Vodafone's expensive low data cap iPhone 3G plan compared to USA

Forums › One NZ (including Farmside) › Vodafone's expensive low data cap iPhone 3G plan compared to USA

richgamer

224 posts

Master Geek
Inactive user

#23750 8-Jul-2008 15:35

vodafone nz top iPhone 3g plan:

$250 a month for 1gb
600 free minutes
600 free texts

at&t top iPhone 3g plan:
http://www.wireless.att.com/cell-phone-service/specials/iphone-info.jsp

$173 a month for unlimited data. thats right, you can use unlimited data, not 1gb like vodafone.
unlimited anytime minutes
additional $27 for unlimited text messaging plan
total(including text plan): $200 a month

conclusion:

at&t's iPhone 3g plan costs nz$50 less than vodafone's.
at&t gives users unlimited data and vodafone only gives you 1gb.
at&t gives you unlimited anytime minutes and vodafone only gives you 600 minutes.
at&t has unlimited text messaging(by adding on a texting plan which i included in the prices) and vodafone only gives you 600 texts.

and for those who say at&t do not give unlimited data, you are wrong. at&t have confirmed there is no fair use limit and it is unlimited and you can read it here:

http://blog.washingtonpost.com/fasterforward/2008/07/att_reveals_iphone_3g_prices.html

there is also a petition for vodafone nz about the iPhone's high cost and low data caps here:

http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/iphone_rip_off_New_Zealand/index.html

there is already 366 signatures.

my suggestion for vodafone

release a new iPhone 3g plan on a contract without any free minutes or free text messages and sell the iPhone 3g 8gb for $500 and the 16gb for $1000 but please have at the very least a 20gb data cap. you could have this plan for $100 a month.

BrentR

1315 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 75

Trusted

#144710 8-Jul-2008 15:37

Say what... a 20GB data cap on a device with 16GB of memory.... You are aware they can't be used as a tethered modem right?????

richgamer

224 posts

Master Geek
Inactive user

#144747 8-Jul-2008 16:18

jeff, memory has nothing to do with a data cap.

i'll explain it easy for you.

when you listen to a streaming radio station over the internet it uses data. this data is not stored on the iPhone. for example, for about one hour of listening you may use 10mb of data. you will still have 16gb of memory on your iPhone because this 10mb of data is not stored on the iPhone.

so with a 20gb cap you can watch youtube videos(there are millions to watch and they are about 10-20mb each), listen to radio stations,and even browsing geekzone uses data but none of these are downloaded to the iPhone.

there is also a plugin for safari(google it) that lets you download winzip files to your iPhone. so you may want to download a 100mb game update zip file using your iPhone then transfer it to your pc later. and there is an app store opening in iTunes which will have lots of apps for sale dude. for example, video chat applications to video chat to people and this will use alot of data and there is talk of bit torrent coming to the iPhone too and you know torrents are huge.

so you will be seeing alot of apps that let you do pc things on your iPhone, but video will be the main use with sites like youtube. one youtube video may be 20mb so if you watch 50 youtube videos a month(i watch way more) that will be 1gb which means vodafones data cap is gone on just videos.

Jeffthechef: Say what... a 20GB data cap on a device with 16GB of memory.... You are aware they can't be used as a tethered modem right?????

cranz

675 posts

Ultimate Geek

Trusted

#144753 8-Jul-2008 16:22

Do we really need another thread about this... there are plenty you could discuss this in already

manhinli

2483 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 4

Trusted

#144758 8-Jul-2008 16:27

richgamer: jeff, memory has nothing to do with a data cap.

i'll explain it easy for you.

when you listen to a streaming radio station over the internet it uses data. this data is not stored on the iPhone. for example, for about one hour of listening you may use 10mb of data. you will still have 16gb of memory on your iPhone because this 10mb of data is not stored on the iPhone.

so with a 20gb cap you can watch youtube videos(there are millions to watch and they are about 10-20mb each), listen to radio stations,and even browsing geekzone uses data but none of these are downloaded to the iPhone.

there is also a plugin for safari(google it) that lets you download winzip files to your iPhone. so you may want to download a 100mb game update zip file using your iPhone then transfer it to your pc later. and there is an app store opening in iTunes which will have lots of apps for sale dude. for example, video chat applications to video chat to people and this will use alot of data and there is talk of bit torrent coming to the iPhone too and you know torrents are huge.

so you will be seeing alot of apps that let you do pc things on your iPhone, but video will be the main use with sites like youtube. one youtube video may be 20mb so if you watch 50 youtube videos a month(i watch way more) that will be 1gb which means vodafones data cap is gone on just videos.

Jeffthechef: Say what... a 20GB data cap on a device with 16GB of memory.... You are aware they can't be used as a tethered modem right?????

All data is technically downloaded, but they are flushed out from the cache. Safari does this (a little too often though), but videos are kept on the iPhone during the whole duration of the video for playback (it will automatically get flushed out of cache once you hit the Done button or if it ends and closes). So some space on the iPhone will be eaten away.

But... 20GB on the iPhone? Definitely not now and I'm pretty sure you can't use that much on the device alone:

Videos: There are limits when opening it.
Safari: Web browsing without any fancy elements isn't going to chew much, apart from photos.
App Store: There will be limits to the size downloadable over 3G.
iTunes Music Store: No 3G downloads.
YouTube: One average 120sec YouTube video is around 12-15MB, so around 1370 videos.

Plain downloading (using the download plugin): 100MB over 3G is going to take a while... and if you're at home, why do it over 3G in the first place?

Just my estimates... not sure how much you use with these programs.

Find me on Twitter!

I posted 1, 2 x 10^3 times!

MikeGayner

183 posts

Master Geek
Inactive user

#144763 8-Jul-2008 16:39

cranz: Do we really need another thread about this... there are plenty you could discuss this in already

Quoted for truth.

richgamer

224 posts

Master Geek
Inactive user

#144765 8-Jul-2008 16:39

manhinli i think you got your math wrong.

if you have one video at 20mb and you watch 50 videos it is like this:

20mb multiplied by 50 equals 1000mb which is 1gb.

not 1000+ videos that you said you had to watch to get 1gb.

Apple TV

Stream your favourite shows now on Apple TV (affiliate link).

manhinli

2483 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 4

Trusted

#144768 8-Jul-2008 16:41

I didn't say 1GB at all during my post.

Find me on Twitter!

I posted 1, 2 x 10^3 times!

east

33 posts

Geek

#144771 8-Jul-2008 16:41

Demanding a 20GB cap for the iPhone is ridiculous and only serves to dilute the argument that the plans are ridiculously expensive for the data they offer.

minjae0810

21 posts

Geek

#144774 8-Jul-2008 16:50

no. 20GB per month is WAAY OVER THE TOP.

We don't even use that much even on broadband and a proper PC if we don't use P2P..

and it will be called rip off again since people won't be able to use that much and they will be charged for it..

1GB, 2GB and 4GB is more like it..

maybe $50/ month

for 1GB and 600txts and some minutes..

or $40 per month for 500mb and 600txts and no minutes..

richgamer

224 posts

Master Geek
Inactive user

#144779 8-Jul-2008 17:01

u said this:

YouTube: One average 120sec YouTube video is around 12-15MB, so around 1370 videos.

so your saying with 1gb data cap you can watch 1370 videos but this aint true. if you watched 1370 videos at 12mb each it would equal 16.44gb.

if your not saying this, what do you mean by what you said.

manhinli: I didn't say 1GB at all during my post.

manhinli

2483 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 4

Trusted

#144782 8-Jul-2008 17:04

richgamer: u said this:

YouTube: One average 120sec YouTube video is around 12-15MB, so around 1370 videos.

so your saying with 1gb data cap you can watch 1370 videos but this aint true. if you watched 1370 videos at 12mb each it would equal 16.44gb.

if your not saying this, what do you mean by what you said.

manhinli: I didn't say 1GB at all during my post.

I put down a list. If you can read the start of the list:

But... 20GB on the iPhone? Definitely not now and I'm pretty sure you can't use that much on the device alone:

Videos: There are limits when opening it.
Safari: Web browsing without any fancy elements isn't going to chew much, apart from photos.
App Store: There will be limits to the size downloadable over 3G.
iTunes Music Store: No 3G downloads.
YouTube: One average 120sec YouTube video is around 12-15MB, so around 1370 videos.

Plain downloading (using the download plugin): 100MB over 3G is going to take a while... and if you're at home, why do it over 3G in the first place?

I was saying how many videos would consume 20GB of usage. No references in any of my posts to 1GB.

Find me on Twitter!

I posted 1, 2 x 10^3 times!