Please Help Us to Find a New Phone

Please can someone with more knowledge help us to choose a phone it would be much appreciated.

We live in regional NSW and are unable to get ASDL at our home. We currently use our smartphone as a hotspot using Telstra on the prepaid encore plan,recharge $50 monthly,buy the 3GB data pack so send up with 3.8 GB a month which is not enough for two of us.

So I have been looking around for better offers and have come across Better Life Communications, as we have a HCC we are able to get 9 GB for $53 so I am thinking of switching to this. Does this sound like the best plan?

So I need help with choosing a mobile phone that we can use as a hotspot and it needs to be unlocked so that we can put the better life sim into it. I am looking to spend upto $200 (the less the better) we wont be using the phone to browse the internet much we are really just using it as a hotspot and for calls. I guess battery life would be important to us, internet speed and if possible have 4G.

We currently use an LG smartphone on Telstra that we brought on offer for $39 and it has lasted us over 2 years but its now time to upgrade. I am overwhelmed by the number of phones available and would appreciate some help.

Many thanks

Comments

  • +2

    Betterlife uses Optus network, so could be an issue in regional areas.
    You'll likely see a speed reduction as a result too.

    If Optus isn't a problem, personally I'd look at getting a dedicated Hotspot device and service through Virgin for $40 and 12Gb/month (http://virginmobile.com.au/mobile-broadband-plans?i_cid=HM_W…) and then keeping your existing phone for calls on the Telechoice 12.50 plan for $200 calls/text and 200mb data per month (https://www.telechoice.com.au/plans/rebel-starter-sim-plans).

    Monthly cost is less, $52.50, you get more data, you get internet still if the phone is taken out of the house and you can save the $200 you've budgeted for the new phone.

  • Betterlife uses the Optus network. Can you get adequate coverage there with Optus? Might be worth getting a cheap $2 Optus sim and seeing how your coverage is.

    edit: beaten buy the poster above^

    Yeah, a portable hotspot would be perfect for you. It does however mean that you need a seperate plan for your mobile (I would suggest Telechoice for telstra or Jenee or spintel for Optus).

  • Thanks for the advice, I didn't know about 12GB from vodaphone. We are pretty close to both the Optus and Telstra mobile towers but not sure about vodaphone, will check it out and make sure we get good optus coverage as well. I think I would like a dedicated hotspot device which would be better on the battery and if I could get a phone carrier that can do international calls as part of its cap credit then I think this would be our best bet. Thanks again, much appreciated.

    • Virgin… not Vodafone
      Virgin operate on the Optus network..

  • ok got it virgin not vodaphone not sure how i read it wrong earlier, cheers

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