These are the only cheap long expiry options left from Optus MVNOs, with amaysim and Coles increasing prices significantly. Catch has still not increased prices so secure a plan before they do. Combine with 3.2% cashback from Cashrewards or 5% from Topcashback.
Recharges at $120 60GB, $150 120GB and $200 200GB.
anyone know how long you have before you have to activate?
Catch connect allows 2 years, but in the meantime the plan could change. A while ago there was a glitch and got 1 year plans for $30 and bought 3 sims which I activated over the 2 years.
I found this in the T&Cs from here (https://www.catch.com.au/event/catch-mobile-plans-88137/prod…)
Terms and conditions
You must activate your chosen prepaid plan on catchconnect.com.au or on the Catch Connect App within 30 days of purchase or by the date advertised on the promotion (whichever is earlier). Additionally, you must activate your Catch Connect SIM card within 24 months of purchase, otherwise the SIM card will be cancelled and any credit associated with it will be forfeited. Not transferable or redeemable for cash. You must be aged at least 14 years to purchase a prepaid service with Catch Connect.
Yeah it's not clear. If you check previous deals and search for finder.com some say 30 days and some say 365 days. The Vodafone deal on the other hand explicitly mentions you have 365 days to activate. 🤷
Click on More info. States:
Activate SIM within 30 days of purchase, or by the date advertised in a promotion, whichever is earlier, to receive advertised inclusions
But then, there are no "inclusions", just a discount on price.
I spoke with the Customer Service and they said I could activate within a year.
I also spoke to a CS rep today, and they also confirmed there is a 1-year period for activation
So where’s the deal? This is the normal price.
I think OP is saying the deal is they haven't increased prices where most of the other optus resellers have (or as I have found have run out of stock where they had deals). Actually I'm glad OP posted as I'd not seen they had 365 plans as they'd be promoting their 90 day deal recently.
Unfortunately, this is very much a deal as of 2 days ago… when pretty much all older existing plan offers expired.
For the 365 days, Woolies had already switched to $170, Coles were at $120 (no specials) and have just jumped to $195, Kogan is at the old standard $120 (no specials), etc.
In a bid to make extract more money, it seems like the telcos are pushing prices up, but giving more data to try justify it.
I've just switched my kid's plans over to Aldi PAYG. They weren't really even using their $10p/m worth on these older 365 day plans.
I'm struggling with the PAYG cost of data that was hiked up last year (I think its like a massive 6c/MB now). Costing us $10/day in credit for the kids just using google maps/PTV and messages so its no longer viable for us.
I cannot find anything decent to switch to.
I also just got off chat with Catch Connect. Seems there is a dimension we're forgotting here when comparing options.
Catch is a vanilla service, its basically a no frills plan with little in terms of support around it. They do not support things like name change or phone number change. For kids plans name change is something that will need to be done once they are allowed to own their own numbers. Mobile number change etc is something that is occasionally done and again its not possible with them. They also do not support data roll over and their usage reports apparently don't show daily use or much more.
So its very basic.. which might be fine for most, but also means can be difficult to identify issues or make changes. I recall my last dreaded experience with aldimobile when their service is incorrectly calculating data and how difficult that was to demonstrate given their terrible usage tools.
Anyway catch said if I need to do a name change or number change I have to port out to another provider, change it then, then port back. Painful.. (though given they have no data rollover probably not as bad as you'd time it to the end of the recharge)
For $119 for 120GB vs say $170 on the woolies service.. I'm not sure I'm saving enough dollars to go catch.. I wish there was site that had more details on the specifics of the service, looks like all information out there just focuses on how much included data, what network, and cost of calls and not a lot more.
$119 and if you run out of data, you do without, or pay for it yourself. It's a learning opportunity. When they come of age to have their own mobile number, switch temporarily to a provider that does that.
tks, leaving amaysim!
Did the same. Literally took 1 min to port… No kidding.
I ported from Kogan it said allow 3 business days but it was pretty much instant.
I'm sure this has been asked elsewhere, but can't seem to find the answer with this plans….
Can you use all the data up in one go? Can you lock/restrict it to a certain amount a month? Just considering it for a teenager who might not realise how much data they chew through!
Most smartphones these days have a setting to cap data usage at a certain point, i.e., 20GB a month. Check your handset settings.
Outside of this, generally no. It's more of an incentive for them if you use all your data so you can top up before the expiry so they earn more from the plan.
from the terms and conditions:
All data allowance is applied upfront after $119 payment and SIM activation.
if you need that, wait for a deal on Kogan Mobile deals. https://www.koganmobile.com.au/
The 200, 300 and 500GB plans have the option to split the data into 30 day intervals. OK as long as the teenager stays in major cities.
kogan has no data rollover which might be a deal breaker for some
Lebara 365 day plans break the data up into monthly blocks. (As others have said, Catch is just one big block).
Wish they have esim enabled :(
Felix Mobile has unlimited data capped at 20MB/s (works perfectly fine with a portable hotspot/modem) at $35 a month from memory, eSim compatible.
$40 now
Cheapest long term expiry prepaid plan, with 5G? Is it Woolworths? I’ve used Kogan and Lebara before and both were bad reception in Melbourne.
No 5G with Woolworths
Ok thank you. I thought they had it. Who would be next cheapest then with 5G?
5% with TopCashback, I haven't had any tracking issues with them since I started clicking through twice when switching between cashback sites.
Does anyone know whether you can receive SMS while overseas (eg for OTP) with Catch, without purchasing a roaming pack?
And can anyone confirm whether they have VoLTE and VoWIFI?
I have wifi calling, not sure about volte but I assume so if wifi calling works.
Yeah, they've had VoLTE for ages now. I guess I don't have VoWifi on because I've never seen that.
I was testing this out with another person who travelled overseas. They had an Australian SIM without a roaming package as well as a simsdirect eSIM for data only for use in the country they were travelling in. SMS arrived fine.
Then one day, the data limit setting on their phone was set too low and stopped the data on the eSIM while they were out and about. SMS never went through when there was no mobile data available on their phone.
I'm guessing that a data connection is required in order to receive the SMS but I could be wrong and there was some other factor.
yeah i think i read somewhere the phone must be connected to some kind of data provider, can be just hotel wifi, or mcdonnal wifi, or even better second sim like your friend. then sms from australia will arrive, for free
I have received SMS and calls while overseas without a roaming pack. Not sure about VoLTE or VoWIFI.
Sharing my experience as I was just recently overseas and I have Catch. If the sim is active whilst overseas, then you can receive SMS without a problem and without any fee. There are charges for sending SMS though. Just make sure to turn off data roaming.
Also VoLTE and VoWiFi are both enabled if supported by your device.
Thanks OP. I'm currently with Coles and Amaysim, can I port directly into this? Or have to go Telstra/boost or Vodafone first?
Can port directly. It was instantaneous the fastest I've ever seen.
These are the only cheap long expiry options left from Optus MVNOs
Not so. According to this comment, Amaysim still have their $60 yearly plan available, which is only visible if you're a customer of theirs: https://www.ozbargain.com.au/comment/14910044/redir
The comment says unlimited calls and SMS, but data is PAYG, $10 per GB, and the data expires when your annual plan expires. So only economical for people who use negligible mobile data.
So if you're not already an Amaysim customer, presumably you can sign up to one of their short-term plans and change over when it runs out. Or even use their $10 PAYG plan if you want to go straight onto the $60 annual plan, but you'll lose the $10.
Ah great, never knew about this. Coles have the *Amaysim $30 starter pack for $12. Loaded the first month with PAYG, went into the payment plans and confirmed the $60 is available as one of the options!
Currently with catch any suggestions best way to port out and in to this deal?
If you turn on auto-renewal in your account they usually offer you a 25% off the renewal price, which will price it down to these sale prices.
Oh, I thought you had to turn auto-renewal off to get the offer.
i think off is the right one
True, make sure to have auto-renewal off. And then in the last month they seem to offer it that if you turn auto renewal back on they'll renew it at 25% off.
When will they offer it? The 12th month?
Do these SIM work in a router ?
Yes.
hmm i feel the next plan up is better $120 for 120GB you know just in case… peace of mind for $20 a year seems worth
but then may just go with kogan, same $120 120GB they have esim but sadly same as catch, no international
The kid's existing 365 day plans were due to expire end of Jan, but I missed the $89 Catch deal.
So instead, I've just gone with Aldi PAYG this time. They're not even using $10 worth per month, so I figure we'll give it a try and see how they go.
6c / MB. So if they use 1 GB in a month thats $60. I find it hard to keep my son under 10GB a month.
Depends on their age I guess.
If they're high school age and using FB, Insta, TT, etc. (and online gaming for the boys) all the time, then I guess it'd be pretty easy to rack up the data. Mine are younger, only use Msgr, WhatsApp, etc. and will generally try bounce off a wifi or hotspot.
My son only used about 20GB of his Coles plan last year (and even less for my daughter). I've told him to keep his gaming for home, or maybe in the car hotspotting some times.
Not a bad price.
Is there any cheaper 12 month plan?
As it's for an emergency phone 5GB of data will be plenty.
see above comment from RUSS
Thanks but I also need some data for to share real-time location.
That $60 plan doesn't include data.
I'm not sure how much data is used for Google Maps share real-time location. I don't think it's much but now sure.
I may look at getting getting an Aldi PAYG SIM, credit lasts 12 months but charges 15c per min per call and 6c per MB.
A $60 plan with 5G will be perfect. Otherwise, may just stump up for this plan.
Google Maps is said to only use approx. 2-3MB per hour.
Amaysim still seems to be the better option if you need international calls to the included countries
how much?
This deal: https://www.ozbargain.com.au/node/825170
$115 after consideration of everyday rewards points
thanks bought that
if someone is currently with Optus directly, can they transfer number to this one with CatchConnect?
I asked this question as I'm currently with Coles, and the Catch service rep says Optus to CatchConnect should have no issues. I took the plunge and bought 2x (two mobile numbers), but I'd still say YMMV.
Yes, numbers can usually be ported if you change retailer.
Yep found these plans last week after Coles gave me 2 days notice that my 12 month plan was expiring (quite intentional).
So now leaving Coles Mobile after 3 years. Not putting up with these price hikes and crappy cust service.
DO these guys charge to port out your number if you choose to move? With Circle jacking up their prices from the start of April, its time to find another solution for my kids phones. Extra $5 a month for only extra 1 gb of data. No thanks.
Not sure, but I'm in the same boat, am on the $10 Circles plan. Thinking of going with Kogan $120/year with 120GB. Works out to ~$10/mo. Or TPG $10/mo 12GB, then switch again in 6 months time.
Hmm my current plan (not catch) ends in 27 Feb.. I think I have to go with this… I don't want to gamble my main number with monthly Sim hopping (boost to xxx to boost to xxx)