Telstra customers threaten to boycott after third price hike since August: 'Just lost me as a customer'
Telstra customers are threatening to cancel their phone and internet plans after the telco announced a new price hike. Telstra revealed most of its postpaid mobile, mobile data, and home and small business internet plans would become more expensive from July.
The company said the change would help improve its mobile network performance and experience, as well as the "reliability and security of our services". However, customers aren't happy about being slugged with another service going up in price.
"You've just lost me as a customer," said one person who claimed to have been with the telco for more than 25 years.
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"You've done nothing to justify the raise in prices. I get nothing but the privilege of paying more for the same thing. I'm a pensioner. I CAN'T.
"I am soooo pissed! I'm an inch away from tears."
Another customer ripped into the telco, saying: "Typical Telstra charges more for no extra service, haven't gotten anything for the last 5 years of price hikes, and the service isn't any better."
"Again?" added a third. "We were only talking about how they put prices up, not so long ago. Oh boy, how time flies when we are all having fun!"
This price change comes just a few months after the telco raised prices for prepaid customers by up to $4 back in October, and again for postpaid customers in August.
Optus recently announced a similar price jump of $2 to $6 for monthly mobile phone plans, which will kick in on June 4.The telco revealed most plans will rise by between $3 to $5 per month.
Mobile Bundle 25GB will go from $52 to $57
Basic Plan 50GB will go from $65 to $70
Essential Plan 180GB will go from $75 to $80
The Data Bundle 10GB will go from $10 to $15
Small plan 30GB will go from $25 to $30
Medium plan 100GB will go from $58 to $65 and will increase from 75GB
Basic plan 25 speed will go from $89 to $93
Essential plan 50 speed will go from $105 to $109
Premium plan 100 speed will go from $110 to $113
These changes will kick in on July 1.
Telstra also said its Premium 100/40 speed Small Business internet tier will actually drop in price from $140 to $125.
The Ultimate plan with 250 speed will be $1 cheaper, and the Ultrafast plan 1000 speed will fall from $150 to $139.
The lowest-priced starter mobile, starter NBN internet, and premium mobile plans won't be changed.
The company's pre-paid mobile plans, as well as its home phone, satellite, and 5G home internet plans will also remain unchanged.
Telstra group executive Brad Whitcomb said the company hoped that by increasing prices by up to $5, it would allow them to make big changes.
"[We're] increasing our mobile network investment by $800 million over the next four years to extend our leadership and deliver customers the most advanced, resilient and reliable mobile network in the country," he said.
"Some customers will start to notice improvements to their speeds and overall experience from later this year."
Telstra hopes to soon launch a satellite to mobile messaging capability, which would allow customers with eligible devices to send and receive messages from "almost anywhere in Australia where they don't have mobile coverage".
Whitcomb added that the changes to internet plans will allow it to respond to "increased data usage" as Aussies continue to connect smart devices to the web.
"This includes 24/7 network monitoring to help protect against scams, 4G back-up to help keep customers connected in an outage and support from our local teams," he said.
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