Postpaid Into Prepaid Mobile Plan Recommendation

• 

  sumyungguy on 07/04/2023 - 12:36

  +3

  It blows my mind that people who pay out of their own pockets still go with post paid. The key is to work out how much each person actually uses and buy enough pre-paid data so that you run out just before expiry. You should be trying to pay a dollar per GB. The best strategy is to get to Black Friday when once-a-year offers become available. Some rate Vodafone's $5 per day roaming but I like Amaysim's new international roaming packs as I prefer to minimise leisure travel overheads

  • 

    Pat Rick on 07/04/2023 - 13:18

    Thanks!

    In summary, you're saying it's best to do pre-paid, and on a once-a-year event to get it cheapest.

    I'm a bit confused on the roaming still, did you mean you have a roaming add-on to your Amaysim pre-paid long expiry plan?

    • 

      sumyungguy on 07/04/2023 - 13:19

      I got 60GB 365d Amaysim for $60 less $10.50 cashback in November 2022 (Black Friday) and they just introduced add-on roaming packs that last for 365 days

      • 

        Pat Rick on 07/04/2023 - 13:28

        Thanks, that's great information.

        Would you happen to know whether the add-on roaming packages are unique to providers? e.g. Amaysim offers add-on roaming while Belong doesn't

        • 

          sumyungguy on 07/04/2023 - 13:35

          @Pat Rick: Absolutely unique. You'll find Kogan occasionally offers great 2x sim deals, but their roaming packs are a bit pricey. There was a two-for-one offer in early March

          • 

            Pat Rick on 07/04/2023 - 17:04

            -1

            @sumyungguy: Thanks, I had a look and that Kogan 2 for 1 offer was such a steal.

            Trying to explore Telstra as our network first, see if it makes a difference.

• 

  Neoika on 07/04/2023 - 12:51

  +2

  upgrading everyone from Vodafone into Telstra network coverage

  It may not suit everyone as location, daily routine, etc. are different. Use a short term service to compare before hop onto a long term service.

  • 

    Pat Rick on 07/04/2023 - 13:10

    Thanks for the suggestion. You're right, and I should experiment on a shorter term service first.

    Intuitively, I feel we would be well covered, as we live in the Melbourne CBD, and work in metro areas.

    Would you recommendation mean, we still switch over to Boost / WW, but going on a short term (e.g. 28 day) plan before transitioning into a long term (365 day) plan.

• 

  huntress_love on 07/04/2023 - 13:09

  +1

  Just get half price belong sim then drop down to the $19 and buy data for 5cent per gb.

  As your $300+$200+$200 averages down to about $19 months.

  It's postpaid so won't lose your number, but down side still paying monthly when not in use.

  Where's as prepaid gives you 4 to 6 months just to receive calls after your recharge runs out and just recharge a small amount to renew that time again.

  It really depends on how much data your use as the main factor.

  If you know you are not going to use it for a long while, just transfer your number to free boost sim and you'll still get the 6 months to receive calls after the first month.

  Like I said the benefit with belong is cheap data. Where boost and Woolworth data cost a lot more even if you can buy a data transfer.

  Hope is helps.

  Personally I sim hop so effective free mobile, but not for everyone.

  • 

    Pat Rick on 07/04/2023 - 13:26

    Hello,

    You're coming from a lowest per GB / sim hopping point of view. I don't believe that's something I am looking to do right now.

    Noted on the

    • Prepaid allows me 4 - 6 months after recharge runs out to still receive calls and messages
    • Could you please show me a few screenshots of the mobile data price per gb, I assume it's internal to Belong app or once logged in, not publicly shown on their website (https://www.belong.com.au/go/mobile)
    • 

      huntress_love on 07/04/2023 - 23:04

      You buy belong data transfer on here or on eBay easily. I just sold a large amount of belong data using the classified on here at 5cents per gb. Sold 900gb for $45.

      Belong data bank don't expiry at long as you are with them on the monthly plan.

      Not sure if there's a limit, had over 3000gb on my account at one point.

• 

  payless69 on 07/04/2023 - 14:07

  +1

  If Voda worked at your place just put everybody onto Kogan?

  • 

    Pat Rick on 07/04/2023 - 16:59

    Thanks for the recommendation.

    I believe Telstra would be a better network overall, considering it has higher coverage. I was made aware that it might not be true all the time, so the current thought is to get a Boost sim for 1 month to try out, see if there's worse coverage in my area for Telstra as compared to Vodafone.

    • 

      payless69 on 07/04/2023 - 19:21

      In the bush everybody needs to be with the national carrier. They are just clogged with users. I tried Optus from the day when it came out and also made extensive Vodafone tests. Few users can also mean full data flow. We drove from Cairns to Hobart in 2008 using a Voda vno called GRL mobile. Substituting with Optus was not good enough, so a Telstra prepay covered most holes. But between Lakes Entrance and Cairns on way back the maps were loading faster on the Voda service. Now I still use all 3 carriers and have had my fibre off for over 2 years. Doing a few shares means redundancy is more important than the pride of the big one. Once kids come home from school all the networks feel the heavy loads.

• 

  USER DC on 07/04/2023 - 14:36

  +2

  Dont worry kid in 1-2 years you'll be a sim slutting pro and gain money by using sim services (given the knowledge of OZbargain mindset strike you in head)

  • 

    Pat Rick on 07/04/2023 - 17:00

    That's something I can aspire to be, but not currently.

    I'm just looking out for better alternatives for people I manage for. Personally don't think I will get to the sim slutting level, as the effort required to save ~10-20$/m would be not worth it for me.

    • 

      payless69 on 07/04/2023 - 19:28

      When Optus digital came out the they sold $30 startup kits for $25. Every month I bought a new kit and it took them 18 months to find out. Then they started to scream at me. But my theory has not changed, if you can't beat stupid then just join and profit along. Never tried Boost but some here actually make a living on Boost cashback. Less dirty than collecting empty cans for the deposit.

• 

  dude777 on 08/04/2023 - 10:43

  +1

  I've switched from Telstra post paid about 3 years ago from this deal
  https://www.ozbargain.com.au/node/349016

  Never looked back when Boost released their 12m plans. I have switched to Telstra prepaid long life plan for 5G (but then Boost offered it), but it was not worth it and going back to Boost soon.

  1. Possible downsides for switching postpaid into prepaid?
  2. Will there be any complexities in "porting" over Vodafone to Boost / WW?
  3. How are the Boost & WW mobile customer service like?
  4. How would roaming on a prepaid SIM work?
  5. Might sound silly, I am unsure whether a prepaid Boost would work the same as a postpaid Vodafone whilst roaming overseas.
     e.g. I was overseas 1 month continuously this year, and would occasionally need OTPs, I get charged 5$/day for roaming but I will get the OTP when required. Will there be something similar on a prepaid?
  6. My irrational fear is prepaid would leave me out to dry the second I am not in Australia as I am unable to control the duration I am required to be overseas within any given year.
  7. How do we renew a long expiry prepaid plan?
     e.g. I activate a 365 day Boost plan (7/APR/23), on (6/APR/24) what will my renewal options look like?

  1. I haven't seen any downsides. There have been some posts saying that Telstra provide tiered services to their customers. i.e. Business gets highest priority, then post paid customers, prepaid customers and other MVNOs.
  2. Should be none AFAIK. Only issue is porting from Telstra to Boost where you need a specific blank sim, but not sure if that is still a thing.
  3. Haven't experienced either customer service so no comment on this. Everything seemed to work well on my end with Boost and no issues so no need to contact them.
  4. Depends on how you want to do while roaming. If you only want to receive an OTP, then you won't need roaming. Many posts have indicated that you can use VoWiFi and use your phone as if you were in Aus as long as you're connected to WiFi. I have tested this myself on Telstra and it works as intended. I received an OTP from CitiBank while I was connected to WiFi and have also tested calling someone in Aus with no problems. I did find that if you have a dual sim phone, the data working off a secondary local sim to use VoLTE/VoWiFi alongside my Telstra sim does not work - so only WiFi. I have tried Optus too and that did not work while overseas but was able to receive SMS messages only. My regret is that I didn't thoroughly test it with a VPN to see if it was geolocked (for calling) or if the SMS was for OTP as well (just incase it was iMessages - sorry phone was not mine when testing).
  5. I personally have not opted for roaming so can't comment on it as it was much cheaper to get a local sim. Also getting OTP was only required when I needed to pay for something online, in which I used my laptop on WiFi and my phone being connected on WiFi allowed me to use my phone as usual as if I was in Aus.
     Check out https://www.ozbargain.com.au/node/763686 if you want more information on receiving OTP as there is a discussion on what works.
  6. I'm in the process of churning over to Boost, but I'm sure that they have an app that you can recharge directly. I don't think that it would be an issue for you but I have not tested this.
  7. Recharge on the day that you need it through the app or purchase a voucher from a local retailer. I'd generally recommend doing it on the day after your example i.e. 7/APR/24 so that you can still use the data etc on the 6th and recharge the next day to refresh everything. No rollover which sucks, but if it's enough data for you then there should not be a problem.

  As others have suggested, best to test each provider and see if it meets your needs with reception. Personally, if I were you, I'd set the 3 plans to different networks for some form of redundancy. I do the same for my wife (shes on Optus). We're mostly together when we go on trips, so not too worried about calling each other, but when 1 person has terrible reception, the other can generally get by. Each to their own but you may find that you want better reception in areas that you're regularly in over some form of redundancy.

  Hope this helps.

  • 

    Pat Rick on 08/04/2023 - 15:39

    Thank you for the very well written answers to all my question.

    Your suggestion on being on multiple networks sounds great, and possibly something i'll look into. Maybe 2x Telstra, 1x Optus network instead of all being on Telstra network and getting no reception when required.

• 

  md333 on 08/04/2023 - 14:21

  +1

  I've been using Boost prepaid for years and very happy with it.
  You can receive SMS overseas on Boost without buying a roaming pack. This suits me fine usually better off getting a local sim for data and calls and sending messages, but the recieved sms does the job for one time pins, and if anyone is trying to contact you on the Aust number you should get a message to text through.

  If you do need roaming data you need to buy a roaming pack, which is kind of expensive, but still cheaper than $5 per day if you need more than 4 days.

  The long expiry plans are great for people me who are mostly on wifi and only use a lot of data occasionally, eg I probably use under 1GB in an average month, which means I have 70GB a month available the 2 months I go away from home.

  Main downside is they still don't have esims. I actually switched to Telstra prepaid for a month recently for an overseas trip so I could keep the esm for recieving sms while using a local sim. Also better rates for roaming packs than Boost. Just happened to go overseas as my 12 month plan was expiring, so worked well to switch for a month then come back to a Boost 12month plan.

  • 

    Pat Rick on 08/04/2023 - 15:40

    Hello, thanks for the confirmation on receiving SMS overseas! Eases my mind.