I recently moved house and in doing so had to transfer my Optus home phone from my old house to my new, so I ended up changing to the 19.95 home phone plan for internet use only. My new phone line was connected and I had a new number and was waiting for my adsl to activate on it, a few days late I get an email saying they cannot access my new phone number as it's not on a telstra resale or telstra serviced line. So I ring Optus and asked if I could go on a plan that was a telstra resale to which the lady said that they do not do this anymore and under the new rules if it's an Optus home phone account then Optus therefore has the rights to my broadband access and I can only get Optus adsl, if I wanted another carrier or 3rd party then I would need to cancel my Optus service and get a new phone connection from another company (ie Telstra). She said that it is now if you are with Optus you get Optus adsl, Telstra then Telstra adsl etc and that I was only able to get Adam at my old address because I was on an old resale plan and then went on to try and sell me Optus DSL with some discounts she could do for me.

So the choices I had were:

A) Disconnect my home phone now and pay a $150 dollar fee (Yay I've had it for 3 days)
B) Disconnect my existing ADSL contract through Adam and sign up to Optus (no thanks)
C) Sign up to Telstra and get my Adam that way

It just doesn't sound right to me, I was never told of this when I rang up to change my phone number to my new house, even after they asked if I had adsl through Optus or if I wanted it I said no and now I find out that I have no choice anyway and it's going to cost me $150 to disconnected.

With Internode, they connect you to either:
Telstras Exchange
Optus's Exchange
Internode's Exchange
Maybe you could try with them?

I'd rather not churn I am happy with Adam. What I would like to know is what I was told correct? In other words if you sign up with Optus for a local phone line from now on you must use Optus DSL or that's it. Also, why was I not told of this while I was signing up as when I asked I was informed that "we do not need to tell you that" yet I can't find it in any fine print that I will be put on the direct Optus network and that they then have claim to my dsl connection.

Fineprint writes...

What I would like to know is what I was told correct?

Your first mistake was to tell Optus that you intended to use a provider other than Optus for your internet.

Both Helstra and Optus specify in their T & C that you can not use another party for ADSL connection.

BUT what the eye doesn't see...etc. etc.

It appears that Adam can only connect you to a Telstra line...so, call Telstra and say that you wish to 'come back to Telstra'

I have literally just done this for a friend and they offered a $70 CREDIT to come back.

Again DO NOT mention to 'T' that you intend to source your internet elsewhere.

End result: you pay Optus the $150 cancellation fee, you receive a credit from 'T' for $70, you still lose out on $80 but at least you can then get Adam.

half correct .

Optus these days does not resale Telstra products etc. What they do, is either rent the Line via a ULL (so the entire line is disconnected from Telstra Infrastructure and Connected to Optus Infrastructure) limiting ye to either Optus, or an Optus Reseller for yer ADSL

Or, they Use the Cable Network, giving you Optus Optus or Optus as yer choices

IIRC

Ah thanks guys, the thing that shits me is that I have been an Optus customer for like 5 years plus and had my adsl on an Optus home phone before I moved house hence why my disbelief when I am being told that now I have to have Optus DSL. Still think it's a pretty sly thing to do to not mention it.

Fineprint writes...

Still think it's a pretty sly thing to do to not mention it.

Why should they mention it ?
They are after your money, so for the same reason that you are not going to tell 'T' that you are not intending to have ADSL at this stage, Optus didn't tell you that you could not do 'so and so'.

After 5 years you must accept that any company's T & C will change, unfortunately you did not do your homework, or come to these pages first...the reason for WP's existence :-)

Good luck.

I think it's pretty major not to mention that any existing adsl service you are using on your current line may not work when you transfer to your new house on your new line. I don't think that's too hard a thing to do especially if someone has had a 3rd party ADSL for 5 years on an Optus home line why would they have any reason to suspect it has changed.

Fineprint writes...

why would they have any reason to suspect it has changed

Sorry, but they probably didn't even know you had a third party ADSL connection.
Certainly the party involved in your transfer had no reason to know (or care).

Oh well doesn't matter now they just lost another customer, naked DSL here I come!

When they ask on the phone and you tell them then they are aware. I agree legally they don't have to say anything but ethically it's shonky to know you are locking in people knowing full well you are potentially locking them out of their existing setup.. but anyway.

Fineprint writes...

I recently moved house and in doing so had to transfer my Optus home phone from my old house to my new, so I ended up changing to the 19.95 home phone plan for internet use only.

Argh, unfortunately you probably should have enquired/posted *before* moving house and re-signing with Optus, to check what your available options were and how best to do it so you stayed with Adam. Perhaps should have signed up to an Adam NakedDSL plan at your new place if you're using your phone line for net only (sorry, cos I know that doesn't help you now).

Sambo110 writes...

With Internode

What the hell as Internode got to do with this thread when it's clear he wants to stay with Adam?!

Tex writes...

Argh, unfortunately you probably should have enquired/posted *before* moving house and re-signing with Optus

Have to agree with that. I'm just going through moving my home phone away from Optus now too.
The only thing that saved me is I remember the Whirlpool news article about Optus not reselling Telstra anymore.
http://whirlpool.net.au/news/?id=1721

And I also happened to come across a thread here mentioning that even a plan change will result in moving to an Optus line (and hence no Adam ADSL).
/forum-replies.cfm?t=1013488

I knew I was on a Telstra line with Optus (2 year old contract) so had to go with Telstra or a reseller.

After nearly an hour on the phone to Optus and 3 different departments, speaking to an Indian, American/Canadian and another Indian they couldn't confirm what happens with my phone. I was considering staying with their $19.95 plan if they could tell me my line would not switch to Optus line.

We've been with Optus for probably 10 years with various home, internet and mobile service. Now they've lost our 2x mobiles and home phone in one week. Their service is bad now – was great when they started and were local.

After 2 minutes on the phone to Westnet (Telstra reseller) they confirmed what I thought – I'm on a Telstra line, so they can port my home phone with no disconnect/reconnect – and so no disconnection of Adam ADSL. This should happen in 5-10 days and should be just the same as when I went from Soul to Optus 2 years ago. I chose Westnet because I was impressed by their speedy, local service.

For anyone else on Optus and Adam be careful..

To the OP, I hope you didn't sign up to a 12 month contract for the home phone?!

Sambo110 writes...

With Internode, they connect you to either:

Telstras Exchange

Optus's Exchange

Internode resell Optus, so they could be a possibility. Not sure if they still break the Optus home-phone rule of OptusNet only? Read the Internode threads.

Yeah I am now waiting for a naked dsl connection lol. The woman liked having a home phone but now I win lol.

Fnomnal writes...

Internode resell Optus, so they could be a possibility.

Strange as it may seem, you have to be on a Telstra telephone line to use Internode resold Optus. The plan is Naked ADSL2+.

Have a go at switching to Telstra Home Line Budget. Don't mention ADSL when you switch.
http://www.telstra.com.au/switch/homeplans.htm

Note that there is no charge for switching to Telstra.
http://xrl.us/kj8ik