https://prezi.com/2ax3k9llhygj/introduction-of-australian-mobile-network/

Presented by Phoneinc, your communication specialist

Communication is very important in our everyday life and when you first come to Australia it might seem a bit confusing as to how our mobile network is used and charged.

Don’t worry, after this presentation most of your question will be answered and you will be able to work out what is best for you during your stay. We will go through how everything works here and detailing some of the call plans from the major network service providers in the next 10 minutes. We will also give you an opportunity to ask questions you might have relating to your communication needs after the presentation.

How many of you have are planning to your own mobile or smartphone?  We don’t leave home without it, right?

Make sure they are unlocked before you stick a new SIM card in it and ask why it’s not working?

There are three cell phone networks in Australia namely: Telstra, Vodafone, and Optus. And there are more than a dozen of smaller operators and resellers like boost mobile, virgin mobile, amaysim, lebara, just mobile, ALDI mobile just to name a few.

Each operator also has multiple plans to address different market, some with more domestic talk time, or Unlimited SMS, some with extra Data allowance, or cheaper international call rate to selected countries, and some has free minutes at certain hours, or longer expiry period or some even have a combination of them.

This makes selecting the right plan a confusing task for locals, not to mention someone from abroad.

Phoneinc has been proudly advising and providing Universities and their students on their communication needs for the past 7 years. We are not an exclusive agent for any of the networks, nor a device manufacturer so we work solely for the students’ benefit, negotiating the best deal on the market. More importantly, we understand your need; from the length of your stay to people you’d like to call; or activities you will most likely to uptake to make a recommendation on the best solutions.

We understand some of you will bring your beloved smartphone and will be eager to use them once you get off the plan. Therefore, we will have them ready here and after a quick activation, you will be ready to make your first phone call in Australia.

Some of you will explore the city or cities in Australia during your stay and may run into situation where you would lose your phone or have your phone stolen; that’s why we also offer an economical handset as a secondary phone to help you minimize the risk and damages and still be able to communicate with your friend and loved one.

Most important of all, our help is always just a phone call away. If there is any issue or inquiry regarding your communication needs, just call or message us on facebook or the website, we will be happy to help. 02) 92126555

The major difference between the way calls are charged between Australia and America is in Australia, calls works on credit which are the dollar amount used base on a call rate. Call rate is usually advertised per minute rate but is calculated base on 30-seconds block. There is also a call connection fee call the flag fall, which is charged once when a call is initiated and connected.

Data rate are displayed as per MB but charges are calculated base on per KB session. International call rates are also displayed as per minute rate but are usually charged per 30-second.

For each of the offering, Australia government has regulated that every telecommunication provider needed to provide detailed rates and charges and are usually called “Critical Information Summary”. In it, you will find everything you need to know about the call rate and charges for any type of usage under that particular plan.

There are 6 key questions you will need to ask yourself to help you decide what the best plan is for you:

1. How long will you be staying in Australia?  There are plans with credit expire from a few days to a full year. Once the credit expires, you will only able to receive calls but not making outgoing calls or TXT, not to mention go online. But you will still be able to make emergency calls to authority by dialing 112 from your handset.
2. What is the type of usage you will use your phone most often? Do you use the phone for local calls or international calls? Do you rather TXT people then talking? Do you upload photos on social networks or uses GPS to get around that require a good amount of Data? Do you mostly call the same group of people on a particular network?
3. How much of usage will you need on the phone? The sky is the limit when it comes to spending on mobile services, but do you really need all that included calls or SMS? Credits have an expiry date, any unused credit will be forfeited after the date. So more credit doesn’t mean merrier, but to have a right amount for each of the usage required, e.g. included data, SMS, free calls, etc
4. How often do you need support? Need to make sure the network you are with have stores everywhere so when you lost you SIM or something goes wrong, you are not left in a limbo trying to get someone from an India call center to sent you a replacement SIM or troubleshoot with you over the troubled phone. (It will not end well.)
5. What is the data speed you are getting? There are 3 types of speeds, in general, you can receive your data in 2G/GPRS, 3G/HSPDA, 4G/LTE. If speed is important to you, make sure your data allowance is not limited to a slower connection.
6. Where will you be traveling to? All three networks are pretty good in the metropolitan area but due to the frequency license, some will have trouble getting through walls or concrete block. This means if you are mostly in an apartment block, basements, car parks and etc., you will have limited reception. As for the rural area of Australia, Telstra has the biggest coverage but along the freeway and Highways, Optus and Vodafone also have coverage in populated areas.

Call Credit are the amount of money you have in your phone account to make outgoing calls. Depending on the call rate of your call, it converts to the minutes you get.

There is no charge to you receiving phone calls and after your credit expires, your number will still be available for another 3 months to receive calls and text.

Please note international calls are expensive unless you are on an international calling plan or have international calls included in the plan. To dial internationally, dial 0011 follow the country code and follow by the phone number without the initial 0.

Have a read through the details of the different plan as they have different inclusions and our advice is if you don’t think you will be making much of calls, then start with a small recharge and work your way up if necessary. But if you think you have a lot to talk about, start on the bigger plan and work your way down so you won’t be taken by surprise.

There are three cellphone networks in Australia namely: Telstra, Vodafone, and Optus. And here are more than a dozen of  operators/re-sellers like boost mobile, virgin mobile, amaysim, lebara, just mobile, ALDImobile just to name a few.

Each operator also have multiple plans to address different market, some with more domestic talk time, some with Unlimited SMS, or extra Data allowance, and others have cheaper international call rate to selected countries, or free minutes at certain hours, or longer expiry period, and some even have a combination of them.

This makes selecting the right plan a confusing task for locals, not to mention someone from abroad.

There are 6 key points you will need to know to help you decide what is the best prepaid plan for you:

1. How long are you staying in Australia?  There are plans with credit expire from a few days to a full year. Once the credit expires, you will only able to receive calls but not making outgoing calls nor SMS, not to mention go online. But you will still be able to make emergency calls to authority by dialing 112 from your handset.
2. What is the type of usage you will use your phone most often? Do you use phone on local calls or international calls? Do you rather SMS people then talking? Do you use social network on mobile devices or uses GPS to get around that require a good amount of Data? Do you mostly call the same group of people on a particular network?
3. How much of usage will you need on the phone? The sky is the limit when it comes to spending on mobile services, but do you really need all that included calls or SMS?
4. How easy can you get support access? Need to make sure the network you are with have stores everywhere so when you lost you SIM or something goes wrong, you are not left in a limbo trying to get someone from an India call center to sent you a replacement SIM or troubleshoot with you over the trouble phone. (It will not end well.)
5. What is the data speed you are getting? There are 3 types of speed in general you can receive your data, 2G/GPRS, 3G/HSPDA, 4G/LTE. If speed is important to you, make sure your data allowance is not limited to a slower connection.
6. How good is the network Coverage? All three networks are pretty good in metropolitan area but due to the frequency license, some will have trouble getting through walls or concrete block. This means if you are mostly in apartment block, basements, car parks and etc, you will have limited reception. As for rural area of Australia, Telstra has the biggest coverage and there is no way around it unless you upgrade to a satellite phone, but that’s a different kettle of fish all together.