Category Archives: Mobile Tips

Welcome credits: How they work

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When moving carriers, always be sure to ask about welcome credits. Mobile phone penetration in Australia is over 100% which means the only way a carrier can grow is by taking business from another carrier, known as ‘churn’ in the industry.

What is it – Welcome credit is a nice little sum you can get immediately on switching to a new mobile carrier. It is yours to use as you please – use it to settle the final account with the losing carrier or towards the down payment for a new phone with the new carrier. Or perhaps you could treat yourself to a nice evening out.

How much – The amount depends on the value of business you bring in to the new carrier. Typically you can get between $50 and $200 per connection depending on the monthly spend you sign up for.

How to get it – When buying online, this credit is automatically added to your account. In store, you have the option of adding to your account or receiving it at a check.

How to find the best mobile deals in Australia

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With so much choice of phones and deals, it is hard to find the one that fits your needs without breaking the bank. From our experience in helping people find the best deals, we’ve put together a quick list. Doing a bit of homework will save you hundreds if not thousands in the long run.

Without further ado, lets jump right in.

1. Understand how you use your phone:

This is the most important point. Have a look at old bills and break it down into

a. How many calls do you make

b. How many text messages

c. Other calls like voicemail, premium numbers and international calls

d. Data usage. If you don’t currently use a  smartphone, remember that your data usage will increase dramatically once you move to a smartphone.

Knowing how you use your phone will help you work out the right plan to go on.

2. What phone do you want? Do you need a phone?

Have some idea of what you want. Doing your research before hand means that you will not be confused by choices at the time of signing the papers. Do you need a phone, if not consider going prepaid. If you do want a phone ask your friends, go into shops, research online – Whirlpool and gsmarea.com are a great resource. You can also use this free and friendly Phone Search tool on our site.

Start your shortlist by identifying the features you need – How cool does your phone need to be? Do you need a smartphone? Which OS? Are you locked down to a particular OS? Is battery life important? Ease of use? Email access? Touchscreen? Do you like to play games or listen to music? Will you need mobile internet for your laptop?

At the very least you must figure out if you need a smartphone or not. At the end of all this, you will very likely find a few phones that fit the bill perfectly. Good.

3. Do you prefer a particular network ?

This is a small but very important step. Mobile networks are notoriously complicated and it is very tricky for carriers to get perfect coverage everywhere. So don’t take their word for it, test it out for yourself. Borrow a SIM or get a $2 SIM from Woolies and check the network coverage in your area by sticking it into an unlocked phone.

You will save yourself much frustration if you find a network blackspot before signing the contract.

4. Shop around. Online and offline.

Now you are ready to open the wallet. Once you know exactly what you need, look around. There are deals and specials everywhere, especially online. Also be flexible if a really good offer comes along that does not fit a 100% do not reject it outright – eg. 50% off the bill in the first year, but the phone selection might not be so hot.

An average $60 phone contract will cost at least $1440 over two years. Getting on the right plan can save you 100s of dollars in that time. And a mistake means that you will be stuck with it for the next two years.

Use our free Mobile Deal Finder to see all the latest deals and offers in the market and find out which ones best match your usage.

Happy shopping.

Six tips for changing mobile phone carriers

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Changing mobile carriers is simple these days – find a plan you like, fill in the contract, give them authority to bring your number over and bob’s your uncle. But it is easy to get something wrong if you are not watchful, and you’ll probably live with your mistakes for 2 years. So here’s a checklist to help you through.

1. Check coverage

You’ve found this awesome deal with a shiny new phone! But don’t sign anything without first confirming that you have coverage in your area. Easiest way to do this is by checking the coverage maps available on carrier website.

Here’s a quick list -

Telstra Coverage Map
Optus Coverage Map
Vodafone Coverage Map
Three Mobile Coverage map

To be sure of coverage, especially if your home lies on a fringe area, pick up a $2 sim and use it around the area to make sure there are no black spots. Radio networks are tricky little buggers and almost all networks have black spots, no matter what they say. So check for yourself.

2. Termination charges

If you are still in contract the losing carrier can hit you with a serious termination fee, sometimes equivalent to the full cost of the remaining contract. Make sure you are aware of all exit fees, but do not cancel your service with the losing carrier. It is cancelled automatically when your number is moved over to the new carrier. The losing carrier will send you a full and final account after your number has been ported to the new carrier.

3. Unlock handset.

Some phones come locked to a network or a service provider. Make sure that the phone is unlocked before you leave so the new carrier’s sim works properly with your old phone. Even if you are getting a new phone, reselling an unlocked phone is easier.

You will need to call the losing carrier to get an unlock code that will set the phone free to use on any GSM network.

4. Make sure the new plan fits your usage.

Don’t be fooled by the headline numbers of huge included credit. Check the call rate and things like voicemail calls, international calls, roaming charges and data costs if you are likely to use them. You can find out if a plan is right for you using our plan comparison tool at www.PhonesAndPlans.com.au.

5. Transfer your contacts.

When you change carriers and get a new phone, you are bound to experience the pain of bringing over your old address book into your new setup. If numbers are stored in the SIM, then just plug the old SIM into the new phone and copy into the new phone memory. If they are in the old phone’s memory, then you can move them over one at a time using Bluetooth or infrared – it takes a few seconds per contact. Newer smartphones will let you save your address book in the cloud and you can synch it back with the new phone.

Some phone stores keep SIM card readers that can help with transfering contacts.

6. Recycle that old phone.

If you are getting a new phone, which you most likely will be, think about recycling the old phone instead of letting it gather dust in a drawer. First port of call would be eBay, but also check out Mobile Muster. They collect old phones and ship them off to developing countries where your hand-me-down could get a new lease on life.

Hope that helped. Do you have more useful tips or suggestions? Share it with other readers in the comments.

Six simple tips to keep your data bills down

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Cap plans can often lull you into a false sense of security about your data bills. You’ve checked the fine print, you know your data allowance, and you think you’ve got your usage all under control.

Think again.

Mobile data is a different kettle of fish from phone calls and text messages – in that your phone could be transferring bits and bytes back and forth without your explicit knowledge.

Default settings for many applications allow them to set up a data connection automatically. And the only way you find out what’s going on is when unexpected charges show up on your bill.

Here are six things to watch out for:

  1. Email download settings – Many email clients will let you download new emails automatically in the background. This is done using the push setting. Emails are pushed to your phone, rather than you pulling them. But this setting sucks up your data allowance in no time at all. If you must use push settings, make sure it is for new mail only. You can always use a real computer to access the archives.
  2. Manually exit from the phone browser when you are done browsing by selecting exit or disconnect options. If you just use the back or C button to get out, the browser application may not close properly and can continue to refresh pages without your knowledge.
  3. Right plan with the right phone – iPhones and Blackberrys are data hogs. Most carriers have special plans for these devices with generous data allowances. Use them.
  4. AGPS or Assisted GPS – AGPS makes it quicker to pinpoint your location on a mobile map by using the data connection to fetch additional location information. Good idea to turn it off if you aren’t in a great hurry.
  5. Roaming data – Data costs skyrocket the moment you roam to another network within Australia or in another country. Each month the TIO deals with thousands of complaints concerning huge data bills racked up by users twittering overseas. Be careful while using the tiniest slivers of data when roaming. You can often find wireless hotspots at airports and cafes. If your smartphone comes with WiFi, you can use that instead.
  6. Music and video downloads – This is an obvious one. Keep an eye out when browsing through data heavy sites like youtube and while downloading songs and applications. It all adds up.

Check out cnet.com.au for some more tips on keeping you data bills in check.

Do you know of other ways of running up unexpectedly high data bills? Please tell us about them through your comments.