I am sure someone out there must have an idea of why Australian companies-being from a developed country that Australia is, have not managed to offer any unlimited mobile data plans. All kinds of comments are welcome-positive and negative, sarcasm and philosophy.
Cheers
big country ,few people, lots of infrastructure , hard to break into market , not competitive , cos they can.
Because Telcos know people will pay for capped data anyways?
they know there networks cant handle everyone downloading tonnes of shit.
Yep, reminds me of that dude that downloaded almost 1TB off of Telstra in a day, back when Telstra had woes. I would struggle to even think about what to download.
They have the infrastructure, but they know it would cause huge performance degradation plus it can most likely canniblize their fixed line offerings like NBN ADSL (for now), cable etc
Ive got 5 bookmarks on chrome here that is 15TB of tv shows and movies (not torrents)
1TB is VERY easy to download if you haven't had access to fast internet ever.
Though with games being 60GB+ now days even downloading games/game updates would alone be 1TB i have a full 2TB HDD just for my PC games.
That guy lived right next to a 4G tower or something that allowed him maximum download speed.
He was getting over 100mbps as even my NBN 100/40 isn't capable of downloading 1TB in 24 hours.
i have 20GB of mobile data on my phone, its more than enough
You still have a home internet connection, right?
Unlimited would be awesome if you can get rid of your wired internet…
The CEO of Boost seems to think that unlimited mobile data will come soon.
Boost Mobile founder and director Peter Adderton recently put a short time frame on the end of data usage caps down under.
“In my opinion we’ll see everyone move to unlimited data in less than 12 months, I honestly believe that,” he said.
“It’s going to take one (provider to offer unlimited data) and the rest will follow at 100 miles per hour.”
However, unlimited mobile data plans tend to be full of fine print, so you shouldn't be jumping up and down with excitement just yet — as WhistleOut says:
the US' unlimited data plans are typically rife with fine print. Some charge extra for high definition media streaming, there are restrictions on how much data you can use when tethering, and heavy users get their data deprioritised during congestion.
Cheaper unlimited plans from the likes of the US arm of Boost Mobile and Sprint have stricter restrictions in regards to network speeds. Video is limited to 480p, music to 500kbps (which only stops you streaming loseless audio on the go), and gaming to 2Mbps.
Even if Australia does see unlimited plans spring up in the next 12 months, it doesn't mean that plans with set inclusions will necessarily go away. For example, T-Mobile's unlimited plan goes roughly $90 per month before factoring in any handset fees. As such, most American telcos still offer more affordable prepaid plans with a fixed cap.
It’s going to take one (provider to offer unlimited data) and the rest will follow at 100 miles per hour.
Presumably that means everyone makes less money so why would they?
Presumably that means everyone makes less money so why would they?
Same reason most providers have unlimited calls/sms … some even have unlimited international. Heck optus even has plans with unlimited roaming…
ACCC is much more strict as to the definition of 'Unlimited' than what is allowed in the USA
ISPs like Optus have in the past ran into trouble over how they marketed Unlimited plans in the past. You can't market a plan that does shaping as unlimited here
Because if they can get away with bending people over for data charges they will continue to do so.
It will come soon enough but the fact is that often with unlimited data (in the US for example) it's unlimited to 20GB and then the speed is throttled. Otherwise everyone would download all day everyday and make it unusable for anyone to do anything.
Yes people are using their phone more and more but they still want a super fast connection at home.
unlimited would be awesome. people will pay big dollars for it but one of the major problem would be congestion. others might suffer slow speeds. their fb page would be busy with complaints lol
capped speed might work but people would want a no holds barred connection.
I don't need unlimited data, just a reasonable amount to get me through the month - but what I really want is the ability to get my data throttled when it get close to the amount so I don't get hit with extra charges. Several years ago Telstra announced there were going to do this to avoid "bill shock", but we still don't have it in place.
I still dont get how telcos allow plans with data caps to go over the cap and not have the option for customers to elect to cut data once the cap is reached with the lame excuse it cant be done yet they can cut data from prepaid once you reach the limit
You have any idea how much money they make from people either unaware or with no other option and have to go over or just plain computer illiterate people?
My (computer illiterate) brother has a $1000 Telstra mobile phone bill cause he didn't have internet and used his phone to stream youtube while driving etc..
Pretty much what you are saying, wether it be phone or data plans it would put an end to bill shock for something that could be done so easily
It's for this reason mainly that I would never ever sign up to a plan (again) and stick with prepaid. Somehow, on prepaid you can send a text message to enquire on your data allowance and they are incredibly accurate. Yet on a plan they always underestimate, to trick you into going over. And not to mention that thanks to OzBargain I constantly have a stash of half-price or better replacement sim cards so I never pay more than $15 for 3GB data anyway. If there was speed shaping instead of excess data usage fees that might tempt me to go on a plan.
because they make more money this way
Can't charge $20/gb over usage that way
unmetered.
We had - Optus "$2 Day 3G" prepaid, you can easily found it on Gumtree and eBay.
it'll happen.
the market can still get away with offering limited data.