New Apple Iphone 3GS – Outright On Telstra
Jun 30th, 2009 by Squizzmaster
As of yesterday, I became the proud owner of an Iphone 3GS through Telstra. It wasn’t until today however that I could use the Iphone as an actual phone. I will explain in a post tomorrow why this was the case and how newbies like myself may be able to avoid the delays and challenges I faced in using my Iphone for the first time.
Having To Deal With Telstra
I bought the Apple Iphone 3Gs 32GB version for $1042 outright from Telstra’s T-Life Store on Bourke Street in Melbourne. After being sent upstairs to purchase the Iphone outright, I asked a member of staff there about it and with hesitation and a look of doubt they said they must refer to their manager for advice.
She returned and asked me if I had services with Telstra and I informed her that I did and wanted to continue my plan with Telstra and that I would be adding a browsing pack to my capped plan so that I could browse the internet on the 3G Network. Straight away she said, okay we can do that and returned minutes later with my new Iphone.
Why Does Telstra Not Want To Sell The IPhone Outright?
Apple and Telstra have a bad relationship. Apple won’t budge on it’s outright Iphone pricing and as such, the amount of money that Telstra makes on outright IPhones is a paltry amount. As a result, Telstra is extremely hesitant to sell the Iphone outright (particularly if there’s limited stock) to customers unless they have a current account.
Why Am I With Telstra?
They do have a good network but most importantly for me, I will probably NOT need a large amount of data each month. This is important because Telstra data rates for mobile users is extremely expensive compared to competitors Optus and Vodafone. I will be getting 300MB (approx 10MB a day) for $30 a month. If my usage is half of that, then i will consider dropping to the $10 a month 150MB (approx 5MB a day) browsing pack. If you want as much data as you can get for good value, I would strongly recommend going with someone else.
When away from WiFi I hope to keep my browsing and the use of Maps to a minimum. Tomorrow I’ll put up a post that may be particularly useful to newbies about getting your Iphone up and running as quick as possible.