I am looking to move from my beloved $17 vaya plan to Aldi mobile or Kogan Telechoice mobile because I have just moved into a new house and get no reception.
Telechoice Kogan seem to have the better deals however I am unable to try it in my home as they only offer post paid plans.
I bought a $5 Aldi sim, tested it and it worked a charm.
I know they both use the Telstra Wholesale network but is there any chance that Kogan won't work?
Is it still using the Telstra network like Kogan Mobile originally did? If so, those plans look pretty good value.
EDIT: Comment in the deal suggests it is Telstra, my bad.
Those aren't Kogan plans, I'm pretty sure it's just offers that Telechoice are/were doing for people who had to port out of Kogan Mobile when it was closed down.
This is true, but telechoice seems to have kept it going. I signed up to the $20 Kogan plan a month ago just fine from TPG. Kogan plans on telechoice are 12 month contracts compared to the 24 month contracts on the equivalent normal plans.
But they are on the Optus network right?
lol I thought you knew what you were talking about (above), and couldn't understand why you were being neg'd for being helpful.
@flagger: The only thing Telechoice have in common with the former koganmobile is they offer 12 month plans v their usual 24 month offerings.
Kogan plans were popular because they offered unlimited calls and 6GB data for $29.95 month to month and even cheaper if you paid for 3 or 12 months upfront.
Even a year after you can (even if you weren't a Kogan customer) utilise one of these. Otherwise TC plans have nothing to do with Kogan and none have unlimited calls - certainly not for 30 bucks.
I've been with TC for 6 months and once setup which took more than a week to do in our case, everything's fine apart from their useless usage meter which they claim can be up to 48 hours behind but in my experience this can be 5 days. Also be aware that data used on the last day of your billing month may get carried over into the next months allowance.
I sign up to the $28 Telechoice Kogan plan. It's on the Telstra network. It is fantastic!!! They email you when you've used 50 % of your plan value
Except its 48 hours late…
Is it safe to assume that because Aldi works, Kogan will? The reason i'm asking is because Kogan make you sign up to a 12 month plan.
There is no Kogan mobile.
Sorry, meant Telechoice Kogan.
Why are you so stubborn…There is no kogan.Period.
Then what does the KM stand for in the plan?
stay with aldi?
I'm with Vaya as clearly stated in my post.
You did clearly state that you bought aldi and worked like a charm.
Kogan, Aldi and not Telechoice were/are operating on the same network (Telstra 3G) so yes they will all work the same. However they each have their own customer service departments so user experience during issues (personally I didn't have one while I was with Kogan or Aldi who I am with now).
If you do opt for Telechoice and if you happen to be a Essendon Bombers supporter then you get a couple of things if you sign up through the Bombers (although why anyone would want a screen protector with an image etched in to it is beyond me) -
https://www.telechoice.com.au/about/news/mobile-plans/bomber…
Not sure if there are offers for any other clubs
I have a spare phone on Aldi prepaid which I give to visitors. I recently had a problem of my own making and their help desk could not been any better. It appears to have same reception as my regular Telstra service
Wow, a spare phone to give to visitors - what a good idea. Saves the visitor spending their holiday working it all out for themselves (Getting a local SIM, Possibly locked phone, possibly bad reception etc)
The 'Kogan' Telechoice offer has nothing with Kogan Mobile as it was, other than (along with the 'Kogan' Yatango offer at the time) to have served as a bit of a public-relations exercise for all concerned in the wake of the ispONE/Kogan debacle.
OP, for a Telstra-network option that may suit you, read my first comment in this thread: www.ozbargain.com.au/node/149936
I'm with ALDI, but Telechoice is better value for data, plus they charge data in 10kB increments rather than 1MB increments with ALDI.
Still, if 1GB of data is enough for you, ALDI at least gives you the flexibility to move when you like as you are not locked in.
Reception should be the same on each.
Aldi is great if you don't want to use much (eg $15 for 365 days) or if sometimes don't use much - you can just add a $20 or $30 or $35 bolt-on for months that you need more.
I've just ported from Aldi to Telechoice (Kogan option - 12 month contract for price of 24 month) because I permanently want a bit of data and SMS.
Be careful comparing the included value - Aldi prices are good, Telechoice's are ridiculous. International SMS are not included, and you might discover that your phone secretly sends international SMS (my Samsung texts India whenever I take SIM out it seems.) That costs me 50c a pop, and is not covered by the allowance.
I'm really concerned about the fact that their excessive usage warnings are 2 days late.
But I get 1G of data @ 1K rather than 300M @ 1M, and unlimited national SMS, so I'm hoping I made a good choice.
Why on earth would your phone send a message to India by itself? I've never heard of this before.
Is the phone originally from India and Telechoice is charging you for your phone searching for its network? Would switching the Network settings from automatic to Telstra (or whatever Telechoice shows up as) fix this?
Also about the 2 day late warnings they drive me insane. The phone networks can easily get and send this information instantly as evidenced by pre paid, if you run out of pre paid data then you get a message within 15 seconds and you can no longer use data. So clearly they have the capabilities but they don't make money from warning people they are just about to go over, they make money when people find out they went over days ago.
Since they've proven that they have the capabilities this 2 day delay needs to be scrapped, understandable for a full breakdown to be on a 2 day delay but not information that's instantly available to them.
Agreed Mark..
I'd be doing a factory reset on that phone.. sounds very dodgy that it's sending SMS to India when (presumably*) inserting a SIM.
My iPhone does this also. When you upgrade firmware/restore the phone, it will send an international text to activate iMessage. Terrible design.
If you want better reception in more places, then also consider Boost.. Also a Telstra Reseller, but they exclusively (apart from Telstra) have access to the entire Telstra 3G network.
ALDI/Telechoice (and Kogan when they existed) only have access to the parts of the 3G network that roughly overlap Optus/Vodafone's coverage.
FWIW, Boost is owned wholly by Telstra, same as Optus owns Virgin.
It's not, Boost is an independent company that has partnered up with Telstra to use the whole Telstra 3G network.
I'll tell you guys this upfront, Telechoice's billing is VERY VERY dodgy…
Twice in 5 months now, my wife got charged $15 extra for excessive data usage, it was direct debited without her knowledge until she noticed the bill was more than $20/month as per sign up. She definitely didn't use more than 1gb, as 90% of the time she uses wifi. Telechoice only refunded her the difference after we emailed them. They simply just said it's system error….bloody dodgy!!
P/S don't even dream about getting to their customer service number….they almost NEVER answer. Email is the only way you could get any answer from them
On behalf of your wife, you, the OP, and various others in the thread, may like to ponder the new Telstra-network plans on Lycamobile, instead.
www.ozbargain.com.au/comment/2074185 or you can scroll down a bit in the actual thread I linked in my comment above.
My reply was in response to someone facing similar Telechoice grief.
they like to overcharge alot… rarely had months where i wasnt overcharged. In the end just moved to lebara national plan.
I was with Aldi and moved to Telechoice (Kogan) on a 12 month $28 plan.
Much better plan overall.
The only downside of the Telechoice is the fact calls are capped, however I've never gone near the limit, but YMMV.
Has anyone noticed slow data speeds on Telechoice? I recently moved my Dad across and his galaxy nexus 4 only downloads at around 100kb/s.
Nope, just did a speedtest on my nexus 5 just to check. While it's not Telstra 4G speeds- you can't complain about 900kb/s with Telechoice (Telstra 3G) :)
PS- galaxy nexus 4 is confusing. galaxy 4 or nexus 4
Sorry it's a nexus 4. But that's great speeds! I'll check again tonight.
Alright so the update is, I have decided for an extra $1.90 per month, I have decided that the Lyca $29.90 prepaid deal is better than the $28 Telechoice Kogan deal.
Reasons why I chose Lyca:
- No contract
- Unlimited calls
- No chance of excess usage
- Telechoice charge 25c per mb for excess data and 97¢/min + 40¢ call connection for excess calls
You could argue that the Telechoice Kogan deal is better because:
- The ability to call 13 & 18 numbers
- Store front service
- $2 Cheaper offering
- Price locked in for 1 year
Things I have found they both have:
- Terrible customer service
- Same Telstra Wholesale network
Alright, so my update is… that in addition to only replying to comments to defend yourself from your own clueless ones - in the thread that you, yourself, started seeking help - you have ultimately then failed to acknowledge with even a semblance of courtesy the person who twice sought to point you in the direction that you have now taken.
Things that I have found you to have:
-No discernable manners.
Get over it Tas!
As you would have observed yourself, the lack of even basic courtesy on OzBargain is just breathtaking at times.
Frankly, I don't expect a thankyou…
This is the internet, I'm just happy not to have anyone berate or slander me!
Sorry Tas, your post was very informative. I am very grateful.
Now get over yourself.
Dial *190#, press send and follow the instructions on the screen to cancel your auto renewal
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Critical Information Summary
Top-up using:
Online quick top-upusing a debit or credit card eg 29.90
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You're welcome.
I've found supermarkets occasionally throw out deals worthy of exploration.. For instance Skype, Optus Yes4g-days, both secured @50% last fortnight with commentary in related ozber threads.
Esp when you are proficient at VoIP, prepared to trade traditional mob plans for 4g-centric stuff. - To note: CID will be present (Optus), stamped by Skype, but num is throwaway anyway, due to cycling 'starter packs'.
I did get to stack targeted flybuys voucher/offer with various recurrent coles/target %offs, and mileage varied..I could have done better by carrying a Coles-Group-&-Myer 5% card discount sourced after INGd etc for example. Value equation gets back to previously unbeaten offered only once via Telstra Wholesale - $299/ended kogan territory :-
the component cost for "unlimited international" Mobile & landline calls, Per Month x MS-Skype:
(14.49 * 12 * 67% * 50%) / 12 =
$4.85
discount per flybuys(targeted), giving $22.20 for TWO($15ea, normally 30) Optus credit packs:
(1 - (.95 * (70.50 / 90.50))) =
0.2599
Finally, $27.05 with Online Presence (replacing CID), incl. a backup unlimited mobile national plan, courtesy of dollar days.optus. < 1 GB/d by 4G (bonus)- that's potentially great.
Kogan Mobile closed down almost a year ago, or am I missing something here?