[LINK] Telstra at it again....sort of

Jan Whitaker jwhit at janwhitaker.com
Sat Apr 20 22:49:36 AEST 2013


[the new low cost offerings must be biting; but 
note the extra break fees at the end]

Telstra To Offer Contract-Free Plans From Next Week
http://www.gizmodo.com.au/2013/04/telstra-to-offer-contract-free-plans-from-next-week/

<http://www.gizmodo.com.au/author/luke-hopewell/>Luke 
Hopewell 18 April 2013 6:00 PM
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First Optus had them, now we have learned that 
Telstra will be offering contract-free plans from 
next week. How much will it cost you to go 
contractless on Telstra, you ask? Let us show you.

The new “No Lock-In” plans start from $40 per 
month and go right up to $130 per month, and 
reinstate some of the old bonus offers from the 
good, old days of telecommunications. Some plans, 
depending on the spend level, will get access to 
“Unlimited Weekends” and “Unlimited Nights”.

The unadvertised $40 plan ­ we’ll why it’s 
unadvertised in a moment ­ offers customers $300 
of eligible calls and texts and 250MB worth of 
data. No bells and whistles to speak of there.

The $60 plan will include $600 worth of eligible 
calls and texts, 1GB of data and unlimited text 
messages. No unlimited nights or weekends to 
speak of here, either. Those kick in on the higher tiered plans.

The $80 plan offers $800 worth of eligible calls 
and texts, 1.5GB of data and unlimited text 
messages, as well as an Unlimited Nights offer 
which presumably gives you free calls between certain times in the evening.

The $100 plan gives you $900 worth of eligible 
calls and texts, 2GB of data and unlimited text 
messages, as well as the Unlimited Nights offer and Unlimited Weekends.

Finally, the highest tier of $130 per month gives 
you an unlimited amount of eligible calls and 
texts, 3GB of data and unlimited text messages, 
as well as the Unlimited Nights and Unlimited Weekends offers.

Telstra is marketing these plans aggressively, 
offering a data bonus offer to customers who sign 
up before 1 July, which will bestow 1GB of extra 
data onto their account on all plans, excluding 
the unadvertised $40 plan. No mention in the 
documents we were leaked how long that data bonus goes for.

The telco is keeping its $40 plan as an 
unadvertised, “below the line” plan, meaning that 
it won’t be proactively offering it to customers 
unless sales reps are about to lose a customer to 
a competing offer from Optus, Vodafone or another 
MVNO. Presumably, Telstra is looking to appear 
more competitive in the face of offers from Aldi Mobile and Kogan Mobile.

No word yet on whether these plans will include 
any mobile repayment option bonuses towards 
helping to pay for a handset on the plan, but 
seeing as how the telco is already offering what 
are essentially old-school cap plans with no contracts, I highly doubt it.

Here’s the full pricing schedule:

We can also reveal that Telstra will be applying 
new charges to customers who opt to recontract 
their service before their early termination date from tomorrow.

Not only will a customer now pay the early 
termination charge for breaking a contract and 
the remaining mobile repayment option amount, but 
they will also be charged an extra $50 admin fee 
of sorts if they break their contract outside of 
the last 31 days, according to a leaked memo. 
This extra $50 fee will reportedly apply to 
customers on BYO handset plans and standard mobile plans.

Telstra joins Optus in offering no-contract 
plans. Much like Optus, Telstra’s plans are quite 
expensive when compared with the prepaid offers available from other MVNOs.



Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
jwhit at janwhitaker.com
blog: http://janwhitaker.com/jansblog/
business: http://www.janwhitaker.com

Our truest response to the irrationality of the 
world is to paint or sing or write, for only in such response do we find truth.
~Madeline L'Engle, writer

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