Finding the right mobile phone plan to suit you can be a minefield….
Mobile phone plans is not an area that I have that much experience with, being a very low user of mobiles.
One of the current plans in our household costs us $10 per month, and we get $130 worth of calls and texts for that price.
The base costs, to calculate that $130, are:
- Text/SMS 25 cents each
- Calls to landline or mobile in Australia 20 cents per 15 seconds + 30c flagfall
- International landline calls to 21 countries are also 20 cents per 15 seconds + 30c flagfall
How does this compare to yours ?
Is it good value or could we do better ?
But if you know something better, let me know, as I am always happy to investigate changes.
Looking at the lowest priced Non Contract plans;
| Provider | Monthly Charge | Plan value | 30 sec call cost | SMS Cost |
| TPG | $9.99 | $50.00 | $0.40 | $0.253 |
| My Plan | $10.00 | $130.00 | $0.40 | $0.250 |
| Think | $12.00 | $24.00 | $0.24 | $0.120 |
| Southern | $12.50 | $40.00 | $0.50 | $0.250 |
19th June 2010
Some example NON-CONTRACT POST PAID plan prices:
Low user:
$ 9.99 TPG Starter
$10.00Â My plan
$12.00 Think Simple 12
$19.00 not named
Medium User:
$ 19.99 TPG Mobil 49 Cap Saver
$ 35.00 3 Mobile $35 Cap
$ 38.10Â My Plan
$ 46.07 Not Named
Heavy User:
$ 79.99 TPG Executive
$ 99.00 Virgin Mobile $99 plan
$598.10 Gotalk Big Talk Cap 800
$844.61 My Plan
As you can see, my plan appears very good for a Low User, but really bad for a high user. This is actually pretty common with many plans though.
It really does pay to know what your usage is when you are choosing your plan.
Some example PRE-PAID plan prices:
Low user:
- $13.33 New Just Mobile $15 Prepaid cap
- $14.00 Virgin Mobile Bean Counter Starter pack
- $36.85 not named
Medium User:
- $ 30.00 Go Talk Prepaid Big Talk 30
- $ 39.00 New Just Mobile $39 Prepaid cap
- $ 79.00 Vodafone $79 Flexi Cap Recharge
Heavy User:
- $164.10 Vodafone $149 Flexi Cap recharge
- $222.60 Virgin Mobile Bean Counter Starter pack
- $814.18 3 Mobile – $69 Prepaid Cap
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Looking through some mobile plans today, I noticed that some providers charge 55 cents for an overseas text, whilst others charge only 25 cents, the same as texts sent within Australia.
This may be an area to really look out for, if you do many overseas texts.
On a request from my daughter, I checked out some mobile plans for her today, and based them on two of her bills in the last year, one being her highest month, the other her lowest.
The results were monthly costs of:
Low Use
$10.00 SMSPUP (no data)
$12.95 Iprimus $12.95 (no data)
$19.95 Iprimus $19.95 (no data)
$20.35 Dodo (24 month contract)
$22.66 Iprimus $10 (no data)
$30.15 Amaysim
$78.20 Iprimus Social Cap 19
High use
$102.75 SMSPUP (no data)
$ 61.83 Iprimus $12.95 (no data)
$ 19.95 Iprimus $19.95 (no data)
$171.89 Dodo (24 month contract)
$163.88 Iprimus $10 (no data)
$ 59.01 Amaysim
$254.58 Iprimus Social Cap 19
The iPrimus $19.95 per month plan looks reasonable, with $350 of included Call & Text Allowed each month.
But she wants one with Internet access and a data allowance.