Anyway it has been 18 days since i signed up for Optus online billing. And even now when i go to check my usage on the internet it says account set up in progress. ARRRRGH!!!

I have tried calling them, phone took too long.

Anyone know the problem??? (i do have a 14 digit account number)

same with me. i just spoke to them over the phone for about an hour =\ i ended by asking about this. the guy i spoke to said that on their end it is working and just gave me my current usage for the month. just now i checked on both safari and firefox and im still getting crap message telling me to try again later.. its been like this for a couple of weeks now. i will probably just wait till next month and call again if things havent changed.

oh my account is 14 digit also and has already been added. problem is that i cant check anything as it is saying that this service is unavailable and to check again later. this has been for 2 weeks now.

oh also they gave me 2 months free 3g browsing since i havent gotten my 1 month free yet? they told me that coz i upgraded to iphone 29 then updated again to business 29 that there "might?" be a problem adding some code to give me my free browsing for the month. so now both numbers that i upgraded to iphone 29 are getting 2 months free 3g browsing starting tomorrow dont think it really matters since ive only used 7mb all up since i got my iphone. ive been using wifi a lot.

oh btw would anyone know if edge and 3g data are different? will i be charged separately if i browse on the edge network? its edge right? when i turn off 3g it switches to edge?

When you switch off 3G it goes to GPRS. Both come under the same data pool. So no you don't get charged separately.

lol i just came back to edit my post and change the edge crap to GPRS. but some1 already replied

awesome stuff!
thanks for that!
so that means i have 2 months free browsing on either 3G or GPRS? or would it be best i call and confirm with optus if that 2months free include GPRS network?

Just talked to Optus:
"Unfortunately we do not have the facilities to check usage via the MyZoo webpage. You can check 3g internet usage via the phone. Please ensure that you reset this at the start of your billing month or the data wouldn't be accurate."

After getting weeks of runaround on this, I went to their "contact us" page and filled in a form. I put in point form what I wanted them to do for me

(i.e.)
a) please fix my login as the login you gave me says incorrect password (this has happed 6 times)
b) please fix my account so i can see my usage and billing details (previously says account is unavailable at this time, check back later - this message has been up for a week)
c) please call me or email me, do not send me a vague text like the last two times

Within 48 hours someone called me from Optus, not from their OS call centre either, and I received two emails that seems to have fixed everything.

Given I also got my iPhone via an enquiry on their site much quicker than via an optusworld shop, this may be the way to go with *any* enquiries going forward, provided you can wait a day or two for a response. At least it seems to be correct.

is it just me or did everyone else not get notification that their bill was ready until a week after it was due?

Yeah... I'd already paid mine by then. Site still says that I owe 90 odd, even though the payment shows up as well.
I called Optus and they confirmed that I have a $0 balance. So I'll wait for the next bill and assume the site it will recover its senses when the quota resets in a few days.

I thought perhaps I'd confused it by paying before they'd sent me the email... and who knows, maybe I did.

great. yeah, i did the same. now i have an amount owing and another amount sitting there which is the amount owing + the amount I paid, yes PLUS not minus, go figure... i sent 'em a frustrated email and expect a polite phone call sometime next week. i'm in no hurry.

meanwhile vodafone just sent me a 'yr bill is ready' email even though they've just taken the last payment out of my account. the telco accounts monkeys are really working overtime.

I just got my first bill.
So I logged onto my Optus and it gave me the reply
"can't link business accounts here, please use a personal account"
now my account is a personal account, but has my ABN number linked to it.

Anyone else had this problem?

Also on my bill my billing cycle starts on the 28th of the month.
Every thing I have read on this forum suggests the Optus billing cycle starts on the 4th of the month.
Anyone else found this different?

I got my iphone on the 20th of July and like you heard the billing cycle starts on the 4th of every month BUT Customer service told me my billing month starts on the 10th of every month.

When I am able to log into my online account (50% of the time) it now shows my billing starts on the 10th

I worked out the problem, for those playing at home.

I had registered as a personal account holder, but my account is listed as a business account.
So I just had to re-register as a business account holder.

I have a similar problem. I got mine on the 11/7 and then my cycle finished on the 4th. thats ok ( Im not that attached to the 11th of the month to really worry!) but now alas the date has moved to the 13th... I have no idea why... it is getting very difficult to try and gauge my usage (I am on a $59 cap)

for those whose account is not yet registering online... I had similar issues and, like you are probably doing, I made many phone calls to get this active. Eventualy I was told that it wont work until the first bill is paid (I dont know why or what this would do)... but it worked. from then on i have been able to check my usage online...

now they just need to make it easier to read

It's different for every person. My billing cycle stats on the 19th, for example, and I signed up on the 26th July.