why wy?

A telstra call centre caught me at home yesterday and gave me the spiel - you used to be with us, and we want you to come back, we've lowered our rates, we're really cheap now ... etc. Then he asks me, how much do you pay a month for your phone?

I go $20, including line rental.

You can hear him swallow in amazement.

To his credit, he doesn't try to sell me the telstra deal, just asks me a couple of questions about my provider and hangs up, beaten. I never found out how much i could save if i signed up with telstra, but i get the feeling it would be a negative number.

(note to non australians - this is the expensive, non lucky country when it comes to telcos. Line rental is twice or three times as expensive as in Singapore, and there is still a flagfall for every mobile call you make, on top of call charges that are expensive anyway, and can work up to a dollar a minute, uncapped, on some plans. And they still charge you for the crappy standard phone handset rental every month even if you have your own phone, unless you take the initiative to return it to them.)