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• Optus prepaid broadband data robbery

Optus prepaid broadband data robbery

By Joseph Hanlon on 18 August 2008

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  Jimi commented on 15/10/2008 01:55 Report abuse

  Stay away from it, it's crap.
  I have it but am writing this comment using dial-up because I cannot get a connection right now.
  
  Not uncommon to take 10 attempts to get a connection.
  
  When I do, I often get sent to the recharge page even though I have plenty of download capacity left.
  
  The wait time on the telephone helpdesk is very long. And they cannot do anything anyway. It is just a matter of luck to get a working connection.
  
  You cannot change your password, you will need to get the helpdesk (after the long wait) to change it for you.

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  130274 commented on 30/09/2008 21:33 Report abuse

  I must say I am glad I found all your comments, as now I have no clue, I am currently using optus dial up, and after reading all your comments, i think I'll stick with the devil I know...I hvae the time for the page to load...So Thank you all for you comments has made my decision alot easier.

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  User commented on 26/09/2008 23:55 Report abuse

  I have been using Optus Wireless Broadband PrePaid for several days now and I am very impressed with its results. I have moved around several locations and experienced HSDPA service in each location I have used my service in.
  
  I do not know why people are claiming that each 'connection' attempt will use 10MB of your data allocation, because that is simply not true. I started with 2GB when I purchased the $199 starter kit and to date I am currently sitting at 1.95GB remaining - I have been using the service to play online games such as World of Warcraft and browsing a few websites (Facebook, MySpace, google searches, e-mail) casually.
  
  I have yet to see my service take 10MB away from me, especially on a per-session basis. I have logged off and on several times.
  
  If anyone is concerned about their data usage and wants to keep track of their amount, that is why the '9999' SMS feature is available for free balance retrieval. Use it more often before making such wild accusations about something other customers can clearly prove otherwise.
  
  I agree with the user "Frustrational." It seems as though they are the only other user on this website who have actually used the product and seen the results for themselves, as opposed to believing whatever was said in the original post.

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  icondean commented on 23/09/2008 09:19 Report abuse

  Overall this service is good for the price. I've been using Telstra's Bigpond NextG wireless Broadband for about a year and a half now which cost me $115 for 3gig and with this service it's about $40 for the same amount. I dropped Telstra simply for the price difference. The only thing with this new Optus service is that it's less reliable than Telstra. When connecting in the morning it consistently takes about 3-5 goes to get a constant connection and will drop the connection a few times during the day. This is in an area where the signal strength is all five bars, something not right there. I understand the pre-paid wireless service has only been available for about a month now so I'm hoping these issues will be sorted. Yeah, the 10meg staged charging isn't right, especially when their network disconnects you a number of times each day.

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  ben92 commented on 22/09/2008 17:37 Report abuse

  i think this service is good it should be fast i have bigpond adsl and it is realy slow. it takes 10 mins minium to load a vvideo.
  so this optus should b faster.

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  Paul commented on 14/09/2008 21:36 Report abuse

  The connection is not very reliable. It keeps dropping out which makes me wonder if I would ever benefit from the first session allowance of 20 extra Mbytes.

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  ritchie commented on 14/09/2008 20:38 Report abuse

  These guys used to be great but now they're just bunch of cynical robbers. Good riddance Optus, I'm leaving you!

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  rickdavies commented on 12/09/2008 11:01 Report abuse

  My complaint with the Optus pre-paid wireless modem is that upload and download speeds are nothing like those advertised and more like dial-up when it is working reasonably well. My best download speed yesterday was 75KBs and average upload was 5-15Kbs. And then there is the problem of the connection dropping out quite often. Average signal strength here in Camberwell, Melbourne = 19%-22%
  Not impressed at all, but desperate and this is the best I could find for pre-paid wireless. Bring on the competition, someone, please!

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  bannanas commented on 12/09/2008 00:18 Report abuse

  Whats your problem this is a great offer just be smart with your log-on's, everyone thinks this is a rip-off HAHAHA!!! Telstra has a $29 casual plan and only gives you 300mb. So stop bitching.

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  robertm commented on 10/09/2008 15:26 Report abuse

  If you leave it on overnight, and are disconnected/reconnected say, 200 times, then all your usage will be used up (2000megabytes charged)! And your usage with just the connection idling would have been less than even 1MB for most people! That's charging 2000 times more than what people use. It's even more than robbery -- it's misleading and false advertising and, basically, a rip-off. It should be heavily disallowed by the ACCC.