post Im referring to of FA's is in reference to the change of plan fee so I doubt FA is confused on that but thanks anyway. The post said there would be no change of plan fee charged to customers who opted to change to a new plan as a result of killing off old plans. Which Im happy enough to do, I lose 20gig of peak dl by doing so, but gain some speed. I never use the gb allowance anyway, I think I got close once with peak but nowhere near on the offpeak.

Couple of things -

* I'm on an old plan (TL-BA) out of contract... if what you say is true, then I shouldn't be charged for a plan change, but my Service page shows a $40 plan change UNLESS I take up a new contract.

Now from looking back at old emails, I have been charged a $5.00 increase for OOC on discontinued plan + $3.00 administration charge, both for similar reasons (my old plan is "unviable") but now I get a notification that I am getting charged another $10 if I don't change plans, for the same reason. All within less than 12 months.

So thats 3 price changes, the same reason used three times, for a total of $18.00. Over the original plan base price, that's a 40% price increase. So to add on another $40.00 for a plan change that is effectively being forced on the end user is not only rude, it effectively raises the cost increase to over 50% over the original plan.

So why does exetel wish to penalise end users who are low volume/low speed users so much? because that's effectively what these fixed price increases (independent of volume) are doing.

I'm in the situation where I am a long way from the exchange, so T8 / ADSL2 services may not provide me with much of a performance increase over T1.5, there's no effective ADSL2 competitor to the telstra option to keep the prices down and with lower speed capability the likelihood of using high data volumes are not there. And I have to try and make every dollar stretch to go round, which was why exetel was my original choice of provider.

It would make better customer relations to offer discounts rather than penalties for updating plans or moving to new offerings, and for those of us on more marginal connections, at least providing say a 1 month try before you commit to see if the higher plan does work on your line.

after three extra charges imposed in less than 12 months, frankly I am reluctant to commit to any contract if the plan changes are going to continue to be unstable

[smithi]

Couple of things - [.. chomp ..]

So thats 3 price changes, the same reason used three times, for a total of $18.00. Over the original plan base price, that's a 40% price increase. So to add on another $40.00 for a plan change that is effectively being forced on the end user is not only rude, it effectively raises the cost increase to over 50% over the original plan.

Well to be fair, if you go onto a contract you a) avoid the $40 plan change fee and b) also lose that $3 'admin' fee .. at least until the contract period ends - it's not yet clear to me whether that fee will then be automatically reapplied or not.

So why does exetel wish to penalise end users who are low volume/low speed users so much? because that's effectively what these fixed price increases (independent of volume) are doing.

I'm in the situation where I am a long way from the exchange, so T8 / ADSL2 services may not provide me with much of a performance increase over T1.5, there's no effective ADSL2 competitor to the telstra option to keep the prices down and with lower speed capability the likelihood of using high data volumes are not there. And I have to try and make every dollar stretch to go round, which was why exetel was my original choice of provider.

I'm guessing your old plan was 1536/256? Last March we went to NF/1500 at $40 +$3 'admin' for 6+12GB +50c/GB, midnight-midday offpeak, which would have gone to $53 next month, well over my pensioner budget even if I dropped $2 in donations. I could have taken a 30GB+180GB (!!) plan on contract at $50 but have never exceeded the above quota, only coming close last month (xmas shopping by visiting rels :)

It would make better customer relations to offer discounts rather than penalties for updating plans or moving to new offerings, and for those of us on more marginal connections, at least providing say a 1 month try before you commit to see if the higher plan does work on your line.

after three extra charges imposed in less than 12 months, frankly I am reluctant to commit to any contract if the plan changes are going to continue to be unstable

Well if you go on a contract you're sure charges can't increase during that period.

I'm not sure how far is 'a long way' from your exchange; we're over 3km from a RIM, itself ~9km by fibre from the T-only exchange and tend to get 1250-1350kbps at best, so figure there'd be zero advantage trying 8Mbit here. The 8Mbit PAYU plan hasn't turned up as an option yet anyway, despite assurances that it would before the deadline, hmm.

Not whinging; we're lucky to get ADSL1 at all here, after Exetel helped work through the ACCC complaint shuffle to get Telstra to let Exetel connect us at all 2.5 years ago, and do appreciate Exetel's responsiveness to pleas by low usage customers - though from JL's blog figures, PAYU plans should still deliver Exetel a modest profit from even light users.

So I've just gone for the new T1.5-PAYU at $36/mth +$1/GB for 6 months, and assuming usage is similar to last year, expect to generally spend a bit less than at present, the kids knowing if they 'need' that 4GB something they can put $4 in the kitty, thanks :)

After that presumably stable period, we'll see which way the Exetel winds shall blow ..

cheers, Ian

[CoreyPlover]

So why does exetel wish to penalise end users who are low volume/low speed users so much? because that's effectively what these fixed price increases (independent of volume) are doing.

The whole industry will probably phase out low volume / low speed plans soon. They are just not cost effective any more

[Steerpike]

Hi Paulp

I've sent you a PM on Thu Jan 27, 7:55 am regarding my situation.

Could you please have a look when you get the chance? Thank you.

Regards

Hi there

I've logged into my member facility and found that it has a set of different plans for upgrade when compared to the ones published on Exetel's website.

There were two tables to choose from. One is "ADSL2 (No Telephone)" and a "Special Offer For "Naked" ADSL2 Upgrade to Bundled ADSL2 with Telephone Service". Is that correct? I am limited by those choices?

Also, I can only see included downloads, but it doesn't provide details of peak and offpeak data downloads. Does it mean its for all day??

I am currently on the following plan:
Plan Type: NF/22BYOLINE
Monthly Access Charge: $40.00
Peak Download Limit (Mbyte): 30000
Peak Period Option: 12:00pm - 12:00am
Excess Downloads per Gbyte: $0.50
OffPeak Download Limit (Mbyte): 60000
OffPeak Excess Downloads per Gbyte: $0.50

Am I am supposed to respond to Exetel by end Jan to change the plans to avoid the $10 add-on?

I will be moving home during mid 2011. If I upgrade the plans now, will I be subjected to any penalty?

Kindly advice, thank you.

- Yes those two options are correct.
- Those new plans dont have peak/off peak but total usage for that month irrespective of when during the month
- Before Feb 1 you should decide whether you wish to go onto one of the new plans or indeed stay on your current plan. If you stay and do nothing then it will increase by $10
- If you upgrade to the OCV plans and move within the contract there will be no charge, but it means the contract period will be reset to the date you've moved to your new place.

[paulp]

Steerpike,

I cant see a message from you.

Can you please PM me your problem and I'll look into it.

[QPR_FC]

Exetel made the Order request to change my service from Naked NF22 to OCV200 a couple of weeks ago whilst on the phone to Sales...they told me my new PSTN would arrive within 5 business days....its been 10 and counting.

I really need this new PSTN to update all my contacts/accounts etc.

When are the new PSTN being sent out if they haven't been already? If they have, would you please look into this for me?

Steven

[paulp]

Hi QPR_FC,

These should be done within 24-48 hours from now.

[richie]

On the 1st of Jan2010 my plan was changed from a T1.5 to a T8 plan.
Both "out of contract". The plan change fee was $40. On the same day
I got the email about the price increases from Feb2010. If I accept the
$10 increase and don't take up a plan, will I be charged another $40 fee?
Twice in the space of 1 month? Surely not!

Richie

[Better Gary]

On the 1st of Jan2010 my plan was changed from a T1.5 to a T8 plan.
Both "out of contract". The plan change fee was $40. On the same day
I got the email about the price increases from Feb2010. If I accept the
$10 increase and don't take up a plan, will I be charged another $40 fee?
Twice in the space of 1 month? Surely not!

Richie

As I read it, if you pay the additional $10/mth, you wouldnt be changing plans from what you are on now. Thus no additional $40 change of plan fee, as it isnt changing.

[SR]

Well if you go on a contract you're sure charges can't increase during that period.

I'm not sure how far is 'a long way' from your exchange; we're over 3km from a RIM, itself ~9km by fibre from the T-only exchange and tend to get 1250-1350kbps at best, so figure there'd be zero advantage trying 8Mbit here. The 8Mbit PAYU plan hasn't turned up as an option yet anyway, despite assurances that it would before the deadline, hmm.

Not whinging; we're lucky to get ADSL1 at all here, after Exetel helped work through the ACCC complaint shuffle to get Telstra to let Exetel connect us at all 2.5 years ago, and do appreciate Exetel's responsiveness to pleas by low usage customers - though from JL's blog figures, PAYU plans should still deliver Exetel a modest profit from even light users.

So I've just gone for the new T1.5-PAYU at $36/mth +$1/GB for 6 months, and assuming usage is similar to last year, expect to generally spend a bit less than at present, the kids knowing if they 'need' that 4GB something they can put $4 in the kitty, thanks

After that presumably stable period, we'll see which way the Exetel winds shall blow ..

cheers, Ian

Thanks Ian,

remember that the 1.5Mbit and speeds under that is an "artificial" limit imposed by the programming of the DSLAM - you may be able to achieve a little better that this - generally most ADSL modems have a command that displays the maximum possible line speed based on the SNR and attenuation. But of course when you up the speed you also usually consume more. But for me the penny dropped when I realised that my old plan had unlimited off-peak downloads - that's obviously what exetel want to take out of the system by "penalising" any user who wishes to stay with it. But not being a nerdy nightowl into filesharing my offpeak usage was a fraction of peak - but looks like I'm a persona-non-gratis. So maybe I'll take the hint and look around for another ISP with better off-net pricing.

Ironic isn't it, I've probably been contributing to the exetel profit, but this time they pushed once too often. Ce'st la vie and goodnight.

[marrow]

Whew 2 threads with 55 pages

Read through most and couldn't find answer

My question - Sorry if has been asked

I'm on old plan

$35 + $3 admin =$38

Does increase 0f S10 mean

$45 from Feb

or $45 + $3 admin = $48

As I prefer 12-12 offpeak

Thanks in advance

Marrow

Long time happy exetel customer

[nihonjin]

marrow my understanding is yes that you will pay 35 + 3 +10 = 48 from 1st Feb.

[ForumAdmin]

Whew 2 threads with 55 pages

Read through most and couldn't find answer

My question - Sorry if has been asked

I'm on old plan

$35 + $3 admin =$38

Does increase 0f S10 mean

$45 from Feb

or $45 + $3 admin = $48

As I prefer 12-12 offpeak

Thanks in advance

Marrow

Long time happy exetel customer

The new plans have a ten hour of peak period but it extends to 2 pm each day so, in that way it is more valuable because it increases the 'day light hours when keyboard activity will be used.

[bobolink]

Forumadmin, I want to make sure I have updated my plan before the end of the month ( to T256-PAYU ).Tried to do this on the New Clients site, which replied my registration already existed.Don't recall doing the change, so how can I check what plan I'm on, & change if necessary? Thanks.