(no subject)

[theducks]

I've done some poking around on various websites, including virginmobile to see how much I currently spend, and am looking at iPhones, of course.

Currently, I'm spending about $30/month on phone calls, and I own my own phone outright. I paid $600 for it at the beginning of 2005 I think. I'd be looking at purchasing a 16Gb iPhone for (gulp) $849 and going on the $50/month cap, then in two months time, getting it unlocked for free.

For $50/month prepaid, I'd get calls at 78c/minute, vs 80c/minute on the $49/month contract, 500MB of data (vs 250MB on the $49/month contract).. I fail to see why one would want a contract...

Further reading also shows it will be cheaper to call the UK, USA, Canada or Singapore than it would be to call another Australian number (wtfbbq?)

Comments

[trs80.ucc.asn.au (from livejournal.com)]

Yeah, I've seen cheaper int. calls on Telstra pre-paid as well. I'm quite happy with my Freerunner for $430 outright, the only problem is I'm on a mailing list with Clare and M².

[pennae.livejournal.com]

Prepaid calls are charged _per minute_ and not per 30 seconds, so if you're 2mins 1 second you'll get charged for 3 minutes. the "yes" plans in comparison have very cheap call rates.

The $59 cap + $7 handset repayments is the best deal for postpaid.

But I _really_ like prepaid and how you can't possibly get a scary bill. And your unused calls do rollover to the next month if you recharge by the end of the 30 day period. Plus you can ring up at any time and find out how much credit you've got left.

I'm really torn about which way to go. Or just to wait a couple of weeks - another carrier might come out with it outright for less than $849. Or will they?

Arrrgh!

[middle-marker.livejournal.com]

The trick with this is whether it is worth anything to have it "unlocked", if there are no better alternative providers. You're still going to need a data plan, no-one seems to do that on true pre-paid (30 days credit expiry isn't real pre-paid), and based on the assumption that I'd need to keep paying Optus for my service, I found that the Yes Cap 49 was the best deal for overall cost. That said, I only spend about $15 per month on Virgin Prepaid at the moment, so $61 per month for 24 months is still a big step up.

[theducks.livejournal.com]

I go overseas and take my phone, so unlocking is a requirement

[middle-marker.livejournal.com]

Ah... well in that case, if you're going long enough to stop buying Optus service in Australia for a time, I can see how that would be advantageous. If it's less than a month at a time, a contract could still be a better deal (since the phone should be unlocked at day 1). And of course, if there's a permanent or long-term move in the phone's contractual future, then going pre-paid is a no-brainer.

I'm just commenting to live vicariously through you - I simply can't justify an iPhone until my trusty Nokia 6100 dies... but then, SOLD!

[theducks.livejournal.com]

Hmm I'm not sure I'd agree regarding the Yes Cap $49.. you get less data and the additional risk they will charge you more if you go over it's data limit, more expensive calls, and you don't own the phone outright, so you're paying more per month as you pay it off.

[middle-marker.livejournal.com]

WRT data plan, yes - that's true, and if averaging over 8Mb/day (bearing in mind free access to Optus WiFi hotspots), that could certainly become a considerable extra cost.

As far as I can see, the calls may actually end up more expensive on Turbo Cap 50: the rate is 78c/min as opposed to 40c/30sec (which is 2c/min more expensive), but if they charge by the whole minute on Turbo Cap 50 and charge by the 30sec on Yes Cap 49, you'll pay more for all but the longest calls on TC50.

As for paying more because you own the phone outright, UNLESS you expect to stop using Optus altogether within the contract period, the more per month that you pay ends up being a fair bit less than the pre-paid up-front cost divided by the length of a contract:

12 months:
Phone payment on YC49: $47
$849/12 = $70.75

24 months:
Phone payment on YC49: $12
$849/24 = $35.375

I've only done the numbers with my usage - YMMV - but for me YC49 is about $300 cheaper over 12 months than TC50 would be. That assumes I never use more than 250Mb per month. If I expected to do so, then it would be more economical to get Yes Cap 59 - including 500Mb of data - and still $200 cheaper than TC50 over 12 months.

So, unless you plan to leave the country permanently inside 12 months, the only reason I can see for choosing TC50 over either YC49 or YC59 (depending on your data needs) is so that you don't have to monitor your data usage to avoid excess charges. Of course, that could well be worth quite a lot to you, but for me it wouldn't be worth enough.

Some things that might be worth asking Optus about the Yes Cap plans:
1) is the phone (as it should be) unlocked to take other sims from day 1? (obviously you still have a contractual obligation, but that should be it)?
2) can you move up to a higher plan during the contract period (e.g. YC49 to YC59) if you find your data usage needs are greater, and get the benefit of the lower phone payments?

If the answers are both "yes" (and they should be, right?) then ... well, I reckon those may actually be the better deals.

This is the down-side of choice, isn't it? :)

[middle-marker.livejournal.com]

This has me sufficiently curious that I'm calling Optus to find out what the finer points are regarding handset unlocking and moving up and down between data plans during the contract period. Will post results when I get through - for some strange reason, they're busy today.

[middle-marker.livejournal.com]

Wow. The short answer is, don't believe everything you read.

The plans on the Optus site are - it seems - entirely wrong. Well, not entirely, but partially. The data allowances with the Yes Cap 49 and Yes Cap 59 are actually - I asked him three times to confirm it - 500Mb and 700Mb respectively. Beyond that, the charge is 35c/Mb (or you can purchase a 200Mb block for $19.95).

Moving *upward* between plans is allowed, but it's a ratchet system: as soon as you move up, you can't move back down until the end of the contract period.

As for phone locking, the phone is locked *within Australia only* for the duration of the contract. So you can immediately use it on other network's SIMs overseas, but you can't put an Australian Telstra or Vodafone SIM in it until you've seen out the contract period.

Hope that information is of use to you!