Hi I currently have a Optus home phone and internet bundle.

Hi Jackie,

It's unfortunate that you're unable to get Optus in your new area, as they really are the best provider when it comes to getting free calls included in your plan. Bigpond can also provide this service, but Bigpond are a lot more expensive than Optus and not a great alternative, despite being available more widely. You could also consider iPrimus (1300 137 794) – while they don't do free calls, they often give you a certain amount of free credit each month that you can use to make calls.

The best alternative to the plan you had, though, might be TPG. While TPG are more famous for their plans with very little available for the home phone, they do have one low cost, 24 month contract plan which you might find suitable.

The TPG ADSL2+ Unlimited Super Chat Home Phone Bundle gives you unlimited internet, unlimited local calls, unlimited national calls, and 100 international minutes. You don't get any free calls to mobiles, but you do get a free WiFi modem, which you might find useful if you don't already have one through Optus! The plan is $69.99 per month. You can call us to find out more or to sign up with TPG today on 1300 106 571.

You also might want to consider going down the road of getting a Naked Broadband connection (ADSL2+ without the home phone) and then adding on a VoIP plan for your calls. VoIP is basically a phone that works over the internet, and you can often get much cheaper calls when you're using a VoIP line, or a VoIP plan bundled into your Naked DSL connection.

I'd recommend looking at MyNetFone. You could sign up for the MyNetFone Naked Broadband 200GB Plan, which gives you 100GB peak and 100GB off-peak, and comes with a free modem and free set-up on the twelve month contract. It costs $49.95 per month. To that you could then add one of their VoIP plans to cover the cost of your calls.

For example, you could add the Megasaver Premium VoIP plan, for an extra $19.95 per month, bringing your monthly charge to $69.99. The Megasaver Premium VoIP Plan gives you 200 free local/national calls, and then 10c calls after you've used them up, 200 minutes of conversation to mobile numbers per month and then only charged at 20c per minute, and international calls for as little as 1.9c per minute. Call MyNetFone for more information or to sign up today on 1300 106 571.

Changing to new technology can be scary, but VoIP is a great service that you might find really useful. Or you could stick with your landline and go with someone like TPG – either way, you could be saving around $30 per month! Suddenly leaving Optus doesn't seem so bad after all, huh?

I hope this helps! If you have any further questions, feel free to call us on 1300 106 571.

Mikaella.