Any Landline-Only nbn Phone Plan?

BendBridge on 22/12/2021 - 19:39
Last edited 22/12/2021 - 20:57 by 2 other users

Visited an old friend (93 years old) who lived in a retirement village today. She has just got her landline phone replaced with nbn. She showed me her Telstra bill of $55/month for Ultimate Voice - Advanced. She only made 16 calls that month. As a pensioner, she was given a $10 discount. At $45/month, that still seems to be extremely expensive.

I think she can save some money by choosing a better plan or moving to another nbn reseller. The question is, what are available out there? I tried to google and it seems quite confusing. Could you please share your experience and suggest a good plan? All she needs is just to make occasional local phone calls.

Thanks.

/WT

• 

  FullPrice on 22/12/2021 - 19:51

  +4

  https://www.telstra.com.au/help/critical-information-summari…

  Home Phone Essential Plan

  $27 unlimited calls.

  • 

    BendBridge on 22/12/2021 - 21:03

    This looks good for half the price my friend is paying. But what is that "Minimum Cost" of $86?

    • 

      woodg on 22/12/2021 - 21:40

      The $86 seems to be one month at $27 plus $59 fee for new connections. Shouldn't have to pay the new connection fee if she is already a Telstra customer.

      • 

        BendBridge on 22/12/2021 - 22:12

        Thanks. That seems to make sense. Is the $10 pensioner discount applicable to this plan as well?

  • 

    BendBridge on 23/12/2021 - 11:47

    My friend said she had been told by a Telstra staff that was the cheapest deal she could have. Sounds like he was taking advantage of an old lady who is not tech savvy. That's just morally wrong…

• 

  [Deactivated] on 22/12/2021 - 20:10

  +2

  Telstra is the best option linked above
  I think it might be cheaper to get a mobile phone plan with the prices. There are $10 a month plans.

  • 

    Screamingeagle on 22/12/2021 - 22:02

    To add to this, you can also purchase landline style phones which connect to a mobile via bluetooth.

    • 

      [Deactivated] on 22/12/2021 - 22:04

      Yep, this seems to be the most cost effective way

• 

  alvian on 22/12/2021 - 20:15

  https://www.southernphone.com.au/personal/seniors-solutions/…

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  MrThing on 22/12/2021 - 20:16

  -5

  Whats a landline?

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  Twix on 22/12/2021 - 20:55

  Telstra is the only ISP on the nbn that offers priority assist. The 4G auto failover comes in handy.

  Available for diagnosed, life-threatening medical conditions where access to a Home Phone service is essential. Connection will occur within 24 hours for urban and rural areas, or 48 hours for remote areas.

  If you have a Telstra home internet plan on the nbn network with a Telstra Smart Modem or a Telstra Smart Modem Gen 2, you should be able to make and receive calls on your home phone when your modem is connected to the 4G mobile backup service. The backup SIM card in these models has voice capability. You will not incur any additional cost to make these calls while your modem is in backup.

  Telstra Smart Modem

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  Butt Scratcher on 23/12/2021 - 08:08

  The cheapest would be to just get a mobile phone (which explains why it's mainly businesses that have landlines nowadays), though my only concern is that if she has not used one by now, she probably won't pick it up anytime soon.

  You can't transfer your landline phone number to a mobile phone too, I guess it isn't an option

• 

  cohiba on 23/12/2021 - 08:53

  They could ditch NBN completely and use this 4G VOIP device with a cheap yearly sim which included unlimited calls https://www.allphones.com.au/bdi-b936-4g-lte-voip-wireless-m…

  If they want to retain the existing landline just transfer it to a low cost VOIP provider, and then easily configure this device for the VOIP service. I've bought one for my elderly mother and works well so far.

  edit: just realised it's out of stock on the provided link, but also available from Amazon and others with stock