• editor's note
• news
• support & services
• entertainment & competitions
• site scan

Home » Customers » Iinews » iiNews November

editor's note

Busy, busy, busy. That’s the best way to describe the last 30-odd days at iiHQ.

We’ve unveiled some cool ways for iiNet customers (and the public) to score a Mobile SIM on us and win some pretty sweet prizes; sent our brand new customer-engagement site live; expanded the BoBsquad™ service to homes in metro Melbourne and Sydney; and made life easier for fetchtv users with a nifty new smartphone app.

*Phew!*

It’s sure to be an even busier December in the lead up to Christmas, with waistlines likely to grown as bank balances shrink during festive celebrations.  Yep, it certainly can be a frantic time of year – but it doesn’t have to be. This month’s Site Scan takes a look at the Slow Movement, a cultural shift towards a more relaxed way of life. Food for thought if it all gets a little hectic in the coming weeks.

In closing, our thoughts are with residents of the fire-ravaged Margaret River region of WA, where out of control blazes destroyed over 30 homes recently. In the aftermath of this disaster, iiNet has rolled out a relief package to assist our residential and business customers and/or help them stay connected with family and friends during what is clearly a very tough time.

See you next month.

Josh Nicholson
iiNews Editor
iinewsfeedback@iinet.net.au

iiNet news

This Christmas, unwrap awesomeness

With Christmas just around the corner, you’re probably making preparations for an influx of phone calls and gift-buying for friends and family. Right on cue, we’ve stepped in with a sweet way to score six months’ mobile on us, plus some big-time Christmas prizes with our Pass the Parcel giveaway.

Christmas SIM offer
If you’ve seen our new TV ad already, you’d know we’re giving away a stack of itty-bitty iiNet Mobile SIMs loaded with six months’ included value right up until Christmas. We’ve made it super-simple to talk more for less, with four easy ways existing iiNet customers can get their hands on a Mobile SIM on us:

• Free your TV with fetchtv for 24 months
• Bundle your iiNet broadband with phone
• Re-contract if you’ve less than 6 months left on your current contract
• Sign up if you’re out of contract or not currently on contract

You can log into Toolbox to take up any of these options, while iiNet newbies need only sign up to a Naked DSL or bundled broadband + phone plan for 24 months to get in on the fun.

Good things certainly do come in small packages. The Christmas iiNet SIM comes loaded with $450 worth of calls, texts and data - plus $1000 worth of iiNet to iiNet calls – each month for half a year. That’s a whole lot of value so you can send plenty of texts or talk more turkey this festive season.

iiNet Pass the Parcel
Continuing the gift-theme, we’ve kicked off a jumbo game of Pass the Parcel, inviting everyone who enjoys childhood party games to pass around the virtual parcel for a chance to unwrap awesomeness. It doesn’t matter if you’re an iiNet customer or not – we want everyone to get in on the fun!

Just head to our Pass the Parcel page and click on our friend Finn to see if you’re an instant winner. If you don’t win straight away, pass it on to your friends and family so they can have a go too. The more friends you pass it to, the quicker the parcel will get back to you.

We’ve put together an impressive a stack of prizes to be won including:

• 5 x one year’s Internet, BoB Lite™ and fetchtv;
• 5 x Flight Dragster pushbikes;
• 20 x BoB Lite™ modems.

And that’s just the beginning. Start passing the parcel for your chance to unwrap awesomeness this Christmas.

Your Voice Homepage

We're proud to bring you a new section of our website that gives you the chance to play an active part in improving your online experience as an iiNet customer.

Your Voice is our spiffy new online customer-engagement tool that gives you the opportunity to help shape the future of iiNet, plus provides an overview of how we’re working to improve your time online.  It’s all about backing up our commitment to providing top-notch customer service and industry-leading Internet products, so we’re going straight to the source for feedback on the things we’re doing right and the things we could be doing better.

Click through Your Voice and you’ll learn how customer feedback has helped us improve as a company, see how you can vote on improvements you’d like to see, submit your own ideas on how we could do better, plus find out why we take our Net Promoter Score pretty seriously around here.

We’re still on hand for feedback via email or phone to our Customer Service Centre, but now there’s an avenue for you to have your say and see how your feedback helps us make your iiNet experience even better.

BoBsquad™ heads east

iiNet’s less-techy Perthies have been able to  call in the BoBsquad™ for some time, but now eastern states folks can also get in on the act.
Sydney and Melbourne metro customers who don’t know their LAN from their WiFi can now call on the BoBsquad™ to lend a hand setting up their broadband connections, installing BoB™ modems or connecting gaming consoles to iiNet broadband. Our fearless tech-heads are ready and waiting to tackle all things Internet in your home (tea and Tim Tams optional).
The BoBsquad™ covers all things Internet in your home, from getting started with your connection to guidance on Internet and network security, plus a run down on features like Toolbox, Webmail and Freezone – all to help make life easier online.

Residential customers in Sydney and Melbourne can now call on iiNet’s tech gurus at just $99 for the first hour and $44 for each hour thereafter.

support & services

Christmas Support Hours

We thought we'd give everyone some advanced notice about our customer support hours over the upcoming holiday season.

We'll be closing our Customer Service Centres on Christmas Day and operating on reduced hours throughout the holiday period. Here's a look at dates and support times over the silly season:

• Saturday, December 24th – midnight to 10:00 pm
• Sunday, December 25th - CLOSED
• Monday, December 26th - 6.30am to 9.30pm
• Tuesday, December 27th - 6.30am to 9.30pm
• Wednesday, December 28th - 24/7 support
• Thursday, December 29th - 24/7 support
• Friday, December 30th - 24/7 support
• Saturday, December  31st - 6.30am to 10:00 pm
• Sunday, January 1st - 6.30am to midnight
• Monday, January 2nd - 6.30pm to 9.30pm
• Tuesday, January 3rd - 24/7 support resumes from 1:00am

* Our Service Delivery (Provisioning and faults) team will operate within normal hours apart from:

• 26th and 27th December (CLOSED)
• 2nd January (CLOSED)

While we know you're used to 'round the clock support, our staff love Christmas and the holidays as much as you so we hope you'll understand.
From what we've seen over the years, the festive season is generally pretty quiet. If you do run into any rough patches with your internet service, you can try accessing our mobile support via http://iinet.mobi using your web-enabled smartphone. iiNet.mobi gives you access to our iiHelp knowledgebase and a comprehensive set of tools in Toolbox for basic DIY fixers.

iiNet's Online Safety Series

iiNet’s 12 days of Online Safety
The lead up to the silly season is a busy and stressful time of year. With more festivities than you can click a mouse at, it's important to keep your cyber safety in check while you shop, surf and share online.

In the next instalment of the iiNet Online Safety Series, we look at the steps you can take to avoid being caught out this festive season. Follow our "12 Days of Online Safety" tips to help ensure you have a safe, secure and very merry Christmas.

Geek Speak – What is 4G?

4G is the industry term to describe the fourth generation of cellular network technology.

In the early days of 4G, there was a technological scramble for ascendency until Long Term Evolution (LTE) won out to be officially recognized as the preferred technology for 4G networks in Australia. Early indications are that 4G via LTE should provide maximum downstream speeds of 21Mbps – 672Mbps.

As LTE is a completely different technology to current 3G networks, no current Australian release handset will function on any of the 4G networks being implemented here. You can probably expect to see the latest in 4G handsets hitting the market within the next 12 months. So sit tight, we should all be seeing blistering fast speeds on our smartphones soon.

(iiNet’s Morgan Archer, 2011)

entertainment & competitions