Three Basic Questions:

[mr.india]

I am starting this thread to Discuss three basic question of every Migrants who is planning to moove to Australia after getting PR.

1. Migrant Banking facilities in Australia. How it works, do they allow you to open account while outside Australia.. Are there any charges, what is the best and safe way.

2. Communications. Cellphone number/ VOIP/ Internet etc. most of us would like to know, can you acquire a sim or Australian number before going there (how cheap/ expensive are those) .. Any VOIP service providers providing hosted PBX solution. I have heard that 3G dongle works great in australia for Internet, we can use them for accessing internet (how easy is to get one)?

3. Post Landing settlement Many of us do not have any family/ friends etc in Australia, so soon after landing in australia, what are the best way of looking for houses (we may have to book appartment/ hotel etc. for few initial days), transpotation/ commuting (initial days till PR's arrange for driving licenses and a car..

[anj1976]

Hi Randhir

1. Firstly, there are a few banks which have an option of opening an account from outside australia. I think ANZ, HSBC, This has been discussed in teh past, did you try searching the forum?

2. It is best to pick a dongle initially as you would want to be online but because of no fixed address, can not have an internet line. It is relatively slow but works, Ellisa wrote about it a while back. Try searching for her thread.

3. For Post landing, its best to go for shared accommodation. Have you decided where you plan to move? A friend has gone to Canberra, infact her husband is already there and she leaves in 4 days. She managed a rental without even going there. She booked it through rent-a-home
Canberra Accommodation ACT, Holiday Rentals, Houses - Rent-A-Home.com.au
she even spoke to a lot of people for shared accommodation, almost booked one but since she managed a rental she dropped the shared acco..

From India she has booked a flight for sydney, from sydney airport she will take a bus to Canberra.

If you want any mroe info, let me know, will ask her and pass it on to you

Sorry, I had to format my system few days back and i am yet to recover the data. I have lost 3 years of hard work that i put into Australia .. All Bookmarks gone..

[kkozdream]

Originally Posted by mr.india

I am starting this thread to Discuss three basic question of every Migrants who is planning to moove to Australia after getting PR.

1. Migrant Banking facilities in Australia. How it works, do they allow you to open account while outside Australia.. Are there any charges, what is the best and safe way.

2. Communications. Cellphone number/ VOIP/ Internet etc. most of us would like to know, can you acquire a sim or Australian number before going there (how cheap/ expensive are those) .. Any VOIP service providers providing hosted PBX solution. I have heard that 3G dongle works great in australia for Internet, we can use them for accessing internet (how easy is to get one)?

3. Post Landing settlement Many of us do not have any family/ friends etc in Australia, so soon after landing in australia, what are the best way of looking for houses (we may have to book appartment/ hotel etc. for few initial days), transpotation/ commuting (initial days till PR's arrange for driving licenses and a car..

Hi,

1. Yes. I know of westpac and ANZ bank which offer this.
I am planning to open an account with westpac.

2. I too have the same question.
I am checking out some option like Globe7 and skype.

3. Same.
I am checking out different websites.
sydney.gumtree.com looks good.
However, I haven't got any responses for my queries on gumtree.

Thanks
kk
PR 175
Planning to reach Sydney in July.

[mr.india]

Originally Posted by anj1976

Hi Randhir

If you want any mroe info, let me know, will ask her and pass it on to you

Sorry, I had to format my system few days back and i am yet to recover the data. I have lost 3 years of hard work that i put into Australia .. All Bookmarks gone..

Thanks Anj,

Your posts are useful as always..! keep em comming.. I am sure, you will be able to recover ur data..

Regards,
Randhir Singh

[mr.india]

Originally Posted by kkozdream

Hi,

1. Yes. I know of westpac and ANZ bank which offer this.
I am planning to open an account with westpac.

2. I too have the same question.
I am checking out some option like Globe7 and skype.

3. Same.
I am checking out different websites.
sydney.gumtree.com looks good.
However, I haven't got any responses for my queries on gumtree.

Thanks
kk
PR 175
Planning to reach Sydney in July.

Thanks KK,

I am aware of westpac and have even sent them a couple of e-mails.. I wanted to know about others as well (i don't think it is right time to xchange money as dollar is high at the moment.)

I am not in favour of carring money / travelers cheque with us when we go.. We might open an account transfer funds when currency rates are good and then travel with minimum chash with us.

I'll check globe7

Thanks for sharing information buddy..!

[kaz101]

Originally Posted by mr.india

1. Migrant Banking facilities in Australia. How it works, do they allow you to open account while outside Australia.. Are there any charges, what is the best and safe way.

We used St George and was able to open an account from the UK and transfer funds. We couldn't transfer funds out until we had appeared in person to verify who we were with passports etc.

Originally Posted by mr.india

2. Communications. Cellphone number/ VOIP/ Internet etc. most of us would like to know, can you acquire a sim or Australian number before going there (how cheap/ expensive are those) .. Any VOIP service providers providing hosted PBX solution. I have heard that 3G dongle works great in australia for Internet, we can use them for accessing internet (how easy is to get one)?

Our situation was different in that because we were self employed we were recommended to buy a place BEFORE we moved by our financial advisor so we had internet connected to our home in Oz before we moved out.

Originally Posted by mr.india

3. Post Landing settlement Many of us do not have any family/ friends etc in Australia, so soon after landing in australia, what are the best way of looking for houses (we may have to book appartment/ hotel etc. for few initial days), transpotation/ commuting (initial days till PR's arrange for driving licenses and a car..

As I mentioned above we bought a house before we moved out permanently - we did this by coming out here in Feb 2007 and arranging a long settlement on a house so that we house sale didn't go through until July 2007 when we moved out. All services were set up via the internet in the UK and the internet was set up through Telstra - who at that time were one of the few companies I could set up with from the UK. We have moved from Telstra since then We also bought a car (for cash) within the first week while we still had a rental car to get us around.

Just thought I would add that in since this isn't something that most migrants do but it worked very well for us.

Regards,
Karen

[mr.india]

Many thanks Karen for ur valuable input. We'll check St George bank as well.

Regards,
Randhir Singh

[anj1976]

Hi Randhir

You are so kind with your words . I am not too keem to recover the data. I think i had too much in my system when it came to australia and it used to confuse me more than it helped me. I am good without it now. I use a mac and i could not take a backup when i formatted the machine as i was in a rush, some work had to be finished urgently and something corrupted the OS. that too on a saturday. i thought i rather format it myself and not wait till monday for teh backup by the service centr, adn they charge heaps for just inserting the dvd and pressing the accept/i agree/next tab. i save some 6-7k INR by doing it on my own.. a small price i had to pay was some data that was not backed-up..

[mr.india]

Originally Posted by anj1976

Hi Randhir

You are so kind with your words . I am not too keem to recover the data. I think i had too much in my system when it came to australia and it used to confuse me more than it helped me. I am good without it now. I use a mac and i could not take a backup when i formatted the machine as i was in a rush, some work had to be finished urgently and something corrupted the OS. that too on a saturday. i thought i rather format it myself and not wait till monday for teh backup by the service centr, adn they charge heaps for just inserting the dvd and pressing the accept/i agree/next tab. i save some 6-7k INR by doing it on my own.. a small price i had to pay was some data that was not backed-up..

He he e he.. Technology Geeks (hats off)

[anj1976]

If i tell u the breakup u will freak out. Rs 1000 for diagnosis, i told them ih ave done everything and i know it is OS crash but they said no we will check hard drive, i told them i have checked already but no they still will. and then they will diagnose OS crash, instaling OS is Rs. 1500-2000 using my dvds. and if i want backup another 3-4k for attaching another laptop and backing up everything and putting it back.. crap, i am happier doing it on my own.