Just days after Optus came out with its pricing for the upcoming Apple iPhone 3G S, Vodafone has hit back strongly with no tethering charges and pre-paid options.
The company’s hero plan for the new 16GB handset is the $69 contract cap, which allows consumers to pay $0 up front over 24 months and has $400 worth of included talk and text plus 1GB of included data.
Other 16GB model plans include a $59, $79, $99 and $114 caps which all offer $0 up front handset costs except the $59 cap which requires $10 month.
If you want more space to save those apps the 32GB model has the same caps but only the $114 plan offers $0 upfront. The other plans range from $5 a month to $15 a month.
One of the real surprises from Vodafone’s announcement was that the new Apple handset will also be available to pre-paid customers, but it is quite an expensive option.
For the 16GB model consumers will have to fork over $929 outright for the handset and recharge $49 a month. While the 32GB customers will be confronted with a $1,129 upfront charge as well as the $49 a month recharge.
Vodafone has also confirmed that it will not be charging consumers for tethering (unlike Optus), to use the device as a modem for your home PC or notebook. From August the company will also give consumers the option for larger data ‘bolt-ons’ which are designed for modem tethering.