The wait is over people, Telstra, Optus, Vodafone and 3 (now owned by Voda) have all announced their iPhone 4 plans. Due to launch this Friday the latest version of the iPhone leaves a lot of existing customers wondering if they should upgrade.
Despite the features on the new iPhone, probably the single biggest influencer as to whether someone upgrades is the cost of doing so. Each iteration of the phone has come with better plans with competition being an awesome benefit to consumers. This time round we see the key areas of overall cost and data limits improve once again.
Telstra [link]
Optus [link]
Vodafone
Image credit: ZDNet Australia
3 
Image credit: ZDNet Australia
Best picks:
So there’s a lot of data in the plans, the good news is there are plenty of options for consumers. Given the wide range of plans, there should be one that suits you. Remember this year is kind of special, those iPhone 3G owners that didn’t update to the 3GS will be out of contract and be free to switch carriers. Those of us who did upgrade to the 3GS will likely be offered incentives for staying put, the price of early termination fees being heavily discounted. Last year upgrade discounts were 40-50% off the normal price. No carrier has announced upgrade discounts for existing customers.. they’re quickly running out of time with only 2 days left. If your an existing iPhone owner.. watch your inbox closely.
Other than price, another important influencer is network coverage and speed. Telstra has the best network coverage of all providers no questions asked, but this time round there’s one important difference. The iPhone 4 supports 3G over the 900Mhz wireless spectrum, something the iPhone 3G and 3GS did not. This is great news for Optus and in-term Vodafone and 3 as they all utilize the 900Mhz 3G frequency.
Personally I get great 3G signal and speed around Albury Wodonga, but drive 10 minutes down the road and your back on 2G. After being used to 3G speeds, dropping back to 2G is a painful experience. Optus’ 900Mhz coverage spans most of the state, which means 3G coverage will dramatically improve.
The green areas on the map above represents coverage using both 2100Mhz and 900Mhz 3G.
So choose wisely people you’ll be locked into another 24 month contract… that is of course until next year when all have to break contract again to get iPhone 5.
