Aussie iPhone users expected to bend over
Mikey 8 commentsHoly Crap! I know Telstra have always tried to milk us Aussie consumers for every last cent they can, but the revelation of the new Australian iPhone plans is really taking the p*ss even for them.
Clearly trying to capitalise on the popularity of the iPhone, it looks as if Telstra have created the pricing plan on the 'people have more dollars than sense' mantra - which is as stupid as it sounds.
Have a look at this (leaked) ridiculous chart:
While the data is reasonably generous, the included phone calls is where things are ludicrous. The most included phone calls is a miserable $UA90 worth, and that will cost you a whopping $219/month. Just to give you a rough comparison, I pay $AU60 per month for my yummy Nokia N95 and that includes $AU300 worth of calls and data per month.
The moral here is that when the iPhone hits Aussie shores, it is surely only for people with too much disposable income.
Rodney
Friday 11th July 2008 | 11:32 AM"...While the data is reasonably generous..."
What?? $105 for 5 MEG's is generous?!? So someone emails you a few of those joke emails and bang! $200 down the drain.
As Franken says, Telstra's whole business model is to get people who don't shop around.
Mikey
Friday 11th July 2008 | 11:36 AM...in response to this comment by Rodney. Considering most Aussie Telcos charge about $5 per megabyte that's comparability cheap. 3gb would cost about $15,000 otherwise :-)
Rodney
Friday 11th July 2008 | 11:54 AM...in response to this comment by Mikey. I get charged $1 for 5 minutes, irrespective of the data use. It's not a great rate but enough to do a few quick lookups, easily. I could have gone for a better deal but don't plan to use much data.
http://www.vodafone.com.au/personal/plans/contract/plans/index.htm
For example - 100MB per month, on a $20 plan... That beats the crap out of Telstra...
peter
Friday 11th July 2008 | 03:48 PMThe best line I heard about the iphone was that it surely is the Paris Hilton of the technology world. Yes, it's pretty, it's expensive, and yes, everybody wants to fsck with it, but at the end of the day it's over-reported, and fundamentally useless.
Hoggy
Friday 11th July 2008 | 04:23 PM$219 for $90 calls! What planet are they on? Oh yeah, planet Telstra.
Dan L.
Friday 11th July 2008 | 07:06 PMCan anyone tell us how that compares to a plan in the USA?
aaron
Monday 14th July 2008 | 02:17 PMoptus is a bit better:
http://apcmag.com/breaking_optus_announces_iphone_pricing.htm
Franken
Friday 11th July 2008 | 09:20 AMThis is no surprise from Telstra. Their business model is still based on consumer ignorance.