You guys are a pretty clued in lot, so this should go without saying. Always read the fine print of your contract. We know sometimes you get lazy, or you've been waiting to get served forever and you just overlook it. Well, if you overlook the details of the new pre-paid mobile broadband service from Optus, you could well find yourself out of credit faster than you can say, "Awesome! New movies on iTunes!"

On the surface, the deal looks pretty good: For $199 you get a USB internet key from Optus. Then you can pay $30 for 2GB to use over 30 days. If you need more, there's a range of recharge values - $40 for 3GB, $50 for 5GB, $70 for 6GB or $100 for 9GB.

But this is why you read the fineprint: you get charged in 10MB increments for both downloads and uploads. That's right - 10MB blocks. so if you download a 200KB email in a session, that's 10MB of your 2GB allowance gone. You can chew through the data pretty quickly like that, I would think.

Still having the pre-paid option culd be incredibly important for you, in which case this could be totally worth the money and freedom. Just make sure you read the contract...

[Optus]

If you're looking for a lesson in how to piss off customers, just look to Optus. Perhaps it's just a side effect of offering better iPhone deals than the other major carriers, but reports are flooding the internet of customers who, not being able to get their hands on an iPhone, signed up for a raincheck. And despite being told they'd be waiting as little as five days for their phones and that they wouldn't be charged until they had their hands on their iPhone, are now receiving bills and being told that they will have to wait until September before they will receive the phone.

Forums like MacTalk and Whirlpool are filled with stories of disgruntled "customers" who after discovering the long wait involved with their raincheck, have tried to cancel their order, only to spend hours on the phone to Optus' customer support without resolution.

Even The Australian has heard reports of the shenanigans, today running a story entailing the now repetitive story. Speaking with an Optus spokesperson, the confusion seems to come from the terms around the raincheck itself. From the Oz:

According to the policy, customers can either connect to an advertised plan; order the advertised mobile phone and use alternative equipment until the advertised mobile phone is available; connect to the advertised plan, order the advertised mobile phone and suspend the advertised plan until the advertised mobile phone is available; or connect to the relevant advertised plan and buy a different mobile phone that is in stock.

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RIM held the official Australian launch of BlackBerry Bold today. Considering that we've seen it all before, there wasn't too much to come out of the event, except that it will officially be launched on Telstra, Vodafone and Optus, starting mid-August. 3 is apparently also testing the device, although whether they'll release it is still yet to be seen.

As far as pricing goes, the networks are all still pretty quiet on what they'll be charging - the exception is Optus, who today announced the phone will cost $10 per month on a 24-month contract when partnered with their $79 BlackBerry plan.They've even set up a web page dedicated for users keen enough to pre-register their interest.

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Back in 2006, 3 introduced an IP webcam that you could monitor on your 3G phone. It was called the 3 Eyecam, it was about the size of a coffee mug and it was a HUGE failure. From the fact that it beeped when you connected to it, to the terrible video quality, it was panned universally for being the suckiest security camera ever.

Now, two years later, Optus is offering a similar IP security vision solution. Dubbed the Securecam, it allows Optus 3G customers the ability to monitor their home or office via a private IP camera.

Users can easily install the camera themselves, and can receive SMS or email notification if the camera detects movement. They can then check the camera via an IP address or a compatible Optus 3G phone.

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UPDATE: The trend continues, with Vodafone revealing to Gizmodo that the (reportedly very fast) sales through their online orders have had an 80:20 preference toward the black over the white. It seems black is, as ever, the REAL new black!

It seems Apple's white iPhone 3G is more white elephant than white hot. At the Optus queue, where at 5.00am the store is closing in on its 300th customer (if not there already), some in the queue have been warned by the time they get to the counter there may only be white left in 16GB.

Given the store had 500 units to begin with, and close to 200 up its sleeve, there is a very clear preference for black over white. Even at a roughly even distribution of 8GB and each of the two 16GB varieties it is sounding like the white is turning out to be very unpopular.

So if you make a play for Hunter St before you head to work, we really hope you like white... and if this trend continues, we could be seeing shortages based more on people's rejection of the white, and others feeling like they've had to settle for second best.

Here's the quick round up of the state of play right now:

- Optus still has 100+ to get through the queue, and have probably moved through 150 or so. They had a slow start due to the media circus, but are getting it going now.
- Optus is doing a good job of keeping the hordes happy. Plenty of coffee and hot chocolate, they've been doing cheeseburger runs, and even have 2-minute angels on hand giving out massages.
- At last check, there were 5 in the T[life] queue, 25 in the Apple Store queue, and no one at Vodafone.
- Our safe guess is that anyone at Apple Store is there for Optus plans, but don't have pre-reg. If they wanted Telstra or Voda, they'd be queuing elsewhere -- remember Apple Store is last to open.
- Voda is the hardest to 'count', as they don't have any one store going ahead of the rest.
- Apple Store has raised black curtains on the ground level. One level one we can see the iPod sign has been replaced with an iPhone sign across the back wall.
- We managed a quick peek through the curtains and the only thing we could see was the screensavers have been changed from iPod ads to iPhone 3G ads.

"I'm pumped!"

Immortal words from the man who queued up from, surprisingly, only about 1pm this afternoon. He got to cut the tape and everything.

UPDATE: It took 25 minutes for Brett to get through the transaction process. Let's hope things speed up as the night wears on, but whatever happens I think some people in this queue will still be here for a few hours more.

In his exit interview, what did Brett say he was going to do right now?
"I'm just going to go home and go to bed."
Words to live by...