Let’s Take a Closer Look At Optus’ iPhone Pricing: Pre-paid
The Intertubes have failed! Within half an hour of Optus’ pricing release going up, the site has become overloaded with people trying to find out how much it will cost. Fortunately for you, we’re about to take a closer look at those pricing deals right here, right now.
From the get go, it’s clear that Optus has planned a scattergun approach for their pricing deals, hoping to take out as many potential customers as possible. There are three different alternatives available: Pre-paid, post-paid cap plans or post-paid “yes” plans.
Let’s start with the pre-paid. To buy the phone outright, you’re going to be forking over $729 of your hard-earned for the 8GB model or $849 for the 16GB model. There are five different Turbo caps available, starting at $30 and going all the way up to $100. They obviously have a heap of value with them – like the standard cap plans – but there are two things that really stand out:First is the fact that you can unlock your iPhone. It will cost you $80 if you do it in the first 6 months (unless you recharge to the value of $80, in which case it’s free. So in theory you can buy your iPhone on an $80 pre-paid cap, use up that credit, then unlock it and move to another carrier. Awesome.
The second thing is that as an incentive to go pre-piad, optus is offering unlimited data until August 31. From my understanding of the terms and conditions (feel free to
correct me if I’m wrong here), but outside of this data allowance, you’ll get 1GB to start with if you opt for the $40 or more cap plan, plus an undisclosed amount of extra data everytime you top up ($40 or more). That’s a little too ambiguious for my liking, especially when the going rate for iZoo data (is that any different to standard data?)
is 2.2 cents per Kilobit.
All-in-all, this rates about what we were expecting, although the data levels just aren’t right. We’re not sure how the other networks will go on data, but if you are thinking of using your iPhone as a portable computer, you might want to avoid pre-paid… at least after August 31.
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Comments
Cant wait til next week! Will prolli buy pre-paid black 16gb
Hello Fellow Australians
Looks like us Aussies are being screwed again over pricing, tarrifs and data plans. Sure, i appreciate that 3G iphone is a premium consumer device, but seriously $849 for 16GB. This just looks like pure greed from one of our big 3 mobile carriers.
What happened to US$199 and US$299 pricing? What happened to the promise from Steve Jobs in his keynote address that 3G iPhone would be made more accessible to a broader range of people.
This seems like a bit of a ‘knife in the back’ for Australian Apple consumers who currently pay in excess of a 30% premium over US for Apple products anyway?
I’m keen to know whether Apple Australia will be releasing pricing information for the 3G iPhone shortly?
Looks like the grey import market for iphone in australia will be as buoyant as ever….
Notice that the prepay and postpay cap plans include data. The $50 prepay cap includes 500 megs of interwebs plus tree-fiddy worth of credit. Bonza.
Great job, Optus. I’m sure lots of people will adopt handsets like this when that CAN’T use HALF THE FEATURES because of the download cost! The brits and yanks are laughing at us. How long have 3g handsets been around? and how long are we expected to wait?
You’d be better off getting a 1st gen iphone, or just an ipod and an old samsung mobile. you’d get about as much internet experience from them.
Erin, you haven’t noticed that stabbing aussies in the back has been apple’s favourite sport for the past 10 years? stab the dirty colonials, coddle the yanks. remember being the last country to get itunes?
i guess they think there’s more money over there… in for a rude shock.
with the data plans, you’d be better off getting a slower 1st gen. if you can’t use the data (affordably), why get a 3g handset?
Seriously thinking about buying the prepaid, topping $80 for the free unlock the moving back to 3. That way i get my usual $29 cap and can get 1gb of xseries data for $20.
Here’s hoping Vodafone learn from this.
@Erin, what you don’t understand is that the iPhone 3G in the US will be $199/$299 WITH a 24 month contract at no less than $69.99 a month. We actually get a much greater range of plans including low(er) cost plans and prepaid. Do some research next time.
Erin, you do realise that the $199 US pricing was with a two year contract at a minimum of $US 60 a month? the $729 doesn’t have any any contract. A fairer comparison would be to the yes $49 plan which is $57 a month but the phone is free.
Of course the data pricing still sucks.
What’s to stop you signing up on post-paid $19 cap for 12 months, cancelling immediately, for $280 and then going prepaid? Seems like a much cheaper way to get a 16GB. Or am I missing something?
@TRENT you are missing the handset repayments.
@Trent, I think (I could be wrong tho’) you will have to pay off the reminder of the payments for the iPhone itself:
From the site: “If you choose to pay the cost of your handset by the monthly handset payment option or choose a 12 or 24 month plan and you cancel your Optus Mobile service or it is disconnected for any reason, or you switch carriers within your minimum term (“Termination”) you will be required to pay the remaining amount on your phone, if any, plus applicable “Termination Fees”.”
This means that in your example the total you would have to pay is:
$19(first month plan) + $61(first month iphone payment) + $280(termination fee) + $671(remaining iphone)
Which is a grand total of $1031
So in the end you’d be quite a bit worse off.
Rich
@ trent, unless I have misread something, its because you have to pay $59 additional a month for the phone on the $19 post paid.
I dont imagine cancelling immediately will be an option.
Thank you Optus, as a recent arrival to the country I am beginning to see the australian way of overpricing.
I think this has almost made up my mind to import. I’m just waiting for Vodafone can seal the deal.
2.2 cents per Kilobit???
Thats $176 per meg!
If that was my ADSL2 internet plan, right now Id be sitting on $1,843,776!!!
Trent, with the $19 cap for 12 months you also pay $61 handed repayments per month ($80/month)x12=$960+$80 unlock=$1040
@Trent,
This is exactly what I said in the first thread about Optus pricing…
I think the $19 cap is the way to go. It’s what i’ll be doing if there’s no early termination fee and Vodachode don’t offer a better deal.
(Voda *usually* unlocks handsets for free)
@ TRENT You would also have to pay the full cost of the handset as the $19p/m doesn’t include handset repayments. So yeah, you are missing something.
Erin, and to all those complaining about the prices. You have misunderstood the US pricing.
The US pricing is with AT&T and only when you sign for a 24 month contract. You would notice that unlocked iphones on other US carriers are pretty much the same price we are offering here.
Considering an itouch is $399, you pretty much paying an $330 for the ability to access the internet via 3g using OSX and Safari, send emails, take pictures and make phone calls.
What phone for that price can give you full html access to the internet using a decent browser?
I am a current Optus customer, and from talking to the people around me who are also with Optus, it seems there are many disgruntled and angered customers. I will not be buying the iPhone. Absolute disgrace to the company. Bad deals, bad pricing, and we’ve been waiting for this release for a long time. Pity on Optus Singtel.
I remember when Optus Pre-Paid used to have Free GPRS/WAP back in the day when the Nokia 7250 was released. I used to download ringtones and search google for porn. If you want my opinion, I think they should make 3g Data free. Maybe charge extra for calls to make up the money or something. But if they did make 3g Data free, they would sell heeeeeaps more plans and probably be in the same financial position as they were before.
Ok guys so heres what im wondering. Telstra plans are crap but they do have the best coverage and im already on one of their cap plans which im happy with. if i get a prepaid iphone from optus, get it unlocked…will it be a simple matter of just slipping my telstra sim into the phone and away i got like i would with a normal phone?
when i activate the unlocked iphone with itunes thats not going to try and sign me up on one of telstras new contracts is it?
I really just want to use my current sim and plan on a new iphone :) any help?
Steve Jobs is fooling consumers. Halfprice but with a catch on the monthly plans! Even if you can get the iphone outright, it still is expensive and lacking on a lot of features, ie: cant make video calls, cant send MMS, etc. What a waste!