Comments on: Optus Unleashes Unlimited Calls And SMS Plans

By: Jon Biddell

Jon Biddell — Tue, 22 Jul 2008 00:44:47 +0000

Look, I agree that it *is* a huge step (matt w), but it's not huge enough !! We get gouged by the telcos enough.

$600 calls is good (Davebear), but at what rate ? How long will $600 last at $0.45/30 seconds ? Does that include per second billing ?

I don't want to have to worry about how much data I'm using AT ALL. Yeah, I probably won't go near the plan limit, but if I do I don't want any nasty surprises.

I'm doing an analysis of all the plans at the moment, but my initial feeling is that it would be cheaper in the long run for me to buy an unlocked iPhone (or unlock one) and get a $50/mo Blackberry data plan from Telstra on top of my voice plan - for that $50 our Blackberrys get unlimited data !

By: matt w

matt w — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 12:13:44 +0000

This is a HUGE step in the right direction guys, I wish you could recognise that. Would you rather limited data or limited calls?

This means you can ditch your home line.

Its an AMAZING plan, so see it as that, not as a sub standard plan as it doesnt offer unlimited data.

Who could have predicted that we would see a plan that sets no limits on talk time or sms messages?

Its not all about the data, so quit complaining when one of the most amazing phone plans ever is released.

By: Chris

Chris — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 10:04:01 +0000

There seems to be no possibility to get this plan with the iphone. It just doesn’t show up on the purchase form.

By: simon

simon — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 09:10:30 +0000

The iphone cannot be put on the timeless plans. Iphones can only be sold on iphone yes/cap plans.

By: faifines

faifines — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 08:21:01 +0000

Unlimited data is the way to go.
Optusnet is able to do this, and so is Telstra.
Make it an introductory offer, and offer a free great model iphone phone every three years for customer loyalty, if they have been with them for a period. Saves on advertising, and keeps us all hoppy!

By: David

David — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 08:04:05 +0000

Having just moved back to oz from Canada, I would take Rogers over any Telco service in Australia…

By: Jase13

Jase13 — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 07:48:36 +0000

Come on Gizmodo. At least $30? I bet a large percentage of your audience is using ADSL, and with most of the major providers the difference between naked and normal DSL is $10-$15. And telstra even offers line rental for $20. So lets get rid of this, ‘loosing a phone line always saves you $30′ crap.

By: Joey jojo

Joey jojo — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 07:23:59 +0000

"It's the only way the iPhone will survive in Australia and get used to its' full potential."

Wanna put some money one this? Only way it will survive? Yeah right! I can tell from your post you don't own an iPhone? Otherwise you would have know the Safari browser does not allow you to download ANY files, as it also has no file manager. Therefore the only downloading you will do is emails, webpages, maps, youtube and the app store.

After having the phone for over a week with Optus's promotion of "unlimited data" for the first month, i have now downloaded just over 100mb. In the first week of owning the phone, ie. the most i'll ever use/show it to friends, i've only downloaded 100mb.

I wish people that are ignorant on the topic would just stay away from posting comments.

By: Stew

Stew — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 06:49:04 +0000

I don't understand how they can say "unlimited phone calls but not data" when voice calls are just data too... And, internet data on a mobile device is low priority compared to voice data in that it's not required to be in real-time, so Australia's tiny data plans & (YES TELSTRA - TALKING TO YOU) don't make any sense whatsoever.

We want the internets! It's not hard, the infrastructure's already there & it shouldn't be anywhere near as expensive as it is!

Then again, we are still paying $0.25 for an SMS, and *that's* also ridiculous (some countries ~$0.02/SMS)

By: Davebear

Davebear — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 05:57:56 +0000

Honestly i am on the 850 meg plan ($89 per month cap plan) and unless i am browsing the net all day it is more than enough.

It gives me $600 of calls and text. I use this for work all it's plenty.

I don't think many reasonable people would use GB yet alone unlimted.