Interesting points, however you didnt mention that for all us Brits we have the massive choice of ONE handset to use on the x-series!!! So on that front you have us stuffed (looks jeleously at the Dopod B810 and LGU830)
Also, the prices dont seem that much higher than the UK, 30 dollars for the gold service is about £12, and it cost £10 for the 1GB capped service over here as well, although there does seem to be more restrictions on the Aus x-series if you go over 1GB (as far as I understand, its a "fair usuage" over here so you would just get warned and suspended if you went over 1GB)
Also, i dont think its very clear in your comments whether you can use x-series for the web, here in the UK all the ame stuff applies about using the applications etc, howvr you DONT have to use them! If you go onto the web you can surf on your phone as normal, but just with a 1GB cap, thats prob what makes the x-series so good over here :) IS that not the case in Aus?
alan
· 2 years ago
No doubt, a choice of one handset is no choice at all, but lameness doesn't excuse lameness. And at least the E63 actually supports the applications offered with the plan - not one of the handsets offered in AU supports everything in the feature list.
Unfortunately the pricing difference is bigger than you imagined: a silver plan in the UK is £5 a month if you bring your own voice plan (none of the AU plans include voice minutes or TXT) and you get unlimited Skype, Yahoo! Go (which is better than the Yahoo!7 offering in AU) websurfing, mobile email and Mobilcast (not offered in AU).
The Australian silver plan is A$20 (£7.50) - seems like not a lot more, but it comes with those caps, which apply to everything except ebay (lol!) and IM. The UK's fine-print on 'fair use' is more generous than AU's caps, though I suppose I'd prefer the option to continue at 10c/Mb than having my service suspended until the end of the month.
Crucially, in Australia the caps apply to websurfing too - all your usage outside 3's own content, email, IM and eBay counts towards your cap.
There's no information on either UK or AU sites about whether they permit you to download and install signed/unsigned Symbian or Java apps such as Bluepulse or Widsets.
Tom
· 2 years ago
Yes, I see what you mean! After a quick search on the 3 Aus website it seems the UK does have the better tariffs and less caps.... But id still want your larger choice of phones!!! :-)
Heres a sneaky solution, if you have a friend who lives in the UK, then I suppose you could order a Phone with x-series from them and have it shipped to Aussie! That would mean you would avoid their stupid caps etc and as 3 have scrapped their romaing charges in their networked countries and you can use your free mins and texts in Australia: -
:-)) Nice one Tom! Talk about outside-the-square thinking! There's more than one Aussie business that's made a dollar or two taking advantage of these price disparities for other products and services. It's usually referred to as "parallel importing" and is often not illegal.
Have to watch out for import duties and hardware warranties though, and 3 might require you to have a credit card with a UK billing address. Perhaps my friend in the UK (and by "friend" I mean "Tom") would be OK with me putting it on his UK credit card and paying him via PayPal when the bill is due? ;-)
Tell you what, if all you want is a 3-labelled Dopod, I'm sure I can sort out one of those for you mate!
oliverw
· 2 years ago
Yep, it's not perfect mate, but it's the best we've got. With the addition of the N95 it will be a great bundle/service.o
All Comments
Also, the prices dont seem that much higher than the UK, 30 dollars for the gold service is about £12, and it cost £10 for the 1GB capped service over here as well, although there does seem to be more restrictions on the Aus x-series if you go over 1GB (as far as I understand, its a "fair usuage" over here so you would just get warned and suspended if you went over 1GB)
Also, i dont think its very clear in your comments whether you can use x-series for the web, here in the UK all the ame stuff applies about using the applications etc, howvr you DONT have to use them! If you go onto the web you can surf on your phone as normal, but just with a 1GB cap, thats prob what makes the x-series so good over here :) IS that not the case in Aus?
Unfortunately the pricing difference is bigger than you imagined: a silver plan in the UK is £5 a month if you bring your own voice plan (none of the AU plans include voice minutes or TXT) and you get unlimited Skype, Yahoo! Go (which is better than the Yahoo!7 offering in AU) websurfing, mobile email and Mobilcast (not offered in AU).
The Australian silver plan is A$20 (£7.50) - seems like not a lot more, but it comes with those caps, which apply to everything except ebay (lol!) and IM. The UK's fine-print on 'fair use' is more generous than AU's caps, though I suppose I'd prefer the option to continue at 10c/Mb than having my service suspended until the end of the month.
Crucially, in Australia the caps apply to websurfing too - all your usage outside 3's own content, email, IM and eBay counts towards your cap.
There's no information on either UK or AU sites about whether they permit you to download and install signed/unsigned Symbian or Java apps such as Bluepulse or Widsets.
Heres a sneaky solution, if you have a friend who lives in the UK, then I suppose you could order a Phone with x-series from them and have it shipped to Aussie! That would mean you would avoid their stupid caps etc and as 3 have scrapped their romaing charges in their networked countries and you can use your free mins and texts in Australia: -
http://www.three.co.uk/personal/coverage_/going_abroad_/paymon_country_details.omp?cid=31224&plantype;=PayMonthly
so i dont think itd cost you any more?
Hmmm...... possible business oportunity? :-)
Have to watch out for import duties and hardware warranties though, and 3 might require you to have a credit card with a UK billing address. Perhaps my friend in the UK (and by "friend" I mean "Tom") would be OK with me putting it on his UK credit card and paying him via PayPal when the bill is due? ;-)
Tell you what, if all you want is a 3-labelled Dopod, I'm sure I can sort out one of those for you mate!