Three Now Lets You Buy A Year’s Worth Of Prepaid Mobile Internet
One of the main reasons I won’t go near prepaid mobile internet options is because I hate not getting what I pay for. I mean, if I buy 1GB worth of data, I should be able to use that 1GB whenever I want, not just within the next 30 days. And although that’s unlikely to change with any of the networks in the near future, 3 has just slightly improved the situation by offering pre-paid mobile internet that has a 365 day expiration period.
For $149, you get 12GB of data that you can use any time you wish over the next 12 months. Of course, you’ll also have to pick yourself up an internet key ($129) to use the service, but that’s not too bad. And if you, unlike me, reckon you could fly through your mobile data within 30 days, there are also a heap of other options for you, which are detailed below the fold…- $15 (500MB)
- $29 (2GB)
- $49 (4GB)
All four of these pre-paid options (including the 12GB, $149 option) include 10 SMS messages as well as the data. Which kind of sucks for the big plan: 12GB, 365 days and only 10 SMS messages? They could have at least jacked it up to 20…
Get more on the go with 3 Mobile Broadband Prepaid
3 offers Internet Key for $129 and a choice of recharge options including $29 for 2GB
SYDNEY, 11 November 2008 – 3 has expanded its Mobile Broadband offering with Mobile Broadband Prepaid – offering fast, flexible and great value internet access without the hassle of being tied to a fixed line.
Available from Wednesday, 12th November, 3’s Mobile Broadband Prepaid recharge options include $15 for 500MB of data, $29 for 2GB and $49 for 4GB with a 30 day expiry. And in a market first, 3’s customers can choose to prepay their internet for a year by paying $149 for 12GB which comes with a massive 12-month expiry. With Christmas around the corner, it’s bound to be a great gift option.
“3’s customers want user-friendly, affordable internet on-the-go and by extending our mobile broadband offering to include Prepaid we’ve now got a complete range of internet solutions for our customers,” said Noel Hamill, Director Sales, Marketing & Product at 3.
“3’s Mobile Broadband Prepaid gives customers the freedom and flexibility to enjoy the internet on their own terms,” he said.
Making 3 Mobile Broadband Prepaid more attractive than ever, 3 has revamped its Internet Key modem, so customers can surf in style by picking from a modem with a splash of green, orange or blue.
The Internet Key modem slots into a USB port for instant wireless broadband access and is available with a prepaid starter kit for just $129. The prepaid starter kit comes with 100MB of data. It’s compact size and true plug and play experience allows users to insert it into a Mac or Windows PC for simple Internet access and ultimate mobility.
Easy Recharge
For recharge options, customers can choose from one of the following three ways;Use a credit card online (on My3 directly from the connection manager)
Set up auto recharge online, by setting the recharge amount on a preferred day of the month
Purchase a voucher from a 3 Store, 3 Dealer or at over 15,000 participating outlets nationallyRecharges have a 30 day expiry period except for the $149 recharge which has a 365 day expiry period.
Where to Buy
Get hooked up with 3’s Mobile Broadband Prepaid from Wednesday, 12th November 2008 at 3 Stores and 3 Dealers across Australia, Mo’s Mobiles, Allphones, Dick Smith Electronics, Tandy, Powerhouse and BIG W, www.three.com.au or by calling 133 907.
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Comments
nice
I just talked to one of the 3-Store peons, and I’m informed that the Three prepaid simcards will work in any phone that doubles as a wireless modem.
I had the misfortune of deciding to purchase a 12Gb prepaid broadband key as advertised on http://store.three.com.au/prepaidbroadband/Internet-Key-Orange-plus-Data at $249. At the time, there was nothing on the website to say that this was a “web-only” deal so, rather than mess around with postage I elected to visit a 3 shop in Westfield Parramatta.
After a considerable wait I was finally served, and the “manager” – though who he was managing because he was the only one left in the store, I don’t know – informed me that the key would cost $129 and the 12Gb credit would cost $149, thus giving me a total of $278. I told him about the deal on the website and he looked at the page. He admitted that there was no indication that this was a “web-only” deal but he was not going to sell it for that price.
Later that day I logged on to the internet and ordered online. The website asked for a billing address, for which I entered my home address and then a delivery address for which I entered my work address.
A few days later I arrived home from work to find an “Australian Air Express” card in my letterbox telling me that they had been unable to deliver and I have to pick up the item 30km away in Greenacre. I assumed that this was the Three item, but was not sure so I called AAE. The lady I spoke to did not know the origin of the item but informed me that she could reschedule delivery and asked me for my work address, which I gave to her. She told me that it would probably take two days.
I was unexpectedly off work 2 days later and there was a knock at my door and it was a courier with the broadband key, so again they had managed to deliver to the wrong place.
I plugged the key in, installed the software and expected to register my credit voucher and away you go. Unfortunately the broadband key had other ideas, and told me that it could not find a SIM card. I rang “Customer Service” and spent approximately 45 mins on the phone to India explaining my predicament, to somebody who kept asking me if I had ordered a SIM card and telling me how there should have been one in the box. He even went to the point of asking me if there was a “plastic card with some gold contacts on the back”, in the box – as if I did not know what a SIM car looked like. I was asked for the IMEI number and was told that they had no record of selling me this unit, so he kept putting me on hold whilst he repeated thing I told him to some higher being.
Anyway, I was starting to get a touch annoyed by his inability to help me and he told me that he would get someone from Sales to call me later.
On Sunday night, after nobody had called, I called 3’s subcontinental “Customer Service” centre again. This time, after reading out the IMEI number and was again told that they had no record of selling me this unit again, the lady told me that all I needed to do was go into a 3 shop and obtain a blank SIM card (which would be available for free), and give customer service a ring, and 20 mins into the call, I hung up believing that the plight was nearly over.
On monday, I again spent my lunchtime going to Westfield Parramatta (this time to a different 3 shop), where after discussing my predicament to the side of an assistant’s head as she stared at her computer screen, she shouted over to another assistant to “do a SIM replacement”. This assistant then handed me a SIM card whilst talking to someone else and I walked out of the shop thankful that, although treated with absolutely no customer service, I was in receipt of a SIM card.
I arrived back at work and plugged it all in, then rang Bangalore again, and spoke to yet another person who valued my call. I did the obligatory reading out the IMEI number and was yet again told that they had no record of selling me this unit. I told him that I was aware of that, but the fact is that they had sold me it, and I was now eager for it to work. After about 20 mins I was flick passed to another “Customer Service” representative. She asked me all the usual questions and asked for the phone number associated with the SIM card. I said that there was not one. She said it was printed on the SIM card holder. I said it were not. She told me again that it was and told me to look closer. If I had not grabbed a passing colleague I to corroborate my story, I think that she would still be telling me that there was a number on the card. She told me that, due to the fact that she had no record of the item being sold to me, that she would get Sales to contact me in about 48 hours. This kind of incited me a touch and I gave her a potted history of events to date and explained that I was not willing to let this debacle go on any longer. She reassessed her position and told me that I needed to go to a 3 shop and sign up for $20 prepaid card, and that the unit I had bought was intended for existing customers using their existing SIM cards and that this is why there was a price differential between the online store and the shop in Westfield. By this time, however, they had updated their website (I assume thanks to my call to the Telecom Ombudsman) to reflect that this was an online price. I explained that, having wedged the SIM card into the little sliding drawer of the unit, I can tell her that only a moron would take the card out of his phone every time he wanted to use the internet, and try and force the card into this badly proportioned drawer. Until I read out the entire contents of the 3 sections of the web page’s “more details” on the item and explained how there was no mention of this, she maintained that this was true. She then told me that there was nothing that she could do and that Sales would contact me in 2 days. I told her in that case that I wished to return the unit for a refund. She told me I can’t. I told her I could. She bizarrely asked me to “give them another chance”. I relented and said that if 3 compensate me for the time, effort and stress that this is causing me, then I may keep the unit.
So now, it appears that I will wait until Wednesday, to be messed around further.
I assume though, as they have no record of selling me this unit, that they also have no record of sending me this unit. Maybe I should just ring up again and complain that it has not been delivered.