Jul 31, 2008 4:55 PM | 3 Comments

The mobile data war has kicked into overdrive, but Adam Turner wonders why we're paying twice as much for data on our phone, than on a USB wireless modem?

Telstra and 3 have fired new shots in the mobile data war, but we're a long way from device equality.

3 has unveiled two new mobile broadband plans - pay attention, there's a test at the end.

Australia's best wireless broadband deal
3 now offers $39 per month plan for 6GB of data and $49 per month plan for 7GB of data, both with a free USB modem. The plans see 3 reclaim the title of Australia's best wireless broadband deal - previously held by Vodafone with its $39 per month plan offering 5GB of data. Of course these plans are for a USB modem to connect to your computer, not for use with your mobile phone.

3 has also increased data allowances on its $20, $30 and $40 X-Series data bundles for mobile phones to 1GB, 2GB and 3GB respectively.

What about the iPhone?
When 3 finally plays the iPhone card (probably in August) the $40 3GB X-Series bundle will possibly be the country's best iPhone data plan - assuming it's available for the iPhone.

Hopefully Vodafone, Optus and Virgin will be forced to improve their iPhone data plans. Even the high-and-mighty Telstra might feel the pinch and offer some Next G pricing relief.

Telstra blinks on mobile data pricing
Speak of the devil, Telstra finally blinked on data pricing this week. The new Next G data bundles offer a significant improvement but are still poor value compared to the competition. Changes include;

$10 mobile data packs will now include 150 megabytes of data - up from 20 megabytes - with excess charges dropping from $1 per MB to 50c.

$29 mobile data packs will now include 300 megabytes of data - up from 80 megabytes- with excess charges dropping from $1 per MB to 25c.

Not to be outdone, this week 3 had the cheek to launch an "iPhone 3G SIM and Data Starter Kit" to lure in customers who already have an unlocked iPhone. The maximum monthly data you can get on such plans is 2GB.

Okay, here's the test
3 will give me 6GB per month for $39 if I'm using a computer with a USB modem, or 3GB per month for $40 if I'm using a phone. Can you spot the discrepancy here? Why the hell are we paying twice as much for mobile data just because we're consuming it on a mobile phone?

I know mobile data isn't a God-given right and I don't expect any Australian telco to offer unlimited iPhone data at this point in the game. All I'm asking is that all mobile data be treated equally. Is that asking too much?

Virgin plays its hand
Virgin is offering a whopping 5GB of monthly data with the iPhone 3G on a $100 plan. The deal is finally bringing mobile broadband and handset-based data prices into line - let's hope we see more of it.

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Comments: 3

Dinks-c Aug 1, 2008 6:08 PM	yep kind of makes you scratch your head, just like the $39 for 6Gb and $49 for 7Gb. why such a premium for the extra Gb? if it were the same price i would sign up a larger phone data plan tomorrow. now if someone would point out a Voip app that i can use on my TyTn11 on three, i would be a very happy camper.
prupil Aug 2, 2008 12:11 AM	it makes you wonder, but I believe the wireless broadband plans only come cheap where they are restricted to 3G. The other data plans allow it to work on the 2g (gprs) network and this network has greater coverage but less capacity. I think this may also be why telstra and optus keep their wireless internet for pc a bit more expensive than '3' and virgin.
jethed Aug 2, 2008 12:36 AM	its because mobile data is expensive and companies that are bringing out low cost data plans are losing money for the sake of gaining customers. also these companies dont have the infrastructure to support lots of customers downloading off their network as most of them will be sharing the bandwidth. we are in the midst of a wireless revolution in australia and its popularity will be its down fall as the customer base grows and the infrastructure/bandwidth doesn't keep up meaning more customer dissatisfaction. we saw it when virgin brought out their wireless plans and under estimated the market and we will see it more often as the younger generation put off having landline phones for broadband and opting for wireless instead.

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