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Fuzzy Logic Virgin pops iPhone cherry with massive 5GB bang!
Fuzzy Logic Virgin pops iPhone cherry with massive 5GB bang! | Virgin pops iPhone cherry with massive 5GB bang! |
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| by Alex Zaharov-Reutt | |
| Friday, 01 August 2008 | |
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Page 1 of 4   
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The thing is, with a whopping 5GB of included data on the $100 plan (which slightly confusingly gets you either the 8GB or 16GB model), Virgin Mobile might now be classed as having the best plan, at least for data. Virgin have two main plans, the $70 plan and the $100 plan, which are detailed below. On page 2 you’ll find information on Virgin’s other plans, of which there are several, but don’t come with any included data. The plans as stated on Virgin Mobile’s site are as follows: iPhone 8GB Black: $70 per month gives you $520 monthly credit and 1GB data $100 per month gives you $520 monthly credit and 5GB data These plans are explained as being the “phone cost” but nevertheless seem to be plan costs anyway as the “plan cost” is listed as $0. According to the Virgin “Note to self” terms and conditions, the real cost of the 8GB model is $744 over 24 months, with Virgin paying $31 per month from your “phone cost” payment towards the $744 phone cost. iPhone 16GB Black or White (with the black model “sold out” on the Virgin site on launch day): $70 per month + $4 “plan cost” payment gives you $520 monthly credit and 1GB data for a total minimum monthly cost of $74 $100 per month + no “plan cost” payment gives you $520 monthly credit and 5GB data These plans are also explained as being the “phone cost” with only the $70 plan having a “plan cost” of $4. According to the Virgin “Note to self” terms and conditions, the real cost of the 16GB model is $864 over 24 months, with Virgin paying $36 per month from your “phone cost” payment towards the $864 phone cost. If you want to “break” the 24 month contract early, Virgin’s “Note to self” says: “Leave when you like, just pay out the full balance of the PPP owing, your pro-rated minimum spend and usage for that month and a Premature Evacuation Fee of $250 if you pay out your phone within the first 6 months.” Interestingly, you can still add Virgin’s browsing packs to either of these plans. So, if you pay an additional $10 per month, you’ll get an extra 300MB of data on either of these plans, and if you pay an additional $15 per month, you’ll get an extra 1GB on either plan. But how is the monthly cap “chewed up” when you make calls, and excess data charges? I contacted a Virgin Mobile spokesperson who told me that the call rate is 40c per 30 seconds, with a flagfall rate of 40c per call. SMS messages are charged at 25c each, and if you call or text existing Virgin Mobile customers, you get “all you can eat 24/7”. Of course a "fair use policy" applies to the "all you can eat" deal, as you'd expect, Virgin Mobile's fair use policy (PDF link) states 2500 minutes and 3000 SMS messages, which is a lot. I've received a call back from a Virgin Mobile spokesperson, and excess data is 0.2c per kilobyte - that's 1/5th of a cent. To translate that into dollars, that $0.002. $0.002 x 1024 = $2.048 per megabyte. $2.048 x 1024 = $2097.152 per gigabyte. These excess data charges are for the $70 and the $100 capped plans. For any of the other plans on page 2 that come with NO included data (to be bundled with the $10/300MB plan, or the $15/1GB plan), excess data beyond the plan amount is charged at 1.5c per kilobyte, which is Virgin's usual excess data charge, and results in over $15,000 being charged per excess gigabyte. So... if you plan on using a LOT of data, do yourself a favour and get the 5GB plan with the 1GB add-on at a total minimum cost of $115 per month to avoid any “bill shock”, big or small. And given that the $100 plan goes for either the 8GB iPhone or the 16GB model, with only a $4 difference on the $70 plans, surely any savvy consumer would go for 16GB total, unless they had a serious aversion to “white” and couldn’t wait for Virgin to get more stock of the 16GB in black. You can always encase your iPhone in a plastic or silicon case, which if coloured makes the colour of the iPhone 3G’s back plastic casing more or less irrelevant. Still, Virgin say you get the choice, and some customers will simply be happy with an 8GB model or want it in black now. So, how does this compare to a similarly priced plan from Optus and Vodafone, and what are the other capped iPhone plans Virgin offers? You’ll find that on page 2. On page 3 you’ll find concerns about the quality of Virgin Mobile’s broadband connections that could affect iPhone customers, while on page 4 you’ll see what Virgin Mobile’s CEO has to say about the new plans along with my concluding thoughts on how the Aussie mobile data revolution is alive and well. Please read on! |
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