arkon

Hi All,

This is the one we use http://www.ozprepaidcards.com.au/car...asp?PhoneID=16 it doesn't seem to have a connection fee when we use it, but it is dearer to phone mobiles. Also its a flat rate I think, it seems so each time we use it.

Phoenixuk2oz

Cheers ABC. You're a star!

Wonder why it's cheaper to use a phonecard than our own landlines?

brisnick

NGN = Non Geographical Number (i think)

that's number like 0345/0845 etc (probably freephone numbers too).

i've been using "tell me too" which has no connection fee (flagfall) and is 2c/min all day to landlines (or $1.20 per hour) 38c/min for mobiles. can't remember it's NGN charges, but around 20c/min. it's billed in minutes.

i like this card because i never know how long a phonecall is going to last (surprisingly my friends and family in england have lives too) so having no flagfall, and billed per minute is great for flrxibility and they are fairly cheap too.

try www.phonecardselector.com.au too to find the best for you. and be aware, they usually have more local access numbers than are listed on the cards (my card even has a toowoomba local access number, but you have to log on to their website to find it).

CornishPasty

Your right on the NGN acronym. Always watch on this one, some companies charge a stupid amount for it or even dont allow them. ( I think GoTalk wouldnt allow it a while back). In my last job I had an 0845 number in the UK as I moved around alot and hence my number didnt change. All of work did which meant I needed to call 0845 numbers and it was really costly. Also, you find you make a lot of calls to companies over there on 0845 numbers such as banks, utilities etc esp. in the 1st 6 months when you are sorting your affairs out.

NedKelly

Don't forget 0870 numbers are normally charged at very high rates. I think the Daybreak card is $4.00 / min. There is a great website which has a lot of land line alternatives to NGN & 0870 numbers. It's at www.saynoto0870.com

CornishPasty

Great link Ned! Yep, mine was a 0870 number, not a 0845 number. Its stupid that they are so expensive as they are just mapped numbers. Where ever I moved with work I would just get the 0870 number mapped to it so my clients would have a seemless transition. They were not premium numbers either, just the cost of a national call. Cheeky if you ask me!

wholeworldwindow

My connection & bill was $310! I cried!
Thanks for helping me to save on the next one!

arkon

You might want to watch the electric bill then too. My 1st bill for 3 months over summer was $580! I put it down to the aircon on all the time and the pool pump was on a fair bit too.

wholeworldwindow

You have got to be jokeing! We are due ours end July! I antisipated $100 - mind you no I've pool or air con. I pray ours is nothing like that bill - that would be very scary! (hubbys on $15 an hour!!!!!!!)

Homer

Please tell me you live in a mansion as we are expecting our first leccy bill next month, i am starting to panic :scared:

arkon

Well, I'm not sure what caused the bill to be so high, I was told by all my relatives out here that services like electric were cheap so I foolishly didn't bother checking the meter regularly to see what was using what. But since getting the 1st bill I've gone on a power saving rampage. There is a pool (not heated) and one large aircon unit. its a 4 bedroom single story house but is quite large by UK standards. Oh and the biggest culprit was the electric oven! our 1st bill did cover the main summer period so the aircon was on all the time 24/7! I've cut the pump down to 2 hours a day and banned the wife from cooking. Although winter has meant the aircon is off, now the electric heaters are on at night!!!

When we got the electric bill we thought there has got to be a mistake but after carefull checking it was correct. Just to add insult to injury we also got a water bill for $540 for the same period!! We had a bust main within our property's boundrary that basically wasted 600,000 litres as it was raining for 2 weeks solid it was imposible to tell the pipe was broken, even the preasure was fine. So the upshot of the story was that if the water is wasted on your property there is no begging in the world you can do and no mitigating circumstances to get the bill reduced and believe me I've tried.

Sorry to go off topic but it was slightly relevent because we also had a huge 1st telephone bill before we discovered the green card!

*EDIT* sorry got the bills the wrong way round! Water $580 and Electric $540 telephone $300+ (cant remember exact fig!)

Regards Skint Arkon.

spalen

Our electricity bill was also around that figure, alot higher than we expected!

I use the super buzz phone card, I think it is about 0.008 per min and a connection charge of 0.25 per call, I use it almost everyday and have had no problems with it. We got ours from the post shop.

Spalens wife

meelie

I have been using the GOtalk rechargeable phonecard. Its 3c per min to the UK. The website is www.cardcall.com.au for terms and conditions etc

steandleigh

We use the "Ozcall" card - costs us around $1 for a two hour call. They do cut you off after 2 hrs though.

SuperSeagulls

SkypeOut is about 1p per minute, anytime, from PC to landline. Saves having to walk to the shop to buy a card

SS