Endareth's dashboard

The problem is that as soon as there is any amount of dust in the air, the suction cup no longer works properly. The only way to fix it is cleaning the suction cup (and to be safe, the back of the iPhone) with an alcohol swab every single time, which is far from being a good solution for something I was hoping to be able to use a couple of times a day as a iPhone stand.

Having to buy a new device because the old one fails to perform as advertised is not an enticing option...

A suction cup that fails as soon as any amount of dust or hair is in the atmosphere is rather a waste of space. Cleaning it before each use with an alcohol swab is way too much effort for such a simple thing, and attaching/removing adhesive clips each time is simply ridiculous as an option. Given the potential damage than can occur from the suction cup coming off the iPhone, and having three brand new suction cups all behaving in exactly the same way within hours of them being opened, I'll be avoiding anything that appears even vaguely the same as this product.

Just for reference, I tested with my iPhone completely stationary and no vibration. The suction cups wouldn't stay attached for more than 45-60 mins each time after the first time, which managed about 90 mins.

That's ok, I've moved them manually. Luckily this means I'll also now be able to transfer them again when I upgrade from my 3G to a 3GS. – Endareth, on July 14, 2009 02:33

Ok, first up, I expected the "Register your interest" email to provide some information a reasonable amount of time (not a matter of hours) _before_ the new iPhones were actually being sold, if not the option to actually pre-order one online, as they did last year (and as Optus did this time around). As it was, I had to obtain the information manually from this site (amongst others). I am at least grateful that they use GetSatisfaction, as it does provide a way to get feedback to them.

As for the monthly contract price going up if I want a 12 month contract, no. Just, no... you see, that's what the Mobile Payment Plan option is, that's the cost of the phone. They just raise the price on that so you're paying off the phone sooner (and generally paying a bit more for the price of the phone). Take a look at how Optus do it. I'm quite happy to be paying a bit more, I fully expect that if I'm upgrading every year. I'd just like the option to be able to to just that!

I'm curious why you think the iPhone costs Vodafone $1000, where did you come up with that number? Given that they list them as $1150 to buy outright, that doesn't quite sound right... I know the components have been reported as costing approx $190 US, but none of us know exact profit margins for Apple vs. Telcos.

As for unlocking an existing iPhone, take a look at https://unlock.vodafone.com.au/voila/... It should cost either $25 or $75, depending on how old the phone is. – Endareth, on June 30, 2009 05:35

I'm not talking about the Mobile Payment Plan for paying of the existing iPhone, and if Vodafone offered 12 month contracts then this wouldn't even be an issue. The simple fact is they don't which means there is no cost effective way for those of us who upgrade to the latest phones on a yearly basis to do so. You'd think Vodafone would try target those of us who actually spend a lot on them... Assuming Vodafone were offering reasonable upgrade pricing, I'd be staying on contract with them ad infininitum, so they'd be making as much off my contract as it would be possible for them to do. On top of that I'd be buying a new phone off them every single year. How can this be a difficult business decision for them? – Endareth, on June 26, 2009 11:55

Just got an email from Vodafone from the "Register your interest" email signup... don't know why they bothered having that if all they do is provide late information. On the plus side they list the upgrade pricing: $600 is a little better again than $820, but still not enough to incline me toward an upgrade, especially as I'd be forced to do exactly the same in another 12 months when I'd be looking at upgrading again. Really wish Vodafone would go back to offering 12 month plans again. – Endareth, on June 26, 2009 02:36

Called 1555, spoke to a very unfriendly guy who was able to offer me $700 instead of the normal $820 early termination fee, what a saving... Adding a new phone and contract onto that, I think I'll pass and just switch over to Optus. Very unhappy with my choices at this point. – Endareth, on June 25, 2009 23:12

"Not available to customers whose account is overdue or who have missed any payments in the last 3 months."
Is this supposed to read "who have had any overdue payments in the last 3 months."? Over the 17 years of being a Vodafone customer, I've always been glad of Vodafone having a very customer friendly policy of allowing due payments to extend up to a month past due date without any issues...

edit: I've just re-read this clause, and realised it's effectively identical to the standard early exit clause (http://www.vodafone.com.au/personal/p...). I'm assuming the pricing will be significantly better for this? – Endareth, on June 25, 2009 06:58

Thanks for the update, I'm glad someone is paying attention :) – Endareth, on June 25, 2009 01:39

Given that it's now just 14 hours away from Optus' midnight store opening to sell the new iPhones, aren't Vodafone leaving it a little late? Haven't received any email with even a single piece of information from them about possible upgrades, and the in-store people have no clue and are still claiming it'll be full cost payout of plans required to do an upgrade.
At least they've updated the pricing info on their web site...

Surely if a system like Lara is unable to manage even a tiny percentage of calls, then there should be some sort of backup system in place? Physically going into Vodafone stores to get answers to some simple questions isn't really a great fallback. – Endareth, on June 23, 2009 06:02

Most of the time I'm in a moderately noisy office environment, and Lara simply fails to recognise what I'm saying. It picks up maybe one in five words if I'm lucky, and that's including yes/no confirmation, so it takes ages to get through to anyone. Even in quiet environments Lara tends to only get about one in three of the words I say (I have a very quiet voice, which probably doesn't help). Is there a direct number that we can call to actually speak to a human instead, if touch tone is still not an option? – Endareth, on June 23, 2009 03:22

Any update on this? After continually trying to chase up Vodafone for any updates on the new iPhone, along with some billing enquiries, I'm getting really really annoyed with having to deal with "Lara". I inevitably end up either mashing buttons or generating static to the phone for several minutes until I finally get to talk to a person who is able to transfer me to the correct section. Except that half the time they transfer me back to "Lara".

Thanks Jarrod, I've passed this info on to the people in question, so hopefully that'll resolve things! – Endareth, on June 18, 2009 06:08

Thanks for the update Jarrod, any chance of some sort of timeline for this? I really don't want to end up waiting outside the Optus store on Friday morning to try and buy one outright before Vodafone contacts us! :)

It seems to fix some cases, but not others. Out of the five Vodafone iPhones having this issue at work, three were fixed (thankfully including mine), but the remaining two still don't have Visual Voicemail. Thanks also for the link about the upgrade issue! – Endareth, on June 18, 2009 05:50

So it looks like this ended up in the can't be bothered section at Vodafone. I don't know of a single person at my office who's gotten VV working, but with the rollout later today of the 3.0 upgrade the general feel seems to be that it'll work after that.

Getting pretty fed up with Vodafone now, especially since they've changed their policy on late bill payments (7 days past due, they disconnect you, then a day later they start sending messages/calling to to say your bill is overdue... brilliant stuff). On top of that, the fact that they don't currently seem to have any interest in all of us who want to upgrade our iPhones to the 3GS... At least Optus offer pre-paid, might just go buy a new 3GS from them outright.

Calling 1555 resulted in a carefully prepared speech from a Vodafone support person in a call centre saying that they'd need to activate my VV manually. They took my details, but were unable to give any timeframe at all. This was about five days ago now... *sigh* Might as well just wait till the 17th now anyway... – Endareth, on June 10, 2009 01:49