There’s one thing that I just don’t get about pre-paid. You pay someone money for something – either an amount of time to talk on a phone or an amount of data – and it’s yours to do with as you see fit. Until that stuff that you paid money for expires after 30 days. Well, David Flynn over at APC tells us that Telstra is making its iPad plans a little bit better value by allowing customers to roll over excess data for an extra 30 days if you top up before your credit expires.
In typical Telstra fashion though, it’s not a simple process. There are two different rates for data depending on how much data you recharge with and the amount of data rolled over is based on a dollar value not a data value.
If you’re as confused as we are, check out the APC story – there’s a fairly solid breakdown of the rollover policy over there.
[APC Mag]
Thepengwin
Tuesday, May 18, 2010 at 11:40 AMPrepaid data credit should not expire, especially in a device like the iPod Touch XL.
I think its different if the device is actually for making and receiving calls, as you cant expect telcos to continue your phone number on their network for free, but the iPad doesn’t make calls.
Dean
Tuesday, May 18, 2010 at 12:15 PM“you cant expect telcos to continue your phone number on their network for free”
Why not? Its just an entry in a database. Its not like they have to buy extra equipment just to host your number. It doesn’t cost the telcos anything to maintain a number. Even if you let you credit expire, you don’t lose your number for up to a year.
The only reason pre-paid credit expires after 30 days is that telcos don’t want to make pre-paid plans more attractive then their monthly post-paid plans.
Adam
Tuesday, May 18, 2010 at 12:07 PMWow, a lot less comments when Telstra does something good! :P
And Nick, thanks for the discussion last week, it is good when a forum like this lets someone like me rant! the internet should be free and open, and i visit this site many times a day, so glad it can still make me smile!
matt
Tuesday, May 18, 2010 at 1:55 PMah yes, same bs they do with the prepaid phones.
if you can’t use 500MB (for example) in one month, how are you going to be able to use the next 500MB + what ever was left over after you recharged, before the next deadline!? more to the point, how does recharging every 30 days make it any different TO A PLAN!!?!?!
just more of the crazy crap the telcos go through to rip you off.
and another thing I just realized:
with prepaid phones, they had a point: even if you use all your credit but $1, if it never expired, you could stay connected to their network forever, receiving calls for free.
but you don’t have that same hax with 3G! all you can do with it is use your data! if you aren’t using your credit, then you aren’t transferring any data! so how is it costing them anything!!
eg: if you buy 30GB, use all but 1MB then don’t use the thing for a year: how has it cost the telcos ANYTHING for that year of inactivity you’ve had!?
ACCC, get em!
PhuzZy
Tuesday, May 18, 2010 at 3:52 PMI just think it’s about time they did plans like this (BIG data with low Call/Text) for Smartphones as well.!!
srw
Tuesday, May 18, 2010 at 5:16 PMIf they don’t make this available to customers with other devices on their network (e.g. android smart phones) I’ll be complaining to the TIO and the ACCC.
TT
Thursday, July 22, 2010 at 11:57 AMPeople (including the author) miss a big point. Try telling your land lord that you went on holidays for a month, didn’t stay in your house, and so should be able to have the next month for free! When you sign up with a teleco you’re RENTING access to the hardware which has to be there for you whether you use it or not (costing the telco money in financing and maintenance). If they don’t have the capacity available, hear people howl about poor service! I’m not saying everyone gets the best bargain deal out of telcos but personally I’m amazed at what we get these days for our comm $ – people should stop whinging and expecting to get things for nothing!