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Hey guys,
I'm in market looking for another phone company, we're currently with M3 Communications and we aren't happy with them (bec we have to pay overdue fee, at that time its printed, you gotta pay 6 days later, by the time we get it its 3 days gone, 3 days remaining, and my wife gets paid once a month and we usually hold on the bills till her pay day and we get hit with overdue)

SO..... we're looking for -
Rarely use phone, only uses phone for incoming calls.
ICE (in case emergency)
So we're looking something like... $20 a month for line rental, but needs a phone like for ADSL - I know naked ADSL but I dont want to get it.

Does anyone know any better company?
Cheers
AP

When I was looking a few months ago, Telstra was the cheapest - around $20 compared with $30ish for the smaller companies (who mostly resell Telstra products). I don't like doing business with them, but for fixed lines they're cheap and reliable.

The other option to consider is your ISP, if they offer decent phone/internet bundles.

Dane.

have you both got mobiles?

naked ADSL + voip

line rental isn't an issue then. I use voip for national / international calls and just use my mobile to call other mobiles

vincentvega wrote:have you both got mobiles?

naked ADSL + voip

line rental isn't an issue then. I use voip for national / international calls and just use my mobile to call other mobiles

Yeah Ive spoken/thought about it. My wife isn't computer geek and she doesnt like the idea of having voip, rather have landline phone sitting there and a lot of our family members dont like calling on mobiles... Yes we both are with three.
Cheers
AP

You can get Voip phones that act exactly like normal telephones, except they have a an extra data cable. Dail exactly the same as normal phone.

I have a little used land line with the company I would rather not recommend in a fit. I have this little orange T logo from a name tag neatly positioned on the back wall of a toilet bowl to aim at for a quieter pee. I think it is the pensioner style rate of 21.95 anyone can get. Local calls when made are 30 cents. You can opt for capped $3 std calls either for day or night, not both, and anytime rate is about 26 cents a minute. ask them more info.


tt eeeee lll eeeee cccc ooooo mmmmm or PMG was its really old name

vincentvega wrote:have you both got mobiles?

naked ADSL + voip

line rental isn't an issue then. I use voip for national / international calls and just use my mobile to call other mobiles

Yup. that's the best option. You just plug your normal phone into the modem and use it the same as always. Use your mobiles to call other mobiles and the internet is really fast. Your family still use the same phone number or. if you don't have a telstra line, you may need to get a new number.

Matt wrote:You can get Voip phones that act exactly like normal telephones, except they have a an extra data cable. Dail exactly the same as normal phone.

What about emergency ie. 000?
Cheers
AP

AlpineRaven wrote:What about emergency ie. 000?
Cheers
AP

000 should work fine.

My gripes about VOIP:
-"press 1 for whatever" menus don't work
-adsl failure = phone failure
-have to get a new number (if you're going naked)

But I understand why it's very good for some people.

Dane.

DTMF menus will work perfectly if you set it up properly.

ADSL failure = phone failure. go wiht a decent ISP and you wont have too many issues. I highly recommend internode. When the adsl is down you use your mobile(s) for emergency. Thats why I asked if you have mobile phones.

Some VOIP providers let you take your number with you

internode has a discount on voip if you go with there naked dsl plan too

AP - 000 works from VoIP but all VoIP providers have a disclaimer that states something about VoIP lines not able to be tracked.

We currently have an ADSL account with Supernerd (Optus based ISP) and found they are very cheap and reliable. VoIP is seriously the cheapest way to go.

You can goto bc.whirlpool.net.au to get an idea of current plans that are around. I strongly suggest AGAINST telstra, sure you get cheap line rental but if you have ever had to call them for any reason you would soon realise how annoying they are. The BC website i listed above will give you ideas into costs of line rental as well. Currently Optus and Optus based ISP's seem to have the lowest rates.

I'm a computer tech - VoIP is fine and extremely easy to use, its essentially the exact same as using a normal phone once everything is set up.