What’s the best deal on the Iphone 6?
Start your brand new week by reading this IELTS-like article to learn more about the available offers on the Iphone 6 in “Land of The Kangaroos”.
If you’re heading out to grab a new iPhone 6 over the weekend, you need to know who is offering what before joining the queues or committing to a long-term contract.
There are more than 150 plans to choose from, once you take into account the different screen sizes and storage options available this year. To keep this simple, let’s take a look at the model likely to be most popular: the iPhone 6 64GB.
On price alone, Virgin Mobile has a winning offer at $71 which comes with a huge 3GB of data each month. Heavy phone users might struggle with the $500 included call value though, or about 423-minutes a month. International calls are deducted from this credit too, which is nice if you have family abroad, but likely to eat up the quota quickly.
Vodafone’s $70 Red Plan is the cheapest option with unlimited calls, and will cost $79 per month after you factor in handset repayments. Red Plans come with a number of attractive features, like overseas roaming for $5 a day and automatic data top-ups if you reach your cap.
If you’re a heavy data user, the best deals are found at the $100 per month mark. Optus, Virgin and Vodafone are all bundling an incredible 8GB of data on plans at this level, more than double the data included in similarly priced plans last year. Optus customers will do best out this arrangement as they can share this data with extra SIM cards in tablets and laptops for a once-off fee of $5 per device.
Telstra customers won’t enjoy nearly as much data, but those on a $70 plan or higher will be able to upgrade to the next iPhone as soon as it is announced. Telstra’s New Phone Feeling plan bonus lets customers upgrade their phone after 12-months, so long as they’re happy to hand in their old handset and sign another 24-month contract.
Beyond the basic price and inclusions, the telcos have also announced a number of bonus offers. All Optus, Vodafone and Virgin plans in our comparison table include varying amounts of bonus data. Telstra will give its customers a choice of 1GB bonus data to use each month or $1000 in bonus calling credit.
If you’re considering a telco switch, Optus and Telstra will credit your account $200 to help cover early termination fees by your old provider.
There are a few hoops to jump through to qualify, but this should be enough to reimburse you for any extra costs you incur by jumping ship in the final months of a current contract.
Those looking to dodge a long-term telco contract can buy the phone outright through Apple itself and choose a BYO phone plan, but after crunching the numbers, we’ve found you’re unlikely to save much money buying your phone this way. When you take the $999 sticker price for an iPhone 6 64GB and add in 24-months worth of service, even with cheap mobile service resellers like Aldi Mobile or Amaysim, you’ll end up with a similar minimum cost, or more, and with none of the telco bonuses included.
For example, the minimum total cost of the iPhone 6 on Virgin’s $50 Plan is $1704. The same phone with two-years of service on Aldi Mobile works out to be $1839, if you choose the $35 monthly recharge option.
You will maintain the flexibility to switch service providers at will, and for many, freedom from phone contracts is worth more than a cost saving over the long run. Just don’t expect to come out ahead when you pay upfront for the iPhone this year.
