Its a hit and miss! Maybe I can make calls, maybe I can't. Maybe I'm contactable, maybe I'm not. Who knows what their magical formula for connection coverage is? What a welcoming experience ... in the first month they barred my incoming/outgoing because I had not paid the invoice. Funny thing (not) is that they barred me because their business sales rep. had not entered any of my details into their system. Then they threatened to re-bar me if I didn't now pay asap.

Have experienced constant drop out and reconnection on my pocket wifi. Tried to get the device unlocked but vodafone refuse to do so for the 49 stated on the packaging. I found a fax number for complaints on vodafones website, but guess what, it does not answer. I am off to tio as soon as the public holidays are over

I have an iPhone 3GS with Vodafone (which has now, unfortunately for her, been passed down to my girlfriend). The reception, for the last 18 months has been lousy at best. One bar almost all day, everywhere. Trying to use the internet on the iPhone is totally useless. You'd probably be quicker going to the server, plugging in a flash drive, and retrieving data that way. I have tried contacting Vodafone many, many times, but have given up after being on hold for hours.

What can I do!

Sorry to go against the flow. I've found the company and its service first rate in the UK and Australia. I have accounts in both countries. Telstra in Australia and O2 in the UK are however much much worse than anything I've ever had to deal with with Vodafone. I ran up unexpectedly a massive data bill with Vodafone and the reduced it enormously.

MY ISSUES (MAYBE NOT AS SERIOUS AS SOME HERE BUT ENOUGH TO PISS ME OFF!)

- I recently went to renew my contract (dont know why i bothered), I called to Vodafone to ask wheather I can 3 months before it was due to end) I was told yes.

I wanted the iphone4 on the 99 unlimited plan. Was told that I can go ahead and sign up now but there is a 3 weeks waiting period becuase iphone 4 out of stock.

My brother who also had renewed his wifes contract to the Iphone 4, 3 days earlier was told same story out of stock, He inquired weather he can join the contact over the phone and pick up an Iphone 4 from a store, he was told "YES". He eventuallyh went to Rockdale All Phones, on presenattion of his details picked teh phone up and didnt have to wait 3 weeks.

Upon being told that this was possible by my brother I made a call to Vodafone customer care and enquired if this was possible. I was told No, by a call centre personel in India. Line quality was very bad mind you. I then asked about my contract and was told NO i must wait till the end of the 24 month period. I was then transferred to another department only to be faced with a prerecoded message that this department is closed for the day and to call back. WASTED 1 hour on the phone, including waiting period, to have a 5 minute conversation.

I rang the next day, India again and waited on the phone for 40 minutes, Was told I cant renew my contract because crrently im on a business plan. And you cant switch from business plan to personal.

I explained to vodafone personnel that whilst the name of the plan relates to a business, it is still a personal plan and I am not on a business plan as such. This was recognised and then transferred back to another department to someone in Aus, thank god!

She looked into my case, told me there are no issues and I can go ahead, transferred me to renewals, waited another 20 minutes, I asked If i can pick up the phone from a store and I was told NO. I cannot, I must sign up at the store.

I explained what my brother did and was told that was not possible. Then I just gave up. Hopeless, no one seems to know anything...they all need re-training....im sure some are very good, majority just dont know and dont care.

Other ISSUES

- No reply when i text 1555 for my account balance.
- I call 1555, go through the commands, only to be told, "looks like we are experiencing technical difficulties, please try again later".
_ Website is extremely slow, no matter what computer I use (I have ADSL 2+ and the latest PC with all the latest software updates).
_My text messages dont get delivered on time, especially MMS.
_Calls drop out all the time. (could be the iphone)

_my friend is in ispute with Vodafone for almmost 2 years over data charges, they have told him that they wont barr his phone, pending investigation, told not to pay his bills and now his phonebill is over $3000, as it has accumulated over this period, Now he has been told data charges afre vaild and he must pay all charges and phonebills.

WHY DID IT TAKE VODAFONE ALMOST 2 YEARS TO INVESTIGATE, IT WASNT UTILL HE CALLED THEM TO INQUIRE THAT SOMEONE REALISED WHATS GOING ON AND LOOKED INTO IT.....HOW IS HE GOING TO AFFORD TO PAY A $3000 BILL?...AS A RESULT OF VODAFONES OWN MISTAKE...YOU TOLD HIM NOT TO PAY HIS BILL UNTILL THIS PROBLEM IS SORT OUT, THEN YOU TAKE 2 YEARS TO GET BACK,,,AND GUESS WHAT,,,,HE HAD TO USE HIS PHONE....AND YOU DIDNT BARR IT, AND HIS BILL IS NOW $3000 AND YOU EXPECT HIM TO PAY IT IN FULL, CLAIMIMNG DATA CHARGES ARE VALID AND EVEN GIVEN HIM A DUE DATE OF THE END OF THE MONTH.

I am with 3 which is now owned by Vodafail/Hutchinson. My service is absolutely OUTSTANDING and I have no complaints other than that I must climb the Sydney Harbour Bridge, face east, hop on one leg for 10 minutes, eat a chocolate donut, send and receive thought messages to Star Trek enterprise space station, pick my nose, rub my tummy and slap my butt at the same time each time I need to make a call.

Call drop out and bad coverage contrary to staff advice is main gripe. Calls drop out at several locations around Sydney. Entering Syd Harbour Tunnel from north side, then exiting at East Distributor, New South Head Road at Vaucluse and Watsons Bay, both at the bottom and also up the hill along the ridge. Other unexplainable drop out around other areas. Just not good enough. My work phone with Telstra beats it everywhere but is more expensive. In Vodafone defence I have had no problems with customer service. Steve

I have had nothing but trouble with receiving calls roaming coverage, dropped calls, lack of 3G network and then when I ring to talk to someone I am stuck on hold for hours...when I finally get to talk to someone they tell me it's not their fAult and it's not as bad as what I say?? Then I ask to be released from my contract so I can go with a provider who actually can offer me the service I need and I am denied that as well - yet I am forced to pay for a service that is clearly unable to be delivered as was sold or promised to me... How can they get away with it? They should just release contracts and listen to the feedback from customers - to ignore us just doesn't make good business sense...

Hi. I have been a mobile phone customer of Vodafone since 1995 and overall I have not experienced any issues to mention. I have a "black spot" in my lounge on the Lower North Shore in Sydney but my lounge is a problem for all networks not just Vodafone. I don't use a mobile internet connection but do use data on my Vodafone Blackberry. Only one month did I have data issues on my Blackberry which caused me to overrun my cap and I was hit with charges which upon query Vodafone promptly credited back.

My home internet is a wireless setup with another carrier so I can't comment on that.

I really hope all of you experiencing problems do get resolution soon. We all depend on mobile coverage so much.

I think a very strong message needs to be sent to Vodafone so they are acutely aware of the problems they face at the moment and the massive dissatisfaction across the board with all their services!

Everytime I contact them to complain about an issue - I get a customer service representative denying any issues and wasting my time further on the phone.

Clearly since everyone else is experiencing difficulty - if they just apologised on the phone and told me they were working towards fixing it rather than telling me no problem exists - I would feel a whole lot better.

I

I had a Vodafone Broadband service. For five months or so it as pretty good and I chose to go onto a long term plan. Thats when the problems started - try 27 hours for an i tunes update download or buffering 16 times during a 30second song trial. The cost on my non vodafail mobile to continually call Customer Help was a big cost to me. Each time I woild be told a different reason for the problem. On one occassion they supplied me a new modem which was not compatible with Vista - in 2010 believe it or not. They told me to download a software update, but with no connection I asked how and the moron suggested I go to a public library!!! In the end after months of being told the 'network was being updated' I contacted the TIO, who gave me a number for Vodafail in Australia and a group of people based in Hobart whose only job is to deal with complaints made to the TIO. Very shortly after Vodafail refunded all my money and cancelled my contract. I suggest everyone with a Vodafail problem do the same.

On trying to change from prepaid to plan via customer service, I spent (no exaggeration) at least 10 hours on the phone to vodafone to the past week. One of which was and 2hr 11 min call which ended on me being hung up on (accidentally or not) by the service.

I wanted to keep my same number, they sent me out a sim card which i put in my phone. They cancelled my prepaid simcard, but once I had put this new sim card in my phone I realised it was not my number, and furthermore I was unable to receive calls or texts on it! This was ongoing for over 2 days, being unable to be contacted. I rang on numerous occasions, each time having to repeat myself, to no avail. They would say 'we have fixed for you', but then nothing would happen!

Finally it worked. But now the internet on my phone isn't working. I have rung them no less than 3 times on this issue, with no improvement. My internet still doesn't work.

I am SICK of sitting on hold and talking to dip shits on the other line who seem to just LIE to get you off the line.

Worst idea ever, changing from prepay to postpay, if you are thinking of it, DON'T do it, it is not worth the pain.

As others have said, this is just silly.. I'm on holidays right now and I have to use my sisters phone (Telstra provider) because I can't get signal half the time with mine, I'm only in Queensland for gods sake (NSW resident).

Even in NSW there can be days where despite restarting my phone multiple times I will receive the 'no service' message, other times calls will simply fail or drop out..

I've basically had to get used to the fact that the only way I can communicate with anyone is by SMS, even that seems to mess up too often now though.

I'm getting out of my contract with these pricks asap

Hi. I am really sorry to hear so many people are having such dire problems with Vodafone. I have been a customer of Vodafone since 1995 and have been happy. I live on the lower North Shore in Sydney and have a problem spot in my lounge but this is the case for all carriers. I use Optus for work and have many more problems with their over-subscribed network.

I wish everyone well and hope that Vodafone does take your complaints seriously and deals with it very soon.

None now ( but maybe in the future after the buyout) ..My contract ended and I changed to 3. Before I left Vodafone I requested the following note be placed on my file: " If at the end of my contract I re-sign with Vodafone, please have someone come around to my house with a shotgun and blow my head off." " Why would we do that?" was the agent's comment . " Because I'd have to be out of my f***ing mind and I wouldn't want to be alive!!"

In the city a friend tried to ring me several times and it rang out with no voicemail. I had my phone on the whole time. Several friends have experienced this with my phone. I needed to speak to a work colleague prior to an important meeting but the same thing happened.
Also my phone coverage is next to nothing more often than not. Calls drop out I'd say more than 50% of the time.

No reception at home.... at work ... Calls being dropped.... Haven't had 3G reception since I've had he phone (its been over a month).

This is very very bad service for $59/month and unacceptable. Definitely not expected from Vodafone.

I allways thought my problem were my fault!

I have two accounts with Vodafone which I've had for some years and I have certainly experienced many of the probems mentioned by others, but I have always assumed that my problems were the result of my error, errors on the part of the caller or called number or just general shortfalls in the technology.

I frequently experience dropouts, in fact about every third call drops out. But I have assumed that either I or my call partner was holding the phone wrong and or pressing a key during the call. I have assumed that this is easy with touch screen phones.

I have had so many calls that drop out as soon as they are answered that we have joked about the service provider initiating the dropouts to generate more revenue through redialed calls. It's a standing joke among my closer friends who have experienced this the most. It doesn't seem to matter which handset I'm using, the problem remains the same.

And I too have had so much difficulty trying to log on to my Vodafone account that I have stopped using it. Actually there may be some benefit here, because I've begun to compile a book of handy password using the ones Vodafone has issued me with when I contact them. The only dely in publishing is that I need just one more password, but I can't get on to Vodafone to get it.

I'm both amazed to see that others have experienced similar problems, and appalled to see the extent that a company is able to fail in it's obligations without any overseeing authority pulling it into line.

My mobile broadband is excruciatingly slow in all the places I need to use it - my home, my work and uni. When I can even get service on it, it frequently drops out and is barely faster than dialup. My Telstra 3G iPhone is always 5/5 bars and I've taken to tethering it than using my vodafone "broadband".

This company is a disgrace and I encourage anyone considering them to save themselves the trouble and just stump up for Telstra.

I too have been a Vodafone customer almost since its arrival on the comms market in Australia. I have both a mobile phone (iPhone 3GS) and a mobile broadband contract. If possible, I would like to get out of both.

On the phone side of things, I get constant call drop outs and most annoyingly the "dud" tone when the network cannot make a call. And when it can make a call, there is usually a long silence while the connection is made. I too am forced to use the GSM network, but still have connection issues.

On the boradband side of things, their softweare is unreliable. I often have to go into (Win7) Device Manager to remove extraneous USB controllers which causees RAS errors and hence no connection. Once connected, there are numerous dropouts, not to mention extremely poor download speeds.

On the support front, I refuse to talk to offshore support people as they are trained only to read scripts without listening to your issues. And I am still waiting for Vodafone to contact me after attempting to have one of my issues escalated.

Who do I turn to to get a service that I am willing to pay for?

I signed up with Vodafone nearly 2 years ago.... was assured at the time it would give excellent coverage. Not even remotely true. I travel a lot out of Sydney for family and work. My partner's phone (Telstra) has to be relied on. When he's not with me on work trips I have to let people know I'll be 'off the air' for slabs of time because I'm on Vodafone. This is not what I expected, or was told, when I signed up at Vodafone in Neutral Bay. To add insult to injury, the signal in my home (in Balmain) fluctuates widely and it can be hard to get (and keep!) a signal in the house.

My phone has been losing signal and I have to reboot it a few times. But the worst wasn't that. I've got the USB to connect to Internet and it took me almost an hour to connect for the first time. I am lucky to be online at the moment as I don't know how long is going to last. I am in Neutral Bay and I never had this problem before.
I received my sms one hour later and some calls go straight to the voicemail and I am sitting next to my phone... This has been happening before Xmas day until now...

Renewed an existing contract with 3 in dec 2009 after 2 years of great service, and slowly the broadband started to get slower and the mobile call reception deteriorated until we now have to go outside to make a call and avoid dropouts. Our internet is marginally faster than dial up during peak times and is so slow even when running at it's best I have considered moving house. Vodafone tell me they have been decommissioning 3 towers in the area and pushing all the services through existing vodafone towers. Result, congestion, and poor service quality. They did not tell us and we are still one year away from the end of the contract which is now not worth what we are paying. Vodafrustration rating 10.

I was put across to Vodafone by my work as part of the firm's plan. I live in Harrington Park and get NO reception at home. On the train home it drops out over huge distances. I am constantly having to reset my network when I can see a mobile phone tower and yet have "No Service" coming up on my phone. I regularly lose calls. This is undoubtedly the worse reception I have ever had. Damn that's a big whinge but completely on the mark. I would cancel my contract today if it wasn't linked to my job's plan.

My iPhone constantly drops coverage - has been even worse the last week and having heaps of problems even sending sms. Was at the cricket at MCG yesterday and was unable to even take calls - thinking of changing back to Telstra

I too have been a Vodafone customer almost since its arrival on the comms market in Australia. I have both a mobile phone (iPhone 3GS) and a mobile broadband contract. If possible, I would like to get out of both.

On the phone side of things, I get constant call drop outs and most annoyingly the "dud" tone when the network cannot make a call. And when it can make a call, there is usually a long silence while the connection is made. I too am forced to use the GSM network, but still have connection issues.

On the boradband side of things, their softweare is unreliable. I often have to go into (Win7) Device Manager to remove extraneous USB controllers which causees RAS errors and hence no connection. Once connected, there are numerous dropouts, not to mention extremely poor download speeds.

On the support front, I refuse to talk to offshore support people as they are trained only to read scripts without listening to your issues. And I am still waiting for Vodafone to contact me after attempting to have one of my issues escalated.

Who do I turn to to get a service that I am willing to pay for?

Haven't had more than 2 bars of reception since getting my iphone4 in oct .... Couldn't b bothered waiting on hold for hours & speaking to 'lara'!!! My dog could do a better job than these muppets!

I live on a hill in North Balwyn, Victoria. Should have some of the best coverage in Melbourne. Vodafone us unusable. I regularly get "one bar" on my vodafone phone and "five bars" on my Telstra phone in my other hand. I just got out. Its hopeless - so I dont even try in regional areas.

Hi After being with vodafone for 4 years and being on the business plan, I couldn't make calls, custmers struggled to call me, after changing my phone and sim contacted the network many times they finally gave me over $800 credit on my account. Great but still my phone would be better if my phone worked and stopped dropping out!!! Truth is vodafone used to be great but the last 6 months the service has been very poor and frustrating and has lost me money. They did offer me to end my contract but I hope the service just picks up again!!

Phone reception is usless in Lane Cove. Calls drop out at least once every two minutes, it takes several attempts to send a text message, usually it says there is no reception and that the message hasn't sent, so I resend and it ends up being sent multiple times. Data is a joke, takes 5 minutes to load a page. Mobile internet USB is the same.

no network coverage most of the time. talked to people and it keeps dropping out. So I have to ring them back all the time so costs of the phone call go up for just one call. It keeps coming up with no network coverage so I can not use my phone so this bloody frustrating.
I am getting pissed off. I have rung Vodafone a few times but they just keep saying we are working on this problem. So do not what to do from here

Trying to register a new sim card for my 81 year old father. I'm still waiting for our dear friends at Vodafail to SMS me the mobile number.....3 days after going through the painful registration process!

my employer issued managers with a hutchison (now vodafone)mobile handset contract. The reception was not good from the beginning and become worse after the merger with it dropping out constantly over the slightest hill or cutting along the road........just hopeless. Can't wait to move on as soon as out of contract.

I have 2 plans and 2 mobile, one for each of my businesses. I can receive, but not send emails from either phone. Have spent countless hours contacting and sometimes speaking with call centre but no fix. The call centre said they had escalated my problem and would be contacted by a specialist but this never happend. I have been into my local vodafone store, they could not resolve the issue and also said they had escalated the problem and I have to be contacted within 48 hours, no one has contacted me. It's a complete joke. I need email on my phones to run my businesses.

I have to stand on one leg in the back of the garden and one hand up in the air to get 1 bar signal strength on the vodafone service other wise its acceptable in the area for what i pay. However suing this company is only going to shut it down and leaving many people out of work. Do not blame the people at the shopfront, go an find the Executive staff and complain to their face. And join an other phone company, who are probably no better?
I am all for some compensation based on case by case. Local government and complaints from people over unsightly towers are partly to blame, holding up the construction of new towers.
Ps my other phone is with Telstra, and i have to have both arms up to get a signal, and their are worse things to complain about than phone coverage!
My 2 cents worth

I was thinking of signing my wife to Vodafone to one of their infinite plans. Not anymore! Lol... this is shocking!!!
BTW... I'm writing this using my Telstra mobile. Works perfect. Never have dropped calls and internet is super fast. Doesn't cost any more either, since Telstra is pretty price competitive these days. I don't envy you guys.

Sent to SMH - There is another area of Vodaphone's activity that needs looking at and that is the use of its name overseas. So far as we could ascertain from questions asked in Malta the company effectively franchises its name to independent overseas companies without any supervision.

Trusting the name "Vodaphone", we entered into phone plans in Sicily with Vodaphone Italia. The service varied from appalling to non existent - Credits just disappeared and no-one including the local "Tobacchis" could sort anything out. One "Tobacchi" spent nearly an hour on the phone to them, so it wasn't just a "language difficulty"

Appealing to the English speaking Vodaphone Agencies outside of Italia was useless. They had no proper technical or managerial relationship that could help. We were left with the impression that overseas persons using Vodaphone's Italian network were at the mercy of very questionable business practices.

This abuse of a company's own name via unsupervised trade name franchising is surely "unfair trading". We specifically emailed Vodaphone in Australia (using Wifi in MacDonalds) and asked if at the very least they would communicate fully with their colleagues in Italy - to no apparent avail. Indeed when it seemed too complicated it appears they just dropped us.

As to what the franchise status of the Australian company using the name is - I didn't ask. All we ever wanted was reliable iphone and ipad services. We got practically nothing, however much we "recharged" our accounts in Sicily

I would never use a company with Vodaphone's trade mark name again - not Italy - not Australia -anywhere!

I sent both my son and his wife an MMS at 4.30pm and Vodafone delivered it at about 2.30am the next morning waking both of them and their children up. That was it with Vodafone for me and I was with them for more than 10 years.

constant drop outs for an hour plus, have to resart the phone each time to regain signal. I just got my iphone4, so it really took the shine of what should have been a quality product.. shame

While staying at the Berwick East Motel I was unable to use my wireless intenet I have with 3. I was able to log onto a strong signal but could not access the www. I rang 3 and got through almost instantly. I was asked for my post code which was 3151 and told that area had a tech problem and being restored. It did not happen during the week i stayed there and had to purchase daily the Motels wireless internet as I had to run my business. I then moved my gear across the Road to the branch office and it worked perefectly. Post code there 3151 also?

Sending messages to pick up kids at night and what happens, emergency calls only etc. Fair Dinkum, a bloke would do better with smoke signals.

Vodafone will not even reply to a hand written letter, delivered by registered post, to their HQ. I have no reception at work, or on the main street of town (which is a city of 100,000). My fiancee's Blackberry died and the mufti at the call centre told her to take it to 7/11 to get repaired! Looks like another TIO complaint coming up. I don't like complaining but if they won't bother replying to ANOTHER hand written letter, then they deserve everything they have coming to them.

I was with Vodafone a couple of years ago and they were brilliant. I switched to 3 because they had the phone i wanted, then came back to voda last year. What a mistake. It to 3 days and countless calls and store visits to port and activate my number, and since then I've suffered constant call dropouts, lack of reception, slow or nonexistent data speeds, continually having to reboot my phone to get a 3GS connection, 24 hour delays in receiving voicemail, calls going straight to message bank when the phone is switched on in a so called high coverage area, you name it. I'm going back to 3.

Vodaphone is the worst network service compared to other service providers,If you are in Plan with Iphone4, just check your bill regularly, b'cos as i have noticed that they are removing some credits even without calls.

Vodafone don't care I'm stiched up in contract and get billed for calls not made and services not used but vodafone can't be contacted and the Bathurst office says little and helps even less, Bathurst office told me that the new phones would work at my home but it does not unless I get lucky afer climbing a tree, all very curious that in 2010 that 20 kms from Bathurst Vodafone can't give me a service that works although they said they could.

I cancelled one billed by month service after being wrongly billed had to pay changed to prepaid and still get the same poor coverage.

I'm fed up having to climb trees to make calls in the rain or drive 1.5 km to make a call that mostly drops, out visitors come and they phone out from my home on other services, the Bathurst Telstra shop told me that the vodafone I have all 3 of them are not suitable for the local coverage that they are city phones, I went to the Vodafone shop and they told me that the phones were fine for in Bathurst and agreed the phones were not suitable for out of town and that the previous vodafone staff made a mistake.

to move to another service I need to buy another phone.

We once had a CDMA service that worked here at my home.

On a prepaid USB mobile broadband, but even with 4/5 bars the device is unable to hold a connection for long in Central Coast NSW. Need to reestablish connection by disconnecting and reconnecting at best ever 10 minutes. Will be looking for something else.

Connection has failed once again as I type this....

I opted out when my phone wouldn't receive calls either at home or at work. Both places are in suburban Melbourne. Whenever I went into a Vodafone office to complain the phone would ring to tell me of missed calls, so they would refuse to talk to me: "Your phone IS working" would be their comment.

I have joined another telco, and get better reception from them.

Phone calls drop constantly. It is extremely embarrassing especially when talking to customers and business partners. Epic fail, Vodafone.

I have been with Vodafone for 13 years but enough is enough. I have had my iPhone 3GS for 18 months and the service in the past 9-12 months or more has been shocking. It has got so bad that I have recently become determined to break the contract. But calling the helpline with that damn Lara robot is unworkable.

I wrote a formal complaint to the Vodafone website on 14 December and got an automated reply that someone would contact me within 5 business days. Guess what? Nothing! Nobody has contacted me. It is a disgrace.

The data network just NEVER works. Never! I'm so over it.

I'm getting underwhelming reception in Nth Canberra under Mt Majura (connected to Vodafone via Transact). Similar in Sydney too, visiting rellies over Xmas. But my phone's an old Nokia N95. I was assuming the problem was with the phone, not the network, until I heard about this site and all the problems others were having. As a point of reference, I was previously on the Optus network (via Virgin), its reception was frankly no better. I haven't tried Telstra's 3G to compare.

Multiple dropped calls, bad reception, calls dropping out even before answering. Went from a hopeless 3, to Vodaphone. Even worse, in spite of the promises. Can take six or seven calls to comllete a short convesation. I now ask people to ring the landline. Sometimes, this takes 3 or 4 calls just to pass on the landline number ! ! ! ! !

Im stuck in a contract for the next 20 months, yet constant dropouts, an lets not talk about accessing the web...takes ages, then nothing. So i dont bother. Im paying to have a really great phone that i cant use. Ive tried complaining, but have been kept on hold for over 2hrs (on more than one occasion), and during that call, guess what, i got disconnected. I just dont bother anymore. Id like my contract price dropped, or to get what ive been promised...EPIC FAIL Vodafone.

In order to run our business without the constant dropouts, we have all had to lock our phones to the GSM network. It improves battery life by double (since the phone is not searching for signal) and means we can actually move around whilst talking....making the phones "mobile" once again. We have been VF customers for 11 years and only since they took over "3" has the problem occured. Telstra here we come...

Stuck in Vodafone contract. Promised three months for free - never delivered. Kept on OLD version of plan with higher call costs. When I complained I was offered another free month and 50% off the next two months after that. NONE of this has been delivered. And now I have NO phone reception at all - in the middle of Sydney. I can't make calls, I can't send texts, I can't use the internet on my phone. I can't use my phone to run my freelance business. It's a useless bit of expensive metal. Thanks Vodafone. I want out.

Missing important phone calls both work and family

Multiple issues.

First of all: I couldn't log in to my account on the internet for > 10 days. I called technical support after waiting for hours on hold. Then after talking to a customer service representative, he said he couldn't help me and to wait for a password to be sent again. Password was sent and still couldn't log in. Had to call again.

Secondly, I had an extreme amount of difficulty just getting another account setup and had to go to the store to get this done.

My voice message abnk notifications aren't going to SMS and I asked this and still have not had a reply.

I applied to get my phone unlocked, have inquired about it and paid and still no response.

I tried to setup another account and the tech support, after 26 hours of discussion with 5 different representatives told me to go to the store to solve the problem. Took the store person an hour to figure out the problem because they could think outside the box unlike the phone technical support staff.

For the past few months I've had little to no reception on the train between Hornsby & City. I'm a young woman who catches the train late at night. I'd prefer to have my phone functional during these hours... my mum is horrified.

Poor reception and incorrect billing.

Sick of calls dropping out, having to dial a number half a dozen times or more before being connected, receiving voicemails days late. Funnily enough there is never any problem from vodafone in accessing my direct debit each month to charge me for their non service. Have been a customer for 15 years and have had enough!

I have a vodafone personal phone and a telstra work phone. The vodafone mobile constantly drops out on calls on my way to and from work, particularly around Sydenham and Wolli Creek in Sydney. Often the phone will say that the cellular data network could not be activated, even though the phone has full 3G reception. Luckily my plan is nearly up and I will not be renewing with them.

Outside of the capital cities, Vodafone's coverage is woeful at best. My telstra Next G phone works just about everywhere. The calls are much clearer, the data speeds much better and there are very few drop outs etc.

Perpetual call drop outs, and I use my phone for my BUSINESS!! I live in Glebe but have rarely been anywhere where the coverage gets higher than two bars. What's worse is the phone goes to 'roaming' which I get charged more per call for. So when I have to keep calling people back after dropping out I get charged MORE!

I also frequently miss calls that go straight to voicemail even though the phone is sitting next to me and says there is coverage. Then I have to call voicemail and get charged again!!

Absolutely abysmal and dishonest.

I had a mobile broadband service with Vodafone.

My service has been disconnected because I refuse to pay my bill with vodafone.

I refused to pay my bill because of the poor, sluggish network and (non)service. The amount of occassions it just doesn't connect or when it does connect it downloads 1 kilobyte per second ... its unbelievably infuriating, especially when you are trying to run a small business.

Every month I've only been able to use a sixth of my maximum download amount, courtesy of Vodafone's poor network.

And everytime Vodafone assure me that the problem is localised and "will be fixed" and "won't be repeated" ... utter balderdash.

PS can Vodafone please also get an Australian based call centre too!!!

My Son and my wife couldn't find each other for 1 hour in Westfield Burwood. My Wife was doing here business, while my son was trying to contact her continously but was unable to get a line out. He used another kind shoppers phone which was on telstra but the call went to my wifes voicemail. After sometime my son thought while in the shopping centre to go to a Vodafone store, they knew about the problem and set his phone to 2G. This did not fix the problem because my wifes phone was on 3G. My son went to the centre management and management paged my wife. I understand that this was not an emergency, but what if it was???? Vodafone is not providing duty of care to its customers. We now also know that this problem was ongoing for sometime said a Vodafone employee. Thanks Vodafone for the late update!!!!!

Reception has gone downhill the last 24 months. I had a lot of drop outs which i blamed my smart phone for but after trying out 3 other phones, i had the same problem.
Switched providers and have never looked back!!!!!!!!

ButerialTejprAkash01@yHoo.com
M with 29 mobile broadband
In a month i hardly can download 500 mb 300 hrs a day waiting for voda mirCLE
Tired of complaining...no one listenz. Help me out for solution pls

I was recently travelling so I purchased a pre-paid Vodafone USM modem and Data plan.
I was hopeless even in the middle of Brisbane reception was poor and unreliable. Major coastal towns North couldn't even get reception. I ended up returning it andafater an hour and a half got my money back. Not to mention the couple of hours on tech support befroe that.

3G....what 3G!!! It's funny how Vodafone recently changed it's plans to include more calls and more data downloads. Very generous given they can't provide the service/coverage to support these. My husband and I are having endless issues with Vodafone and their answer is to offer more of the same features you can't use. Doesn't that Nigel Dews sounds like a sycophant! Sign us up for the class action!!

I have been with Vodafone since 1996 and up until the last say 3 years have been very happy with them. But in the last three years, they have moved their call centre & rather than getting people in North Ryde or down in Tassie - I now have to wait hours on the phone to finally get someone I can barely understand let alone hear, in a forgein country who then sticks to the script and fails to provide any real useful information or assistance. I remember when their data team actually knew what was going on and were very helpful. In recent months - possibly since the merger with 3, I have found call / signal quality to be getting worse. Christmas day I was trying to have a conversation with my sister & the call dropped out at least 3 times. I have not complained to vodafone as I can not be bothered wasting my time on hold to them. I may go straight to the TCO.

I spent over an hour to my health care provider (put it on HANDSFREE at work) and it eventually cut me off so this kind of irritation happens everywhere.

I'm a private citizen and don't use my Vodafone mobile for business. Just wanna say I've had NO problems with them. No, I'm not a VODAFONE employee but just want to let you know that I haven't experienced any of the mess you're all talking about. Maybe I will in the future, in which case I'll support you but now I can just commiserate with you.

I have bought vodaphone connection last month. yesterday whole day my iphone 4 was not working, as i had full coverage bars on the phone. But i was not able to make calls or recieve calls. when i called-up vodaphone my landline, the stupid customer care person answered by call after 15 minutes and transfered the call to different department. Had to wait for 2 hours no response. Once again disconnected and call once again. It took another 30 minutes. There was no apology from customer care person. Can i get rid of this contract. Don`t want to suffer for another 23 months. if any one has solution, please email me sak787@yahoo.com

No reception almost anywhere I go

This is about '3' but Vodaphone have sent me notification they are all the same now! Great. Fantastic.

Called customer care (are they joking with that name!).

India of course.

Waited to friggin ages. Why if they are using cheap third world labour are we constantly put on hold for hours at a time.

Finally I get through. Speak to someone I can hardly understand. Sorry our computer system is down. You will have to call back.

Said not good enough. I insisted they would have to call me back.

Told they can't do that. Told they can't make out going calls. Seriously. One of the biggest telephone companies in the world won't let their employees phone their customers back.

Went around and around for ages. Eventually got a promise I would be called back.

Of course - that never happened. Even after complaining to a manager the next week.

Has anyone else had this problem? You call us back. We can't phone you.

Vodafone don't care I'm stiched up in contract and get billed for calls not made and services not used but vodafone can't be contacted and the Bathurst office says little and helps even less, Bathurst office told me that the new phones would work at my home but it does not unless I get lucky afer climbing a tree, all very curious that in 2010 that 20 kms from Bathurst Vodafone can't give me a service that works although they said they could not.

I cancelled one billed by month service after being wrongly billed had to pay changed to prepaid and get same poor coverage.

I'm fed up having to climb trees to make calls in the rain or drive 1.5 km to make a call that mostly drops out visitors come and they phone out from my home on other services, the Bathurst Telstra shop told me that the vodafone I have all 3 of them are not suitable for the local coverage that they are city phones.

so to move to another serive I need another phone why how can the government allow the poor service.

on another note: curious the government is now more worried about broadband but were the ones who did away with the CDMA service that worked here at my home/ the service now for me is virtually none and Vodafone does not care nor does the Government.

I am so relieved to have now found this site. My iphone 3GS has been a nightmare. I ring a number, and it just freezes for 3 minutes. It says call failed 9 times in a row before it rings. It drops out up to 8 times on a 10 minute call to a work colleague, or my mum. And as for 3GS, it is redundant. I rang and emailed them and got the run around. I am going to be joining the class action.

Really poor network coverage. My mobile phone calls are just dropped unexpectedly 50% of the times at best. International phone calls made from my mobile have unreliable voice quality. We were sucked into the seemingly great value cap plan but did not expect such poor connection.

Lost 6 hours of my life on hold to vodafail this week. My 'call back' came at 1am in the morning and they still couldn't fix the problem.

We own and operate a business in the Charlestown area. Have a business mobile plan with 3 phones. The coverage says 3G but we have to divert all calls to our home phone. Zero reception.
The Charlestown bypass you may get edge if your lucky but your call will drop, even going past one of regions major hospitals and no reception. Ment to be 3g. When I'm on the road through this region I rely on good data coverage as well as phone reception. Where they say its 3g it just is not. Have complained through the formal Vodafone process but unacceptable response.
So essentially paying for service that does not deliver. Costing my business.

Hi
I have been a vodafone customer for 5-6 weeks now.
I have been overcharged right at the second bill.
Simply because I was led to believe there is still a $100 credit remaining on my plan and I went ahead and used it but in reality,there was no credit left,Vodafone does not update your 'spend and entitlements' on its myvodafone.com.au website nor does its sms/vodafone a/c balance service give you any real time updates on what $ amount is left of your monthly allowed credit.
If you billing period ends on ,say the 25th of a month, from the 22nd itself, there seems to be no update on the balance amount.
Agreed,that every provider takes 24/48 hrs to update this amount on their balance check services ,but I was led to believe for 3-4 days that I still have $100 credit remaining and went ahead and used it.
Such a rip off and extremely frustrating.
Be careful when you are checking your a/c balance because it's never the right amount in reality.
Plus ,insurance amount was included by default in the first bill (2 months) without even asking me.
The complaints don't end....

For a little while I just thought that all of my friend were texting me at the exact same time and trying to call....unexplained voicemails when there has been no missed calls, a number of texts obviously had been floating in the ether when vodafail had finally managed to send them to my handset at the exact same time.....just wanna get out of my contract so I can go back to Optus!!

Vodafone don't care I'm stiched up in contract and get billed for calls not made and services not used but vodafone can't be contacted and the Bathurst office says little and helps even less, Bathurst office told me that the new phones would work at my home but it does not unless I get lucky afer climbing a tree, all very curious that in 2010 that 20 kms from Bathurst Vodafone can't give me a service that works although they said they could not.

I'm fed up having to climb trees to make calls in the rain or drive 1.5 km to make a call that mostly drops out visitors come and they phone out from my home on other services, the Bathurst Telstra shop told me that the vodafone I have all 3 of them are not suitable for the local coverage that they are city phones.

so to move to another serive I need another phone why how can the government allow the poor service.

on another note: curious the government is now more worried about broadband but were the ones who did away with the CDMA service that worked here at my home/ the service now for me is virtually none and Vodafone does not care nor does the Government.

I'm self-employed & do a lot of travelling. In North Melbourne, the signal strength is so bad I can't even make calls from inside my office. My business partner & I speak several times a day (he *was* with Vodafone) & it's always my phone which drops out at least twice, even depending on where I am facing. At home (E Melb) there are some rooms I don't make calls in, even though there are windows & clear space outside. I often travel to the eastern suburbs (Nunawading, Box Hill) & it's just one entire black hole with minimal reception or drop-outs for the entire area & don't get me started about outside Melb-metro areas, even along the Hume Hwy of all places! Grrrr. Out of contract now & going to go Telstra & new iPhone 4, but 3 wks ago Vodafone sales called asking if I'd renew & would I like a new phone. When I said their coverage was rubbish & I couldn't continue with them, the salesman was very apologetic & agreed, saying that was one area he knew they couldn't compete - coverage & reliability of service in that regard - he didn't persist! ...& don't get me started about when I'm in the car moving & talking on the plumbed-in Parrot hands-free system-fades, drop-outs, disconnects (often). As for the painful speed or lack of 3G & net features, I shudder if I ever have to attempt using. Emails are bad enough, but info from the Net? Forget it. /end rant. AML

I have been a loyal vodafone customer for 10 years, give or take. Previously I would recommend them to friends as they had awesome customer service, despite the fact the network was only good inside metro areas. Over the past year or two, this has changed. Poor network coverage, both phone and broadband, drop-outs, voicemail messages that come through anywhere from 6-48 hours after they are submitted. But the biggest fail of all is the Customer Service (or lack of.) Earlier this year it took me 4 phone calls, a number of emails and around 2 hours of hold-time, just to change my address. Then, the operator that emailed me had the ordasity to tell me "not to get upset" or something similar, after all this. More recently, I don't bother ringing them as each time you do, its another 1-2 hours on hold, then they transfer you to another department, and the call mysteriously drops out and back to sqare one! Just a tip... if I want something done now, I tell "Lara" I want to cancel, somehow that gets me thorugh to very helpful people in Melbourne, who actually jump over themself to help with anything!

I got sucked into Vodaphone, they PROMISED me coverage at my property. I was with 3/Telstra and the reception would drop out 30 metres from house. Well now I am lucky if I can get reception when I am in our local town 8 kms away. And the continual dropping out going down a major highway AND through the Domain & Burnley tunnels is really annoying.
Not what I signed up for

Anyone being told adjust your phone's settings to change it BACK to the 2G network? You are paying the cost to be on the 3G network, with current area coverage and problems - the 2G network is a less powerful system, with LESS coverage, and you are still paying to have 3G. Dont let this way of fixing the problem be the resolution! You are paying the money, contracted to the 3G network, dont be fooled by anyone into changing to the lesser system. FIX IT properly Vodafone

Bloody Lara I want to kill her every time I call Vodafone!~ I've been put on hold for hours,,, why can't they answer the f--king phone!! Poor service!! A total disgrace!!

Call dropouts, missed calls without receiving the actual call, poor call quality, calling the same number a few times to make the call (cell towers don't respond quickly), constant redial to make a short call, very poor reception in 4509 postcode and no service inside the building in most areas of Brisbane North-side where I work. Vodafone has oversold its subscription and has failed to upgrade the towers to accommodate new connections.

I think NBN is to blame, all telecom companies have stopped upgrading due to NBN roll-out. Goodluck to tll those think Optus or Telstra are better. It is the same shit different name.

Got given an iPhone by my employer, connected to Vodafone, and I have to say, thank god I'm not paying for it myself, because if I was, I'd feel like I'd been robbed blind. The network is atrocious: often has no signal, and even when it claims to have a solid signal, often the data connection just does nothing, never loads a page. This makes my first mobile phone I bought in 2000 look BRILLIANT compared to Vodafone's 2010 network.

Anyone being told adjust your phone's settings to change it BACK to the 2G network? You are paying the cost to be on the 3G network, with current area coverage and problems - the 2G network is a less powerful system, with LESS coverage, and you are still paying to have 3G. Dont let this way of fixing the problem be the resolution! You are paying the money, contracted to the 3G network, dont be fooled by anyone into changing to the lesser system. FIX IT properly Vodafone

We have 3 numbers with Vodafone- 1 prepaid & 2 on contract- have been with them for over 20 years- our problem is like everyone else- calls dropping out-no coverage in our home ( have had coverage in our home for the past 20 years)- and it's impossible to send emails let alone recive them- I like many other have emailed Vodafone with my discontent & asked to be released from my contract so I can move to another telco & get on with my life- there was no reply to my complaint till I posted on the Vodafone wall on facebook- I was then given another email addy to send my complaint to- I have since been given a ticket & told I will have to wait until an investigator gets in touch with me which could be weeks- maybe if I go on a hunger strike on today tonight voda might release me from my contract!!!!!!

vodafone automatically turned my voicemail off when i went overseas and turned off international roaming, then turned it on again.
upon return, my voicemail was inactivated.
i spent 1 hour on three separate occasions on hold to vodafone, eventually getting through to a call centre in india who were of no help.
they advised to call another number, which i was on hold for another hour. they were unable to help me and suggested i email customer service.
instead of 5 business days as stated on the website, it took 11 business days for vodafone to turn on my voicemail.
i am extremely disappointed and can't wait to get out of my contract.

This is a funny story. I was approaching the end of my contract, and the Vodafone call centre called to ask me to renew my contract. In the middle of telling me how great Vodafone was, the call dropped out. He did not call back.

Live in sydney suburb and constantly need to turn my phone off and on in order to search for reception. Not happy Jan. On another note, thank you so much Adam, now I know I'm not alone and lets hope Vodafone hears our call.

Bought a phone for my daughter and had to unlock it. OK, no problem .. paid the required $75, but the online instructions didn't work after 3 attempts at following to the letter, and caused my phone to be blocked. My phone is still Blocked after further 3 failed attempts with Customer Support. Customer Support in INDIA ???????????? HA HA HA ... what a joke !!

Call dropouts on average every 20min, every time I drive over the Gladesville bridge when on the phone the call drops out, and very very very poor reception at Drummoyne. I'm on pre-paid and will move to Telstra soon. From all accounts the other telco's are just the same - with less friends reporting issues with Telstra.

I live in Darlinghurst and my calls are constantly dropping out, and that's when I can dial out. Oftentimes it will take 2-3 attempts before I can call out.
Also had issues being reachable. Husband tried repeated to call me, but my phone never rung and on his end appeared to be disconnected, it would not even divert to voicemail. Have also had the situation, where I've received voicemails more than an hour after they were left, and my phone had not even rung either.

Don't get me started on the data. It is also truly abysmal. I must restart at least twice a day.

Someone get me out of this contract.