Jiva Mobile Rates: Not As Bad As We’d Imagined

When iiNet announced its plans for bargain-priced sibling ISP brand Jiva last month, one of our biggest objections was that it wasn’t clear at the time how much you’d have to pay for mobile calls. That detail has now emerged ahead of the official full launch this week, and the news isn’t quite as bad as we had feared.

While Jiva promises unlimited broadband and calls to landlines in Australia, calls to mobiles are charged. The rate is 29 cents a minute plus a 39 cent flagfall, which is much lower than most standalone mobile plans. And there’s one additional useful detail: call costs are capped at $1.98 for up to 30 minutes. In other words, any call of between five and 30 minutes has a fixed cost. (That deal also applies to some international calls to popular destinations.)

As with anything related to phone plans, whether this makes it worthwhile for you depends on your usage patterns. If you’re a fan of making long-ish calls, then this could work out cheaper than most alternatives. If you make lots of frequent short calls, this will definitely cost you a lot more than $79 a month, and an unlimited mobile plan is likely to be better value.

The other potential issues we noted with Jiva (such as the 24-month contract) remain. If your chief concern is unlimited broadband, this is still an OK offer, but make sure you know what you’re signing up for.