started in nov 2010 got a call from vodafone."do you know that 3 & vodafone have merged giving us the best coverage & by the way your contract is up on 3". It all went down hill from there.I was told that all people on 3 network will all switch over to vodafone network.All new to me just a simple plumber! "Would you like to start a new contract".Worst thing i could have said "Yes". This started events that i have just now recovered.Without sigining anything or reading/accepting product statement,was sent a box which should have had 2 phones&2net sticks (Wrong).Only 1 phone came& 2 sticks & delivery docket from vodafone corprate .Which had no contact phone number.Thinking that i would be contacted, the box sat on the bentch waiting for this to happen for 2 weeks.1/12/2010 6:00am turn alarm of on phone.No coverage check sim,i had been automaticly switched to vodafone overnight on warning no call.Very pissed trying to run a plumbing business in dec/xmas time with no phone thank you vadafone!!!!! With coutless calls to inda & countless trips to the local vodafone store & days of lost work. I was put back on my old plan 24/12/2010. Ps-The 2nd phone turned up on 23/12/2010 but still waiting for the bag to arrive to send it all back.One more thing, while on the vodafone network all be it brief. I did a job for my father at lake eppaloch which was very peacefull as nobody could reach me for two days i was lucky no accidents thanks vodafone for the best coverage! It was like being back in the stone age! All i can say is i am glad to be FREE/CUTLOOSE from vodafail

I have a business in the middle of south yarra! One of Melbournes most populated suburbs.... guess what, 1-2bars (only if I turn my 3g off). With 3g no service. I live in Toorak, another innercity suburb. In my lounge.. no service, in my office... no service! I recently went on holidays in Gold Coast (Surfers Paradise!) again very central location.... no service, no data! I have lost over a doz important business calls/new clients over the past 2 weeks due to this useless company! How can I get out of my contract? I have 6 months to go and I will be moving to Telstra even if it costs me an extra couple of dollars a month (it beats losing tens of thousands in business loss over the past 2 weeks). Will vodafone reimburse the potential loss of busines I have realised over the past 2 weeks? I doubt it.. they cant even get their network to function... I am so angry with Vodafail... We are living in a world where you dont even think to check your service bar when travelling in metro areas. Mobile phones are now relied upon for personal and business use ( the same way a wrist watch became reliable 100s of years ago.. what would you think if your wrist watch would stop working every day and you would be late for important meetings? You would stop to rely on it!) This should not be happening to the mobile phone industry and its vodafone alone that is failing the entire industry!

Just returning to work after being a stay at home mum for five years I needed to know that my children could reach me at any time so I signed up for three mobile phone contracts at vodafone, BIG MISTAKE It is very rare that I can call my kids or visa versa without our phones dropping out or even sometimes we dont have coverage at all. I have spoken to Vodafone several times only to be told that they are looking into the problem and they will get back to me, and SUPRISE SUPRISE THEY NEVER DO. I should of realised that the coverage was crap when two staff members in a Vodafone store that I went to had Telstra on their phones.

Reception and 3G randomly cuts out, will receive messages but reception cuts out before I am able to reply! Spent a week in Perth a month ago, did not receive reception in hotel room, maxxed about 2 bars of reception while in Perth, had to sit in carpark to have even 1 bar of reception. Loading maps takes forever, loading apps takes forever. Very dissatisfied considering I pay $69 a month and got an iphone for its specific purpose!

No signal. No Reception. I receive messages and voice mail messages days after they have been sent. I always thought it was just me who had this problem with Vodafone because of where I lived - obviously not.

Its takes me on average 8 attempts to make a call and then it usually drops out. And thats inside my house in Manly. I just switched recently from pre pay to plan and the service has dropped almost completely. Maybe I was on an old network or something cos my next door neighbour is prepaid and she has no probs. I dont want to not like Vodafone Ive never had any issues with them before. I despise Telstra & Optus aint great either. SO PLEASE FIX YOUR NETWORK VODAFONE.

Managing a retail store it is essential that i have a usable mobile phone...i actually thought my handset was faulty after hundreds of calls failed...realising it was the network i attempted to contact vodaphone several times with no success...

Have been a customer for over 7 years and haven't had any problems until recently when the signal repeatedly drops out and i have no coverage at all, unless i turn my phone off and move around. Each month my bill varies for the same amount of use one month it will be $49 and other months it will be $110 and with no access to my bill because they're updating their website i can't see if I have indeed been using more than previous months, which I believe is incorrect.

I have been patiently waiting to get out of my contract within the 3 months early exit with no fees period, to upgrade to the iphone 4 (finally) only to be told today when i went to ask about it that i can only get out of it if i wish to upgrade with vodafone, which will not be happening. The staff at the store were not very helpful and particularly unfriendly.

So its either slug it out with vodafail for another 3 and a bit months or pay $150 to get my number and run to another carrier.

An example of what I am going through for the last month or so is, in the last hour I have tried calling a friend and they have been trying to call me. 26 attempts by me and still no success, just call fail. I can't even call 1555 to complain and yet there is reception according to the phone. I have switched my phone off/on 6 times now. This is going not to mention all the call drop outs. Yet sms's seem to be working OK most of the time.

Stuck on a 24 month contract. Terrible customer service. I was on the phone to Mumbai for 6 hours - repeating and reiterating that I had no mobile coverage. They wanted to investigate because their words ' we have had no complaints about network coverage,. I was furious....it goes on and on.

My phone keeps cutting out and I have to constantly call back every time I make or receive a call. It is frustrating to have "full reception and 3G" however there actually is not service. There are dozens of reasons why I would never recommend Vodafone. I have been saying for weeks I will contact the Ombudsman and I definately will now.

vodafone sux big time. i have the usual limited reception in my once good area.my phone switches on/off and drops out during calls.my battery life seems to decrease by the day. what the f....k is going on.i have tried many times to ring vodafone and complain but never seem to get through or realise after a while this call is costing me huge money as the mobile is my only phone.
LET ME OUT OF THIS CONTRACT NOW FOR CHRIST SAKE SO I CAN TAKE MY BUSINESS ELSEWHERE.

Well if the reception hasn't dropped instantly at random times and my texts don't send or receive on time, I now see the standard Vodafone text rate is now going up to 29c and not 25c like it used to be. This sounds like Telstra in red to me. And if there's any value for the monthly pre-paid.. (yes it's prepaid, you can get more with plans, etc), then why can't the $29 Flexi-Cap allow $300 credit like Optus and not $150 like Vodafone gives us?
And finally, sometimes I send a text and the receiving end will get it on an average 10 - 15 times... of the same message.
That is all.

I have been a 3 customer for over a year and since they merged with Vodaphone I have to walk out to my driveway for reception. I guess im getting exercise huh? Anyway this sux, my phone bill was $200 more in the last two months from all the people I have to ring back due to drop outs

Yet again in Echuca the signal is off then on, and has been all day. Thank you Vodafone for your fantastic upgraded 3G network here.

Im with optus (thank god) but one of my friends is with vodafone and she has the worst reception ever i dont even bother calling or txting her anymore i just contact her through the internet because i know that 95% of the time she wont recieve my call or txt

Always get poor reception and receive text messages hours later after friends have sent them. Not Happy!!!!

I get dropped calls, data rates that my old 56k modem could beat, incredibly poor coverage, call ghosting and have spent over 15 hours on hold to customer care. I've changed phones at my own expense and tried friends phones. I'm at my wits end with this. And so sick of hearing Lara tell me Rio hang in there. I know for a fact you won't be with me really soon. Release me from this contract so i can get a Telstra Sim.

Accepted contract because the coverage map said the coverage was full 3G in my home. The coverage is 3G, when I get reception (which is rare). I am frustrated that the coverage map was misleading, now I can't accept calls on my mobile (if they come through) as it is embarrassing when they drop out halfway through.

Just when I thought they couldnt get worst. Just went on "my vodafone" wouldnt except my password, so after many attempts it excepted my 4 digit password, but before it would allow me in, up came a pop-up window asking me how I rate their service, LIKE WAKE UP VODAFONE....WHAT... DON'T YOU READ THE FORUMS. The vodafone network is as useful as an ashtray on a motorcycle.

ive been trying to get through to customer service to send me handset settings for my internet to work. and they still haven't answered my call ! i been on the phone for 1week now for hours trying to get a answer!!!.and reception is really bad!; this is unbelievable ! i'm really disappointed in vodafone ! i thought they were the best company to be with! guess not. !!!!

Mobile Broadband dropping out and failing to load pages..AGAIN.
Network is switching between 3G and EDGE 2G and GPRS and seems very unstable.
Vodafoney IS like a box of chocolates...you never know what you are gonna get !
Telstra is looking attractive now..................

Accepted contract because the coverage map said the coverage was full 3G in my home. The coverage is 3G, when I get reception (which is rare). I am frustrated that the coverage map was misleading, now I can't accept calls on my mobile (if they come through) as it is embarrassing when they drop out halfway through.

Not receiving some text messages on my phone when i send text it gets sent like 5 times and i am being charged.... but the most annoying thing would be the drop outs even though my reception isnt that bad.... wat is going on???

my name is chris and i am from seymour in victoria i just recently bought my first laptop and i was looking forward to using my vodafone prepaid stick 3g though on my attempts to use it over 3 nights i discovered i had no or unreliable reception.
this is my 2nd attempt at using vodafone products as i am wanting something different to telstra though unfortunately i am going to have to use them yuk!!!!

I'm on my iPhone and it seems to be better on Edge (2G) connection, when I turn on 3G I it goes to 1-3 bars! I would accept at least 4 bars! VodaFAIL should really make there 3G coverage broader!

Im not going to mention all the past dramas we had,mainly with wireless coverage and being told we would have coverage in Cairns and not having any,This is just a bit of the problem needless to say we now have Telstra,the current problem is not receiving phone calls but Im able to recieve texts,granted they are about a day late and tend to be in the middle of the night.I get no coverage in our home and in 2 of the major shopping centres.Its been over a year of their crap-time for a change I think!!

My phone drops out of service continually, its battery barely lasts a day, yet its a brand new samsung galaxy, it won't send txt messages despite being in full service, it turns itself off regularly and open programs but itself when its locked.I can't download apps for it as it wont connect to the networks, i've sent it back 4 times each time to be told theres nothing wrong with it.i've tried getting hold of customer service, only to be on hold for over an hour and not get any answer

I was out in Virginia 2day and got poor 3G coverage and when I went to use internet on my fone it was slow as an "old man walking" very slow and 3G dropping out...

I'm not with Vodafone, but I'm with 3 which is basically Vodafone anyway. VHA is the crappest telecommunications company in Australia. The coverage around Doreen, VIC is very poor. I get little to no coverage. I don't even get emergency calls. VHA better get their game together and start helping their customers. I sat on the phone for about 3 hours trying to find out why my iPad Mobile Broadband wasn't working. It took them 3 hours to find out that it wasn't working in my area. So I went to Telstra and bought iPad mobile broadband from them. There coverage in my area is EXCELLENT!!!! I am switching to Telstra right now!!!!! DONT TRUST VODAFONE OR 3!!!!

- failed calls
- missed calls without the phone even ringing
- partially received text msgs, some take hours or days to fully receive
- crazy phone bills (a month of making a number of international calls cost me less than a month of normal use!?)
- terrible reception, drop outs in my home (2km from melbourne cbd)
- slow internet

random drop outs in inner city areas
slow or no internet
constant call fails, most calls have to be made 2-3 times to get through
ridiculously high bills - why am i paying more for vodafone to vodafone calls than to other networks?
ridiculously high national call rates
major lag in credit balance enquiries - sometimes off by $50 or more
no reception at parklife festival in melbourne
no reception at falls festival in lorne

I took prepaid vodafone as I live inland from Batemasn Bay and Vodafone was the only company from which I could get a signal.. This service has now stopped for some reason and my 2 Vodafone sim cards are worthless from home. Telstra and Optus now both cover the area. I Need coverage as it is a bush area and I need coverage for emergencies.

I will never ever recommend Vodaphone to my friends or family.....I TRY to run a business from home with constant drop outs and poor or no reception.

I fully support the class action that is being taken against Vodaphone.

All i want is the service that i have paid for.

What a joke.... Not only do I get no internet connection for up to 5 days at a time, It took the network 2 months to sort out my voice mail alone... This is a work phone so im stuck with this crap, speaking of work i cant even make a phone call at times in one... meaning it takes me 6 goes to have a 30 second conversation to my work place.... OMG!!! so annoying, I will never go VodaFail again.... and not to mention my bill trippled from changing from 3 to voda, as advised.... even more of a joke... Jo!

- as a 16 year old girl needing all the money she can get, not receiving a call on new years day to do 3 extra hours work at double time and a half is very aggravating.
- message block up, having to turn my phone off then back on to receive several messages that have been sent to me throughout the day.
- no reception in an area that says is covered on the coverage map
-internet connection is slow at times.
-calls automatically being diverted to voicemail, all the time !!!!

i am in a 24 months contract which ends in November/December this year. a have another whole year of this.

so my problem is with recieving phone calls. my phone won't ring but it will come up as a missed call. my recieved calls appear on the screen as missed calls. i don't even recieve half of my phone calls and half the time it will drop out or the phone call will just end. and only recently i cannot even call the person back.

also the internet is so pathetic, it takes minutes to load, and only sometimes will it load to an actual page instead of a blank one. plus it always drops out and closes for no reason.

ohh and on new years my phone reception was on and off all night which is very dissapointing.

Calls drop continuously on Victoria rd
My Internet connection is always very slow at night
Don't receive txt messages or receive them 1 day later
Don't receive voicemail messages or if I receive them is always few hrs late
I'm sick of calling the call centre and wait on the line for hrs without having my issue solved

I won't repeat my own horror stories - its been done by another 9,949 users; i won't, however, forget the time I tried to call my VF mobile to test the audio conf in a business meeting only for it to hit voicemail. fail. made VF look bad. made me look bad for choosing VF. i had 5 bars reception. i was in the CBD. i couldn't believe it...

VF only has itself to blame for its current predicament. Its not the fault of the india call centre or some ops manager in the XYZ office. the current issues are a direct consequences of decisions approved by the highest levels of VHA management - CEO and directors included. It is a story of greed gone too far.

The mobile telephony business has very high fixed costs (network construction, fixed headcount) but low variable costs (each new customer costs VHA virtually nothing except for initial acquisition costs & handset subsidy). Every new customer is pure profit from a network perspective. But there is a limit; at some point, the network becomes saturated and substantial new investment is required.

What VF did...was to misprice their offering. In the pursuit of profit, they tried to play a market share game by discounting. infinity plans for $45 w/ more data than most would need. fail. this is business 101. one can play this game if they have lots of surplus capacity but VF clearly don't. Same trap as optus in 2008 as pointed out in delimiter. VF, don't blame smartphones. blame yourself for offering every person and their dog 2GB, 4GB or unlimited data. if its costs 100s of millions to expand the network - than maybe you're mispriced??

They say you get what you pay for. I think it may be ok for VF to deliver medicore voice/data quality given the pricing. But when no voice/data is actually delivered, than no pricing is appropriate......

My phone stops working as soon as you walk inside some buildings, or when I drive about 6kms south of town down Goodwood road. I also loss coverage in some northern suburbs of Bundaberg, eg;Tanitha & Fairymead. There are large sections of the Bruce Highway between the tons of Mackay and Townsville where there in no coverage.

- call failure, calls dropping out
- text messages delayed by a day
- internet slow & unavailable "cellular data network not found ..."
- apology text messages from Vodafone at 4am my time!!
- 107.36 min phonecall (from a landline) to Vodafone trying to find out what i can do/resolve the issue
- couldn't find my street address in the system (spelt it for the 4th time & then asked where the guy was based ..... BOMBAY of course)
- put thru to BILLING, then GENERAL, then TECHNICAL - no issues in my area, apparently my "sim card" might need replacing .....
- they're going to "escalate" the issue for me - tomorrow - because the development system they use to do this is down
- going to call me at 10am tomorrow to confirm a reference for the "escalation" ....... i asked them to take into account i was on the west coast & not to call/message me in the middle of the night
- basically i'm not stoked on being charged for something i'm not receiving & am going to do what i need to get out of Vodafone
- unfortunate because i'm not a fan of the other providers but Vodafone are not leaving me with any other option

Dropped calls, Rubbish reception, voicemail takes days to come through, and im trying to run a service company!!!! hours on the phone trying to connect with customer support ( what a joke ) cant understand call centre staff, Vodafone suck big time and I will also be looking to be released from my contract, if I pay $85.00 per month I expect to be able to you the bloody phone, Vodafone you are a disgrace

I moved to Vodafone because the vodafone online coverage maps showed network coverage in the residential area of Depot Beach NSW (near Batemans Bay). Well the maps are no where near accurate. We have zero service on 3 phones, in fact I have to drive 2 klms up the hill before I can make a phone call... false advertising is my complaint!

Gone to the country for a holiday and my sisters who are with Optus and Three get reception, her boyfriend who is with Telstra also gets reception, everyone except me who is with vodafone... not happy

Live in Quakers hill (during weekends) and orange (during weekdays) ... The signals are pathetic and rarely works when I need it ... I have got an iPhone on 24 month plan and am stuck with this thing .. Switched over to voda from opts and was specifically told that there won't b any network problems!! Lies!!!

3G never works in orange so the mobile data in my cap can't b used proerly!!

I want to get out of the contract of the vodafail can't provide the service!!!

reception is usually minimal or non existant. Phone drop outs all the time. long waits to talk to customer service. lose lara its too impersonal. Been with vodafone for 8 years , never used to have these problems. Have had enough switching to Optus, as one of my sons seems to have no problems on it.
Definately VODAFAIL

Reception in my area is very good when I first joined vodafone, I was with them for years before up untill it went wrong. However in the past 2-3 months reception just dropped, I can send messages, but my daughter, who is also on vodafone can't receive them unless she turns off the phone and turns it back on again. my phone has access to the internet but I don't get any reception, not a thing. Stupid vodafone. And even for bad service, i still have to pay a sky high bill, and I barely even use my phone.

Awaiting response regarding coverage and reception issues. Promised 3 day turn around. Has been 10 days without reply!

I live approx 20km from a major town and can not get reception on either mine or my partners phone. We lived in the city when we took on the 24 month contracts, and even though they can not provide us with the service we require, we can not cancel our contract with out large penalties.
We recently went to the city for a holiday and stayed at a friends house. And surprise! No reception. Their only issue is that they live in a slight valley. In this day and age, how hard is it to provide decent coverage???!!!

Contacted Vodaphone and complained about poor coverage = we only hve access if we go outside the house to the end of the garden! They asked me to follow some of their instructions by phone - in the end suggested that maybe the wireless modem was not functioning properly = went to the local vodaphone shop and purchased another - absolutly no difference! Last phone call to vodaphone - they offered us 3 free months for internet (we alos have 2 mobile phones which are average for coverage, at best). Have tried to call back to get the 3 free months but do noyt have the patience to sit on the line for another 45 minutes.
Surely if you get lousy coverage you should be able to cancel your plan without penalty! Can't wait for the end of the plan in 11 months.

I'm really sick of not being able to make calls when ever I want. If I see "Call Failed" come up on my screen again I think I'm going to scream. Their technical department has advised me that by turning my 3G enable to off then restarting my phone, I should be able to make calls. BUT I have to do this every 3-5 HOURS!!!
I pay for good service, and should now be free to move to another carrier free of charge because of your pathetic service.
My first call the "customer care" line was 1hr 25mins before i got to speak with someone, and was greeted with "we'll call you back". You could try to call me back, but your service is so pathetic it went straight through to my voicemail, where I was told to call the customer care line on 1555. Great! Another 30mins on hold FROM MY GIRLFRIEND's phone because your reception is too unreliable.
Your customer care guys all sound like politicians, always dancing around the truth.
I feel sorry for them, having to listen to sooo many angry ripped off customers.
Gimme a break, and a refund.

EPIC FAIL

Matt from Penshurst, NSW. Im so sick of the crap service from vodafone, reception is so bad at my house i need to go to the backyard to make a phone call without the call dropping out, i rely on txt messages to recieve my roster for the week which sometimes doesnt come till 2 days later and i need to be contacted at a moments notice for any last minute changes or reports which usually go to my voicemail and that doesnt even notify me till the next day when its too late!!, im on the $99 cap + insurance, i didnt pay all this money to recieve my roster late or to be uncontactable due to crap service, i have 2 gig of data with my plan and half the time i cant use it because it wont connect. I tried to check my account balance by txt as i usually do and most of the time it tells me "This service is currently unavailable, please call 1512 at a later stage" im over it!! if this continues, and they want me to pay my bill then they can TRY and call me, because i guarentee you all they will get is "This person is currently unavaible right now, please call at a later stage"

Vodafone is a global telco with all the resources in the world to properly supply a well working service. And to be honest for the last 3-4 months it has been nothing but complete utter failure. If I was sitting on the board of that company i would be ashamed with the poor product they supplying to its customers. I mean how the difficult can it be??? Just because of the fact that they acquired Three (which is also a fucking lame excuse of a network) they now running both 3 and Vodafone customers on the same network which obviously doesn't work to the sheer volume of traffic. It's not rocket science... If you are public transport company and decide to buy another rail network you don't simply bloody don't abandon the old one and have all passengers using only one system. Of course there will be congestions, failures and shiploads unhappy commuters. My grandma would have done a better job.
Seriously I hope there will be a massive class action on this stuff up and a public debate on how a Telco conduct their poor business decisions. Go fuck yourself vodfail.

I'm a contractor who works one day pre week at a desk in a building in the city. I cannot receive mobile phone coverage while sitting at my desk for this one day per week. All other workers around me (ie those not with Vodaphone)receive mobile phone coverage. This means I cannot receive or make phone calls for around 20% of my working week which is a significant impost. Stuck on a 2 yr contract.

Ahhhhhhhh..... vodafone are failing to new heights for me....... phone battery died on new years eve, i place it on the charger last night, turned it on this morning and nnnnnooooooooooooo reception!!! no even 1 bloody bar. I traveled down the North Shore train line today... and surprise, surprise. No reception. Anywhere!! 1 1/2 hours on the phone to them... "We'll check network coverage in your area" - all good... Then hell is going wrong... But on the plus side, after i'd expressed my displeasure with there service i was told that after the investigation is complete (and they better not come back and say its a problem on my end) i would be able to get out of my contract without paying a cent... Now the next test will be whether they actually allow me too once they own up their problems...

I signed up to a Vodafone mobile and USB modem more than 2 years ago while living in Melbournes southeast suburbs and Toorak close to the CBD...service in these areas is good. I now live in Briar Hill (post code 3088) between Greensborough and Eltham. Vodafone signal strength is very low, only 1 bar on 3G and 2G services. I cannot even send small emails through my USB modem internet service. I complained to Vodafone on numerous occasions. Each time tthey said Briar Hill has full 3G coverage, they eventually send technicicans to check the signal in my area and rang me back to say all is fine. I continued to call Vodafone customer service and was finally told Vodafone could not guarantee full coverage and service because I had moved address...but hang on its a "mobile" service. The service should be the same regardless of your location within Melbourne city boundaries and they never told me that when I took out the contract.

Zero reception in the Sutherland Shire district. Why bother insuring your phone when they dont replace it? Constant billing errors

Never enough coverage for basic websites to load... In geelong victorias 2nd largest city... Fail.
Not having any coverage for three days solid and being told it is a sim card issue repeatedly. Then both phone start working suddenly... Fail.
Having to use wifi just to load this site... Fail

I went on holidays to a coastal town and had no reception, all other networks got reception except for Vodafone!

Not only did they have poor reception in this area but also in Newcastle where I live, my reception can go from being full to none in a matter of meters, I have never had any problems with other companies and I'm definitely never going with Vodafone again! My service dropped out for 2 days one time. Sometimes I have to turn my phone on and off as reception just disappears!

I rang to complain to Vodafone about an abnormally large bill and had to be called back because the lady I was speaking to I could not understand at all! She had no idea what my issue was even tho I explained it in several different ways! Finally a man called me back and told me I would not have to pay my large bill as I was told the wrong information when I signed the contract (I was told I would get $450 credit when I only received $300 ish)

By far the worst company in Australia

I tried unlocking my vodafone and that wouldn't work. I have no reception where they said I would have some. I rang them to question about it, I was on hold for 50 minutes and then put on the phone to someone who dosn't speak english. and couldn't understand me because I speak english.

At first my phone (Sony Ericsson C905 Cyber-shot) was playing up so I took it back to Vodafone to get fixed, A MONTH later I got it back on to find I have no reception where I usually had some. I tried unlocking the phone on the vodafone website , I was having trouble with the imei code, so I sent them a message to ask for help, and had no reply for days. then found out they put the wrong imei code on the box.

Given it would seem that a large part of the issue is network coverage/network oversubscription, why hasn't the Government stepped in and put a hold on Vodafone signing new customers? More importantly, why hasn't Vodafone pre-empted such a move and voluntarily done the same? Vodafone should by now have conducted an audit of it's weaknesses in the network if it didn't know already and has the power to update it's coverage maps accordingly!

The reception in my area wasn't good, but the real killer was the utter incompetence of the so called "help" system. Something that should have been a simple online task taking less than a minute took an entire month to achieve. The appalling LARA was the the most frustrating, insulting and inefficient piece of rubbish ever devised, and nothing that I was told, either by the call centre or by email ever happened within the promised time, if at all. I'm still waiting (you get a lot of practice at waiting with Vodafone...) for confirmation that they have finally cancelled what they laughingly call a "service". It's now a week since they told me it would take "between 45 minutes and 5 hours". NOTHING ever worked reliably with Vodafone - neither their reception, the website, the email help nor the call centre. A truly abysmal company all round, made worse by crass PR attempts to insist that customers aren't now being subjected to long waits.

I am puzzled at the number of posters who claim to be in business, consider themselves trapped in their contract with Vodafone, and think they must spend the next whatever number of months losing business.

If they were savvy in business matters they would surely switch to a company that provided proper service and coverage.

True, they will have to make double payments until their Vodafone contract expires. But meanwhile their business picks up, with increased revenue presumably exceeding their payments to Vodafone.

Can somebody explain this non-businesslike attitude? It leave me puzzled.

I signed onto a contract for my mobile (paying exactly double what I had previously on pre-paid) only to find my Balwyn North home had zero reception for all 3 of our vodafone serviced mobiles, nor my partners internet key. We were constantly going to cafes nearer the city, driving up the road with laptops and phones to make calls or do business online. We were told by vodafone we needed to get a booster, as we lived on a hill (??!) however this dismal inconvenience continued when we moved to Edithvale. I recently purchased an internet key in Frankston (why oh why??!!) thinking as it was a mini city there would surely be a tower nearer... aaa nope. It had just been removed. When I went back to the store to attempt a refund, I was re-directed to the ombudsman, as they had to go through the same channels as myself when making service enquiries. I feel vodafone even SELLING their kits in an unserviced area is FRAUD. I had to 'hand- in' an online assignment recently, and couldn't get any bars on my laptop to send it in. I ended up driving around desperately for an hour trying to find reception, and when I'd finally driven halfway to the city, (checking the bars on my laptop all the way)it was already too late, and I lost 10% off my mark. On Boxing Day, I had an online exam for the same subject, and my internet connection dropped out for 20min of the allocated 60min I had to complete the exam. I didn't finish the exam. I currently have zero reception inside my home (as usual) and only switch my phone on when I go out to avoid frustration. I've written to the ombudsman regarding both issues, but cannot do anything about lost marks. Inconvenience and frustration from a basic communication service supposed to make my life EASIER!! My relationship with vodafone ends with my contract this month. Biggest waste of $.

1. Very Poor to Nil mobile internet coverage 8ks from Sydney CBD
2. Double charging for one account
3. Zero customer service follow up or action after repeated calls and letters
4. Got the TIO to intervene to get some action
5. Will never use, recommend Voda again...ever. 0/10

I am on a 24 month contract in which Vodafone wont let me out of.I have about 8 months to go.Pay $39 a month...but im on a contract and Vodafone put the contract up to $42 a month without telling me.Which is bad manners and wrong.Also everyday the line drops out.Sometimes i cannot use the mobile internet at all some days.
My boss pays my bills as i run a home office for a WA company.
Ive lost alot of Business over the 16 months.....Cannot even put a figure on it......When i complain....the call is diverted to somewhere in India.....and they dont understand properly.The accent alone is a problem....and nothing gets done.
In business it is poor to advertise a service that does not work.....well i thought it is against the law.Obviously some CEO in vodafone must know someone in the Government.....I hope that i am rewarded a lump sum as....Ive lost Business....The innconvienience....the hassle......I will never use Vodafone again ........but if i can get out of this contract that does not work......I will.....Im sure you other people have similar problems like me......THIS IS THE WORST COVERAGE ON INTERNET I HAVE EVER EXPERIENCED!!!!

A ANGRY CUSTOMER THAT HAS HAD ENOUGH OF VODAFONE & HAS COMPLAINED!!!!

Joined Vodafail in late 90s. Back in the day - fantastic company. Excellent Australian based tech support. Answered quickly and if you were waiting too long (i.e. 10 minutes) and hang up - you would receive a call back within an hour. Good coverage - although a little odd. e.g. didn't get strong coverage in centre of Brisbane but very good in the middle of whoop-whoop. I was on post-paid contract and every now and then they would send me magazine subscriptions, and even a new phone (no contract attached) as a "thanks for sticking with us". Even received "how happy are you" cold calls from friendly Aussie support centre.

Now - very bad. Angry and seemingly unbalanced support centre (although the increased abusive calls they are receiving may explain this). No real support on the phone.

Wireless internet a complete joke. Feel like I was ripped to the extreme. I paid for a wireless internet service that I can't even use! Any complaints to the support system suggest dropping from 3G to the lower level service because it is so slow it won't even load any sites in "high load" periods. Ok - so any time you want to use the internet that isn't 11:00am you can't. Absolutely enraging to be paying for a service that I don't receive. Stop stealing my money V/F! Actually recommended Vodafail to others based on my historical experience. Quick way to lose friends.

Also - you appear to go over caps very quickly without actually making very many calls. Calls appear to be working out at $10 a pop (overgeneralising as a joke - please no flaming about how this isn't possible).

Really sad how it went to shite. It actually did used to be pretty good. Now I wouldn't wish their service on my friends - I would on my worst enemy however. Just to piss them off.

Dearest Vodafail, I HATE your stupid network! only 8 months till i can finally leave you. Regards your biggest hater!

Started off my hassles in the UK when I was trying to end my contract as we were emigrating to Oz. Sent them a letter as per website, they must have received as they sent letter back, but trying to actually PAY the bill was another story. After numerous calls from UK and Oz to their call centre I think I have paid it off, after being transferred round the houses when I eventually managed to get thru the automated section. Don't know and don't care.
Then ordered an iPhone from Voda AUS. Website wouldn't operated order button on first 2 attempts. Then when I did order it kept changing pages on me and wouldn't let me go back and edit info so I wasn't sure I had ordered. Husband rang call centre to chase - was on hold for 50 mins, transferred between departments until he made one lad look at his screen. Phone was on order and HAS arrived. Miracle!
Coverage pretty crap - keep losing 3G which makes accessing internet and messaging a real pain. I have to keep on resending until it picks up long enough to work. Very poor signal in house now - often 1 bar - luckily I've linked to my wireless.
However, husband's experience with other networks no better so (shrug).

I have never had working voicemail. Never. What I mean by not working is that it always says " Voicemail Unavailable- Could not authorize access". Also has that red circle on the voicemail sign most of the time. They first blamed my phone then they reset (??) my account and then they just said I would need a new phone but it would cost me extra because I wasn't due for a new phone. When I was due a new phone I would then have to start a new 2 yr contract to stay on with Vodafone which is ofcourse the last thing I want to do. I have the first iPhone they brought out on the unlimited $120 something plan (which always seems to change for unknown reasons). I work relief at my work and therefore voicemail is really important. I have lost work from my voicemail not working. I have had calls that don't show up on my phone as missed calls and then days later I get a whole bunch of voicemails come through if I call 121. Every missed call I get I have to call to check if I have voicemail. If I'm lucky it shows up straight away when I call.
With picture messages I often don't get them until days later.
My iPhone also had a broken sensor from early on which means I often call other people and txt people with my face while I'm on the phone. Not funny if they are work people or clients. I don't know how much vodafone take blame for the phones that go with their plans but it seems ridiculously unfair to sign someone up for a two year plan without providng a phone that can last that long.
At my beach house in Robe SA I have on occasion one DOT, not bar, of reception, within the house. This is if I have my phone placed on the pool table and the other night I was lucky enough to have it fall off so now my screen if cracked. Not even tempted to get it fixed as the sensor is broken anyway and it is the old iPhone.
That reminds me of how it won't let me update to the new iWhatever version is the latest. So obviously then Vodafone can blame my computer or another source for all of the above problems.
March 2011 is when I will finally be set free from Vodafone and I will not ever go back. Sick of wasting my time, losing work and wishing my time away to get out of this contract.

I called them to report a dropped call, and a 4 day delay in an mms being delivered from a Vodafail mobile to a Vodafail mobile. They are still trying to blame handsets as the cause of their network issues...

This is really funny, network capacity issues are a genuine mobile technology based issue!

If too many people go to OPTUS they'll start having the same problems too, waiting around a year for upgrades to their network to be completed to handle all the extra users!

I CHALLENGE you all to go to your OPTUS store and your Telstra Store and ask them if they can guarantee that they never have network capacity issues or problems with coverage to you.

Of course they may have better or worse resolution processes, but it's really about just being connected and having it work!

Several weeks ago when we had all the rain and storms here in Canberra, it meant my Iinet connection got cut and TELSTRA had to fix the line, a week went by waiting for this to be done by them, then they confirmed that it was fixed via TXT, but it wasn't! After ringing again to point this out they sent out techs to my house, it was discovered that TELSTRA had got lines mixed up and connected me to someone else, and someone else to me, nothing worked cause none of it would sync, another 2 weeks went by and finally it was fixed!

In this entire time I used my Vodafone phone to tether, managed to use up 2gb which is the most I've used on my phone account so far! OoooH Yeaaah!

In this case voda-fail was truly a voda-fix for Telstras' woeful fix! And my Vodafone works fine only had a few issues here and there, had a few delayed txt on NYE but i though that always happened, used to with my OPTUS prepay, and i never thought anything really of it just would except the fact that surely the network would be congested.

I can hardly wait until my modem plan has finished and I will NEVER use Vodafone again. This morning I tried logging onto their website and of course it failed. They are offline. I will now have to sit on the phone for a long time before I even get to speak to a human. I am now using pre paid for my mobile and am going overseas for 6 months and I had better not be charged the basic $15 to keep my account which they have done in the past when I was outside Australia. They are dishonest and greedy.


I can hardly wait till June when my contract ends. I found that Vodafone coverage is poor. I was having to go outside and wave my mobile around to try and pick up a network in a suburb where there is supposed to be network coverage! I wasn't even in the outback where you would expect something like this.

Also, I'm fed up with my text messages not being delivered, especially international ones, and then being charged for them.

We are a vodafone customer that was convinced to re sign our contract for 2 years on the back of network improvments (3G)

We are 6 months or so into a 2 year contract and the issues with network coverage and dropouts continue and seem to be worsening. We have a fleet of about 15 mobiles and this is costing us time, money and business.

Voda might not have the best coverage but they are still better than optus, at least i can call voda on 1555 with out any credit on my phone, you need credit to call optus customer service.any old employer let me keep work mobile number and when i ported to voda, Optus changed my old employers phone account to my name without my permition and it took 3 months to get it fixed up.

Constant call drop outs and no reception when working in the Sydney metropolitan area. These issues have been going on for too long now.

I have been with Vodafone for over 4 years but the last 6 months have been a nightmare. My phone is a critical part of running my startup business and recents issues with coverage and network dropouts mean I can no longer take the risk and will move across to another carrier today. After reviewing my December bill I identified no fewer than 40 calls that needed to be remade due to drop outs mid conversation.
Vodafones response has been appalling they stated when I managed to get through after 57 mins on hold that their network was fine on the same day their CEO issued an apology no less! And to top it off instead of acknowledging all the calls that had to be remade and the associated costs a d discussing how they would compensate that merely tried to convince me I was on the wrong plan and spent the rest of the call trying to upsell me.

I have 6 months to run on an existing contract but we move to Telstra today, knowing while everyones customer service is poor I need to be with the provider with the best coverage. I will deal with the fallout and costs I will incur when I have a phone that connects every time and for the entire call

Vodafone you failure to acknowledge and address my issues through you call centre and refusal to compensate me or even offer to discuss is a factor but the real reason is that you network getting poorer by the day.

My wife and I have been with 3 for almost 6 years now...we never had coverage problems before, but since Vodafone bought 3 the coverage has been terrible. It's particularly infuriating for me as I move around the Sydney area a lot when working.

nothing special, got shown a crudely drawn map and told yep you get coverage there, but it will be a little slow (wireless BB). "coverage" apparently means you get to stay online for seconds at a time before complete dropout. Thanks for this website, I hope people continue to make a noise, and that vodafone burns.

My wife has had to revert to 2G on her iPhone 4 as 3G coverage at our home in Gungahlin ACT is just about zero (no it's not a fault with the iPhone 4 antenna as 2G reception is perfect). She is rarely able to make any calls from our area and if she is then the reception is just terrible. Also she signed up for the $49 cap with $5 handset repayment for a new 24 mth plan - now the first bill has arrive and she has to pay $10 p/m for the phone. Customer service didn't help her at all, hopefully the Vodafone shop people will be able to sort it out! Great work Vodafone.

I am pretty much over the fact that my calls are cutting out, having no reception too much, the internet not working too well and the voicemails coming through hours or days after they were left... and to top it off, when i call Vodafail there is a 45min wait... umm hell no, just makes me more aggitated... i feel sorry for those who have to work in the call centre! I just dont bother to wait that 45mins because its not fair if i were to take my frustration out on them! Boy this network is frustrating!

My partner and I decided to switch to Vodafone in order to get free unlimited calls with one another and to my family. I have been unable to take advantage of this feature as calls which are over 30 seconds in length seem to be too strenuous for the Vodafone network and drop out immediately. This problem wasn't too bad when I got my iPhone six months ago, however these days I am taken aback if I get more than a minute out of a call before it starts dropping out.

I'm sure most of you experience this, how your reception bar is full and you have 3G ( I've got an iPhone 3G) but the Internet doesn't work?! My biggest hate for vodafone is the fact that you can't speak to a real person to complain to, it's absolute bullshit!

I am on a wireless internet plan with Vodafailed and i have NEVER had more then two bars of reception, it drops out every 5 mins and just will not connect sometimes! I went in store to discuss it and they didn't want to know about me and reffered me to their help line. How can a basic wireless network to operate in the middle of suburbia? It is pathetic!

I have been with vodafone for 4 months now and i hate it! For starters the mobile internet stick has no reception in or outside my unit which is right in town in Coolangatta, nor does it have any decent coverage at work unless i sit outside the shop - the shop is on the main St of Coolangatta. The stick itself has always had issues being recognised by my brand new netbook. When taking my laptop and stick into vodafone i was told they could not look at it in store and i needed to call the contact centre - hat!!??? The contact centre is in Malaysia or india and i just cant clearly understand them. So now i have a a contract of 2 years for which i cant use the internet stick at home or work and I cant find help at any vodafone store if I need it, just a call centre that is too hard to understand - I am 28 so I cant imagine how an elderly person would cope trying to understand the call centre people!

P.S I have written this blurb on my partners mobile internet Stick which is Virgin and works perfectly fine at our unit.

spent new years at a party where i only knew 1 person and was gonna ring all my friends around midnight and text and such, but when i got there NO reception. everyone else who was on optus and telstra had full bars, i had none and could only get the 'emergency only' message to appear on my phone. ruined my night.
not impressed.
also couldnt call for someone to come pick me up. had to borrow someones phone.

Every call i make or receive either drops out or experiences some issues. Some attemps to call i make dont even go through. I regularly lose reception when a couple of km's from the perth CBD.

I do not receive a reasonable proportion of sms's until a few days later. mms's substantially longer.

I use the internet tethering on my iphone for my home internet use. Currently the broadband works a max 10% of the time. and when it does it cuts out every minute or so and is terribly slow. The 2g internet is fine but thats not what i pay for.

I live less than 4km's from Perth CBD. There is a tower approx 1km on a massive hill from me. I can see it if i went out the front of my house. and no f*cken reception?

The fact we are all paying for their services and the fact they are not delivering their services as outlined in the contract is a joke. I want out of vodafone asap.

I wouldnt expect to keep my job if i only worked less than 10% of the time. so why should vodafone be different? As such, i will not pay them when they are not doing their job.

BTW customer service was a joke. waited 2 hours for the call back (although i must admit the call back idea is a good one - not sure if this is a common thing its just the first time ive experienced it). in the end all i got told was reset the phone - which made no difference.

So i currently write this using crappy 2g speeds. takes several minutes for a page to load. seems slower than i remember the old 56kb modems on dial up connection used to be.

We signed a contract stating we will pay $XXX for them providing YYY. If they dont provide YYY thats a breach of the contact. they dont care about that but. I garantee as soon as we stop paying $XXX theyll be chasing us for every cent!

One would hope that Vodafone (and other large companies) have learnt from this monumental PR disaster. In the text books that will be written about this episode Vodaphone will be used as example of Exactly How Not To Respond To major technical problems with service delivery.

The woeful network problems from black spits to dropouts, billing issues and customers being locked out would be bad enough in isolation. But what has made this situation ten fold worse is the way they failed to 1/ initially listen to the flood of complaints and 2/ respond to these legitimate concerns.

How did it come to this. I'm convinced that the out sourcing of their call centres meant that they lost that crucial direct connection to their customers. If the customer team had been kept in house I'm sure the avalanche of complaints would have been brought to the attention of senior management much sooner, well before the need for a web site like this became overwhelming.

Vodafone only have themselves to blame.

After being with vodaphone for 5 years I signed my first contract. Big mistake.

After my new handset valued at $550 was replaced three (3) times because it was faulty and after 3 months, trying to communicate with vodafone, I was given a replacement phone valued at $100 and im still paying $60 a month. I was advised that the replacement phone had to same features but has nothing compared to the phone I signed my contract with. 1 year into my contact and am still fighting with voadfone about my phone, their service and reception problems.

I signed up to vodafone in august. So far i have had 4 sim replacements to try and fix the problem of no reception. I had my phone replaced.I was told that would fix the problem. So now i have a new phone and still no reception. Also i have been told there is a vodafone tower 4 streets away from my house so i should have reception. But when i try to make a call i have no reception!!!! So my phone is now a $ 49 a month paper weight.

Live TWO MINUTES outside of Hobart and having been using one of Vodafone's USB internet devices, to much anger and frustration. Continual dropout, incredibly slow speeds and charging for both upload and download All the coverage maps say I should get coverage.

i never get reception and my phone alwasy drops calls..my friends and family recives txts that i had sent 3-4 days before they actually receive it!! i have been with them for 4 years and am utterly dissapointed

The Launceston VodaFone sales person ASSURED me I would get 3G reception in my suburb on an iPhone 3GS. From my house I can SEE the tower, direct line of sight, no obstructions, NO 3G. All I get is 1 or 2 bars on the EDGE network if I am lucky to get ANY reception at all! I get NO reception EVER at my work which is a mere 3km away from the tower, also line of sight. My SMS messages arrive hours, sometimes even days after they were sent to me. Every time I try to log into my VodaFone account on the website to pay or check my bill the incompetent idiots have changed my password WITHOUT notifying me, this happens on a daily basis and every time it occurs I have to put up with a 1990's University experiment known as Lara for 2 or 3 minutes before speaking to someone who doesn't understand that I want my website login password reset and NOT the handset pin.

Unfortunately you can not speak to anyone higher than a call centre operator so attempting to complain about being stuck in a 24 month contract that was promised to deliver only to fail is very frustrating.

I have been a customer for nearly 2 years (will not be renewing my contract), the 3G network is constantly dropping out despite the coverage maps claiming otherwise. The reception has declined dramatically over the last few weeks. I regularly have to reconnect upto 5 times over a 15 min period - very frustrating.

I have been with vodafone for about 4 months now and have had alot of problems with my mobile broaband. After the first two weeks my USB modem stoped working, turned out to be faulty so they sent me another after a week with the new modem it stoped working again after that i gave up and didnt use my internet for 2 months and started using it at the start of december, well since then i have had nothing but problems with the network, not been able to connect to the network half the time or the signal drops out on me while on the net then not been able to get on for hours. not only that i recieved my bill yesterday not only to find out that they have charged me for the 2 months that i didnt use my internet after i had said to them i hadnt been using it and was going to be sorted out. Don't like calling them after waiting 45 minutes last time i called.