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Technology news and Jobs arrow Seeking Nerdvana arrow Telstra iPhone data plans - expect nothing and you won't be disappointed
Telstra iPhone data plans - expect nothing and you won't be disappointed E-mail
by Adam Turner   
Thursday, 10 July 2008
The weak US dollar means there are bargains to be found buying outright iPhones in the States and then shipping them overseas.

Apple intended to wipe out the grey market of iPhone importing by insisting that customers sign up for a plan with a telco before they leave the store.

AT&T has already blown that out of the water by revealing that it will sell the 8GB iPhone 3G outright "some time in the future" for $US599. It would still be locked to AT&T, but this is of little concern as iPhone unlocking is now a one-click process.

Even allowing for postage, Australians could get their hands on such a phone for under $AU650 - which is cheaper than the $AU729 Optus wants for an outright iPhone (plus another $AU80 to unlock it, which only a fool would pay).

If you're prepared to put in some more effort, it looks like you can pick up an iPhone from the US for even less. If you by an 8GB iPhone 3G from AT&T for $US199 and then cancel the contract after thirty days, you only need to pay $175 to terminate your contract.

Once you allow for the first month's payment you've still got yourself an 8GB iPhone 3G for around $US450. I'm not sure if I'd want to go down that path, but it's an interesting option.

While there are 50,000 hacked iPhones in Australia, many more people decided to hold out for the official release of an Australian iPhone.

If Apple and the Australian telcos get too greedy, these people will shop for their iPhones elsewhere. The telcos need to offer good value plans to win these people over, but the fact that Telstra seems set to screw iPhone 3G owners on data charges doesn't look promising.

I hope for everyone's sake that I'm wrong about Telstra's data intentions, but as every hour passes without word from Telstra I'm more likely to be right. As usual, expect nothing from Telstra and you won't be disappointed.

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Seeking Nerdvana follows Adam Turner's quest to attain oneness with technology. Embedded in the digital lounge room, Adam offers a view from the couch of the front line where PC converges with AV.