Telstra has revealed the addition of almost one million new mobile services in the six months to December 2011, but Sensis revenues plummeted 24 percent in 12 months.
We know from the HTC Magic Google Android phone that Vodafone’s $114 unlimited deal (including the handset, unlimited voice, SMS and 2GB) was better than 3 Mobile’s $99 deal with a cap and extra money needed to be paid to get a 1GB or 2GB data allowance!
Why would an iPhone user want to stay with 3 Mobile if Vodafone offers a better deal?
A simple reason is because not everyone wants to commit to a $114 monthly plan.
Another is that a lot of their friends are also on the 3 Mobile network, giving users the ability to make free 10 minute calls to each other without chewing into your main cap when calling other networks, and without needing to pay $114 a month if the full value of those free calls are taken advantage of.
Someone might already have an existing account with 3 Mobile, making it easy to go to 3 Mobile’s website and presumably simply order a new iPhone 3GS online and have it turn up a few days later.
I did with this 3 Mobile’s excellent $39 per month BlackBerry deal, offering an older 2005 pre-trackball (it uses the side thumbwheel) yet still 3G and colour screen BlackBerry, $350 worth of calls to anyone (including $100 worth of international calls), $200 or $300 for calls to others on the 3 Mobile network, 3GB of data, “unlimited” BlackBerry access, 3 months free and more.
The SIM card is usable in whatever phone you want, and 4000 minutes of Skype access available if you have a compatible phone (several Nokia’s and I think others).
Plus, the SIM works in any BlackBerry, something regular SIM cards can’t, which will be crucial if you actually plan on using a BlackBerry and simply very handy if you ever need to put your SIM into someone’s BlackBerry and expect to be able to use the Internet.
I authenticated myself, placed the order, had the account added to my existing account (with a new phone number to go with the service), received confirmation by email and then received the package a few days later.
It’s a really good 3 Mobile deal to a value and low cost that Vodafone, Telstra and Optus aren’t offering, so we can’t count 3 Mobile out just yet, but is this a deal 3 Mobile could offer iPhone users while charging a separate monthly payment for the iPhone 3GS itself?
3 Mobile clearly has a number of choices and new goals now that it is partnered with Vodafone, and despite the forewarning that 3 Mobile will become the value brand, a slightly clearer picture of what that really means will unfold very soon… when 3 Mobile’s pricing plans are released.
We won’t get a cheaper unlimited deal from 3 Mobile than Vodafone, but there’s plenty of other ways to offer good value at good prices.
As always, I’m hoping to be pleasantly surprised or even wowed.
David Bass
| For the fourth year in a row, IDC has placed content security provider Websense (NASDAQ: WBSN) at the top of the IDC Worldwide Web Security 2011 –…
How to Make Business Discovery Work for Your Business
Business Discovery takes its cues from consumer apps. Like Google, it encourages us- ers to hunt for and explore data without worrying about or even noticing the underly- ing technology. Their entire experience is working within an intuitive interface to get real-time, self-service results with only minimal training. ...more
Try an easy-to-use set of web-enabled
tools for business-class productivity services. Office 365 provides
anywhere-access to email, important documents, contacts, and calendars
on almost any device.
