Upgrade U: ALDI mobile

by - June 17, 2013


One of the longest relationships I've had in my life is with my mobile phone number. It was my first and still my only. I recently broke up with Telstra after a $69/month two year contract, which I bought just before I moved home and D'oh! You don't need to call your Phamly much when you live with them. There's this thing called Phamly dinner where people talk to each other FACE-TO-FACE.

ALDI Mobile is a dream. I like my technology to be efficient, logical and straight to the point - no showy crap please, I just need it functional then I'll encase it in something ridiculous to amuse myself. To understand what I mean without trying ALDI Mobile out for yourself, go to an ALDI supermarket and look at the way they've cut running costs and passed the savings onto you. Utterly efficient and reliable. That's the ALDI Mobile experience.

I walked into an ALDI store, bought a SIM Starter pack, went home, activated my SIM and put in a request to port my old number from Telstra online. 48 hours later (would have been faster if it wasn't a weekend) my phone number was active with ALDI. Every step was clearly explained online and I also received precise confirmation emails.

I've contacted ALDI Mobile support twice. Once through the e-support ticket system on my account log-in area and heard back within 12 hours. The other time I called at about 6.30pm and got straight through to a rep. Both politely told me the problem was with Telstra and they were right.

The ALDI Mobile website and phone app are simple and easy to use. The first time I recharged my credit with a $35 unlimited bolt-on, Little Sissy Pham was driving and I needed 3G for Google Maps. ALDI doesn't provide 4G but my handset is only 3G capable so this wasn't a deal breaker for me. I used the ALDI mobile app while we were on a motorway out in the sticks and the credit applied straight away, no issues. Unless you count how bad I am at giving directions.

ALDI Mobile uses the Telstra network and I haven't noticed a difference yet being with ALDI. Except that it's half the price and I'm not locked into a contract. I highly recommend ALDI to stingy commitment-phobes like myself!


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4 comments

  1. aldi mobile is great (when it works)

    one good thing is that when we were on holidays, we needed to look up a map, out of everyone there, I had aldimobile, and I was the only one able to look up the company address and find it on the map. Additionally, it was comforting knowing I had great reception everywhere we went whereas the others didnt.

    Bad thing is, that was in the first month that I had their service. In the second month, the internet is slow, PAINFULLY SLOW, (did i mention that its slow!) Right now I am in my house, unable to connect to the internet at all -> thats how crap their system is. But the first month was fine, fast, fantastic... but no, it is pathetic. The few times that you can connect to the internet, it runs so slow, you can get a cup of coffee in between page loads. thats how slow it is.

    Another issue that most people dont know about, is that it switches IP address constantly. I login to secure sites, which check your IP address, and by the time i press login, to the time the page loads, the IP address has changed. On a good night I might get 10 minutes between the IP address switching, (of course I lose anything that I didnt save / or use copy/paste to memory at the time of the ip switching)
    On an average night, the IP changes between 1 and 2 minutes. Now this is a joke. For 4 years, I have used the 3 network, and never once had the IP address change (while stationary)
    The aldi mobile is a joke of a thing.

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    Replies
    1. I've started my second month now and no 3G issues so far - i hook mine up to my laptop sometimes when WiFi is out and it works fine. I haven't encountered the IP address issue but I use mostly apps on my phone, not logging into sites through the browser.

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  2. (continued from above)
    P
    eople that own websites, and or earn money via systems such as adsense should never use aldi mobile. there is already heavy abuse on the network, and as such, there has been times where to do a google search required captchas as well as temp bans. Googles response is that it bans YOU due to network abuse (ie, others from aldi mobile). because of the abuse, and the ongoing issues, those that access their adsense accounts via the mobile, have had:
    1. their adsense accounts permanetely banned
    2. all income generated to date completely wiped out
    3. any payments that were sent / ready to be sent were reversed.

    One final thing about aldi mobile is that their support sucks. they outsource to england - seriously, you are talking to english people and they arent that smart either. Attempting to get a mobile for my daughter, and while my account is already activated, and proven who I am, I have to verify who I am in order to get another account, but the account is on the same account so why do I need to verify? But here is the funny thing, in order to verify who I was, I had to get account number. To get account number, I had to prove who I was, so finally after proving who I was, I get the account number so that I can again send in the photos to prove who I am.

    Seriously, its retarded. If someone is already on the system with an activated number, why do they need to be such dicks?

    One more thing to add is this. I was trying to check my balance. Took 3 days to get a reply. I had to send an MMS to someone, the record was 7 days before they got it. SMS tends to be quick, but there has been times where they have recieved the SMS 3-4 hours later, and I was driving them home when they finally got it later!

    Overall, people going to aldimobile, might enjoy a small honeymoon of a service that almost works as well as a real company should. It is aimed at people that are happy to wait 1 week for their MMS to arrive, as well as for people that need unreliable internet, with flaky IP system that will surely cause you problems on forums and websites that you visit, but more importantly, its the perfect service to use if you want to lose your adsense accounts and all your future income, as well as past income.

    PS. Cost for aldi mobile is NOT $35. Everytime that you recharge for the $35 plan, they give you $10 credit, thats real money that can be used for data, calls, international calls OR even better, that $10 if unused can be applied to the next months bill. So if you pay $5 for the sim, with $5 credit, you only need to pay $30 for the unlimited (which gives another $10 credit), and the next month and subsequent months is only $25 per month)

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    Replies
    1. I don't have adsense on my blog so not a concern for me.

      I found their support helpful. I think all phone companies make you show proof of identity to set up a new number/account to meet Australian laws. And also to avoid fraud. I'd prefer they ask me to prove who I am than risk letting some one else access my account pretending to be me.

      One SMS didn't reach my sister for 2 hours but apart from that, everything else I've sent has been instant. I've had delays happen on Vodafone, Optus and Telstra before though, so not too worried. If it's urgent I'd call anyway.

      Sorry to hear you've had a shit time on ALDI though - have you changed networks for yourself and your daughter?

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