Question for Aussie iPhone Users

[marcoVU]

So I am visiting some family in Perth for Christmas and then spending New Years in Sydney. I have a jailbroken US iPhone and I plan on installing ultrasn0w before I leave on my trip. I have a couple questions about using my iPhone 4 while visiting and I would appreciate any input.

1) Do any carriers sell prepaid SIM cards (micro or not) that will work for data on the iPhone while I am visiting? I plan on running skype or fring or google voice in the background so people can call if necessary and I am also not disconnecting from home/work.

2) Are these prepaid data plans expensive (I don't care about voice since I may use it once or twice)?

3) Is there a difference in terms of coverage between carriers?

I would love to get a SIM card before leaving here, but I am sure the Sydney Airport has a few places I can grab one. If there are not any prepaid data plans then I may rent and XCom Global mifi and carry that, but I would like to carry a minimal amount of devices.

I went to some websites of the carriers (Optus, Vodafone, Telstra...), but couldn't find any good answers there, so I figured to ask the knowledgeable people of MacRumors.

Thanks for any input guys.

 

[abc123]

1) Do any carriers sell prepaid SIM cards (micro or not) that will work for data on the iPhone while I am visiting? I plan on running skype or fring or google voice in the background so people can call if necessary and I am also not disconnecting from home/work.

Pretty much all the major telcos offer prepaid phone services with data. From memory: telstra, optus, virgin, vodafone all have prepaid options with data. I've also heard some cases of people using prepaid ipad sims in the iphone without problems but I believe these services are usually charged in 1mb blocks which may not work so well with push notifications.

2) Are these prepaid data plans expensive (I don't care about voice since I may use it once or twice)?

I'm not sure how much data you are looking for or what 'expensive' is. I pay $30/month with telstra and get just shy of 1GB of data and all the calls/text that I need.

3) Is there a difference in terms of coverage between carriers?

Yes. Telstra by far has the best network and coverage. Optus has decent coverage but the network is overloaded, especially in built up areas. Virgin also runs on the optus network so suffers from the same problems and I don't have experience with vodafone so don't know there. If you want reliable data access then telstra really is your best option, on the downside they have the most pitiful customer service.

see here for information about telstra's prepaid mobile phone plans: http://www.telstra.com.au/mobile/prepaid/prepaid-offers/?red=/mobile/prepaid/latestoffers/cap-plus
with prepaid plans on telstra you can also spend your credit on extra packs, e.g. if you buy $30 in credit you can then spend that $30 on extras and this is where your extra data comes from. see here for the extras: http://www.telstra.com.au/mobile/prepaid/extras.html

these are telstra's prepaid mobile broadband options: http://www.telstra.com.au/bigpond-internet/mobile-broadband/prepaid/rates/

or finally, telstra's prepaid ipad sims (best value but technically I think the terms and conditions state that they have the right to change the data price if they discover you are not using an ipad): http://www.telstra.com.au/bigpond-internet/mobile-broadband/micro-sim-for-apple-ipad/

 

[tiartrop]

1) Yep, they do these days. You can request for a micro sim card if needed but I’m not sure if you can activate that for a prepaid plan.

2) Shouldn't be more expensive than US prepaid plans. I recently paid 40 USD for 30 mb for data with T-Mobile. I paid 30 AUD for a Vodafone prepaid and got 100 mb, though according to the website I can get up to 500 mb now. Sim card usually costs you $2-$4, but you can get them free sometimes (I got mine free from Optus through their website. Knowing you have relatives in Perth you can always send it there first).

3) Telstra has the best coverage but also the most expensive, I don't think you need it unless you plan to travel to the outback area. I use Three, Vodafone and Optus, so far I like Voda best, in term of coverage.

With Sydney Airport, it's depending on which terminal. The international terminal has a Vodafone counter and other newsagents, but I’m not sure they’re in the domestic terminals, and these terminals aren’t withing walking distance.

 

[marcoVU]

abc123 and tiartrop, thank you both very much. Lots of good useful information. I am going to sift through the Telstra site a bit more and see if I can weigh my options. abc, the point about people using the iPad sim card is a good one and may be the way to go for me if all else fails.

Again, I really appreciate the info. I'm going to check out the airports and terminals since I arrive international and then take Qantas to Perth. Can't wait to get there.