Mobile data keeps getting cheaper. You can now get 1GB per month from pretty much any network for under $30, often including the price of the wireless modem.

The exception, of course, is Telstra, who are banking on the fact that their NextG network is superior to the other carrier's offerings that it keeps its prices at a premium to put it politely.

The good news is that even Telstra is starting to come to the mobile data pricing party, although they're still waiting in their car out the front, waiting for everyone to come to them rather than go inside and be social.

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Are you a Three customer? Do you feel inadequate when you travel outside the major metropolitan areas as your phone drops back to Telstra's 2G network while all your friends boast super-fast 3G speeds on their "other network" phones?

Well, feel inadequate no longer, with Three today announcing that they're expanding their 3G network to cover 96% of the Australian population by next year.

The expansion looks like it will be a combination of using 3's own network, plus piggybacking on Telstra's NextG network as well, although just how much of the latter will be happening is unclear. What is clear is that 3 are already working on the expansion, with 50 new sites, including Newcastle and the Central Coast of NSW, scheduled to go live by the end of the year.

At the moment, Three reaches a paltry 56% of the population with 3G. For me, I just hope they patch up the black spot near Sydney airport for when I'm on the train, so I can spend more time on Giz. Cos I love you guys.

UPDATE: I've heard back from 3 on a couple of questions I asked them - turns out that the extra infrastructure they're building will take them to over 60%. To get up to 96%, they're jumping in bed with Telstra's NextG (the 2100MHz network NextG also uses is a 50/50 joint venture with 3).

On top of that, once the ink has dried on their deal with Telstra, it should bring down roaming costs. To what, we'll have to wait and see, but if it's cheaper than the current roaming charges, then it's good news.

Press release is below:

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This was unexpected. Today Telstra, through its BigPond Music service, announced that it will be selling DRM-free MP3 tracks from all four major labels, plus a heap of independents. Previously, they only sold WMA tracks that "Played 4 Sure" - or in other words, didn't play at all.

The move to DRM-free MP3 means that you can listen to these tracks on pretty much any device, including your iPod. To the best of my knowledge, it also makes BigPond the second service in the world (behind Amazon in the US) to sell DRM-free music from all four majors.

The tracks are encoded at either 256Kbps or 320Kbps, which is as good as it gets for MP3 files from an online store.

This is a fantastic move from Telstra - DRM is one of the biggest drawbacks of buying music online. Considering that MP3 tracks are still only $1.69 in the MP3 format, the question has to be asked - why would you use iTunes (unless buying iTunes Plus tracks) when you can get a DRM-free version for the same price from BigPond?

[BigPond Music]

If you've spent any time this weekend watching the Olympics (and seeing as how you're probably Australian, you must have), then you definitely would have seen or heard the countless ads proclaiming the ability to watch the Games on Telstra's NextG handsets.

What the ads don't mention is that the one phone best suited to watching the Olympic Games on the go - the iPhone 3G - isn't compatible with their Olympic streaming services.

The ads say that the service is available on a wide range of NextG handsets, and the fineprint does say that not all NextG handsets will work with the service. While it doesn't specifically single out the iPhone (and really, why would it?), this is a huge opportunity gone begging for Telstra. There's a heap of reasons why people are queueing up to buy iPhones from Optus, not Telstra, and this is yet another one.

[via Digital Media]

Good news for people looking for a smartphone that isn't made by Apple - the HTC Touch Diamond is now available through Telstra.

For a Windows Mobile device, this is one of the best available, thanks to the fact that TouchFlo 3D essentially hides WinMo deep within its interface.

Being a Telstra exclusive (at the moment), it's only available on an $80 plan over 24 months (or $999 outright), which as you'd expect from the big T, doesn't include any real data allowances ($10 on a business plan). Considering that HTC were pushing this as a real web browsing machine when they launched it in Australia, that's (another) missed opportunity from Telstra.

Hopefully the other networks will remedy the situation when the exclusive arrangement ends in a couple of months...

[Telstra]

Late yesterday afternoon, Telstra tried to crash the mobile data plan cocktail party. The only problem is that instead of bringing a bottle of liqueur like Baileys or Kahlua, they brought a couple of cans of VB, a bottle of Passion Pop, and a cask of Tropicana. Then, instead of sharing their booze, they sat in the corner and got drunk by themselves.

If you believe the press release, the new Telstra data plans for the iPhone are possible thanks to the superior NextG network capacity. Yet for all that fantastic capacity, all they could manage to increase two of their mobile add-on data packs: The $10 pack goes from 20MB to 150MB, while the $29 pack goes from 80MB to 300MB. They also reduced the excess usage rates (although to what wasn't actually mentioned in the press release.) UPDATE: Gus at Lifehacker managed to discover the excess data rates from Telstra:

Excess data now costs 50 cents per MB on the $10 plan, or 25 cents per MB on the $29 plan (it was previously $1 on both plans).

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One of the only few things going for getting an iPhone on Telstra, especially in light of their terrible data packages, was the inclusion of free Wi-Fi at their hotspots around the country. But now that hotspot network looks to be a few locations fewer with the announcement that Starbucks is closing 61 of their 84 stores.

Because not every store had Wi-Fi before the closures, this probably won't effect too many people. Unless you live in Canberra that is, where it's likely that all three Wi-Fi enabled Starbucks stores will close.

The guys over at ZDnet got into the nitty gritty of the situation, and although there are a lot of unknown factors still involved around exactly which Starbucks stores will be closing, the loss of any free Wi-Fi hotspot is a sad day for Gizmodians around the country. Hopefully Telstra will be looking to expand their 1000+ network of hotspots in light of the Starbucks move. And hopefully they'll make them free to everyone. Not holding our breath, though...

[ZDnet via Lifehacker AU]

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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Telstra was a sedate affair, but kudos to them for making it pure business. They had plenty of staff in T[life], some queue space inside the warm premises (it was frosty frosty out on George St with a nasty ice wind to boot), plus flyers with the official plan details so you could make up your mind in the 10 seconds before purchase. Actually, they were taking the time to talk people through their current usage patterns and which way they should lean... but couldn't tell how many people were being told "20MB outta be enough for anyone" (remember that isn't even the LOWEST data plan).

However, there was no love given to the gathered queue, which by time of opening was around 80-100 strong. Given the icy conditions, it was a bit too "pure business" to show them absolutely no love -- doesn't compare well to the competition who were all treating queue members to warm drinks and tasty treats. There's a "leaving people out in the cold" allusion here I can't quite put my finger on...

We've got the official booklet of iPhone 3G plans in our hands, and they have been built to let you mix and match the data and voice levels to suit your needs. However, the prices on data are severe, clearly pointing to Telstra pushing customers toward using their Wi-Fi access points as much as possible.

In the all important data terms, $5 gets you 5MB with overuse charged at $1/MB. Then...
$10 / 20MB / $1/MB
$29 / 80MB / $1/MB
$59 / 200MB / $0.25/MB
$89 / 1GB / $0.25/MB
$119 / 3GB / $0.25/MB

Or you can just Pay As You Go for data at... $2/MB!!!

Jump for voice details and the plan pricing for an iPhone 3G.

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