I gave an old handset to my daughter to use for emergencies i.e. text or calls to my wife or I.  It was using a pre-paid optus card that allows us to keep credit for up to like 6 or 12 months (I actually forget but quite a while)  We recently recharged the thing, thinking that the last lot of credit went quite quick.  But from the 10th to the 23rd of April she went through nearly $30 of credit over that period with a handful of text messages $0.29 each (not complaining about that) but most of the charges were short bursts of Internet access.  Now admittedly she does use internet at home we have wifi and it connects to our wireless modem router.

But anyway she told me today the credit is nearly out, so we logged on to have a look and noticed she is getting Internetbrowsing and socialnwk charges of $1.32 a pop.  Today alone she had 4 of them so I could be certain it was wifi.

Now what really blows me away is that I realised these charges today were happening while she was at home using wifi.  So I spoke with an optus representative online via text, here is some of the text that I copied from the conversation, please note it isn't the full conversation as personal details were required.

Anil: Thanks.

Anil: I see there were a lot of Internet browsing done on the account.

you: All charges are for the same amount $1.32 duration 00:00:00

Anil: Yes that is $1.32 per 1MB of data used.

you: But this is only done while at our home address, which when here it is connected to wifi

Anil: I am sorry to inform you the wifi is only used when you have the Internet turned off on the account.

Anil: Now I can turn the Internet on my system so she can only use wifi.

you: But the phone is not showing up 3G, it is saying it is connected to wifi

you: She doesn't want to use internet through the optus network, just emergency calls and sms

Anil: I am sorry as the Internet is active in our system even though she is using wifi she gets charged to optus.

Anil: Do you want me to turn her Internet off through optus?

you: Yes that would be good!

Anil: Just one moment.

Anil: Thanks for waiting.

you: So you are saying that if the phone is connected to wifi, we are still getting charged on optus

Anil: I have turned your daughters Internet off on my system, so she wont get charged next time.

Anil: And the answer to your question is Yes.

you: if we browse the internet? But I can tell a big difference in speed if I turn off wifi and let my phone use 3G while at home.

Anil: I know but it is also charged on optus.

Anil: But now you dont have to worry about that as I turned the Internet off.

you: That just seems unbelievable to me. My account i wouldn't notice it as I have a capped account.

you: O.k. Thanks.

Anil: Have I covered everything for you today?

you: You have but I just can't believe that if the phone is connected to wifi that optus charge for internet that is coming through a network other than optus

Anil: I know but that is why customers need to be aware of this.

Anil: I am sorry for you inconvenience.

Anil: Is there anything else I can help you with today?

you: I don't remember getting any information in regards to this when I joined up.

you: I need to further investigate this as I feel it isn't honest.

Anil: I agree, but cant do anything, I am sorry once again.

Anil: Do you assistance with anything else?

you: No that is all. Thanks

Anil:          ^_^

Anil: Your most welcome.

Anil: It was a pleasure chatting with you.

Anil: Have a Good Evening.

Anil: Byeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee.

Anil: Thanks for using Optus Live Chat. We value your feedback, so if you have a moment, please click the End Chat button at top right to answer a few questions about your experience with us today.



Now can you believe what she is saying, I can be using my home wifi and still accruing data charges from optus for data that they are not supplying.  Is anyone able to give me any valid reasons for this.  I know that if I'm using 3G at home it is quite slow.  But when I connect to my wifi router I get much faster speeds so I just can't understand it.  She stated that she feels it isn't right being charged for something that I'm not using.  Has anyone seemed to have had this problem?  I got her to turn off internet usage from the account.  But it would be nice to be able to use the internet if needed when we are out.