I deleted the previous post. Something went horribly wrong. I shall play around with the new phone as I think that was the problem. I will probably repeat a bit of what I said so sorry if you read it before it went into the naughty bin.
Today we went into Bairnsdale to get kitty litter and to talk to Telstra.
***For the non-Australians out there we have three main mobile networks: Telstra (who used to be Telecom and before that the Post Master General's Department and were, once upon a time, owned and run by the govt.) Optus and Vodaphone. Other companies buy bandwidth from some or all of the three and sell them on to the public with varying degrees of coverage.***
If you live in the sticks (or even some metropolitan suburbs) you do not want to be with Vodaphone. Trust me on this! Optus has had some issues lately with data hacks and major service outages so we were looking at Telstra.
It turns out that one of the, shall we say, budget companies is actually owned by Telstra. Boost. Think Jetstar and Qantas. Apparently if we go with Boost we get the coverage as if we were with Telstra but none of the benefits - like concert tickets and free this and that. A bit of a no brainer, really. Anyway. We forked out the grand sum of $4 for two sim cards and Himself is tasked with setting things up. Worst case we will blow a month on Boost ($22) and go to Telstra. The challenge is moving our numbers from Vodaphone and cancelling the direct debit. That is a Himself job.
Andy, our site supervisor extraordinaire, showed us through the house today. Oh my giddy aunt the place is looking so good. The walls have been painted. Most of the cabinets are in. Doors have been hung. The bathroom cabinets need to be replaced and that will slow us down a bit so we are now looking at a mid June handover. I don't mind. I have so much space. So many cupboards and drawers in the kitchen I won't know what to do with it all. I might have to buy some more appliances! It is very hard picking colours from small samples and I am thrilled with the way everything is coming together. I knew the walls would be OK as the scheme is similar to that which we had in Langy but the kitchen cabinets were a bit of a risk and it has paid off.
We popped into my favourite cafe for a late lunch and they had sticky date puddings to go. So guess what we are having for dessert this evening? It will be left over spanakopita (from Aldi and bloody delicious) and coleslaw for main.
Last night Himself lit the wood heater. I was concerned I would have to call the fire brigade as anything is possible in this house but it worked really well and was very pleasantly efficient. I understand why wood heaters appear to be the heating of choice in all the older houses here. You used to be able to get wood from trees that had fallen in the bush but nowadays that is not allowed. Also the powers that be don't want us burning any sort of fossil fuel so new houses are forbidden discouraged from having wood or gas heating. (Sending it overseas is OK apparently but that is a political conversation I ain't having right now).
There is a glorious sunset ouyt there. I shall go and take some photos on the new phone so you may or may not get to see them!
The problem with resellers, such as Aldi who we use for Telstra, is that if the network gets congested, primary customers rather than reseller customers get priority. But that shouldn't be a problem for you in the countryside. Hasn't Vodaphone set up to use the Telstra network in regional areas?
ReplyDeleteI'm getting quite excited about your new house, which will soon enough become your home.
Vodaphone have their own towers. They used to piggy back off Telstra but that deal went sour, I believe, but regardless the coverage in the bush is hopeless. The only reason we are trying Boost is because it is wholly owned by Telstra and according to the Telstra dude we should still get better coverage during congested periods.
DeleteThe house is so close yet so far!!
Thanks for taking another run at the post! Links worked fine this time around. The house is getting exciting.
ReplyDeleteI have no idea what went wrong last time. I shall try reinstalling the blogger app and not posting any photos.
DeleteLooking forward to see photo's of your new house. Quick question, for the $22 you quote for your phone, does that include data? I have heard Canada has the most expensive mobile phone companies, I believe it. I pay almost twice as much as you do and, I have no data.
ReplyDeleteWe get unlimited calls and texts to national numbers and 7GB of data for the $22. Any unused data can be rolled over with the next recharge which is every 28 days. Our bigger companies are more expensive but they offer more. We don't need 50GB of data!!!
DeleteWell, I hope that your new cell provider works out. Sounds mighty complicated to me.
ReplyDeleteAnd what great news about how much you like your house. So much to look forward to.
Himself still has to get things organised. I am trying not to nag!
DeleteI have a fairly good eye for colour but it is always great to see things work out.
I'm looking forward to seeing the inside of the new house. Not long now.
ReplyDeleteI was going to take some photos yesterday but they wouldn't have shown it properly. You will have to wait until we are in! Or at least the flooring is down and the bench tops on.
DeleteGreat to have you back blogging, Sparkle! You have a wonderful way with words and always make me laugh. Keep it up!
ReplyDeleteThanks, Chris. :)
DeleteDon’t get me started on phones and telcos.
ReplyDeleteAll that faffing about means I keep my phones until they pretty much die of old age. Around five years.
I can’t wait to see pictures of the new home.
Have fun working it all out. I’m sure you’ll be fine
My last phone was a Samsung S21. I wasn''t happy with it from day 1 even though I have had Samsungs for ages. I wanted the Pixel because of the camera. I know the new Samsung and iPhones have good cameras but the Pixel gets really good reviews and all three of my boys recommend it for different reasons.
DeleteHopefully I will be able to show you round the new house in person soon!
In my opinion the government should be looking after its own family first and supplying them (us) with the gas we need before sending excess overseas. Who grows a huge veggie garden and gives it all away while their kids exist on rice bubbles? That's enough of that.
ReplyDeleteI'd love to see photos of your new kitchen when you are ready, I have a thing for decent kitchens.
It boggles my mind that we blow our trumpet about how we are reducing carbon emissions blah blah blah and then sell to some of the dirtiest producers on the planet whilst the average Aussie struggles to afford to heat/cool/cook because of gas prices and shortages and electricity brown outs.
DeleteMay I copy this comment to our local newspaper?
Delete