Vodafone Australia's iPhone bill shock

update Vodafone Australia is fielding a number of complaints from Australian customers who received unexpectedly large bills a month after they bought an Apple iPhone from the mobile carrier.

In one bill seen by ZDNet.com.au, Vodafone had charged a customer on a $99 per month 'capped' plan over $800, including several hundred dollars relating to just 25MB of data downloads.

The customer said he had previously been a Vodafone customer before buying an iPhone when Apple's handset launched locally in Australia last month. It appeared that Vodafone had not correctly migrated him across to the new iPhone plan, he said, which included a sizable data download limit.

A Vodafone spokesman said the problem had occurred because Vodafone customers were normally transitioned to a new plan at the end of their monthly billing cycle.

The carrier has now changed that policy as a result of the iPhone issues. "From July 23, all existing Vodafone customers that have chosen an iPhone 3G cap can immediately begin using the voice and data allowance within their cap," the spokesman said.

The spokesman said customers who had bought an iPhone prior to July 23 could continue to use their pre-existing plan, with the carrier currently reviewing the data charges for these customers.

"Vodafone will waive any data charges that would not have been incurred if the customer had been able to use their iPhone 3G cap, with its voice and data allowance, from the outset," the spokesman said.