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iPad in Australia

A

ArmCortexA8

macrumors 65816
Original poster
Feb 18, 2010
1,106
213
Terra Australis
Hi all

Considering the majority of users / owners here are from the US / Canada I wanted to give a comparison from Australia. Here in Australia the iPad is available unlocked and contract free - prices vary from AU $629 to AU $1,049. You walk in the store, purchase the iPad and walk out.

As for the data / plans the biggest providers here are Optus and Telstra, and these are prepaid - no credit checks etc no bills no contracts no surprises - simply choose a sim with any value, good for 30 days then recharge with based on what data you want.

Optus Pricing: http://personal.optus.com.au/web/oc...&sid=HAFeat4:Van:OSC:iPad:OCA:iPadDP:03062010

Telstra Pricing: http://www.telstra.com.au/latest_offers/ipad/index.html?ti=TR:TR:May10:ppmicrosim:TCOMindex:642x250
 
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It's unlocked and no contract everywhere. Am I missing something???
 
skubish said:
Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 3_1_3 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/528.18 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/4.0 Mobile/7E18 Safari/528.16)

It's unlocked and no contract everywhere. Am I missing something???
Click to expand...

I was more referring to the US market as their data prices are more expensive and I have heard most people are on contract for their service. Whereas in Australia we seem to get better deals and have more freedom.
 
Data is notoriously more expensive in Australia.

It's technically 'no contract' everywhere but people are arguing that AT&T's recent changes to their unlimited data offer has made it into a de facto contractual arrangement.
 
Vodafone is kinda better. AU$150 for an entire year.

Telstra is evil, and I can't believe Optus are even in business still.
 
ArmCortexA8 said:
I was more referring to the US market as their data prices are more expensive and I have heard most people are on contract for their service. Whereas in Australia we seem to get better deals and have more freedom.
Click to expand...

iPhone in the US is on contract. Not the iPad. The iPad is sold unlocked in both markets. US buyers are free to use the iPad with any carrier that supports the GSM frequencies the iPad uses. There it's just AT&T. Here it's any carrier with micro SIM cards available which appears to be the main 4.

Telstras network is the best going round but their prices have never been good. Though, their iPad micro SIM prices don't seem too terrible.

Voda have a great unlimited for $50 deal and 3 seem pretty cheap.

I'd assume Optus will again take the lion's share as they always seem to be the best compromise between network coverage and price. This will probably lead to them getting further clogged up.
 
sammich said:
Is it because they price a lot of people out of their network? Less people per tower?
Click to expand...
I found their pricing on the microsim actually rather competitive. It is apparrent that even though I am using my pad heaps there is no way I am going to go anywhere near 3 gigs. Wouldn't touch telstra on home broadband though.

And I guess there are less people per tower merely because there are far more towers in far more places. I have been incredibly impressed by the coverage in and around Sydney. Haven't struggled once and I travel a lot.
 
.Andy said:
Telstra might be evil, but when it comes to their 3G speed and coverage it is second to none in Australia.
Click to expand...

Counter-argument. Telstra's 3G bandwidth limits... a little extra speed means nothing unless you wanna waste money recharging constantly. Moreover, what are you gonna use that bandwidth for? Streaming videos on losertube?

Coverage? haha
I guess if you go on regular trips to see the country folk in their natural habitat, you will have better signal strength to email an SOS if one decides to go deliverance on you.
 
ukyo229 said:
Counter-argument. Telstra's 3G bandwidth limits...a little extra speed means nothing unless you wanna waste money recharging constantly. Moreover, what are you gonna use that bandwidth for? Streaming videos on losertube?

Coverage? haha
I guess if you go on regular trips to see the country folk in their natural habitat, you will have better signal strength to email an SOS if one decides to go deliverance on you.
Click to expand...
Insightful and constructive post thanks.
 
pondie84 said:
Data is notoriously more expensive in Australia.

It's technically 'no contract' everywhere but people are arguing that AT&T's recent changes to their unlimited data offer has made it into a de facto contractual arrangement.
Click to expand...

Yeah the US customers are being screwed over by AT&T, hell I thougth our Telco's were bad.
 
.Andy said:
Telstra might be evil, but when it comes to their 3G speed and coverage it is second to none in Australia.
Click to expand...

Agreed completely, I was on Optus on my iPhone 3GS under a 12 month contract which has now expired, so I sold the iphone off :) lol. The phone was great but Optus's network is **** - it rarely stayed on 3G in metro Brisbane, which basically meant any applications were useless. It mostly switched to GSM.

Whereas with the iPad I decided to go with Telstra and its simply amazing, everywherere I go the signal strength never drops below full reception. So I've given Optus the flick now.
 
sammich said:
Is it because they price a lot of people out of their network? Less people per tower? What's wrong with Optus?
Click to expand...

If your not willing to pay for a superior service with a reliable network, then just dont bother. Optus is **** - crappy network - rarely stays on 3G - I know I've been with them on the iPhone for over a year. No more Optus.
 
ukyo229 said:
Counter-argument. Telstra's 3G bandwidth limits... a little extra speed means nothing unless you wanna waste money recharging constantly. Moreover, what are you gonna use that bandwidth for? Streaming videos on losertube? Coverage? haha
I guess if you go on regular trips to see the country folk in their natural habitat, you will have better signal strength to email an SOS if one decides to go deliverance on you.
Click to expand...

No point paying out dollars for a poor service, and Telstra's NextG network is simply the best after my **** experience with Optus. Hell, even Optus admitted their network is not the best and the iPad will make it worse.
 
I am looking forward to getting home (Sydney) to be able to buy an iPad. I have been trying in London and NY with no luck at the moment :(
 
s1m said:
I am looking forward to getting home (Sydney) to be able to buy an iPad. I have been trying in London and NY with no luck at the moment :(
Click to expand...

My local mac1 seems to have plenty so you should be fine here.
 
ArmCortexA8 said:
No point paying out dollars for a poor service, and Telstra's NextG network is simply the best after my **** experience with Optus. Hell, even Optus admitted their network is not the best and the iPad will make it worse.
Click to expand...

But Optus' roaming agreement is with Telstra, so Optus actually works really well in places that 3, Vodafone, and the others don't work. In fact, when I was in the PET imaging department last week (i.e. Nuclear Medicine....nearly always underground and surrounded by thick concrete walls due to the cyclotron!!!), I got no service with 3 Mobile, and I was told that only Optus works there. I'm assuming that Telstra would also work, but Optus has good signal, roaming with Telstra, and decent enough prices.


Oh, and I got a chance to play with an iPad for the first time today at JB Hi-Fi, and after 30 minutes of fiddling, I couldn't come up with 2 reasons to buy an iPad. I want one, and I wanted to come up with a multitude of reasons to buy one, but I just couldn't. :eek: I love that I could read PDFs and books on it, but paying $700-1000 for a device to read PDFs is kind of silly, and the books aren't free, so I'd be better off just buying regular books.

I suppose I could also watch movies, but my commute to work isn't THAT long.


Congrats to the people who have one though. :) If it was $500 with 3G, I'd probably snap one up asap. For now, I'll wait.
 
Abstract said:
But Optus' roaming agreement is with Telstra, so Optus actually works really well in places that 3, Vodafone, and the others don't work.
Click to expand...

That is wrong. Optus does not roam onto Telstra (unless this was announced in the last week) they co-share 900umts network with Voda. Three roam onto selected Telstra towers.

Telstra vs. Optus vs. Three = huge difference. I've been in buildings where there is no 3G with Optus or Three but Telstra has NextG. In the middle of my Uni if I stand behind a building my Three 3G cut out and roams onto Telstra Edge, where as my Telstra works with full signal strength. At my friends house he can barely download an app inside on his iPhone with Optus.

There was a reason Telstra was in the Guiness book of world records for being the fastest national network and not Floptus (record is now taken by a net work in Brazil or France or something, don't remember).

I've had no personal experience with Voda, and don't know anyone on Voda so I can't compare what their network is like... But they seem to be taking over Australia buying Hutchinson and all :)

Telstra's mobile phone pricing isn't too bad now, they've gotten a lot more competitive in the last month, enough to pay that extra little bit for better coverage, building penetration and speeds. Opps o/t

Ok I may be bias, I've been in the Telco industry for almost 8 years.
 
Im sorry, have you seen Telstra's plans? you can pay less than vodafone and get more in every way (just get a $10 data bolt on giving you 1.25gb)

and lets remember, quality is what you get with telstra
 
Abstract said:
I couldn't come up with 2 reasons to buy an iPad.
Click to expand...

No offense intended whatsoever but, you are suffering tunnel vision, or perhaps simply looking in the wrong direction.

The delivery system is very well done; nice enclosure, great screen, great battery, proven simple to use OS. Great all around quality of materials and build. No need to look for reasons there.

Reasons for use come from software so look at the app store for them.
 
iCantwait said:
Im sorry, have you seen Telstra's plans? you can pay less than vodafone and get more in every way (just get a $10 data bolt on giving you 1.25gb)

and lets remember, quality is what you get with telstra
Click to expand...

what is this $10 data bolt on u speak of? got a link?
 
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