Best Use/Value for Telstra Pre-Paid Recharge Credit Balance?

samlor on 10/05/2019 - 16:44

Is changing from Long Life Plus to Pre-Paid Max and buying data packs the best way to spend recharge credit or is there any way to get better value?

I currently have a balance of around $200 that I wish to start using because changes over time to Telstra Pre-Paid plans and services have been making it harder to "spend" recharge credit. They removed carrier billing for Google Play then CreditMe2U on new Pre-Paid plans.

I recently recharged my Long Life Plus to get another 6 months expiry and then changed plan to Pre-Paid Max. I am told by online chat support that pay as you go calls & texts are available at the same rates as Long Life Plus but you can add data packs for $5 per GB which is more than an order of magnitude cheaper than 10c per MB on Long Life Plus.

N.B. trying to buy data packs via the customer login website failed on two days in a row with error message: "Sorry, your purchase has not been successful this time, please try again later." but buying by dialling #100# worked.

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Comments

  • JIMB0 on 10/05/2019 - 18:50

    Sell creditMe2u on ebay.

    • samlor on 12/05/2019 - 15:47

      I thought CreditMe2U has been removed since the introduction of new plans? It appears to be no longer available on my plan.

      • JIMB0 on 12/05/2019 - 16:24
        +1

        Still works on older plans. Dial #100# type in 1 then 5.

  • thebadmachine on 11/05/2019 - 19:28

    Hi there, since I have had similar experience with these plans / methods here is my ‘two cents’ (phrase learned on ozbargain).
    I used to do the buy data pack every month option, but you have to remember to do it every month which got old quick (often with data left over).
    So I find long-life easier in the long term if your phone use is very minor (also helps to minimise already minimal mobile phone use). Just recharge once a year, and I discovered annual spend was similar to buying the data pack every month.

    Of course your situation may be different, so you will just have to experiment and find out how it goes.

    • samlor on 12/05/2019 - 15:49

      Good point if you are a very very low data user but I am not :-( thanks.

  • samlor on 14/05/2019 - 11:29

    UPDATE: 6 days after plan change buying data packs using recharge credit by dialling #100# appears to have become unavailable however it now seems to work via the customer account login website: "Thank you, your purchase has been successful. We will send you a text when your request has been fully processed. This may take several minutes.".

    • thebadmachine on 14/05/2019 - 13:19
      +1

      They probably intend to move over to the internet method all together, and get rid of the phone-to-recharge service eventually. Could be a nuisance for those who use old phones, I think soon they expect everyone to have smart-phones.

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