iPrimus will help its customers avoid nasty excess usage fees by shaping its mobile broadband plans once the limit is reached.

Primus claims to be the first telco in Australia to offer shaping on 3G broadband, which it says will offer "dialup" speeds once the limit is reached. However, Virgin Mobile also offers a shaped service, though they only have a single 5GB plan.

"Today's consumers want the freedom to be online at any time and the existing mobile broadband pricing packages have potential risk for excessive and unexpected download charges, often amounting to several hundred dollars in a month", said iPrimus CEO Ravi Bhatia.

iPrimus' Speedster plans, which utilise the Optus 3G network, offer 1GB for $19.95/month, 6GB for $39.95/month or a whopping 12GB for $69.95. These prices are available only when bundled with another Primus telephony product, or can be used standalone for an extra $10/month. Data in both directions is counted.

The new plans offer good value compared to competitors, beating out Vodafone's popular 5GB plan on price, and surpassing Telstra's new 10GB plan for big data usage. It also offers good coverage, with Optus claiming today it now covers 85% of the population.

Links:

• iPrimus Media Release  (iPrimus, 27 Aug 2008)
• Optus 3G coverage tops 85 per cent  (ZDNet, 27 Aug 2008)