Optus Mobile Review ALDI Mobile Review Amaysim Mobile Review Belong Mobile Review Circles.Life Review Vodafone Mobile Review Woolworths Mobile Review Felix Mobile Review Best iPhone Plans Best Family Mobile Plans Best Budget Smartphones Best Prepaid Plans Best SIM-Only Plans Best Plans For Kids And Teens Best Cheap Mobile Plans Telstra vs Optus Mobile Optus NBN Review Belong NBN Review Vodafone NBN Review Superloop NBN Review Aussie BB NBN Review iiNet NBN Review MyRepublic NBN Review TPG NBN Review Best NBN Satellite Plans Best NBN Alternatives Best NBN Providers Best Home Wireless Plans What is a Good NBN Speed? Test NBN Speed How to speed up your internet Optus vs Telstra Broadband ExpressVPN Review CyberGhost VPN Review NordVPN Review PureVPN Review Norton Secure VPN Review IPVanish VPN Review Windscribe VPN Review Hotspot Shield VPN Review Best cheap VPN services Best VPN for streaming Best VPNs for gaming What is a VPN? VPNs for ad-blocking The consumer watchdog’s report found that Telstra, Optus and Vodafone have all increased the price of several postpaid plans and “effectively increased the price of a range of prepaid plans by reducing their expiry periods, forcing customers to recharge more often.” The report targets explicit postpaid price increases from each provider as well as more subtle prepaid tweaks that effectively increase the overall price for consumers. Telstra’s postpaid plans climbed between $5 and $15 over the year but the market-leading network also reduced prepaid recharge durations from 35 and 42 days to 28 days, which translates to a price increase between 25% and 50% per year, depending on the recharge value. So Telstra’s ‘premium’ pricing became even premium-er over the last year, but Optus and Vodafone weren’t far behind either. For Optus’s part, the second-largest telco in Australia increased every tier of its postpaid plan range by $6 per month, which works out at roughly 8% to 15% more expensive than the year prior. The ACCC also highlighted Vodafone’s price increases, where plans have gone up between $5 and $40 per month over the last year. But it does make a point to explain that Vodafone’s ‘increased’ plan prices are currently heavily reduced (at least until the 30th of June). For example, the $55 100GB Vodafone plan is currently discounted to $45 per month, while the $40 50GB plan is currently reduced to $35 per month (the cheapest postpaid plan available from all three major providers). Vodafone’s most expensive plan, the $120 500GB plan, is currently half price at $60 per month. According to the ACCC’s Internet Activity Report (which sources data usage information from 13 retail service providers), the average Australian uses less than 15GB of mobile data every month. The cheapest option from every three providers provides far more than that. Telstra’s cheapest plan offers 40GB for $55 per month, Optus offers 20GB for $45 per month, and Vodafone offers 50GB for $35 per month. MVNOs are often “smaller” providers that pay for access to Australia’s three mobile network providers to supply alternative plan options. Typically, these providers have lower overheads which allow them to charge less for their services. In some cases, MVNOs are owned by one of the big three providers. Felix Mobile is a product of TPG Telecom, Gomo is an Optus brand and Belong belongs to Telstra. Those are just a few examples of MVNOs launched by the big three to provide a more affordable alternative. Thankfully, switching mobile providers isn’t as difficult as it once was. Number porting can be almost instantaneous if you’re switching between providers on the same network and there are fewer lock-in contracts, meaning you can switch regularly without paying any exit or cancellation fees. The smaller scale of these operations means you won’t always get the same number of perks or the same level of support as you would with a more established telco but if you don’t care for cheaper movie tickets and don’t mind dealing with someone over the phone or online (rather than in-store), you could save a fair bit of cash every month. Only a handful of MVNOs offer mobile phones on plans too. Other than that, the standard mobile service should be no different from what you’d expect with the pricier network provider. On the Telstra network, the cheapest postpaid plan currently available is Tangerine’s 3GB mobile SIM, which offers $14.90 for 3GB per month (plus unlimited standard national calls and text). Here’s a quick look at some of the cheapest plans on the Telstra network. Here’s a list of some of the cheapest plans on the Optus network. Here’s how it stacks up against other cheap Vodafone MVNO plans.
