Relating to mobile broadband coverage.

On 27 December I purchased a "wifi in your pocket" prepaid pack, complete with SIM before I left on vacation. Once I reached my destination I installed the software and attempted to activate the service. I could not do so without the phone number attached to the SIM. The pack in the "wifi in your pocket" box did not include the phone number anywhere; only the SIM number and control number.

So I called Vodafone. Waited on hold for 45 mins. Then they hung up on me. So I called back. This time I selected the "activate a new SIM option". It also required me to have the phone number and because I did not, the automated service told me to call Customer Care on 1555. How do they think I got through to the activation option in the first place?
So I called back again, was on hold for about 50 minutes. Finally, the person I spoke to said he would would transfer me to the correct department. They hung up on me. Again. Tried calling back later in the evening only to learn that the activation department was only operational between 8am and 8pm.

I backed up again the next morning. Waited about 55 minutes on hold. When someone finally answered, seeing I was calling from a Vodafone phone, the woman I spoke to gave me the phone number attached to a mobile broadband service I had 5 years ago. Yes, 5 years ago. I asked her how she knew which service I was calling about since the one I had just bought was not yet attached to me. She said it was. I said no, it's not. This is a brand new service, it does not have my details on it, you are talking about an old one. I need the phone number for this new one, the SIM number is..... She hung up on me too!

Irate, I called back AGAIN. After another 50 minute wait the woman this time told me that the SIM I had was blank and I needed to buy a $2 SIM for it to work. I said no, that cannot be right because this SIM came in the "wifi in your pocket" box. I asked why they would provide one if it was useless and another needed to be bought. She kept repeating that the SIM number I had quoted was blank. And then she hung up on me.

I called back. Waited on hold about 20 minutes and the man I spoke to provided me with the number for the new SIM in less than a minute.

This is not my first problem with Vodafone. I have had many. I dread to think how many hours I have wasted on the phone with them. My last issue was about 2 months ago and it took about 3 weeks to resolve. Mat with one T must be the rudest CSR in the world. He should be fired.

The staff at Vodafone's customer care centre are appalling. They just have no idea. They don't record file notes as they should, you get different answers from every person you speak to. It's absolutely disgraceful. And that is a real shame because I don't have problems with the coverage per se, only specific aspects of set-up and account maintenance and it is such a terrible experience.

Good luck in your action.
Rebekah, NSW

P.S. After all this my "wifi in your pocket" is still not working. What a surprise.

Regardless of drop-outs and poor reception how bad is the vodafone web site if you are trying to check your account or useage. 4 days not available NOT GOOD ENOUGH.

I'm in no mess at all, get cheaper bills than I did with Telstra. I understand that rural coverage is less than Telstra's. (Telstra did have 50 odd years of tax payers money to get it to where it is today) Optus and Vodafone started from scratch!

i have sent many messages to here and overseas and it has been 2 days and it still has not been delivered, the network coverage fails in most of the areas and the call suddenly drops out whilst talking

Excessive phone bills, non-existant wireless internet coverage (in North Sydney), extremely poor customer service and being kept on hold for hours while being "cold transferred" to different departments and different customer service queues to deal with issues.

Out of contract now but wanted to unlock my phone today - they tried to charge me $50 to unlock a phone that was already paid off. Got it after hours of discussions with CS, Supervisors and Managers. Wasn't happy about having to explain the situation at least four times to each customer service representative and being kept on hold for 50 minutes.


Would also like to include my short experience as a temp employee at Chatswood Head Office where I was treated in a disgraceful manner. I was given an initial run down on the job then left to my own devices with no support staff network and no staff available with knowledge of my job role, office floor procedures or any IT troubleshooting (they had just fired the only IT guy!!!!). No staff member around was able to help with any issues raised - was always told to call a different staff member, however nobody could help with anything. Was fired on the spot on Day 3 because supposedly I hadn't handled a situation well - would have been nice to have some team support. They were just so rude.

Left Vodafone as a customer immediately after - only way to do it though was to stop paying bills and have them cut off my service and pay a debt collector. (It worked, but I wouldn't recommend it. Credit is cleared in full).

Seems like whenever we go on holidays to an island or a mountain somewhere, other folk on Telstra have reception, we've got NONE. Dunk Island. Lamington National Park...I could think of more if I could be bothered.

Open letter to Vodafail (also posted on Vodafones Facebook page):-

Your mobile broadband service - if you can call it that - is abysmal, to say the least.

But first, it is only appropriate that I start by stating that I only 'like' your company on Facebook because that's the only way I can start this thread. And Facebook is one of the few options I have left to communicate with you.

I far from like your company, your appauling customer service non-standards and your complete an inappropriate disregard for providing any level of service that you promote to proffer. But I digress.

When you were 3 you promised me the world. You couldn't deliver. When you transferred me to Vodafail you reluctantly apologised and promised me the world again with the added promise that the previous woes would never be repeated. They have been. Repeatedly. It took 4 months, constant phone calls, threats of legal action and contacting the police and TIO about your harrassment to make the 3 bills stop coming.

You've told me I was the only one with network issues. That there were no issues. That you'd oversubscribed your service. That things would get better. You've repeatedly put me on hold for hours. You've transferred my calls to the wrong department. You've hung up on me. You've told me you'll get back to me. That you'll investigate. You've offered pathetic discounts on a service that is barely useable at the best of times and often not useable at all. You've charged me for exceeding my limit the one month I managed to actually get a decent enough service level to use the internet despite months of not being able to use the internet allowance I've paid for in other months.

These are but a few of the lies and hurt and frustration that you have subjected me to. And now I learn I am not alone. In fact it would appear that I am a part of the majority.

So now I've stopped calling you. I've also stopped paying your bills. I can't get through to you on the phone to find out if you have a direct debit authority but I'm contacting the bank to make sure that if one exists it will be cancelled.

It's time for you to contact me. So now I'm waiting for you calls. So I can put you on hold. And hang up on you. And transfer you to the wrong department. Then one day I'll answer and I expect an apology. A big one. With bells and whistles.

In the meantime, I'd appreciate it if you would fix my internet, so I can use all the internet time I've paid for in the past and never managed to get access to. Then you should call me so we can discuss the closure of my account with no penalty to avoid yet another complaint to the TIO.

I've only been with Vodafail for a couple of months but stupidly signed up 3 phones, two of which are locked into 24 month contracts.

Rubbish reception
No data
Call drop outs

I've been trying to call through and opted for a call back, half an hour later when I got the call back was put in hold for over half an hour and then hung up. Called back, stayed on hold for 30 minutes when I spoke to someone he admitted Vodafone were having network issues but could offer me no solution. He wanted to put me through to the technical dept and when I said I didn't want to be placed on hold he couldn't tell me how long the wait was. I asked to speak to his supervisor and without a response from him I have been placed on hold.

how funny, its amazing, just last week i was put on hold for one hour, than they answered, i was than cut off, i called back to wait another hour on hold. Since being with voda phone wireless broadband I have experienced many problems. 6gb = $49 but it went 2kb over and some how went up to $300 a month , maybe this was due to me having to reload web pages due to sometimes nil coverage. who do i see about joining this legal action.? Scott

crappy reception everywhere that i need reception. calls dropping out, and not being able to connect to calls or the internet

I stupidly swapped to Vodafone after being a 3 customer with no reception in my home in metro Melbourne, thinking my endless reception issues would go away. I was told that since 3 and Vodafone are now 1, this would be the only way I could cancel my contract without paying a fee (which makes no sense, as I was paying for a service that was never provided), I was also assured many times that even though there the same company the operate out of different phone towers and my area was not a blackspot with Vodafone, and no blackspot = no reception issues. FAIL!!
I have no service whatsoever at my workplace (same area) and my Internet NEVER EVER works, unless ofcourse I am at home using my wireless Internet, where's my 2GB of data? Why can't I use it? And why-oh-why am I still being forced to pay for it?!
Ridiculous! Rule out Vodafone and rule out 3 for your next service providers, as not only is there service non existent but there customer services sucks just as hard!

Hardly any 3G coverage in Carole Park. Don't believe coverage maps!
2G is woeful at the best of times.

Living in metro Melbourne, people are constantly telling me that they call me but it never rings...always goes directly to voicemail (which i then don't receive.) I rarely, if ever, have more than one bar of reception when I'm inside ANY building...18 months of contract left. Bah.

i am in Fraser ACT. i run a building/carpentry business from my mobile, i cant receive calls when i am at home inside or outside its a disgrace. apparently service is fine in my area. they are dreaming, i could have lost so much business but i will never know. optus here we come vodafone is shithouse

Well guys I understand your frustration, I used to work in the telecommunications industry and for a reseller who uses vodafail as one of their carriers this is dealing with business customers.
I had to deal with a lot of complaints where customers where on the vodafail network, one of their consultants said YES THERE IS A PROBLEM WITH THE 3G NETWORK AND THE NETWORK OVERALL.
The company didnt had a choice but to release customers from their contracts just 2 months into a 24 month contract.
Lets hope the Australian Government gets involved and customers get compensated and released from their contracts.

No reception, constant call drops out, calls going straight to voicemail, voicemails taking hours to come through, waiting waiting waiting for internet pages to load.... im wasting my life looking at the spinning loady-thing!
Also MMS are taking 1-2 days to send and receive.

Yep, Im just one of the many and just spent most of my new years day on the home phone to a customer service person in India repersenting Vodafone after not getting anywhere with a overcharged account, I asked for a manager 2 hours and 10 minutes later I have been given a credit for the over charged account and told that in two weeks Vodafone will have the best service in australia!!! interesting. I have no reception at my home, I travel from west of Noosa to Maroochydore on a daily bases and only have reception for no more then 10% of the trip, when I do get a call it normally will drop out before the end of the conversation. I have been a Vodafone customer for more then 12 years now and after being extremly loylal I have had enough, the phone I have under contract (Nokia N97) turns itself off, freezes, tells me I have no memormy left and will not operate currectly, I have no less the 3 times reported problems with the handset to Vodafone Noosaville (Civic centre) only to be told that the handset is now out of warrenty by 2 days and it's basicly my problem. The Vodafone computer system has no detail of my last 2 reported issues with the phone (who's not doing there job!!!)so I now sit here writing this after being on hold 6 times over 4 hours and 17 minutes waiting for a return call as the last 2 calls where from the wrong department? it has now been a futher 14 min and still no reply but the last person did tell me they can offer a $10 discount for the remainder of my contract and free Vodafone to Vodafone calls "WOW" that's going to help someone who struggles to get reception.
I was told that network connection can come out to my area and check the signal strength and if it's not up to scratch mt contract can be terminated, thats if they ever get back to me??? its now 4.25pm I made my call to them at 11.59am good to see there fixing things. The first person to read this will be the only person to realy listen, sadly.

No coverage on phone or internet. Phone calls constantly drop out. Internet pages only load 2 times out of 10. Did the speed test yesterday and the lowest reading I got was 45.8kb/second. The network needs to provide at least 400kb/sec.
I have been on hold to vodafone trying to resolve the issue on and off for the past 3 days. Initially I was on hold for over an hour before speaking to an operator about my phone. I then had to go into the store and get a new sim which of course is not the issue. I then needed to call again, be put on hold again only to be told that I will need to be transferred to another department to discuss my internet as well. I was then on hold for another hour.

I am on hold now.

My internet has crashed twice while I was trying to upload this complaint.

And seriously - if they are going to put us on hold for such extensive amounts of time can you please not play maroon 5. It's killing me.

Very poor reception in our dwelling at Monash Plc Ferny Grove, Brisbane Qld. I was at Pacific Fair Shopping Centre, Broadbeach, Gold Coast on Boxing Day and had no reception, however my Daughter on Optus, had no problems. I took up with Vodafone Staff member (F) at the Centre and was asvised that because there were 2000 pepple at the shopping centre, the tower could not cope. Constant problems with getting Balance from Vodafone. To call 1555 you wait for half hour or more, listening to terrible music, then unable to understand the Vodafone (off shore) employee.

I moved from Toowong to Nundah and have noticed that the coverage in my new residence varies from poor to no coverage at all. Outside the house is marginally better. At the time I was self employeed and the mobile number was my contacts with my clients. After contacting Vodafone this solution was suggested to me, buy and used a bluetooth headset with the mobile phone placed in a locations where it would be be able to make and receive call.
This was a brand new Blackberry Storm and email was important to me as well.
I recall that on next occasion that I reported this reception problem and I was told that a technician would survey the area. This is on file. I have since called again to voice my fustration again. The result was acknoledgement of a problem. I explained my situation again and in particular the fact that I was not getting the service that I was paying for each month.
The customer service operator without any hesitation offered to reduce my monthly plan from approx $109 to approx $65, with no fees for changing plans while on contract.

I now am out of my contract and have reduced my plan to $45.
I have been a customer with Vodafone for many many years, does loyality count for nothing? Why should I continue to put up with this?

No coverage area's exist, don't pretend that they don't, I live in one.

My only alternative is to switch carriers if I want my phone to work at home.
But what good will that do.

I've been trying to contact Vodafone for the past few days, and have not been able to get through to 1555. All it does, is 3 beeps, and hangs up.
I am unable to use my 3G internet connection when away from my WiFi at home, and my calls keep dropping out, regardless of where I am.
I did not sign up for this shit. Bad Customer Service and extremely poor reception. Why am i paying again??

I have heard reports that sms i send to friends are received hours later. Vodafone reception around the Hills area is riduculous!

boo vodafone

unbelievable...even when it shows coverage, the 3G is so or non-existent...calls dropping out or not connecting or coverage disappearing at random

I have several issues:
1. Billing - I signed up for an NRMA deal and it took ages to get someone to actually listen to what the actual issue was. After several frustrating calls to the Indian call centre where they denied there was a problem and kept trying to tell me that I was being billed corectly. The 1555 number I think is designed to frustrate with excess wait times, call drop outs and that silly woman that keeps saying that they experiencing abnormally large call volumes (I would think that one call is an abnormally large call volume for them). I also tried to raise the issue through the Voda web site but the issue kept being classified as resolved -despite making it clear that I wanted the issue escalated. I finally lodged a TIO complaint and actually got an Australian to call me and supposedly it has now been rectified - I am waiting for my next bill to see (not holding my breath) and also should be getting one month free for my trouble - which is really only a token.

2. Coverage - woeful coverage across the ACT - the number of times I get no service is amazing. Currently working in Mitchell where I can get no coverage one moment when sitting at my desk and then limited coverage. Very poor really.

Also experienced really poor coverage in Brisbane.

3. Vodfone 3G USB internet access. I got a USB modem with 6GB of data and a 3 month expiry. I was careful to only activate it when I really needed it because the performance is that poor that I use a real internet connection - ADSL2. As it turns out it was activated at the time I purchased - not when I actually activated it in mid November. I tried to use it in Adelaide over Christmas but it had expired. After a call to Vodafail I was advised that it was activated in mid September when I purchased it - although I had to actually call Voda in mid November to get it activated in mid November to get connectivity. I have now been advised to get a recharge. Fat chance of that - I will take my #G internet business to a real provider with good coverage - as much as it pains me to say it - Telstra. I will limit the money I give to that crap company Vodafail.

I curse the day I thought I would change mobile providers from Telstra to Vodafail. Totally incompetent and poor coverage to boot. With a contact system designed to frustrate. I pity the poor call centre workers as they probably get hammered by irate customers of this crap company.

I have been with vodafone for 14 years and also have noticed the service/reception sliding in the last few years. I have family on vodafone network interstate and it's cheaper for us to use our mobiles to talk, BUT WE CAN'T! My dad tried to call me about 3 times on Christmas morning, with constant drop outs, or going straight to my voicemail as there was ZERO service. I have just moved house and thought (rather hoped) that the service may improve being in a higher area, but I am still as disappointed as ever. I have been told that I can switch to a new carrier without having to pay exit costs as vodafone admit to rubbish service. I have emailed vodafone to find out what I can do. I am completely fed up with them and the lack of service. :-(

I have been with vodafone since march and have been blaming the new telephone that I igned up for. After using another phone with my vodafone sim I have proof that the problem is the network. I have delaed messages, poor or no receptioon, I have to outside to get any reception most of the time. I recieve calls but the caller cannot hear me and so have to make a second call back to them. It is ghastly

I have a buisness phone and make and recieve 50 calls per day, 40 to 45 of these calls drop out or dont even ring.. this has cost me many Missed clients and jobs due to people ringing elsewhere as my voicemail is usuall delayed 7 or 8 hours to recieve the message!! this is 3rd world reception iam recieving .. My texts messages are also delayed up to 2 hours on most days

I have been with vodafone since march and have been blaming the new telephone that I igned up for. After using another phone with my vodafone sim I have proof that the problem is the network. I have delaed messages, poor or no receptioon, I have to outside to get any reception most of the time. I recieve calls but the caller cannot hear me and so have to make a second call back to them. It is ghastly

I tried to send an SMS this morning at 9.30am.. I've been trying to make calls and send text messages all day. It's now 1.10pm New Year's Day. Hopefully I don't miss out on any work as this is the only number I have.

Typical Fricken Australians aye.... all you guys ever do is complain, why the &^%$ are you still on their network if you dont like anything that they do.
Year on year bloody people continue to find more an more to complain about get over yourselves and go elsewhere, who bloody wants you as customers!! Go suck on a Koala. IDIOTS!!

My phone constantly drops out during calls and it takes me at least two or three tries to send a text msg from anywhere. It took me forty minutes to send a text msg last night. People also tell me that my phone has been off when it hasn't. When people do finally get through to me I manage to catch about every third word because the reception is so bad. Vodafail!

my phone drops out of reception every ten minutes, since being with vodaphone iv had to replace numbers and phones every 2 weeks cos nothing saves, my internet connections don't exist unless i turn the phone off and on twice. none of my photos or data saves to the phone, my credit gets taken even when im still in the use by date i cannot make calls to anybody on vodaphone because it charges my normal credit not vodaphone money. im sick of fixing the phone and just want the company to know that every time this happens i get more frustrated and will be changing to a better company.

I am on the Gold Coast at Robina. The reception is always going from full service too 1 bar or no service. Everytime I call Vodafail the call back time is greater than 30 mins! You call and they need to transfer you to the network team or iPhone team. I have replaced my sim and restored my phone a couple of times!! They are still telling me it is not the network. Not happy!!

gotta love getting no reception, internet that works when it wants to and calls that drop out all the time.......vodafone...more like vodafail

Full signal trying to phone my wife on Vodafone network with full signal, and it goes onto voice mail. Paying for data, and can never use it. This company is a JOKE.

as of late there is no internet on my phone! i am paying for something i can't even use! vodafone you are a joke of a company.
very disappointing and unprofessional.

let's not even mention the lack of reception.

my phone shows no network at all for atleast half of the day and night, frequent call drops and i can not surf easily on net because of this problem. initially i thought it is very normal due to any maintenance but now it has been very long since it is posing as a serious threat to me and my work.

over the christmas break I was flooded in around bundaberg and had absolutely no coverage to phone or even txt my family to know where i was.. my uncle who lives there said 5 years ago vodafone was the only phone company they had out there and he said is was the best but now for some reason they have failed everyone and there is now 0 coverage!!

my parents live on the sunshine coast which is only 50min north of brisbane and there is 0 coverage.. this business is absolutely appalling and i hope something is done to fix it!!

Cant receive calls, Sms's come in way past their use by date..
To get my SMS reply to send have had to powercycle my phone every time!!!
Thats 50 times a day!!!!

Cannington 3G coverage is dead. 6017 is a mix of suburbs on this website it defaults to wilson so Cannington appears problem free - WRONG!!!

I have a $114 a month contract which started when i lived in sydney. Service was majority fine for coverage on the northern beaches. I then moved to the mid north coast and have absolutely no service where I live.
Through discussions with various staff at vodafone, I was given 3 months half price after first being told it was my fault because I moved!!!!!!!!!!!!!
It was at this point I pointed out to my assisting costumer service rep that it was a MOBILE phone hence I should be able to use it anywhere.
I can understand they cannot cover everywhere but I cannot understand how they can legally charge for a service which they are not providing at all.
I truly feel like I have been paying money when they should release me from my contract immediately.
I have had to take another contract through telstra just to operate my business as a builder.
I just want to be released from my contract , any compensation for a year of no service would be a bonus.
Slim chance I know.

Coverage is crap once you get outside sydney, when the charlestown tower lost power it took out a large number of vodafone customers, I am so over the crapy vodafone telephone support, Lara is just so useless, I get better response from my dog, can't wait to move to Telstra when my contract finishes.

I rang 3 to order 2 new phones n ended up deciding to go with the iPhone 4, the lady I was talking to told me that I'd be better of going with vodafone because they have better coverage in my area, Im lucky to have 2 coverage bars, I ring people n we cant hear each other, so I have to try & ring them again n again, i can't always send text messages & almost all the time, I can't access the Internet, I have rang vodafone regarding this n they tell me it's the phone, I went into the vodafone shop n they tell me once again it's the phones, I believe that they keep telling me this so they dont lose another customer, as I said at the beginning, I got 2 of these phones, 1 for me & 1 for my partner, my partner also has the same problems, I wish I hadv'e gone with 3.. I have a friend who has the same phone as me, but he is with 3, & he does not have these problems.

Signed up to Vodafone on a 24 month contract with 2 phones the lady at the store told us we would have full 3G mobile reception,What a load of Bull*****
Contacted vodafone to let them know,we just get sent around the whole company and the problems doesnt get fixed.Im out of ideas,please help

Never any coverage / reception, call drop outs,problems receiving calls, randomly sends a weird txt to various people in my phonebook whenever my phone is switched back on after being turned off AND being charged for these txt! I rely on my phone & this really isn't good enough

My partner and I are in a area that has Vodafone coverage, but the reception we get is shocking and cuts out every 10 Minutes. We now feed off our WiFi Modem provided by Optus. Since I arrived here from New Zealand in December 1999, I started out with Optus and never ever had problems, unitl I switch to Vodafone. Not Good guys!! Fix it!! Or, Merge with Foxtel for some help!!

Constant failed reception, Internet dropouts, delayed sent messages, delayed received messages, delayed voicemail, incorrect account balance bills, overcharging, incompetent customer service. I have had people try to ring my mobile and it will go straight through to message bank, my phone won't even ring and it will have full reception. Vodafone is an embarrassment to themselves and will no longer benefit from my customer loyalty. Nor anyone else's if I can help it.

I have been with with vodaphone about 10 months. I travel for work and have constant service dropouts all over Melbourne (every few minites sometimes).Very rarely can i make a call of over 5 mins without having to redial.Customers trying to call me get service turned off messages. Around June 2010 we lost all service within around a 10 km radius to the Hallam area for around 2-3 weeks. Vodaphone said no known issues Sometimes have better reception on 2G but it is supposed to be a 3G service.

my calls always drop out and when ever i need reception i cant get any. i also have vodafail for my internet....the biggest mistake ever! pretty much cant use my phone or internet and paying these idiots my hard earned money for NO service.. i will be changing asap!!!

Having huge reception issues, data...what data?? Dropouts all the time. Customer service (to India) on hold for up to an hour and then charged $76 for the privilege!! Worst thing is that we have a Vodafone tower 100m at the end of our street .... WTF.?????

Very poor reception. 1 to 2 bars most of the time, while in the house. so calls drop out 90% of the time. Receiving messages hours later or not at all.SO FRUSTRATING. Sick of running around the house or yard to get a better signal.According to Vodafone coverage maps, we should be getting great reception. Who are they trying to kid. NOT HAPPY

I recently committed to a 24 month contract with vodafone. Within the first week I experienced numerous dropped calls, no reception for large parts of the day, and very poor data reception. Iam now receiving emails three days after they have been sent. The only way to get the phone working again is to turn off and on, and even then the problems are only temporarily fixed. Iam now in the second month of my plan and iam already considering other option...

I have come cross from Telstra to vodafone since they put a vodafone sim to my mobile i have lost half of my contacts and i don't have a good coverage no one can call me my friends and family thinks that my mobile is swiched off.... my mobile is on 24/7 but i can't contact anyone and no one can contact me.... sometimes while i am talking it drops off. it is very painfull....

I consider myself to be a pretty good customer. I am loyal to providers that step up and do right by me. I especially would have a lot of respect for a provider who sucks up their pride and admit when they have stuffed up.

We have here, a company whose present undoing is an unbelievably good sales and marketing team. However it is that team's failure to communicate internally with their infrastructure team is what has really caused this issue for the consumers.

I am at my home in Gladesville, with the standard tiny bar of 3G at my disposal, ( unless I walk to 1 of 3 'hotspots' where I get 2 or if I'm being particularly blessed, 3 bars). As we have just moved in and are waiting for a land line, our mobiles are our only source of communication with family and friends. With my Nanna very unwell in hospital, I am forced to keep my phone placed in one of those hotspot areas regardless of whether it has to sit in the middle of a room on the floor, just so my mother can contact me if there is an emergency.

Is it too much to ask, vodafone, to have a phone that can actually make and receive calls/emails at my leisure and not yours?

An interim fix such as asking Telstra for help and letting vodafone customers failover to the Telstra network when a decent vodafone signal cannot be received, would alleviate your consumers' anger and perhaps you won't lose so many of us after all.

Thoughts?

I signed up to a mobile broadband plan, was told that my address could recieve 3g. Got my USB 1 week later, no reception at all. Made over 30 calls to vodafone, got hung up on many times was never rude to them they just didn't want to deal with my problem. Spent over 6 hours on hold, was promised calls back by supervisor never happened. Tryed for over a month to cancel my broadband plan, was promised 6 months free broadband, $20 credit for my troubles and told were upgrading service give them 48hrs. Still not fixed. Promised free modem within 5 days, two weeks later still waiting. Phoned again to see what the problem is and was told was nothing on the system about a modem being sent out. Was lied to again. Today I phoned to cancel and was told give us three months as we are fixing the network, I told them no way it's been over a month of being stuffed around. Was told if I didn't transfer to another persons name that I would have a disconection fee as I signed the contract only a month ago. So anoyed right now. After driving 900ks to nsw from vic I finaly got reception in dubbo.

I sign up for a brand spanking new iphone.

Voda tells me great choice no issue whatsoever they were right
"minor reception issue is possible due to redesigned antena"

4 months later i hate vodafone dont get me wrong they have "great coverage everywhere" hmm everywhere but my work, home, friends houses, shopping centres basicly anywhere that i might want to make a call or use mobile internet ( i have plenty of data left at EOM too , why you may ask? Because i can never connect to the damn internet.)

No phone or internet reception, and text messages arriving 3days late at midnight.

1. Call drop outs
2. poor data reception to point where I give up doing anything, I end up using my friends Telstra data plan for internet stuff
3. 3 months in a row I've recieved a txt saying update email otherwise we will charge you $2.20 for paper bill (which I've done) each time I go back in its gone.
4. known missed calls (some important business related) when I finally get ahold of them, they say we tried calling several times.
5. No wonder the phone is so quiet now, virtually no incoming calls.

I HATE VODAFONE - WISH I NEVER GOT THIS PLAN!!!!!

I was a three pre-paid customer for around 4 years and it didn't miss a beat. then a few months ago I switched to vodafone for the desire HD. I had no problems, it worked everywhere I needed it to up until about a month ago. Call drop-outs, no reception at my partners house who lives about 5 km away from me (I live about 15 minutes from the heart of Perth) I had reception there fine with 3 and for the first month with vodafone, there slow ping speed and finally random network drop-outs ranging from a few seconds to a few hours. Not happy vodafone.

Am I the only one with this issue??????????
I send emails via my iphone using vodafone (not wireless). The sent items folder acknowledges emails are sent. I get irate or frustrated emails from customers demanding a reply to their emails but ive already replied!!!!!!!!!!! I ring vodafone and they say, "oh sorry sir, there is an issue with emails generated from vodafone server being rejected by other servers". Why didnt I get notified about this?? Why do they let me send 4 weeks worth of emails before I find out none of them got through.
Has anyone else experienced this?
BTW, in Avalon Sydney yesterday, my reception went from "searching" to full bars on a cycle for 1 hour. No 3G either. It was a joke, I was sitting in 1 place but could not make calls or check internet/emails.

Have been Voda customer for as long as I have had mobile (about 15 years), live in rural NSW but close to capital (ACT), Used to get adequate service until Vode went 3G when service became unreliable, inadequate and frustrating. Given option to end contract (couple of months left) or renew with a new phone that should improve service, I opted to renew, recieved new phone (Experia -10) and service is worse than before. Phone is crap, connection is crap. Also opted for the new wireless network internet connection - this is even worse than the phone service, 3G does not work often, keeps jumping between 3G, 2G and H but will not lock to any so unable to connect often, when it does connection is generally VERY slow (better with the original USB Voda Modem - not 3G). Funny Voda coverage map said I should get connection. Weather really plays a part in both the phone and internet service - any hint of change and I lose all connection. To cap it off I get absolutly no coverage in the township (Yass 2582). My daughter is with OPTUS and has full cover 24/7 in all our local areas. Come on Voda get your act to gether or you will lose another loyal customer (maybe loyalty dosen't mean anything these days and I should cut my loses and jump to another provider).

Having been a customer for 10+ years, I am very disappointed with the reliability of the netowrk. Calling out does not work. This started yesterday where I was able to call one number, but then I am unable to call another. I would not get any tone or indication that the call would not work. Leaving the phone to "calling" all you hear is silence. Come on voda, fix up your network. This is unacceptable.

for the past week i have had issues with reception droppping in and out regardless wheather i turn 3G on ( which doenst work well on the central coast) or have it off.. It is becoming annoying as i need to use my phone for work emails, etc...

been a loyal customer for 15 yrs.. first time there was an outage with no warning in the highlands i had broken down and was unable to call for help. i lost income, and wasted the day.
second time it happened when i rang to find out what was going on the service i recieved was absolute rubbish. the excuse and the call waiting time only to be told "hold on a minute and i'l transfer you to another department..."
quite often i get "no coverage", "network busy", call drop out half way thru a conversation, recieve voicemail messages and texts that were sent hours ago all at once.
not happy one bit and will definently not be renuing my contract with them.

Haha to start off with, the service is terrible, I get picture messages and voicemails days late.. And vodafones suggestion, oh it must be the phone.. Call the telephone company ad they will reboot your phone?? So my only option is to have my phone start from scratch an lose everyhig, only for my original problems to remain.. Umm no thanks.. Then I finally saved up the money to upgrade because u was locked in.. I receive my "new phone" and take it home to set it up etc... Only to find that it's not in fact a new phone, but marks phone and he likes 4gb of nitro circus.. On my "new" phone.. So I call vodafone to sort it out, oh I am in India you have to call back at 9am.. Okay so I call back at 9am, they wanted me to bring the phone back to the dealer as proof!!! I had to work and couldn't get there, plus why should I be inconvenienced!! They told me I would have to wait 4 weeks for a replacement phone.. Just not good enough... I received the replacement phone, only to still have the problems of delayed everything, dropping out, horrible reception, and super slow 3G.. Vodafail?

I am aggrieved over amount of wasted time and money spent with a 24 month Vodafail usb modem contract. We chose the option for mobility and after vigorous assurance from Vodafail staff that our home close to the Adelaide CBD was located within a reception hotspot. Total rubbish, but they stuck to the claim when I complained about continuous disconnections and lack of reception - we spent far more time waiting to (re)connect than online and then the service was excrutiatingly slow and unable to download moderately sized files or open many web pages. Usb modem replaced with updated model after a year but severe problems persisted and only worsened. Had to use local library service to download and upload university assignments after I missed submission deadline due to connection cut-outs at home. Waited out contract as didn't think there was anything we could do. After we responded to Vodafail's enquiry as to why we wouldn't extend contract, there was no effort to persuade us to change our mind as they obviously can't provide what they promise. Shopfront staff were always friendly but just couldn't help. We are now with another provider with broadband and very happy.
Also took Vodafail 9 months to update my partner's credit card details so he could recharge his phone service actually using his phone!

Made a request via email to have my contract cancelled penalty free. First time Vodafail tried to ring it went direct to voicemail; the phone was right next to me with full reception but never rang. Showed as a missed call immediately and the voicemail arrived after several hours. 2nd time they called the phone rang but the call dropped out after a brief discussion. Waiting on attempt number 3 now...

I got into a contract just over 2 years ago with a new Nokia, insurance, data, the whole bit. They then suckered me in with a change of phone number that I couldn't change, which was important as it was the number I had had for about 10 years. The phone coverage up here in Queensland is very hit and miss and the data speed is pretty pathetic. I then tried making an insurance claim on my phone, which was damaged accidentally at work, but I couldn't get the online form to accept my claim and I couldn't get anyone on the phone to speak to about it - let alone the ridiculous excess they expect you to pay. I still can't get good phone reception in my new house (its in the middle of town on a hill). Lara is a joke... I now refuse to speak to it if I have to call Vodafone. But I'm stuck as the other two major networks are just as bad - if not worse.

Im on a prepaid cap and have always had trouble with reception,not only that but I seem to be getting charged twice everytime I put credit on my phone via using there website,and as for customer care....????? what customer care??/I have now waited for over an hour on your line waiting to get this resolved but to no avail. Pathetic looks like im finding my self a new carrier

Im on a prepaid cap and have always had trouble with reception,not only that but I seem to be getting charged twice everytime I put credit on my phone via using there website,and as for customer care....????? what customer care??/I have now waited for over an hour on your line waiting to get this resolved but to no avail. Pathetic looks like im finding my self a new carrier

My phone forever struggles to send and receieve messages. Some days I'll send a message and all my signal bars drop to none and the message will sit in my outbox without ever sending. When receiving messages, some are received the next day, and I can have full signal strength and I receive a message saying I have a voicemail message because the call never came through.

When making calls, I usually have to sit in my front driveway because my back patio has the most dropouts, and even at this point I can experience two to three dropouts per phone call where you're stuck talking to yourself while there is a complete silence over the phone and you hear the drop out beeps. You totally lose the conversation as you ring your friend back up and say "Sorry, we got disconnected again..."

As for their mobile broadband. Well I haven't used their mobile broadband for almost 22 months. I originally signed up on a 24 month contract on the promise that they were changing over to the 3G network which experienced many delays and when it did switch over found out they were still crap and slow. When I complained I was told I'd have to pay the contract in full if I cancelled it, so I thought I'd just pay the minimum over the next 2 years and not renew it, and in the meantime, I use Telstra broadband.

'So over it'

I have contacted vodafone several times about constant dropouts of phone calls and when trying to send a sms it taking a while for it to be received, I have tried different handsets same issue, only reason I chose vodafone was because of the google nexus one.

I am so sick a tired of trying to deal with this company!!! After being with a different service provider for over 10 years I approached DUDphone & was informed by the sales attendants at Crazy John's in Ballarat that the coverage was excellent in this area, and they further stated that coverage would be even better in the up coming months as a new tower was going up in Daylesford. In my profession I rely HEAVILY on my mobile phone & this was a crucial factor when changing service providers. (Wasn't I an idiot). It clearly states in my contract, "I have discussed and understand Network Coverage provided in the areas I require usage."

Service and coverage have provided a headache since day 1 although I persisted for quite some time. However, of late, the persistant dropping out of phone calls, colleagues telling me they have been trying to ring me and getting a recorded message that the phone is not in a service area. People ringing my wife's mobile (optus!!!) while she is working beside me because they wish to speak to me but can't get through to my phone, receiving text messages 24hours after they have been sent. To send a message from my home, which is 1.5km from the vodaphone shop, I have to walk around the house trying to find reception like it was way back in the early 1990's!!!

I made a complaint in October 2010 and was told I haven't complained enough and that they would send me a new sim card! Guess what?? No improvement at all!!

I rang again of on friday the 17th of December at my wits end and after hearing through the media that vodaphone was having to release customers from their contracts due to poor service and coverage. Whilst on the phone to customer service they had to ring me back three times due to the call dropping out. They finally put me through to accounts who were in the process of trying to tell me that I would have to pay for the termination of my contract when the phone call dropped out again. Within minutes it became clear that they had disconnected me, No phone call to tell me what was going on. At that point I rang back and after a 40 minute wait was told that my account was terminated and inactive, no discussion of fees.

I have since connected gone back to my old service provider but they have locked my iphone.

I also want an explanation as to a text I received in the last few days stating that I owe vodaphone an early contract payout sum

I would not have asked to get out of the contract a couple of months early if they had have met their part of the contract. Vodaphones service and coverage has been absolutely appalling and Vodaphone have failed miserably at fulfilling their part of the contract. I was a loyal customer to Vodaphone up till this point but given the poor service and failure on the part of Vodaphone, I fail to see how in good conscience they would seek monetary renumeration for the early termination of my contract.

Very poor mobile reception, even in the city centre! Calls drop out, reception ranges from four bars of 3G then drops out to EDGE. Cannot use browser, no service. Vodafone advice is to remove battery and start again - very unhelpful as it doesn't work. Delayed reception of SMS messages. Most frustrating is variation in reception - what works fine one minute, drops out the next. How do I get out of this mess?

what 3G reception???????????

i have always regarded vodafone highgly and in some cases encouraged people to join into contracts with voda, however in the last 6 months i dont have reception in the most common places, my messages come through so late and my data is so slow. i come out of my cap very soon, however i dont know whether to go back with them. its frustrating and annoying because their deals are good but at the moment i think it will be easier to go with another company.

there is no point having a phone that doesnt have reception which means no calls and no texts.

i think voda should pay out to everyone...and fix their problems!!

I have had the absolute displeasure of dealing with Vodafone 'Customer Service' on 4 occasions in the last 4 months. Every time I approach a Vodafone store with my queries, even after a lengthy wait instore, I am then told they cannot help me and i need to contact ' Customer Service' - which roughly translates to 'If you are not here for me to sell something to, please contact our offshore contact centre'. I upgraded from the iPhone 3 to the iPhone 4, which required a micro-sim. I was instructed to contact 'Customer Care' and activate my new sim. After customer care had done this my call was terminated mid sentence. An hour later my new phone and sim card still were not active. I called back and was told to give in another hour. 24 hours later and still no access to the network. At first i tried to access the ' complaints line' but was cut off 3 times in succession. When I finally spoke to someone, after 45 minutes, i was told that 'someone' hadnt fully activated the account and to wait another '20 minutes'. 8 hours later, i still had no access. Tried again to call the ' complaints' line and again just kept getting cut off. When i finally got to customer service i was told it would be active in 20 minutes and they apologised for the previous mistakes. Why, if it finally took 20 minutes, did it take 3 days for that to happen. And why was i still charged for those 3 days access??? Following this, my phone was stolen. I called Vodafone to report this and have the phone barred. 6 hours later, my phone was still taking voicemail, for which i am charged. (The further charges to the account have only been rectified after many hours again on the ohone to vodafail.) Called again, waited more than an hour, finally spoke to someone and explained that i had my old iphone with the old sim card inside and to reactivate that one. I was told 20 minutes. I called again in 2 hours and was told that everything would be fine after a 30 minute wait. I had network access for 25 minutes before it was cut off. I called again and was told ' this phone has been reported stolen' I tried at great lengths to explain the situation to punjab but he then referred me to another department, who asked me the same security information before transferring back to the same person ( another 20 minutes ). I then again attempted to contact the 'Complaints dept' , was cut off 3 times before i spoke to some one who said, im sorry for that but there is not much i can do, i will talk to the person that made the mistake, but i will have to transfer you to someone else to have t rectified' (another 25 minutes). In the next week the sim card was disconnected 3 times based on the phone being ' stolen ' meaning i lost about 2 hours waiting online and 3 full days of 'access' to the network - for which i was still charged. I then attempted to change my number with vodafone, requesting my contract number be transferred to a pre paid sim and my contract be issued a new number. I made this request at vodafone bondi junction, and was advised again to call ' Customer Service'. I called India and was told no, this needs to be doen in store. Went back to the store, spoke to the same guy that directed me to CS in the first place, who then got his manager who told me that what i spent 4 days trying to do was not actually possible. I was given a new number,, but had to retunr to the store 24 hrs later to have a new sim card issued because after cancelling the number the sim card was cancelled too. I also recently recieved an ' your phone is about to be cut off' sms from vodafone, but no bill to be paid in my email as usual. Again, I called complaints, and waited 38 minutes to be told it was sent. I asked for it to be re-sent and told it would be immedeatley. I still have not recieved a bill. When i Called to advise that the outstanding account, as detailed in the sms i recieved, had been paid via 2 different transactions, i was told ' im sorry sir but the 'system' will only allow me to input one transaction number and amount, so your phone will still be cut off after the weekend and you wil have to call back next week to advise that you have made another payment. I have recently driven from Mackay in far north Qld to Sydney. From Kempsey to Sydney I have driven many time before on the same roads with no problems. I managed to get coverage on less than 10 % of the ' National Highway'. Maybe, next time Vodafail plans an /aquistion' and considers it and 'achievement' to be finally operating off their own network, they should not choose the network with the worst reputation for coverage in australia. A copy of this compaint has been sent to the TIO and i await confirmation of my desire to be released from my contract and never, ever, ever have anything to do with Vodafail and their pack of incompetent 'off shore staff' ever again

Your coverage
is terrible & your phone lines cut out all the
time

They drop out all the time & can't provide coverage in the middle of Hobart

If you happen to live in Kambah, ACT, 2902, DO NOT EVEN THINK REMOTELY ABOUT STAYING WITH/MOVING TO VODAFAIL.

As my HTC sits there saying "Limited service", I decide to tell everyone to not even think about vodafail.

Sure, the phone is nice, only available on voda/3.. unfortunately, but it's only nice when you have a solid connection to the 3G service, otherwise you'll have next to no data connection and horrible call quality. To top it off, if you live in kambah you'll barely ever have reception... in a suburban area, c'mon vodafone.. please.

Calls dropping out, reception issues, poor data performance. I have never experienced worse service from any other telco to date.

vodafone 3G network constantly seems to be unavailable and im finding that i have to manually change my phone from searching for 3G signals to old fashioned GSM which is no use when i got my 3G phone for 3G speeds for internet, thanks vodafone for providing me with a load of crap.

PAIN Vodafone Lite 5gig I live in a caravan park and have a shared phone line so require wiless internet 1year 9months,3 Months to go, 8weeks ago vodafone gave me a router to try to improve reception just the same,I have been complaining from the 1st week. I arrived home from a week away, on 31-12-10 at 4-30pm went to check mail and you gess what no coverage I live in 6065 area of Perth my 2 telstra phones have 5 bars Vodafone max 2 sometimes

My calls constantly drop out, messages on my ph say not sent and they have been, no reception and i use the ph for my home based business. I now wish i had of stayed with telstra altho theyre just as bad i never had a problem with my phones. The only thing with telstra was they couldnt offer me a better rate on my download for iphone so i went to voda wish i never had now tho. Years and years ago i would have sworn by them but not now.

No reception ever. Terrible service

I have two stories:

The first is I am in a service industry as TV technician, the contracts I sign state that if the signal is interrupted for more then a certain percentage I don't get paid. Simple yet far, so I am on a job the other day and it is a international broadcast, and we get an error on one of the primary devices. So we re route and try to fix the equipment. Me and 3 other techs are on vodafone; and it took us over 5 minutes to find a signal spot in the middle of Sydney, next we are on the phone to the service providers of our equipment, it took eight calls just to relay the problem. In the end I ran to a telstra store and bought a $30 handset and prepay credit just to make a phone call. A problem that took 30seconds to fix, took 30 mins just to get a stable call.

The other story was after this, a few complaints to vodafone (a deal in its own right) and I was able to unlock my handset. So I am installing some equipment on top of a hospital and this hospital has phone and microwave repeaters on it. So hear I am within 5m of the vodafone repeater. And my phone says that it has 0 reception. None I could of walked over and kick the bloody thing (I didn't, I like my freedom) So out comes my wallet in there I keep a telstra sim. I put it in my phone and in seconds I have full reception. The funniest thing is there is no Teletra repeater at that location.

All I want is the same penalties for them as they give to us, we don't pay they cut the service and send out debt collectors. They fail to provide a stable phone link and we don't get a reduction in price. And at the same time they are increasing the load on their already crippled system y having infinite plans and larger data bundles.

poor network coverage. no latest USB stick driver for windows 7. website is always unavailable. customer service is far more idot.

My wife and I both have mobile phones with vodafone and we are lucky to get 1 bar of service if we go outside or leave our phone against a window which is very poor as we live on the Gold Coast so we done the usual thing went to the vodafone store which told us to go home and ring this vodafone number to check the signal strength which after 25 min on the phone the girl on the other end (having a strong Indian accent) said there is no coverage in your area my reply was well how am I making this call to you then,so after that pointless call I looked up vodafones service map and yes it shows that we should have good service in our area vodafone should be ashamed of themselves very pissed off.

My son had an accident while away on camp, he was taken to a city hospital, we live in the country 2 hours from the hospital, had no reception at all and had to borrow someones mobile at a service station to ring the hospital, not good enough

in the centre of the brisbane CBD outside the hilton hotel this morning. no 3G coverage whatsoever. Even turned phone off and then on again. This company has past stated that coverage is not a differentiator (prior CEO - graham maher) - well, they're wrong there. No longer in contract, telstra here I come.

Anyone know what the reception is like in Gippsland (yarram, morwell, max creek) & rural victoria (like bacchus marsh, melton,ballan) ?? #vodafail or does it actually voda-work???

Keep getting cut off, next to NO reception in and around home in Brunswick or half of Melbourne whilst out and about!! Whenever someone calls OR i call them it is typical that we'll be cut off at least twice each call. Spent 4.5 hrs on the phone about 2 weeks ago complaining about this stuff - kept getting call dropping out whilst on hold and they wouldn't even call me back and I had to keep calling back.

We are experencing the same problems that a lot of people have mentioned. Phone dropouts, delayed voice messages, lack of coverage. We were told the coverage would be as good as Telstra within a couple of months. We are running a business and for the last two years have put up with this lack of service. I am not sure how many customers we have lost due to the lack of service. We will be going back to Telstra in a couple of weeks and hope not too have the same problems.

My wife and I are with Vodafone for the last year, and we have another year to go. Today things got really terrible, when we are at the same shopping centre, and we both could not call each other! Not only that, both our internet connections are out. A bit much for coincidence for 2 phones. Went home and checked VF website...no outages in WA. Where the hell were we then? My wife went into a VF shop in Carousel with her iPhone, and they offered to switch her phone to 2G. I am glad she did not go along with that, as we paid for 3G, not 2G. I can understand 2G being used outside the metro area, but 8km from the CBD; you've got to be kidding! And let's not forget the phone lines are dead. Will be calling VF first thing tomorrow morning. Don't care if I get India or moon. I'm sick of being with VF, and can't wait to dump them.

Whats this 3g still on 2g in bundaberg and as soon as i live town I have no network