Optus customer halves phone bill with simple hack: ‘Didn't know’

An Optus customer has shared how she avoided a bill hike and halved the cost of her phone plan through one simple move. Australia’s major telcos have hit customers with price increases over the last few months, an unwelcome move for many already battling rising costs.

But Melbourne resident Justina is urging other Aussies to negotiate with their providers for a better deal. The 27-year-old told Yahoo Finance she avoided another jump in her bill after she contacted Optus and told them she was cancelling her plan.

“I was originally paying $53 a month, which I didn’t actually know was that high until I spoke to my housemate and my partner about it,” she said.

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Justina said she received an email from Optus advising her her phone bill would be increasing to $60 a month. But after shopping around, she said she was able to find cheaper comparable options, which she then took to Optus.

“I told them that I wanted to cancel my plan because I found essentially a better deal. I was connected to the Optus loyalty team and from there they had a look at my account history and saw that I had been a long-term customer,” she told Yahoo Finance.

Justina, who has been a customer with Optus for five years, was able to negotiate a new $32 per month plan with the same inclusions plus double the amount of data.

Do you have a story to share? Contact tamika.seeto@yahooinc.com

She said companies would “always have room to wriggle”. She recommended other Aussies shop around to see what deals were available and be clear about the inclusions they needed.

“When it comes with any negotiation, don’t be scared to walk away if they come back and say they can’t match that deal or give you a deal that you like,” she said.

Justina said she has also successfully negotiated down the price of her car insurance and her health insurance inclusions.

Telcos hike prices

Optus said it would be increasing the cost of its phone plans for existing customers from August 5. It blamed “increasing costs to maintain and provide a great network experience” as the reason for the price hike.

The telco said some plans would be increasing by $3 to $6 per service as a result of the change. It began alerting customers of the change from June 11.

Telstra also recently informed customers it would be increasing prices “for a number of reasons including to help us keep investing in the performance, reliability and security” of the network.

Plans will be increasing by $2 to $4 per month for most postpaid plans from August 27 and most prepaid plans from October 22.

Vodafone customers were hit with a $4 increase in their mobile plans from March 27. The telco said the bill hike was required as the company was investing in the network, technology platforms and security infrastructure.

The average prepaid phone plan is $25 a month, according to Canstar Blue, while the average postpaid phone plan is $42 a month.

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