Hi all,

Guess there is still much confusion over the usage details and free data part.

Usage Details :

Call optus up and get your REAL account number from the cust service. Input your code into the website and let the website do its magic. If you see account setup in progress, just wait. They mention it can take UP TO your first billing date to get it all set up. Which for me is 4th of each mth. I dunno whether is the same for everyone. By then if you still do not see your account fully set up please give them a call.


Free Data for First Month :

It will not necessarily be the first complete bill cycle. If your scheduled bill date is anywhere between the 11th and the 25th it may not be applied in time.

It will be free for the first complete bill cycle. If your scheduled bill cycle is after the 25th. or before 11th. For now they are setting it up. So it might be free, or it might not be. Depends on your luck.


Free Network Unlocking :

If you are on a optus contract and want to unlock your iphone, just call cust service and tell them that you want to unlock your handset. They will take down your details and forward it to Apple. Apple will then do a unlocking thru your itunes. This can take up to 10 working days.


Hope i have answered some of the quests that are flying around the forums.
*THIS INFORMATION IS GIVING TO ME BY CUST SERVICE.*

Is my billing date the same day I signed the contract?

No. i signed up on the 11th. The day that the phone was out. They told me my billing cycle is the 3rd or 4th. They will send you an email when the bill is ready. That's if you signed on for electronic billing. Call them to check on your cycle

You can only get live billing data if you're in a particular system. If you're a new Optus customer, you will be in that system (you'll have a 14-digit account number). If you were an existing Optus customer, and you have an eight-digit account number, you cannot sign up for live billing data until your account is migrated across to the newer system. No idea whether this is going to be done automatically for all iPhone customers.

The free first month will not necessarily be the first complete bill cycle, as it can take up to 14 days to be provisioned onto the account.

Not necessarily.

The guy i spoke to said that it will be first complete bill cycle for sure. It might start earlier, but that will be a bonus of 1 or 2 weeks for us. At least thats what he told me. If not its unfair to us as well. There is no msg like "THANKS FOR USING OPTUS, HERE THIS IS YOUR FIRST MTH FREE!" haha meaning u wont know when it starts?

oh my bad what you said actually made sense. but if you bill date is after the 25th then what i mentioned will apply. i edited the first post to included what you mentioned.

A bit confused here. I'm existing customer and have 2 accounts with optus. My billing cycle is 12 each month to 11 next month. I signed up the iPhone on the 11, so when is my free first month?

not sure. probably next mth? call up cust service to check with them and share the ans with us!

Called them. What they told me is again it may take up to 14 days for it to set up. They could not tell what is my first billing date even I have another mobile account with them. I hope it will be very late because I have use quite a lot of data (did not read the fine print). So any usage prior to the offer apply to your account would come out from your plan allowance and from 26 July it will be free because that is what they said on the website (up to 14 days to set up). So if it is not, they will credit it back.

Edited.

The thing that confuses me is that I have set up my Optus online account -> registered/linked my mobile phone -> and am able to check my usage. It shows me the calls, text messages and data I have used.

Interestingly, NEXT to the data is gives me a price. E.g. I downloaded 1260kb of data and was charged $0.46.

I called customer service and they told me the USAGE is not indicative of what the bill will be. The billing system takes the usage, "works it's magic at the end of the month" and spits out the final amount.

For the record, I'm on a $79 iPhone cap. I just hope their system isn't screwing up and I am going to get charged for data (considering it's the first month FREE).

ETA: HOORAY! I found an answer from the Optus site. For anyone else who is confused:

I think a lot of Optus customers are going to get stung by what they thought was a free month of unlimited usage. When I read "it may take up to 14 days to activate" alarm bells went off in my head and I've decided that unless I can clearly see on the Optus website usage that it states it has been activated, I'm sticking to the original limit, because at the cost it is to go over and the rate you'll burn through data, it will be a very damn expensive lesson.

I've heard of loads of Optus customers just cutting sick and downloading away under the impression it's free, but I wonder if they read the "14 day" part. It doesn't make sense to me - if you're on a yes plan your bonus options kick in straight away, so why shouldn't this? Seems like they want people to get stung like this...

It will be free when they apply the offer on to your account, which may take up to 14days.
So if you signed up on the 11th, then from 26July, it will definately be free because that is what they advertised (up to 14days to apply on your account). So before they apply the offer to your account, the usage will be deducted from your plan allowance.

Well, I've been quite considerate with my data usage. Maybe 10mb all up. LOL. Have been using WiFi at home so it has been a breeze.

Thanks for the heads up on the 14 day wait. How crazy they can't tell us when it's kicked in or not.

I hope my first billing date would be very late, like close to the 10 of next month since they could not tell me when is my first billing date yet, then my data allowance would be enough to cover all my silly and crazy data usage!