Planhacker: All The Samsung Galaxy S5 Contract Deals (Updated)

Samsung’s Galaxy S5 goes on sale on 11 April, and you can place pre-orders from 9am on 27 March. Telstra, Optus, Virgin Mobile and Vodafone are all offering the phone on contract, but who has the best deal? We’ve rounded up all the offers.

Given Samsung’s dominance of the Android space, this is likely to be the biggest phone launch of the year. The most visible change is the fingerprint scanner. You can check out the full specifications for the device in Gizmodo’s overview. Here, we’re concentrating on the contract deals that are available.

We’re not huge fans of buying phones on contract, but given the expensive list price for the S5 — $929 is the official outright price. though Telstra is selling it for $912, though grey importers are likely to offer it a little cheaper — many people will choose that option.

In the table below, we’ve listed all the consumer plans that have been announced so far, including the monthly plan and handset costs, the total cost over the life of the contract, the amount of included data (in MB), the amount of call credit included and texting options. If you’re having trouble viewing the table on a mobile device, you can see it as a PDF here.

Carrier Plan cost Handset Contract Total Data (MB) Call credit Text
Optus $35.00 $26.00 24 $1,464.00 200 200 minutes Unlimited
Optus $50.00 $21.00 24 $1,704.00 500 450 minutes Unlimited
Optus $60.00 $16.00 24 $1,824.00 1500 600 minutes Unlimited
Optus $80.00 $11.00 24 $2,184.00 2000 800 minutes Unlimited
Optus $100.00 $7.00 24 $2,568.00 3000 Unlimited Unlimited
Telstra $55.00 $26.00 24 $1,944.00 500 $550.00 Unlimited
Telstra $70.00 $12.00 24 $1,968.00 1500 $700.00 Unlimited
Telstra $95.00 $6.00 24 $2,424.00 2500 $950.00 Unlimited
Telstra $130.00 $4.00 24 $3,216.00 3000 Unlimited Unlimited
Virgin Mobile $30.00 $27.00 24 $1,368.00 200 $200.00 From value
Virgin Mobile $40.00 $23.00 24 $1,512.00 500 $450.00 From value
Virgin Mobile $50.00 $18.00 24 $1,632.00 1000 $500.00 Unlimited
Virgin Mobile $60.00 $13.00 24 $1,752.00 1500 $700.00 Unlimited
Virgin Mobile $90.00 $3.00 24 $2,232.00 3000 Unlimited Unlimited
Virgin Mobile $140.00 $0.00 24 $3,360.00 6000 Unlimited Unlimited
Vodafone $30.00 $28.00 24 $1,392.00 200 $200.00 From value
Vodafone $40.00 $24.00 24 $1,536.00 500 $250.00 Unlimited
Vodafone $50.00 $19.00 24 $1,656.00 1000 $500.00 Unlimited
Vodafone $60.00 $44.00 12 $1,248.00 1500 $700.00 Unlimited
Vodafone $60.00 $14.00 24 $1,776.00 1500 $700.00 Unlimited
Vodafone $65.00 $42.00 12 $1,284.00 1500 Unlimited Unlimited
Vodafone $65.00 $14.00 24 $1,896.00 1500 Unlimited Unlimited
Vodafone $80.00 $36.00 12 $1,392.00 2500 Unlimited Unlimited
Vodafone $80.00 $4.00 24 $2,016.00 2500 Unlimited Unlimited
Vodafone $100.00 $26.00 12 $1,512.00 5000 Unlimited Unlimited
Vodafone $100.00 $0.00 24 $2,400.00 5000 Unlimited Unlimited

These are the regular prices. Optus is offering an extra 500MB of data on the $60 plan for customers who pre-order. Vodafone is offering to double data on all plans costing $60 a month or more until 1 July. Virgin Mobile is doubling data on the $60 and $90 plans for pre-orders. As ever, 12 month plans are only available through Vodafone, and are much more expensive. Cheaper plans have data allocations that are so small as to be meaningless, and some are fiscally insane (Telstra’s cheapest plan offers one-third of the data but costs essentially the same as the next one up).

Telstra and Optus are also offering the new Gear Fit wristband. Both have it for $10 a month if you also buy a phone on contract; Telstra sells it outright for $249; Optus has it for $240.

Which plan you choose will depend on a variety of factors. Reception matters, but you can’t automatically assume coverage from a given network even if your address is listed on a map. If you plan to switch networks, borrow a phone from a friend or relative on that network and see how it works for you.

Lifehacker’s weekly Planhacker column rounds up the best communication deals.


The Cheapest NBN 50 Plans

Here are the cheapest plans available for Australia’s most popular NBN speed tier.

At Lifehacker, we independently select and write about stuff we love and think you'll like too. We have affiliate and advertising partnerships, which means we may collect a share of sales or other compensation from the links on this page. BTW – prices are accurate and items in stock at the time of posting.

Comments


5 responses to “Planhacker: All The Samsung Galaxy S5 Contract Deals (Updated)”