Apple iPad micro-sim and Telstra browsing packs

When I first read the Apple iPad was going to have a micro-SIM and not the usual SIM card, I thought that was a bit of a nuisance. I can see how it will tend to lock people into certain providers. I just read the following article (Apple betrays loyal customers with iPad's micro-SIM slot) which was written in January and what I’m seeing is the opposite seems to be happening. The main argument in the article is that people will be locked into higher priced plans because of the micro-SIM format.

From what I’m seeing the Telstra iPad pre-paid plans are heavily biased favouring Apple. Currently I occasionally use a $10 pre-paid service from Telstra when I need good coverage and use 3 as the service provider when around the city. 3’s service is often totally inadequate even around the city of Melbourne, but the cost is vastly superior to Telstra’s, so I put up with it. For $10 from Telstra pre-paid, you get a measly 100MB.

I wonder why it is that Telstra can offer Apple iPad users 1GB for $20 and only offer everyone else so much less?

Telstra’s pre-paid plans until recently offered 100MB - $10, 200MB - $29 and I’m not quite sure, but there was one more which I think was 750MB for $59. I just checked the Telstra site and whilst they’ve updated their pre-paid data allowances, they still don’t match the value offered to Apple users.

$5 Browsing Pack 20MB BROWSEPLUS5
$10 Browsing Pack 150MB BROWSEPLUS10
$20 Browsing Pack 300MB BROWSEPLUS20
$39 Browsing Pack 750MB BROWSEPLUS39
$49 Browsing Pack 2GB BROWSEPLUS49
$79 Browsing Pack 4GB BROWSEPLUS79

Apple iPad users get the following choices from Telstra.

$20 - 1GB
$30 - 3GB
$60 - 6GB
$80 - 9GB
$100 - 12GB

I can understand that Telstra wishes to price aggressively to get the new iPad business, but it doesn’t quite seem right that they treat other users differently and charge them so much more. There is one good price point Telstra offers which is the $10 browsing pack for 150MB. This means Telstra users can pay less if they need to use less data. Apart from that, Apple iPad users come out winners across the board.

At least with the release of the Apple iPad Telstra has increased the value offered by their Browsing Packs, but it is still a long way from the value offered to iPad users.

I’ve read you can purchase a converter for a micro-SIM and use it as an ordinary SIM. You can also supposedly physically hack a regular SIM and make a micro-SIM, but I personally don’t think this should be necessary. I believe Telcos should be platform agnostic. It shouldn’t matter if we use an iPad, a netbook, an iPhone, an Andorid, or some other device, what they offer should be the same.

For me Telstra puts me off using their services when they do this. I think Telstra has the best network coverage, but for the time being until they treat customers equally and provide better value, I’ll find ways to use other service providers most of the time and only Telstra in the less frequent situation where better coverage is important.

- Kelvin Eldridge

Tip: If you're interested in buying an iPad duty free, visit the Apple online store. Duty free stores usually charge full price. Duty in this case is just the GST. If you take one eleventh off the price, that will be the duty free price.