Cheapest Mobile Phone Plan Option for a Light User?

Question on 17/02/2016 - 12:32

Im referirng to plans/prepaid options specifically, I already have a mobile phone.

I current pay $18 per month for the lightest Vaya plan, but most months I use very little of the talk/message time and I almost never any of the data plan. I looked around but all the other plans I could find were roughly the same price but came with way less talk time/etc.

All the prepaid options are particularly confusing because they usually have a 7 or 30 day expiry which doesnt make sense at all unless you are a traveller (since they work out to be much more expensive than regular monthly plans). Are there any prepaid options with much longer expiry times designed for people who regularly use little talk time, but sometimes need to use more when looking for a place to stay, etc? Or any non-prepaid options?

Paying $18 a month when I might send only a dozen texts a month isn't really worth it. On the other hand paying $20 for a 30 day expiry prepaid is even worse.

Mobile

Comments

  • retiredfeline on 17/02/2016 - 12:34
    +7

    What about Aldimobile As You Go 365 day? 12c/min Oz calls and SMS, no flagfall. Data if you need it at 5c/MB or you can ignore that.

    • Question on 17/02/2016 - 15:41

      That sounds good, but the rate seems somewhat high, it's 12c/min or part thereof right? So a 10 second call would still cost 12c? $15 would give you only about 100 calls/texts if im not wrong…

      • retiredfeline on 17/02/2016 - 15:43

        Look at it this way, your current spend will fund 150 short calls per month. Is that not enough for you?

        • Question on 18/02/2016 - 09:02

          Hmm in my experience that runs out very quickly when i need to make lots of calls (for example when trying to find a place to stay). But in most months it should be enough. Do you know of any other pay as you go options?

        • retiredfeline on 18/02/2016 - 09:25

          @Question: Remember your credit doesn't expire every month so you should average your usage over the year. 10c/minute is about the best you can get for a PAYG plan.

      • Evoque10 on 17/02/2016 - 20:40

        To be fair, 11c/min is the cheapest you can get in Australia using yomojo. Therefore I dont think 12c/min is high. If you compare it with your current vaya plan, the rate is 99c/min with 35c flagfall.

        • Question on 18/02/2016 - 09:01

          ? Vaya 18 is $18 per month for $650 worth of calls, unlimited texts and 1.5 gb of data.

        • Evoque10 on 18/02/2016 - 09:31

          @Question:

          Yup I understand. Vaya gives a lot of credits and data but at the same time their rate is really high.
          PAYG will give you flexibility, but at the same time it's not suitable for heavy user.

          Let's compare it this way. You make 5 calls a day for a month, with each call amounting to 59 seconds.

          Under other PAYG, you will be calling 150 calls/month, which amounts to $18
          Under Vaya plan, 150 calls/month amounts to $201 (but you will still pay $18 as you have $650 credit)

          So the question is, do you make that much call/text in a month?

          Unfortunately, there will be no telco who will give you exactly what you want.
          Either you go with pay as you go (credit with longer expiry date) or a plan (high credit but 30 days expiry date).

          Hope this one clears things up :)

        • daver on 18/02/2016 - 19:06

          oh wait.. 200 x 29s calls won't cost $24 with Voda, that should cost $10 (hybrid / recharge $10addon)
          .. lots of people solve their poorer reception problems from switching to Optus in other news :)

  • Evoque10 on 17/02/2016 - 13:53
    +1

    Seems to me that what you need is pay as you go instead of a plan.

    You can try Amaysim PAYG:
    - Recharge $10 - 90 days expiry credit
    - SMS and phone call around 12c. Different rates for international. You can also buy a data pack 10GB for $10 but it has 30 days expiry

    Another option is Yomojo:
    - 100 mins and 100 sms for $13 a month
    - or you can go PAYG, recharge with $15 (my credit has not expired for 4 months but i have a data plan). 11c call and 9c sms

    • retiredfeline on 17/02/2016 - 13:54

      10GB for $10 but it has 30 days expiry

      It's 1GB. If only it were 10GB. :)

      • Evoque10 on 17/02/2016 - 13:55

        Ah my bad… :p

        Thanks!

    • Question on 17/02/2016 - 15:42

      Pay as you go does sound like what i need, its weird that i didnt see any of those mentioned on the comparison websites i checked, they only mentioned monthly plans or prepaid with short expiry dates…

  • McSync on 17/02/2016 - 14:14
    +1

    Try optus prepaid daily plus? 2 dollars a day with half a year expiry. The best thing is that if you don't use any text,call or data, you won't be charged anything at all. If you do use, then you got unlimited txt, calls plus 500mb of data. You also have international calls at quite cheap rates which doesn't trigger the daily deduction.

    • Question on 17/02/2016 - 15:42

      Okay if im understanding it right, you pay $2 each day if you use any calls or texts? That works out to about $60 a month?

      • McSync on 17/02/2016 - 16:03

        But if you don't use, you don't play anything. Say if you just use in 5 different days, u only pay 10 bucks

    • aboabo on 17/02/2016 - 17:48

      I tried this once but I think it's Corruptus. They send tiny packets of data to your phone from time to time and then your credit disappears.

      • McSync on 17/02/2016 - 18:13

        I usually turn of data if I don't need to usa mobile data on a particular day to avoid that. Once I called my voicemail and triggered the deduction also, but after a chat with customer service they gave it back.

        • aboabo on 17/02/2016 - 18:58

          My data was turned off. I wonder if a telco can remotely activate it?

        • McSync on 17/02/2016 - 19:08

          @aboabo: don't think that's possible.

        • [Deactivated] on 19/02/2016 - 23:28

          @aboabo + @?: If you are considering or are using any of the Optus MPD plans and you are not going to use it every day for outgoing calls/text and/or data, you may need to take another precaution beyond just turning off the data. You may to leave the phone on, most of the time…

          I'm on an older version of similar plan for main personal use - '3.5G' Optus HSDPA isn't bad and even 720p Youtube works for me. The few seconds for initial video buffering is time to ponder the wretchedness of the death of people you love. Also the meaning of life, if you happen to think there is one :S

          Anyway, the SIM has been in a few handsets, and in at least one and despite data disabled in settings, some brief, but obvious data-exchange on power-up, before reverting to 'data off', was noticed on one particular incommunicado day. That's enough for a daily increment off your credit on any of these Optus plans.

          The solution for such a phone/software-version is to leave your phone on all the time and unless you have a phone with some terrible form of phantom battery drain, it's not really a problem.
          No modern phone is damaged by even hot-plugging of a charger while the phone is still on.

      • daver on 17/02/2016 - 20:17

        The way in theory is to shut it off, 23.55 daily with an app like tasker. but I couldn't much be bothered. 0.5gb has outlived its usefulness to stream anything of note.

        • [Deactivated] on 19/02/2016 - 23:30

          Yes, and if you follow enough instagram links, you can end up doing about half of that figure on other video fluff.

          Daver, this video probably belongs in that 'Loophole' thread. Feel free to post it there if you think it does. Ta.

        • daver on 20/02/2016 - 00:13

          @T this one is a clever fluffy puppy, nice one yep.

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