Mobile Phone Plans

[Jan]

Good Afternoon All. I am thinking of changing my Telstra Post Paid Mobile Plan. I still want to stay on the Telstra Network, and had been thinking of going with Woolworths. However once I started looking into it more closely, Woolworths has a lot of bad reviews. I went onto the Whirlpool Forums and saw a lot of talk about Boost and Belong. However these too had their fair share of negative commentary. Yesterday I spent hours trawling through Whirlpool, Whistleout, Finder and Canstar Blue, and in the end my head was about to explode, and I am no further along deciding what to do.

So I am looking for any input from any of you regarding any experience you have had with these any of these MVNOs. Everytime I think I have settled on one of them, I read something than makes me re-think! It seems the various reviews and rankings, just look at the overall package and cost. What I am more concerned about is reliability of the service, and ease of access to customer service if something does go wrong. I realise that in a lot of cases, people only comment when they have had bad experiences, and don't bother when they have good experiences, so it can look a bit lop-sided!

I await your comments with baited breath!!

[Gully]

I'm with Boost and I think strictly speaking they are not a MVNO as they use the full Telstra Retail network whereas the MVNOs use the wholesale network (less coverage) and can be speedcapped. (Though Boost is starting to speedcap depending on plan)

I've been very happy with them.

[Jan]

I'm with Boost and I think strictly speaking they are not a MVNO as they use the full Telstra Retail network whereas the MVNOs use the wholesale network (less coverage) and can be speedcapped. (Though Boost is starting to speedcap depending on plan)

I've been very happy with them.

Thanks so much Gully! How long have you been with them? Yes, I knew Boost used the full network. I was surprised to see that Belong, although being a division of Telstra, only used the wholesale network!

[Gully]

Just over 3 years.

I think Belong is their budget brand so as you say doesn't quite offer the same level.

[Jan]

Just over 3 years.

Great, that's enough time to have experienced the good and the bad, so if you are very happy with them after that time, then it's a good sign. Also, I just sent them a message with a question via their FB page, and it was answered immediately, so that is also a good sign!

[Gully]

Good to hear.

[dwd1249]

Another happy Boost user,both wife and I. Never had any problems with them.

[garyvx]

I'm with Boost (9 months) and the Wife is with Belong (4-5 years), both seem solid but when we travel I definitely have better coverage.
Boost was not around when I signed my wife up, and with all her accumulated data its not worth moving her.

Regards Gary

[rfmoore]

I’ve been with boost for at least 8 years on a $30/20Gb prepaid plan and am completely satisfied with them although the are going to limit my download speed to 150mbps from April. I occasionally stream from streaming services directly to my phone or tether it to my tv via Crome cast, have never run out of data.

Reg

[Jan]

Thank you everyone for your opinions! I think I will go with Boost. I will probably go for the 365 day $200 option. Around $16 per month as opposed to the $58 I am currently paying with Telstra!! I don't think the data will be an issue for me, because pretty much all my heavy use with streaming etc, is done at home via wifi. I barely touch my included data with Telstra each month. Now that Telstra don't give a well-priced Kayo subscription included in their small plans, and Kayo subsciptions have gone up, I will still come out way ahead! The first time I subscribed with Kayo, it was $5, now my current one is $15, then when that expires in March, it will be $30 for two streams! I share with my Grandson who loves NBA!!

[prl]

I had a look at the Boost 12 month $200 plan, clicked on its Critical Information Summary link, and got a " The page you’re looking for couldn’t be found" page. Not too impressed by that.

I tried looking at the CIS for the $300 plan, and it had the info I wanted to look at for the $200 plan, but when i clicked on what looked like its link to the international roaming pack, it seems it's just coloured like a link, but isn't one. And because the panel it's in is an image, not text, so I can't copy/paste the link either. But at least the link worked when I typed it in.

Sometimes I really wonder about Web site designers.

[Jan]

I had a look at the Boost 12 month $200 plan, clicked on its Critical Information Summary link, and got a " The page you’re looking for couldn’t be found" page. Not too impressed by that.

I tried looking at the CIS for the $300 plan, and it had the info I wanted to look at for the $200 plan, but when i clicked on what looked like its link to the international roaming pack, it seems it's just coloured like a link, but isn't one. And because the panel it's in is an image, not text, so I can't copy/paste the link either. But at least the link worked when I typed it in.

Sometimes I really wonder about Web site designers.

That is weird Peter. I can't recall having an issue when looking at the CIS's over the past couple of days, but yes just now, it is as you said. The 28 Day Plans links work as well. Perhaps I didn't ever use the $200 plan link and got there from one of the other links!! I had used the Roaming link at the top of the home page, and that still works without having to type in the URL.

[prl]

I found three different ways to get to the 200GB CIS. One works, in the other two, the link is broken.

If you go to the Boost home page, and then click on Plans in the top par, then click the 12 Month Plans button, and then click on the Critical Information Summary link under the $200 plan, you get the CIS page.

If you go (back) to the Boost home page, and click on Shop>12 Month SIMS, then click on the image for the $200 plan, open the What's Included list, and click on the Critical Information Summary there, that link is broken.

Similarly, if you click on the image of the $200 plan on the home page, the same happens as if you go via Shop>12 Month SIMS and select the plan there.

[prl]

I thought I'd let Boost know about the broken links, so I got onto their Help/Support chat. Was answered by a robot. After a couple of tries, I was able to convince it that it really didn't know how to address my problem, and I got handed off to an actual human.

I explained the problem, and gave them instructions about how to replicate the problem. They said, "go to this link, it works and has the correct CIS link".

I said "this is the URL of the page that has the problem, and this is where to click the link that's broken", and then "this is the broken URL that it's using".

While I was doing that, I got sent a link to the actual CIS page, and a pasted copy of its contents.

Then I was told that the second link wasn't on their Web page (well that would rather explain why it was broken, wouldn't it?).

Then I re-explained that I'd actually found what I was looking for (despite their Web page design's efforts to thwart me) and reposted the link to the $200 SIM page that had the broken link and told them a second time where the link was and that they needed to click to see the problem. That, at last, got through.

[Gully]

Well done. Shame it took some persistence!

[prl]

Well done. Shame it took some persistence!

Thanks.

As Don Watson said in Weasel Words: "Help desk: Not a desk. Doesn't help" (even when you're trying to help them).

[Jan]

Well done Peter! I admire your dedication and perseverance!

[prl]

Thanks. The link is still broken, but it's probably too early to expect that it would be fixed.

[JimHowell]

I tried to contact the admin and was told it was fixed

[prl]

I had a bit of a play with the links that were broken when I last tried, and they do seem to be fixed now.