Optus re-invents prepaid with 'Dollar Days'

Stuart Corner
Thursday, 14 October 2010 21:04

Your IT - Mobility

While most mobile prepaid offerings blab on about notional 'value' which means nothing when call rates are not specified, Optus has come up with a radically different approach.

Optus prepay customers can pay an amount upfront, for example $30, and specify whether they want to use that at the rate of $1, $2 or $3 per day.

If they choose the $1 per day option they can make as many standard national calls and send as many texts as they like to Optus mobile and to fixed line customers on any network. If they opt to spend $2 per day, they can make unlimited standard national calls and texts to any Australian mobiles and fixed lines. For $3 per day they can make unlimited standard national calls and texts to Australian mobiles and fixed lines and enjoy unlimited mobile Internet browsing within Australia.

On the $3 per day plan the $3 daily fee is not charged on weekends and on all the plans the daily fee is not charged if there is no usage on that day.

A customer that has opted for the more restricted $1 or $2 plan is not precluded from making calls not included, ie calling a non-Optus mobile, but on any day they use a service that is available only on one of the more expensive plans they are charged at that rate on that day. So, for example if a customer on a $1 plan surfs the net they will be charged $3 on that day.

Any services not included in the plans, such as international calls are charged at Optus' standard rates, rounded up to the whole dollar and the prepaid credit reduced accordingly.

All of the Optus Dollar Days offers include unlimited access to popular social networking sites such as Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, MySpace, eBay, and Foursquare within Australia.

Recharges are available for $10, $15 and $20 on 14 day expiry, $30, $40 and $50 on 30 days and $70 and $100 on 60 days.