The importance of staying in touch through a phone network is a top priority for almost all Aussies. The landline or fixed line service is the traditional method of communication and fixed line service is available throughout the country. A landline is the most popular form of phone service because of the excellent voice quality and an outlet for a landline phone is already installed in most homes.

The phone networks in Australia offer several different calling plans. There are four landline phone services providers and each provider has a different plans based on family needs and phone use. Optus, AAPT, Dodo and iinet all offer landline phone service plans, which include mobile phone service as well. Landlines in Australia range from $19.95 to $99.00 a month, which usually includes broadband service.

Optus and iinet have several landline packages available; Dodo and AAPT don't offer as many plans, but do offer competitive prices for their services. The most popular landline service plan is Dodo's Super Caps service, which requires a four month contract and charges 25c for each local call and $1.95 for 120 minutes of National calls. This plan also charges $1.95 for 10 minutes of mobile phone use and the monthly charge is around $29.90.

Optus has a similar service called Home Comfort Line. Local calls cost 30c and $3.00 for 20 minutes of National calls. The mobile call charge is 42c a minute, and the monthly charge is $19.95, with a 12 month contract. AAPT Anytime Value service charges 19c for a local call and 20c a minute for National calls. The mobile calls are 35c per minute and the monthly charge is around $34.95, with no monthly contract. Optus also has the ?yes? Fusion $99- Home Phone + 20GB Broadband service. That service requires a 24 month contract but there's no charge for local, mobile or national calls. The landline providers have several other plans that vary in price.

By including mobile phone service in the packages, the four phone networks in Australia can compete with the other mobile phone providers which include: Vodaphone Australia, Telstra, Crazy John's, Fone Zone, Promus Telecom Australia, Sawytel, Virgin Mobile Australia and Southern Cross Telco. Most of these mobile packages include globe talking cards along with other services like Broadband (ADSL& ADSL2+,) dial-up Internet, Speedster and Lingo. Mobile add-on services like anti-Spam and Anti-Virus filtering, Wireless Hotspot access and Web SMS give the mobile companies features which do attract consumers in a very competitive Australian market. The 61 international country code calling Aussie consumer does have some good phone service provider choices.