- Saturday, 28 November 2009
- INQ Mobile
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The INQUIRER? That's my home page... - Intel field sales engineer
Financial advisers fear the iPhone bill
FINANCIAL ADVISORS and other royal toe suckers, are terrified about what will happen down under when cash-strapped clients get their Iphone phone bills.
Garry Rothman, a financial counsellor at Broadmeadows UnitingCare said that he has heard of counsellors reporting cases where clients have been stung with outrageous phone bills for over the top internet usage.
Many Iphone users bought the Jesus phone because they thought it was cool and looked nice and did not look at the mobile phone contract when they bought it.
However most Iphone mobile phone contracts which were more excessive than a Women's Institute meeting organised by the Emperor Caligula.
The Australian Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman has also received complaints of high bills from web-browsing phones - some amounting to several thousand dollars. Punters had failed to read the small print about download limits and excess fees.
The Iphone contracts in Oz mostly ship with a tiny download limit and then an arm and a leg if you go over that.
Christopher Zinn, of consumer advocate Choice, told the Sydney Morning Herald that the costs involved with using an Iphone needed to be more transparent and easier to understand.
The situation is a little different from the US and UK where there is unlimited data access. µ
L'Inq
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Yes, it's 07:36 - the INQ better get on its way for the daily iPhone bash session.
This has NOTHING to do with the iPhone, this is solely the network having small data allowances, those same data charges carry across the same tarif with other phones.
Stop the nonsence bashing just for the sake of it, this isn't worthy news, the INQ is losing its appeal as a high quality tech news site.
The format of The Inquirer is a news aggregater with opinion. If you don't like their opinion(s) just bypass them and read the actual article link they always include in the article. I read their opinion then always go to the link to get it right from the horses mouth, as it were.
Since you cannot legally buy an iPhone without a contract I think the bashing is justified!
@Johnno

I believe this is pretty validly an iPhone problem since it's only sold locked to the single service provider.
Let me tell u since the Iphone 3g introduction in Oz, its managed to pull many ppl into the 3g internet world. Many ppl have been stung by outragoeus bills. One person in particular and i kid you not, racked up a $45,000 bill.

The source of this problem is the evil EVIL telco TELSTRA! who charge incredibly steep prices for 3g data access, the competition are much better price wise but dont offer the coverage and performance of Telstra. 

At the moment the best you can get is $120AUD/month for 3GB (then 30cents a MB afterwards) and they count your uploads too! all other plans below that gets more expensive per MB! its an absolute nightmare for us australians.

Telstra are also the ones holding australia at ransom with broadband full stop.
If you dont like it, no one is forcing you to read the article... just an FYI for you in case you didnt know ;)
That's not bad, how could you possibly run up $45,000 in a month if you can get 3GB for $120?

Just how much stuff can you watch on an iphone in a month?

A fool and their money are soon parted - an old proverb and Apple's marketing mission statement.

No wonder Apple are worth so much if their customers are able to spend $45,000 a month on phone bills. Did he win customer of the month? heh heh.

And Johnno, if you don't like it then complain to Apple for having a monopoly deal. If Apple were not insisting on this monopoly deal then things would be fairer. If people are happy supporting expensive monopolies then they get what they pay for.
in the fine print, below...
down under...
your printed bill declares you a member of the church...
"and the steeple
The laundry on the hill
Billboards and the buildings
Memories of it still
Keep calling and calling
But forget it all
I know I will

Tempted by the fruit of another
A fortune all from you
But its not my conscience
That hates to be untrue
I asked of my reflection
Tell me what is there to do"