At death’s door:
Vodafone loses 216k more customers

69

vodafone11

news Vodafone’s global parent in the UK has revealed that its Australian division lost a further 216,000 customers in the first quarter of this year, as indications continue to mount that the ongoing customer outage from the beleaguered telco is accelerating, rather than declining.

Vodafone’s global operation, headquartered in the UK, owns 50 percent of Vodafone Australia, with Hong Kong giant Hutchison Whampoa owning the other half. In financial results published overnight in the UK, Vodafone said that its share of the Vodafone Australia division lost some 108,000 customers in the first three months of 2013. The 50 percent share equation means that Vodafone Australia is likely to have lost a total of 216,000 customers in the period — bringing its total customer headcount as at the end of March to about 6.2 million.

In the Asia Pacific and Middle Eastern regions, Vodafone’s Australian division is the only geography to be heading south, with the rest growing. “Australia continued to experience steep revenue declines on the back of ongoing service perception issues,” the company’s UK parent said in its financial statements.

The move adds to growing concerns that Vodafone’s Australian business may not be sustainable in the long term, as customers continue abandon the company due to the inferior quality of its network compared with rivals Telstra and Optus and the ongoing technical and customer service issues first exposed in 2010 in a disaster period for the company which has come to be known popularly as ‘Vodafail’.

In February Vodafone Australia revealed it had lost 443,000 customers and about $817 million in the 2012 calendar year. The release overnight meant that the company had lost about half that amount of customers in just three months; signalling a significant acceleration of the company’s issues.

Vodafail issues aside, part of Vodafone’s problems in the Australian market stem from the fact that its mobile network is no longer competitive on a technical basis with the rival networks operated by Telstra and Optus.

Both Telstra and Optus have had 4G mobile broadband services available on their networks in key geographies such as capital cities for close to a year (Telstra longer), and both now count large 4G customer bases. Telstra recently announced it had 2.1 million 4G customers on its network, while Optus recently revealed it had some 785,000 4G customers. Both are ploughing billions into their 4G mobile broadband infrastructure, as customers rapidly adopt handsets such as the Apple iPhone 5 and the Samsung Galaxy S4, which support the new networks.

In comparison, Vodafone has not yet launched its 4G network and consequently has no 4G customers on its infrastructure. It plans to do so in June, but much of its efforts over the past several years have gone into bringing its 3G network up to acceptable levels. When the company launches its 4G network next month it will do so several years after Telstra launched its own 4G services and a year after Optus.

The company is also taking other measures to win back its customers’ confidence following its ‘Vodafail’ series of outages several years ago — such as changing its charging structure to a per kilobyte basis and developing its Tasmanian call centre to ensure more Australian customers are able to speak to Australian call centre agents. It has also invested significantly in its backbone network to ensure it’s IP-enabled to improve customer experiences such as online streaming video.

However, so far there is no indication that any of these measures are having any impact on the company’s customer outage numbers.

opinion/analysis
How long can Vodafone hold out, as it continues to burn hundreds of millions of dollars in smoke every quarter and lose hundreds of thousands of customers every six months? In my mind, not long. I believe the company has several years at most before something drastic has to happen such as an acquisition at a bargain basement price, perhaps by a private equity firm or similar. In early April, after an extensive briefing with Vodafone Australia chief executive Bill Morrow, I wrote:

Honestly, the company is doing everything right at the moment under Morrow’s leadership. It’s investing in its networks strongly to get the basics up to speed and target high-profile areas with really fast 4G infrastructure; but it’s not over-investing in 4G right now, because it knows there is just no way for it to compete fully with Telstra and Optus in this space. It’s cutting costs, dramatically boosting customer service and investing in its backbone infrastructure to sure up the reliability of its network as a whole.

At the same time, Morrow is being extremely humble about the situation. The executive is very open about admitting what Vodafone has done wrong over the years to get itself into this situation, and he’s also not targeting every customer out there in areas where he knows his company can’t compete. Vodafone is letting some customers go right now, for now, while it shores up its situation, but Morrow is conscious that he’d like to win back many of those customers later.

All of these steps are precisely the right ones, and I applaud Morrow for taking the company in precisely the right direction. I feel like there are glimmers of interest out there amongst mobile customers in Vodafone again, and I feel the company’s momentum will grow slowly over the next year, as Morrow turns the ship around.

However, personally, right now I don’t feel like it will be enough to save Vodafone in the medium term (four to seven years).

Right now, courtesy of its huge and early investment in 3G and 4G infrastructure, Telstra is sucking all of the energy out of the mobile market like a giant black hole. Optus is growing in the market slowly, but Telstra is growing rapidly, and my bet is that most of those customers are coming directly from Vodafone. In this context, where even Optus is having trouble, Vodafone’s going to have even more trouble keeping existing customers and gaining new ones, and even the deep pockets of its international parents aren’t going to last forever when the company is losing hundreds of millions of dollars a year. Morrow’s on a clock to turn Vodafone around and show results, and he knows it. The executive may perhaps only have a couple of years before it becomes apparent whether his turnaround plan is actually going to be viable or not.

After seeing Vodafone Australia’s most recent set of financial results, which starkly demonstrate that everything the company is doing has not arrested the customer decline — in fact, that customer decline is rapidly accelerating — I believe the situation is even worse than I had believed it to be previously. In my opinion, Vodafone Australia has a couple of years left at max. At that time, we may be looking at a drastically altered Australian mobile landscape, with only two main players — Telstra and Optus. The mobile wars are over — and it looks like Vodafone has lost.

What should regulators such as the ACCC and the Federal Government make of this? I’ll try and post some thoughts about this in the next few days. It’s a thorny issue, and it’s no longer on the horizon — it’s here right now. There’s really no doubt about it now. Vodafone Australia is dying.

Image credit: Matt Wakeman, Creative Commons

69 COMMENTS

  1. Frankly what’s more surprising than Vodafone losing nearly a quarter of a million customers is that it still has 6.2 MILLION customers. Who are these people?! And why are they sticking with Voda when Telstra and Optus are so much better on coverage — but not that much more expensive?

    • Price is a powerful motivating factor for a lot of people. 6.2 million of them, it seems. :)

    • “Frankly what’s more surprising than Vodafone losing nearly a quarter of a million customers is that it still has 6.2 MILLION customers.”

      +1

      Inertia. I still talk to a lot of people who are Vodafone customers. They all hate the experience.

      • I’m still with Vodafone. I must admit price is a fairly big factor, despite the lure of speed and coverage of Telstra 4G. There is no money in the family budget to pay any more than I am now.

        Additionally I haven’t really had big issues with Vodafone. In the places where I am 95% of the time, the coverage is ‘good enough’. Incidently, in the building I work in that is in the south of Canberra, only Vodafone seems to get a reliable internet connection. Both Optus and Telstra people tend to complain about it most of the time.

        • Yeah, same, can’t say I’ve had a problem with them really, but I haven’t tried using my mobile in rural areas.

          Seems like Australia is destined to remain a monopoly/duopoly paradise.

      • We swapped our company from telstra to vodafone a year and a half ago. We’ve got all the numbers on a $45 unlimited plan (with a hardware credit) so they’re hard to beat on price.

        However, the reason we haven’t left yet is customer service. we deal with Optus and Telstra business teams in other parts of the company, and Vodafone is by far the most pleasant to deal with. I’ve spent about 12 hours this week trying to sort out a series of mistakes and bad communication by optus in which nobody is taking ownership of the issue and nobody seems to know what’s happening. By comparison, every time we’ve had a problem with Vodafone somebody has essentially said ‘we’ll take care of it’ and got back to me quickly with a solution.

        We were considering moving our mobile fleet to optus for the extra rural coverage, but every experience we have with them ends up painful. It’s not inertia that’s keeping us on vodafone, it’s knowing the pain we’d experience with either of the other carriers.

        • Vodafone don’t offer the $45 unlimted plans anymore! So good luck keeping that plan… Now they are very similar in price to Optus/Telstra so there is no reason to bother with them

          • Businesses still get the $45 infinite plan, you just have to buy your number in batches (say, 80 numbers for $3600/month). You can buy in volumes as low as 3, which could be pretty handy for couples or families.

      • I’m with vodafone, show me another provider that lets my pre-paid credit stay valid for a full year and I’d be switching.

        That being said I doubt any of the telco’s are interested in capturing my business.

        • Well let’s see:
          Kogan (telstra reseller)
          Amaysim PAYG plan (optus reseller)
          Optus/Telstra/Virgin both offer 6 month plans – virgin in particular will charge you less for calls and text so you could just recharge less in dollars, twice per year.

          If you want data there is also:
          Telstra Mobile Broadband 12 month recharge (you can also call & text from this)
          RedBull Unlimited (they are vodafone)

    • 216k customers a quarter is 800k customers a year, dude. That’s double last year’s rate. If they keep on at this rate, it’ll only be a few years before the customer basis is at unsustainable levels for a national mobile broadband network. Heck, it’s probably already close.

      • Assuming the rate of drop is linear…usually isn’t…

        …sure they have problems, no doubt about that…don’t feel death is inevitable though…that’s all :)

        • It could also be a lot of people that are coming off 24 months contracts in Q1 that are leaving. We will not know. I guess lets wait for Hutchinson report to get an update. And lets hope that 4G network can win them some customers. no one like less competition

          • I don’t like the implication of less competition either, but one has to wonder if the loss of vodafone would make any difference at all in this regard.

            They haven’t been competing in the same market as the big guys for some time.

  2. ” but not that much more expensive?”

    Vodafone is significantly cheaper. e.g. I just got a HTC One on Telstra. Its costing me $70 a month for 2 years. Same phone on vodafone is $60 a month for 2 years, $240 cheaper, and with 1.5x the data allowance. And when you add in the fact that if you are an existing vodafone customer and threaten to switch carriers vodafone might even throw in an additional sweetener, vodafone appeals to people who want a smartphone and can’t afford to spend too much.

    • Considering you’ll be locked into spotty 3G coverage I don’t know that a $10 discount represents good value for money at all.

    • $10/month. That’s almost nothing if you’re looking at spending $70/month. Nobody in their right mind would spend $10/month less for a far inferior service.

    • Umm $10 a month for a 4G network that works in far more places and far better 3G coverage.

      I’d suggest skipping 2 x coffee’s a month and going with Telstra

      • Why 2 cups of coffee? Why not, say, most of the cost of a spotify account?

        1) HTCOne + telstra network for $70/month

        vs

        2) HTCOne + telstra network + unlimited access to and playing of all music tricks you’d think to play on desktop, laptop and your HTCOne for $72/month.

        For people who communicate predominantly via sms, and use a phone for games and music (i’m sure there would be loads of people who fit this description) I think option 2 would be better, don’t you?

        • sry, mistakes: option 2 is vodafone network, not telstra, and music “tracks” not “tricks”.

  3. “Australia continued to experience steep revenue declines on the back of ongoing service perception issues,” the company’s UK parent said in its financial statements.”

    Hey dickheads, it’s not ‘perception’, it’s reality. This past weekend I watched a friend try and download something on his iPhone5 on your shitty 3G network AND IT SIMPLY DIDN’T WORK. Meanwhile those on Telstra’s 4G network did speedtests sitting next to him and got 50mb d/ls. Let’s not even waste time on the idea that the iPhone5 is an LTE enabled handset and Vodafone has no live LTE network…

    This is all after the “investment”, after you’ve ‘fixed’ the problem…. Vodafone is akin to an alcoholic who refuses to accept they’ve got a problem and continues to tell people they’ve not been drinking yet everyone’ still sees them on numerous occasions passed out on the floor covered in their own vomit.

  4. I think it might be a bit early to judge Vodafone’s fate before their 4G network has even launched.

    • I agree. I think Renai is being very pessimistic and isn’t considering the ‘future’ Vodafone network. I could be wrong but I think we might be at a turning point in the Vodafone network. Why?

      Well for one, I’ve seen plenty of reports of people achieving >10mbps in upgraded areas (see whirlpool).
      For two, Vodafone and Optus have signed a roaming & tower co-location agreement which should speed up the 4G roll-out and improve regional coverage elsewhere.
      Most importantly however, we are on the cusp of the 4G network release! With the amount of 1800 MHz of spectrum Vodafone has, this could be a real game-changer.

      I’m sticking to Optus because I’ve only got a 3G phone. But when the 4G Network is activated (and I get a 4G phone), I’m going to seriously consider porting to Vodafone (pending coverage and pricing, of course).

    • I agree, but at the end of the day everything you read on this website is one man’s opinion (until you get to the comments)

      In 2 years time, let’s see what he has to say.

      Despite the fact that millions of remaining customers think he is wrong, he has a right to his opinion.

      In my area, the vodafone store is always busy because most people in the area can’t afford telstra or optus. They have a lot more choice at the $29 per month price point of much better phones.

      That didn’t stop me from switching over to Telstra, but I still carry a pocket wifi on another network for the cheaper data cost for video streaming and larger downloads on holidays, etc.

      I love Telstra’s network but in 2014 or 2015 they really need to revise data pricing downwards.

  5. are the customers lost figures taking into account new customers gained?

    assuming there are any new customers gained.

  6. “The 50 percent share equation means that Vodafone Australia is likely to have lost a total of 216,000 customers in the period”

    What do you mean by 50 percent share equation ? In the above paragraph you say 216k is likely yet in the title and 1st paragraph you state it as fact.

    • Vodafone doesn’t confirm it on the record, but it’s known as a fact behind closed doors.

      That’s what “likely” or “Delimiter understands” means in journo-speak.

    • “You have to start with the premise that advertising is a tax that you pay for not having a remarkable product,” said Naked founder Adam Ferrier. “The worse the product, the more you have to prop it up.”

      And this is why so many people hate the advertising industry ;)

  7. I can’t wait to see the same thing happen to Optus, their network and internet is atrocious. The only thing they understand is HUGE numbers leaving like is happening with Vodafone, and profits vanishing.

    Lesson learnt. DO NOT PUT OFF network upgrades (are you listening Optus?).

    Once the avalanche starts, you can kiss you reputation and most of your customers goodbye forever.

    • Optus is not doing that well either, from memory they only gained a very small handful of customers over the past 12 months.

      The Optus network is still a joke and most of my friends have left them for Telstra and I know many people who will be doing the same over the next 12 months.

  8. I became a Vodafone customer after the Three merger. I stuck with Vodafone because I was getting a really good deal. About $20 a month for what I was previously paying around $50 a month for. But they did not tell me it was only a special for a few months. I was suddenly hit with a higher bill. They would not offer any new deals and did nothing to try to keep me.

    Then to the network. I am in Adelaide. While in the Adelaide CBD I was basically unable to use the net. Facebook would constantly time out. Nearing home it would start working better but I still wouldn’t call it unusable.

    I changed to Virgin on the Optus network. I no longer have the speed issues. I am even able to watch Foxtel on my phone, while on the bus. This is on the *same* phone, an iPhone 4.

    They need to actually fix the network, rather than talk about it. That’s my experience where I travel anyway. It seems like the towers are fine, full signal strength, but the backbone of each tower is flooded.
    They also need to do more to keep customers happy.

  9. Actually a family member has a Vodaphone service, she has been stalked and the phone service is a silent number with NO DIRECTORY LISTING
    In 2010 she was listed in white pages and had to move. Kicked up a fuss and was delisted, back in White pages again.
    Bye Voda

  10. Having moved to Telstra from Vodafone, I can’t say it has been a pleasant experience. Telstra’s retail staff are next to hopeless on product knowledge and once you have signed on the dotted line they don’t want to know you. You also need to watch their billing as there have been two errors in six months with billing and it took about three weeks to get it sorted. I ended up with a package that included a T-hub for home. The t-hub needs a new screen but Telstra appear to be selling a tablet that they offer no repair service on. My concern also is what happens if and when Vodafone drop out of the market. Telstra are going to have to jack up their prices without competition. Mobile will go the way of groceries with the duopoly.

  11. I wish they would stop saying they lost this many “customers”, they didn’t lose that many customers, they lost that many “services”.

    If Optus lost me they would only lose 1 customer, but 6 services.

  12. I wonder where all of the Vodafone apologists who use to hang out in aus.comms have gone? (These arguments are from the mid-1990’s kiddies, probably before you were born.)

  13. Dunno… I’m still on a contract, so I can’t switch, but even if I could, I haven’t got anything that makes me want to do so. I haven’t been having any of these infamous service problems. Actually I was talking to a friend (also on Vodafone) yesterday, and he was making the point about how shitty Vodafone’s service is, and I asked him “is it really that bad? I haven’t noticed”, and he said “it’s Vodafone. nuff said”. But when I asked him to be specific, he couldn’t.

    Just to drive it home, I downloaded a 40MB app on the train home from Perth City in around a minute, give or take. I say to my friend, “hey look, dude, Vodafone’s 3G is better than your ADSL”.
    But that might just say more about his ADSL.

    In any case, the only Telco I’ll never go with is Virgin. That fucking answering machine (HMMMMMMMMmmmmmmmmmm….) drives me nuts.

    • Less anecdotally, I think that the time to make a judgment about whether Vodafone is at death’s door or not would be in the middle of 2015, since that’ll be when their 4G network has been up and running for 2 years (the end of the latest of people’s contracts since the 4G network began). If they can hold out that long… and they do deal with these service problems real or perceived… then they might be rewarded with new and returning customers. Because let’s face it, Telstra is the choice for those who have no real choices or those who don’t know that they have choices.

      • “Telstra is the choice for those who have no real choices or those who don’t know that they have choices.”

        I dunno, there are real choices in the form of Optus. However, about five years ago, when I realised that my ability to run my life the way I wanted it relied on ubiquitous mobile broadband access, I decided to pay the extra $20 a month to be with Telstra and suck it up. It’s a choice — a choice for the technically best option.

        • That’s precisely my point. Your “ability to run [your] life the way [you] wanted” was the outcome you required and “it relied on ubiquitous mobile broadband access”, which meant that your only real option was Telstra, as neither Optus or Vodafone had networks that would be able to provide you with that outcome. But let’s say Optus or another player (Vodafone if it survives) catches up, would Telstra necessarily still be your first choice? Traditionally, Telstra has been more expensive and has had worse customer service than its competitors, and I don’t think that’s likely to change even when the other networks catch up – because, as I said, there are all of these people who don’t know that they have better choices. That’s not you or I, but it might be our friends’ Mums and Dads.

          Still, if I were running Vodafone, considering the situation Vodafone is in I’d be playing the long game, not focusing on my financials every quarter – and I wonder if that’s what Vodafone is doing now. The other option I might take is to call it quits and sell it all off.

  14. I was with Skodafone when I lived in the UK – what a freaking disaster.

    There’s good people who work at Vodafone, but they are the exception. A company doesn’t lose customers/services like this without a reason.

  15. Maybe if Vodafone keep losing customers there will come a point where their network isn’t oversubscribed and it’ll start being usable again.

  16. Stooopid math from idjut reporter:

    This reporter should go back to primary school and learn math, and try not to get caught up in his own extra payments from telstra for wrinting such crap.

    Percentage of SHAREHOLDINGS has nothing to do with the size of the customer database
    108K customers is 108K customers. Just beacuse one entity has a 50% shareholding and says the company lost 108K customers does not mean 100% is 216K. SHAREHOLDINGS & CUSTOME BASE never shall meet you stooopid injut.

    So by your fscked up maths, if I have 0.0000001% sharehling and lost 108k customers.. Does that mean they lost umpteen gazillion customers.. yeah right. go back to school lean maths first, then learn jounalism and how to report FACTS not your narrow minded opinions, and leave sensationalism to little girl magazines.

    Oh, and just how much on of the other telcos’ (& delimiter) pay you for such drivel?

    Get you act together lemay. *UNSUBSCRIBE*

  17. I used to be with Optus and left because of terrible customer service and moved to Vodafone last year. Price was a big factor, but not only price, but the data allowance I got was significantly better than Telstra’s offering at the time. I have to say though that the Vodafone coverage I get is no worse (or better for that fact) than I got with Optus. I have no doubt that Telstra would be miles better in terms of coverage, but I’m (shock horror) happy at the moment with Vodafone.

    The real key to whether Vodafone can remain in Australia is when their 4G network is activated and if they can remain price competitive. I’ve been told though that since Optus and Vodafone have built their own 4G networks, Telstra will start being more price competitive as well. I can see that already in such that the deals offered on line are far better than what they used to be before 3G. Depending on how Vodafone’s 4G network performs though, if the plans are still cheap enough in comparison I’m happy to stick with them when my contract is up.

    Shaking the public perception that Vodafone is still ‘Vodafail’ though is the hard task and one I don’t envy their marketing team for

  18. I have been with vodaphone (or was it fail?) since 2001. The only reason I am still with them on my only post paid service is that I joined when they had the pay as you go service. The simm is in a nokia that lasts ages on the battery and it’s my wife’s emergency phone for when her prepaid runs out. For the last 8 years I have not had a bill for the service..

    Whenever I have gotten a letter from vodafone where they tells me how great their network have become after their improvements I have gotten a prepaid simm and tried it in my phone and every time its gone in the bin after a day or 2…

    I don’t know what they are doing to improve their network but its clearly not working here in North Ryde NSW.

    -Ivar

  19. ‘Right now, courtesy of its huge and early investment in 3G and 4G infrastructure, Telstra is sucking all of the energy out of the mobile market like a giant black hole.’

    I dont know how to say this properly but here it goes;

    Telstra update their communication technology, better coverage faster service etc. which is what people will buy.

    Vodafone says; because telstra gave people what they want they are taking away our customers and we can’t catch up.

    Why is Vodafone trying to blame telstra for their mis-management?

    Something smells fishy here, I think all three were in some sort of agreement to hold back any advancements but Telstra broke ranks giving them an advantage and now Vodafone is crying poor.

    Don’t get me wrong, I am a loyal Vodafone customer and probably will re-sign. I just think its amusing how people and companies don’t take responsibility for their own actions and try to shift the blame.

    Ranting for fun . . . :)

    • I think the comments you are referring to were from the Voda CEO, but they were in relation to the Fixed line business and what are perceived (generally in the industry) as money Telstra receive from their Fixed line business that gives them an unfair advantage in mobile.

      Not saying I agree with the logic, but there was also a shot fired about the NBN payments to Telstra, that it was creating a behemoth that was unbeatable in the mobile market due to the free cash it would inject into Telstra’s bottom line.

      Personally I think it’s a bit of a long bow, Telstra have invested in their network a significant amount of money and are reaping the benefits of that, whether it’s from a bit of cross subsidisation or not. They’ve also negotiated a fairly good outcome from the NBN, I’m not a fan of punishing a private entity for suceeding in business.

      If they were acting anti competitvely it might be a fair point, but really, all they did was match Voda / Optus’ pricing and handset subsidies for a while. Naughty Thodey! :)

  20. Seriously…very happy with Vodafone. I believe the only people making negative comments are those who were with Vodafone and left. I use a HTC One, awesome coverage, no dropouts and very rarely get less than 10mbps…highest I have had is 26mbps. How can that be a bad network or be called a fail. Most of us have friends using different networks. Compare your service against someone with a new smart phone on Vodafone such as an S4 or HTC One and I reckon they will beat Optus easily and frighten Telstra. My speed tests in a lot of cases against a friend with a S4 4G on Optus LTE seem to match or even beat him…and I am on 3G +. What happens when Vodafone launch 4G in 2 weeks. It can only get better and better and then all of the negative comments will slowly disappear

  21. I moved away from Vodafone during the vodafail outages. I moved to TPG which is a reseller of optus.
    Voda’s retail customer base is being dented by the little MVNOs that are offering services at a third of the cost.
    They cannot compete with Telstra or Optus in terms of quality.
    And are being priced out of the lower end of the market by the MVNOs.
    I think people who are with Voda coud be there for the lure of new handsets every 2 years.

    Once they realise that its cheaper buying new handsets outright and be with a cheaper service like live connect or TPG, even more people will move away from the big 3.

    • AJ , that is exactly why i moved form Vodaphone , although I was a 3 customer i had no issues with Vodaphone , but they coudlnt offer me the phone i wanted (Nexus 4) or the price / data allowance i now have with a Optus reseller. i now pay 1/3 of the cost per month and get double the phone calls and 10x as much data as i had with Vodaphone so i’m supprised more people havent moved to the MVNOs

  22. Telstra 4G is the bomb. I used to be a Vodafail customer but no more. The comparison between the networks of Telstra and Vodafail is massive. Telstra network you can actually browse the internet and use your data while Vodafail……….enough said.

  23. I’m also a Vodafone customer, or more like Crazy Johns and I’m with them because of the price, got the HTC One X when it just came out for $39 with enough data not to ever worry. Not to mention an extra %15 off because we have two lines with them!

    Now, I know Voda closed down CJ and plans now are only $10 difference from Telstra, what will I do? for sure not switch to Voda when my contract finish, Telstra it will be. This is because, as a lot of you said already, $10 difference is nothing in comparison with the quality you get. $31+ difference on the other hand, I was not able to justify not to take, even with the worse network.

    Renai seem to say in the article that the CEO of voda is doing everything right, but still it does not seem to be enough. I can’t agree with him, a network can not try to stop competing on price when the network quality is still rubbish in comparison with the competition. I can understand him wanting to get away from the perception of cheap and the cheap customer base, but you simply can not do that with a vastly inferior network.

    I confess the network is better than what it was at the height of the Vodafail saga, but from my experience, it is still rubbish; always getting full bars and H+ yet waiting forever for downloads!

    Unless I and looking at the numbers above, a lot of others get at least $30+ difference in price we aren’t staying with Voda.

    I wish we can know how many of those customers that are jumping ship are from Crazy Johns subsidiary, who finished their contracts and are not interested in Voda’s much higher prices.

    • @Geo – When your contract expires, you should still be able to retain your current plan regardless of whether you get a new handset or not. Have a chat with them and ask them what your options are if you do not want to change plan.

      • @AJ True, I can stay on the same plan, however, the price already has the phone factored it. If I don’t get a new phone with that price then I’m paying too much a month. Everything is connected….

        I’f I don’t want a new phone, then for sure going a reseller would be the best way to go…

  24. I wonder why all these people above use Telstra/Optus/Vodafone?
    Their resellers are much cheaper. It’s not like you get better customer service with any of the three network owners.

    As for Vodafone losing customers. People are price conscious. If the price is right they’ll switch back.

  25. Telstra don’t resell their full network. Only a cut down version with a coverage footprint roughly equivalent to Optus’, which is approx 900km^2. Telstra’s full footprint is about 2.3 million km^2.

  26. Jeez, I laugh long and loud at all you moronic imbeciles addicted to your mobile phones on the shitty plans the telcos give you. I operate an unlocked galaxy smartphone on a $20 basic plan, no data package. I only use wI-fI for web connectivity if I absolutely have to. I use a COMPUTER for all those other computer functions, I use the smartphone for PHONE CALLS. Who gives a stuff if you have to wait till you get home to use arsebook ? Morons. morons, morons, you deserve everything the Telcos dish out to you. Now I’ll sit back and wait for the hate comments in response !

    • lol @Shane your a funny one. This reminds me of 12 years ago when everybody had a mobile and I refused to get one saying I can wait until I get home to call someone or get a call. why pay those silly expensive cost of mobiles! (ooh and Shane, $20/m is very expensive for calls only, your getting screwed!) anyway, I grew up and figured out that tech is here to give people more choices. Using it or not is up to the user of that tech. So you should try to calm down with the name calling, idiocy has nothing to do with it mate, it is just more choice and convenience.

  27. Vodafone is the only provider that has reasonable international call costs to some countries.
    I am probably a bit unique in my usage in that 80% of my calls are international. I suspect that there is allot of fat in most costs, for example with Telstra to Call the Solomon Islands it costs $1.87 but Vodafone I am paying $0.40. That alone would turn my $400 a month bill into a $1600 a month mortgage.

    So if you are calling overseas Vodafone is so much more competitive its ridiculous.

  28. Im with Vodafone and I have no problem at all! They are cheap and have great network service!!!! Telstra is a rip off!!!!! Why is it that in Australia we pay so much for these teleco service. But in europe it cost 20c a minute on a contract to CALL AUSTRALIA!!!!! Be patient and Vodafone will get better!!! You cant say that there has been no improvement since 2010. I was with 3 Mobile and was then moved over to Vodafone. They are both great networks.

  29. It is redeculous that Vodafone, telstra & optus expect us to be +$50 for a plan that has a decent amount of data and included credit.
    It is cheaper to buy the phone outright and go on a plan from TPG or Internode, (both run off the optus network) than go with any of the top 3.
    I will be leaving voda and going to a third party not telstra or optus.

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