Get the best price with ZYFT and did we get a resolution for a caller?

The EFTM podcast. Talkback technology. Got a question about tech? Trev's here to help. Not

sure what to buy. Ask Trev. Australia's number one talkback technology podcast. I was gobsmacked.

I spoke to you on the Tuesday. Thursday afternoon, there's this lovely courier man at me back

door with a parcel for me. Just to thank you so much because whatever your involvement,

you've truly got some magical powers and don't have a load of it.

Join the conversation. Head to eftm.com and click Ask Trev.

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The EFTM podcast. Thanks to Swan. Security you can trust.

Great. Happy company. Thank you for listening. Thank you for downloading and welcome to another

episode of the EFTM podcast. Thank you to Vodafone for supporting the Texlone 047657657

and to Swan for their support of the show in general. We want to get to your calls

today. There's a lot lined up and producer Rob's been putting in the effort.

Lots of people getting in touch. So we'll do that. We've got a couple of weeks left.

In fact, this week and next. And then we'll take a little break. We'll be back after CES

with another episode of the EFTM podcast. But great to have you company this week.

Have a merry Christmas everyone. It's super. We're getting into the vibe.

We're definitely getting into the vibe. I just 3D printed some Christmas trees.

That's how the vibe is infecting me. I just 3D printed some Christmas trees.

Those are words I never thought I would say or hear come from my mouth.

But there it is. It's happened. I'll tell you probably next year.

I'll tell you about the Bamboo Labs 3D printer I've been mucking around with.

But I've got to tell you, we've come a long way. I mean, I remember going to

Officeworks had to drive to several stores. I ended up at North Ride.

And I bought a cube 3D printer. It was $1,700. Stupid waste of money.

And I printed a chess set and some little train toys and different things like that.

And it was tough. It was such a tough thing to do.

Because you had to glue the pad so it would stick the thing down.

And this buddy Bamboo Labs thing, you just push a button and it goes.

I can print from an app. It's unbelievable.

Now it's $3,000. But it's unbelievable.

Let me tell you that. So you'll probably see some time-lapse and stuff

come up in my Instagram and TikTok feeds and stuff in the future.

Speaking of TikTok, I do follow at Trevor Long.

And I've started doing a series called Ask Trev. No, it's not what I call it.

It's called Trev Explains. I'm trying to encapsulate simple, clear

and concise explanations of technology.

So I've done a porting in mobile phone.

I've done mesh Wi-Fi. What else did I do?

G2 wireless charging. And it's also, I'll be very clear.

It's an area I think that I can get sponsors for.

And I don't think anyone listening to this disagrees with my need to earn money.

But I hate influences.

I hate the content that is created about products by influences.

It's just so blatantly an ad.

And I really want to avoid becoming that. So I'm trying very hard.

I don't agree to any sponsored content. I say no to thousands of emails

requesting sponsored partnerships.

But my idea is that there are things that need explaining.

Be it a new device, a new technology, just explaining how it works.

And I'll do that. You can buy into the Trev Explains series.

But it'll be very clearly disclosed.

So that's an idea I had for next year to try and bring that to life.

So we'll see how that goes.

But anyway, we're going to talk shopping on this episode.

We're going to save you some money.

We're going to get you the best price on whatever it is you're going to buy.

From groceries to gadgets, there's an app that can do that.

It's called ZIFT. I'm going to talk to the CEO shortly.

Z-Y-F-T ZIFT. We'll talk to their CEO shortly.

Plus, of course, your calls and more right here on the EFTM podcast.

The EFTM podcast, thanks to SWAN. Home security to connect, detect and protect.

Great to have you company. Let's keep going with calls.

Go back to the phones. 0-4-7-6-5-7-6-5-7-7.

It's a text. We'll get in touch.

Robert's on the line today, Robert.

Good morning, Trevor. How are you?

Very well. We spoke recently about your home router and internet.

Do you remind me of that conversation briefly?

What I was is I had a Telstra modem.

And smart modem, yes.

And I'd been on the plan for 500, download and 400, 40 upload.

And all I was getting is between 50 and 70.

Where do we leave you? What was the prescription?

Well, the suggestion was that I turn off all my items on the Wi-Fi or all the products

and test the speed to see what it was coming in at.

And then gradually turn one on at a time to retest the speed.

And I found that there was only a difference of six on all the items coming back out.

So there was none of the items that were faulty or causing it to go slow.

So I then borrowed a router and a TP-Link router and tested it.

And the improvement was very good.

Well, I got it down and tested it on a Friday night at about 8 o'clock in the evening.

And believe it or not, it came in at download speed of 555 and an upload speed of 47.

And I couldn't believe it. It was fantastic.

That's amazing. How did you borrow one, by the way? Who off?

Oh, just off a friend.

Yeah, nice. OK.

Yeah, so I just, you know, so anyway, what I then did is I bought one exactly the same and put it on.

And now, at times, I get speeds download for 580.

Oh, wow. You're doing well.

Yeah, fantastic in the room and the office it is.

But at the same time, when I connected it all up, I had a tendra mesh, Wi-Fi mesh throughout the house.

And that had the main satellite and then four satellites spread out around the house.

But I found that when I turned that mesh on, the speed went back down to less than 100.

Oh, was that the tendra part of your plan before?

Was that part of the network?

Yes, it was. Yes.

Oh, that was the missing link. That was the problem.

No, no, I don't think so. It wasn't that. It was the same.

It was the router, the Telstra router was the problem.

But the tendra was only built for about a speed of 100, I believe.

Okay, right, okay.

Right. So as soon as I turned the tendra off and disconnected it, the speed went up tremendously again.

That's right.

How's the coverage from that TP link though?

Oh, very poor. Two or three rooms.

So now what I've got to do is now buy another Wi-Fi mesh, which I've done and it's on its way, but it hasn't arrived yet.

What'd you get?

But a TP link to go with the same router.

Oh, so it's a mesh that works with that router. Excellent. Good stuff.

That's right, yes, yes. And with only three satellites. So I'll have to see if it's enough.

That'll be fine. Unless, mate, unless you've got a sprawling ranch.

I can't imagine you'll need that many satellites.

Right, good. Okay.

And the other problem that I found is that I've got an Epson printer.

Epson printer only works on 2.4 gigahertz and I've got a 2.4 and a 5 gigahertz router.

Sometimes the printer will work perfectly, but other times it has a hissy fit and it just can't find an air print.

Yeah. Does your router broadcast only one network name or does it broadcast separate networks?

So, for example, when you turn on Wi-Fi, does it say Robert's Wi-Fi or does it say Robert's Wi-Fi 5G?

No, it only says Robert's Wi-Fi.

So it's combining them into one.

That's right, yeah.

Yeah, that's a challenge. You might need to log back into the TP link and see whether or not disabling the 5 gigahertz has a massive impact on speed for other devices.

But that's, you know, the other thing is to, if you can move the location of the printer to see if it has any impact on it, but a little things like that might be worth checking.

Well, that's right. That's the stage I'm up to.

And now that you've got rid of the Telstra smart modem, you can change carriers too because you're not reliant on that. Save yourself some money.

Oh, that's right. Yes, yeah, definitely.

I've paid up till the end of December, so that's all right. That gives me time to look around and make the move.

And remember, when you make that move, Robert, remember, you can make the move regularly. You can make the move every six months.

It's actually so quick, so easy, there's not really much involved.

And so you can, you're not stressed about, you know, being with one carrier forever.

You can just switch. And, you know, if you're going to sign up for those introductory deals, you know, you might do six months with Superloop and then six months with Aussie Broadband.

And, you know, you can switch around and be a new customer.

Right.

Well, it sounds all right.

I think you've got everything under control, mate.

Well, yes, yeah. When these new Mesh, Wi-Fi Mesh turn up, which they're on the courier and should come today, I should be set.

But that's two, three satellites, including the main one.

If I needed more, could I just add another two satellites on?

Yes, if you've got a satellite brand that is working with that router, yes, you can just buy more satellites.

Or as long as you can buy them in one and two packs, yes.

Yes, yeah, yeah. Yeah, it's cheaper to buy three, so, you know, I probably won't buy another three.

I'd be blown away if you needed more. I really would be.

All right, OK, good. No, well, that's good because it's absolutely brilliant in the office and rooms nearby to it.

You get over 500 on anything, even your mobile phone.

And the computer that sits next to it, they're 540 and 550 every time you turn them on.

So they're brilliant. Loving it.

So all I've got to do now is spread it out to further out in the house.

And the moment I walked out the front door or the back door, well, the Wi-Fi just died.

Whereas before I could walk out and walk around 40 or 50 meters and it would work.

But no, I'm very happy.

Good luck with the setup of those mesh and we'll touch base to make sure it's all gone well for you, OK?

Well, thank you very much.

Good on you, Robert. Thanks for being back with us, mate.

Good. Thank you, Trevor.

Bye for now.

Did a great job, you know, getting that all sorted.

Great, you can borrow a device from someone.

That's a massive win.

Being able to borrow something to test and get through and decide what solutions to next make.

Excellent stuff.

The EFTM podcast, thanks to Swan, Home Security to Connect, Detect and Protect.

They've got you covered and if you've got tech questions, I've got you covered.

Get in touch any time you want.

We'll try and help you out as best we can.

Let's go back to the calls.

Pari's on the line today, Pari.

I'm very well.

I'm very well. What can I do for you?

Have you just picked up speakerphone now?

Yeah, I'm on speakerphone, yeah.

Sounded better before. Sounded better when it was up against your ear, I think.

Okay, okay.

Hold on, I'll change it if I can.

Okay, is that better?

The joys, yes. It's a funny thing, you know, so many people use either headphones or whatever

and 99.9% of the time it's just so much better to hear someone when they're talking to a phone up against their ear.

But anyway, what can I do for you, Pari?

Okay, I'm looking at a JBL.

550 soundbar.

We've got a Sony Bravia 7 TV

and at the moment we've got a Sony soundbar, but it's only a 120 watt one.

And in fact, the TV is louder than the soundbar.

So I was wondering if you know anything about the JBL one.

I was looking at the SB 550.

It's got a wireless subwoofer.

I mean, it's about a $300 thing, right?

But it's actually on sale during Black Friday.

Yeah, it's actually on sale at the moment.

That's right.

Look, I would say it's pretty much their entry level device.

It's going to give you...

If that doesn't have better sound than the TV, I'd be blown away.

I'd be blown away.

Because JBL doesn't muck around when it comes to sound.

The subwoofer's going to add value as well, which is awesome.

And don't worry about compatibility,

because JBL soundbar will work with any TV.

So you don't have to worry about your Sony links and all that kind of stuff.

Like it's a 250 watt output total.

The soundbar itself is 150 watts.

It's 3.1 channel.

So basically it's got center and left and right.

I think it'll be great.

For the price, it's great.

Obviously, there's better soundbars out there.

There's louder ones.

But for that price, you're probably not going to find too much more value and sound.

I think you'll love it.

Yeah.

Because we really want it more for voice as well, rather than...

Occasionally we use it for music and put the Bluetooth, the telephone and that type of thing on it.

Sorry, Bluetooth Spotify.

But mainly for voice, I think is probably...

What do you watch most?

Just TV mainly.

Or catch up on movies and series and stuff like that on my view.

Some of the streaming services do have a voice like an amplification thing,

where it kind of singles out the voice and amplifies it a bit.

But you're not going to get that on TV or anything.

I think it'll be totally fine.

I think it'll give you better than what you're getting now.

And it's just a matter of planning, working out the best way to listen to it.

Is it a higher volume thing or is it probably taking away...

I would actually probably turn down the subwoofer if not use it at some times,

because that might amplify bass over and above the voice that you want to hear.

So, because you've seen a big movie, how overbearing the subwoofer is.

So, yeah.

Anyway, I think it'll be great.

Yeah, because it's okay.

Well, that sounds good.

Another thing.

What is it with the Australian communication ombudsman turning off phones?

Really?

I mean, you know, we've got a one-week notice that my husband's phone was going to be blocked

because it couldn't make emergency calls on all bands.

So, what sort of phone has he got?

Samsung...

Oh, he had a Samsung...

Yeah, Samsung J5 Pro.

You know, it was my son's hand me down.

The phone's perfectly...

It's a great phone.

Works perfectly okay.

I mean, you know, we had to upgrade once 3G went off,

and then he had to change because it wasn't VOLTE.

You know, now he's got this J5 Pro,

and it's now been blocked.

Which network are you with?

Which Telco?

We're with Aldi, who runs off the Telstra network.

So, you know, a lot of coverage.

Very good.

Now imagine your husband is somewhere there's no Telstra coverage,

but there is Optus, and...

Yeah, exactly.

But he has a fall, and he tries to call triple zero,

and it doesn't work.

Ah, yeah.

But that wouldn't happen because my husband really uses the phone.

He doesn't...

The phone is not something that any time he ever uses the phone

is if he's expecting a call

because he's taken the car in for registration.

But you know, no one expects to call triple zero.

Yeah, I know.

Yeah.

So, it's crap.

I mean, why doesn't...

Frankly, it's a shit situation.

Let's be real.

The fact is that these phones...

And that phone, by the way, is not Volty compatible correctly.

That's the reason it's being blocked.

It shouldn't have...

It should have been caught up in last year's list of phones

that were blocked at the end of last year when 3G turned off.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Well, that's why we gave them this phone

because it was Volty compatible.

So, it's just the Vodafone network.

No, no, no.

It's not properly Volty compatible.

That's the reason it's being built.

Oh, okay.

And I know it's not the Vodafone network.

It's the frequencies of the Vodafone network.

Basically, that phone is hard-wired to use 3G

if it can't use its normal network.

And that means that in the worst-case scenario,

he's not going to be able to call triple zero.

And I think a week's notice is rubbish.

You should have got 35 days notice.

I don't know why you don't.

Yeah, exactly.

Yeah, no, it was only a week's notice.

That was it, bang.

Got it on the 19th, turned it off on the 26th.

I mean, thank goodness we've had Black Friday sales

and we've managed to go and buy a phone.

The 19th was the day the second notifications were sent out.

The first ones were sent on around the 7th.

Oh, no.

His first notification was the 19th.

Interesting.

Disappointing.

Yeah, it was disappointing, yeah.

But I think you'd agree

you'd prefer your husband had access to triple zero.

Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.

My complaint is the lack of...

What did you get him in the end?

What did you replace it with?

Oh, great phone.

Better than everyone else.

It's a Motorola G56.

Saved $200.

It was on sale.

Great phone.

Like that.

And here's the thing.

That's a phone.

Probably cost you under 200 bucks.

That's a phone that will certainly last the next five

to probably eight years.

I really feel comfortable about saying that

because it's risky

given everything we've been through with phones.

But yeah, I mean, it's annoying.

It's frustrating, but I think we'd all agree

it's better that you heard about it than not.

And we wish you got more notice,

but you can't be avoided now.

Yep, yep.

All right, well, good luck with the soundbar.

Well, thank you to the JBL.

Thank you.

No worries at all.

Thanks for getting in touch.

Cheers.

No worries.

Yeah, I mean, it is disappointing

that it took only...

You only got seven days' notice on that phone.

But as I said, let's be honest,

let's be happy that you know,

guarantee that you're about to call 000 now.

And we'd love to hear from you.

See if we can help you out

with any of your tech queries or questions.

Whatever you've got going on your mind,

get in touch. We'd love to hear from you.

Robert's on the lucky day, Robert.

Oh, hi. How are you?

Yeah, really good, mate. What can I do for you?

Well, we've got a couple of...

I don't know if it was a surprise the other day.

I was looking at our Samsung models phones.

One's an A71

and mine's an S20.

And it said, oh, they might not work on...

They might...

AAA might not work.

And I know you're not allowed to give them a call to find out.

But I was rather surprised.

And it said, make sure that the software is up to date.

They're both up to date as at about April 25.

And I've...

And I haven't got any messages from the telco,

which is Optus and Amason, who are the same people.

Yep.

And I just wanted to be sure that...

Should I be replacing them?

Or if I don't get a message, it should be okay.

It's a great question.

What did you say the models were?

The Samsung A71.

Yep.

My wife has that.

And she's on the Amason network.

And I'm on the Optus network with an S20...

S20.

Samsung S20.

S20.

So, looking at the list that was published by Telstra originally,

but then pretty much all the telcos and Samsung agreed with it.

The A71, A71 5G, and there are some S20s in there.

S20 FE, but an S20 Plus.

So, let's just broadly say that age group of phones.

Oh yeah, all the S20s are definitely part of it as well.

They were in the S71 phones that were identified as being problematic.

11 of them can't be fixed.

But 60 of them can be fixed with a software upgrade.

So, it's quite likely you've done the software upgrade.

It's quite likely you're up to date.

But the best thing to do is firstly go into the settings,

check for a software update, okay?

That's your best and most important thing to do.

Always do those updates and do any that you've got now.

And don't just do one.

So, interestingly, my information is there's some phones in this list

that if you hadn't done any updates since you bought it,

you might have 60 different updates to do.

Oh no, it's automatically updated.

They're both on auto updates.

That's good.

And both of them are 4G.

They're both 4G.

That's why I thought they'd be fine

because I thought they were just talking about 3G.

No, so it's a good point.

But the thing was what happened is a lot of 4G phones were sold

and in the kind of hard coding of the phones,

basically to make the triple zero resilient,

they went always use 3G for triple zero.

And so that it was reliable and expansive and, you know,

a lot of reasons.

And so what they discovered was, oh my God,

they hard coded this stuff.

So now there's no 3G.

Oh my God, we've got to fix it.

So that's why they issued software updates.

That's why a lot of phones can be fixed,

but unfortunately some couldn't.

In your case, you're right also.

You definitely should have gotten notifications from the telco.

Seven days or 35, you should get notifications.

So I think you're safe.

I think you're good.

Obviously, if your phone stops working in the next week or so,

you know why.

But I'm confident your phones will be fine, mate,

because they were upgradable.

And it sounds like you've been doing that.

Okay.

Well, thank you, Trevor.

That makes me feel a lot better.

Yeah, I want you, mate.

Look, as I've said to people before,

we want to know that we can call triple zero

because we never know when we're going to need to.

And you're looking after your grandchild right now.

If something happened,

you want to be able to call triple zero

and know that they will answer.

And you're absolutely the right thing by not calling triple zero.

It's illegal to call triple zero.

And most importantly, even if you call triple zero,

that is not a test of your phone.

Because the problem isn't calling triple zero on a normal day.

The problem is calling triple zero when your network is out

and another network is available

and seeing whether it works that way.

That's not something you can test.

Oh, okay.

Oh, that makes sense.

Yeah.

So do anyone listening who got a text message

saying your phone's not compatible with the triple zero

network and then they call triple zero and say,

bugger that it does work.

That's not the case.

It won't work.

It won't guarantee to work in all circumstances.

That's why they're doing this.

Right.

I've got it.

Got it now.

Thank you very much.

But you're safe, mate.

All is well.

Go back to enjoying time with your grandson, mate.

Thank you very much, Trev.

Cheers, buddy.

Anytime.

Great listening to you.

Bye.

Cheers, mate.

I appreciate it.

It's a really good point.

Don't call triple zero.

It's illegal.

And unfortunately, many people have been.

And that's not helpful to the triple zero operators,

let alone anyone else.

But also it's not an indicator that your phone's going to be OK.

Join the conversation.

Head to eftm.com and click Ask Trev.

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Helping Australians with tech questions for over 15 years.

The EFT and podcast with Trev along.

Great, happy company.

And if you want to ask a question, if you've got a tech question,

0-4-7-6-5-7-6-5-7, send me a text.

We'll try and get you on the show.

It'll be in the new year though now with the year winding up

so very, very rapidly.

But we'd love to hear from you any tech questions or problems.

Now, swiping through my TikTok feed,

I commonly stumble across different apps and ideas

for whether it's money saving or price comparisons.

And my good mate and today's show colleague,

Joel Gibson, often talks about an app called ZIFT.

Z-Y-F-T.

And here I am thinking, what is ZIFT?

So I go straight to the source.

I go straight to the CEO.

And I say to Richard Stevens, thanks for joining me, mate.

CEO of ZIFT, mate, how are you?

Very well, thanks Trevor.

I'm great to be able to have a chat.

Mate, I mean, I love the idea of an app that helps me,

but just give me the elevator pitch.

What is ZIFT?

ZIFT, it's again, topic I'd love to talk about.

ZIFT is an AI-powered shopping tool for consumers.

So it allows consumers, when they're shopping,

whether it be at home or even in store,

to have the confidence with the ZIFT app

that in your pocket or in your hand,

it's going to compare under 40 million products

across 50,000 retailers.

So whenever you're shopping, you get a real-time comparison

of price for that product across Australia

so you know where to buy and where it's in stock.

So this is not about doing the shopping.

So you're not essentially selling me the product.

You're not a retailer in that sense.

You're allowing me to stand in front of a product,

either, as you say, online or in a store

and go, is this the best price?

That's right.

I think that's where ZIFT was born from

is to make that process more transparent and easier.

So it takes less time.

So rather than having to go and compare a product

you're looking to buy across 10 different retailers,

ZIFT does it for you in a matter of seconds.

So you'll compare it across all those retailers

where it's in stock and you can then make that purchase

knowing that you've got a good price.

And how has that done?

Like you do have a software that's scraping the internet

for this information or, yeah, like how are you getting the data?

The process with that is obviously more complex

than you sort of think about how I'm a service.

But it's a combination of different things

that have been built out over the last 60 years

in terms of how we can get access and see data

and be able to index it in real time.

So it's through a variety of sources.

And we also have over 700 retailers that are working with us

that give data feeds.

So because of the value and the transparency that ZIFT offers

the retailers to, so it's not biased.

It gives a true view of what the products out there

are priced at.

There are large retailers and I said hundreds of retailers

that have come on board to be a part of it too.

So it pulls information through a variety of ways.

And then it spins it out to the consumer,

whether it be through easy sort of to use browser plugins.

And we also built out apps on both Android and iOS.

Did it start as a browser plugin and then become apps?

Yeah, it did.

It did.

And that pretty reflected where most of the online shopping

was being done previously, where people were at home

and then using their Safari or Chrome browser.

But just over a year ago, we built out and launched the apps

because it really, again, with that sort of increased usage.

And also to solve the problem of when you're in store,

like you can use ZIFT and scan a barcode of a product

you're standing in front of so that you can be confident

it's a good price, but also there's a lot of retailers

now that will price match.

So tools and features like that are easier to unlock

when you're using a native app rather than an extension.

I also feel like extensions are a really amazing thing,

but they're also super nerdy.

Like if I tried to tell my mom how to install an extension,

that's going to be tough.

It's really interesting.

I feel like it's a critical expansion for you.

Once you've nailed the base business and the base data

and all those things, expanding into a handheld app is logical.

Yeah, and they both work.

So the extension is great because they are easy to install.

But once it's there, it's always there by your side.

So it pops up when there's a relevant sort of offering

and product to consider.

But yeah, the app has so many features

that you can continue to unlock.

So what's the growth strategy for a thing like ZIFT then?

Is it all about just getting more people to use it

more of the time?

Are you only in Australia?

Like what's the medium term plan for the business?

Yeah, again, exciting thing to talk about.

The growth this year has been phenomenal.

So we've now had over 750,000 downloads

of the ZIFT app and solutions.

And that's like 90% up from the start of the year.

So that growth continues to be really strong.

And I think it talks to the fact that the sort of cost of living

pressures in Australia remain very real.

So the idea of being able to save dollars on each of your

purchases is really, it resonates.

So the plan import continues to be to scale out and grow

the audience that we provide the service to

and also work with retailers to make sure they've got

a chance to find ways to get in front of high intent

motivated shoppers because it's difficult for retailers to

just changing landscape where it really is how much

you pay to be found.

So the solution like ZIFT should provide transparency

and not be biased in what it displays to consumers.

It resonates with retailers and brands too.

So because you're showing people where the best price

is, most people's logical thought would be that

retailers don't love what you do.

But in fact, they get on board with what you do

because they want people shopping.

It's up to them to offer the best price.

Absolutely.

And if I think about something during my own purchasing

through Black Friday, because I was one of the many

millions that got drawn into that theory,

buying some sort of Bluetooth wireless headphones.

I walked into a major retailer franchise and I knew

that the product was probably going to be cheaper.

So I scanned the barcode and I wanted to buy it

in person.

I didn't in that instance wanted to be an online

purchase.

So I went up and was able to get price matched

for where it was like $200 cheaper.

Now for me, yes, I got it cheaper than it was in

that store, but that retailer got a sale that

otherwise they wouldn't have.

And so that's really where the retailers know that if

they have a chance to get sales in a cost-effective

way, that's a huge win for them too.

Also, I think most punters, everyday people don't

fully understand the retail landscape.

And I don't profess to fully understand it myself,

but let's be clear, the retail landscape isn't

what you think it is as an individual.

It's not a shop going, I want these products,

I'll buy them at this price, I'm selling them at that.

The retailers charge money for floor space,

they charge money for discounts.

So actually, they got that sale,

but they probably also got the same margin as normal

because they went back to the vendor and said,

listen, you're offering it somewhere else cheaper.

We had to give it to them cheaper,

so we're not paying the same amount.

That's how retail works these days.

Now, the fact that it's not the same price everywhere

is entirely on the industry to work out that

because some people aren't taking the time to

look at the price compare.

Are you able to look therefore at things that

happen on Zifton and understand the trends that occur?

Are you able to say to me, and not that you have this

right at hand, but are you able to look at a period

like Black Friday and go, actually, this product category

was outrageously popular this year?

Absolutely.

The benefit of having all of those users,

and you can see, not just in terms of

what's been purchased, but also where

consumers were looking.

There might be high intent of researching

certain products, but it might be products electronics

that are the ones that people are tending to go

through and purchase to the end of the funnel.

That's where we sit so you can see what's actually

happening in the market, not just where sales

ended, but what a user is actually looking for.

It's fascinating when you start digging into the data.

If the web extension was a bit dorky and geeky,

then if I start going through all the data,

it could completely cross that line.

Exactly.

You've got a big screen up in your office

that just spikes when certain things happen

if a product's going off and stuff like that.

It's a free app and a free extension,

yeah, for the end user?

It's completely free for the user,

and it's an extension and the app,

so both sort of purpose, but no costs for the user.

So what's the business model then?

And I think a lot of people want to know

that because anything free,

you either end up becoming the product

or you end up being thrown into a subscription.

So, you know, to love something like ZIFT

and then go, ah, now they're charging me

for it every month or something,

you're going to have a different conversation

with your users.

So are you able to give us an insight

as to why it's free and how it's free?

Absolutely.

So the focus through the business

of the sort of boundary years has been

about growing up the tech to make sure

it's adding value to the user,

but also to retailers.

The model that sits behind it has them

working with retailers to come on board

so that there's a share in any revenue

that they may derive through ZIFT.

The critical part though at no point

has it ever compromised the transparency

and the unbiased nature of how the results are returned.

So the retailer's task is to win the business,

but all we're doing is bringing an audience

to, if you will, a marketplace to provide that.

So the focus has been growing,

the revenue part grows out

from business to business side of things.

The value is growing out,

the value to the audience and the consumers,

they are not, it's a very low bar to clear,

download an app, download extension,

and away you go.

And so your point is,

and I've said this,

my audience knows for well,

I don't do affiliate stuff on my site

because I feel like it puts a slant

on how I review or what I review and stuff like that.

And to the point where I was doing this deal,

because I was offered the opportunity

to offer to my audience this deal

for $99 for $400 worth of gadgets.

And I had to put a disclaimer at the bottom going,

I'm not earning anything from this,

I just think it's a great deal for you, right?

So you're saying that, I mean, in the perfect world,

every single retailer is able to clip the ticket to you

because it doesn't matter who you shop with as an individual

and it's up to the individual retailer with the best deal

to make sure that they shop as the best deal.

Full stop, you're always going to show the best deal

to people, the user doesn't need to worry about it.

You're looking after your business in your own way.

Yeah, absolutely.

And that's exactly it.

And there are many things that we're building out as features

and the barcode scan is probably a perfect example

where when I was in store and for those headphones

and went up and got a price match,

zip doesn't benefit from that.

So, but the value to the consumer to know

that they're in control and make information

means they didn't become a more active user as if

they'll tell their friends and their family

and that's how you grow an audience.

It's about delivering that genuine authentic value

and holding true to those things.

Building revenue around it, every business has to do

to grow and to sell.

But if you just need to make sure you never lose sight

of what is the true value trying to offer to both consumers,

first and foremost, but also retailers.

And so what's the growth strategy then you obviously

with the Apple launch, that's a, you know,

big hockey stick style growth for you in 2025.

What's 2026 look like?

Yeah, so 25 actually a massive year

and we did a, had a successful cap rose

at the start of the year that to provide

that sort of longer term funding to allow us

to scale out.

So the Australian market is still a huge opportunity

and we've seen what that growth potential is

and then over the longer term, the tech's been

building a way to be able to be dropped into other markets

as well.

It isn't sort of a near term horizon.

We have to look at sort of markets outside of Australia

but over time, absolutely,

make sure that zips can continue to scale.

26 very much focused on continuing to build out

the offering to consumers to leverage the technology

even more to make it more intuitive and more personalized

and just continue to work with the retailers as well

to make sure that they're able to grow and scale

in their own tough market.

I feel like another great area for you is the data

and using that in a storytelling way

and I'm not telling you how to suck eggs here

and your PR team know this as well,

but because of the data, because of your knowledge,

you're able to say to people like me

and the media generally to tell a story about

the kind of savings that can be found by shopping around

the amount of people that are searching in a particular category

at any one time.

You might see some crazy, you know,

out of the ordinary growth of a particular product segment.

So those kind of things I guess will help you tell a story

throughout the time ahead that isn't just about

we've got an app that does this.

We've got this information

and it came from this thing that we do.

I think you may have infiltrated some of the meetings

and discussions we've been having through this year, Trevor,

which is unnerving on one level,

but comforting to know you're thinking along similar lines.

Absolutely.

And when you can see those trends,

it's a hugely powerful insight

to see what the early indicators are of consumer sentiment.

So if they start shopping for high value items,

what does that tell you about their sense of sort of confidence

about where the market might be heading

or if they pull back into their shell

and are only looking at sort of standard day-to-day commodity items

for the basic essentials?

Well, that's a different story again.

So you can see there's shifts that occur

when there's interest rate drops or increases

and those sort of macro trends have a direct bearing on Aussies

because cost of living is real.

Cost of your energy bill, cost of your shopping groceries,

sort of shopping cart,

they're all things that people feel day-to-day.

And that has a direct bearing on what they do.

So we could see through the lead up to Black Friday

how people, like, they ease their shopping

a couple of weeks out from when they think

they're about to drop because for a while to buy something today

that's going to likely cheaper in two weeks.

So all these things give such an insight

into what the Aussie household and consumer shopping

is actually doing.

So yeah, so hugely powerful.

So definitely there will be more that we lean into

on that front.

Is there a limit to where the barcode scanner works?

You know, retail, products, you know, industry-wise?

It works pretty, pretty well.

There might be some products which,

for a unique product which doesn't have a barcode

that's recognized across most,

but you could go into Woolworth's

and barcode scan a bag of flour

and it will pop up with what Woolies have called.

So we're talking about Woolies, Harvey Norman, JBs,

your niche retailer.

Exactly.

If it's got a barcode, it could well be compared

and you'd back yourself to have a comparison at some point.

Absolutely.

When it's comparing 140 million products

across 50,000 retailers in Australia,

there's not...

If anything could be discovered online,

then our ability to find it is pretty good.

Well, congratulations.

Very cool idea.

Obviously it's not new, but it's growing

and that's what's cool about it.

ZYFT ZIFT.

As you said, you can install it

as a browser plugin on Chrome

or you can get it in the App Store

or Google Play.

Great to talk to you, mate,

and good luck for 2026.

Great. Thanks, Trevor.

I really appreciate it.

Tech, cars, lifestyle.

This is the EFTM podcast with Trevor Long.

Great to have you company

and happy to hear from you

if you want to get in touch.

Rogan's on the line.

Good day, mate. How are you doing?

Mate, I've never seen the world any brighter.

Oh, that's a very glowing approach to your day.

What can I do for you?

We spoke before.

I feel like security systems were talking about

what did you end up doing?

You got it.

So, this was incredibly serendipitous.

We spoke.

You recommended the swan

because I've got a larger block of land.

Oh, yeah, Spax Ranger, yep.

Yeah, that's it.

And I looked that thing up

and it was like a beast mode.

It was like six times the range of...

I was looking at the Arlo,

probably the Essential Gen 2

or something like that.

So I was like, wow.

Just one of those would do what?

Three of those.

Anyway, staying in the father-law's house

in Port Macquarie that night,

our whole street got hit up by burglars.

True story.

And so the police had come around the next morning

and of course all the neighbors had chat to each other

and saying, who's got security footage?

Who doesn't?

Well, my father-in-law had bought his cameras

from Timu.

True story.

Two of them didn't work.

The one that did work,

the footage was in black and white

and so bad you couldn't use it.

The neighbor had a different security system,

a unit then I think from memory

or I'm pretty sure it was.

Anyway, the end of that story is

they could use his footage

and they couldn't use ours

and I thought, I thought bugger me.

And you would hear this more than me

but the cop said, look, mate,

it's not going to stop people, the professionals,

but it deters them.

And it didn't deter our guys

and they got into the house, got into our Land Rover

and thank God they didn't find the keys

because they'd opened all the doors of the car

and all that sort of stuff.

So we didn't lose anything

in the act of the crime,

but as it relates to cameras,

that's what, yeah, that's what happens.

I was kind of shell shocked.

It was the day after we spoke

and next thing that happens

my wife's shopping in Audi

and they have a sale on Arlo cameras in Audi

and my wife said to me, Rogan,

you've been crapping on about these cameras.

You even spoke to Trevor about this stuff.

I'm just grabbing a whole bunch of Arlo.

So I said, well, you need to get three times

the amount of Arlo's as I was going to get

for the back fence.

And there we go.

So I've ended up with the Arlo's

and they work completely fine.

Three Arlo's, Gen 2 essential,

where one swan Max would do,

but the price was right.

When you say three instead of one,

what do you mean by that?

Because of we need to place them

to get visual coverage?

Yeah, exactly.

That's the whole thing.

After we chatted,

I wrote down Max 1 long range.

That's all that had me notes.

And then I got on the internet, checked it out

and I was like, I'll get this wrong.

But I think the Max range is two and a half,

six and a half times longer.

So I think the Arlo Gen...

It's a lot of coverage.

But I don't understand though,

if you were going to use one further away,

how are the three Arlo's helping you

if they're not far away?

Yeah, so the Arlo gets to about 300 feet.

They're about the ones I've got

to give or take with good coverage

during the testing it.

So I ended up basically,

it's probably really I needed

technically two and a half Gen 2 Arlo essentials

would have done the job where the Max is one.

That's what I mean.

So I put one Arlo at the back of the fence

and about 300, 350 feet.

I get the next one

and then I get the next one

along the fence line there.

So that's what I mean by...

Yeah, cool.

...the range.

Exactly right.

Matt, how have you found the Arlo's?

Have you done the SecureTrial, the SecurePlus trial?

Yeah, loved it.

Loved it.

I mean, I just...

That was the other thing.

Yeah, bugger me.

We were joking about bloody...

whether you get a subscription or not.

Well, the other good neighbor,

he didn't have a subscription or another service.

He's cloud...

I'm sorry, he's cloud.

He's hard drive.

I should say was full.

So he couldn't capture anything

from these crooks as well.

So, yeah, I signed up the subscription.

Easiest.

I mean, it's a no-brainer.

And yeah, I found that really, really cool

actually filling around all that stuff

and setting it up and, you know,

naming camera, running camera,

whatever the basics are.

But no, it's to me was cool

setting up the subscription

and now I don't think about it.

Yeah.

So, yeah, that's where...

Well, I'm glad you've got some...

You know, you had the emphasis

placed higher on the whole need.

And it's interesting, you know,

that's my biggest fear

with security cameras

is people just buy cheap ones

and you've just articulated exactly

why that's a problem

and that's that worries me so much,

but what can we do?

What can we do?

Yeah, that's just...

Live through it.

Father-in-law bought him on T-Mail

and not mean to shade any

marketplace good on him

for selling stuff,

but that's what he did

and they were hopeless.

And the cops literally said to him,

mate, you know,

it was verbatim.

We had a protective come

and look for fingerprints

on a Land Rover and everything.

And they were saying that.

They're seeing a lot of it

and the cameras are good,

but a lot of people get them

that they don't run out of battery

or they're not very good

or they're black and white,

all that stuff verbatim,

as he said to us.

He may not have stopped the broken,

but you would have had a better chance

of not coming in

to wrangling through your car

or looking for a wallet or whatever.

All right, well, thanks

for updating us, buddy.

All good, mate.

Thanks again for the advice.

Good on you.

No, mate, any time.

Cheers.

All right, cheers.

Thanks, mate.

Yeah.

It's really that simple.

I mean, it's terrible,

but that's real world stuff.

You're listening to the EFTM podcast.

Join the conversation.

Head to eftm.com

and click Ask Trev.

I'd love to hear from you.

047657657.

If you want to send me a text

or a WhatsApp,

we'll get you that way.

Producer Rob will be in touch

and we'll get you on the show.

I feel like it was a few weeks ago now

because it was, goodness me,

when we recorded our chat,

it was when I was going down

to the Formula One,

so that was like a few weeks ago.

I don't know which episode of the podcast

you appeared in,

but, Elbrin, you're back on the line, mate.

G'day.

How are you doing?

Mate, not too bad.

How are you?

I'm great.

You had the most complicated

mobile phone porting story

in the history of the world.

I'll try and summarize it for people.

You were with Optus moving to Telstra.

You ported your phone number.

You got all the success messages

and then the phone,

you had a different number on your phone

and it turns out your mobile number

had been ported back to Vodafone

according to someone

who you haven't been with for 20 years

and you basically lost your phone number.

And I think you're a tradie.

Lost it.

People couldn't call you.

I was so worried

because that was the most wild thing.

We unleashed everyone onto this.

I sent your details to Vodafone.

I sent your details to Telstra.

What's happened, man?

Mate, couldn't thank you enough

for whatever you did.

The amount of wheels you got turning so quick,

within a few hours of sending

whatever you sent,

I had new claim numbers coming through.

I had Telstra contact me straight away.

Within 24 hours,

there was someone on the case

who sorted it out.

Apparently,

there were three different systems.

My number was showing somewhere else on every system.

No one else had the capability to fix it

except for this one bloke.

But whoever you got to in Telstra

would have been someone at the top.

Mate, sorted it out.

Because it's too hard to explain.

Because it was too hard to explain

whatever he did, I don't know.

But all I know is within 24 hours, mate,

you had it sorted after five weeks of hell,

raising hell.

Mate, I can't thank you enough.

Mate, I'm so pleased

because I was worried for you

because it's obviously your business phone.

You'd have to change your number.

That's just insane to have to do that,

especially given you've had the number for so long.

And isn't it funny that

it's like, mate, I can't even begin to explain

to you what went wrong.

Just trust me, I'm fixing it.

Is that basically the message you got?

That was pretty much.

Because I actually asked what actually was the issue.

And you couldn't really explain it.

He just said, what I did to fix it,

because we don't know how anyone to do.

He, like, somehow manually had to reset the number,

which he was saying they're not allowed to do.

He goes, but I'm assuming

because he's at the top of Telstra.

He can do what he wants.

I don't know.

But he reset it and got it back within 24 hours.

Unbelievable.

And it was working.

You could make calls.

Yeah, working.

I've had calls, nonstop calls for the past week.

Business is rolling in just before Christmas.

Like, honestly, thank you enough.

Man, I'm so glad I'm relieved.

You know what?

I didn't doubt that it could be fixed.

I just doubted how quickly we'd find the number,

you know, given what you said about people not really knowing.

And I think you told me that some company had said

it wasn't in the holding pen where stuff goes

and, you know, it wasn't in the deleted phone numbers.

And, you know, it was basically lost.

Yeah, lost.

Lost.

And I tried to stress to the guys all about the complaints

program, like the complaint system that Telstra has as well,

which whatever, like, I'm so over it now.

I'm just happy that the number's back.

Thank you again a million times.

I'm so happy I found, like, I've been listening to the podcast

for a while.

I thought I'd give it a go.

I didn't know if this was something you'd be interested

in chasing up, but mate, unbelievable.

Can't fix every problem, but glad we could fix yours, mate.

Even the hard ones, right?

Thank you again, mate.

Merry Christmas.

You deserve a prosperous business over the Christmas period,

mate.

Thank you very much.

You too, mate.

You enjoy your break.

Don't ever hesitate to get in touch with any other problem

you've got, mate.

We'll help you out.

Appreciate it.

Cheers, mate.

There you go.

I'm so glad.

I was quite relieved when I found out that worked.

And a shout out to Steve at Telstra, who took my call,

to Mitchell at TBG Vodafone, who also took the call on the email

without hesitation.

They both investigated.

Vodafone quickly came back and said,

we don't have a record of it.

So they didn't feel like it was at their end.

And obviously Telstra escalated it to the right people

to get him his number back.

So there you go.

It's a Christmas miracle.

You're listening to the EFTM podcast.

Join the conversation.

Head to eftm.com and click Ask Trev.

All right.

Get in touch any time you want.

0-4-7-6-5-7-6-5-7.

Sally's on the line.

Look at that, Sally.

Hello.

Up in the beautiful Blue Mountains, are you, Sally?

Yes.

Love it.

Except it's a little hot for the Blue Mountains.

Oh, no.

That's so weird.

Yes.

We don't like that.

We don't like that in the mountains.

Nine today.

Yeah.

What can I do for you?

Over the last, oh, I suppose.

I don't know.

A matter of weeks, I found I can't send any photos

from my iPad or iPhone to an Android phone.

They won't go.

But they did before?

Yes.

Interesting.

So they're text messages, obviously.

You're sending an SMS through the Messages app, are you?

Yes.

And it's a fact that there's a photo with it

that it won't go.

All right.

But it definitely did work before.

Oh, yes.

And this is the case on your...

So let's just forget the iPad for a minute.

Let's deal entirely with the phone.

So you've got an iPhone connected to which network?

Yes.

TPG.

Okay.

And when you send a message to someone on an iPhone,

it comes up blue and it works fine.

When you send a message to someone on an Android,

it's green and it doesn't work with a photo.

That's correct?

Yeah.

It says try again, try again.

Okay.

Yeah.

So, I mean, it's stupid and obvious question,

but have you turned the phone completely off?

Oh, yes.

Yes, it does get turned off.

Okay.

Because it's a weird thing,

but turn it off, turn it back on again.

Often works.

In your case,

what you're missing is what we call a carrier setting,

a network setting.

Now, there's a couple of ways you can fix that,

hopefully.

One of them is to reset your network settings.

Now, it's in the Apple settings.

If you go reset, if you type reset,

there's a reset network settings option

in the settings.

So, if you go into settings under transfer or reset,

it comes up with a big long list on the screen,

and one of them is reset network settings.

Now, if you click that,

it will forget your Wi-Fi network.

It'll disconnect from your mobile network for a minute,

and then it'll reconnect.

So, you'll probably have to put your Wi-Fi password

back in again,

but hopefully it'll download the settings correctly

from TPG,

and then you can test sending an SMS,

an MMS, a picture message

to someone on an Android phone.

So, where abouts do I find this reset net?

If you open up settings on an iPhone.

I'll open settings, yes.

And then the best way to find anything on an iPhone

is to search.

So, if your search bar is down the bottom,

search there,

it might be up the top on the old system.

Sometimes you swipe down,

but if you search for reset,

you'll scroll down there

and you'll see reset network settings,

and that'll come up with the option there for you.

Okay, thank you very much.

Now, if that doesn't work, honestly,

I think you need to go to a Vodafone store,

a TPG Vodafone store,

and say to them exactly what's happening,

and hopefully they can force,

or you can ring them on the tech support,

and they can hopefully force the setting

to be sent to your phone.

It hasn't had anything since sort of the last upgrade.

Could that have done it?

It could be,

and that's why it may be that the network settings

didn't be sent through,

and I don't know why they weren't,

but hopefully what I've recommended to you

will force that through,

and if it doesn't,

get in touch with TPG

and they can send them through to your phone directly.

That's lovely.

Thank you so much for your help.

My pleasure, Sally.

Merry Christmas.

Thank you.

Cheers.

Bye-bye.

Thanks for getting in touch.

This is the EFTM podcast.

Great to have you company.

Thank you for listening.

I appreciate it,

and we'll be back with one more episode

next week.

It's my birthday on Sunday,

and it's Jackson's birthday on Tuesday,

and that's when the next episode of the EFTM podcast

will come out,

and that'll be the last episode for the year.

We're going to talk to the CEO of Boost Mobile

next week about how they're travelling,

and of course there'll be your calls and more.

If you want to get in touch, please do.

Please take the time and effort

to send us an email via eftm.com

and click Ask Trev,

or of course you can send us a text

nice and easy.

0477657657,

we'd love to hear from you.

Any time you like,

that's what we're here for, of course.

This is the EFTM podcast.

Thank you.

Ford Ranger

About this episode

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