Etisalat iPhone Start Selling Tomorrow, Pricing Details Revealed

[xtrmr2003]

Also, people are acting like the pricing is so bad. has anyone actually sat down and thought about how much they spend on their phones in a year?

My current phone cost me 2000 AED, and I spend (on average) 800 AED a month for my voice/mms/sms. Thats 9,600 + 2000. 11,600 dirhams. So 6 or 8 isnt looking so bad.

Now Im wondering what happens when you go over your minutes? is it going to be like in the US where every overage minutes costs 3 legs and a catfish?

Somebody even said before that there will be different pricing for prepaid n postpaid users!!

And my current phone cost me around 2400 but my spending is around 100 AED a month without any data plans.

[chefmerrick]

Guys,
well then again. we can go into cost per year but honestly each one knows whats their use to one its benificial and to others its expensive.
Some just have a craze to own an Iphone which is ok too.

[ultrablue662]

I'd like one, but to replace my work's blackberry. but at these prices I cant justify to work other than "Oh I would rather the iPhone."

I'm sure their response would be along the lines of "And we'd rather an employee that didnt whine so much about the blackberry"

I'd still love to know what the charges would be for overages. Like I said, 800 a month, give or take, but I must admit the bulk of my money goes to sms. I send well over 500 a month.

Luckily, Magnus will know everything there is to know tomorrow!

[fangpyre]

Ultra,
I think your bill is above average.
But I need to ask, how much of that bill is International calls and how much is International SMS?
Do you use MMS?

I think this is a BIG mistake.

[Magnus]

trust me buddy i got it from the horses mouth." The iphones will be locked like the BlackBerry" was his words

So who was the horse?

[ultrablue662]

Ultra,
I think your bill is above average.
But I need to ask, how much of that bill is International calls and how much is International SMS?
Do you use MMS?

I think this is a BIG mistake.

I do have a tendency to call suppliers in the US from my cell phone. but on those months I go above the 800 a month I stated. The SMSs are all local. But as I stated, I send alot more than 500 a month. Some days as little as 10, some as much as 200. yeah, 200 text messages a day.

Also, I do use MMS. Maybe like 10 times a month. That isnt a huge deal.

My point was that for me, these plans arent enough. so what then? Do I get charged 1 AED per minute! or does the device simply stop working.

[ultrablue662]

So who was the horse?

YouTube - Mr. Ed - Intro (Opening Theme)

I had to!

[Mushroom]

Hmm... Interesting. I still gotta look over it and see if its really good or not... But, at least we got it so I am happy for that. But the fact that you don't get MAX data, voice and SMS with plan 1 is absolutely retarded. I'd go for it in a heartbeat. I want to own my phone and pay for service.

Correct me if I am wrong, but these plans are pretty much "post paid" type, right? I have been a Wasel user for the past year so I don't know about post paid stuff. How does the approval process work? What do you need? In US for example, you are NOT guaranteed to get approved for ATT. They check your credit. What do they do here?

Oh, also, looking at these rates, black market iPhone will still be around for a while. They are not going anywhere. I just see the price for them settling at around Plan 1 rate for both 8 and 16GB.

[xtrmr2003]

hmmm...i guess it was in papers yesterday that 8gb iphone 3g costs 1599 at Plugins!! not sure that price was for 3g or 2g

[fangpyre]

I am working on an Excel sheet to workout the ins and outs of the deal.
If some of you guys can donate your usage info to me (PM to me).

What I need:
- Monthly calls local/international
- SMS local/international
- Expected data usage.

Keep in mind that data consumption is a balance between how much email/surfing/apps & maps, and the ratio of time you do that on a WAN to 3G.

We still need the following questions answered:
- How are international calls handled?
- how are international SMS's handled?
- what are the carryover terms?
- How much are the extra charges for crossing the quota SMS/data/calls?
- what are the cancelation charges?
- is the phone locked? (we pretty much know this one)
- can non-Etisalat phones use these plans (and how are they calculated)?

However, my initial analysis is much better than I first thought.
It looks like you will get a reasonable amount of data, the question is at what cost.
For me I expect to pay a little extra for data, and more SMS than I normally use.
But the calls are EXTREMELY crippled
At 125 mins you get 4 mins a day!!
Even at 500 mins you get about 16.5 mins!!

Did these guys ever look at their customer's bills?
Who talks 4 mins a day and carries an iPhone (or similar phone)?

In the US you get plans where you its impossible to finish.

Another perspective on these numbers:

Service Plan 1 & 2 Plan 3 Plan 4
Voice 37.5 AED 105 AED 150 AED
SMS 22.5 AED 36 AED 54 AED
Total 60 AED 141 AED 204 AED

But then again most people don't send that many messages and speak much more.