Optus introduces AU$35 My Plan
The phone plan for light users includes protections against data- or voice-related "bill shock".
Designed for users with light data and voice needs, the new AU$35 My Plan from Optus has what the company calls a "new way of charging that moves to eradicate bill shock".
At its base level, the plan has 200MB of data, 200 minutes of "standard calls" and unlimited texts and MMSes.
However, in keeping with Optus' new My Plan strategy, when users exceed data or voice allowances, they're automatically "bumped up" to the next level at a fee.
For example, a user who exceeded their 200MB data limit within the month would be automatically bumped into the 200-500MB bracket and charged AU$5 rather than a per MB excess fee.
A variety of My Plans were introduced by Optus in July this year, starting at AU$50 per month. The new AU$35 My Plan is the cheapest, with a total minimum cost over 24 months of just AU$840.
In a press statement, Kevin Russell, CEO of Consumer Australia at Optus, said:
"Our research has revealed that over half of our customers on entry-level plans are three times more likely to experience regular breakage than customers on higher included plans. We estimate that an average light user is hit with close to AU$100 in excess usages charges over 12 months."
The fine print notes that in terms of data, when you hit a total of 20GB, you'll either continue to be charged, or Optus may "restrict your data use for the remainder of your billing month".
On the AU$35 plan, that 20GB of data would have cost you AU$200 by our calculations — AU$5 from 200MB to 500MB, another AU$5 from 500MB to 1GB and then AU$10 per 1GB for the other 19GB. This is a big drop from Optus' excess data charging structure before 1 July this year, which was AU$0.25 per 1MB.