'My Account' following service termination.

[Tezz]

Greetings and salutations, my dear friends!

It's been a very long time since we last connected on this forum; hope you're all well. I'm already noticing a completely revamped CrowdSupport® with an exciting new structure, and fresh staff.

Sadly, this post doesn't mark my return, but instead, the end of my custom which stretches close to three decades, since the inception of analogue mobile telephony (before most of you were even born, let alone know what it is).

My decision to leave doesn't in any way reflect on the service which has been provided to me throughout all these years. Yes, we've all had our ups and downs over the course of our subscriptions, but my overall experience with Telstra has been stellar.

So, "what is the problem?" one might ask, the answer to which would be, "there isn't one". It's now essentially down to viability and suitability, and please allow me to explain in detail.

After numerous services with Telstra, my current ones were acquired to 'park' two numbers. My initial plan's cost was $10 per month, which was automatically changed to $20 as the former plan was no longer available. Splendid! Some time later, this was followed by a notice informing me said plan would now be increased to $25 for each number; a total of $50 for both SIMs to sleep soundly in a nice and comfortable drawer. Again, I thought, "Okay, I can live with that". What came next was the straw that broke the camel's back. In a letter dated 18ᵗʰ of February, 2020, I was kindly advised that both my services would now be moved to the new plans – Mobile Plan Extra Small at a monthly cost of $40 for each number. Essentially, 80 bucks per month to park two numbers! NOOOOOOO WAY IN THE WORLD! To be fair, these changes included a $10 credit per number for the first 12 months to help smooth the transition. Just to be clear, these prices are not unreasonable by today's standards, but they're not a viable option for the purpose of parking numbers, at least not for me.

The question I'd like to put forward is in relation to the email account and Telstra ID to which these services are attached. Naturally, I understand that if I cancel or port out my services, my Telstra email account will be cancelled, unless I pay a yearly subscription fee, but what happens to my Telstra ID and access to this forum? My actual Telstra ID is the email address which will be withdrawn.

In closing, I'd like to thank everyone in advance, and I look forward to receiving some enlightenment.

[Yastiandrie]

In my experience the Telstra ID itself will stay open and active, even after a mailbox disconnection

[Tezz]

Hi, Yastiandrie,

Thank you very much for your response.

That makes sense; however, the reason I'm baffled is that it's the actual mailbox address that I sign into my Telstra ID with, plus all correspondence and notifications associated with this forum are delivered to that email address. If that address gets disconnected, what do I sign in with?

[Yastiandrie · Accepted solution]

The Telstra ID and CrowdSupport account is part of a different platform to the mailbox, so you can still login with the same credentials your using now even if the mailbox is disconnected. Email notifications of course wouldn't work. 

Of you create a new ID on here (doesn't require linking to a BAN and can be a third party email address), one of the reps might be able to transfer your CrowdSupport details to it

[Tezz]

Thank you indeed, Yastiandrie.

In that case, I'd imagine the email address won't be made available to anyone else in the future, otherwise it'd get rather interesting. 😂

[jhwiz]

Why not 'park' your number on a prepaid service and top it up once every 6 months to keep it active? Only $10 would keep the mobile numbers active and then it would be only too easy to upgrade it to a postpaid plan once you were using the service again. I make that $1.66 per month to have your number parked, much better than $40.00 per month. Just a thought

[Tezz]

Hi, Jhwiz,

Thank you for your suggestion; it is indeed a great idea! However, I can 'park' it for a dollar per month with a different carrier, without needing to remember to top it up or such-like. They just debit my credit card a buck every month and I don't have to do anything. 😂

[Tezz · Accepted solution]

Hi again, everyone!

For the benefit of anyone else querying what appears above in relation to Telstra Mail, My Account, and CrowdSupport® login credentials following service termination, I discovered the answer to my own question.

I initially thought that it's the actual Telstra email address that is required to sign into the "My Account" portal and the CrowdSupport® forum, hence my opening post on this thread. After some investigating, I discovered that the USERNAME without @telstra.com or @bigpond.com is the Telstra ID and sign-in credential for said platforms. Therefore, one can simply change their contact email address in "My Account" (I'm assuming it'll update on CrowdSupport® as well... one would hope so), seeing the Telstra Mail service will cease upon termination without a stand-alone subscription, and continue to use their unchangeable "MyAccount" username to access this forum.

Now, why couldn't someone have explained it this clearly to me in the first place? I guess because they're not Tezz, that's why! 😂 Maybe I'll just have to come back on here 🤔😁.

Can I mark my own post as "Accepted Solution"? 😁

By the way, where have all the familiar moderators disappeared to? 🤔 I've only been absent for about 4 years, and all the Telstra and Lithium staff members seem to have been abducted by social media zombified martians! 😂

Anyway, I do hope you all are doing well, and I may just pop in unexpectedly from time to time to greet the CrowdSupport® masses.

[jhwiz]

I agree lots of options, just seems like a lot to be paying for no use in return