Customers get more value with our revised mobile Post-Paid Browsing Packs
Filed under: internet, mobile internet, mobile phone, networks, smart phones
It’s great being the bearer of good news, so let me tell you that from today, Telstra’s Browsing Packs for Post-Paid customers now include more value.
Browsing Packs are the best way to browse the internet on your mobile, providing you with fixed amount of data each month to use in Australia. You can update your Facebook, Twitter with friends, check what’s on at the movies or get flight schedules for your next holiday. Our higher value packs also enable you to use your phone as a modem.
Based on your feedback we have revised our Browsing Packs – you told us you wanted more included data, our new Browsing Packs will provide this.
We have:
- significantly increased the included data in each pack;
- decreased the excess usage rate for most packs;
- reduced some of the browsing pack prices
- introduced 3GB and 6GB plans.
Here’s just a few examples of what’s changed:
- The $5 Post-Paid Browsing Pack now has 30MB of data – six times the previous amount
- The 1 GB plan is now $39 a month – a saving of $20 a month
- The 9 GB plan price has been reduced to $99 a month from $119
- The excess usage rate per MB for the $5 plan has reduced by 75 cents and by 20 cents on the 9GB plan.
The table below has details of the new prices:
|
Browse Packs (AUD $) |
New Data Inclusion | Excess usage rate per MB |
|
5 |
30 MB |
$0.25 |
|
10 |
200 MB |
$0.25 |
|
20 |
500 MB |
$0.25 |
|
39 |
1 GB |
$0.25 |
|
49 |
3 GB |
$0.15 |
|
79 |
6 GB |
$0.10 |
|
99 |
9 GB |
$0.05 |
Unused data expires each month.
Existing customers can change their current browser pack and new customers can sign up at or call us on 132200
These are still terrible Telstra… Especially when business data packs are $19 for 1GB.
Should have been standardised across business and consumer offerings.
If $99 buys 9gb, $11 should buy 1gb. Way to rip of the poor, you blood suckers. This is nothing but rent seeking. Of course charging people a fair price for a fair service is too much to ask of Telstra.
I sincerely hope the Australian Government tears you in to fifty two pieces so this nonsense might have some chance of coming to an end. You are crippling your customers. You are crippling our economy.
I would be happy with those prices, especially the $99 one for 9GB if it didn’t expire…
I am about to purchase Vodafone dongles for my staff because after the initial plan, it is $150 for 12GB, and has 1 year expiry… they also have $100 for 6GB for 6 months expiry.
I’d rather have Telstra NextG, but I need these cards sitting around and used for emergencies.
People are quick to jump down Telstra’s throat. Sadly most of those people don’t understand that a business is run to make a profit not to give away products and services for nothing in return.
While pricey, you do offer a superior network.
Jenna, last time I checked we lived in a free society. If you don’t like the prices, go elsewhere. No one is forcing you to use Telstra. I use Three and I am extremely happy with their pricing, however I commend Telstra’s move. Clearly the new CEO is focussed on Telstra’s future, and this is good for the telco market overall. Keep up the good work Telstra.
Peter Jamieson can you write back and tell us why 1G for business customers is $19 while the same for regular folk is $39.
Seems rather odd?
Thanks
Any chance of Pre Paid data becoming cheaper anytime soon Telstra?
4 data price points to the 1gig mark is a bit silly in these days.
And the $10 pack to go from 150meg to 200meg isn’t a huge change, is it?
If bigpond wireless are advertising 3gig for $39 why is 3gig on a phone using the same network not $39 as well?
Oops I messed up. I should have said bigpond wireless is $29 for 3gig not $39. So why not data on a phone with the same nextg network be $29 for 3gig as well?
Dear Telstra/NWAT…
Having had many of my comments omitted because I simply, intentionally attacked the blatant lies of a few greedy shareholders, I find the fact that you will allow Jenna Sux (how lovely) to call Jenna Fox an ***, typically one-sidely disgraceful.
Nice have and have not, NWAT attitude.
If you don’t want people’s opinions and have minion followers who can’t control themselves, like this poor excuse for a human being, then please close this (NWAT 3) proganadist site down.
You are right Robbie. It was human error, noted and that comment has been removed.
Cheers, Brendan.
I’m curious to know why unused data expires at the end of each month. Surely if you pay for a set amount of data you should be able to use it until it is exhausted, even if it takes more than a month, not have the unused data allowance expire even if it is only partially used.
Lol at the belief that bigger quantities means cheaper prices.
With the plus packs for prepaid $10 byes you 100mb. For 200mb you have to shell out $29.
Well done to Telstra for taking a step in the right direction and rectifying the errors of Sol. While still not competitive with other networks in terms of pricing, it certainly has me thinking of switching from Optus for the better service and coverage.
On a side note, Jenna, how do you figure that Telstra “Crippling our economy”? Why does every Australian need to blame someone? If you do need to blame someone, look no further than the Labor government, whom have spent all surplus saved by Mr Costello, leaving a great gaping hole of debt for the rest of us who work to pay off.
Jenna, please talk me through exactly how Telstra’s mobile data pricing is ‘crippling our economy’? Judging by your website, Centrelink is probably paying for you sit at home drawing horses all day, which seems pretty economy-crippling to me.
Dissapointed to say the least… $10 should easily buy 300 to 500mb of data. Given that competition does 1GB for $10
I’ve been wanting to run my internet thru Telstra, as my mobiles have always been. $$$$ have always been the justification and still regretably it seems we/Telstra are over the top. Currently I’m on a 6 gig post paid service with 3 for $39 per mth, and now Telstra are offering the same for $79!!!
Prepaid is crying out for a change in data packs.
I hope we see this soon.
Telstra has the same price nearly for consumer and business, the 1GB of data for business is $29 but if your a consumer with a home line and a mobile its only $19 so consume is cheaper!! plus if on a 24 month contract they give you the device for FREE! so from what im seeing just get a USB dongle and not a data pack.
Also phones travel at 7.2 mb/s while the sierra 21 USB Elite Has a speed of 21 mb/s
These plans are certainly not what people have been waiting for, the price disparitly between business and consumer especialy is disapointing.
It also makes you wonder how terrible the Ipad Specific Dataplans will be aswell.
Its a improvement, but I agree what Paul say. Bigpond Wireless gets 3 gig for $29. Yet we pay $49 for 3Gig, yet we still using the same network.
Plus us Next G subscribers are already paying for mobiles for voice and sms. Really it should be the reverse.
The prices are improving, but it is the excess charges that I don’t understand. Why gouge your customers so severely? If I sign up for 1GB, I pay $39. If I inadvertently use 3GB, I pay an extra $500! We are [potential?] customers, not naughty children. Telstra gouges me $500 to teach me that I should have paid an extra $10 up front? ($49/3GB). Too scary for me.
These are still not competitive enough – I currently have a Vodafone $69 CAP which includes $400 worth of calls and texts AND 1GB of DATA…
If I try to do a similar thing with Telstra, it ends up costing me double…
Don’t get me wrong, I appreciate the network is faster – but that is not enough to justify these prices… Go on Telstra for trying, but they need to try harder..
To be fair, you guys say Telstra should match competitor prices. I’m with Optus and I can’t wait to get out of contract in July because their 3G network is overcrowded. I have been excusing myself on 25%+ of phone calls for being on a “bad line”.
Telstra is charging a premium service for a premium network. Prior to this price drop, it was too much for me to justify, but now it seems reasonable for an uncrowded network.
Why do I have to ring up to change to the new data plans? 50MB isn’t worth my time of ringing up Telstra, surely there’s a way I can do it online.
Just reading this post, it looks the data plans changes aren’t what people want.
It’s a good thing that Telstra are “lowering” their data plan prices, however this a “reactive” approach from a strategy point of view. The tides are eroding Telstra market share and will continue to do so if Telstra doesn’t become abit reactive.
Yes our competitive advantage is the nation-wide mobile coverage and fast download speed of the 3G network. I think the $5 to $39 range needs to change considering everyone practically are using content consuming devices iPhone, HTCs, Nokias, iPads and notebooks. Telstra needs to be “in-touch” with their consumer’s needs.
The question really is when the competitors eventually catches up on the speed issue will Telstra be able to justify these premium prices? Doesn’t take a marketing genius to work out that if people don’t like your prices they go elsewhere and if it continues it becomes a stigma and this what Telstra is doing itself. Don’t spite the consumer because I don’t see this business model will succeed in the next 5 yrs.
I think it is a bit ridiculous that wireless roaming broadband and mobile data have completely different price points, when they are exactly the same thing.
As other posters have pointed out, it’s even more ridiculous when you consider that mobile users also pay for voice and text (at high margins), and probably for the phone itself, while bigpond wireless use only the data, at higher speeds, and get the USB dongle for free!
A step in the right direction for sure. But consumers are still likely to feel a little ripped off.
Paul, if memory serves Bigpond customers have a lower priorty in the bandwidth queue hence making the Telstra mobile offerings a premium service and (theoretically) justifying the higher price tag.
Now checking the pricing at Bigpond the $29 thing is only if you have other Telstra services. The pricing changes actually give us parity between the Bigpond and Telstra mobile services again give or take 95 cents.
That being said pricing still has a way to fall before it reaches a level that most consumers not just Telstra’s “Mum & Dad” user base are content with. Especially given the number of content rich consumption devices available.
As for business plans being cheaper that I think is just being competitive in the business market where the majority of the heavy data usage is. exactly the same principal is used by all carriers for their voice services why are we surprised to see it with data?
If you really want the business pricing get an ABN.
@Nick A – yes you can do it on-line via on-line chat. That’s how I changed my plan, qiuick, painless and if you print the conversation you have a writtenb record too.
Great to see the new prices, Telstra will never be the cheapest (nor should they be). You pay for quality. As a long-time customer, long-suffering shareholder and ex-employee I support Telstra.
question to those commenting about excess usage fees: would you rather be automatically upgraded to the next plan level (e.g. say from $39 to $39) to reflect your higher usage instead of a fixed/Mb excess fee?
Will these new rates apply to people with existing data plans (i.e. will my 150Mb plan suddenly appear with 200Mb of data) or will I need to ring/chat to Telstra and have the plan changed?
@ Gavin Rogers – you need to ask for the new pack added to your service. Either phone or on-line chat to have it provisioned. Also contact @Telstra on Twitter and I believe they might do it for you.
The $10 plan, which I’m sure a lot of iPhone customers use – was 150MB, now it’s 200MB?
This does NOT equate to “significantly increased the included data”. Maybe on percentage terms (‘Yay! we upped it by 33%’) but 50MB more?
One would expect (and no doubt would most of your customers) that entry plans to be for example $10=500MB. That’s a significant increase.
How can you celebrate a “six times the previous amount” increase when the outcome is 30MB.. Thirty!!!! This is not 1995. Data pipes are measured in Mega and Giga bits per second now. This is the 21st Century, and you need to lead – not lag.
In my case I’m on a 2 year contract, that I was happy to go on, for an iPhone 3G. In 2008 Telstra decided these iPhones were NOT ALLOWED to be put on the NextG 3G Cap plans. Hence I now pay $80 per month for $70 of calls and must pay for data on top. As much as I would use 1GB, under this re-pricing it would be $130 a month for $70 calls and 1GB data.
Other family members pay $70 a month and get 3G $500 calls and 1.5GB of data. I acknowledge that they drop to Edge or GPRS in rural areas, and this is the reason I’m still happy to pay more for NextG.
The CEO wants to compete aggressively, so do it properly instead of piecemeal increases. It’s a step in the right direction, but if you want to *own the complete mobile market* and blow your competition out of the water: you must do more. Move that needle!
I updated my account from the old $10 150Mb allowance to the new $10 200Mb allowance a few hours ago and now i just received an SMS saying i have reach 125% of my 153600KM included data and I haven’t use any data today.
It looks like the new allowances weren’t implemented correctly in the billing system.
Hi Nathan, I’ve forwarded your data issue to the appropriate customer service department and you should get an email or a call in the next day or so.
Sorry about the mess up with your data usage count. Cheers, Brendan.
I must make a follow up comment to my earlier rant
It’s good to see the 300MB $29 plane gone in favour of a $20 500MB plan.
Like I said before, you are going in the right direction.
Just like the Wireless plans fiasco in January Telstra has done it again, what a marketing disaster. Why can you get 1GB for $19 on business and only 200MB for $10 or 500MB for $20 on consumer. As another poster said $99 for 9GB, then that should equate to $11 for 1GB, even $15 if Telstra want to keep being greedy. Then there is the whopping high 25c excess charge, Telstra just do not want to listen to their customers… and they wonder why they are losing market share.
I feel sorry for Paul Jamieson having to put his name against these awful Telstra stuff ups…
I think the new plans are great but it still lacks that magical component……..price capping.
Until it includes a similiar facility to the home broadband plans ie: capped prices and maybe shapped connection, the plans will be tough to sell to parents with teenage children
@ Nathan, the same thing happened to me, it’s just the way the billing system “cancels” one browse pack before starting the new one I think. The next day my data usage page showed zero use of my 200Mb pack. If you check today I think you’ll see it’s OK.
In marketing term it’s call product \cannibalisations\, since Telstra sells fixed lines as well as mobile products, too good of a mobile price will erode the fixed lines products and therefore profit margins will decrease.
Since Telstra is the dominant player they are also regulated by the pricing they put up, drop the price to their competitor’s levels and the industry will be in an uproar and the ACCC will come knocking on Telstra’s doors, so its a \damn if you do and damn if you don’t\ scenario.
So I don’t think Telstra has much room in the industry to move when it comes to price reductions, history will always show Telstra will always be the most expensive. They can only offer bundling as another form of price discounts, but not everyone wants to be bundle and that’s the issue.
It would have been good to see a contract period for 12/24months with increased data allowance or a discount for bundling. A competitor offers double the data allowance if you commit to a 12 month contract.
If Telstra offered this it would also be in line with the Mobile Broadband pricing which offer discount for bundling products
This is awesome. Fantastic value for the coverage and speed you get.
Also I was really impressed with the customer service I got from the person on the phone when I upgraded my data pack.
Keep it up you guys are heading the right direction
.
Yes Telstra is a business and has responsibilities to shareholders. While technology has certainly changed over the years since privatisation, I remember this telco as a company with a responsibility to customers.
You know customers… the people who pay for the bountiful pay packets and makes dividends to shareholders (however small) possible.
Comments that “you pay more for superior service” would be acceptable if it were true. It’s ALL about profit these days, which is why customer service went down the drain during Sol’s time as CEO of Telstra.
Make pricing competitive, win back customers, provide those customers with superior service, and the word of mouth should take over from there.
The reason I haven’t come back to Telstra for voice and data services is ridiculous prices and a very, very bad set of dealings with the company a while back. I challenge Telstra to change my mind!
How about pre-paid services where you don’t have to have all this bonus items that you don’t use, and endless recharging if you don’t use your phone often, just so you don’t loose your number. Same goes for data packs, how about Plus Packs where the data allowance doesn’t expire. I know why Telstra does it, to keep making money on that account holder, but come on, it’s only a matter of time until someone racks up hundreds of dollars on their pre-paid balance, when they decide to look to one of these companies (that people tell me about), where your credit never expires. When it comes down to a company that is not Telstra, or paying more for data, because you didn’t go for a higher Plus Pack, or some of your data allowance is lost after 30 days because you didn’t/couldn’t use it all.
It makes me think about my Gran, she’s getting on to 90 and she’s had a landline phone for more than 50 years. It’s apalling that of a $100 Telstra bill, only around $10 is on actual phone calls. I know the copper cabling needs maintainance, but is it really suprising that people are turning away from landline phones, and it’s the one’s who can least afford it, who are carrying the can?!?!?
Telstra updated the plans today with more value but just realised that international sms’s are not included in the cap and billed at 0.50c per message.
I moved to the new $49 Next G cap plan (announced today) that includes 200MB of data and $400 call credit and does away with the ridiculous iphone $80 plan I’m on (which only had $70 calls).
It also means I get 200MB data in the plan! No more $10 data pack required.
Nice one Telstra.
Now you just need to get your data plans consistent across NextG mobile/ipad/wireless.
Ok the Business/Personal plan inconsistencty aside, how about this:
Announced this week were the NextG data plans for the iPad, which is in effect a large phone using data sans voice.
It’s pre-paid as well, which is traditionally more expensive:
- 1GB $20
- 3GB $30
http://telstra.com.au/abouttelstra/media-centre/announcements/telstra-announces-data-plans-for-ipad-3g-in-australia.xml
THIS is the inconsistency your consumers are talking about.
With a $20 datapack on my iPhone using data, I get 500MB, but if I have an ABN for I get 1GB and $1 in change, and if it’s an iPad using data I get 1GB…..
Mobile data plans need to be CONSISTENT across the entire range of mobile data devices on the NextG network.
Complexity introduces hassle, simplfy, and own the market….
I’m actually think the pricing for the iPad data plans are spot on, and this is what should be offered as a SIMPLE, CONSISTENT pricing structure for ALL mobile data on NextG, no matter what device you are on.
I only just bought 2 iphones last Tuesday on the then $79 cap. Can i change over to the new $79 cap?? When we bought the phones I asked if I could change my plan at any time at no charge and the salesmen said yes as long as we didn’t go down in price. Just rang Telstra and they advised I can’t change plans unless I recontract. Does this sound right?
http://exchange.telstra.com.au/2010/05/03/customers-get-more-value-with-our-revised-mobile-post-paid-browsing-packs/comment-page-1/#comment-5640
We launched our new Prepaid Browse Plus packs on 13-May-10, providing our Prepaid customers much greater value for money in relation to their data needs.
http://exchange.telstra.com.au/2010/05/03/customers-get-more-value-with-our-revised-mobile-post-paid-browsing-packs/comment-page-1/#comment-5682
Hi chaosboi, We launched our new Prepaid Browse Plus packs on 13-May-10, providing our Prepaid customers much greater value for money in relation to their data needs.
Peter.
http://exchange.telstra.com.au/2010/05/03/customers-get-more-value-with-our-revised-mobile-post-paid-browsing-packs/comment-page-1/#comment-5718
Thanks for your feedback. Telstra has a Data usage notification SMS that will be sent once you’ve used 80% and 100% of your included allowance to help you manage your usage.
Cheers,
Peter