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Telstra will also carry the iPhone 3G
Telstra have confirmed that they wil be joining the party on the 11th July and have also announced their pricing plans. The plans start at $30 a month with $279 upfront (279+30×24=$999) for the 8GB and $399 upfront for the 16GB ($1,119). You can also opt for the $80 per month plan and recieve the 8GB iPhone for no upfront cost or $100 per month for the 16GB or 8GB iPhone at no cost. Both plans will also inclde free access to Telstra’s many wireless hotspots (WiFi) around Aus. Telstra has the largest 3G network in Australia and is sure to be very tempting for many.
39 Responses on Telstra will also carry the iPhone 3G
I probably won’t be going with Telstra - they have a habit of screwing people over with their bad pricing (although that didn’t stop me from registering with them for more info).
It’s good news for us though that more carriers are going to carry the iPhone. More competition means better pricing. Yay \o/
I hope Greg Wun of Tel;stra is choking on this. Rememebr whent he iPhone was fist mooted and he said in the press that Apple should stick to their knitting and stay out of the phone market?
That $30 plan sounds perfect for me as a student - although I’ll have to see how the data costs are handled. I’m hoping something like the hiptop (which claims unlimited but I’m sure there’s some sort of string attached…).
Although, then again, telstra… I’d rather stick with vodafone. I hope they have an equivalent.
Here’s to hoping they offer prepaid. I just don’t just data plans, especially as a uni student.
theres only one way to be sure, http://www.apple.com/au/iphone/buy if its not on there than it wont be with telstra?
you might like to check this out!!
http://telstra.com/index.jsp
The Brisbane Courier Mail also ran this article today. It said that Optus and Vodafone will be offering a pre-paid option unlike Telstra. It also confirmed that Telstra will be selling the iPhone from 11 July like Optus and Vodafone.
Ha! This is proof that Vodafone and Optus are hiding there plans until the last minute. So much for “apple are keeping us tight lipped”!
actually.. the use of telstra’s wireless network for free… is so tempting …
does that mean I can use all telstra internet at Starbucks cafe and street… and even in toilet right ?
When I used to have previous iPhone, I could find a lot of connections in CBD (in Sydney) so it would be great if I can use that free networks … (well… I need to pay for the plan though)
I usuallt paid around $120 per month with Optus including data usage. If $80 plan still provides SAME level of usage, it would be awesome as I normally stay around CBD area.
This price is F-ing bullcrap people are sick of overpriced Phones! OMG australias get ripped off so bad we should be on par with US pricing by about 20 buks give or take for shipping.. they make a massave monoply on us FFS :@!
I think there are some silent competitions going on among those carriers like nobody knows others pricing. So it would be dangerous to reveal pricing earlier than others because the others will bring with slightly cheaper plan. It’s quite interesting to watch that aspect… but as an awaiting user… that’s also PAIN IN MY ASS !!!
come on, open up guys!!
the other question is … HOW THEY ARE GOING TO SELL THE PHONE. If we can’t buy the iPhones from Apple store anymore, we have to buy them at normal phone shop ? As all these carriers offer different purchasing options, I presume that they won’t sell the phone at Apple store anymore.
Otherwise,
If we can buy them from Apple store, that means they will come without sim card and we have to visit any of those carriers and get it activated and get money back depends on which plan/or prepaid we go for ? then wouldn’t it be possible to hack the phone and stay away from this pricing competition ? Well, many people assume it won’t be possible to hack the phone as the PUSH sync stuff will verify firmware constantly.
this fact keeps twisting my arm … ..
again…
it’s so PAINFUL!!
I would rather not have a phone then go with Telstra. For the following reasons:
1. Firstly the comments their CEO made about apple and how the iPhone wasn’t really that different to what other phones have. Also that they should stick to what they’re good at.
2. Telstra have hopeless customer service staff that are in another country and are not only difficult to understand but I’ve found in the past incompetent about their job and poorly trained.
3. It wasn’t until Optus and Vodaphone and other mobile carriers released cap plans that Telstra finally decided they might have to do something to save their dwindling customers as well. However they didn’t advertise the fact for a long time rather relying on existing customers to ask them if they had them or not. My phone bills were anywhere up to $380 a month with Telstra before I discovered the Optus Cap Plans.
I would be very shocked if the other companies to beat their price. I will be sticking with my Optus pre-order for now!!
Above post.. Mistake… I would be very shocked if the other companies don’t try to beat their price. Sorry, early morning typing!
this is completely true, i work with telstra developing their mobile sites and yesterday i got email from them asking to change a couple of thing on the site to accommodate the iphone.
dandan//
I got sympathy … as I’m in same industry. some clients always make& request change in last minute(at this point, I’m not sure whether Telstra is your client or not) that’s always soooo annoying. They have no clear brief with their project and entire business … It seems Telstra ( such a big company) people have no idea too.. like “Ok, Apple … ok .. ok .. you vodafone and optus … ok, guys… one question..
Can I butt into the business ?”
wtf;
Well, I wouldn’t rush for iPhone this time. I’d rather sit back and watch how the all things go … Just worried about lack of supply though…
Anyway, overall …
Great job Jack!
your wish finally has come true.
ok ok !!
9 days to go … yay!
Great to see at least some plans made public, hopefully this will encourage more to come out, also good to see a third carrier. I will be waiting for all the plans to be amde public before i make a choice…
at M: if they sell them from the apple store- they will charge a buy out price, i think i read somewhere, in the US its at about $400 extra for an unlocked phone.
Optus Pricing Released
http://www.optusiphone.com.au/pricing.aspx
Omg Shane loading the page now :O
i am NOT paying over $700 on optus to get the iphone prepaid.
it’s just ridiculous. any good unlock codes for US iphones yet?
Optus priceing to looking good, Telstra the better choice so far
@Molly
What did you think it would be? $100?
Hah.
It’s good news… I’m actually on Optus $89 cap plan… so I can carry on my current plan and get 16GB for free !! and 850MB data would be enough I guess …
only thing left is which one looks better
white ? or black ?
Well, black or white… as most of the time I’ll be looking at the screen, I really don’t care about the color :), now let’s see what vodafone has to offer, as I was originally planning to get a plan from vodafone.
Have just read all the plans etc. my only question still remaining is what stores are Optus going to be releasing them at on the day? I wonder when they will let us know?! Or does anyone have any info regarding this?? I am from the country, so it is kind of important whether or not they will only come out in the city or in regional areas also.
Good god the mobile data looks expensive - I don’t want hundreds of dollars of calls, I mainly want data. I can’t find information about how much extra data will cost - does anyone know? What happens if you go over the 1gb a month?
istara: in the fine print it says if you exceed the amount of data included in your cap plan it will be $0.35 per MB or part thereof!
Good god again. Why are there no plans aimed at heavy data users? Given the iPhone is geared towards YouTube - their compression rate is over 2mb a minute, meaning a five minute video is 10mb. That’s ten 5 minute videos for 100mb.
That means even on the 1gig plan, you can watch just three average YouTube videos a day and go OVER your quota, with no other web browsing.
And it also seems very stingy that unused data doesn’t rollover.
This also has me confused:
“Plus, connect to Optus Pre-Paid and receive $400 Bonus + 1GB internet browsing PLUS recharge with $40 or more on Turbo Cap and receive EXTRA BONUS data every time you recharge!”
So the $400 bonus +1GB - that’s just the first time you connect?
And what’s the “EXTRA BONUS data” that you get when you recharge? Assuming you buy the $100 Turbo Cap plan with 1GB of data, is that the bonus data? What data are you getting with the $30 Turbo Cap plan, as no “mydata” is listed?
I find their information extremely confusing.
istara //
I guess you can get cheaper plan + separate data package if you focus on data use ?
I too am confused with Optus’ pricing. All I want is pre-paid. I don’t care which carrier I’m with, I’ll just be buying the one with the lowest pre-paid buy outright cost.
it appears that Australian consumers have been let down by both Telstra and Optus. The Optus plans are absurdly complex and pricey, with no plan available allowing for a moderate to heavy data useage.
That just leaves Vodafone now, to reveal their plans.
Where can i find an actual breakdown of the Telstra pricing?? I’ve registered my interest on the Telstra site but haven’t received any info about the pricing…
I work for Sensis, and I spoke to a person who works in the Mobile department at Telstra and he told me all Telstra shops will be carrying the phone on July 11th. Also that the pricing is still going under some last minute fixes… That’s all I got.
I sent an email to telstra asking about the “Pre-Paid Option” but they said all they can offer is on a plan.. they didnt even say you could buy it outright! grrrr
anyone know what retailers in melb are offering this come fri/sat?
I won’t consider other carrier than Telstra for an iPhone 3G. Telstra has the 850 network working at 14.4 Mbps all over Australia. THis means, because we are using 7.2 MBps devices, we can have more badwidth (wireless is afected by the number of user, distance, etc.) Optus is not a good option, because the iPhone doesn’t support the 900Mhz network, so it would EDGE with them (ugh!). Vodaphone? only if I live in the CBD. Coverage is terrible. Telstra is releasing new Data plans because they are aware the iPhone uses a lot of data. If you want to compare, test an iphone with Telstra agains one with Vodaphone or Optus with a Speed Tester. You will see the difference.
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