Further to my previous discussion, telco companies nowadays use increment and so-called cap plans to promote their margin. Regardless of what “included value” is, you should look at the rates carefully to avoid traps. Just for demonstration purpose, I analysed 4 low end plans offered by Optus, Virgin(a company that is fully owned by Optus), Vodafone and ACN.
Table 1
| Name | Included value | Connection Fee(Cents) | Increment(seconds) | Rate(Cents) | 5 Minute A call | |
| Virgin | 29 Big Plan | 250 | 40 | 60 | 99 | 47 |
| Optus | 30 Plan | 200 | 35 | 60 | 90 | 41 |
| Vodafone | 30 Plan | 180 | 40 | 60 | 98 | 34 |
| ACN | 22 Plan | 90 | 40 | 60 | 95 | 17 |
Table 2
| Minutes | Virgin | Optus | Vodafone | ACN |
| 1 | 1.39 | 1.25 | 1.38 | 1.35 |
| 2 | 2.38 | 2.15 | 2.36 | 2.3 |
| 3 | 3.37 | 3.05 | 3.34 | 3.25 |
| 4 | 4.36 | 3.95 | 4.32 | 4.2 |
| 5 | 5.35 | 4.85 | 5.3 | 5.15 |
| 6 | 6.34 | 5.75 | 6.28 | 6.1 |
| 7 | 7.33 | 6.65 | 7.26 | 7.05 |
| 8 | 8.32 | 7.55 | 8.24 | 8 |
| 9 | 9.31 | 8.45 | 9.22 | 8.95 |
| 10 | 10.3 | 9.35 | 10.2 | 9.9 |
Graph 1
Table 1 is rate information published on each provider’s website; Table 2 is per minute charge by each company(for voice call only). As all companies choose to charge per minute, not per second, the actual charge may somewhat surprise you. A 10-minute call is going to cost $10, isn’t it far too expensive?
If you make a call for 5 minutes on average, the included value won’t really give you too much: On Virgin, you can make 47 calls while on ACN you can only make 17 calls!
Good information thank you closely monitor your success.