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Westnet 12/1 NBN + Phone Bundle for Seniors $39.99/Month, Includes 50GB Data and Unlimited Calls to Landlines

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Westnet 12/1 NBN + Phone Bundle for Seniors $39.99/Month, Includes 50GB Data and Unlimited Calls to Landlines
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Russ on 25/08/2019 - 02:00 westnet.com.au (558 clicks)
Last edited 25/08/2019 - 13:11 by 1 other user

Only people with a seniors card are eligible for this plan. You have to enter your date of birth as part of the sign-up details, so they can check your age.

The very low price is what is special about this plan.

Only seniors would be likely to want this plan - it is slow and has a very low data allowance (50GB/Month), but it is very cheap and includes bundled phone line with unlimited free landline (local+long distance) calls.

Summary:

  • $39.99 monthly fee includes 50GB data and phone line rental (phone via the modem as VOIP) and unlimited free local+long distance non-mobile calls. Mobile calls are not free, 29c/minute, and 13/1300 numbers are 30c per call. International rates are on the website.
  • Once-off $10 delivery charge for the free modem (AC1300 WiFi modem at the moment, with four ethernet ports).
  • No excess quota usage charges.
  • After your 50GB of data runs out, data is shaped to 256/256kbps. If desired, additional data blocks can be purchased (for when relatives visit), smallest is 10GB for $10, largest is 200GB for $80
  • Uses NBN's 12/1Mbps "basic speed" tier. CIS says typical evening speedsare 10.3/1Mbps.
  • Appears to be available to almost all access technologies (FTTB, FTTC, FTTN, HFC, fixed wireless), except not available for satellite NBN
  • No set-up charge or installation charge, unless NBN's $300 "new development" charge applies (newly-built houses?)
  • 24-month contract, contract break fee is up to $300 if you want to leave early. No month-to-month option.

Strangely, you can't find this plan from Westnet's home page, you have to search for "senior" from their homepage to find it. However it is still current, I recently signed up a relative, and Google is still bombarding me with Wesnet's ads for this plan.

This plan has been listed before on OzBargain, most recent was 18 months ago: https://www.ozbargain.com.au/node/349750

50GB per month is enough for web browsing for 1-2 people, plus one or two netflix movies a week.

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Comments

  • Russ on 25/08/2019 - 02:15
    +7

    Combine this with an Exetel $8.99/month mobile phone plan, and you have all the telecommunications costs covered for one person, for under $50/month.

    • dcep on 25/08/2019 - 03:11

      or just ovo $35 if reception is good

    • IVI on 25/08/2019 - 03:51

      Jeenee.org.au has several deals for Kids & Seniors

      One gives 10 (15 GB atm) for ~ $20 / mon
      on only a 12 mon contract (maybe bigger early-exit fee…?)

      One 12-mon plan gives 5 GB for under $10, for first 6 months
      (Average monthly cost is < $11, across the 12 mon contract)

      Some require that you:
      i. are a New Jeenee member AND
      ii. porting your number in (Optus req't)

      Sweeter offers end 31th Aug

    • IVI on 25/08/2019 - 04:33
      -1

      +1

  • sk3iron on 25/08/2019 - 03:29

    Any contract lock-in? Speed package upgrade-able or does that kill the deal?

    • IVI on 25/08/2019 - 03:48

      For the WestNet deal: 24-mon (exit-early fee: $300)

      At a time when most are on mobile: "Mobile calls are not free, 29c/min"

      Lotsa Seniors need to ring 13/1300 numbers incl'd in mobile plan.
      "Deal" charges 30c per call.

      (I don't want to guess how HIGH: Int'l rates would be
      maybe use Skype or Zello to talk to family+friends o'seas
      Zello lets you have > 1,000 others on same channel!
      Debate, Give a lecture, Discuss across an org'n membership, etc.)

      Better not be too poor, in case a new medical condition eats up your $$
      [eg, on a hospital stay, you're unable to use it, OR
      you unexpectedly need to move into age-care [in non-NBN area], OR
      care facility won't let you bring your NBN service you]

      "Min Charge is $969.76" for what I call NBN12 speed

      Not really a Senior-friendly a Deal for Seniors, NEGGING
      (OTOH, seniors may have more $$ than lotsa young people…?)

      • sk3iron on 25/08/2019 - 06:48
        +1

        That was a huge rant did you get fired from Westnet or something?

        "Better not be too poor" wow, they're still subject to the same rules and regs that any isp/phone company is for at risk customers that require connection for their medical condition.

        Honestly you should've just stopped after the first sentence. At least that was useful info, so thanks for that….

        • puffinfresh on 25/08/2019 - 18:32

          did you get fired from Westnet or something?

          I did!

        • IVI on 28/08/2019 - 10:16

          Nope…

          • I promote [UnLawful] Liquid-Fuel NUCLEAR ENERGY from Molten Salt Reactors (MSR)

          ..just like this Danish Engineer does:

          • YouTube "Pedersen TEDxCopenhagen" (18 min.)

          Why do you ask, sk3iron..?

          PS Of course, Step 0 of my apparently "Evil" Plan is to

          • help AU END its embarrassing 1999 Nuclear Energy BAN

          I don't think my Danish colleague has such a burden;
          Denmark is a pretty smart country, but f Renewables:

          • YouTube "Conley TEAC8"
  • CecillyL on 25/08/2019 - 06:10

    Friends who had been long time Telstra customers decided to move to Westnet when the NBN became available at their address and took their existing home phone number with them. They waited over a month for their home phone number to be activated. They were far from impressed.

    • IVI on 28/08/2019 - 10:28

      What is:
      - Telstra's slowness to release?
      - Westnet's slowness to reConnect? or maybe
      - NBN dev't / roll-out delays…?

      If 1st or 2nd of these,
      why didn't your friend
      lodge a TIO Complaint?

      PS:

      Has AU no "code of conduct" with penalty,
      when a provider leaves some1 without Phone
      for such a long time?!?

      Yup, we gotta lift-our-expectation game, and
      give all businesses Incentive to b efficient

  • mdavant on 25/08/2019 - 07:22

    I hate discriminatory pricing. Should not be allowed.

    • RockyRaccoon on 25/08/2019 - 07:29
      +5

      Yep,

      But wait doesn’t that also include half price children’s deals……..

      Or are you saying deals that

      “Exclude me should be stopped”

      😀🙃

      • mdavant on 26/08/2019 - 06:28

        I have conviction enough to not be so petty. Nice try

    • seedyrom on 25/08/2019 - 18:33

      I support the sentiment…but I wouldn’t go nearthis plan if yo7 paid me $39.99/month

    • Charity on 25/08/2019 - 22:40

      Look up Positive Discrimination. It's a law and will make you sick if you haven't heard of it. It is literally as Orwellian as it sounds.

    • IVI on 28/08/2019 - 10:35

      As our income & wealth numbers continue to diverge
      - w/ low-end being far lower than high-end folks -
      will you BAN Concessions for Age Pensioners, Poor,
      Unemployed, et al.?

      Do you consider subsidised housing discriminatory?

      Other places find putting homeless folks into sub-
      sidised units can sometimes (often?) motivate 'em
      to finding paying work.

      What if -some1- subsidises a person in-need? (Ie,
      it's Not "your" taxes paying for it). Should that
      be banned?

  • Mr BoMBAStiG on 25/08/2019 - 07:27
    +5

    The logo reminds me of an old goat.

    • mafroew on 25/08/2019 - 08:19

      Haha wonder how many people will get the reference. I came here to say something similar…

    • rodericb on 25/08/2019 - 11:01

      That did the rounds a few years ago when they unveiled that logo. Any publicity is good publicity, so some people say. I don't agree with that in this case!

    • Tardvark on 03/09/2019 - 07:50

      Flashbacks…

  • tempura on 25/08/2019 - 08:01
    -1

    needs royal commissioning on this Westnet, try to deceive old folks.

  • serpserpserp on 25/08/2019 - 10:37

    Too bad if grandma gets a 4k TV & Netflix account from the kids and watches stuff. She'll be on internet like it is 2004.

    Surely you can get a better NBN deal for $40 somewhere else?

    • Russ on 25/08/2019 - 12:52

      Surely you can get a better NBN deal for $40 somewhere else?

      If you can find one, post it. None cheaper have been posted on OzBargain, other than limited-time introductory offers, and a few offers from internet suppliers who subsequently went bankrupt.

      Too bad if grandma gets a 4k TV & Netflix

      If your grandma can see the difference between 4k and SD, I'll be very impressed. Won't the 12/1 speed prevent her from watching 4k content?

    • dcep on 25/08/2019 - 12:53

      not anymore , everyone is removing 12/1 and upselling 50/20 or 100/40

      but you can get ovo $35 gives you 50gb + free calls , not 12/1 but proper 4G+ speed

      • Russ on 25/08/2019 - 14:07

        The OVO deal is cheaper, but the Westnet plan is "no maintenance" if you're the one doing all the technical support for your seniors. If they use up their 50GB of data, the OVO plan requires you to intervene to get data working again. The Westnet plan shapes data to 256K/256K, so the data keeps on working, but slowly.

        I am a bit concerned about the possibility of accidentally making mobile calls on the "wrong" phone (the one that isn't free for such calls), so I have set up an old VOIP ATA (SPA3102) with a dial plan to block all international and mobile calls, before passing all other calls through to the Westnet modem via the ATA's FXO port.

        not 12/1 but proper 4G+ speed

        That might actually be a nuisance when you only have 50GB data allowance. You could use your entire allowance in less than an hour. Anyone know of a good free hotspot-controller app that lets you ration data by time, and is easy to set up?

        • Nousernamehere on 25/08/2019 - 14:55

          the Westnet plan is "no maintenance" if you're the one doing all the technical support for your seniors

          Clearly you haven't had the 'pleasure' of being on FTTN on the NBN…

          • Russ on 25/08/2019 - 15:01

            @Nousernamehere: No, I haven't had that 'pleasure'. But that isn't the Westnet plan that requires maintenance, it's the Liberal party's "destroy everything you can't privatize" attitude that needs maintenance.

            • Nousernamehere on 25/08/2019 - 15:05

              @Russ:

              But that isn't the Westnet plan that requires maintenance

              If the seniors you're doing technical support for are on FTTN, then it's not 'maintenance free' at all, no matter what RSP you go with. That's the point.

              • Russ on 25/08/2019 - 15:42

                @Nousernamehere: Okay, "For the majority of NBN users it is maintenance free". While I think FTTN was a bad choice by the Liberal government, the majority of users on FTTN don't have problems. Users on other technologies rarely report problems once installation is complete.

                • Nousernamehere on 25/08/2019 - 20:40

                  @Russ:

                  the majority of users on FTTN don't have problems.

                  Lol if only that were true. Sorry, but no. Even HFC has issues (2 mates have constant dropout issues that NBN refuse to do anything about).

                  I’ve had dropout issues on FTTN that lasted for over a month that NBN kept claiming no fault found either. 4 other FTTN connections I know about have had week long outages before NBN bothered to send someone out (there’s no CSG on NBN connections), also have to jump through many, many hoops for NBN as opposed to the old POTS service just being able to put it through as a voice fault.

                  But yeah, FTTP is generally fault free unless someone decides to put a shovel through your fibre 😂 Good old Libs.

  • PerthectDeal on 25/08/2019 - 13:34

    Just to add Telstra have a seniors plan that is not publicised on their site. You need to call them.
    Cant remember the details but very competitive. My uncle only uses a few GB most a month so perfect for the seniors who use little data.

  • wodaidai on 25/08/2019 - 16:11
    +1

    I signed up this plan for my mum last month. The NBN is active now without any issue. Took about a week to get modern after signing up by phone.

    Westnet is a part of iinet, told by the lady during sign up. Can transfer existing nbn phone number. Also u can ask for an upgrade to a better plan. I did not ask for details but might just be $20 discount on standard price?

    Their technical support has long wait time and its oversea call center. I had some trouble to follow in one occasion, the other time was fine.

    Their data usage app seems not working on my Android phone and tab. But u can track via website.

    I have done a bit research, it's the most suitable NBN plan for my mum's case in terms of data and cost.

  • vovka on 25/08/2019 - 20:06

    With such "exciting" NBN offers I'll keep using ADSL for as long as I can. The old technology is still giving me 18mbps with less congestion nowadays.

    • Russ on 25/08/2019 - 21:03

      There are plenty of faster plans with more data, 25Mbps with unlimited data starts around $55 for a moderately good provider. How much are you paying for line rental plus ADSL?

      • vovka on 26/08/2019 - 07:01

        $50 for 100Gb

        • Russ on 26/08/2019 - 23:03

          I've just had a look, but it looks like almost all reasonably-priced providers have abandoned the 25Mbps speed tier, probably because of NBNco's stuffing around with the wholesale prices, which happened ~6 months ago.

          I found a 12Mbps plan with unlimited data for $49.95/month: provider is "FlipTV"
          I found a 25Mbps plan with unlimited data for $55/month: provider is "AccordConnect" (which is owned by Officeworks!)
          Belong (Telstra subsidiary) have a 30Mbps (!) plan with unlimited data for $55/month
          I found a 50Mbps plan with 100GB of data for $55/month, and no contract: provider is Spintel.

          I thought I would be able to find you a plan with the same data and price at 25Mbps, but they are not available any more. Sorry!

          • vovka on 27/08/2019 - 07:36

            @Russ: Yeah. I know there aren't any plans to upgrade directly from ADSL2+ to NBN and keep the same speed and data. That's why I advise people who don't use internet much to stay on ADSL longer - there's no benefit of NBN in under $50/month plans.

            • Russ on 27/08/2019 - 21:18

              @vovka:

              there's no benefit of NBN in under $50/month plans

              I disagree with you on that. The average ADSL2+ speed in Australia is lower than 12Mbps, so a lot of people will get a speed increase by moving to the NBN, even at the lowest NBN speed. I'm currently on ADSL2+ at 6Mbps (3+ km from exchange) for $55, so the FlipTV plan above would double my speed and be cheaper. I moved my landline calls to VOIP years ago, so there's no downside for me.

              • vovka on 28/08/2019 - 19:38

                @Russ: I'm not taking into account Australia wide statistics. It could be 12 or 6Mbps on average, but we have looked after dozens of businesses/end users in Sydney for many years and out of ten only one connection was 3 or more km away from exchange. Others were getting steady connections from 14 to 23Mbps. It's still the case with many of them.

  • AlienC on 07/09/2019 - 11:14

    I need a simple unlimited landline for grandparents just home phone no internet as they already have an internet plan just no home phone plan.

    Something cheap under $10/month with unlimited local calls.

    • Russ on 07/09/2019 - 15:45

      I'll try to help, but in future, know that asking a question in a two-week-old thread is unlikely to get you any useful replies. Next time, try a new post in the "find me a bargain" forum: https://www.ozbargain.com.au/forum/1341

      If your parents already have internet, check with their internet provider first. Many will let you add a phone line for about $10/month, however very few are unlimited, most will want to charge you for local calls. Also, they tend to be expensive for mobile calls, if that is a concern.

      A second option is with a separate internet phone provider. This system uses a box that connects to your grandparent's internet, and you plug their existing landline phone into it. I recommend MyNetFone for this, they will give you the "box" for a courier delivery fee of $12.95, if you sign up for a 12-month contract, see "Free Cisco SPA122 VOIP Adaptor with Router on 12 Months contract" on this page: https://www.mynetfone.com.au/Residential/Home-Phone/VoIP-Onl…

      The box will come pre-configured, all you need to do is plug it into your grandparent's internet router, plug in their telephone, and plug it into mains power.

      Mynetfone have a plan with unlimited local and STD ("national") calls for $10/month: https://www.mynetfone.com.au/Residential/Home-Phone/Plans/Ho…

      A third option is a $10/month SIM with unlimited calls and SMS, these are easy to get, multiple deals listed here on OzBargain. However if your grandparents will have trouble understanding or using a mobile phone, there are also desktop phones that use the mobile network, like this one: https://www.seniorsphone.com.au/product/fixed-wireless-4g-de…

      This option has the advantage that calls to mobile numbers will also be free.

      Make sure any phone you buy has 4G (LTE) compatibility. 2G has already been phased out, and there's a good chance that 3G will also be phased out in a few year's time. Don't worry about 5G, 5G is almost non-existent in Australia at the moment, and looks like it will really only be for fixed communications (not mobile), so I expect 4G will be around for quite a long time.

      However, this approach means that whenever your grandparents ring someone, their phone number (a mobile number starting with 04) will pop up on the receiver's phone, which may lead to confusing conversations like "Oh, have you got a mobile phone now?". To avoid this, there is a way to set your phone so the receiver only sees "call from private number". Ring your SIM provider to find out how to set your phone like this, or find the instructions on you SIM provider's website. The phrase to search for is "how to block outgoing caller ID".

      As this is through the mobile phone network, there is also the problem that people wanting to ring your grandparents will be dialing a mobile phone number and paying mobile call rates, which could put people off calling your grandparents. If you choose the second option (above), the MyNetFone option, they will have a regular landline phone number for calling out and for people wanting to call them.

      • AlienC on 07/09/2019 - 22:05

        All good no rush I have 7 months and then still some more time to decide so doing preemptive research now.

        Basically looking for something to pair them up with belongs $55/month nbn internet only plan.

        Taking all recommendations.

        They can't do mobile sim unfortunately not even a sim centralised home phone plan.. landline only at this point to keep their home phone number and other technical reasons I prefer not to go into.

        If it was me I just use mobile as I have no use for a home phone but it is not for me unfortunately.

        Thanks for any help highly appreciate it.

        • Russ on 08/09/2019 - 01:30

          MyNetFone will let you port their home phone number across.

          Are your grandparents currently on ADSL2, and getting NBN in 7 months? If so, that will be difficult, because you can't port out a phone number while ADSL2 is active on that line, according to https://www.mynetfone.com.au/support/faq/question/263

          You would have to port both the ADSL2 and phone to NBN at the same time, and you can only do that if you are porting both to the same provider.

          If you are willing to pay $55 for NBN plus $10 for phone calls, there are providers who can do that. For example, Officeworks have an NBN division, who do 25Mbps, unlimited data, unlimited local calls, for $65 a month. Plan is here, $55 for NBN plus $10 for the "optional VOIP add-on": https://www.accordconnect.com.au/nbn/

          The website doesn't give much information, I recommend you ring and ask for more information. Apparently the modems they provide have a socket to plug in your landline phone, but I can't see how much they charge for the modems.

          Belong also offer a VoIP solution for an additional $10, but it uses an app on a smartphone, possibly too difficult or confusing for older people.

          Edit: You don't necessarily have to port both the ADSL2 and phone number at the same time, but the alternative would be inconvenient. You would have to :
          (1) cancel their ADSL2 but keep the phone line
          (2) once the cancellation has gone through, port out the phone number, then
          (3) order an NBN service and wait for an installation appointment.

          If this all goes well, they would likely be without internet for about 2-3 weeks. So I think porting both services to the same provider is the better choice.

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