[olfella]

Originally Posted by love

Can anyone tell that if i buy an i phone from apple store online, do i still have to pay f-----g Optus the tethering charges or the tethering is already unlocked for iphones bou=ght from apple store online......

But it would free you up to take advantage of what is outlined in post 10 - meaning get another provider to access the net. Exetel comes to mind...

[love]

And i have heard Optus is not providing tethering on prepaid, even if you pay money........Is it true?

[yinyang]

just ordered a 32Gb black iPhone 3GS - woohoo

[jaredtomas]

Originally Posted by kevinnugent

Just got my confirmation email back.... delivery 10-15th July. Is there a "cry" smiley?!? Why would it take so long to ship? Surely they have stock.

There you go, sir.

[pixelwave]

Does anyone knows how much iPhone 3GS (16GB) they have in the Apple Retail Store ROBINA on stock?

Planning to visit Gold Coast July 10th ... maybe worth a ride

[rjdeed]

Originally Posted by robbo007

Hello all,

I'm currently living in Europe and coming home to Perth for 20 days. I'm thinking of buying the iphone 3GS from the Applestore as it works out to about 500 euros, not bad.

Does anyone know if you buy it in Australia do they force you to signup to Optus/Telstra? Is it 100% unlocked with no contractual obligations? Whats the process.

My ideas is take it back to Europe and use my Spanish SIM. I currently have the iphone 3G.

Thanks in advance,

Rob

I'm working in Germany at the moment, and have an unlocked iphone. I went to an O2 store here, bought a prepaid sim, and paid for a month's data access, put it into the phone and haven't looked back. Can't imagine why a Spanish sim would cause any issues for you.

[iCantwait]

what is the stock level for chadstone and doncaster?

[Hamstor]

Originally Posted by decryption

The 16GB 3GS is $879 and the 32GB 3GS is $1040. The 8GB 3G can still be purchased for $719.

On Optus I got the 32GB 3Gs for $14 per month over 24months in the $59 plan. Total cost = $336 + $1416 (plan) = $1753

That means my plan is really only costing me $712 over 2 years (taking out the $1040 cost of the 3Gs).

So the only way buying it outright would be better is if you could find a plan for <$30 per month that gives you more than the Optus $59 plan.

Not to mention I got an extra GB per month for $5 and free thethering when I signed up.

Good to have the option but I don't see many reasons to take them up on it.

[CoreyE]

Originally Posted by Hamstor

On Optus I got the 32GB 3Gs for $14 per month over 24months in the $59 plan. Total cost = $336 + $1416 (plan) = $1753

That means my plan is really only costing me $712 over 2 years (taking out the $1040 cost of the 3Gs).

So the only way buying it outright would be better is if you could find a plan for <$30 per month that gives you more than the Optus $59 plan.

Not to mention I got an extra GB per month for $5 and free thethering when I signed up.

Good to have the option but I don't see many reasons to take them up on it.

1) Not being with Optus
2) No commitment

[decryption]

Originally Posted by CoreyE

1) Not being with Optus
2) No commitment

Exacto mondo - that's why I purchased my iPhone outright. When the next iPhone rolls around in 12 months, I can just buy it outright again, as I'm not tied to any contracts. Plus not being on Optus is a good thing

[OziMac]

Where were all of you guys last year when those of us going on 12 month contracts were riled and ridiculed for making higher handset repayments when we could have got the iPhones for free on 24 month plans? Hmm?

[decryption]

Originally Posted by OziMac

Where were all of you guys last year when those of us going on 12 month contracts were riled and ridiculed for making higher handset repayments when we could have got the iPhones for free on 24 month plans? Hmm?

A huge mistake - I look back on it now and feel so stupid.

[Hamstor]

Originally Posted by CoreyE

1) Not being with Optus
2) No commitment

OK, not being with Optus is a fair point, but the commitment isn't such a big deal. With the price difference, you are not really on a 24month contract, its more like 12months, for the next you're just paying off an interest free load for the iphone which you can't get buying outright. You can get them to unlock if for about $100 they told me....

Put it this way, your committed either way. Buying outright your committed to paying the full price up front, on a plan your committed to a plan for 12 months and the rest is just paying off the phone slowely.

[bLackjack]

Originally Posted by decryption

A huge mistake - I look back on it now and feel so stupid.

Not an issue with Virgin.

Simply paid out the remainder of the cost of my handset - 449,..then sold it to a mate @ cost - unlocked. Virgin DO NOT charge the remaining 12 months of access fees. You just pay out your current months access fee, and your free.

So if a new iPhone is released next year, i'll just do the same upgrade cycle.

Contrary to some, I have never had an issue with dl speeds or reception. I also do not believe (from a source close to OPTUS),..that OPTUS traffic is prioritised over Virgin. This is simply incorrect.

[OziMac]

Originally Posted by Hamstor

OK, not being with Optus is a fair point, but the commitment isn't such a big deal. With the price difference, you are not really on a 24month contract, its more like 12months, for the next you're just paying off an interest free load for the iphone which you can't get buying outright. You can get them to unlock if for about $100 they told me....

Put it this way, your committed either way. Buying outright your committed to paying the full price up front, on a plan your committed to a plan for 12 months and the rest is just paying off the phone slowely.

Sure, from a financial point of view that makes sense - but when the new iPhone 3GT/4G comes out next year, and you want to upgrade / switch to another carrier, it is either unavailable or that obligation is brought forward through an upgrade fee anyway - and when you realise that there's no way you can stand staying with Optus and want to switch, you're stuck paying out your whole contract, handset and service fees.

So the upfront cost is really just paying for flexibility, and not having to tear your hair out when you have to deal with inevitable termination issues with the carrier.

Contrary to some, I have never had an issue with dl speeds or reception. I also do not believe (from a source close to OPTUS),..that OPTUS traffic is prioritised over Virgin. This is simply incorrect.

They can say/spin what they like - the empirical evidence doesn't support it.

Having said that, I agree with you about terminating - was actually much easier on Virgin than the others.

[bLackjack]

Originally Posted by OziMac

They can say/spin what they like - the empirical evidence doesn't support it.

What "empirical evidence"?? I have stood side by side with a friend on OPTUS, and we have had almost identical Speedtest results & phone reception.

Other than fanatical hearsay,..I have seen no actual real world evidence! As I mentioned, the person I know is in the Networks area & would have absolutely no reason to be lying to me either way. He was clear in that the traffic is grouped separately for costing and billing purposes, but one customer does NOT hold priority over another with respect to actual packets of data.

[Hamstor]

I will admit happily that I find the network performance of my Optus connection quite poor. It seems to me like everytime I want to access the internet I have to wait 10-20sec for it to establish the connection. This includes checking pop3 mail or browseing a web site etc Once it is going it generally seems ok unless you are down to one bar or so then you'll be lucky to get any connection at all. At Pt Cook in Melb's west it was essentially unusable, it would take a minute or more just to start a connection etc At home in Hoppers Crossing it connects to my ADSL. Even though the speed test through the ADSL wireless is slower than through the 3G connection, using 3G in practice is much slower than tapping into my ADSL. I don't put much value in these speed test results and how they relate back to real world usage performance.

I am sure once your able to communicate back to the tower the throughput is fine, the bottleneck is most likely between handset & tower...