Best iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus plans: Optus vs Telstra vs Vodafone vs Virgin

The best iPhone 7 plans for data, value, dollar and more

There's a great deal to like about the new iPhone 7 and 7 Plus. Especially the Jet Black versions.

There's a great deal to like about the new iPhone 7 and 7 Plus. Especially the Jet Black versions.

Best iPhone 7 32GB plans

For each phone variant we've created a table showing the contract plans for 1GB data, 2-5GB of data and 8-10GB of data plus a bunch of SIM-only plans. We also show the cost per month of the phone, what that comes to over two years of payments plus an overall cost over two years. We then plot a graph showing the cost of the iPhone over two years against the overall cost of the phone plus the plan over two years. We analyse the results below:-

All major 32GB iPhone 7 plans and prices.
All major 32GB iPhone 7 plans and prices.
Cost of iPhone vs Overall payment with plan over two years.
Cost of iPhone vs Overall payment with plan over two years.

The cheapest overall way to get an iPhone 7 is with Virgin (which uses Optus’ network) and this will cost you $1,584 over two years. But you only get 1GB and on a data-hungry smartphone like Apple’s finest, you can easily bust through that. Nonetheless, you’re only paying $624 for the iPhone itself instead of the $1,079 retail price.

For moderate data users, Virgin’s $60 plan looks particularly impressive with 5GB data being offered for a very respectable $1,896.

However, the secret seems to be out and stock is low. So try these alternatives...

For people who want at least 8GB the choice between Vodafone, Optus and Virgin becomes minor. But Virgin does win again by offering 9GB on their $80 plan. For $3 more per month you can boost that to 18GB! The iPhone itself only costs $168 when doing this. That said Optus is selling you the iPhone for just $48 albeit with $5 more for the plan and 1GB less data.

In terms of a low-usage BYO plan, all but Telstra are competitive thanks to its $30 1.5GB plans. There’s no huge benefit of going BYO at this level as you’ll often be locked into a 12-month contract, you’ll only get 500MB more data and you’ll get a lower price by joining a two-year plan.

However, going BYO on a $40 plan is arguably the best sweet spot of all: you’ll get 8GB from Vodafone and Optus and 7GB from Telstra and Virgin. Virgin is the only player not to lock you into a one-year contract but history tells us that this one year contract is worth sticking with as you can have the same benefits with no contract once it expires. The overall price of $2,039 is identical to the median price of all plans here.

Going higher generally means going on a $50 plan and getting 10-15GB for an overall payment of $2,279 although Telstra is charging a fortune here – 10GB only on a $70 plan.

Overall, moderate users are best off going for the $40 BYO plan but they should be aware that it’s only $150 more (less than $7 per month) to move up to the 128GB iPhone 7 variant if doing this.

Next: Best iPhone 7 128GB plans

Page 1 – Introduction
Page 2 – Best iPhone 7 32GB plans
Page 3 – Best iPhone 7 128GB plans
Page 4 – Best iPhone 7 256GB plans
Page 5 – Best iPhone 7 Plus 32GB plans
Page 6 – Best iPhone 7 Plus 128GB plans
Page 7 – Best iPhone 7 Plus 256GB plans
Page 8 – Best Third Party Carriers BYO iPhone plans
Page 9 – Summary

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Tags AppleVodafoneTelstraiPhoneoptusVirginiphone 6iPhone 6 PlusiPhone 7

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Nick Ross
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