Optus offers 'unlimited' iPad plan

In what appears to be a direct counter to Vodafone's launch on Wednesday of an Apple iPad plan featuring an unlimited download allowance, Optus has quietly launched its own unlimited iPad plan.

The company did not issue a statement announcing the new plan. However, as revealed by APC magazine, the company's website now features an "Unlimited" recharge option at almost the same price point as Vodafone's — $50.

Like Vodafone's offering, Optus' $50 deal is not technically a plan, as it is a pre-paid recharge, but customers must use their data allowance within 30 days, meaning an effective monthly cost of $50 if customers want to continue using the 3G connection on their iPad.

Like Vodafone's offering, there are questions about whether Optus' plan can truly be described as unlimited, a problem that the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission has previously highlighted in Australia's telecommunications sector.

In Vodafone's case, the unlimited plan must not be used for peer-to-peer downloading — for example, over services such as BitTorrent. In Optus' case, it also specifies that peer-to-peer usage is not included, that the plans are for personal use only and that usage while overseas is not counted. In addition, Optus' iPad data usage is charged in 10MB increments — meaning that if you download only 500KB, the telco will still count it as being 10MB.

Optus' original line-up of plans was first revealed on Tuesday 11 May.

The Apple iPad went on sale yesterday in Australia to great interest from customers, many of whom lined up in the cold and rain the night before to be first in line to purchase the device.