Vodafone can bite my nut.

[rec]

Over the past 8 years I've been with Optus, Telstra, Virgin and Vodafone.

Telstra had the best actual phone service (coverage, call quality etc), but the worst prices. You know the old saying; you get what you pay for.

When I was with Optus, their coverage was crap, and so were their plans (Telstra-esque pricing).

I personally have found a happy medium with Vodafone. Great plans, good coverage, great online services for convience. Just don't try and call them for support - but the same goes with Telstra anyway.

I've signed up with O2 in the UK as they're the country's most well established provider, and I can call 10 other O2 numbers completely free (various friends there). I won't hesitate to switch to Voda at the drop of a hate if the service is unpleasant, however.

[Mordin]

I just switched from vodaphone to virgin as their prices aren't as good as they used to be (and the millions of calls to get me to renew my contract). Virgin mobile isn't too bad, reception is slightly better than voda (optus towers) and price is better. But i was only on virgin for around a month as i found a better offer from another small company. They use optus towers as well, but im paying $20 per month for $300 credit which ain't too bad at all.

[Aegis]

Hah, SimPlus used to call me every month asking if i wanted to upgrade my plan - finally got the shits and told the person to **** off, if they EVER called me again for anything NOT relating to an overdue payment or error in billing, then i would dump their arses in a shot. That seemed to work - 6months and no calls (from them, plan is fine :P )

[grandinferno]

You do know that Telstra has caps too.

[Korny]

rec Over the past 8 years I've been with Optus, Telstra, Virgin and Vodafone. Telstra had the best actual phone service (coverage, call quality etc), but the worst prices. You know the old saying; you get what you pay for. When I was with Optus, their coverage was crap, and so were their plans (Telstra-esque pricing). I personally have found a happy medium with Vodafone. Great plans, good coverage, great online services for convience. Just don't try and call them for support - but the same goes with Telstra anyway. I've signed up with O2 in the UK as they're the country's most well established provider, and I can call 10 other O2 numbers completely free (various friends there). I won't hesitate to switch to Voda at the drop of a hate if the service is unpleasant, however.

vodafone has great online service .....

YEP THEY SURE DO BUDDY

[rec]

They did before, and do now. Now that everything has made the move to their new systems, that is.

There was a brief period where everything sucked, though.

[Brookie23]

grandinferno You do know that Telstra has caps too.

Yeah, but they're not half as good as Vodafone's, because they have more limitations on who you can call and what you spend the credit on. I don't remember specifics because it was a few months ago that I researched the details, but it didn't sound like a fair comparison to me.

[grandinferno]

Doesn't include data and international SMS and international calls. At least mine doesn't.

...but you can get a piss load of info through Telstra's default web portal for free now, including yellow pages, where-is maps, news, weather... blah blah... lots.

[Brookie23]

I don't use internet on my mobile. That's what my new computer is for :P And I don't know anyone overseas, nor do I plan on going overseas any time soon

I can access Hotmail, Gmail, MSN Messenger, Yahoo Mail and Yahoo messenger for free with Vodafone if I wanted to though.

Edit:
The cheapest cap-type offer I could find on the Telstra website was Telstra Prepaid Friends. $40 would get me:
"$260 of extra credit for 30 days of talk, text and MMS to five numbers on ANY network in Australia."

Only 5 numbers?

There was another option to recharge $60 and get 250 voice minutes & 250 SMSs that I can use with any Australian mobile, but that's still not as good as the Vodafone $30->$150 cap, which is more in line with my budget.

Telstra also charge $1 each time I switch between such offers (maxmum 10 switches in 1 year), while with Vodafone I can pick and choose as often as I like.

[rec]

Vodafone's portal virtually cost free, and internet use only costs $1 per 5 minutes, even if browsing via a laptop or PC, and regardless of how much data you download (which can be a lot if in a 3.5G area).

$12 an hour aint bad considering the speed, especially if you're only doing it from time to time - better than most airport Wi-Fi services.