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Optus Announces iPhone 3G Pricing in Australia
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There isn't really a direct translation to minutes, these plans have a flagfall, you pay when the call connects, then a fee for each block 30sec.
So it really depends on your average call time.
$50 of calls is the $19cap plan.
a 1minute call will be $1.29. So 38 1 minute calls no text.
or 100 text and 19 1 minute calls
Pricing
Just to clarify for those that don't understand the "cap" Pricing system
Most of the better value plans in australia are called cap plans.
In the Optus plan you can choose the $79 cap plan for which you get $550 calls, text, voicemail etc.
Texts are charged at $0.25 each
Calls are charged at $0.35 per 30 seconds (+25 Cent flag fall) for OUTGOING calls ONLY (incoming calls are free)
So you can spend up to $550 in any combo of the above and only pay $79.
Just to clarify for those that don't understand the "cap" Pricing system
Most of the better value plans in australia are called cap plans.
In the Optus plan you can choose the $79 cap plan for which you get $550 calls, text, voicemail etc.
Texts are charged at $0.25 each
Calls are charged at $0.35 per 30 seconds (+25 Cent flag fall) for OUTGOING calls ONLY (incoming calls are free)
So you can spend up to $550 in any combo of the above and only pay $79.
I'm assuming it means you won't be allowed to shop at the iTunes Store via your internet connection on iPHone. To buy songs and movies and stuff off iTunes, you need to do it on your computer, and then transfer the songs or movies onto your iPhone.
Yeah, it's strange because in a way, Australian mobile companies want it to be as confusing as possible. They (used to?) want to rip you off as much as possible, and this is how they do it. They charge calls per 30 seconds, and so a 1 minute phone call costs you more than $1 (2 x approximately $0.40 + $0.30 flagfall). If you make a long phone call, it works out cheaper, but who does that often? My calls are for 30 seconds to 2 minutes.
Anyway, this is why you pay $50, but get $300 worth of credit. I realize it doesn't make sense. You pay $50, get $50 worth of credit, but divide the rates they give you by 6. They only started advertising the "Buy X, get Y" deals because mobile phone charges started costing less less, and instead of adjusting the call rates to reflect that, they just kept them the same and told people that for $50, you get $300.
Anyway, it's not so bad, but it would be good to know how this works out in minutes, wouldn't it? Also, we don't get unlimited weeknights and/or weekends. We get other deals.
Ridiculous!
How ridiculous that you deleted my post. just because mine was the first post, and saying "ridiculous". How ****ing lame is that?
What's up with this? Whoever deleted my post, the first post on this topic. I am calling you out! I just want to know why. and please don't tell me i can't use the word ridiculous.
How ridiculous that you deleted my post. just because mine was the first post, and saying "ridiculous". How ****ing lame is that?
What's up with this? Whoever deleted my post, the first post on this topic. I am calling you out! I just want to know why. and please don't tell me i can't use the word ridiculous.
Finnish iPhone prices
TeliaSonera announced voice & data plans for iPhone just the other day. Apparently there will be no unlimited data plan. The 1GB (with voice) costs 89.99 euros/month. IMHO, it's a steal (from the user). 90 x 12 = 1080 euros/year, and for the two year subscription it would be 2160 euros. Is it comparable to the prices in the US? Elsewhere?
TeliaSonera announced voice & data plans for iPhone just the other day. Apparently there will be no unlimited data plan. The 1GB (with voice) costs 89.99 euros/month. IMHO, it's a steal (from the user). 90 x 12 = 1080 euros/year, and for the two year subscription it would be 2160 euros. Is it comparable to the prices in the US? Elsewhere?
No. 
I thought Finland generally got the best mobile phone rates, highest uptake of users, and your population got their first mobile phone at an average age 11? I saw that on the news like 6 years ago.
I figured Finland would have cheap rates.
I thought Finland generally got the best mobile phone rates, highest uptake of users, and your population got their first mobile phone at an average age 11? I saw that on the news like 6 years ago.
I figured Finland would have cheap rates.
Having just looked through Optus' site, I'm still confused with what their prepaid TurboCap actually offers. So if you buy a $50 recharge, you get $50 plus $270 "bonus" credit, but it all expires in a month anyway, and then you need to recharge again. Plus $50 that you can spend if you are calling nominated Optus numbers. Argh. Overly complicated...
Having monthly expiry dates completely ruins the point of pre-paid in my mind, you may as well be on a monthly contract. When I was in Australia, I stuck to Virgin Mobile as you could spend your $50 or $100 and the credits lasted a year (or until you used them of course), and if you recharged (even a smaller amount) they'd extend further. Perfect for those who make few calls (VoIP FTW).
Having monthly expiry dates completely ruins the point of pre-paid in my mind, you may as well be on a monthly contract. When I was in Australia, I stuck to Virgin Mobile as you could spend your $50 or $100 and the credits lasted a year (or until you used them of course), and if you recharged (even a smaller amount) they'd extend further. Perfect for those who make few calls (VoIP FTW).
No.
I thought Finland generally got the best mobile phone rates, highest uptake of users, and your population got their first mobile phone at an average age 11? I saw that on the news like 6 years ago.
I figured Finland would have cheap rates.
Well, you might be right, at least about the high adoption and low ave age. But you know how those labels stick sometimes, long after things have changed
The iPhone plans seem quite expensive to me. And with no unlimited data, it would be a high-worry-affair. Or what do you guys say, is 1GB enough for reading email and browsing regularly on an iPhone? I somewhat doubt it.
In Finland the iPhone will be sold only through TeliaSonera, which is sad, because there will be no competition. And if there ever was an industry that needed competition, that would be phone companies.
They have always been overcharging, and it's become even more obvious in the cellular age (even though cellular technology is cheaper to install and maintain than the old tech, at least that's what I've heard
). Of course, the price is because of demand, but it's still annoying.I wish VoIP in some form would force them to rethink.
Three the other telco has been trying to get the iPhone on there network. This is what they have said on there blog:
www.three.com.au/iphone
www.three.com.au/iphone
Here is The Optus wifi hotspot. Pretty pathestic compard to Telstra it must be said
https://rego.optusnet.com.au/wireless/locations.html
https://rego.optusnet.com.au/wireless/locations.html
This really would be a bad thing. Hasn't anyone learnt anything about monopolies from Microsoft in the 90's?
Apple stuff is, Optus, however...
Just a by the by, even with the stupidly low data rates, you are still unable to view how much of the data limit you have used.
At $0.35 per MB over the allowance, some people are going to get some nasty surprises.
That's as cheap or cheaper than most wired ISPs offer.
This is a giant leap for Australian data... broadband is expensive because of Telstra and the way they monopolise the cabling, and also because, well, Australia is an expensive company for telecommunications! Population density isn't particularly high...
I've never bothered to use data access on any of the phones I've owned, because EDGE is too slow and the rates are insane. When we get "$300 talk and text for $40!!!111", data has no role in that. It's charged separately at the insane rate of 1.1c to 2.2c/KB, depending on the day of the week. To put that into perspective, that's $22.53/MB to download on a weekday.
And now Optus is offering data at 3G speeds for 35c/MB? Ffs guys, quit your bitching and enjoy what the iPhone has given Australia.
I don't get it. Really. I'm not an idiot, but I don't understand the very specific details of mobile phone use.
You buy the 16 GB iPhone for $850, and you unlock it for $80. You're still stuck choosing between 3-4 companies that all offer the iPhone.
So lets say you select the $50 Turbo Cap pre-paid option. This pre-paid plan expires after 30 days, so technically, it's similar to a monthly plan since you need to recharge every 30 days. But since you've purchased the iPhone and you enjoy your $50/month service, you think you'll continue paying the $50/month for the life of the iPHone. In this case, why not just pay $200 for the iPhone and sign for a 2 year plan? You pay the same monthly fee, you get the iPhone for free, or for very little cost, and you get a better plan for that price, and you don't need to pay the extra $600 for a locked iPhone. And besides, if you want to unlock your $200 iPhone after your 2 year plan is finished, you can for only $80.
Please correct me if I'm wrong, but to be able to sign up for a 2 year, or whatever, plan you would need to pass a credit check. This won't be a problem for many users, I guess, but there are definitely others who won't feel confident of passing such a check. I be one such user, unfortunately. As a result pre-paid may be my only option. For this reason I'm glad to at least have the pre-paid option available in the event I decide to shell out for an iPhone.
Great
For once folks, we are getting a BETTER, much better deal than the Americans. Stop whining folks, these prices are GOOD, at least for post-paid.
The only thing I'm confused about is what is the difference between "Cap" plans and plain "Yes" plans. I can see the various numbers are different, but is there something major I'm missing? Looks to me like the Cap plans are just plain worse, but I must be missing something important that differentiates them.
For once folks, we are getting a BETTER, much better deal than the Americans. Stop whining folks, these prices are GOOD, at least for post-paid.
The only thing I'm confused about is what is the difference between "Cap" plans and plain "Yes" plans. I can see the various numbers are different, but is there something major I'm missing? Looks to me like the Cap plans are just plain worse, but I must be missing something important that differentiates them.
the call rates, flagfall, sms are cheaper, international calls and national calls at the same rate, and at some levels more data is included (than the same priced cap plan)
but yeah, i think the yes cap plans look like the much better deal!
Yeah, the cap plans ALWAYS look better. I don't understand why anybody would take the normal Yes Plan?
You don't save much on call rates or anything. It just seems like robbery.
You don't save much on call rates or anything. It just seems like robbery.
I'm looking again at the tables (so many tables, so many numbers!)
Now I see the caps are quite a bit better for free calls, but the non-cap gives you heaps more data for the prices.
Seems like a matter of calls vs data to me. I'd take the data I think since I don't do much calling.
Now I see the caps are quite a bit better for free calls, but the non-cap gives you heaps more data for the prices.
Seems like a matter of calls vs data to me. I'd take the data I think since I don't do much calling.
Yeah, the cap plans ALWAYS look better. I don't understand why anybody would take the normal Yes Plan?
You don't save much on call rates or anything. It just seems like robbery.
people take out the yes plan to get the free calls between friend's mobiles. For example, if I and my wife are on a yes plan, we do not pay (the call is free) when we talk to each other.