(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

[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!