I’m in no way affiliated with this website but thought I would let everyone on RA know about this new service. I heard an advertisement on the radio for it and just signed up then – www.accesscanberra.com.au. They seem to have a pretty good privacy policy and no real catches.. yet. Free SMS and phone calls from any Canberra landline to any other Australian landline (with a 1 hour limit) are their main services. To make phone calls, you enter both your phone number and the destination number – they ring you and then connect you to the number you wish to call.
I’m not sure whether this is limited to Canberran’s or not but it seems like a pretty good resource to be aware of. They incorporate a movie and restaurant guide on their main page and seem to generate revenue off businesses that advertise with them. The also offer a so-called ‘Piggyback Buying’ service – you notify them of which item you wish to purchase and from which stores within Canberra, they then collate other orders and you (hopefully) receive a discount on the item. Bulk buying, so to speak.