Download

How to Use
Open the Document in Numbers '09.

On the first sheet enter your usage details as follows:



In the Number of Calls field enter the number of calls you typically make in a single billing period.

In the Total Duration field enter the total duration of your calls as Hours:Minutes:Seconds. This information can usually be found on a previous bill.



In the SMS and MMS fields enter the number of SMS and MMS messages you typically send in a single billing period.



In the Usage field enter the amount of data you use in a single billing period, in Megabytes.



In the Phone Model field, use the pop-up menu to choose between the 16GB and 32GB models.

In the Phone Payment Method field, use the pop-up menu to choose whether you prefer to pay the mobile phone payments in one lump sum at the beginning of the contract, or in smaller payments spread out over the course of your contract. Not all plans offer this option, so there may still be an up front cost for some plans even if you prefer to pay monthly, and vice versa.

Once your usage has been entered, switch the second sheet, and you will be presented with a table of Plans containing the following information:



Name The name of the plan, including the carrier offering it.

Contract Length The length of the contract, in months.

Credit The amount of credit the plan provides for calls and messages.

Data The amount of data the plan provides for using the internet on your mobile.

Charges The total cost of your usage (calls and messages) before credit has been applied.

Charges After Credit Applied The total cost of your usage (calls and messages) after credit has been applied.

Excess Data The cost of any data usage that exceeds what the plan provides for free.

Monthly Phone Payment An additional charge that pays for owning the phone itself. If you choose to pay for the phone upfront this will be $0 unless the carrier does not provide that option.

Monthly Bill An estimate of what you would be billed for a single billing period based on your usage and any monthly phone payment.

Upfront Phone Payment The upfront cost of buying the phone itself. If you choose to pay for the phone monthly, this will be $0, unless the carrier does not provide that option.

Total Cost Of Ownership The total cost of the plan over the length of the contract, assuming consistent usage patterns.

Using the normal functionality in Numbers you can sort the columns. For example, sort the Monthly Bill column in ascending order to determine the least you can pay monthly with your usage or sort the Total Cost of Ownership column in ascending order to determine the least you can pay over the course of a contract.

Notes
The current version, and probably all future versions, do not take into account International calls and text, or any special offers such as Yes time. As a result your actual charges may be higher or lower.

This table, while not offering any ability to calculate, presents all available plans as well as any bonus options:



Please post any errors you may have. It works fine for me, however I cannot be sure if things such as custom Cell Formats are included in the file you download. A quick test is to delete the 0MB from the Data Usage field and enter any number, the document should automatically convert it into MB/GB.

Originally Posted by dotmike

Looks useful. Thank you for posting.

Are you going to be updating it as each of the carriers come out with pricing?

Yep.

Great work. Thanks.

Sorry, it's not. I haven't got excel and the result of an export to excel doesn't work.

Great work there, with a first version.

Prob useful to people to have a projection for 2 years for the 1 year plans.. just so people can see the difference in TCO.

I'm assuming that when you pay off the phone in Year 1, those fees no longer apply in Year 2 changing the TCO .

Originally Posted by andrewwong

Prob useful to people to have a projection for 2 years for the 1 year plans.. just so people can see the difference in TCO.

I'm assuming that when you pay off the phone in Year 1, those fees no longer apply in Year 2 changing the TCO .

If Apple continue along this 12 month update schedule, would you
a) continue with your current provider (who you are no longer contract to) on your current phone;
b) update to a (possible) new phone and sign another contract; or
c) purchase the phone out-right (up front cost) and remain on your un-contracted rate?

IMHO, a 24 month projection on a 12 month contract, seems kind of pointless.

Whilst useful, appears to be incorrect in some places.
I do believe on the Optus site "Unlimited SMS and MMS" stands for the $59 and $79 'yes' cap. Also the $59 cap has 700mb of data (as stated in the fine print). I could be wrong though as the Optus website seems like they have done a pretty half assed job at putting the plans up.
Thanks for the info NeoRicen!

Originally Posted by WindowsVista

Whilst useful, appears to be incorrect in some places.
I do believe on the Optus site "Unlimited SMS and MMS" stands for the $59 and $79 'yes' cap. Also the $59 cap has 700mb of data (as stated in the fine print). I could be wrong though as the Optus website seems like they have done a pretty half assed job at putting the plans up.
Thanks for the info NeoRicen!

Yeah, it's a bit out of date, was only looking at the original plans, seems things have changed in the fine print.

Is it worth doing this in google spreadsheet?

Then everyone can view/use it?

I think I might give up on this. It would be far too much work to get Telstra in there properly, due to the way they're splitting data and calls.

Originally Posted by MacDub

IMHO, a 24 month projection on a 12 month contract, seems kind of pointless.

Not everyone has the latest shiny Apple product each year. Who can really afford to, and there's no functional need to do this. The products have a solid lifetime of 2-3 years minimum. The iPhone is no exception.

Keeping the number of variables simple, the point is :

I buy an iPhone today. If I go on 12 month contract, the repayments are higher but I own the phone after 12 months. If I keep the phone on Optus after the contract is over, how much cheaper is a 12 month plan vs. 24 month plan.

Any analysis of a mobile plan that compares 12 to 24 months is pointless unless you extrapolate the 12 month costs across the full 24 months ( where the subsequent 12 months will be reduced since the handset charges no longer apply).

Since a mobile phone cost + distribution cost + margin + interest on the phone are included in the total contract value (then spread out over the period of the contract), one would imagine that the 24 month plans work out to be more expensive - but by how much ?

Then do an NPV on the 12 vs 24 month contracts and that will tell you which one is more cash effective, and therefore a better product from a cash perspective.

I like to know this stuff when my mobile phone bills will be about $3000 over 2 years. Each to his/her own.

Neoricen, any chance of a Numbers08 version? I appreciate it might not have all the features but I for one have been using a alt year update pattern for some of the apps.

That said your other image that you have put up does the bulk of the work so I can just use that like everyone else.

Again, your work here is really valuable.