Hi all,
I am researching buying an iPhone SE.
What are the merits of outright purchase versus Plan purchase.
Note that I am in Tasmania and network restrictions because of current Bass Strait cable problems mean most local providers are Telstra or Optus based.
Bring your own phone, get better talk/data options for less… Buy the phone through your dealer, and not need the $$$ up front, but get worse deals on talk/data… (At least - with Optus from what I’ve just been looking at…)
I presume really it comes down to how liquid your funds currently are…
The 64GB iPhone SE is $829 outright.
On Telstra you have a few options, but comparing the two mid plans as best as you can it looks like this:
$32 / month in handset payments
$32 x 24 = $768 cost for the handset
Which means you save $61 buying it on a plan.
-or-
$38 / month in handset payments
$38 x 24 = $912 cost for the handset
which means you pay an EXTRA $83 to get the phone from Telstra.
Bottom line, buying through Telstra is barely worth it since you get less data and pretty much pay full price for the handset on the lower plan (and +10% on the higher plan!). The only upside is the that you are getting the phone on a payment plan which may be more manageable for you.
Mind you, do you get access to the whole “New Phone Feeling” thing which is nice… although once you factor in the cost of the upgrade it’s not usually worth it there either compared to selling the phone privately,.
Plan B: If you already use the services, buying a phone from Harvey Norman or similar on a 24 month interest free arrangement (as long as you pay it back within the time period) can be another option. NOTE I said if you’re already using this service since the monthly fees of about $5 a month will add $120 to your purchase price over 24 months making it far less attractive.
Optus have more options on plan including purchase as they provide options for 16 Gb or 64 Gb iPhones. Costs are about $50 calls + $10 for 16 Gb and $50 Calls +$15 for the 64 Gb phones
Telstra are dearer than either plan at $72.
Neither Optus or Telstra have a good reputation in Tassie for network maintenance.
On the Optus side it’s a bit easier to compare.
Lets look at the $80 plan which gives you the 64GB iPhone SE with unlimited calls + 6GB Data. The same deal on BYO is $40 (and comes with an extra gig of data for 12 months too).
That’s $40 / month more to get the phone through them which adds up to a whopping $960 or $131 more than the outright price!
The lower $55 plan is still unlimited calls, but has only 1GB of data, compare this to the $30 BYO plan that has unlimited calls + 1.5GB of data. That extra $25 / month means you’re only paying $600 for the handset which is the better deal if you can get by with the data limit. Since they charge you an extra $10 / gig of data, assuming you pay the extra $10 every month to get up to 1.5GB it’s an extra $240 over the term which works out to $11 more than the out right handset cost… not too bad at all.
I’m guessing Optus would be trying to push people up to the next plan with all that extra data 
NOTE: The BYO plans are the 12 month deals rather than month to month. I figure 12 months is a reasonable commitment.
Right, so depending on where you live and where in Tassie you like to frequent, Telstra may be the only choice if you want mobile coverage, which brings us to…
Because I want to rant a little…
The way these plans are marketed bothers me no end.
The BYO Plans are usually called something different to the plans with a phone is one is the “BYO Plan” and the other is “My Plan”… which means they are different plans and have different inclusions (and conditions I’m sure). They usually make sure that there are different enough so you can’t directly compare BYO vs on a plan like I have above.
If we look at Optus, the SIM only 12 month plans at $40 / month has the same inclusions (calls, messaging and data) as the $80 / month “My Plan Plus”. The latter of course means you can bundle a handset… in the case of the iPhone SE 64GB it’s for $0 handset payments…
But … but… haven’t we just shown that I can get everything but the phone for $40… making the cost difference the cost of the phone… which would mean the phone is $40 a month… not $0.
Long story short you pay a premium cost to get a “free” phone.
Don’t get me wrong, I get that nothing is free and you’re paying for it somewhere. But calling that $0 / month or a “free” phone or “no additional cost” is total BS. I’m not singling out Optus here, they all do it.
(I should add, the best this for the carriers is when you don’t upgrade your handset and continue paying your $80 /month without moving to a cheaper BYO plan… then it’s all just gravy!
I’d love to see some truth in advertising applied in this space, but sadly I think they have all weaseled it just enough to pass the legal requirements. Now if you still think you’re getting a free phone… well I’ve got this awesome bridge for sale…
It’s not something I’ve given much thought to… but upon looking at the facts there… Indeed - total misrepresentation!
Ok - if we can get 10 people to contact the ACCC, then they’ll spent a few years and a few hundred thousand tax payer dollars investigating the matter, then crack down on it, enforce change, right about in time for the carriers to have worked out some other scheme…
I’ll start writing…
I buy my phones outright, then go on prepaid plans. Currently with Amaysim and for the prepaid $19.90/month and use the credit to purchase additional data pack.
Never have used my phones for much talk or text, and until the last couple of years plans/bundles have been excessively heavy on unneeded call and text components and light on included data. Now you can invariably get good data options that don’t waste your coin on irrelevant talk and text components.
Being an unlocked phone I can also just pop in a SIM for a more appropriate network coverage when on holidays, and forward my calls temporarily to the “new” number, or just switch the number over as I can switch to any other provider as needed, or to use a special offer.
I do the same… Buy outright, stay on prepaid. Telstra prepaid longlife suits me well, I pay $120 a year for 365 days cover and 200 minutes to Telstra standard phones (which most of my friends are on, and if they arent, there’s also VoIP via Zoiper) I spend $10 a month (which comes out of the $120 credit) for 200Mb of data. I never use all of either of them, but I also never lack for what I need.
I made the switch after buying on a plan when the Nokia 5110 was the go, and at $10 a month I wasnt using even that much credit.
If I was a high volume user, I’d consider a plan, but only Telstra because where I am, most of the time, both Optus and Vodafone have awful reception.
It’s great that that works for you, but I’d guess that’s not representative of the average user out there today. That said, I would be very interested in what the average usage really is. Is there any body out there that provides that sort of information or is it all closely held industry secrets?
I don’t consider myself a heavy mobile data user, although I don’t stop and think too much and just do what I want. To add a little context to that, I don’t watch streaming video or listen to streaming audio via mobile so it’s just browsing about and downloading the odd audio podcast if I’ve forgotten to download it at home).
Still, last month I managed 2.5GB on my iPhone and my wife (who is a stay at home Mum (read on WiFi all day)) managed just under 1.5GB somehow. (My mother has only just gotten a smartphone so it will be very interesting to see how much she manages to use!).
LOL! Absolutely NOT the average user 