If you’re looking for a ‘socially focused’ MVNO with good data pricing, backed by the Telstra 3G network, then best take a look at brand new MVNO MeU Mobile.
MeU Mobile is apparently ‘Australia’s first Social Mobile Network’ and offer free nationwide text and decent talk time as well as generous data caps, with four plans – ‘known as ‘Oodles’’ – offering data options from 2GB of data per month to 5GB on their top tier plan – though remember this is all on the 3G network. The pricing ranges from $29 – $59 per month, though if you’re a data hungry user you can grab more data packs for just $10 per month.
The plans are pre-paid and you’re not locked into a plan, giving MeU the opportunity to evaluate your usage and advise at the end of the billing cycle if you’re on the right plan, giving you the option to change.
The ‘social’ aspect of the network stems from MeU offering customers the option to authenticate via social platforms, such as Facebook. There’s also a fairly big push to have customers connect with them via their Facebook profile.
Brodie Rice, Founder and Chief Innovation Officer at MeU says of the new network:
Our new mobile network aims to lead on product and differentiate on service. It’s all about providing our members with the best value. Not only are we offering them oodles of minutes, texts and data but we also want to create a bespoke, innovative, socially connected platform, which will enable members to connect both socially and with MeU’s customer centric service representatives.
The focus on customer service is a big one, with the customer service team at MeU based locally with Mr Rice saying ‘We’ve noticed customer service is one of the biggest gripes for consumers and one of the top causes for people to change networks. That’s why we’re up front with our plans and have a local team to talk to if required’. The MeU staff will be able to be contacted via social media or through the more traditional call centre, all staff are cross-skilled to be able to handle interactions and hopefully cut customer service call escalations and redirections.
Opinion
The MeU ‘Social’ MVNO network is running on Telstra 3G, which is instantly going to put a damper on most heavy or high end users, but as I am primarily Optus 3G customer I don’t see anything wrong with that, especially for a large portion of the populace of Australia. As it stands, if 3G isn’t for you, there are plenty of other options out there and maybe down the track, MeU will introduce 4G plans – though they haven’t actually announced anything.
The Social push to connect with customers is obviously a great ploy to build awareness for themselves natively, but also gives them the opportunity to respond and connect with customers without having to rely on more traditional means – though a phone call is generally required to sort out some of the pickles you can encounter when dealing with a telco provider.
If you’re interested in learning more about the MeU network, check out their website or jump on their Facebook page, say ‘Hi’ on Twitter, or shoot them an Instagram message.
