Amaysim increase data cap on Unlimited plan
Budget telco Amaysim today announced that customers on their Unlimited plans will now receive 5 gigabytes of data per month. As a result of this 1 gigabyte allowance increase, customers will now be charged $44.90, a $5 hike. In addition, Amaysim is removing free social media access from their plans.
By Alex Choros
Budget telco Amaysim today announced that customers on their Unlimited plans will now receive 5 gigabytes of data per month. As a result of this 1 gigabyte allowance increase, customers will now be charged $44.90, a $5 hike. In addition, Amaysim is removing free social media access from their plans.
Amaysim Managing Director, Julian Ogrin said that "consumer appetite for data is really taking off", and that usage has skyrocketed over the past year. "Last year alone, our customers have increased their data usage by 85%," said Ogrin. Despite this, Ogrin described data as an inequity: "people don't quite understand data". While it is relatively easy to for consumers to understand the volume of calls they make, data usage is not as apparent, he explained.
Research undertaken by the telco found that Australians lost $400 million to unexpectedly high phone bills in the last 12 months. Half of these cases were related to excess data usage.
Despite the name, Amaysim's offering isn't truly unlimited. When customers hit the 5 gigabyte limit, they will be prompted to purchase a gigabyte data pack for $10. Alternatively, post-paid customers have the option to pay 5 cents per megabyte (roughly equivalent to $50 per gigabyte).
Amaysim's new Unlimited plan will replace its current flagship offering at the start of September. All existing Unlimited customers will be moved over to the telco's new offering when their plan renews.
Ogrin told CyberShack that while Amaysim is in active discussions around 4G, it might be a while before we see it available to customers. He explained that 4G adoption rates are not yet high enough to make it an economically viable at the prices Amaysim currently offer. "We don't want to be an early adopter," said Ogrin, "we don't want to have cookie cutter plans like everyone else".
