Telstra will permit unused data on its pre-paid iPad 3G plans to be carried forward into the following month rather than expire at the 30 day use-by period, but there’s a catch...
Telstra has won plenty of well-deserved praise for the affordable pricing of its
Next G-based prepaid iPad plans, but criticism has also been levelled at the strict 30-day expiry period for data recharges.
Everything from the 1GB of Telstra’s entry-level $20 pack to the 12GB of the $100 top-up are bound to a 30-day expiry period for unused data.
The good news is that Telstra
will be allowing unused data to be carried forward from one month to the next.
Telstra public affairs spokesman Peter Symons told APC that apart from the first month on the starter kit’s credit, which must be used within 30 days of activation, “every time you recharge within 30 days unused credit is rolled over for a further 30 days.”
Unfortunately the system is a little convoluted, as it follows the same ‘data rate per MB’ model as Telstra’s existing prepaid Next G wireless broadband plans.
This divides Telstra’s prepaid iPad 3G plans into two ‘data tiers’. Data in the $20 (1GB) pack is rated at 2c/MB while the $30, $60, $80 and $100 recharges are rated at 1c/MB.
“Rolled-over credit will buy data at two different rates depending on the tier that a customer recharges at,” Symons explains.
Here’s our shot at explaining how the system works.
Let’s say you activate a $30/3GB recharge pack for your iPad on June 1st, but as the end of June approaches you’ve used only 2GB – and you don’t want to see that other 1GB go to waste.
Can the remaining 1GB be rolled over into July if you buy another recharge pack? Well, kinda sorta.
Telstra considers your remaining credit to be counted in dollars rather than data. Because you have one-third of your $30 pack remaining, this left-over amount is counted as $10 instead of 1GB.
This $10 is applied to the next recharge pack you buy and used to calculate how much data you
actually carry over, based on the data rate of the recharge pack.
If you opt for the $20/1GB recharge pack, this has a data rate of 2c/MB. Your $10 is counted at the same rate as the recharge pack, which means you get only 500MB carried forward (for a combined monthly total of 1.5GB up for grabs).
But if you spring for any of the higher-priced packs, which are rated at 1c/MB, your $10 buys you the full 1GB to add to the tally for the next 30 days.
This approach is certainly less than elegant, but it’s better than a strict ‘use it or lose it’ policy.
Note that the exception to this rule is the initial 3GB available with Telstra’s $30 ‘Pre-Paid SIM for Apple iPad Kit’ – 1GB as standard offering and 2GB as a bonus for registering by June 30th – all has to be used within the first 30 days. We’re sure you can find some way to chew through an average of 300MB per day on your iPad...