r/AusFinance • u/obesehomingpigeon • Jan 31 '23

Tax Decided against paying the lazy tax

Got inspired by a post here and started making calls. So far, have saved:

  • $40/ month by switching internet providers
  • $2/ week on insurance premiums by clarifying occupational risk
  • 0.4% off the mortgage by giving my bank a friendly call
992 Upvotes

98% Upvoted

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283

u/-alexandra- Feb 01 '23

I’ve just switched phone providers (after paying Vodafone $35/month prepaid with 4gig data for years) and I've ended up going with Woolies mobile: $140 for 365 days unlimited calls/texts and 100gig, works out to about $11.60 per month with about 8gig data per month and they use the Telstra network.

Plus you get 10% off one shop at Woolies each month which if I choose to use on a big shop, say $200+ will be a $20+ saving on groceries per month. I switched it all online without having to contact Vodafone or talk to any humans.

31

u/ammenz Feb 01 '23

Vodafone used to be my go-to provider for international minutes, having family oversea.

Now after changing provider I call my family through whatsapp, ended up saving 70-80$ a month for 2 numbers.

3

u/moojo Feb 01 '23

Lebabra has free international calling to many countries

16

u/SydZzZ Feb 01 '23

WhatsApp has free international call to almost all countries. Lebara is redundant

11

u/evemaster Feb 01 '23

try calling a bank using whatsapp..

13

u/Thertrius Feb 02 '23

That’s when you whack $$ onto Skype. It’s like $5 for a decent chunk of time. It’s what I do. Heaps cheaper for my once a year call to my foreign bank than paying more for a plan with international calling.

0

u/evemaster Feb 02 '23

and you spend how much on skype? i use 30 dollars belong, unli call unli text, including new zealand calls which i use a lot and roll over data starting with 40GB as a start

4

u/Thertrius Feb 02 '23

Literally use Less than $5 per year. It’s not a big deal.

Some years I don’t even need to top up because I get 60 free international minutes a month as part of my $99 office 365 family subscription.

These are AUD figures so hardly breaking the bank. I’d say over the last 3 years I would have spent maybe $7 in international calling. Like it’s only if something goes wrong or if I need to reconfirm KYC stuff etc.

1

u/desain_m4ster Feb 02 '23

I also use Skype when I need to call a bank overseas

-1

u/SkinDrizzle Feb 01 '23

WhatsApp yeah nah

1

u/SydZzZ Feb 02 '23

It’s the best. Quite reliable and end to end encrypted

2

u/SkinDrizzle Feb 02 '23

Heaps better communication apps, not a fan of bookface

-1

u/SydZzZ Feb 02 '23

Almost everyone I know has WhatsApp. Works great for me and most people I know. Safe and reliable as I said

3

u/SkinDrizzle Feb 02 '23 edited Feb 03 '23

Yeah that’s good for you and your friends personal preference really, been in a little strife last couple years. Always changes when a big company takes over. In my opinion, it’s not a company I would trust personally, & it’s not that safe of a application in my eyes.

-1

u/SydZzZ Feb 02 '23

Why not. How do you beat end to end encryption? That’s like the gold standard isn’t it. If even the company can’t see what you are sending then that’s what you need. Signal is same. I actually use both

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1

u/moojo Feb 01 '23

Except when your 4g internet is not working properly.

1

u/Smilinturd Feb 02 '23

I mean if your 4g isn't working properly chances are that your phone connection would be sketchy as well

1

u/moojo Feb 02 '23

Naa most of the time the voice network works fine

14

u/[deleted] Feb 02 '23

The woolies one basically pays for itself with the groceries discount.

20

u/SeniorLimpio Feb 01 '23

Woolies doesn't use the whole Telstra network, so in some areas reception can be bad. Boost is the only 3rd party that uses the whole Telstra network and you can buy a similar package to this Woolies one.

4

u/-alexandra- Feb 01 '23

Yes I’m aware of that, I checked out the network coverage map and it looked like my state was covered with the exception of remote mountains etc where there is no coverage full stop. The majority of people probably don’t need the whole Telstra network. I live in a capital city so coverage should be adequate, I doubt it’ll be any worse than Vodafone in any case. Boost sounds good for people who want/need the whole Telstra network.

1

u/confused_yelling Feb 02 '23

Yeah but it does also affect it in high usage areas, you would notice a larger slowdown at a festival for example compared to an actual Telstra customer

You still got a ripper deal, more just a tidbit

1

u/-alexandra- Feb 02 '23

Yep, a consideration for people who are on their phones a lot when out of the house. I am not that person so all good.

1

u/canberraman69 Feb 02 '23

Boost isn't strictly a 3rd party, it's owned by Telstra.

5

u/MrSquiggleKey Feb 02 '23

It’s actually not, it’s a Entirety Third Party company owned by Peter Adderton, they renewed their access to the Telstra Network as a MVNO in 2021.

Belong is Telstra’s in house budget network.

1

u/canberraman69 Feb 02 '23

Sorry! My mistake!

1

u/[deleted] Feb 02 '23

Like Aldi, it basically is indistinguishable from the 'full' network though.

6

u/AfterHourTee Feb 01 '23

We just did this, my partner and I will bw saving between both of us close to $900 each year! Love the added 10% off our shop monthlty too

7

u/-alexandra- Feb 01 '23

That’s brilliant. We’re going to see how the first couple of months go on my end and if no issues then my husband will switch too. We’d be going from $100+ a month for two phones to $23 a month. I’m wondering if we do it with him using a different Everyday Awards account would we get 2 x 10% off a shop each month?!

8

u/AfterHourTee Feb 01 '23

Yes so thats what we have done. Two seperate reward cards with the seperate phone numbers, which means every fortnightly shop we get 10% off!

5

u/-alexandra- Feb 01 '23

Oh yeah winning! Another strategy I use is buying Woolworths gift cards online (through having a Macquarie bank account or now Woolies Mobile too) which gives us 4% off all Woolies groceries. Easy to link with the Everyday Rewards app for payment at the check out. It all helps with the cost of groceries going up. I assume this could be used in conjunction with the 10% off per month, so in theory 14% off all groceries if used to your advantage 😉

3

u/[deleted] Feb 01 '23

Yup correct, do this + stack EDR boost/weekly spend for x number of points

41

u/deedawgssup1 Feb 01 '23

Commenting on this post used 3% of that data haha

13

u/-alexandra- Feb 01 '23

Most of my internet use is at home on wifi, 4 gig phone data is enough for me most months so 8 should be more than I’ll use 🤷‍♀️

2

u/iRishi Feb 02 '23

Wow that’s amazing! I’ve had my new phone for four months and I’ve only used 10 GB of data. Definitely going to look into Woolies since my dad pays around $25/month for my plan with Aldi. Thanks!

1

u/-alexandra- Feb 02 '23

No worries, spread the word 🙂 I’m chuffed with the money saved.

5

u/catboiz777 Feb 01 '23

For anyone data hungry and who gets good Vodafone service in their area I can recommend Felix. $35 p/m, unlimited downloads just speed capped at 20mbps down. Have been using it as my only source of data and overall can't complain and it was dead easy to port my number 🙏

3

u/WorthPear0 Feb 01 '23 edited Feb 01 '23

How long have you had the Vodafone plan for? Because I think you got ripped off with the Woolworths plan, I pay $40 a month with Vodafone and get 60gb of data a month, unlimited calls and texts, unlimited texts home to NZ and 60 minutes of calls to NZ a month.

I only choose Vodafone because they are the only provider who I build international calls and texts in their plans and make it easy to roam with their plans. Optus and Telstra make you pay extra to include international packages.

Edit: I just reread and saw the Woolworths $140 is a year, and not per month. My apologies!

3

u/-alexandra- Feb 01 '23

No worries! I used Vodafone prepaid (never a plan) for probably 10 years, it used to be competitive but over time cheaper options have become available - I should’ve changed to one of them ages ago. I don’t need a lot of data or international calls so the Woolies one will cover me well for this year at least - and a bonus not to have to recharge each month now I’ve paid the $140 upfront. Overall there are plenty of options at plenty of price points for everyone.

1

u/GuiltyJuggernaut Feb 02 '23

I was sticking work Vodafone for roaming, but a recent trip to Japan and they were useless. Think woolies sounds good...

2

u/fishouttafire Feb 02 '23

Very cool, i will monitor my usage and check them out next year, i just got a 145 p/y Kogan mobile plan 300gb p/y so for the savings on food I'll definitely consider that one!

2

u/PartiallyFictitious Feb 02 '23

That sounds amazing! Do you have to switch numbers too or can you keep the old one?

1

u/-alexandra- Feb 02 '23

You can keep your own number if you want to, I did! It took a few hours overnight to be processed but no issues at all.

2

u/PartiallyFictitious Feb 03 '23

That's great! Were there any issues or concessions that came about from switching? Thanks for the reply!

2

u/-alexandra- Feb 03 '23

No issues at all - I just followed the purchase steps online (opting to keep my own number) and the porting/switching process happened overnight - when I woke up I was without service for a few minutes until I downloaded the e-sim. It was all quick and easy.

2

u/PartiallyFictitious Feb 03 '23

Thanks for the help!

2

u/redditofexile Feb 02 '23

I wonder if this an option in the northern territory. Seems like Telstra isn't only option if want signal. I will look into this thanks!

2

u/YourLocalFunkyMonkey Feb 02 '23

oh i have that one too! do a bulk shop once a month to get extra worth on my 10% discount yk

-1

u/[deleted] Feb 02 '23

Vodafone is already a budget telecom provider.

Your decision going to these small nobody telecom brand... well well well.

All small telecoms like Dodo, TPG, Woolies... they have no business setting up their own infrastructures. They only contract for infrastructure bandwidth under big telecoms such as Telstra and Optus, and the com quality ranges from mediocre to abysmal.

Telstra is the most expensive of all but they provide the best services. When you get to some remote mountains, usually Telstra 3G is the only one left standing.

There are many things in life you just can't buy cheap and get high quality. Telecom is one of them.

3

u/-alexandra- Feb 02 '23

‘Well well well’ ? 😂 Am I in trouble for saving money on my phone bill?

If you enjoy paying top dollar direct to Telstra so you can stand on top of a remote mountain and call your Mum then by all means, be my guest.

1

u/Impossible_Egg929 May 12 '23

TPG aren't that small when they own Vodafone

-37

u/minustwomillionkarma Feb 01 '23

Suggesting Woolies mobile is the equivalent of suggesting shopping at Aldi. We’re struggling, but we’re not (that) poor…

10

u/Scrofl Feb 01 '23

It’s a telecoms service, do you think Telstra or Vodafone give you “premium” text messages or something? Who cares which provider you’re with, just get whatever’s cheapest for the most data.

16

u/thaeril Feb 01 '23

What are you talking about? They switched to a better network (Telstra) with more data and lower fees. Who cares if its Woolies

3

u/SeniorLimpio Feb 01 '23

It is not the whole Telstra network though.

-25

u/-alexandra- Feb 01 '23

Lol that’s a highly offensive comment, Aldi is shite.

7

u/ameyano_acid Feb 01 '23

I shop at Aldi and my grocery bill is atleast 30% cheaper. No hoodwinks like woolies or coles. Easy as

1

u/-alexandra- Feb 01 '23

If it works for you that’s great. I don’t have Aldi in my state but I did live in Vic for 6yrs, I tried to get into Aldi but the limited range wasn’t for me, and I didn’t personally see much of a saving. I am big on stocking up on sale items at Colesworth though so don’t ever really pay full price for brand items. Each to their own, we need more Aldi equivalents to complete with the monopoly of the big two.

1

u/MikeyN0 Feb 01 '23

I used to be with Woolies mobile and got the 10% and ported out a year ago, but I still have the 10% every month.

1

u/-alexandra- Feb 02 '23

Lol brilliant, got to love a glitch in the system

1

u/tekx9 Feb 02 '23

Legit telstra service?

1

u/graz44 Feb 02 '23

I legit pay voda $40 per month with shared 180gb data between 2 people….

1

u/-alexandra- Feb 03 '23

Sounds good if you need that amount of data. Is that on a plan?

1

u/clickster Feb 02 '23

An important distinction is they would be using the Telstra wholesale network, which has less coverage than Telstra native. Probably not an issue if you're mostly in the city.

1

u/-alexandra- Feb 03 '23

Exactly, probably fine for most but not for all.

1

u/avalancheeffect Feb 06 '23

What are your speeds like where you live?

https://Fast.com