iPhone carriers in Australia
Decisions, decisions... though hopefully our research has made that final decision easier for you.

Best value Australian iPhone plans revealed!

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Danny Gorog04 August 2008, 2:50 PM

UPDATED | Want to buy an iPhone 3G? We've gone through all the plans from all the telcos to find the best of the best.

Page 1 - Intro

If you're thinking of picking up an iPhone, the array of plans on offer from the all the Australian networks is fairly bewildering, and complicated (Three, for example, need you to buy the iPhone outright before they can offer you service)! So we've done the hard work of ploughing through the brochures and fine print for you to work out which are the good value plans -- and which are the absolute stinkers, to be avoided at all costs.

For each of the carriers, we've provided a write-up with our thoughts on what the relative pros and cons of the carrier and their plans are, as well as a detailed table comparing all the plans showing you the real value that you'll get.

Also, if you're an original iPhone 2G user, or another smartphone user looking enviously at the data allowances on the iPhone plans, we've got some good news for you too -- a couple of deals from smaller virtual mobile networks with a fair bit of data bundled in. Check out our "Best plans for iPhone 2G and other smartphones" page.

Continue to page 2: Telstra iPhone 3G plans in detail
Page 1 Intro
Page 2 Telstra iPhone 3G plans in detail
Page 3 Vodafone iPhone 3G plans in detail
Page 4 Optus iPhone 3G plans in detail
Page 5 Virgin Mobile iPhone 3G plans in detail
Page 6 Three iPhone 3G plans in detail
Page 7 The winners: best iPhone plans
Page 8 Best plans for iPhone 2G and other smartphones


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GregC (New user):

THIS IS F***EN BU*****T.. F**K U TELSTRA

10 July 2008, 11:36 PM (1 year ago)report abuse Send to a friend reply

Obi-Wan Kenobi (User):

Quoting GregC:
THIS IS F***EN BU*****T.. F**K U TELSTRA


I would like to choose a U for "Umbrella".

11 July 2008, 9:41 AM (1 year ago)report abuse Send to a friend reply

techkid (User):

Quoting Obi-Wan Kenobi:
THIS IS F***EN BU*****T.. F**K U TELSTRA
I would like to choose a U for "Umbrella".
LMAO LOL!




01 February 2009, 10:59 AM (1 year ago)report abuse Send to a friend reply

Me In Oz (Cornerstone member):

Good job APC, But ..................
Is it just me or does everyone see that none of these plans are what you would call good value !
Even the recommended Optus $59 plan has 80c per minute and 35 c flagfall !
We are really being screwed in Oz !!!

11 July 2008, 7:58 AM (1 year ago)report abuse Send to a friend reply

Hemma (User):

Good Job Danny, but what if you break the contract?

11 July 2008, 9:36 AM (1 year ago)report abuse Send to a friend reply

ozman (New user):

Would have preferred a comprehensive table with the best value of each plan compared with the very best highlighted.

In any case you think Apple would have learnt from its computer woes - sell the phone unlocked - let the telcoms compete - let cunstomer pick the telcom

For each person who signs onto a plan there are at least 20 who want an unlocked phone where they choose the telcom

Is it about time Big Bro got involved and layed down rules - sell unlocked phones - let customers choose

11 July 2008, 11:16 AM (1 year ago)report abuse Send to a friend reply

Me In Oz (Cornerstone member):

Quoting ozman:
In any case you think Apple would have learnt from its computer woes

This IS Apple !
Where proprietary dogma and controlled distribution marketing goes way beyond that which MS was/is accused of !

11 July 2008, 11:30 AM (1 year ago)report abuse Send to a friend reply

JM (New user):

this is all well and good but everyone seems to be overlooking the ongoing cost of the iphones net capability so be prepared to fork out a bit more money if your planning on using that feature, which i assume most people will be. I, however will choose to stick with a normal phone and being content with waiting a few hours to go onto the internet

11 July 2008, 2:21 PM (1 year ago)report abuse Send to a friend reply

Dan Warne (Administrator):

The net capability is covered by the data allowance on all the plans described. There's no additional ISP subscription fee or anything like that if that's what you're wondering...

11 July 2008, 5:29 PM (1 year ago)report abuse Send to a friend reply

jezza1989 (New user):

yes its a good phone great even but is everyone forgetting that on the plans most of the time theres either none or very little internet usage included in them which mean u'll be paying alot more then jsut your plan amount to use the internet and emails and downloading songs costs to yer so great phone but all of its features cost u extra money so as far as i am concerned its just a phase thats hit us again and son ppl will find something better and want that

11 July 2008, 7:47 PM (1 year ago)report abuse Send to a friend reply

SirBargeArse (New user):

...and I love hearing when the Yanks complain that THEY get a raw deal on the "cell phone" plans. Sheesh!

Still... I'll personally wait till my current contract runs out and I'll see what my options are in November.

11 July 2008, 10:33 PM (1 year ago)report abuse Send to a friend reply

Wazza (User):

Quoting SirBargeArse:
Still... I'll personally wait till my current contract runs out and I'll see what my options are in November.

Yeah I think that's the best approach at the moment (although I have to wait until March next year). Looking forward to a comparison with the Bold too. I'm not the world's biggest Fanboy so it will go against every fibre of my being to purchase an Apple product. But they've done a good job if I'm considering it :)




06 August 2008, 12:13 PM (1 year ago)report abuse Send to a friend reply

Sunshine (New user):

How about 3 (three.com.au) aren't they a good solution for unlocked iphones and other smartphones?

15 July 2008, 2:29 AM (1 year ago)report abuse Send to a friend reply

Dan Warne (Administrator):

They're good deals, however, Apple hasn't given Three a licence to sell the iPhone yet, and all the iPhones you can buy are locked to Telstra, Optus or Vodafone. The only way to get an iPhone on Three would be to buy a prepaid one from Optus, pay the $80 unlock fee from Optus and then sign up to a Three plan, which would be a rather costly way of doing it, especially considering the deals from Optus are actually surprisingly good.

23 July 2008, 10:49 AM (1 year ago)report abuse Send to a friend reply

Steve Chong (New user):

hi Dan, i'm a high end phone user and will really benefit from a plan that lets me make unlimited calls with fairly decent (but not extravagant data). I'm a little confused by the comparision between the timeless plans from optus and the topless plan from virigin? Which do you think is the better one? If i went with the virign deal how much do i have to pay for the iphone unit? Keen to know which to go for! thanks

08 September 2008, 2:02 AM (1 year ago)report abuse Send to a friend reply

SparkyB (New user):

buy one pre-paid on optus... no chance of that happening... buy the time i even got to read the article in apc about best iphone deals, and being over the moon about a prepaid iphone, the pre-paid option had been removed from optus website, and isn't even in your table... i never even got to see it on the optus website... where'd you get your information about that... are they still running pre-paid options, and just hiding them...

19 September 2008, 12:37 PM (1 year ago)report abuse Send to a friend reply

simonlovejoy (New user):

Is there an option on purchasing an unlocked or pay as you go 3G iphone in Oz? I'd heard there might be one but haven't found any further details... love to buy one as the contracts here in britain are ridiculous.

21 August 2008, 11:01 PM (1 year ago)report abuse Send to a friend reply

swiftos (New user):

The above gives no indication when the price lists were last reviewed.

PS: Using Firefox (3.03) on Windows XP, only the last table printed to paper. (Was able to fudge by printing to PDF first.) I have no idea why this is the case.

20 October 2008, 1:17 PM (1 year ago)report abuse Send to a friend reply

misttree (New user):

We live in Nhulunbuy (Gove) NT and both my sons have the new Iphone $100 plan with Virgin, my partner and I have next G phones with Telstra and yet the boys phones get better coverage.. The only problem with Virgin's plans are the insurance cover, my oldest son lost his phone and we claimed the insurance for a new one only to be told that they dont send replacement Iphones..But he could have a cheaper model and continue paying the premium price...

21 December 2008, 12:15 PM (1 year ago)report abuse Send to a friend reply

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