Review: Optus Prepaid Turbo Cap Plus

Prepaid mobile plans in Australia are pretty up-to-date as most of them have data allowances and other useful things included. This however, might make these plans seem a bit more complicated to understand (at least, for someone with a Malaysian background).

Unlike in Malaysia where prepaid is almost always offered under the "pay as you use" model, prepaid in Australia operates more like conventional postpaid plans or "caps" ("cap" is the marketing term used by nearly all Australian mobile operators, which means "plan" or "package"), whereby a single recharge gives you a number of inclusions to use before the expiry date. This series of posts will review some prepaid plans in Australia to help you choose the best plan for you.

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Let's take a look at the Turbo Cap Plus plan from Optus (link):

1. Overview

The main selling points of the Turbo Cap Plus are unlimited SMS and included data allowances.

Interesting to note here is that Any Network Value is split into Credit and MyBonus. MyBonus value can only be used for calls, SMSes and data while in Australia (this includes international calls and SMSes), while Credit value can be used for anything which means calls, SMSes, data while in Australia and while roaming overseas, voicemail and premium services such as mobile content downloads (think ringtones) or SMS contests.

Now you may be wondering: why do I get so much more value than the amount I recharge? (that's an inflation of at least 10 times!) Turns out, this is actually a marketing tactic. There are two parts to this strategy:

1. Consumer psychology. The "fact" that you seem to get a lot more than what you actually pay for psychs you to opt for the higher recharge amount which comes with a lot more value. Take the $30 and $40 recharge amounts for comparison:

$30 recharge = $300 value (10x more value)
$40 recharge = $600 value (15x more value, or double the value of a $30 recharge by just paying $10 more)

Who wouldn't agree that large numbers excite us? :)

2. Simplified call rates. You may be wondering by now what the call and SMS rates are. Here they are:

Turbo Cap Calling Rates
Usage Type	Rate
Standard Calls to Australian Fixed Lines and GSM Mobiles	89c per min
Standard Flagfall to Australian Fixed Lines and GSM Mobiles	39c per call
Standard MMS to Australian GSM Mobiles	50c
Standard International SMS	35c
Standard International MMS	75c
Standard International Calls	Turbo Cap Plus International Rates
Mobile Internet Access within Australia	$2 per 1MB  increments
Voicemail Deposit	$0
Voicemail Retrieval	89c per minute + 39c flagfall

Doing some calculations we arrive at the following figures. The figures below are the "true" costs (i.e. dollar-for-dollar) of using your mobile under the Turbo Cap Plus plan.

Recharge amount	Value received	"Inflation factor"	Local call rate	International SMS	Excess data charge
$30	$300	10x	89c ÷ 10 = 8.9c/min + 3.9c flagfall	35c ÷ 10 = 3.5c	$2 ÷ 10 = 20c/MB
$40	$600	15x	89c ÷ 15 = 5.9c/min + 2.6c flagfall	35c ÷ 15 = 2.3c	$2 ÷ 15 = 13c/MB

Obviously, the more you recharge, the lower the actual rates are.

2. Calls and SMS

The main selling point of Turbo Cap Plus is unlimited local SMSes for any recharge amount. If you recharge $50 or more, you also get unlimited local calls (excluding premium numbers, of course).

What is flagfall? When your call is connected, you will be charged the flagfall on top of the per minute rate. Optus charges calls in 1 minute increments, so the credit deducted for a 4 minute 30 second local call is:

4:30 rounded up to the next minute is 5 minutes

5 x 89c + 39c = $4.84

Don't panic! Remember: this is the "inflated" call charge, which is deducted from the value which you were given. The true cost of this call (dollar-for-dollar) would be about 48c or less (depending on how much you recharge).

There is a caveat with the $50, $70 and $100 recharges. If you frequently call overseas then these recharge amounts may not be a good deal, since the unlimited calls only applies to calls to local numbers. If you recharge $50 or more on Turbo Cap Plus, calling (or texting) international numbers will deduct from your Credit balance. This pales in comparison to the $30 and $40 recharges ($300-$600 worth of international calls/SMSes, vs $50, $70 and $100). For example, calls to Malaysian mobiles are $1.58 per minute. A $30 recharge with $300 value gets you about 180 minutes of talktime, whereas a $50 recharge with $50 value gets you about 30 minutes only (without taking into account the 39c flagfall charge)

3. Data

Worth noting for the Turbo Cap Plus is that data is counted in 1MB increments per session for both uploads and downloads (compare this to other operators who count in smaller increments of 10KB or 25KB). This means that every time you stop using data (i.e. disconnect from the Internet), it is rounded up to the next megabyte.

For example, I start surfing the Internet on my phone at 09:00 and finish at 09:10. I downloaded 200KB and uploaded 50KB. I used 250KB in total. However due to rounding up, Optus will deduct 1MB (instead of 0.25MB) from my account balance. This may not be terribly significant for those who use very little data, but it is worth noting as the data allowance lost from rounding can add up significantly. A trivial but possible scenario: your phone checks your email every 15 minutes. Say it uses only 20KB each time it does so. However due to rounding, after 5 days your 500MB would have been used up.

One way you could beat this is by having an app constantly running in the background which keeps an open connection but uses very little data (e.g. a messenger app). Turning push notifications on will also keep a constantly open data connection while using very little data.

The good news is that social networking (Facebook, Twitter etc) is not counted towards your data allowance, provided you use the official mobile clients (e.g. Facebook for iPhone app) or the mobile sites of these social networks. Using third party clients will still incur normal data charges.

4. Validity

Every recharge on Turbo Cap Plus is valid for 30 days. After 30 days or on your next recharge before 30 days is up, your remaining inclusions will be forfeited. However this didn't seem to happen when I recharged right on the day before expiry - my leftover credit and data was somehow rolled over. If you get this too do post a comment below!

As each recharge is valid for 30 days only, the minimum spend for Turbo Cap Plus every year is 12 x $30 = $360. If you always have too much credit or data unused, you may be recharging too much or should be using another plan.

Conclusion

Overall, Optus' Turbo Cap Plus is a pretty good deal if you are a medium-to-heavy user who owns a smartphone. If you don't need data or very seldom use your phone, Optus has other plans with lesser inclusions but longer expiry periods so you don't need to recharge at least $30 every month. And if Optus' other plans don't suit your needs, being a smart prepaid mobile user you can always port your number to another mobile operator.