The latest salvo in the prepaid wireless broadband war has erupted with 3 Mobile’s new prepaid wireless broadband offer, bringing an option that has a year before expiry and a data rollover option that ensures unused data doesn’t go to waste – unlike competitors.
As long predicted and obvious in a competitive environment, 3.5G mobile broadband services have enjoyed great competition over the past year.
From game changing deals offering many gigabytes per month for prices less than $50, to shaped broadband offerings once a limit has been reached, to 10GB and 12GB packages on the market, right through to networks that have become overburdened because of too many customers going wireless, 2008 has seen mobile broadband truly blossom.
Mobile data has finally become as ubiquitous and affordable as mobile voice, and we’re no longer stuck in the GPRS era but have 3.6Mbps, 7.2Mbps and even the imminent arrival of 21Mbps-class wireless networks to choose from, while EDGE and GPRS remain ever handy fallbacks depending on the networks you use and the locations you’re in.
Although 3 Mobile hasn’t officially offered prepaid wireless broadband until now, those in the know knew that Dick Smith had been offering the older “soap on a rope” modem at, from memory, $169 with a “month by month” payment option on no contract, but this was never promoted at 3 Mobile’s website or in stores.
I’m not sure how long that Dick Smith offer lasted, but it’s irrelevant now, as 3 Mobile has officially joined the pre-paid race with some tempting options on a network that has been judged by APCMag to be second only to Telstra, and without problems Optus in particular has been experiencing by overburdening its network – something that has even forced it to curtail some of its subsidiary Virgin Mobile’s mobile broadband sales.
Of course the roaming bugbear still exists on the 3G network, meaning any surfing in 2G roaming areas is charged at a separate, higher rate, but this is well known by consumers and quickly learned by new 3 Mobile customers who didn’t know or weren’t paying attention when they signed up.
But it’s also a problem that will be alleviated to great degree when 3 Mobile completes its roaming deal with Telstra, offering 3.5G mobile broadband connectivity to 96% of the population by mid 2009, although whether this is on 850MHz wireless technology that 2100MHz 3.5G phones and wireless broadband modems can’t access I’m unsure about.
Charges will still apply, apparently, but they’ll be much, much lower than today, and if the 850MHz network applies, 2100Mhz and 850MHz phones and modems will need to become the norm, as is the case with the iPhone 3G.
If your phone or modem isn’t 850MHz compatible, you’ll get that functionality when you buy your next phone or modem, or make do with much cheaper 2G GPES and presumably EDGE roaming too, in the meantime.
So, what will 3 Mobile charge for its mobile modems and pre-paid plans, which sell alongside its range of existing contract plans?
3′s “USB Internet Key” sells for AUD $129, and comes with four prepaid data plans.
The first is $15 for 500MB of data, the second is $29 for 2GB, the third costs $49 for 4GB and all three come with a 30 day expiry – and a rollover option I’ll explain in a moment.
The fourth package costs $149, gives you 12GB, and gives you 365 days to use it in, a boon for Internet users that don’t want the hassle of a contract or the need to top up just because existing download credit has expired, and it comes at a price that’s definitely reasonable.
Each plan also comes with 10 SMS included, 50 SMS than can be purchased in $5 blocks, and an amount of roaming data is also included depending on the plan, with a 4MB block that can be purchased in $7.50 increments.
Recharges at any of the lower rates only come with a 30 day expiry, but you can buy another 12GB at any time and get another 365 days to use it. It’s an offer competitors should definitely copy and is another “gamechanger”.
The other changer of games is the rollover option. Although hidden in the fine print, this should be being broadcast front and centre, as it offers, according to 3: “Included data rolls over each month with recharge prior to original data expiry. Max of 15GB may be accumulated.”
That’s a great incentive to top up again before the month is out whether you’ve used your allocation or not, should prove popular, and prevents data and money wastage.
Naturally 3 Mobile are promoting the 12-month expiry with 12GB allocation to download in that time coupled with a $129 Internet Key as a ideal “Christmas gift option”, and why not?
There’s bound to be quite a few more wireless Internet connections under the Christmas tree this year than in all the years gone by put together!
Wielding his game changing lightsaber over the Australian wireless broadband market is 3 Mobile’s Noel Hamill (who sadly is of no known relation to the lightsaber wielding Mark Hamill of Skywalker fame).
Instead he is the cyber swashbuckling Director of Sales, Marketing and Product at 3, and with no hint whatsoever of any Darth Vader like breathing, Hamill is said to have exclaimed that: “3′s customers want user-friendly, affordable internet on-the-go and by extending our mobile broadband offering to include Prepaid we’ve now got a complete range of internet solutions for our customers.
“3′s Mobile Broadband Prepaid gives customers the freedom and flexibility to enjoy the internet on their own terms,” he added, although sadly without yet being able to add that coverage extended not only to 3 Mobile Broadband’s Zones in this galaxy but also those far, far away.
What platforms does it work with, what is 3 Mobile’s clever competition to “prepay your life” and how might competitors respond in what has already been a tumultuous year of mobile competitiveness?
Coming in three colour stripe choices of green, orange of blue, but primarily in white, the $129 Internet Key comes with 100MB of included data, so if you want to be a cheapskate and not include any data but still give wireless broadband as a gift, at least it’s got something to start with.
It also works with Mac and Windows PCs, and if Ubuntu 8.10′s new wireless and 3G networking capability is as good as has been advertised and people have reported, you’re sure to be able to get it working there too, if not other Linux distros.
Consumers can recharge the modem via credit card online directly via the “My3″ option on the software’s connection manager, an auto recharge can be set up on online, by setting the recharge amount on a preferred day of the month, or a voucher can be purchased from “a 3 Store, 3 Dealer or at over 15,000 participating outlets nationally.”
3 is also launching a “Prepay Your Life Competition”.
3 says: “To celebrate the launch of Mobile Broadband Prepaid, 3 is offering the ultimate opportunity to ‘prepay your life’.
“Purchase a Prepaid Internet Key Modem and Starter kit to be in with a chance of scoring 12 months FREE rent (up to $500 per week), a Fitness First platinum gym membership, Fairfax newspaper subscription, and a 12 month 3 mobile Broadband recharge voucher. For full details visit www.three.com.au or visit a 3 Store.”
The Internet Key can be unlocked for use with other networks but a $99 unlock fee applies, some VPN connections are apparently not supported so if this is important to you, you should try one in store with your laptop first.
Who will make the next move? The Empire has already struck back a couple of times this year, while the Optus and Vodafone rebels have made several moves of their own.
3 Mobile has now officially joined the race, so the race is on to respond with yet another attractive offer to capture the Christmas dollar: who will be the first to offer 20GB at affordable sub $100 rates whether on contract or prepaid – and when in 2009 might it happen?
