joveblue
2007-07-03, 01:37
OK so at the moment I have a Nokia 3200 which is now 2.5 years old, and starting to give me the shits. The way the buttons are designed has always been awful (two buttons on the same key), but now some of them aren't working properly. The call quality is getting dodgy and it's just an old piece of crap and I'm sick of it. I can hold on for a bit longer if need be but I'd like to replace it.
At the moment I'm on Optus Prepaid and spend $30 on credit every 2 months. The phone cost $199 when I bought it. I don't really want to have to spend any more than this for phone and credit...
My friend suggested that I should switch to 3-Mobile. They offer a $29 Cap plan with a minimum monthly spend of $20, with up to $120 worth of calls, SMS included once you hit $29. I could get a nice phone for free on this plan - currently they offer a Nokia 6288 for free, but this offer is quite old and they'll hopefully introduce a better phone soon. Given that I'd probably end up only paying the minimum $20 each month I'd probably end up saving a little money compared to buying a new phone on Optus Prepaid.
BUT this is all screwed up with my plan to spend 5 months in the US during the second half of next year for study and a little travel. The international roaming on 3-Mobile isn't included in the minimum monthly spend, as far as I can gather. So I'd end up paying really high charges for roaming (see below) PLUS $20 a month for the contract. I could deal with that for a month or 2 but 5 months seems like a long time to keep doing that. Am I just being stingy? Should I just pay the international roaming charges and forget about it as just one of the costs of going overseas?
The international roaming charges are 65c per 30 seconds for national calls, $1.25 for calls back to Australia, and 50c to receive calls (plus 25c flagfall to make a call). SMS are 60c.
Alternatively I can just stay on Optus Prepaid and buy a new prepaid SIM to use while I'm in the US from T-Mobile/AT&T/whoever. So then I'd be looking at one of these phones: hope this link works (http://personal.optus.com.au/web/ocaportal.portal?_nfpb=true&_pageLabel=Template_woRHS&FP=/personal/mobile/prepaidmobile/prepaidmobilephones&site=personal). None of them appeal particularly. Is there any you'd recommend? Apparently the Samsung Z230 has been discontinued.
The other thing is that the iPhone will arrive here sometime next year, and I'm going to be extremely tempted. I have no idea which networks it will be on or how much the plans will cost though. I can probably wait a couple of years for that if I have to.
I'm not quite sure what to do. I'm leaning towards sticking with Prepaid but I don't really like any of the phones available... what do you think?
At the moment I'm on Optus Prepaid and spend $30 on credit every 2 months. The phone cost $199 when I bought it. I don't really want to have to spend any more than this for phone and credit...
My friend suggested that I should switch to 3-Mobile. They offer a $29 Cap plan with a minimum monthly spend of $20, with up to $120 worth of calls, SMS included once you hit $29. I could get a nice phone for free on this plan - currently they offer a Nokia 6288 for free, but this offer is quite old and they'll hopefully introduce a better phone soon. Given that I'd probably end up only paying the minimum $20 each month I'd probably end up saving a little money compared to buying a new phone on Optus Prepaid.
BUT this is all screwed up with my plan to spend 5 months in the US during the second half of next year for study and a little travel. The international roaming on 3-Mobile isn't included in the minimum monthly spend, as far as I can gather. So I'd end up paying really high charges for roaming (see below) PLUS $20 a month for the contract. I could deal with that for a month or 2 but 5 months seems like a long time to keep doing that. Am I just being stingy? Should I just pay the international roaming charges and forget about it as just one of the costs of going overseas?
The international roaming charges are 65c per 30 seconds for national calls, $1.25 for calls back to Australia, and 50c to receive calls (plus 25c flagfall to make a call). SMS are 60c.
Alternatively I can just stay on Optus Prepaid and buy a new prepaid SIM to use while I'm in the US from T-Mobile/AT&T/whoever. So then I'd be looking at one of these phones: hope this link works (http://personal.optus.com.au/web/ocaportal.portal?_nfpb=true&_pageLabel=Template_woRHS&FP=/personal/mobile/prepaidmobile/prepaidmobilephones&site=personal). None of them appeal particularly. Is there any you'd recommend? Apparently the Samsung Z230 has been discontinued.
The other thing is that the iPhone will arrive here sometime next year, and I'm going to be extremely tempted. I have no idea which networks it will be on or how much the plans will cost though. I can probably wait a couple of years for that if I have to.
I'm not quite sure what to do. I'm leaning towards sticking with Prepaid but I don't really like any of the phones available... what do you think?