Vodafone Hutchinson’s clearly not that worried about overloading its mobile network if the new data caps it’s just announced are any indication. The company, which claims it’s now got 2.3 million Aussie customers using some kind of mobile broadband service (up a curiously specific 150.2% rise year on year, according to the press release) has announced increased data caps for contract customers on the Vodafone and Three networks.
At the cheap end of town, the $19 cap gets 100MB of included data (previously a hefty $2 per MB with no included data), the $29 cap quadruples its 50MB allowance to 200MB, $49 cap customers get 1.5GB and both $59 and $79 cap customers get 2GB.
As with all telco contracts there’s slight variations for business, unlimited and combo cap customers, as well as differing call inclusions to weigh up, and naturally, a couple of stated pitfalls.
Existing contract customers? You’re stuck with what you’ve got. New or upgrading customers? The new rules apply to 24 month contracts. As always, check the alternatives carefully (Lifehacker’s excellent Planhacker columns are a great place to start) before signing on the dotted line.
Kris
August 30, 2010 at 11:39 AM
They also apply to 12 months, customers on 3 or VF can upgrade plans at anytime by calling there respective care line
Report PermalinkPeter McHardy
August 30, 2010 at 1:02 PM
Still laughably crap.
Report PermalinkAnthony Zeater
August 30, 2010 at 12:48 PM
I’m pretty sure you can just call either 3 or Vodafone up and ask to change your cap without incurring any charges. That’s what I did and managed to get the new data caps :D
Report PermalinkRichard Djordjevic
August 30, 2010 at 2:28 PM
Did you have to extend the contract at the same time though?
Report PermalinkRichard Djordjevic
August 30, 2010 at 8:31 PM
To answer my own question, they let me upgrade…I’m about 13 months into my contract and didn’t have to extend it.
Report PermalinkTimmy Connor
August 30, 2010 at 1:59 PM
Not like you could actually use this amount of data on their crappy network. I used to be Three then moved onto Telstra. Never looked back.
Report PermalinkArthur Lim
August 30, 2010 at 4:21 PM
First the title says prepaid then the article talks about contracts? Brilliant journalism, I say.
Report PermalinkAlex Kidman
August 30, 2010 at 8:10 PM
Fair point, mea culpa. Changed to contract now.
Report PermalinkDaniel
August 30, 2010 at 4:24 PM
Well they can each go and offer as much data as they like, but until they do something about the congestion on their networks you will never get anywhere near using the amount of data they offer.
From about 6 months ago the bandwidth from my USB modem from Three is at a crawl. After 3pm it slows right down and after 6pm you can forget it. The other night my bandwidth was sitting at 820bytes a second. This is fairly typical of what I get now.
My contact expires in two months and will change to ADSL2+ as soon as I can. I have complained to Three and surprisingly they have acknowledged that they have a bandwidth issue in the areas where I am using my Three internet. They kindly offered to transfer my internet to Vodafone which I refused (after testing the bandwidth by tethering my Vodafone mobile phone. Get same results). They then offered to cancel my account at their cost.
Was a great product when I first got it. Remember sitting on a train platform with my laptop and getting 420kb/s downloading software using download manager. Suited my needs nicely.
Report PermalinkDavid Anderton
August 31, 2010 at 3:36 PM
Still crap compared to Virgin smartcaps….
$29=1gb
$39=1.5gb
$49=2gb
etc….
Report PermalinkSalmonpie
August 31, 2010 at 4:18 PM
I am in a 24 month contract and Vodafone emailed me offering the new caps so now I have 2gb a month that I hardly use
Report PermalinkTom Reynolds
September 2, 2010 at 7:53 PM
This is rubbish. No rewards for existing customers. CHURN.
Report PermalinkIf my ISP (iinet) can roll out upgraded plans to existing customers (we started out on 60gig, now on 200gig with no cost change), then why do mobile companies screw us over?
Oh that’s right, we’re on contract.
With iinet, I am free to go when I like, so they care.
Darren Smith
September 13, 2010 at 1:57 PM
Existing customers can absolutely be switched to new plans for free without extending the contract, you just have to ask. You can do this if the new spend is the same or higher than the current contract. Vodafone don’t automatically switch you because it is a contract that you’ve signed and sometimes the new plans have different call charges or bonus offers etc that might be less valuable for your particular circumstances
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