can u help re cheapest gas provider and saving on text messages

[Francine]

i had some door knockers trying to see what i pay for gas saying that they would have put me on the highest amount this year as the govt gave out letters saying how much gas will go up and why.

do you know which is the cheapest and best to use in melbourne.

also finding i'm spending too much on texting. I like texts as they disturb peole less than phoning, but is there a plan that i can get them cheaper on.

thanks

francine.

 

[Deve]

http://smspup.com/ is pretty handy for sending sms's.

 

[auror]

Francine: for electricity and gas: http://www.choiceswitch.com.au/

 

[Francine]

cheaper texts and gas

thank for all that helpful advice

thanks re pup for free sms i really couldnt understand their website or what they do and wht the catches are.

do you have to have a phoen with them

can you tell me more please

francine.

thanks again

francine

 

[Lamingtons]

Francine, smspup is just a website that sends out sms.
It's not a telco provider so you don't have a phone with them.
Have you thought of capped plans?

 

[wylie]

I am on an Optus $29 cap plan and was paying double what I was paying on my Virgin plan. I have now added $5 per month which allows me unlimited free texts. My mobile bill is now back down but as soon as my plan is up I will be shopping around. Trouble is that it is difficult to compare apples with apples, and that is what they count on (I believe). It is often easier to stay with the old plan rather than try to make sense of all the different plans available, each with different pluses and minuses.

 

[Lamingtons]

I know what you mean Wylie. The problem with capped plans is that you have to constantly keep track otherwise you end up spending double of what you would under old plans. I find that capped plans are great for me and I have trouble going over my limit (i must be friendless).
What this girl at work did was look at her usage and calculated it for each telco.

 

[wylie]

Optus told me that once I went over the cap on my $29 plan my phone call costs were really high. Of course, they didn't tell me that when they sold the plan to me .

Anyway, live and learn. I text a lot more now and will give Optus the shaft if I can get a better deal. I may become a Virgin again .

 

[MissMuffitt]

Optus told me that once I went over the cap on my $29 plan my phone call costs were really high. Of course, they didn't tell me that when they sold the plan to me .

Anyway, live and learn. I text a lot more now and will give Optus the shaft if I can get a better deal. I may become a Virgin again .

Hubbie and I are both on Virgin, free to V.
So any calls or texts to each other are free. I'm on the $20/$50 plan and he is on the $30/$140.
I hardly ever call anyone on my mobile, I wait till I get home and use the 8c Voip!!

 

[sue78]

Miss Muffit - we are on the same plans except we're both on $30 plans. It's worth it for the extra $10. Hubby and I call each other and text a lot.

but it only works if all your friens andfamily are also on virgin.

 

[Project1080]

We've got "3" $29 plan for mobile. Got 1/2 price 1st 6 mths. $150 calls/sms in plan PLUS $160 3 to 3 per mth. Struggling to reach over $100 p/mth. The only reason I got "3" was that Optus, Vodaphone, Virgin don't get reception at our shack, but Telstra does. Telstra too dear but "3" uses Telstra towers when in not 3 areas, so it works fine. BTW it looks as though "3" & Vodaphone will be merging. Wait to see what happens.

Project 1080

The project: 10 IPs in 80 mths.

 

[THEHEATH]

I think it's hard to go past TPG's deal atm. $20 gets you $300 worth of text and/or calls. No contracts. http://www.tpg.com.au/mobile/plans.html

SMS pup works by sending you emails to a registered address. The emails are advertisements from companies. By clicking on the advertisement you are awarded (usually 1) points. 1 point = 1 sms. You send the sms's by logging into the smspup website (ie. you send them via the web, not via your phone) . Same process as logging into Somersoft and making a post. There is no catch. I have been with them for years. It can take a while to build up points. Sometimes you might get 4 or 5 emails in a week, other times you might get one. But because I hardly ever use it and have a mobile, I now have several hundred points accumulated.

 

[DavidMc]

For a plan I'd checkout TPG, it's damn cheap. Uses Optus network.

If you're on a budget though I'd say you can't beat prepaid. All of my friends on '$49' caps with $$$$$ of included texts and calls have never had a bill under $100. I recharge $30 per month or so. You can get prepaid topups with Optus that are more geared towards text users.

 

[Francine]

cheap texting and phone plans.

wow thanks for all that helpful info.

i still cant quite work out how smspups works and it doesnt sound very convenient if you have to have a computer near by.

David that doesnt sound very cheap if all those who have 49 caps never get a bill under $100

francine.

 

[Lamingtons]

That's not true Francine, my husband's mobile cap is $49 and is never over.
He has free mins to call me as we're both on 3.
I'm on $69 and I have international calling/SMS on my plan as well. I can always track and look online to see what the expenditure is.

 

[Francine]

cheaper gas, phone etc providers.

thanks for all that. yes someone else also mentioned the tpg plan to me on another thread and i think i finally will ge tsomeone to help me see how to use the pup texting.

how do tpg mobile phone plans work?

do they provide the phone, can i try it out for a few months and see how it compares to waht i am currently on or is it a 2 year commitment like some companies sign you up for.

i'd have to see what my usage is like and compare it how it would work i guess.

I wonder how people find also not having a homeline.

I use my home line when i'm making longer calls or 13 numbers which are more costly on my mobile phone plan.

i have an answering machine that picks up messages as messagebank on mobiles can be so costly.

That also protects me from being interupted all day which i would hate on my mobile phone. my mobile is mainly for outgoing calls and for my kids or emergency calls to me

and my homelline for taking messages without disturbing me and without the high costs of messagebanks on mobile phones
and for outgoing 13 or 1300 numbers and for long calls,
which are costly on my mobile.

we have had this home number for decades so its a big step for me to consider giving it up but i could do with not paying phone rental every month but then how would i manage for a cheaper messagebank so i'm not interupted
and for 13 numbers or longer phonecalls.

thanks so much

Francine.

 

[RumpledElf]

Have you tried just ringing the provider you're already with and seeing if they'll put you on a better plan that suits you better?

I totally ignore my phone bill and we have everything with Telstra so I can't give you a single tip. We're such antisocial little muppets we have quite low phone bills. I'm still paying for the phone at the old house and it doesn't even have anything plugged into it, it just redirects to our mobile (at our expense) if someone calls it.

My parents managed to get a free mobile and free calls (with a catch, of course, but one they religiously work with) and no monthly fee just because they were with the one provider for a few decades and never got a mobile. *******s. They have the exactly the same phone and plan as us but they pay $0 for theirs and we pay $20 a month for ours.

 

[craigb]

its all just a big rip if you ask me , they say spend $20 and get $300 for free than charge a 30% premium for the calls,
Then theirs free text but the calls are again charged at a premium, i can't see any that don't bundel some type of hidden value, its just like those frequent flyer points, you always pay some where down the line????? its a joke!

 

[ARF]

thanks for all that. yes someone else also mentioned the tpg plan to me on another thread and i think i finally will ge tsomeone to help me see how to use the pup texting.

how do tpg mobile phone plans work?

do they provide the phone, can i try it out for a few months and see how it compares to waht i am currently on or is it a 2 year commitment like some companies sign you up for.


Francine.

TPG don't have contracted periods so you can cancel anytime without penalty. Which is good, because they absolutely suck! They may say $19.99 / month gives you $300 worth of calls, but then they charge like a wounded bull at over $1 / min. I made $400 "worth" of calls in three days that would've been under my cap with Telstra. Some 20min calls showed up at $25!! Cancelled the plan on the spot, now with Vodafone pre-paid cap, haven't had a cost over $29 in a month yet.

 

[imonmyway]

i had some door knockers trying to see what i pay for gas saying that they would have put me on the highest amount this year as the govt gave out letters saying how much gas will go up and why.

do you know which is the cheapest and best to use in melbourne.

also finding i'm spending too much on texting. I like texts as they disturb peole less than phoning, but is there a plan that i can get them cheaper on.

thanks

francine.

The gas people that do that are lying to you, its a bit of a scam these sellers use to get you to change to there company. I regulalry get a company called Energy australia doing the same thing they even say they are a government department. Im on to it now though so chase them off.

Not sure if its relevant but I live in a Optus Cable area so cancelled the landline and bought a VOIP router wasnt that difficult to set up and now my home phone bill is about $5 per month with a inbound phone number and we make a lot of overseas calls.

I also set up a similar system at a friends place using Telstra Cable.

The VOIP company I use has free texting but it is not immediate can take a couple of house to go through.