Im with virgin if anyone near Melbourne central wants to test one tomorrow morning.

I'm with Voda on a 12-24 month (I can't remember) contract on the N95.... I wonder what I would have to do if I wanted to upgrade to a iPhone and stay with Voda... ?

Well I am looking at getting the iPhone prior to heading over to the Olympics to China.

Telstra sadly have the best overseas roaming rate with China - the rest are about $2 more.

I have a Telstra mobile already (a N95) on 3G.

Am I better:
(a) buying a pre-paid iPhone upfront? Problem with that is apparently it will be locked to the provider;
(b) going on a cheap plan, paying a monthly fee and using my exisitng sim from the N95 - apparently iPhones on plans are unlocked.
(c) grabbing an iPhone in China in the hope they have err... unlocked it somehow and I get it half-price.

Thoughts appreciated.

Last time I tried to upgrade while on a Vodafone contract, you had to be past a certain point in your contract period before they would allow you to do it. Bear in mind this was a few years ago so things may well have changed quite a bit.

Can someone clarify for me what the difference between the Optus "Cap" and "Yes" plans is? From the spreadsheet the $49 Yes plan looks good for me as it has 500MB of data as compared to 250MB on the Cap plan. I don't make a lot of calls so perhaps the Yes plan would be better?

Since we now know that the iphone will work with any carrier, of all that plans that are available (besides teh official carriers) which ones offer the best value?

can the best Optus plans be beaten by something offered by virgin or three?

Virgin $29 cap + $15 for 1GB of data is the best offer. 3 is good too, but the coverage is crap compared to Virgin (Optus network).

is the virgin 29 available on a pre paid?

No, it's a cap that you pay for monthly. On the $29 cap you get $140 of calls and text. For $30 prepaid, you get $30 of calls and text.

Edit: There's also Bean Counter. See here https://www.virginmobile.com.au/shop/pc-134-2-byo.aspx
If you recharge your prepaid online you get insane 10c per minute calls apparently.

Virgin prepaid doesn't have data though, just so you know.

Well, they both cost money just different amounts?

i am 48 and discovered Mac a year ago and am now hooked.... so naturally i want an iphone. i have a question for the more knowledgable about these things...

i have no need of data or email sent to my phone so most of the plans seem expensive to me...esp. as the call rates on offer are much higher than my existing ones.
So... if i buy an iphone overseas for a reasonable price ( not Optus's $700+ offering ), can i use my existing sim card in it and stay on the same plan i am on now???? Is this what unlocking is??

Many thanks...

Apologies if this has already been asked...

Unlocking is buying a phone outright from, Vodafone (to use an example) that would normally be programmed to work only with an Vodafone SIM card. To 'unlock' the phone would then make it useable on other Australian networks. IN which case you could then use your existing SIM.

If you were to buy an iPhone overseas I think you will need to hack it to get it to work on Australian networks, much the same as Gen 1 iPhone users had to do in Australia.

Does anyone have any ideas to when Optus, Voda & Telstra will release a new range of contracts/deals??

Will it be a matter of weeks or months?

I would like to know as i am still deciding whether to bite the bullet and buy one now, or wait for better deals?

Any info would be highly apprieciated.

Take your N 95 to China, make cheaper calls on Telstra, do the China shopping spree and you might even get a phone you can put your telstr sim into and have it operating for the remainder of your holiday.