Optus takes on Vodafone over 'free iPhone' plans

Stephen Withers
Friday, 26 June 2009 11:57

Business IT - Technology

Optus is offering the iPhone 3GS for $0 upfront on a (net) $69 plan. The change appears to be in response to a Vodafone offer.

The 16G iPhone 3GS is available from Optus for $0 upfront on the company's $79 Cap Plan with a 24 month contract. Customers receive a $10 per month credit for the initial term of the contract, bringing the minimum total cost to $1656 over two years.

The 32G iPhone 3GS is available for an extra $10 per month over 24 months.

But the "$1250 total value" offered by the plan is questionable.

Firstly, there's the perennial question of what a dollar actually buys you. On Optus's $79 cap, voice calls cost 78c per minute, with a 35c flagfall.

That's appreciably more expensive than (Optus subsidiary) Virgin Mobile's most expensive prepaid rate of 35c per 30 seconds with a 25c flagfall.

But the point of caps is that you get more than you pay for. The Optus $79 cap allows up to $610 of calls per month, or just over 140 five-minute calls.

The remaining $640 is only available once you've already used up the first $610, and only allows for calls and SMSes to other Optus GSM mobiles and Optus fixed lines (excluding local access resale customers).

So unless you call Optus numbers exclusively, it's practically impossible to get the full $1250 value without also incurring additional charges.

But the plan does stack up well against Vodafone's equivalent - see page 2.