(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

[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!