Optus has revamped its prepaid plan and given it a new branding, My Prepaid Monthly. We’re big fans of going prepaid, but is this particular deal worth signing up for? Planhacker investigates.
These are the inclusions on the new plans. All recharges last for 30 days and all plans include unlimited Australian texts. The “extra credit” can be used for international calls and premium services.
| Recharge | Call minutes | Data | Extra credit |
|---|---|---|---|
| $30 | 350 | 1500MB | $5 |
| $45 | Unlimited | 3000MB | $10 |
| $60 | Unlimited | 6000MB | $15 |
That’s certainly an improvement on Optus’ existing prepaid plans, with 500MB of extra data on the $30 plan and 1GB more on the other plans. The $30 deal also includes unlimited Australian calls on weekends. It’s also much more competitive than Optus-owned Virgin, which have miserable data allocations.
That said, you can still get more generous inclusions from other providers that use the Optus network. Jeenee Mobile offers 1.5GB of data and $500 in call credit for $25 — similar to Optus’ $30 offer, but $5 cheaper (though you do have to pay for all texts from your credit). Its $35 plan includes 3GB of data, unlimited Australian texts and $650 in call credit. Optus’ $45 plan has unlimited calls, but unless you’re a manic caller, that’s probably not worth $10 extra a month.
Optus’ $45 plan is now better value than the $45 plan from Vaya. Vaya’s $45 deal has $850 of credit and unlimited Australian texts, but only 2GB of data. Amaysim’s Unlimited plan has a generous glob of data — 5GB — and unlimited Australian calls and texts for $45 a month, but uses the older Optus 3G network. (That will change in April, but we don’t yet know what Amaysim will charge for 4G.)
The new Optus plans go on sale today, but will only be available until 19 April. After that, if you’re on My Prepaid Monthly, you’ll continue to get the added inclusions for your recharge, but new customers will only be able to pay for the less generous version.
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