"Yes", we hear you... except for the bit about wanting unlimited data on the iPhone. For that we're plugging our ears. "Nyah nyah nyah, can't hear you. 1GB should be enough for everyone..."

BREAKING: Optus announces detailed iPhone plan pricing

Danny Gorog
03 July 2008, 2:16 PM


Send to a friend Print

Optus today became the first telco to release comprehensive iPhone 3G pricing, including plan information.


While Telstra last week teased the media with a taste of its pricing ("from $30 per month"), Optus today drew a line in the sand and released full plan information including call rates and data caps -- one week before the iPhone goes on sale officially. Vodafone who will also sell iPhone 3G when it goes on sale Friday 11th July hasn't released any details as yet.

As expected, Optus has offered a range of different plans to suit different budgets and data needs. The cheapest iPhone plan is a capped $19 cap plan. It comes with 100MB data and $50 worth of calls (a good plan if you don't want to part with your existing phone but want to carry an iPhone with you as an internet access device) with an 8GB iPhone costing $21 per month over 24 months, and a 16GB iPhone costing $26 per month. That's a total of $504 for the iPhone over 24 months.

At the other end of the scale, there's a $179 cap plan that includes 1GB of data and $1500 worth of calls. On the $179 plan your phone is free over 24 months -- just as well. Optus is also offering customers a choice of a 12 month contract on all plans, which is probably a wiser choice, given Apple released the 3G iPhone just one year after the release of the original iPhone.

But there's a bit 'gotcha' with all the plans. If you exceed your plan’s included monthly data allowance, excess usage charges will be charged at $0.35 per MB or part thereof. With some quick maths, that works out to $350 per GB! Ouch. On older phones that were slow and cumbersome to use for the net, excess data charges weren't a huge risk. With the iPhone, which should be pretty fast, and have a lot of handy third party applications (especially mapping apps that can really suck the data down) excess charges could rack up quickly.

All Optus capped plans also come with 'Yes Time' -- free 20 minute calls to other Optus mobiles after 8pm -- and the ability to call others on the same account as you free for 5 minutes.

Non-capped plans also range in price from a $19 per month spend to $149 per month (and much smaller dollar amounts worth of talk time of course), but come with cheaper phones and more extensive phone options.

Optus is providing a launch incentive, giving all customers who sign up to an Optus iPhone plan free data for the first month. (Given plans already include some data, we assume this means you can sign on to the $19 plan then go crazy with usage on the first month and it will all be free. Put another way, "the first taste is free, then it's $350 per gigabyte of excess usage after that, suckahhh!")

Optus also released pre-paid iPhone pricing and plans. An 8GB iPhone 3G will be $729 and a 16GB model will set you back $849. The prepaid iPhone is locked to the Optus network however unlocking is free after 6 months, or $80 before. (See our full story on this here: iPhone 3G to be sold unlocked in Australia.)

While the network isn't as extensive as Telstra's, the Optus HSPA network covers 68% (compared to 98% for Next G network) of the Australian population and is available in Sydney, Central and Sunshine Coasts, Newcastle, Wollongong, Canberra, Melbourne, Geelong, Brisbane, the Gold Coast, Adelaide and Perth. To see whether you're covered check here.

UPDATE: Optus' 3G iPhone website seems to be down right now. You can download PDFs of the pages here: Optus Postpaid iPhone / Optus Prepaid iPhone.

Post your comment



Comments

 RSS feed Email alert

Tin (User):

I think the site caved in under the pressure of everyone who got the email about it :p

The plans look about right for what I want... I'd be up for that 12 month contract if the phone was $200 up front and no more on top of those plan prices. What happened to Steve's promise?

Oh, and the prepaid options look steep. $40 to add any data, and credit expires after 30 days!

03 July 2008, 3:42 PM (4 years ago)report abuse Send to a friend reply

djsflynn (APC staff):

So much for Jobs' pledge at the 3G iPhone launch that you'd be able to buy the iPhone around the world for about the same as the US price (US$199 and US$299)..!

03 July 2008, 4:25 PM (4 years ago)report abuse Send to a friend reply

djsflynn (APC staff):

Danny, do we know if Optus will provide any monitoring tools to help customers keep an eye on their data usage -- either a simple widget-style applet or better yet, something with alert triggers so you can set it to tell you when you hit, say, 90% of your monthly cap?


03 July 2008, 4:28 PM (4 years ago)report abuse Send to a friend reply

McBanjo (New user):

The iPhone records data usage with the EDGE network, so I'm assuming 2.0 will introduce this for 3G. Your guess is as good as mine as to whether Optus will write their own app, or just make customers use Mobile Safari. Do you really think Optus wants to let you know when you're about to unwillingly pay them money? They could always use Apple's push notification service.

Come on Vodafone! You've only got 8 days.

03 July 2008, 5:27 PM (4 years ago)report abuse Send to a friend reply

mark-- (New user):

Buried deep in the fine print is the cancellation costs. Read that part very very carefully before signing. It will cost you more than the cost of the iphone outright if you choose to cancel early.

for example:
If you are on an optus $59 cap plan over 24 months, and decide to cancel within the first 12 months, the cancellation fee is $840. $9 more and you could get a brand new 16gb iphone outright.

Seems ludicrous to me.

Sourced from: (http://www.optusiphone.com.au/getdoc/3727f208-955d-4c4a-ad38-b860c9b14e56/post-paid-pricing.aspx)


03 July 2008, 4:52 PM (4 years ago)report abuse Send to a friend reply

agami (New user):

How is it that there are so many people who fail to realise that US$199.00 and US$299.00 is for the iPhone on an AT&T contract. Optus' AU$0.00 on $79 monthly for 24 months compares pretty well wouldn't you agree?

03 July 2008, 5:12 PM (4 years ago)report abuse Send to a friend reply

Tin (User):

Not everyone wants to pay it off totally from $0 though...
I'd rather pay ~$200 up front, and a smaller amount monthly.

Edit: I just checked the AT&T plan options for the 3G version... Yikes! $70US for the lowest plan! Though they do get unlimited data.
Edit2: The reason for my slightly insane AT&T comment is that I was going to compare the estimated price for the phone itself.

03 July 2008, 8:28 PM (4 years ago)report abuse Send to a friend reply

n1ck0 (New user):

OPTUS WHAT THE **** HAPPENED TO THE US$299 UPFRONT
i hate to monthly installments

come on vadafone put optus to shame

03 July 2008, 5:58 PM (4 years ago)report abuse Send to a friend reply

Danny Gorog (APC staff):

not sure what's wrong with monthly installments. That's interest free money they're giving you? Much easier to swallow a little bit at a time rather than the whole amount upfront.

03 July 2008, 9:07 PM (4 years ago)report abuse Send to a friend reply

Phil1 (New user):

Has anyone else noticed this in the fine print of Optus's cap plans?

"The ‘yes’ iPhone Cap Plans also includes a specified amount of included data value per month to access services on Optus iZoo, as well as browsing the Internet from your mobile, depending upon which rate plan you choose."

Seems ok ... until you read what is not included:

"Your data allowance does not include services such as Voice calls, Voice Mail, International SMS, premium and Third Party SMS, Optus iZoo and Third Party content and applications, 1300, 1900 and VPN data usage."

So basically, you don't get the following with the Data Allowance:

* VPN connections – even though the iPhone supports it, and you may have a reason to use it (e.g. connect to Office Network)
* VOIP (there goes using something like Skype in the Data Allowance)
* Optus iZoo (first they say it's included, then they exclude it! Which is it??)
* Without knowing how Visual Voice Mail is done (I'm assuming that the recordings are downloaded to the iPhone to allow you to pick and choose), I'm guessing that they are excluding it under the Voice Mail data exclusion ... so, what will Visual Voice Mail cost me when it does get offered??
* Third Party Apps ... if they require data connections, then this is not included.

So, what do I actually get to use my data allowance for, Optus?

03 July 2008, 7:40 PM (4 years ago)report abuse Send to a friend reply

McBanjo (New user):

I noticed more than a few errors on their page. I'd say it was slapped together pretty quickly.

I don't think there will be visual voicemail, it's a specific feature that needs special equipment. I haven't seen it advertised anywhere on the Apple Australia site.

Third-party content is referring to the Optus iZoo content that you can download, such as ringtones (which they say may not compatible w/ iPhone anyway.) Again, it's badly written and they need to spend some time on making it less ambiguous.

03 July 2008, 8:42 PM (4 years ago)report abuse Send to a friend reply

Tin (User):

I've emailed Optus a few times over the last 3 or 4 years querying strange fine print on their website... They more or less told me each time that the website is currently being redeveloped and the correct information should be available soon.
Still waiting...

03 July 2008, 8:51 PM (4 years ago)report abuse Send to a friend reply

Dan Warne (Regular user):

That whole website is rubbish... every time they do something, they get it wrong. The first time people tried to sign up to the site the verification emails didn't get sent out, which they blamed on 'such high traffic' or somesuch excuse. More likely they'd misconfigured something. Then, they send out the email to everyone and the server can't handle the load of everyone having a look. I mean seriously... the APC server gets absolutely hammered every day (by more people than would have signed up to buy the Optus iPhone) and stays up. It's just a matter of having good caching sorted out and enough bandwidth.

03 July 2008, 10:06 PM (4 years ago)report abuse Send to a friend reply

William151515 (New user):

just wondering, what are the specs and operating system that's running the APC Website

and what web browsers are supported, including version numbers if possible

04 July 2008, 5:07 AM (4 years ago)report abuse Send to a friend reply

n1ck0 (New user):

its cheaper to buy it outright and get a 3 or virgin sim.
both carriers give you value for money on data

most of optus's cap plans have you paying more then AU$600 for the PHONE instead of the US$299 equivalent

03 July 2008, 8:22 PM (4 years ago)report abuse Send to a friend reply

Humphrey Flaubert (New user):

Quoting n1ck0:
"its cheaper to buy it outright and get a 3 or virgin sim."

Except that according to Optus, the Optus iPhone is "locked to the Optus network".

What annoys me is the that the data allowances are so pitiful (Optus calls them "huge"). Nothing over 1GB . And if I want just 1GB, I have to pay more for voice calls and SMS I won't use. I hardly make any calls or texts each month. But I would use the email web apps extensively. Why can't I get a plan with lots of data, but less voice/text? It's all data anyway, isn't it?





03 July 2008, 10:42 PM (4 years ago)report abuse Send to a friend reply

1040steman (New user):

WHY BOTHER...THINGS THAT WON'T BE AVAILABLE ON THE iPHONE.
No Flash
The iPhone is a surprisingly capable web device. Its wide, high-resolution screen and the ability to bop around the web by tapping links with a fingertip has turned mobile web surfing from a chore into a pleasure.
The biggest hitch: the iPhone still doesn't support Adobe's Flash technology, which means many multimedia-rich sites remain off limits.
While Adobe is working hard to make its technology iPhone-friendly, don't hold your breath.
No replaceable batteries
Hardcore road warriors don't have time to stop and recharge their phones. Instead they carry their batteries with them, clicking them into their BlackBerrys in the backs of cabs, or, if they're lucky, in a coffee shop.
By contrast, there's no easy way to crack open the new iPhone's sleek case to pop in a battery, disappointing bloggers.
And while kits are available for do-it-yourselfers, we wouldn't recommend trying it in between bites of your bagel.
Video recording
Apple's computers come preloaded with iMovie, a slick little application that makes video editing easy and fun. Apple's iPods, with the exception of the Shuffle, have evolved into snappy little video viewing machines. But if you want to record video, you'd better talk to Sony.
Despite the iPhone's built-in two-megapixel camera, Apple didn't include video capabilities, a feature even many low-end so-called "feature phones" have.
No cut-and-paste
The inability to copy a chunk of text and paste it into another application has baffled geeks since the iPhone's introduction last year. It's a simple tool that would make blogging and zapping bits of text to friends via e-mail a breeze. And yes, it can be done without screwing up the phone's interface.
No multimedia messaging service
This might be the most interesting example of what makes the iPhone quirky: There are some things dirt-cheap phones cranked out by the tens of millions can do that the vaunted iPhone cannot. The lack of support for Multimedia Messaging Service (MMS) is one of the most maddening iPhone flaws.
Want to open an image sent to you via MMS by a friend from her (dirt-cheap) mobile phone? No dice.
Bonus — no voice dialing
No blogger seems to have complained about this yet. Maybe that's because all the geeks who might whine about how tough it is to dial the iPhone have already died in fiery auto wrecks because of this problem.
The iPhone doesn't have the voice-recognition smarts to let users dial verbally. So like I Said " WHY BOTHER".

03 July 2008, 11:31 PM (4 years ago)report abuse Send to a friend reply

1040steman (New user):

WHY BOTHER: First is the cost of plans..Then..NO FLASH..NO REPLACEABLE
BATTERIES..NO VIDEO RECORDING..NO CUT AND PASTE..AND WHAT, NO MULTIMEDIA MESSAGING SERVICE...and NO VOICE DIALING..like I said, Why bother..

03 July 2008, 11:40 PM (4 years ago)report abuse Send to a friend reply

1040steman (New user):

And furthermore...check this out..
Apple Australia has confirmed that Australians will not be able to get repairs for first-generation iPhones in Australia, despite the fact that the iPhone 3G will officially be sold here from 11th July.
If you bought an iPhone while on holiday in the US or UK, did a cheeky hack to unlock it and then brought it back to Australia, you probably didn't expect too much service from Apple Australia. But you might have held out a glimmer of hope that once the iPhone was officially sold here, you could get paid-for repairs done on your phone by Apple in the future. No such luck, according to Apple Australia spokesperson Fiona Martin. If "the iPhone you have is not available in Australia, repairs will not be available in the Apple Store Sydney," she told APC. (Or anywhere else, we assume... unless this suggests that Apple Store Sydney will be Mecca for ailing iPhones around Australia.)
Apple will, on the other hand, provide repair services in Australia for UK and US residents who are travelling in Australia with their iPhone

04 July 2008, 12:01 AM (4 years ago)report abuse Send to a friend reply

McBanjo (New user):

Wait. Who forced you to buy this phone? You seem to be awfully passionate about something you're not interested in buying. You're obviously not just looking for faults, you're projecting them, rather than seeing what it can actually do for you. That's called fanboy-ism. But maybe you're right and you should run Apple. Just don't forget your business strategy, that thing you need so you don't go bankrupt.

$10 is very expensive when you've only got $9.95. So if you can't see the value in an iPhone, for the love of god, don't buy it. Also, saying you can't afford something means that you can't see the benefit in it, not just that you haven't got the money.

If you expected Apple to repair your old iPhone, you're an idiot. It has never been sold here, so why should they support it? Apart from that, it's against their company policy to encourage people to unlock their phones. US and UK customers with iPhones would have to be on locked phones, roaming, spending lots of money on international rates, so that's understandable.

04 July 2008, 12:21 AM (4 years ago)report abuse Send to a friend reply

1040steman (New user):

Well the iPhone will be sold here unlocked.I can see where you are coming from with your statement regarding business strategy,but this is just another gizmo that will hit the market surrounded in hype stating perhaps "that it will be best thing since sliced bread" that will be very short of features that a lot of consumers will regard as essential inclusions,and they won't be included in the phone. Just forwarning potential buyers who would expect these inclusions.

04 July 2008, 1:20 AM (4 years ago)report abuse Send to a friend reply

agami (New user):

I couldn't agree more. I can see now the reason behind 1040steman's argument.

Since there are not going to be enough iPhones to go around on 11th July we need to get as many people out of those lines. So I'm all for dissing the iPhone. Lets face it, most of the people will be better off with either a Blackberry 8800 or a Nokia N95 8GB; solid performers with not a single feature missing, and no need to queue up.

04 July 2008, 9:49 AM (4 years ago)report abuse Send to a friend reply

McBanjo (New user):

Hold on, what 'essential' features are not included? Mobile Flash? Because that's such a reliable and stable feature on other phones, surely you could trust it to run your business.

MMS, because it is so essential that I send this pixelated photo to all my family and friends, when I could just email it for free.

None of these 'essential' features are even remotely necessary for the average joe, and the short-comings are more than often given an improved substitute. It's like saying, "I'm not buying a Mercedes and no one should, because it's lacking the essential features of 4m high wheels and dirt moving capabilities."

There will be more than enough iPhones to go around, so I'd need not worry. You may just have to wait a couple of weeks after they go on sale.

06 July 2008, 9:10 AM (4 years ago)report abuse Send to a friend reply

Pikemann Urge (New user):

No Flash? GOOD. And it can STAY out.

05 July 2008, 9:36 PM (4 years ago)report abuse Send to a friend reply

andromeda (New user):

i walked into a phone zone store and i asked did they know what phones they will be getting, the guy was quick to mention we will have the iPHONE i shot him down quick saying, "dont care not intrested" what i do want is a HTC touch diamond, now thats a real phone!

06 July 2008, 2:09 AM (4 years ago)report abuse Send to a friend reply

McBanjo (New user):

Did that make you feel big in the pants?

06 July 2008, 8:48 AM (4 years ago)report abuse Send to a friend reply

n1ck0 (New user):

UR POINT IS??????

SOZ FORGOT UR INBRED

06 July 2008, 11:09 AM (4 years ago)report abuse Send to a friend reply

Not signed in
anonymous user Anonymous user