Alex Zaharov-Reutt
Tuesday, 29 July 2008 08:37
Opinion and Analysis
Page 1 of 3
3 Mobile has made 7GB of data available for $49 per month on its 3.5G
HSDPA network, outclassing competitors who only have 3GB, 5GB and 6GB
plans respectively – but who will be the first to bite the 10GB
download cap bullet?
Only last week was I adding my voice to the call for an “
Aussie mobile data revolution” and suggested that competitive market forces were pushing for this to happen anyway, but I didn’t think that by Tuesday (four days later) that 3 Mobile would launch a 7GB plan for $49 per month.
Of course, to truly have stunned us all, a 10GB plan would have been better, but 7GB is still certainly nothing to be sneezed at.
In addition, 3 Mobile have also done existing X-Series users a favour by increasing their download caps automatically, something that X-Series users will receive an SMS message about today, and will see occur at the start of their next billing cycle.
I’m very happy to see this increase happen automatically for all users – often telecommunications companies force its customers to specifically call and get upgraded to a new plan, and until they do, remain stuck on the older one, so for 3 Mobile to make this an automatic update is to be applauded.
So, what is 3 Mobile specifically offering? Well, there are two new mobile broadband plans – a 6GB plan for $39 per month, and the aforementioned 7GB plan for a monthly $49 charge in conjunction with a dedicated wireless broadband modem (be it USB or ExpressCard). All the new plans are immediately available, too.
There are also significant data allowance increases on the $20, $30 and $40 X-Series Internet Packs, which are only be sold in conjunction with a series of 3.5G phone handsets (such as the Nokia N95 and a range of others).
The USB/ExpressCard modem pricing is better than X-Series pricing in that you get a larger data allocation, but X-Series plans have all been upgraded to give you 4000 minutes of Skype calls, unlimited instant messaging through Yahoo Messenger and Windows Live/MSN Messenger, free access to some of 3 Mobile’s online news content and the new addition of unlimited mobile MySpace access.
In addition, as X-Series users would already know, the data limits it provides can be used both on the phone itself, and connected to a desktop or notebook PC with the phone used as a wireless broadband modem, something you can’t officially do, for example, with your iPhone 3G.
Noel Hamill, Director Sales, Marketing and Product at 3 Mobile, and no known relation to Mark Hamill of Star Wars fame said: “3’s customers want great value on data and they want to use more of it – so bringing them better value with more data allowances is something we believe in. Whether you’re using the internet on your mobile phone or on your laptop, we think these new options will be a good match.”
So, what are some more of the plan specifics? Please read on to page 2.
