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Notes: 1 – p/30 secs. Free time gives you free 20 min calls from 8pm till midnight every night to any Optus or Live Connected GSM Mobile. Standard call charges apply after first 20 minutes

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	NEWSLETTER
	TELSTRA PLAYS CATCH-UP WITH PREPAID BROADBAND Telstra this week released their new prepaid mobile broadband offers and surprise surprise they are actually competitively priced (for once). If you are currently using Telstra and are considering moving, or if Telstra mobile broadband is your only option (because of where you live), then check out these rates. You might just find them worth your while. Recharge Data Expiry Starter pack – $99 1GB 30 days $20 225 MB 30 days $30 400 MB 30 days $40 1 GB 30 days $50 2 GB 30 days $60 3 GB 30 days $80 4 GB 30 days $100 6 GB 30 days $130 3 GB 90 days $140 4 GB 180 days SIM ONLY MOBILE PLANS A Sim Only plan is a mobile plan with all the major features of a standard contract mobile phone plan, however it doesn’t come with a long term contract, instead it runs month on month plan and can be canceled at any time. At Prepaid Plans, we have searched the market trying to find the best sim only deals on offer so that we can compare them and you can save. You can check them all out here. Below is a quick preview of three plans on offer: Virgin Topless $99 – make unlimited mobile and locals calls to any network, unlimited text and MMS, get 1GB of data all with no contract for just $99 per month. SlimTel VIP offers 11c call rate to Vodafone numbers and landlines plus 17c to other mobiles, calculated per sec (only pay for what you use). No flagfall and 18c text to anyone. No minimum monthly charges and no contract! TPG Pay As You Go only recently launched, 9.9c calls (charged per sec), 10c flagfall and 9.9c text. No contract plan, with no minimum payment. Note a $1 monthly charge applies as does a $20 startup fee for the Sim Card and a $20 deposit. PREPAID BROADBAND – BEST 12 MONTH OFFERS If worrying about recharging your prepaid broadband isn’t your thing and you prefer your data to last atleast 12 months, then check out what’s on offer at the moment. ISP USB Modem Data Voucher (365 days) Total Cost Virgin Mobile $89 (2GB) 10GB ($149) $238 (12GB) 3 Mobile Included 12GB ($149) $149 (12GB) Vodafone $79 (1GB) 12GB ($150) $229 (13GB) Dodo $129 (5GB) 15GB ($139) $268 (20GB) Crazy Johns $79 (100MB) 12GB ($149) $228 (12.1GB) Pricing/offers current as at 27/2/2010. Vodafone offer must be activated prior to 31/3/2010. Virgin offer valid till 28/2/10 unless extended. PREPAID PHONE CARDS Got family overseas who you would love to call more regularly, but your Telstra or Optus international call rates are too high? Then consider a prepaid phone card. Phone Cards are a very cheap alternative for making lots of calls overseas via your fixed phone line. Using a Phone Card is as simple as dialing a local number to register the call, entering your 10 digit PIN and then dialing the destination phone number. We compare some great deals for calling China (1.5c p/min), Indonesia (9.4c p/min), Japan (3.4c p/min), New Zealand (3c p/min), UK (1.5c p/min), USA (1.5c p/min), plus many other popular countries. Check them all out here… 3 MOBILE BROADBAND HALF PRICE OFFER 3 Mobile is by far one of the leaders in the provision of mobile broadband services in Australia. If you are considering a mobile broadband plan, 3 Mobile has a great offer running at the moment. You get 6 months at half price when you sign up to a 24 month contract. Plans include $29 (3GB), $39 (6GB) and $49 (7GB) and come with a free USB modem. The $29 plan will cost you just $696 over 24 months when you include the discount. Find out more… Till next time.	Just Prepaid Just 15 Not only is the Just 15 plan cheap with a 15c call rate per 30 secs (billed per sec), no connection fee, 15c SMS and 180 day expiry, they are now throwing in a 25% bonus on your first recharge. Get your Just 15 Sim Card for just $5.
	Arthur K Prepaidplans.com.au Follow us on Twitter Find us on Facebook

Virgin International
Prepaid

Vodafone Talk & Txt 39c 35c 28c 60 50c $20 Flex Cr + 50mins V2V + 20 TXT + 10mins Talk,
$30 Flex Cr + 150mins V2V + 100 TXT + 50mins Talk,
$50 Flex Cr + 300mins V2V + 200 TXT + 100mins Talk,
$70 Flex Cr + 400mins V2V + 300 TXT + 150mins Talk,
$100 Flex Cr + 650mins V2V + 500 TXT + 200mins Talk,
$150 Flex Cr + 850mins V2V + 800 TXT + 400mins Talk Buy Vodafone “Virgin offers good value rates for calls and txt. Plus you get unlimited calls between Virgin phones whilst in Australia. Virgin stores are also everywhere so its easy to find them and pick a sim card or recharge. Virgin runs off the Optus network so coverage is great everywhere. Virgin also offers data packs for 3G phones.“
Virgin 2 Virgin 29 33c 25c 25c 60 60c Unlimited calls and TXT to Virgin 24/7 Buy Virgin Now “Telstra’s coverage is by far the best in Australia. They also offer data packs although they are not the cheapest. Stores can be found everywhere. If you plan to get very rural whilst in Australia, then is probably your best option.” Telstra Talk Time 39c 30c 25c (Int 50c) 60 50c Start up kit $25Cr Rech – $20 = 30 free mins, $30 = 60 free mins, $40 = 150 free mins, $60+ = 250 free mins Buy Telstra Now

1 – Call rates per minute
2 – Call rates for mobile phones and fixed phone lines. Does not include flagfall.

Now you can surf the web wirelessly from home, the office or while you’re on the move. No more messy cables, just super fast broadband on the go.

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Notes: 1 – p/30 secs

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Notes: 1 – p/30 secs

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Notes: 1 – p/30 secs
Plans – Mobile1 – 4 are billed per sec. Plan X & Y are billed per 30sec.

Since doing the research I have thought about what the marketing strategy behind the free sim card is. It is probably similar to free software. Flood the market with your free software and build a client base of free users. At some stage they will need to use the paid version of your product and they will upgrade. It is very similar with Free Sim Cards. Give them out and at some stage a percentage, 5% maybe will need to use it and will top it up with some credit. They might be out, o/seas or just as backup. Having the free sim out there places you in a slightly better position to receive a top up.

So why doesn’t this happen in Australia.Why hasn’t the free sim card become a key part of most mobile and prepaid mobile phone offers. Given the growing traffic to this site and the results from the polls that we undertake, it is quite obvious that people swap prepaid mobile providers. Why doesn’t Virgin or Vodafone offer a free sim card to anyone who wants one . It would probably cost them $1.50 per unit to mailout.

I don’t have an answer to this question. Maybe they think if the customer is likely to change provider then they will simply order or buy the sim card at that time. It would be interesting to see what kind of demand the Optus Free Sim offer had.  Maybe they are all waiting for more dual sim mobile phones to become available.

On a personal level, I think I would be more likely to try a another telco if I had their sim card in a draw or in my wallet. This is the strategy that mobile broadband providers are undertaking in the UK. Prices of 3G mobile dongles has fallen so much that the cost of entry for a consumer to have a backup 3G mobile broadband account is now A$50 – $80. This is great value for everyone and drives the demand for mobile broadband. I understand that Telcos such as Exetel are looking to implement something similar in Australia.

So back to Free Sim. Maybe with the demand for sim only plans slowly growing, this will increase the potential for a another free sim offer from a major telco. Time will tell. I will keep on the lookout.