Pokemon Go players brace for bill shock

AS POKEMON Go fans brace for bill shock, will any Aussie telcos be the very best, like no one ever was, and offer free data?

AS POKEMON Go fans around the world brace for bill shock, will any Aussie telcos be the very best, like no one ever was, and offer free Poke-data?

The wildly popular augmented reality smartphone game, which sends aspiring Pokemon trainers hunting pocket monsters around real-world locations, is notorious for chewing through both phone battery and data.

US telco T-Mobile last week announced it was adding Pokemon Go to its list of apps that don’t count towards customers’ metered data allowance. Many internet service providers offer a similar deal for video streaming service Netflix.

Estimates vary on the amount of data the app uses. The official website says the app should only use about 10MB an hour, but some users have reported anywhere from 20MB to 50MB.

News.com.au reached out to Aussie telcos to see if any would offer free data for customers playing Pokemon Go, aka, all of them. The short answer is no.

Budget telco Vaya, however, is this afternoon launching two new “gamer plans” this with higher data allowances for Pokemon Go players.

The “Monster Mobile Plan” comes with 10GB of data and unlimited standard calls and texts for $45 a month, while the “Monster Data Only Plan” comes with 30GB of data for $65 a month.

The plans will be live on the Vaya website from 2pm AEST on Monday. Both plans are SIM-only and available on a month-to-month basis.

Here’s what the telcos said:

TELSTRA

“While this game has been a phenomenon, there is no impact to our network and as it uses cached maps, for a typical user, Pokemon Go will use a small amount of data.

“It’s clear that our customers love the Pokemon Go experience and we have a lot of experts in our Telstra stores across the country to help customers with personalised support with accessing Wi-Fi, recharging credit and in some instances, setting up the game on their smartphone.

“Portable power banks are also running out the door — we’ve seen a spike in demand for these in the past week with customers looking to recharge their battery on the go so they don’t miss a moment of the Pokemon Go action.

“Telstra Air members and eligible Telstra mobile customers can also take advantage of Australia’s largest Wi-Fi network to catch Pokemon for free thanks to the Telstra Air Free Wi-Fi offer. With more than 400,000 Telstra Air hot spots across the country, Pokemon trainers can ‘catch ‘em all’ with worry-free browsing, downloading and streaming while out and about.”

OPTUS

“While Optus has not seen any unusual spikes in mobile data usage since the Australian release of Pokemon Go, we know customers want certainty over the cost of their data.

“That’s why we offer a range of mobile plans to suit the different usage patterns of our customers. Optus’ My Plan Plus protects customers if they go over their monthly data limit by automatically moving them up to the next data tier for only $10 per additional gigabyte of data.

“We also offer data pool, which allows customers to share their plan’s data with up to five additional mobile devices.

“We’re always happy to help customers work through and understand what data solutions could best suit their needs.”

VODAFONE

“We are big fans of Pokemon Go, and it’s great to see our customers taking advantage of our 4G network to battle rival teams at gyms and catch Pikachu in their local park.

“Playing Pokemon Go uses around the same amount of data as general web surfing.

“As the game uses such a similar amount of data as regular web browsing it’s hard for us to determine whether traffic from a certain area is due to Pokémon Go users or just someone scrolling through Facebook.

“The average Australian monthly data allowance is 2GB of data, which is the equivalent of playing 200 hours of Pokemon Go.”

VAYA

“We’re always on the lookout for ways we can save our customers money, and with so many people using more data than usual on Pokemon Go, we thought we’d step up to the plate and offer mobile and data-only plans that cater for their additional data needs.

“Some people have reported using as much as 20MB an hour or 50MB a day, which means the monthly data usage for Pokemon Go alone could exceed a gigabyte. Given the nature of this game and other gaming apps requires players to be outdoors without a Wi-Fi connection for most of the time, a healthy mobile data allowance is a must-have.

“Each of Vaya’s existing data-only month-to-month plans have also dropped in price by $5 per month, and all but the entry-level plan will now come with more data.

“Additionally, Vaya has launched a new 12-month option for its data plans that targets cost-conscious shoppers who are keen to save even more money by prepaying for the entire year.”

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