I’ve struck out a couple of times trying to switch my Telstra GSM mobile phone to a new plan and handset on the wizz-bang flash Next G network via online ordering.

The first time, in October last year, I received this response a few days after placing the order:

The mobile number you have supplied is currently associated with an existing mobile repayment/service plan contract. If you would like to cancel this contract before the expiry date (and incur Early Termination Charges), please contact Telstra Mobile Customer Service.

Um yes. I knew that number was already on a plan. I wanted to upgrade the plan and thought I was dealing with the customer service department.

Telstra made a great fuss when it launched the new technology. It seemed reasonable to think there would be a transitional arrangement for people who had bought GSM phones before they knew about Next G. I wouldn’t have minded paying out the old handset.

I really think Telstra’s online ordering system is deficient in not being able to handle this request. I simply don’t have time to get to a Telstra shop during the day and I certainly don’t have time to waste on a telephone queue.

Anyhow, I waited a while longer and then started thinking about Next G again around Christmas. I was keen to have better internet capability for the four weeks I planned to be away in January.

So I visited the Telstra online site again and this time it seemed more favorable to my needs. The site implied that I could upgrade my existing plan.

I went ahead and placed an order on December 24, receiving confirmation that it should be fulfilled within five working days.

Great. I waited and waited, nothing happened. I went on holiday using my GSM phone and clocked up a massive data bill of several hundred dollars.

I assumed the order had been rejected again for the same reasons I was told in October, but minus the communications.

Then in early February, six weeks after placing the order, I received a call on my mobile from a customer service operator (yes they do exist). She said that she had to read me some conditions in relation to my order of which I may not have been aware.

I was in the middle of a meeting with my deputy at the time and asked her to call me back. She replied this wasn’t possible, but gave me a number to call instead. I tried the number later and, surprise, I was placed in a queue.

I’ve given up bothering about trying to switch plans and handsets. I’ll wait until the plan expires and shop around for the best deal then, probably with another company.