Virgin pops iPhone cherry with massive 5GB bang!

by Alex Zaharov-Reutt

Friday, 01 August 2008

Page 2 of 4 Clearly the devil is in the detail with any phone plan: how quickly will your included cap amount be “chewed up” by calls, how much data do you get, what do excess usage charges cost, and more.   I decided to have a look at what Virgin’s parent company, Optus Mobile, charges for a similarly priced “yes cap” plan, although an exact comparison is frankly tricky. At the site linked just above, you can see that a $79 cap for a 16GB iPhone, with a monthly phone cost of $2 over 24 months will cost you $81 per month, which is roughly in between the Virgin $70 and $100 caps. This plan gives you “unlimited” SMS, $550 worth of calls, 700MB of data, with calls charged at 37c per 30 seconds and a 35c flagfall. The plan is cheaper, you get unlimited SMS, and a higher cap value for calls which stretches further because standard SMS is included and you pay lower fees for your calls. But you get a lot less data. Vodafone’s 16GB iPhone on a $99 plan gives you $600 worth of credit, 500MB of data and a phone at $219 upfront of $9.13 per month. Clearly you’ll need to closely evaluate plans to see which one is right for you, as there are many variables to consider. Virgin also have a range of caps that include no data, onto which you’ll have to add the $10 for 300MB data plan or the $15 for 1GB data plan – but watch out for those excess usage fees! For the 8GB iPhone These are $20 per month, a $24 per month iPhone 8GB cost, for a total of $44 per month with $50 included monthly credit (or $20/$24 = $44 with $50 credit). The other plans are as follows, using the same formula as the $20 plan above. $30/$17 = $47pm with $140 credit. $45/$10 = $55pm with $250 credit. $65/$0 = $65pm with $500 credit. $90/$0 = $90pm with $850 credit. $145/$0 = $145pm with $1200 credit. For the 16GB iPhone These are $20 per month, a $29 per month iPhone 16GB cost, for a total of $49 per month with $50 included monthly credit (or $20/$24 = $49 with $50 credit). The other plans are as follows, using the same formula as the $20 plan above. $30/$22 = $52pm with $140 credit. $45/$15 = $60pm with $250 credit. $65/$5 = $70pm with $500 credit. $90/$0 = $90pm with $750 credit. (The site says $750 when you "calculate" but $850 in the "chart" above. A Virgin Spokesperson has confirmed it is $750. Presumably the 8GB template was copied across and Virgin are urgently fixing it by this afternoon, so if you see it before its fixed you'll know why there's a difference.). $145/$0 = $145pm with $1150 credit. (Likewise the site says $1150 when you "calculate" it but $1200 in the chart above. Virgin have confirmed it is $1150 for the 16GB iPhone, and are fixing the chart, which might already be fixed by the time you read this.) So, what about concerns that Virgin Mobile’s “broadband” can be flaky, which is of quoted concern to existing customers? That's on page 3. What Virgin Mobile’s CEO Peter Bithos says about the new plans is on page 4.Please read on! << First page <   1 2 3 4 Next page > Last page - Post your comment >>

 

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