Talk about losing the battle, but winning the war. Back in 1996, Telstra contemplated charging local calls by the minute. This suggestion wasn’t even been shouted down before it disappeared like Dad’s trousers on a Saturday night. So unpopular was the decision that even the telcos realised the error of their scheming ways, and reverted to the flat rate, circa 1950, and kept charging a basic cost.
A decade or more later, and it seems that Telstra has won the war. Yesterday I put my landline phone in a drawer. I needed more desk space. No one rings me on it anyway. I take calls on my mobile; I prefer to do business and social interaction on the net or email. When I do reach for a phone it is invariably a mobile phone, after all my land phone is in the drawer.
Telstra has won bigtime on this transaction. While us old fogeys remember tuppenny phone calls, pressing Button A then B, today’s generation will never know a life without paying by the minute. What was chewing gum and soft drink pocket money must now be poured into the ever gaping maws of the behemoth that is Telstra. It is minute by minute for our youngsters, no time to chat with the girl next door, credits are all the go. Have you got any credit? If not, you can’t chat.
Life hinges on how much credit you have. It sounds like a sci-fi movie. Our love of technology, while being a postive, is costing us dearly at the check-out. Whereas Telstra could once provide flat-rate calls, they now charge for every minute, no matter that you are a pensioner, a teenager, or a disadvantaged person. The free phone call is on the run.
They have won the war.
8 responses so far ↓
wollywally // January 10, 2010 at 3:18 am |
I have a small business from home, and telstra at the moment has a bundle ,internet + phone , the most expensive papagkage $118 that would suit me beautifully. that would be half of what I pay at the moment monthly, the problems is because we are a business we re not eligible, in order to be so, we have to change to residential, that’s would create another set of problems, it seems we are one or another, and not in between, and like us there are lots of small business run from home that keep the economy going, it would help a lot during this economic crises if telstra would give us a brake and considering give the same package to small business as well, love ooxx
Angela // January 10, 2010 at 1:19 pm |
Hi Gig!!
I have a landline and I use it all the time, although it is a cordless. I pay a monthly fee and get my local calls free (apart from the fact that I pay for them in my monthly bill). I am forever rousing on Andy for ringing his mates on his mobile when he could ring their home phone from our home phone for free (apart from that monthly fee of course).
This may be due to the fact that my Mother is Scottish
fender4eva // January 12, 2010 at 3:34 am |
We still have a landline, but we get a pensioners discount,so we’ve hung on to it. There a a few, very few advantages, to being a mature person…………..
5ft0 // January 12, 2010 at 11:17 pm |
I use the landline phone every now and again. It’s really cheap. You can talk for hours without thinking, “Shit, I’m running out of credit!”
gigdiary // January 18, 2010 at 3:36 pm |
Sft0…err, yeah, that’s what land lines used to be…talk all day…
wisdomofsam // January 18, 2010 at 9:40 pm |
We hardly ever use the landline and if it rings, more often than not we screen because it’s usually the in-laws or telemarketers. If people want us, they should know our mobiles. Unless of course it’s Gold Lotto. Am so close to disconnecting hoome phone but can’t go there just yet. Even though it would save me over $400 a year. Stupid me I guess.
Benita // January 21, 2010 at 6:48 am |
Once upon a time, the telephone, not unlike the television and the motor vehicle, was a novelty. You never used it to ring your neighbour; you just hollered over the fence if you needed something. On a Sunday night, mum would announce that she was ringing Grandma, and we’d all stand around the phone and bellow down the receiver at poor Grandma. It was a treat, a special occasion when you got to talk to someone on the phone. And that wasn’t a bad thing. Nowadays, we all have mobiles. We can contact people – and they can contact us – literally at all hours of the day and night. There’s no novelty to a chat anymore. Hell – even chatting is a thing of the past. Texting is cheaper, quicker, and not as personal. Great for ending a relationship. So as well as telecommunications giants selling us the idea that we need phones in our pockets at every moment of the day and night, they are now cashing in on our newfound inability to function without our ear pressed up against a phone, and charging us accordingly.
Is the convenience of modern technology really a good thing?
Rosie // January 26, 2010 at 6:57 am |
Ugh, the curse of modern technology. I have a mobile, it is the number work and my mum and sibs call me on. The kids text me.
I remember the days before mobile phones, and I rather miss them.
We also have a landline. I ring friends for a good long natter (maybe once every 6 months). I ring the kids for a catch up. Ditto Mum. I will never get rid of it, my husband has health issues, and him being able to call me/the doctor, and articulate what the problem is is very important.
If it rings, my heartrate goes up. Is it an emergency, or (as it mostly is) a telemarketer?