Optus abolishes line rental

Stuart Corner
Monday, 29 May 2006 18:55

Your IT - Home IT

Optus has made a big deal of new residential fixed line plans which it says enable customers to avoid paying line rental.
In reality, the plans simply bundle line rental with a number of included calls for a fixed monthly fee. On the new Optus $59 HomeOne plan, customers pay $59 a month and receive "competitively-priced" local, mobile and national calls up to the value of $59.

In its press release, Optus did not specify what these rates were, but said that, once the $59 threshold was passed, additional calls would be charged at its standard rates.

For customers with higher telephony usage there is a $99 HomeOne plan which includes $150 worth of local and national calls and calls to mobile, presumably at the same "competitively-priced" rates. Both plans require a 12 month contract.

Optus has also introduced 'YesTime' to home phone customers. YesTime enables Optus customers to call any Optus mobile from their Optus home phone between 8pm and midnight at no charge for the first 20 minutes of the call. YesTime was introduced in 1998 but for Optus mobile customers only.

Also available on both plans is a new calling option, Optus WorldSaver, for customers who call overseas. Customers will get rates as low as 2.9 cents per minute to Optus' top ten destinations for a fee of $5 a month. According to Optus, "These amazing low rates are comparable with calling card rates plus customers have the benefit of a high quality service without the hassle of dialling any extra digits, running out of credit or buying cards".