Articles Tagged Optus
Savvytel closing down, customers left in the dark
Savvytel isn't recharging customer accounts as it winds down to closing in the coming weeks, but it seems to have forgotten to tell its customers.
Optus milestone: moving to minutes and true capped plans
Optus has announced new plan constructs, moving away from confusing dollar values to clearer minutes and megabytes plan descriptions.
Existing Optus customers can switch to new plans at no cost
Existing customers will be able to switch to new Optus plans without needing to restart their contract, and there is a data benefit too.
Spintel moves to minutes with Build Your Own 4G Mobile Plan
MVNO Spintel becomes one of Australia's first telcos to describe mobile post-paid plan inclusions in talk-time minutes, with its new Build Your Own 4G Mobile plan. This is a clear move away from the existing language in post-paid mobile phone plans which have traditionally spoken about inclusions by using a high-value dollar figure -- $500 worth of calls and texts, for example.
Optus broadband dumps excess usage into affordable 1GB blocks
Optus today announced big changes to its mobile broadband offering, ditching per megabyte excess usage charges in favour of 1GB blocks. With the new plans, customers choose a monthly data allowance as usual, but if they exceed this data level they are automatically allocated an additional 1GB for an extra $10. Further data blocks are added to the account as needed, up to a maximum of 20GB extra in a single month.
Exclusive: Vaya acquires Live Connected
Australian mobile virtual network operator (MVNO) Vaya has acquired 100-percent of competitor Live Connected for an undisclosed sum, with plans to continue running both mobile businesses as separate entities. The move adds Live Connected's 25,000 subscribers to Vaya's books, with the combined subscriber base for both MVNO businesses in excess of 70,000.
Optus Network Event, May 2013
Optus held a network event today in which it announced its recent 3GPlus accomplishments and outlined plans for 4G expansion in the near future. The overall focus of the last few months’ worth of data was to do with 3GPlus coverage and consolidation across most of Australia, with particular attention paid towards increasing indoor coverage.
Exetel Now Has 4G Mobile Plans
We’ve been keeping an eye on the state of 4G in Australia over the last few months, and eagerly awaiting news of when smaller resellers will be passing 4G mobile coverage on to their customers. While Optus MVNOs such as Vaya, Amaysim and Spintel have stated they hope to provide 4G sometime in the first half of 2013, it looks like they've been pipped to the post.
New and Rumoured MVNOs for 2013
2013 looks set to welcome a few new players to Australia's prepaid mobile market, as the competing big telcos continue opening up their wholesale networks to smaller operators. Telstra continues to take steps to challenge Optus' dominance as a mobile wholesaler, by allowing the newly launched Kogan Mobile, and new partner Boost Mobile, access to its Next G 3G networks. For now, the carrier is keeping 4G LTE access reserved exclusively for Telstra customers.
Vodafone Cuts Free Social Networking
UPDATE: Since this post, Vodafone has revised the decision to begin charging for data in 1MB blocks. The telco have issued a press release stating that, after many customers "expressed concern" about the proposed changes to how data would be billed, it would be dropping the minimum data session for prepaid customers from one megabyte to one kilobyte. The original change would have seen many prepaid customers' data usage and monthly plan costs go up significantly.
