Somebody had to jump first, and in the case of the iPhone 4S, that somebody ended up being Optus, which has chosen Saturday night as the best time to release its pricing model. Gus at Lifehacker’s done the hard work of sorting out the plan values, right after the jump.
More:
- Vodafone Releases iPhone 4S Pricing
- Apple iPhone 4S: Everything You Need To Know
It took a very short period of time for Apple’s own pre-order website to go from “shipping from the 14th” to “1-2 weeks delivery” for those looking for outright purchase, which means lining up for either a carrier plan or purchase is your best option right now if you must have an iPhone 4S on launch day.
Over at Lifehacker, Gus has put together this handy table that runs down the basic plan prices of Optus’ 4S offerings. There’s an interesting mix of value in what they’re pitching — expect it to get even more interesting when Vodafone and Telstra announce their pricing models as well.
[Optus (choose the phone, plan and hit "find out more") via Lifehacker]
Apollo
Saturday, October 8, 2011 at 9:01 PMHoly jesus thats expensive. Typical Optus.
Adrian
Saturday, October 8, 2011 at 9:07 PM$49 + $10 is how much I’m paying on vodafone for the 32GB iPhone 4 over 24 months so $49 + $19 is pretty good for the 64GB model
DTM
Saturday, October 8, 2011 at 9:47 PMWell it is the Jesus phone.
NICK
Monday, October 10, 2011 at 2:05 PMI think you have to consider Vodafones network quality compared to Optus. Optus doesn’t cost much more for that.
lauml
Saturday, October 8, 2011 at 9:07 PMIt would be really interesting to see a comparison table with the pricing from when the iPhone 4 was released.
Gorf
Saturday, October 8, 2011 at 9:23 PMI wonder if this year we will get the same barage of comments of people comparing the cost of a outright iphone in Australia to a iphone on a 2 year contract.
Zengster
Saturday, October 8, 2011 at 9:38 PMAlready has! :P
ANONOMOOSE
Saturday, October 8, 2011 at 9:36 PMPoor pricing by Optus to be honest… When the SGS2 is free on a $49 Optus Plan and it’s an extra $10 per month for a 16gb iPhone 4S on the same plan or still $6 extra per month on a $59 plan it’s pretty stupid
Ben
Sunday, October 9, 2011 at 8:34 PMBecause the SGSII is $150-200 cheaper outright then the ip4s?
Apollo
Saturday, October 8, 2011 at 9:59 PMI can bet my bottom dollar, Virgin’s pricing will be out tomorrow and it’ll be better than this.
For the exact same service provided on the Optus network with ACTUAL customer service, I’m impressed Optus has learned nothing over the last 12 months of sliding sales.
Richard
Sunday, October 9, 2011 at 2:33 AMGiven Optus owns Virgin I’m sure they have some idea of what works and what doesn’t in respects to the two companies. The two businesses are run slightly different to hit different markets. If Optus was failing hard and Virgin doing brilliantly then they would change the model to suit.
Joel
Saturday, October 8, 2011 at 10:27 PMPathetic really.
The 8GB iPhone 4 is THE SAME PRICE as when the iPhone 4 first came out a year ago.
And the iPhone 4S is $6 a month more than I paid for my iPhone 4..
Honestly wtf are they doing?
Nice way to try and rip us off Optus.
Damo
Sunday, October 9, 2011 at 2:14 PMIsn’t it that Singtel own Optus and Virgin uses Optus’s infrastructure?
Joel
Monday, October 10, 2011 at 12:15 AMSingtel own Optus and Optus wholly own Virgin. I know I work there.
George
Saturday, October 8, 2011 at 11:05 PMDid I get in real early with the iPhone 4 last year or something? Because I’m on the $59 plan and I pay zero, nada, zilch for the handset with optus…
The gf wants the 4S and these plans are stil better value than her current plan of $89 per month for a 3GS. Ouch! She’s just finished her 2 year contract you see.
Ben
Saturday, October 8, 2011 at 11:05 PMFunny, I work at an Optus store and the prices here are different to what Optus sent through to us.
Joel
Saturday, October 8, 2011 at 11:15 PMIf they’re better, can I come to you? lol
Namarrgon
Saturday, October 8, 2011 at 11:35 PMAlternatively, get an unlocked 16GB iPhone 4S for $799 and put it on the TPG $18/month plan ($550 calls, 1.5GB data).
Total cost $1015, no contract at all.
anonymouse
Sunday, October 9, 2011 at 4:14 PMWith discounting, your plan costs $1202.80 (or, $1,135 for the $3/month cheaper if you’ve got home line), compared to $1,324.33 for the 24 month Optus at $59/month ($49 cap with $10 handset payments)
If you’ve got the cash such that not having $799 for a few months is worth saving that extra $120, then props to you. But, most people wouldn’t want it (also, given you are no longer on a contract, I suspect that at some point in the next 24 months you would upgrade your phone, with additional costs to encounter. If you’re locked into a contract, you aren’t going to break it, which is a good thing)
Simon
Saturday, October 8, 2011 at 11:52 PMI just tried to pre-order and it keeps coming up with errors :-/
Serena
Sunday, October 9, 2011 at 12:05 AMYour Account Number isn’t your Optus Customer Number, it’s your mobile number.
It’s worded stupidly.
Cenzo
Sunday, October 9, 2011 at 12:10 AMSame here. I’ve been trying since 11pm. Anyone else get the same?
Daniel
Sunday, October 9, 2011 at 7:42 AMSame here. Its so annoying.
Gabriel
Saturday, October 8, 2011 at 11:55 PMyeah doesn’t work for me either, my friend pre ordered as a non customer and she got it confirmed. but as a current customer on optus it wont let me do it :(
Dan
Sunday, October 9, 2011 at 9:08 AMTry now. I’m an existing customer and it wouldnt work last night or earlier this morning but it works now.
Alex
Sunday, October 9, 2011 at 12:15 AMIt’s cheaper on Vodafone’s bottom of rung plan over 24 months ($1056 15 on the 29 cap) than it is on Optus’ bottom 12 month plan ( $1068 40 on the 49 cap) Optus’ prices seem to be a little high IMO
Scott
Sunday, October 9, 2011 at 1:25 AMBut is Vodafone’s network coming up to scratch? or are you paying less for less coverage?
Gismon
Sunday, October 9, 2011 at 2:50 AMI live in Newcastle, from my experience if you are planning to go with vodafone, you may as well save yourself the trouble and buy an ipod touch
Alex
Sunday, October 9, 2011 at 1:42 AMDepends on where you are, if you’re in area where they’ve done the new upgrades it’d be easily as good as optus’ coverage, if you’re in area where it hasn’t been yet than no probably not.
jah
Sunday, October 9, 2011 at 9:53 AMThe prices shown here are 10 less than the ones advertised on the Optus website..
If they were the prices shown here i would get it. :|
Phil
Monday, October 10, 2011 at 9:51 AMThat’s a pretty serious discrepancy. My local allphones want to sign me up, but don’t have a price list!
Sam
Sunday, October 9, 2011 at 10:07 AMat my workplace vodaphone has no coverage.
optus is marginal, in some area’s you get 3g, others you get the O.
telstra is better, but more expensive… i’m happy with my iphone 4 plan.
$24.50 per month,
iphone 4 16 gig
$450 worth of calls
4 GB downloads
free calls to optus
Matt
Sunday, October 9, 2011 at 1:44 PMDidn’t work in FF but did in IE.
There seemed to be some Active X code the latest ver that FF didn’t like
Kym Herbert
Monday, October 10, 2011 at 9:51 AMOptus you get a bunch of extras they don’t shout about for some reason? $10 Flat rate movie tickets, and $1.65 tracks from their movie store (cheaper than iTunes) If you go to the movies 1 time a month with a friend you will save $20 on the spot.
Kym Herbert
Monday, October 10, 2011 at 9:52 AM..*MP3 store .. sigh, my bad.
Phil
Monday, October 10, 2011 at 9:52 AMTelstra being tardy?
Braden
Thursday, October 13, 2011 at 1:17 AMHow awkward, The telstra pricing for the $59 64gb model is actually $3 cheaper a month, just with 500mb less data and $250 less calls. (irrelevant for the astronomical service upgrade you get) This is why im dumping optus and moving to telstra.