Hi,

I purchased an iPhone 4, a couple of years ago on a 24 month contract.

Now that my contract is up im looking at doing the same with an iPhone 5.

Originally got it on a contact plan so the phone was subsidised. It was a reasonable deal. 

I paid $40 per month, and $650 upfront for the phone, which was the latest at the time (iPhone 4 16bg).

After the price of GST went up, so did the cost of my plan.

Now when I look at vodafones website and put in the same type of plan (smart $45, 24 months), with the equivalent phone (iPhone 4s 16gb). The upfront costs is $950 with the ongoing cost the same.

Now I realise the plans are different. For example my current smart 1 plan only has 30 minutes of calls per month. The new one has 100 minutes. I don't really care, I get by okay on 30 minutes. Data is more important to me. Both plans have 250mb data… now this is strange too. I got some kind of iPhone special where they upgrade you to 3gb of data. Do they still do this? I would hate to get on a new plan and only have 250mb data.

Originally vodafone subsidised about $450-500 off the value of the phone. Now with a simialr plan they only subsidise $100 off the phone. All for the sake of a 24 month plan. Why would anyone bother?

Why is the upfront cost nearly 50% more, than it was 2 years ago?

Does anyone know if any other carrier is offering a better 2 year contract deal?