Supercharge your mobile value with new Telstra Pre-Paid Cap Encore
Filed under: consumer, data, mobile phone, pre paid
It’s a scary thought when it hits you that Christmas is less than two months away. Sure, festive merchandise has been creeping onto the shelves for at least a month now, but I manage to stay relatively immune from the Christmas bug until November, when you suddenly wonder where the year went and Christmas carols start to invade store music systems.
But whilst it might sneak up on you, once Christmas is here it’s a time of the year I truly love. This year will be my son’s first Christmas so it will be an exciting time as we get to share the festive spirit with him for the first time. It’s what the season is all about- connecting and spending time with loved ones.
So we thought that as Christmas quickly approaches and the nights become a little bit more festive it’s the perfect time to launch our latest Pre-Paid offer, Telstra Pre-Paid Cap EncoreTM, including a whole lot of value to get you in touch with your favourite people over the summer season. We’ve made it a cap with the works, a chunk of credit for talk & text to standard Australian and international numbers, and data to get you browsing and networking away.
Telstra Pre-Paid Cap EncoreTM really is bursting with value- and you have complete control of exactly how you want to supercharge your credit. We’ve added extra recharge options and boosted inclusions, so you are really getting more for your Pre-Paid dollar. For example, recharge $50 and receive an amazing $1,000 total credit ($50 recharge and $950 Cap credit) plus 2GB data, or recharge $100 and receive an astonishing $2,000 total credit ($100 recharge and $1,900 Cap credit) plus 4GB data. All on Australia’s largest and fastest national mobile network.
Plus to really get your summer nights going when you recharge $30+ we’ve added Free Talk and Text Every Night between 6pm and 6am (to standard Australian numbers) for 30 days until January 23rd 2012. As the weather heats up, the BBQs come out and you want to wish your contact list a happy new year you can call and text to your heart’s content and really get the most out of reconnecting this festive season. It really is summer’s hottest Pre-Paid offer so you can connect all night, every night.
| RECHARGE | = TOTAL CREDIT | + BONUS DATA (PER MB) |
|---|---|---|
| $30 | $250 ($30 Recharge & $220 Cap Credit) | 500 MB (400 MB +100 MB Bonus Data) |
| $40 | $550 ($40 Recharge & $510 Cap Credit) | 1 GB (800 MB + 224 MB Bonus Data) |
| $50 | $1,000 ($50 Recharge & $950 Cap Credit) | 2 GB |
| $70 | $1,500 ($70 Recharge & $1,430 Cap Credit) | 3 GB |
| $100 | $2,000 ($100 Recharge & $1,900 Cap Credit) | 4 GB |
| INCLUDES FREE TALK & TEXT EVERY NIGHT to standard Australian numbers between 6pm & 6 am. All to use in Australia within 30 days. Bonus Data and Free Talk & Test end 23 January unless extended. |
||
The combination of the Pre-Paid Cap Encore and Free Talk and Text Every Night between 6pm and 6am is the ultimate summer combination- you’ll be ready for the festive season before you know it.
We’re always working hard to give our customers more value and we love to know what you think. Feel free to drop any questions or feedback into the comments box below and happy talking and texting!
Visit Telstra Pre-Paid Cap EncoreTM for all the details to get your Pre-Paid connection summer ready.
Data is now charged in 1MB blocks! Be very wary especially if you are on the now grandfathered Cap+ which charges data in 1KB blocks
100KB blocks would be okay, 1MB just kills it.
You missed the bit in the PR blurb where you mention that you are now charging in 1 MB blocks for data which greatly reduces the amount of data you can actually use, compared to the cap+ plan.
You have the word ‘per MB’ next to the bonus data. Can you please explain how data is counted?
I believe that you can accumulate a maximum of $300 credit then subsequent recharges will fail. Does this mean I will be forced to spend my credits before I can recharge? Failing to do so will cause my accumulated credits to be lost.
What happens after 23 January 2012? If this plan no longer offer Bonus Data after 23 Jan, does it mean if I recharge $30, I get 0 MB data?
Thanks for the comments guys- you will be charged per MB of data you use on the Pre-Paid Cap Encore. You are right that there is a maximum recharge limit of $300- so you will not be able to recharge until the amount you recharge does not take you over $300. And after 23rd January 2012, you won’t receive the bonus data, but there is still some data included. On a $30 recharge this will mean you will get 400MB without the bonus 100MB.
Get real! take to boost and vodafone.
how about unlimited calls and text, and 2GB for $50 every calendar month.
jut do it
This actually seems to be a downgrade of what we already had but being sold as something better!
Do we still get unlimited calls and texts from 6-midnight if we stay on the Cap + plans?
Hi Deborah. If you head over to Whirlpool and read the Telstra prepaid forums http://forums.whirlpool.net.au/forum-replies.cfm?t=1803468&p=16 you will find that any Cap+ person that recharged after 1 Nov no longer gets free nights or bonus data. If you sign into your account now and check “my offer” you will also notice that bonus data and free nights no longer appear (although you will keeop getting them until you next recharge). I think you have been misled by Telstra – the same way i was in the 1KB v 1MB debacle. Thankfully Joanne clarified that all the other info i had received by telstra was incorrect.
What a retrograde step! Charging in 1MB units is a farce. It’s the data equivalent if charging voice calls in 60 second blocks – in both instances it serves to devalue to amount of advertised value. Take this feedback as customer fury!
After years as seeing Telstra as an anti-competitive over-priced provider, my happiness with Next G was just starting to swing me around to reconsider Telstra for my other landline/ADSL/mobile internet/pay TV options (NONE of which are currently with Telstra).
It seems it’s same old Telstra though – devalue plans or stick up pricing (which amounts to the same thing). Good work – you’ve just lost a bundling opportunity from this customer.
Hey Jason ..it’s now Feb 2012 and we’re onto Encore 4 ..and although it all sounds good, it still is a short lived offer re bonuses ..and be it charging in MB v kb, Telstra will always get ya ..they really dont seem to be listening to their customers ???
Deborah, if you stay on the Cap+ plans you will no longer get free nights once your last recharge expires.
Joanne from Telstra, you explain that “you will be charged per MB of data you use on the Pre-Paid Cap Encore”. To appease the minds of Telstra customers, could you please clarify this statement for us. You technical department explained to me that data is “charged” in 1MB increments, not “accrued” in 1MB increments. In the examle they gave me, they said that if you use 3Kb of data, then you will have accrued 3Kb of data used and will get “charged” when you reach 1MB. In the case of bonus data, this really only comes into play when you exceed your data allowance and start paying $2 a MB out of you recharge balance. And this will only get charged at $2 when you reach the 1MB increment, before that, you won’t get charged at all.
Is this accurate and how you understand the Cap Encore “data charged per MB”?
Paul, I used the email support service about the question of free nights and this is the response I received from Telstra this morning:
“I understand that you would like to confirm about the following:
**Can you still get the 100 MB Bonus data and Unlimited Nights for Talk and Text.
**Will you be unable to go back to your current plan if you change your offer.
Deborah, I can confirm that you can still have your Unlimited Nights and 100 MB Bonus Data.
Kindly also be informed that you will be unable to get back to your Prepaid Cap + plan if you change prepaid offer.”
Hopefully this means that it will continue after I recharge. I intend to keep this email and use it if they try to take the unlimited nights away, as I have no desire to switch to Encore.
This is not good enough. Charge by MB. I guess this is another way to charge ppl that is using imassage. Before our MSG is counted by kb. And we could send loads of MSG that may only cost us 1mb a day. Now. 1 MSG could cost us 1 MB. I guess the best thing about pre paid is ……. I can move another and better carried anytime. Good Jon Telstra to drive ur customer away just before Xmas. What is Telstra sales management doing ?
Hi Joanne (Telstra Employee), or Stuart Bird (the author of this post) or any other Telstra Employee,
Can you please confirm whether the following blog post from Whirlpool regarding per-MB charge is correct?
http://forums.whirlpool.net.au/forum-replies.cfm?t=1803468&p=14#r266
“After another 30mins on the phone with Telstra and an email response from their technical department, it seems the information provided to me yesterday is indeed what they are standing by, that is, data is “charged” in 1MB increments, not “accrued” in 1MB increments. In the example given to me, if you use 3Kb of data, then you will have accrued 3Kb of data used and will get “charged” when you reach 1MB. In the case of bonus data, this really only comes into play when you exceed your data allowance and start paying $2 a MB out of you recharge balance. And this will only get charged at $2 when you reach the 1MB increment, before that, you won’t get charged at all.
Now I know the sceptics here and the 15+ WP pages dedicated to this issue will suggest otherwise, but that is what I have been told on 3 separate occasions.
A Telstra employee further clarifies this here http://exchange.telstra.com.au/2011/11/02/supercharge-your-mobile-value-with-new-telstra-pre-paid-cap-encore/ where she explains “you will be charged per MB of data you use on the Pre-Paid Cap Encore”. As Joanne explains, you will be charged per MB of data you USE, not “part of” each MB of data you use, nor does it say you will charged 1MB every time you use data.”
I am a heavy internet user and I need this confirmation before my Prepaid Cap + expires and this will pretty much decide whether or not to stay with Telstra.
Thanks.
It says data charged “per MB” on the simplicity offer, which I’ve found charges for 1mb each time I access the internet, so I assume they mean the same for the encore offer by saying “in mb increments”.
Hi guys, just want to clarify the confusion around the data charging on Telstra Pre-Paid Cap Encore. This offer charges in per MB increments (or part). So this means that if you use 3kb of data you will be charged 1MB. Once you have used up all of your bonus and included data, data charges are then deducted from the Cap credit and finally from the recharge amount, at the cost of $2 per MB (or part).
I hope this makes it simpler, sorry that you have been given a few different answers which have caused some confusion, but fingers crossed this helps you decide which Pre-Paid offer is for you. Don’t forget you also get the bonus Talk and Text 6am-6pm to standard Australian numbers until January 23rd on Telstra Pre-Paid Cap Encore.
Thank you for the update.
My credit expired 14/11 so thank you Telstra for the beautiful 6 months service.
It’s time to move on and find a better deal and value for money.
Hello Optus/boost here I come !!
Many people would rather 1KB charging for data than a limited time ‘unlimited’ offer; many people who’ve jumped to Telstra prepaid from OTHER carriers who’ve done the same thing and charged in 1MB blocks. Telstra has gone backwards with this last offer
A shame really, I finally wanted to port my service from 3 Mobile to Telstra. Oh well, looks like I’ll just go elsewhere
Thank you for the clarification. Unfortunately Talk & Text (however unlimited it is) are not relevant for my usage. I practically use internet on my iPhone all the time (including push email and other notifications) — with your MB charge, it would be a matter of days, if not hours, before my whole data, bonus credit and recharge amount go down to $0.
So for now I will be looking at offers from other providers until you’ve decided to put Cap+ or similar offers back into the table.
It has been fun being your happy customer. Too bad this has to come to an end.
What a lovely downgrade from the Cap+.
The 1MB sessions are a complete rip considering the Encore offer come with a small amount of data at 500MB and 1GB for the most popular $30 and $40 recharge options.
It’s a non-issue with some other offers from other carriers/resellers such as Woolworths Mobile, Boost and Amaysim as they give you 3-5GB to play with so the sting of 1MB sessions isn’t felt.
The limit of real credit at $300 is also another negative as it’ll just force people to use their accumulated credit they were saving for a rainy day.
The only positive is the addition of free calls/text between midnight and 6am but lets face it who uses the phone at that time? :/
Lets face it, this is overall a downgrade compared to the Cap+ offer.
Ahh well, Telstra back to its old tricks it seems.
wow.
what a retrograde step.
why couldnt the cap+ plan be left alone?
i ask that question in all seriousness as the person who pays for someone else to use that plan?
why the hell did u mess with what seemingly a LOT of people were happy with.
you are offering 12-6 am free calls.
that is terrific for those people (the minority) who make or receive calls at that hour.
the per Mb will be a a deterrent to more than those who get benefit from making calls in their sleep
can anyone explain why this move was made.?
anyone?
it seems like madness to me .
but then i am personally on a plan via exetel with optus…. and am happy
please rethink this move and show that the company is responsive to customer input
Well thanks Telstra after porting my husband over to you guys and telling him how awesome how great you all are, you pull this on us! We’re shareholders too, what a joke! Upgrade the gb offered or we are looking elsewhere – the woolworths/Optus sounds fantastic. Listen to the people….
We’re waiting, Telstra.
You’ve posted your PR spin on this “whole lot of value” and “bursting with value” offer – and customers have seen through the lies, spin and deception.
Be big enough to realise it’s a retrograde step, a most importantly a REDUCTION in value. So Telstra, what are you going to do to make your customers happy?
Don’t forget to stand by the Telstra Values:
“Integrity and Trust: I will be honest and ethical in all my dealings with others.”
“Service and Respect: I will be caring and responsive in the way I provide service to my customers and colleagues.”
Time to prove you can in within those values. I say again, we’re waiting, Telstra.
1MB data increments!? What a scam!
I would like Telstra to demonstrate how the _average_ user could utilise their quota as advertised. The majority of data sessions are in the 1-50Kb range.
I realise it’s not only Telstra playing these dodgy tatics, this is an industry wide problem that needs to be corrected!
1KB data increments is reasonable (both technically and commercially).
What’s next, where does it end? 2MB, 5MB, 10MB increments?? There clearly needs to be regulation here.
I’ll be staying put on Cap+ while I search for a better deal elsewhere.
This charging per rounded up Mb thing is like walking into woolies and being told you can only pay with $50 notes and there’s no change given.
Finally you brought out a great plan with the Cap+
Then you killed it, and everyone confidence in telstra
1mb Block, are you crazy?
If I recharge $30 then use the internet on my iphone 500 times (500 different sessions) then all my internet is gone
And im sure that most people would rather have unlimited texts, like the other carriers offer
Another great move. I think you should make the 6pm – 6am feature permanent. I almost missed that it was ending in January. Why did you end Weekend+?
Funny how Telstra staff have gone all quiet here. What a wonderful way to address customer complaints – by ignoring them!
It’s utter HYPOCRISY from Telstra of course, whilst espousing “I will be caring and responsive in the way I provide service to my customers and colleagues.”
Next time Telstra staff wonder why they’re so hated as a corporation, this page contains all the evidence you need.
Hi
Can someone please clarify this, as per Telstra website:
The Encore “Free Talk & Text and Bonus Data end 23 January 2012 unless extended by Telstra.”
Does this only applies to new customer switching over to this offer?
Currently, I am on Cap Encore $50/month, and i will not change the offer after 23rd Jan 2012, will i still be able to get the Free Talk and Text (6pm-6am)?
Hi leetsnail, I’ll ask for you.
Here you go. The bonus Free Talk and Text 6pm- 6am will end on the 23rd January unless extended, so following this date the Free Talk and Text 6pm- 6am will not be applied to the Cap Encore.
Telstra pricing team, can you please explain the logical reason behind this pricing scheme:
BROWSEPLUS20 = 700MB Browse pack, 30 day expiry for $20
BROWSEPLUS39 = 1GB Browse pack, 30 day expiry for $39
I better off pay $20 twice to get 1.4GB,
If I pay $20 30 days apart, i get twice as long the to use the data.
So, please check and change accordingly, my suggestion would be $39 = 1.5 GB, this should be fair and square for your customers.
Please pass this feedback onto your pricing team.
Wow, Brendan – talk about selective responses.
Are you going to address the MAJORITY of customers expressing concerns about per MB charging?
Or are you going to continue ignoring legitimate customer concerns?
Jason,
I can try to interpret what Telstra is saying.
The data usage is still counted in kb, but the Data session is charged in MB.
Note, A data session is when the phone get connected to Telstra 3G/NextG network and disconnected from the network.
Example, Phone is connected for 3 hours, and you only have used 14.1Mb of usage data for facebook, email, browsing, then phone lost signal and disconnected from telstra. The data session will be rounded up to 15Mb.
Max amount of data you’ll lose for each session is 1Mb due to the rounding.
So if the phone is connected/disconnected from Telstra 5 times a day, the max you’ll lose is 5Mb.
Well no matter how you try to put it.
It’s still a dection hated/dislike/unwanted by the public.
Why should I loss my mb coz Telstra is trying to make the usage go down quicker so we have to buy/top up more?
That’s why Telstra will never be number 1 in customers point of view and first choice.
It’s funny how biggest telco in the country but with less customers.
Other telco think/provide what customer want. Telstra think of ways how to increase the price and provide less then any other telco.
How about your unreliable system siebel ?
I could go on all day but I guess no one in Telstra cares anyway.
I walks into Telstra shop In Mildura to ask why I’m not getting m full gig per month recharging $40 a month. I get the extra 200mb (even tho I said its happens 3 times recently after a recharge. Then I said can I go on a better DATA PLAN.. Only to be told “oh she’s (Telstra lady on other end of phone) putting you on Encore. It’s the SAME thing you at on now”. That’s a far cry from wanting more DATA. I just said I never use the $510 bonus calls. Bonus + cap offered were FINE. And I think I can’t change back Grrrrrrr WHY do Trlstra KEEP MOVING THE GOAL POSTS
nice!
so on my smartphone i have 3 email addresses which are actively syncing / checking for email. every 5 mins when each of my mailboxes check for mail, even if it was a 5KB transfer, it gets counted at 1MB.
everytime i use googlemaps, location services, etc its 1MB. Ill be lucky to get 14 days out of thsi method before i top the 1GB mark of their 1MB rounding… sorry im not signing up
Robbie.
I think you have misunderstood.
the rounding is apply to the data session.
A data session is from the time to switch on the phone, get connected to 3G/NextG networks then lost signal and disconnected from network.
During that data session you can use email, web, facebook ect as many times as you want and it still be counted in kb.
So if the data session is 19.3Mb – when the phone disconnected from Network, it will be rounded to 20.0 Mb.
I am on Encore, and i have as much as push/notification/imessage/whatsapp and viber, and it is less than 50mb. hope this clarified it for you.
Telstra,
Why is it that i can not see the recharge balance and data balance and its expiry dates when i use my iPhone to log on My Account.
It is just showing the main balance and expiry date.
I used Consume, Quota, Phone Usage, they were working before, but this not anymore.
please advise.
Why is it that the plan states that you get free calling every night to standard numbers yet I am getting charged for it? and when I contact telstra the guy tells me the offer has finished? WTF
I am on the cap+ pre paid plan. I was told(by Telstra sales person) I would automatically be moved to the cap encore plan because cap+ no longer existed. My account still states that I am on the cap+. I am confused, what will happen if I don’t change my plan? I don’t want to go onto encore!
I have this offer but guess what? I’m still being charged for calls made 6pm to 6am. Ripped off by telstra!
me too and I’m not happy about it. did you get it sorted out?
Hi Lynda. Please use this form to send me a contact number and your account details and I’ll have someone investigate the call charges you mention and get them call you. Brendan
TELSTRA!!!! At this point in time, you as a whole are ALL ‘small town country people’ rely on.. there always seems to be a catch with your ‘supposed’ value with your cap plans.. I have to be prepaid because im simply too poor to be on a plan, and if i choose to go over to another carrier, I dont get reasonable network signal..
I suggest if you want valuable customers in the future STOP RIPPING PEOPLE OFF!!!
Telatra,
exactly what has happened ( Kim )has happened to my account!
It still states i am on the cap +
But i must be on the encore package
as a result of this i have had to recharge 3x ($30) in a month, i usually only go through $30 in a month and i havent done anything out of the ordenary, one lot of credit actually only lasted around 4-5 days .
weather its the cap+ to encore problem or something els no one in your shop can help.
i dont know what package to choose anymore because it looks as though which ever one i choose i will be getting totally ripped off in one or more areas.
I dont like being ripped off and what frustrates me more is that its so hard to get help or explanations from any part of telstra .
WHAT CAN YOU DO TO FIX THIS ???
Hi Chris. Please can you send me the details for your account and some contact details so I get get this looked at for you?
totally fed up with Telstra. I switched to the Cap Encore plan but was still being charged 29 cents per text at night even to other telstra mobiles and almost $2 per minute to call other telstra mobiles, again at night. Went into a telstra shop and got them to set up the Cap Encore plan for me AGAIN. Guess what? I’m still being charged the same as before! Today I walked into a vodafone shop and set up a plan that lets me have unlimited talk and text to any standard number 24/7 for $50 a month (telstra charge $99 for the same deal) and true to their word they haven’t charged me for the 3 hour call I made to QLD tonight. Goodbye Telstra, I don’t trust you anymore and I definitely can’t afford you.
Lynda, you should have contacted the Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman. My advice would have been to give Telstra only ONE chance to fix the issue – for that is all they should need – then go to the TIO.
Hope your Vodafone coverage is better than it was for me 18 months ago (pre their new 850 network). I left Voda for Telstra.