Just over a month ago i purchased the 16gb iPhone on the $30/month with $10 data. I was expecting to pay the $400 upfront straight away but that bill never came i then assumed i would pay for it on my first monthly bill, but that came yesterday and I was only billed $80, for last month and next month in advance. Could it be possible that there has been a mistake and I don't have to pay the upfront $400? I'd call them, but I don't want to alert them to it IF there has been a mistake...

Act dumb, and cross your fingers!

Mate, personally I'd chase it up... I had a slight hick-up trying to get my Telstra iPhone contract due to the fact that in Telstra's system I had an outstanding bill which I never got and never had any notification as far as i was aware. It was only for $70 dollars, but it was enough of a debt that they had sent it to a collection company...
It was for a landline connection that I had disconnected due to getting Naked DSL at the time, for some reason they had the wrong billing address (unit 4 instead of unit 45) and that was why I was never billed, and I somehow forgot/thought that I had paid it. (When I signed up with Telstra and was notified of this debt it was already six months down the track!) So yeah, you might wanna do the right thing and question it...

any news on what happened? I would just leave it and see what happens

Im on the same plan... I had the 399 to pay upfront when mum signed me up but they woulnd't take it. My bill doesnt cum until 4th of September so if mine does the same ill let tou know...

same issue i had, i bought it a month ago and they didn't want to take the upfront payment then. I got my bill a few days ago and it does not reflect the required upfront payment.

Looks like I will have to pay it soonish then. Oh well, I will wait and see.

They are charging me for your phones! I bought an 3G 16 GB phone outright and they burned me a new SIM. I did not want a Plan as I have Wi-Fi at work and Home and when I am out and about I have no need for data. My old plan had Data Blocked. Apparently, when they burned the new SIM they turned Data on. So the default for my .mac account was set to check every 15 mins. So I get burned 0.50c for access every 15 Mins (though the 15 page bill shows some 10 min intervals) If I am out in the world. Then when an email came in (say 900k) I got charged $21.00 for 900k!. My overall bill for a single month was $500.00. Now as this is a business phone and I did not have the PIN to change details I suspect that Telstra will have to foot the bill. But it is a cautionary Tale. I told the Telstra Rep that I did not want data, but got it anyway.
This whole data charge is a huge scam for the Telcos and we are being ripped off blind. In a couple of years it will be ubiquitous. Remember what it was like with internet access in the old days? Well this is the same an initially they will rip us off Blind.
my 2c
S.

Wow that's a sad tale, could it be that Telstra are getting better? eg. I just went on a $65 plan, iphone for $189 and all the calls I want for not extra (to landlines and telstra mobiles). The $10 data pack gives me 150mb.

I have my phone set to check mail manually to avoid what happened to you, and when in my office the iphone picks up the wireless.

I don't have my first bill yet, but it seems a good deal.

same here but im being quite too

Both Wife and I received a double-credit for the phone handest cost (her 8gb on $80pm, me 16gb on $80pm, both with a $29 data pack) so our first bill, with all our calls, was almost $300 in credit, second bill was $7 in credit....

Father got the same with his and my sister's ones on his plan, we're all staying quiet about it.