Optus has made big changes to its post-paid mobile phone plans in an effort to take the confusion out of what its customers will pay, but are the new plans better value?
Basically, each plan has a base monthly cost, plus excess usage fees now charged in $10 blocks (the $50 plan has a $5 tier before moving to $10 increments). Excess usage for minutes and data is charged separately in clean tiers.
The old Optus plans had a similar base monthly charge but the big difference was in the excess usage charges for each minute of a call, or megabyte of data you downloaded.
There is no arguing that the excess usage charges are now much fairer, but it is also interesting to note where Optus has pinched some minutes and data compared with old plans of a similar value. Data especially is much lower than previously offered to new customers but data amounts are higher for upgrading customers on Optus.
Taking a look at the new Optus $50 MyPlan, it has 450-minutes, 500MB data, unlimited SMS and MMS.
If you go over your included value amount, the excess usage charges:
Excess Calls
- Add 150-minutes = $5 (first excess tier only)
- Add 200 minutes = $10
- Add unlimited calls = $10
Excess Data
- Add 500MB data = $5 (first excess tier only)
- Add 1GB = $10 per GB, up to 20GB.
Maximum total = $270 for unlimited calls, text and 20GB data,
Here's a breakdown of what's changed:
$50 Plans Compared
| $50 Plan Comparison | NEW $50 Optus My Plan | Old $50 Optus Plan |
|---|---|---|
| Inclusions (within Australia) |
450-minutes 500MB data Unlimited SMS and MMS |
$500 1GB data Unlimited SMS. |
| Excess Usage Structure & Charges |
Minutes Add 150-minutes = $5 (first excess tier only) Add 200 minutes = $10 Add unlimited calls = $10 Data Add 500MB data = $5 (first excess tier only) Add 1GB = $10 per GB, up to 20GB. Maximum total = $270 for unlimited calls, text and 20GB data. |
Calls $2.15 for 2-min call thereafter. Data $0.25 per MB for extra data |
$60 Plans Compared
| $60 Plan Comparison | NEW $60 Optus My Plan | Old $60 Optus Plan |
|---|---|---|
| Inclusions (within Australia) |
600 minutes 1GB data Unlimited SMS and MMS |
$650 1.5GB data Unlimited SMS. |
| Excess Usage Structure & Charges |
Minutes Add 200 minutes = $10 Add unlimited calls = $10 Data Add 1GB = $10 per GB, up to 20GB. |
Calls $2.15 for 2-min call thereafter. $0.25 per MB for extra data |
$80 Plans Compared
| $80 Plan Comparison | NEW $80 Optus My Plan | Old $80 Optus Plan |
|---|---|---|
| Inclusions (within Australia) |
800 minutes 2GB data Unlimited SMS and MMS |
$850 2GB data Unlimited SMS. |
| Excess Usage Structure & Charges |
Minutes Add unlimited calls = $10 Data Add 1GB = $10 per GB, up to 20GB. |
$2.15 for 2-min call thereafter. $0.25 per MB for extra data |
$100 Plans Compared
| $100 Plan Comparison | NEW $100 Optus My Plan | Old $100 Optus Plan |
|---|---|---|
| Inclusions (within Australia) |
Unlimited minutes 3GB data Unlimited SMS and MMS |
Unlimited Calls 3GB data Unlimited SMS and MMS. |
| Excess Usage Structure |
Data Add 1GB = $10 per GB, up to 20GB. |
Data $0.10 per MB for extra data |
Phones are also slightly more expensive on the new plans, especially on lower cost plans.
| Phone Model | Old $50 plan | New $50 plan | Old $60 plan | New $60 plan | Old $80 plan | New $80 Plan |
| Samsung Galaxy S4 | $62 | $67 | $67 | $69 | $83 | $84 |
| HTC One | $58 | $63 | $63 | $65 | $80 | $80 |
| Samsung Galaxy Note 2 | $63 | $63 | $67 | $65 | $83 | $80 |
| Sony Xperia Z | $58 | $60 | $63 | $63 | $80 | $80 |
Joseph Hanlon
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