IMHO the optus $59 p/w plan is great value. $350 worth of calls and 500mb data and $7 handset payments = $750 per year approx.

No. On the business plans you can pay $5 for free voicemail or get it free as an option on some plans. It's possible they might offer visual voicemail for free when it arrives, but nobody knows. Virgin do offer free voicemail if you wanted to wait for them or buy outright and roll your own plan.

Surely if I go for the optus $59 plan I don't have to pay for voicemail? :agast:

optus $29 YES plan is very good just dont like the handset repayments of $17 for 24 months!!! it equals $408 which is alot of money. i only wanted to pay $29 a month and maybe $200 for the phone upfront.

This is the plan I'm on, and I found the handset repayments to be more than reasonable for the iPhone. You pay more than $408 for a 16GB iPod Touch, and for $29 a month over two years, I think it's fine. I mean, think about it, you're talking about a $1000 device here when compared to other smart phones on the market, and none are nearly as good as the iPhone (arguable, but that's my opinion). It's unreasonable to expect to pay $29 a month and less than $400 in handset repayments.

I'm going to pay the handset repayments in a lump sum on my first bill. Makes it a little easier.

I asked this question to Voda and got this response:
(BTW the link they give tells you nothing)

Thank you for your email.

If you join Vodafone on an iPhone contract as a personal customer, the $310 credit can be used for calls, TXT and data.

If you join as a Business Customer a limited amount of the $310 credit can be used for data.

For further information please refer to the link below

Vodafone iPhone 3G

Kind regards


Looks good to me - I wonder if they have to stick to their word now I have it in writing or if it could be overturned by future changes to their T & C?

I can see how that might have been confusing.

You pay $5, then you don't pay per minute fees to check voicemail.

That's not so bad if your credit can go towards your data. That's as close to confirmation as I have seen.

after 15 years with telstra i have churned to optus because they made an effort with iphone. sensible rates and no b.s.

Ok that makes sense. Thanks.

I haven't had voice mail in a long time. I didn't realize that retrieving voice mail had a cost associated with it.

Anyway, anyone here know about corporate plans (as opposed to business plans)? I heard that the corporate plans are charged at 7c per 30s with 3Gb of data, and the iPhone is only about $640 outright.

if i go on an optus $19 plan will the phone be unlocked completely so i can use my three sim, or will i have to get it unlocked as well?

Is this a prepaid plan or a contract? If it's prepaid, you pay $80 on top of the outright cost, if it's contract then I'm not sure..

i read this on another forum and seemed like a good idea, but noone seemed to answer

he'd been on a telstra phone plan before. and the ETC's of the plan were half the plan price x the months remaining.. ie $15pm on a 30 phone plan.

using this logic would it be easier (and CHEAPER) for people who want it "outright" to simply purchase on the "$30 phone plan and pay 399 upfront, go home and cancel the contract and pay the 360 ETC's

that equals a 16gb for $759, or $639 for 8gb. if could someone call telstra and confirm the etc's this could be the way to go for people to whom they wont sell outrights

any thoughts?

That's what I did, go on the Optus yes $19 plan. Not the cap. The repayments are slightly cheaper. It only includes $14 calls, but you ditch the Optus SIM anyway.

It's free to get it unlocked when you're on a contract.

Also make sure you change to the new Three iPhone plans if you can, you get $300 and free 1GB or 2GB of data.