Optus $2 Days prepaid plans have been around in various forms since 2010. The plans were recently updated to include access to Optus’ 4G network, and in their current form might represent the best-value prepaid deal for data-heavy Optus customers.
Here’s how the plans work. As with any prepaid plan, you pay up-front for credit. You can recharge with $10, $20, $30, $40, $50, $70 or $100. Credit expiry periods match the dollar value of the plan (so a $10 recharge will expire after 10 days).
On any day where you use your phone, you’re immediately charged $2, but you can make unlimited calls and texts to Australian numbers until the end of the day. You also have 500MB of data on offer. All of that is covered in the single $2 daily fee.
If you don’t use your phone at all for outgoing calls or data, then you’re not charged anything. Note, however, that to take advantage of this you would have to make sure push mail and any other services were switched off — even a single data download will incur the fee. On modern smartphones, this seems a fiddly way to operate, and it’s probably safer to assume you will use the credit every day. (The day is calculated from midnight Sydney time, which might make life slightly trickier in other timezones if you’re hoping to have occasional ‘free’ days.)
Calls to international or special rate numbers are charged directly against your credit. If you exceed 500MB of data in a day (not impossible, especially if you’re tethering), you’re charged an additional $2 and given another 500MB. If you use all that as well, you’re cut off entirely for data access until the next day begins. (Using 1GB a day on your phone seems unlikely unless it’s your sole source of net access).
Because of the $2 a day charge, you’re very unlikely to reach the expiry date ($10 credit has a 10-day expiry but will only last five days if you use it every day). If you recharge before expiry, existing credit rolls over.
What this means is that over a 30-day period, you would have 15GB of data plus unlimited calls and texts for a cost of $60. There’s no other plan on the market offering that volume of data on a 4G connection, prepaid or postpaid.
In our recent roundup of the best prepaid plan on each Australian network, we picked Amaysim as the best option using the Optus network. Amaysim’s unlimited plan costs a fixed $39.90 a month and offers 4GB of data plus unlimited Australian calls and texts, but doesn’t offer 4G.
If 4G access on Optus matters to you and you’re sure you’ll need more than 4GB of data, then $2 Days is the clear choice (and a better value option than the Live Connected option we recommended when originally assembling that article). That said, if you’re not going to use 4GB of data, or don’t often have access to 4G coverage, paying the extra $20 a month doesn’t seem particularly worth it. As ever, your own usage patterns are your final guide.
Comments
10 responses to “Optus $2 Days Now Offers 4G, Is Optus’ Best Prepaid Deal”
I’m sure they’ll pick up on this soon enough, and cap the data allowance over an X day period. But it is nice that it is available for the moment.
I miss the good old unlimited as optus 2 dollar days is my only source of internet access :”(
I’m still on this plan and good ol’ Optus has totally murdered it.
the 3g that I am served up is at a far lower grade and speed than anyone on an Optus plan with 3G, not to mention it constantly drops out, while an Optus phone on a different plan in the same place will have full reception.
This is crap..!!!! Now Optus is gona loose money..!! Cause of this one stupid move..!!! Now I got limit my network time.. It’s BULLSHIT I tell ya..!!!!
bullshit, Optus is just being less greedy, Its us 2$ day people not costing the network but generating a vast profit overhead, to pay for the software keys to increase the backchannel data link and user count on the boxes at the base of the tower
Yep. Thats right, software licencing fees that are where the expenses are. Its a very smart move, the more that pay a premium to be heavy users off their mobile, the better off optus is, and the faster the network coverage will be upgraded to 4g for everyone else.
Two Dollar plan how many G of internet
$2/day = 500MB/day and an extra $2 if you go over the 500MB limit!
They changed it because of the people abusing it and using it as primary internet. It is a pre paid mobile plan not a home internet download all you want. Fair use applies. So thanks for ruining it for the rest of us.
can someone activate my optus prepaid? 🙂 willing to pay a small amount here. please? thanks
I have the $2 a day unlimited pre paid sim still. It’s so nice. Last week a mate cane down and we downloaded 250 GB of movies in 1 night. Freedom is awesome
Im still on the $2plan. Unlimited calls,text& most importantly unlimited DATA. I’m so glad i still have it all i do is download movies…lol.
I saw on Gumtree some guy trying to sell his old but active $2 Sim for $400 “CRAZY”
I have 2 dollar days and since optus has gone 4g we have lost so much in coverage drop outs are very common occurrence and some areas have lost coverage all together now there is talk of 5g network which will see us loosing a lot more in service and coverage as we have to pay a fixed rate we should have continuous coverage and no drop outs but get this we still get charged 2 dollars a day wether we use our phone or not