Smartphone hunting season is upon us, with some of the year's best phones already in store, or soon to be released. The Galaxy S9 is awesome, and the Huawei P20 Pro, HTC U12 and the Sony XZ2 are all shaping up as worthy upgrades. But of course, a new phone is pretty useless without a SIM card inside.

Whenever a big new phone launches, telcos will try and woo you into a 24-month contract with glossy deals and big bonuses. However, if you're happy to buy the device outright, signing up for a SIM-only plan can save you a bunch of money in the long run. It can also score you way more data.

Looking to get your hands on the Samsung Galaxy S9? Or maybe you want to go hands-free around the house with Google Home or Amazon Echo? Whatever it is, chances are you’ll need to save a little cash to buy it.

There's never been a better time to unshackle yourself from your mobile contract and sign up to a prepaid plan. This holds true whether you're a penny pincher who's worried about bill shock, or a power user who wants tons of commitment-free data. Here are the best plans currently available for both types of user.

Samsung's latest smartphone hits the streets in a couple of weeks, and the telco websites have today lit up with pre-order offers. In fact, surprisingly generous offers in some cases. The telcos usually work hard to score new business around the time of a big new phone launch, but this time we're seeing a few new ideas.

This deal from Kogan Mobile is pretty insane. For a limited time, new customers can snag 32GB of mobile data to use over 30 days for just $7.90. That's an extra 16GB and a massive 74% off the usual asking price. The deal also includes unlimited standard calls and texts. Here are the details.

Do you remember the good old days when phone plans came with a free phone to use with them? A belt holster too, if you were lucky.

Well, if you were born after 1990 then you may not remember this. It’s been a while since we didn’t have to pay an extra handset fee on top of the plan price. Though if you look hard enough, there are still a few handsets you can nab for no extra payments on a two-year plan.

Most people have a pretty strong opinion about their telco. Some love their provider and wouldn't consider switching to a competitor, others hate certain telcos and will never do business with them again.

The problem with being rusted-on to a provider based on reputation is that you may never give thought to plan switching. You definitely should.

If you’re a phone lover, you may think prepaid is a dirty word; a term to describe the lowest rung of the phone-plan food chain. But this really isn’t the case anymore. We take a look at the best options for data, unlimited call and long expiry dates.

What a month it's been for phone fans. Apple's iPhone X hit stores at pretty much the same time as Google's new Pixel 2 handsets, the Samsung Galaxy Note8 came earlier a few weeks earlier, and let's not overlook the new LG V30+ or the Mate 10, probably Huawei's best phone to date.

While this makes for a formidable list of great smartphones, all eyes are on the iPhone X and the Pixel 2. Both phones are a window into how two of the world's biggest tech companies see smartphones today, and are two of the best phones of the year.

2017 is the year smartphones got really expensive. It's not like they were cheap before, but the iPhone X, Samsung Galaxy Note 8 and Pixel 2 XL will all set you back around $1500 - if not more. The top tier iPhone X configuration retails for a massive $1829.

Smartphone prices this high would have been hard to imagine a couple of years ago, and to be honest, I'm still pinching myself.

It's a truth universally acknowledged that everyone loves getting stuff for free. Unfortunately, there's no such thing as a free smartphone, no matter how alluring that "$0" handset repayment fee is. This is made abundantly clear when you compare a SIM-only plan to a 24-month contract, even before you factor in any handset repayments.

However, we tend to see the first plan where a carrier drops the handset repayment fee as a sort of tipping point. If you're paying a handset fee there's a chance you're paying too much for your phone. If you're paying $0 for the phone, you could be paying too much for data. Sometimes those first $0 handset repayment plans can be 'just right' if you're looking for the best value option.

Taking your hard-earned dollars away from one carrier and giving them to another instead is not a decision to be made lightly, no matter how much you've grown to loathe your current provider of cellular services. If you're thinking about switching carriers to take advantage of big deals for cool new phones, than here are some key checks and preparations to make before you commit to switching your allegiances.

Apple's new iPhones are now available on pre-sale from most Australian telcos. Here are the full range of plans for Telstra customers.

Apple's new iPhones are now available on pre-sale from most Australian telcos. Here are the full range of plans for Optus customers.

Apple's new iPhones go on pre-sale today from most Australian telcos. Here are the full range of plans for Virgin customers.

Last month, we challenged you to save money on your mobile phone bill by switching to a cheaper plan. This doesn't necessarily mean you have to switch carriers, though. You might be able to negotiate a better price with your current one.

The Samsung Galaxy Note8 will be romping into Aussie stores at the end of next month. So which telco has the best prices? Here are all the plans released thus far from Telstra, Vodafone, Virgin and Optus. (With more to come!)

Do you remember when Optus used to include unmetered social media data in plans? Back in the good old days when most of Facebook was text-based and videos were unheard of.