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 2 - Telstra iPhone 3G plans in detail
The only reason you should opt for a Telstra plan is if you travel or live in the country and want HSDPA coverage wherever you are. However, the pricing is so extortionately high that we suspect the main people who will be buying are corporate customers who don't mind their employer being taken to the cleaners every time they fire up Mobile Safari.
Everything about Telstra's plans stink to high heaven. From the measly data limits (starting at 5MB!) on all the plans to the fact that the iPhone is only available on a 24-month, 'your balls are ours' contract.
The only thing that makes Telstra's plans vaguely appealing is that you get free access to wifi at all Telstra hotspots, and considering Telstra has CBD-wide coverage of WiFi in Sydney and Melbourne, that's not an inconsiderable bonus. However, it's unlikely you'll be able to just freely use the WiFi like you can with mobile data -- probably, you'll have to log in to WiFi each time you use it with your Telstra mobile number and a password. (We're happy to stand corrected here if Telstra has worked out a seamless login system for iPhone customers, but we think it's highly unlikely.)
The real joke is the additional data packs you need to buy with your iPhone voice plan. If you don't select an additional data plan you'll end up paying the 'Pay As You Go' data rate of $2/MB! Telstra have rejigged their data plans slightly, so a $10/month data plan gets you 150MB and a $29/month plan gets you 300MB. So, a reasonable Telstra plan for $60/month, plus a reasonable data cap of $29/month for 300MB ends up costing you $89/month and you end up with a piddling 26 three minute calls, where the same amount on Voda and Optus nets you hundreds of dollars worth of phone calls.
Effectively, what Telstra has done is realised that it needs to have the iPhone so it doesn't look insanely out of touch with the telecommunications industry, but its senior execs have refused to budge an inch on pricing. What is completely insulting is that despite the fact that although the iPhone is basically a small computer, Telstra is still pricing it like a mobile phone. For $109.95, you can get 3GB of mobile broadband through BigPond Wireless, which really highlights how much Telstra's iPhone plans suck, with only 1GB of data for $10 more.
If you do, for some reason, absolutely need to go with Next G, we suggest you absolutely should not choose any data plans less than $59/month, regardless of the call plan you intend to use.
Otherwise, steer well clear of Telstra for your iPhone 3G.
For more details click see our spreadsheet below which shows all the plans and allows you to see what various length calls would cost on each plan.