Optus have dramatically restructured their mobile phone plans today in a bid to improve customer satisfaction. The new plans called “My Plans” aims to tackle the increasing problem of customers experiencing unexpected bill shock. According to Optus managing director of customer division, Vicky Brady, 50 per cent of Optus customers in the last year had experienced an unexpected shock when they opened their bill.

To combat the negative user experience Optus have changed their plans so that customers have better control and awareness of their usage, but also a cheaper rates for over usage. Optus’ old plans were structured so that you pay a particular price per month and you would get a particular dollar amount of “included value”. For example their $71 iPhone 5 plan has $650 worth of “included value” and 1.5GB worth of data. For some customers this structure was difficult to manage as different telephone numbers were priced at different rates and it was difficult to tell how much a particular phone call would cost and how much usage you had left. The new “My Plans” come with “included minutes” which you can use to call any standard fixed line, mobile phone, VoiceMail retrievals and 13/1300 numbers. For example the $71 iPhone 5 plan now comes with 600 minutes worth of calls. It makes it simple for a consumer to understand that if they have made 300 minutes worth of calls they have used half their monthly quota.

However, the biggest change to the Optus plans is the pricing of over quota usage, and in particular the over quota data usage. Previously if an Optus customer exceeded their data usage they would be charged 25 cents per MB. This meant that using 1GB over the limited would cost the customer $250 resulting in a massive bill shock if you were not aware that you had over used the data quota. Optus’ initiative to curb this has been to remove the over quota data charges completely and instead temporarily move the customer up to the next tiered plan for extra $10. Rather than getting charged $250 for using an extra GB you would be charged the next plan up that included the data usage you have reached for that month. The same applies when a customer exceeds their “minutes included” for the month.

Here is a simple break down of how the new plans work:
If you are on the $60 per month My Plan you get 600 minutes and 1GB of data included. You also get unlimited standard SMS and MMS.
If you exceed 600 minutes and use between 600 – 800 minutes you will pay an extra $10 that month to be temporarily on the next tier plan. If you use over 800 minutes you will pay an extra $20 that month which is two tiers up.
If you exceed 1GB and use between 1-2GB that month you will pay an extra $10 to be temporarily on the next tier plan. If you use over 2GB you will charged an extra $20 to be on two tiers up plan.  

The new plan structure will hopefully reduce bill shock, create a better a system for monitoring usage and ultimately boost customer satisfaction. Optus aims to be seen as honest and fair, and in particular, transparent with their plans so that are no hidden costs and customers are fully aware of what they using.

If you are looking at getting a new mobile phone plan the new My Plans below are definitely worth considering.

iPhone 5 for $71 per month with 600 minutes worth of calls, 1GB of data and unlimited SMS and MMS

Samsung Galaxy S4 for $69 per month with 600 minutes worth of calls, 1GB of data and unlimited SMS and MMS

HTC One for $65 per month with 600 minutes worth of calls, 1GB of data and unlimited SMS and MMS

If you are not a heavy mobile user you can get plans that include less minutes and data for a cheaper price. Alternatively, if you are quite heavy user Optus have high minutes and data plans. They even have plans that include unlimited calls. For any queries about Optus My Plans you can call Optus on 1300 137 897. Optus My Plans are now available for purchase.