Mobile Plans/Caps?

[Vision Zetec]

hey guys,

iv been with optus pre paid for some time now and i am thinking of going on a plan/cap.

im 19 with an old ****ty nokia which badly needs upgrading!!!

was looking at the 3 cap plans like the $29 ($120 worth of calls) and the $49 ($230 worth of calls) cap.

is anyone else on these caps? if yes how have you found them to be?

cheers

Daniel

[fiery]

I am on the $49 cap (B-Digital / Optus) a month plan and find it great...
Only went over the maximum allowed once and that wasn't charged at ridiculous amounts really...

I know of other caps and it really does depend on your usage.. If you use about $100 - $150 month now then go on the $49 cap (gives you more leeway and still saves you money)...

Where if you only use $50 - $100 then go on the smaller cap.. but seriously in my opinion the $49 one is probably the best, but again that is just my opinion... ..

Good luck with whatever you decide

[Vision Zetec]

was looking on the 3 website,

with the $49 cap ($230 worth of calls) there is a min $20 monthly spend... what is this?

[MickyB]

It means that you will be charged at least $20 for the month, and then in increments up to $49 unless you go over the $230.
For example, spend $5 worth of calls, pay $20
spend $30, pay $30,
spend $200, pay $49
spend $300, pay $119 (49+70 over)

[Reign]

do you have a good credit rating mate, if you dont mind me asking, because three are very strict on this. :S unlike telstra or optus.

[GasoLane]

I've been with Vodafone for a few years now, because of their national highway coverage, and their maxicap plan lets me make up to $500 worth of calls for $79. Would NEVER sign a contract for 12/24month plan.

If your with Optus now you might be better off with Virgin (which uses Optus) as they are often way cheaper.

[PH47]

Don't go with 3 whatever you do.

Crappest network ever.

Outages, bad reception, and crap phones.

Go with a normal ISP, that lets you use any phone you want (and that the phones aren't locked to).. you'll be happy you did later.

We use optus for all the company phones, couldn't be happier. Wouldn't really recommend telstra.. but optus is good, voda is good, virgin is good.

[pennybrain]

I'm with vodafone on the $49 cap and it is great, mostly because they screwed up setting up my account and I seem to have endless credit. It took me ages to get it all set up properly and I have been on the one $49 payment for 3 months now (it is supposed to expire after 30 days) and I still have credit available. Its great! I haven't paid for credit for ages!

[MoreHPformyXR6]

Originally Posted by fiery

I am on the $49 cap (B-Digital / Optus) a month plan and find it great...
Only went over the maximum allowed once and that wasn't charged at ridiculous amounts really...

I know of other caps and it really does depend on your usage.. If you use about $100 - $150 month now then go on the $49 cap (gives you more leeway and still saves you money)...

Where if you only use $50 - $100 then go on the smaller cap.. but seriously in my opinion the $49 one is probably the best, but again that is just my opinion... ..

Good luck with whatever you decide

Ive been with B digital (Optus) for a couple years now & have just gone onto the $49 cap with $230 included calls & texts) also got a new LG M4410 for free as my contract was about up & they wrote to me I wanted to switch to a capped plan anyhow & as my old phones battery was nearly cactus then with a new phone for fee was a good deal. I know I could have got a cheaper cap with 3 or maybe even a slightly better phone on there $49 cap but I have heard so many horror storys with 3 I satyed with B (Optus).

[Sorted]

just remember if you are wanting a New phone with these planes there is usually the phone payments plus the plan

EG $20 per month for phone plus $49 ($49 for $230 calls)

So its not just $49 its $49 plus $20 total $69 per month

[GasoLane]

Originally Posted by DRHEMI

just remember if you are wanting a New phone with these planes there is usually the phone payments plus the plan
EG $20 per month for phone plus $49 ($49 for $230 calls)
So its not just $49 its $49 plus $20 total $69 per month

Like if you buy a plan with a 'free' phone (free? yeah right) then break or loose the phone you still get stuck with the plan untill the end of the contract.

[fiery]

Originally Posted by DRHEMI

just remember if you are wanting a New phone with these planes there is usually the phone payments plus the plan

EG $20 per month for phone plus $49 ($49 for $230 calls)

So its not just $49 its $49 plus $20 total $69 per month

That isn't the case with the B Digital cap... I do only pay $49 for the calls and yes I do pay a small fee for the phone but that is because I wanted a particular phone that wasn't on the cap one and they made a deal. I pay $5 month for the phone over 24 months... If I break my contract, then yes I will pay for the total cost of the phone but since I had been with them for a long time and this was the 3rd plan and 3rd phone through them I think I did well..

[fiery]

Originally Posted by GasOLane

Like if you buy a plan with a 'free' phone (free? yeah right) then break or loose the phone you still get stuck with the plan untill the end of the contract.

If you wish to break the plan you pay for the phone outright is the general rule or the remaining cap amount for the remaining period of your plan (whichever is greater)....

If you lose the phone and don't have insurance they will generally try to help you out with a cheap replacement phone or you can get a second hand one and remain on the cap... I don't know why people don't have insurance on their phones though, it is a good idea and doesn't cost that much realistically (my phone is covered in my home contents insurance)

[xurbanx]

I'm on the Telstra prepaid. Currently have about $33 credit which I didn't pay for, 1c text messages to other friends on Telstra as well as the 35c for 10minutes during 9pm-7am weekdays and all day during the weekend.

The part where people call you and you receive credit is awesome. I racked up $45 in accrued credit over the last month and now for about 2 months I won't be recharging.

Edit:
I was with Vodafone's $49 for $230 but the whole "nearly" 60c per minute + flagfall (25c?) made me use $230 in a matter of days. (The usual talking on the phone every night) After spent $150 of credit that month I cancelled and joined Telstra.

Used to be a sales rep for Vodafone, sounds good for some people but just didn't "satisfy" me.

[GasoLane]

Originally Posted by fiery

If you wish to break the plan you pay for the phone outright is the general rule or the remaining cap amount for the remaining period of your plan (whichever is greater)....

If you lose the phone and don't have insurance they will generally try to help you out with a cheap replacement phone or you can get a second hand one and remain on the cap... I don't know why people don't have insurance on their phones though, it is a good idea and doesn't cost that much realistically (my phone is covered in my home contents insurance)

Ever since I dropped my $700+ phone into the fishpond (twice... dont ask) I've gone the insurance way. I like the contents insurance idea though, coulod be a lot cheaper than straight out phone ins.
I have a friend that was on a plan with Telstra and dropped his 3 week old phone from the loading area of a truck onto the concrete floor, all Telstra could say was, sorry but you still have to pay for it through the plan.

[fiery]

Originally Posted by GasOLane

Ever since I dropped my $700+ phone into the fishpond (twice... dont ask)

Awwwww why not... I really want to know now that you have said 'don't ask' :

Share.. come on.. you know you want to

[Sorted]

Originally Posted by fiery

That isn't the case with the B Digital cap... yes I do pay a small fee for the phone

Just contradicted yourself....

But Maybe I should of stated you will still have to pay for the phone UNLESS you want to use their "FREE" s h i t-test, crapiest, no options, cant do sms, cant do mms, cant surf the web, all it does is the same your house phone does -mobile phone

In the first post it was stated he has "an old ****ty nokia which badly needs upgrading"

I was just pointing it out so people that dont know dont get sucked in

[fiery]

Originally Posted by DRHEMI

Just contradicted yourself....

Yeah I realise I didn't word that too well.. sorry, what I meant was that the amount you stated wasn't always the case...

[Sorted]

Originally Posted by fiery

Yeah I realise I didn't word that too well.. sorry, what I meant was that the amount you stated wasn't always the case...

Thats cool - but it was just an example!

[XRated]

Caps are overrated.

I was (technically still am) with 3 on the $49 cap + $25 for a Nokia N70. I didn't even use it that much and I went over the cap plenty of times. The call rates are ridiculous, but I find on any plan they usually are.

I've decided to pay out my contract (I lost my phone after five months!!) and will go with Virgin - the call rates are awesome. I'm currently on a Telstra prepaid and find I'm not spending near as much as I would if I had a cap.

I'd seriously consider checking out the prepaid call rates etc from other providers.

[schmidty]

I've found the caps to be pretty good. I was on a $200 plan with optus, and even with the cheapest all rates was still spending $400 - $700 per month. I went on a $179 business cap which comes with $1200 worth of calls. rarely exceed the cap now. Was almost up for renewal a month ago and when i looked into it i found out that optus no longer offer this cap, plus they have jacked up call rates and flag falls on their caps heaps, and no longer to free handsets. All come with monthly payments.

Found out that optus have a department called business retentions, And basically whats written down on paper as being their contracts and pricing is basically a starting point for negotiation. They have to power to do individual deals depending on what services you have with them, how much you spend, and how long you have been a customer for. In my case i had 2 fixed lines, broadband, 2 mobiles and i've been with them for 5 or 6 years. When asked what the could do for me i said i wanted for free a new N70, i also wanted to keep my old plan price, call rates and allowances, and i wanted discount on my home phone. Within 1 minute, i was told my current phone cap will remain, i can have to phone, and i wil recieve a 10% discount on my home phone for the mobile contract period. They faxed me a form to sign, now its all set. And to think i was almost prepared to just wear the new pricing and have to pay for a phone! Anyone with a business connection i recommend negotiating a deal with this dept! I basically looked on the net for the best deal any provider offered and told optus i wanted them to go 1 better, and they did.

[M&Ms]

Well I just signed up with Vodafone on their $79 cap ($500 worth of calls/text/vodafone live etc per month) for 24 months and got a Nokia 6280 for free. (RRP $699). Oh yeh, and the minimum spend is $40 per month, so if I don't spend any more than $40, then I'll only get charged that $40. Makes cool videos and awesome photo quality.

[divine_afg]

look in to three mate if your after a cap plan, voda, optus and telstra have higher per 30 sec rate compared to 3's 30cents. although telstra's got he best deals atm for cap plans phones such as the nokia n70 and motoral v3x are 0 dollars. three has similar deals aswell, apart from that voda seems good one, also when changing plans or networks consider things such as most of your family and freinds might be with particular network provider say optus so realisticaly see if optus also offers better rates to calls made to other optus numbers.
now if your spending abt 100-150 $ 49 cap
150-450 $79 cap
450+ 69 - 99 - 129 etc caps
if you want more info feel free to ask i work in teleco

[gbright]

im with 3 100 cap 800 worth of calls never had a problem

[GasoLane]

'3' might be ok in a Capital city but they wont look at you in the country.

[Black XR6]

But Maybe I should of stated you will still have to pay for the phone UNLESS you want to use their "FREE" s h i t-test, crapiest, no options, cant do sms, cant do mms, cant surf the web, all it does is the same your house phone does -mobile phone

Really, I'm with 3 mobile and have a free phone on one of their lowest plans. My phone can surf the web, mms, sms, email and do video calls. When someone leaves a voicemail I can download it via my email and listen to it free of charge. I can download games and upload them to the phone via the Gthing utility, I can set individual pictures for each address book entry for when they ring and individual ringtones for each address book entry. I can upload mp3's to it and use these as ringtones or mail/message tones. Not bad for crappy free phone.

[RG]

Originally Posted by GasOLane

'3' might be ok in a Capital city but they wont look at you in the country.

I live in Ballarat and i'm with 3, the only problem i've had with them is not getting my bill in time to pay it (it arrived a day after it was due!) and their call centre (indian) is a joke.