Serving up more data you can use
The stars of MasterChef will be at the Telstra store in George Street Sydney tonight to plate up some very special data offers as iPhone 4 goes on sale.
We know our customers love accessing the mobile internet on the Next G network as much as they love a MasterChef cook-off. And, over the past couple of days you’ve told us that you’d like more data included to use with some of our hottest smartphones – including the iPhone 4.
So, from midnight tonight until November 1 we’re increasing data allowances on our most popular plans for some of our most popular smartphones.
Here’s what is available to customers purchasing the iPhone 4, iPhone 3GS, HTC Desire or Nokia N97 mini on the following plans from 30 July until 1 November 2010.
| Telstra Plan | Included data |
|---|---|
| $49 Consumer Next G Cap Plan | 500MB (up from 200MB) |
| $79 Consumer Next G Cap Plan | 1GB (up from 500MB) |
| $99 Consumer Next G Cap Plan | 1GB (up from 500MB) |
| $129 Consumer Next G Cap Plan | 6GB (up from 1GB) |
| $55 Ultimate II Plan | 500MB (up from 200MB) |
| $85 Ultimate II Plan | 1GB (up from 500MB) |
| $110 Ultimate II Plan | 1GB (up from 500MB) |
| $150 Ultimate II Plan | 6GB (up from 1GB) |
As you can see, customers signing up to our plans can enjoy between two and six times the standard mobile data for the same price for the duration of their 24 month contract.
The special plans are being offered to customers connecting to Telstra for the first time, as well as existing customers who are re-contracting to these new smartphones.
We know customers want data they can use – rather than simply more data. That’s why we invested more than $2 billion dollars in the Next G network. So even with these increased data allowances our customers will continue to receive the speed and coverage you have come to expect from Telstra.
Revised data boosted plans for iPhone 4, iPhone 3G S until 1 November 2010
| $49 Cap Plan | $79 Cap Plan | $99 Cap Plan | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Monthly fee | $49 | $79 | $99 |
| Monthly Included Value* | $400 | $750 | $1000 |
| Data credit | 500MB with our new bonus data offer^ (up from 200MB) | 1 GB with our new bonus data offer^ (up from 500MB) | 1 GB with our new bonus data offer^ (up from 500MB) |
| iPhone 3GS 8GB | $0 upfront. Min cost $1176 |
$0 upfront. Min cost $1896 |
$0 upfront. Min cost $2376 |
| iPhone 4 16GB | $149 upfront. Min cost $1325 |
$0 upfront. Min cost $1896 |
$0 upfront. Min cost $2376 |
| iPhone 4 32GB | $299 upfront. Min cost $1475 |
$199 upfront. Min cost $2095 |
$0 upfront. Min cost $2376 |
Further pricing details will be launched over the next couple of days.
- See Tuesday’s blog on The iPhone effect
Offer details
Offer available 30 July to 1 November unless extended by Telstra. Offer available to new or re-contracting customers who purchase an iPhone 3G S, iPhone 4, HTC Desire or Nokia N97 mini on a Next G™ Cap Plan or Ultimate II Plan ($55 or above) for 24 months. Offer not available on Business Plans. Offer only applies to data included on customer’s plan and to additional data purchased at time of connection. Unused data expires each month. Usage excludes content and international roaming charges. Bonus data allowance applies for the full term of the customer’s eligible contract plan. If the customer’s eligible contract plan is cancelled, the bonus offer will cease to apply.
*Included monthly value can be used for Standard National Voice, SMS and MMS calls to any Australian Network.
^Bonus data offer available 30 July-1 November 2010 unless extended by Telstra. Offer available to new or re-contracting customers who purchase an iPhone 3G S, iPhone 4, HTC Desire or Nokia N97 mini on a Next G™ Cap Plan or Ultimate II Plan ($55 or above) for 24 months. Offer not available on Business Plans. Offer only applies to data included on customer’s plan and to additional data purchased at time of connection. Unused data expires each month. Usage excludes content and international roaming charges. Bonus data allowance applies for the full term of the customer’s eligible contract plan. If the customer’s eligible contract plan is cancelled, the bonus offer will cease to apply.
What about the Business Plus plans, They still have a pitiful amount of data
It is still well under what others are offering though: http://bitURL.net/B2p (and yes that has your old plans there).
Unfortunately though I cannot move up to a new Phone like the HTC Android/iPhone 4, as I am still in contract, really wish I had of waited a bit longer.
Just the pain of 24 month contracts and still having a year to go that I have to live with (or pay out my old Phone to get a new one while staying with Telstra), should have learned by now to not re-contract and buy outright (been with Telstra for 15 plus years and still did it).
It’s 4.30pm est, and no business details, that said I’m going to be sneaky about it.
that’s all I can say.
Because business is flexible in plan choice that you can hop and change all you like, I’m going to just signup and change later.
Even then you have the two weeks cooling off period for any contract signed with a teleco. So people on business be smart.
Hi,
What options for you have for 12month contract… happy to stay with Telstra after that, just know Apple will release a new phone before 24 months is up.
Cheers
I agree with Paul. I made the mistake of going on a 24 month plan last July and now want iphone 4 tomorrow! I should have bought it outright last year.
Can I get the new phone, even if I rejoin with Teslstra on another 24 month contract?
Well said Lindsay @ 1.12pm – When a company changes plans, GOOD corporate behaviour is to give it to your current loyal customers as well – not just the churning customers.
If you are listening Telstra – fix this for your current customers as well! We shouldn’t even need to ask, (like iiNet) as it should be standard practice to roll out new call/data allowances for all current AND future customers.
Last time they changed the plans I had just entered a contract… BUT I was still in the cooling off period and I called the customer service and they made the effort to fix up so I got the new limit. So if you find that they change the plans check whether or not you are still in that cooling off period and call their customer service. They want to keep you and not have you cancel so they will make sure they fix you up!
I was told for the 32gb model, if i pay $25 monthly I can change between any plan and not be penalized.
Ie if I sign up on $79 and then decide the $49 will be sufficient, or they come out with a new cheaper plan, i can change anytime, but if I pay the $199 upfront on the $79 plan, I cannot downgrade to $49 plan without paying a penalty, going up to next higher plan though no charge.
So the way I see it, instead of paying the $199 upfront that I don’t have and be locked into a plan, best to pay the $25 month and have option to change plans as desired.
As I said before they are only too happy to get new customers but once you are a customer they treat you like shiite.
Not so with other more competitive companies. Steer clear of Telstra is my advice.
Dazz,
Do you really, really need that phone tonight? Given you’ve been stung twice before, I suggest you hold off until the pricing becomes clearer, especially the Business Plans – I reckon they’ll be changing too.
Besides, the Telstra shops will be a brothel tonight, I’ll bet there will be lots of confusion with staff re pricing, as Telstra has been changing the numbers on the fly by the hour it seems.
Given the bad experiemces of others on this site, it just doesn’t pay to be first in.
Dazz,
Do you really, really need that phone tonight? Given you’ve been stung twice before, I suggest you hold off until the pricing becomes clearer, especially the Business Plans – I reckon they’ll be changing too.
Besides, the Telstra shops will be a brothel tonight, I’ll bet there will be lots of confusion with staff re pricing, as Telstra has been changing the numbers on the fly by the hour it seems.
Given the bad experiences of others on this site who got in early on ‘new’ deals, it just doesn’t pay to be first in.
Thanks for nothing Telstra you really dont care about existing contracted customers just new customers. Loyalty is a term you should learn the meaning.
This announcement 12 hours earlier would have been helpful as I signed up for an HTC Desire to avoid the iPhone crowd tomorrow. On the phone to customer service to see how good you guys are at creating customer goodwill.
This post shouldn’t be filed under “customers” because for existing customers it offers absolutely nothing
The silence from any Telstra rep’s on how to appease customers who have just signed onto a $49 cap in the past few weeks and are now stuck on a 200MB allowance when they could have gotten 500MB is deafening…
I’ve been a continuous customer for the past 12 years, but loyalty seems to count for nothing these days. Even more peeved that I just locked myself in on the Telstra Home Bundle for the next 2 years as well.
Nevermind, if Telstra don’t budge on back-dating these plans for customers who just signed up then I’ll very much be bearing that in mind when my 24 months is up.
Excellent
I made a post about this just yesterday and Telstra listened. They really need to keep the data allowance THROUGH-OUT the contract term and they will have easily more than doubled the customer sign ups/ports due to this simple enhancement.
There will be many more sign ups to the NextG network upon launch! No other telco can come close in terms of speed and reliability of the NextG service. Makes me proud to work for Telstra
DOMINATE THE MARKET TELSTRA W00t W00t!
Watch the Telstra share prices closely… they’re about to skyrocket like crazy this year.
@Chris,
Have you called Telstra about “upgrading” your plan from $49/200MB to the $49/500MB? I believe all it takes is a phone call… and that is a small effort to do from you… a similar case I have was that my Bigpond ADSL used to be at the $69/12GB which i signed early this year (12 month contract and was bundled)… then I saw from their website that they no longer have that plan but instead have a $49/50GB plan (also if bundled), the Telstra Rep offered to see better deals for me with my current home bundle and i ended up getting the 50GB plan and saved $10 on my overall cost… all it takes is a phone call from you… that should be easy and you have complete control of that.
@ Mike, yup saw your post yesterday and I thought yeah that should be the way to go for Telstra to put some heat in the competition… am not working for Telstra by the way
and the only thing holding me to sign up with Telstra before was the lame data allocations… there really is no point for Telstra to be boasting about their speed when you can ony download 200MB on your plan (without paying extra)… “oh boy I have a superfast link to download my… emails!” … now it seems that people in Telstra who know their technology were consulted in coming up with their plans and not money-hungry, disconnected, non-techie, old-school dinosaurs…. 
Proud of a company that treats it’s existing customers like sh1t.
I like to deal with companies who show loyalty to their customers thus retaining them for many years to come. All I have had so far since signing with them is bad customer service wrong bills, being cut off no less than six times to date and now not being able to change to new plans even after I said I would change to telstra for home phone and adsl.
Not the sort of company I would be proud to be apart of.
Yes, they have listened and acted. well done. (see my previous post below)
Now i am not that optimistic that i can get iPhones tomorrow. may be in the second round, hope that comes soon.
Telstra, pls keep us updated on the stock, or sign us up now and give us the phone when you restock.
http://exchange.telstra.com.au/2010/07/27/the-iphone-effect/#comments
litapajar says:
27 Jul 2010 at 7:10 pm
Ross/Brendan,
looking at Optus plans, these plans do look bad even taking into account NextG is twice as fast or more coverage factor.
i think telstra has to up their data limits for these plans, at least for iPhones. Telstra can still win this war, coming out with new announcement on Thursday.
But for me, these plans are great as we only use limited data. so, i still think these are great plans based on our needs. so its matter of if we can get a phone on the day, or we wait till there’s more stock.
Unless Brendan can get sales guys to call me to sign up, it will be done straight away – home bundles with two iPhones… i am optimistic.
hey guys check out the Telstra Business plans – Business Smartphone Deal – Bonus 1GB of Mobile Data
I too signed up for a $49 cap last weekend and paid an additional $10 a month to get a measly 200MB extra to bring the data quota to 400MB.
Does Telstra have an official policy on how to treat customers who have signed up in the last few weeks? I specifically asked customer service via email if there was any option to get more data as 200MB for a smart phone was a joke. Not impressed that I am now stuck on less than half the data allowance for a full 24 months because of missing updated plans by a week.
Please, please help me out here guys…
I got a HTC Desire on a $49 Cap at a month ago. If the increase in the data allowance isn’t passed on to me I will be absolutely filthy with Telstra.
This says to potential customers that they should wait, because they could be caught out by a 150% increase in what you can get for the price you pay a week after they sign up. So they will wait… maybe forever, or they should just go to another network. Coverage might not be as good but at least they don’t have to manage their data use as much with 1GB offered by others.
I live in Darwin, where there isn’t the luxury of waiting for the best deal if you want coverage more than 10 minutes drive out of town. The other networks are just no good here. So I’m shafted twice.
If this increase is not passed on to me this insult and disrespect will be remembered at the end of my 24 months. I may not be in Darwin forever and if I’m in a city that is well served by the other networks see you later.
Well I should have listened. That’s 3.5 hours of my life I’ll never get back. Went to Bondi Junction and waited from 10pm. Was 5th in the queue. But guess what. No central support for the store. An error occurred on the screen where my details were being entered and the girl was required to call someone for help, but there was no one to call, so I got no iPhone4 and left the store at 1.15am
I am so angry about the lack of organization. What’s the point of having a midnight opening if there is not all of the staff on to properly service the customers? I am on a $150 per month business plan and have been for the last two years. Why are business customers given such poor support?
Now I may miss out for a week until they get more stock as Bondi Junction only had 100 iPhones and will certainly sell out tonight and no doubt the other stores will too.
@Rusco
I have tried calling Telstra about “upgrading” my plan from $49/200MB to $49/500MB – I was told that even though it was just last week that I signed up that’s just “tough luck” (literally the words of the CSR).
I also spoke with the Store Manager of the T-Life shop I purchased the phone from yesterday, who wasn’t even aware of the $49/500MB plans coming out today! He mentioned he would escalate that to senior management (I’m sure he didn’t appreciate being blindsided by a customer about the plans their selling).
The store manager also told me to try 125111 about upgrading it, which I have done today, but as per above it’s just tough luck. I was told I could spend an extra $10/month to get 500MB.
Once you’re signed up on the dotted line they couldn’t care less about customer satisfaction… yes it’s a contract, but a bit of goodwill (for a longstanding customer of 12 years) would go a lot further.
Hence once my contract is up Telstra will not be getting my business again.
Poor service from the word go.
45 mins getting put through to wrong departments then being cut off on more than one occasion.
Not what you would expect when you are spending a lot of money with them for personal and business services.
I posted yesterday about giving existing customers of those particular phones an upgrade in line with others buying them now (HTC Desire owner of 2 weeks – great phone, sadly quite poor Telstra service so far).
I can see there is still no sign of this happening. If Telstra doesn’t do this you can add me to the growing list of people they have lost as customers (home phone, broadband, mobile). As many others have stated, what about following the lead of other companies, that treat their existing customers with respect, by including us in your upgraded plans?!
My wife, who is in the market for a new smartphone, will also be avoiding Telstra if this is how they treat those under contract. Please listen to your existing customers, or we will not be your future customers.
I have exactly the same setup as Chris but with two 32 gig iPhone 3GS ( they ran out of 16) – my bonus. With the stuff ups I’ve had recently I used the CEO contact page. His office tells me he is very interested in customer feedback/ satisfaction, so perhaps that is an avenue?
C
I signed 2 weeks ago for a HTC Desire on the $49 plan with 200 mb of data.
I phoned Telstra today and I was promptly changed over to the 500 mb $49 plan.
Try call again on 1800 303 302.
Cheers
So will those of us who recently recommenced plans (I have two iPhone #GS on 49 Cap since the 20th) be upgraded too and automatically?
It seems it’s up to the individual to track down upgrades to phone and Internet plans as an existing customer. My Home bundle was an example I could have sat on 12Gb without family calls for years without knowing if I hadn’t looked! Same for my data packs on the recently ended plan going up in allowance. So
1. Automatic upgrades (which you must accept of course and can’t go backwards in benefits) would be nice for existing and loyal customers.
2. Give us the bonuses for sticking with you, don’t just give the sexy stuff to entice new customers.
Hi, yep my girlfriend fits into this category too. Her HTC Desire was activated on Monday, 27th July (4 days ago) on a $49 cap plan – 200MB data.
She just called Telstra and was bluntly told no, she could not get the upgrade to 500MB.
How ridiculous. For the priviledge of having the phone for 4 days she is stuck on a very restrictive data plan.
Come on Telstra, this is not the way to treat your customers. It is extremely narrow-sighted.
As Nick above suggested called Telstra, and asked that as I had signed up for 2 years to $49 cap 3 weeks ago could I be upgraded 500Mb.
Answer: No thats impossible it only applies from sign ups today onward, no one could have been given such an upgrade, and there is no one that can authorise such an upgrade.
So Telstra punishes loyal customers that buy the HTC desire that is exclusive to Telstra prior to iphone 4 release, but rewards Apple iphone fanboys.
Thanks Nick!
UPDATE – my girlfriend just called Telstra as per Nick’s post “I phoned Telstra today and I was promptly changed over to the 500 mb $49 plan. Try call again on 1800 303 302.”
And you know what, it worked. Upgraded from 200MB to 500MB.
Thank you Telstra. Much appreciated.
I just called up and was outright refused.
Ridiculous.
Attention Rebekah O’Flaherty
Executive Director
Telstra Consumer
There are some who have been successful at having their plans upgraded and there are many more who have been unsuccessful.
As Executive Director, Telstra Consumer, will you please clarify Telstra’s position on this matter. As a matter of goodwill I would like to hope that Telstra will immediately roll over all plans over to the NEW data caps.
I for one, have a long memory, and will most assuredly, when it comes to renewing my contract, carry out the necessary research with the aim of ditching Telstra as my carrier of preference.
On this matter, Telstra is engaging in VERY BAD corporate behaviour. I do not like rewarding bad corporate behaviour.
Please comment Rebecah!!
This is good and well overdue however why can’t Telstra just match the amount of data that Optus is giving at the same rates? If they did this then they would get a flurry of people coming across, even if you had to pay the $149/$299 upfront cost when you first start your plan. I know I would!
I agree with Jimbo. I signed on for a $49 Business Cap for a HTC Desire last week. When I was in the Telstra store I told them I would also be getting an iPhone 4 this week when it was launched. They talked me into getting the Desire last week and picking up the iPhone when it was launched. Now I wish we had of waited the week!
@Lindsay +10000! Very well put.
I’ve attempted contacting Telstra in every way possible today by phone and online chat, and none of the CSR’s will budge on moving to the new 500 MB plan.
Very disappointing to here that some customers are successful while others like myself aren’t.
For all those who are getting refused who had signed up in the last 10 days remind the customer service operator that you can cancel your contract, return the phone as you are still in the cooling off period for the contract. If you cancel the contract during the cooling off period they can only charge you for what you have so far used. Any cancellation costs cannot be charged as you are covered by contract law for cooling off periods…. they will start being very helpful at that point.
Hi,
Got a HTC Desire on the $49 Cap before they increased the data allowance for that Cap by 150%.
I called Telstra and was able to put forward a case that, after initially meeting some resistance, was able to convince the call centre operator that increasing my monthly data allowance to 500MB was a reasonable thing to do.
It wasn’t as easy for me as it seems to have been for some others, but it is possible.
First time and place since I got home from work that I have found somewhere to vent my disgust at Telstra.
Having a midnight opening, with only 100 handsets is absurd. Why got to the trouble?? and why not COUNT the people in the line at 12.01, and find out EXACTLY who is getting what, so those who are going to miss out dont hang around for almost 2 hours to be to tough luck.
If I coukld swear I would.
FYI I am not pissed off about not getting a phone, I am pissed about how the stupid thing was run.
So it appears from here and other forums that some people are getting the update and other people are just being refused outright. Its time for someone from Telstra to actually officially announce something rather than do what they are doing now which is just digging a deeper and deeper customer dissatisfaction hole
Ivan,
Do you actually want to be able to use your data?
Telstra offers a premium network. They don’t oversubscribe like the other providers do.
Alex M, can you please elaborate on the cooling off period. I signed up on an iPhone 4 contract yesterday during the initial rush and would like to terminate/cancel my contract. What are the options available?
Thanks in advance.
While I signed up on the $79/1Gb plan (fortunately), I think the consumer backlash about the lower data limits really took some Telstra managers by surprise. I really don’t think they expected the attention that services like Twitter would give this. I think they really did underestimate the power of “social media”.
So, not surprisingly, they modified the plans for NEW customers.
As is common practice with telcos in the US, they should backdate those plans to allow existing customers, ones that signed up within the last thirty (30) days to be moved to the updated plan.
If you signed up 2 months ago well, sorry – how far back do you think they should go with them ? I mean, the additional data won’t really cost Telstra anything, so maybe they should backdate it to January 1st ?
If you signed up less than 10 days ago, there is a legally-binding 10 business day cooling off period. You could cancel your contract and take out a new one (you might have a fight on your hands, as some CSR’s have no clue about the cooling off period).
I signed on 2 July HTC Desire $49/200MB and Telstra upgraded $49/500MB no problems, service was excellent. I changed from Optus and have had no regrets. I was ready to be met with some resistance but none was given. Thank you Telstra.
This is what is really annoying me I went into my Telstra dealer today and they would not update the data. Friend of mine based in Adelaide who purchased her phone a week before me got hers updated when she went into a Telstra shop today
I’m still making a decision whether I should go for Next G $129 cap plan or $99 cap plan for 32GB? Any help?
Can someone at Telstra please explain how some people who contracted their phone just before the 30th July are getting the extra data while others are being refused ? These is an amazing inconsistency here and yet Telstra officially remain quiet.
I posted previously about my bad experience on Thursday night at Bondi Junction T-life.
I have to say that Telstra completely redeemed themselves with the excellent customer service I received subsequently.
On Friday morning I went into the Elizabeth St Sydney store and the George St Sydney store only to find that both were out of the 32GB iPhone 4. At the George St store, Michael a manager there was highly apologetic and took my details and said he would notify my as soon as 32GB came into stock.
The very next morning (Sat) he called to say that they had had a new delivery and that he had put one aside for me. I went in to the store and was totally looked after. I am now on the Mobile Plus $120 plan and very happy.
BTW, the iPhone 4 rocks.