Suspicious

After nearly two years ownership of my Nokia smart-phone I rang Telstra to learn how to record a greeting message for my voicemail-box. Yeah, yeah, it sounds dumb for someone who’s overcome the intricate connectivity requirements of moblogging, but that’s me to a tee. The simple stuff slips under the radar.

Anyway, the Telstra bloke says (they always say this), ‘I’ve just looked at your account and it would appear you’re on the wrong plan. Do you know about ‘such and such’ a deal ?’. And, as usual, I listened to the wonderful offer until the hook - committing to a 24 month plan. ‘Mate, I’m on a monthly plan for very good reason’, I tell him, ‘I hate long term phone contracts. In fact I hate Telstra, period !’.

This time however the bloke was one step ahead. ‘How long you been with Telstra Mobilenet ?’, he asked. ‘Umm, since the early nineties', I sheepishly responded, instantly realising how ridiculous was my assertion about long-term plans.

Anyway, the deal includes the Nokia N70 3G phone. What has really piqued my interest is its 2 megapixel camera and video frame rate of 25 fps. A marked improvement to my current Nokia. The plan costs $79 per month which covers calls to $500. Compared to my current $60 plan and $60 call spend.

Do any readers have a 3G phone with a capped plan and are they as good as they sound ? If so, have you found your monthly spend is greatly reduced or does the video-calling function balloon your bill ?

I guess what I’m asking is, what’s the catch with a $500 cap ? Is it simply geared to entice users to download streaming content like sport and music videos ? Or are the 3G phone carriers making their money some other way ?

Any information would be greatly appreciated by someone with a natural aversion to complicated mobile phone plans. Clearly, I’m really suspicious of phone contracts.

Comments

[SB]

I looked at some of these plans, and it seemed that the $500 is for calls only so any of the fancy stuff you can do with a 3G phone like sending pictures, or even sending SMS in one case, or watching TV or browsing the net will cost you extra.

[Herman8]

I'm on 3 - $49 cap with $260-odd of calls and it's very good. I'm sure there must be a catch but I haven't found it - I get about 2 hours worth of freebie calls to the UK every month (I'm a pom originally, free calls to family are worth having), free calls to other 3 users, some silly amount of free calls to land lines that I've never got near - basically I use it all the time and have never gone over $49.

I never use video calling in fairness, I don't even know if it's on the plan. I find it fundamentally useless!

[AR]

I work for Telstra so you can apply whatever level of discount to my comments as you like. Capped plans are increasingly popular especially for high-volume users. You can get pretty good phones free with your plan and if you don't regularly change plans looking for cheaper deals, go with a 2 year contract...

[Francis Xavier Holden]

Did you know that if you don't take the "free" phone on most plans you can get a cash rebate. I've been happy with my two phones for several contracts now and last month got a $260 (=$580) cash in my hand rebate for each phone.You'll usually get a better deal and inside knowledge and help, by talking to a small non-chain mobile shop in the suburbs.

[andhaka]

I am on this exact $79 cap plan with Telstra on a new 3G phone (with $550 worth of calls) and let me say this. For all Telstra's bullshit, this cap plan is actually very good value. I thought my bill woould increase dramatically once I got the 3G phone and started browsing the net and downloading ring tunes and stuff, but was proved wrong - my bill hasn't been above $79 a month and I've had 3 bills so far. I haven't made any video calls though. Go for it I say!

[James]

Adrian I have a capped phone with 3...
As long as you don't use extra cost services like video calling and special content features, we never go over our cap, and its great value..
However we find that using their customer service centre an absoulte nightmare if it's ever required (this is with THREE and not Telstra by the way)..

[kit]

I'm on a monthly contract, capped at $79 with $500 worth of calls. And I get given a new phone every year or so just for staying. Just got a Nokia N70 3G which a decent phone (same one you were offered). Vodafone.

[Rosanna]

I read about your blog in The Age. Love it. Thankyou for continuing to entertain me.

Definitely go for the Cap Plan. I'm on the same deal, have no problems and get to use my mobile phone like a home phone line - with $500 worth of calls each month, you can afford to go nuts.

Tis worth it, for sure.

[Honey]

Adrian, I just went through all this mfor myself and my partner. Im an accountant and go nuts with the numbers thingies. Boring as I sound, I did the whole spreadsheet comparison across ALL the networks. There ARE CATCHES. Look into it. The "free" dollars are paid for, cmon you know nothings free. Email me if you want a copy, because depending what kind of calls etc you make depends which one is best. Otherwise do it yourself, and heres a hint: convert the free dollars included into MINUTES as each one has a different call rate. Suddenly things change. ALOT. Cap plans lure the suckers. Theyre only any good if you stay below the limit, and sometimes not even then

[adrian]

Thanks folks, some really useful info here I'll certainly be considering. Honey, you're on.

[lg]

Yep...there's no such thing as a free lunch! However, I find all your comments very informative. I no longer have a mobile as I really have little use for one. I rarely use my landline, to tell you the truth, unless I really have to do so. I must be one of those rare women who doesn't like sitting forever talking on the phone! The joys and benefits of 'message bank'...I need only talk when *I* wish to...selfish, aren't I? It's okay...you can agree! ;)