After spending each day since the keynote nervously chewing my fingers through chattering teeth at what to do, I’m glad to announce that I’m officially counting down the hours until I can get an iPhone 3G!

So far, both Telstra and Optus have released some information regarding plans & pricing; Optus’ by far being the most comprehensive. If I had to choose Optus now, I’d get the $49 cap plan, which has virtually identical call rates to my current Virgin $44 plan, but with 200 MB more data and double the included calls. And get this: handset repayments for 8GB model on 24-month contract are $7 * 24 = $168. The same model on prepaid costs $729 outright. Figure that one out!

I’m also considering Telstra…

Wait a sec, stay with me here. Before you hit that unsubscribe button in disgust, consider this. Like it or not, Telstra’s UMTS 850 network (I refuse call it by the marketing buzzword name*), probably is the best coverage in Australia. And I’ve recently been enlightened to the fact that having an A.B.N. (as I do) entitles me to their business plans which are considerably cheaper than their consumer plans. Still, I remain undecided until they release some concrete pricing information.

I called Virgin today about the iPhone and I’m still waiting for my call from the sales clerk…

Oh yeah, if you hadn’t guessed already, I put my old iPhone on eBay. Listed for $500 Buy-It-Now, and it sold after 26 hours; a personal record. The price was $75 less than what I paid (including postage from the US). And I probably could have got a bit more for it, but didn’t want to risk an auction end date dangerously close to July 11. I have Josh to thank for drawing my attention to the inexplicable sale prices of first-gen iPhones. As recently as June 20 they were selling for $700 Aussie o_O leaving me left wondering why these people can’t just wait 2 weeks to get much better phone!?

* stay tuned for a lengthy post explaining what NextG actually is, and why I have “issues” with the way it’s been marketed.