Australia's Best Prepaid Plans With Long Expiry
- Set-and-forget your plan for up to 12 months
- Choose from 90, 180 or 365 days
- Get bigger savings and more data
- Potentially save up to 32%
Common questions about long expiry plans
What do long expiry plans work?
Long expiry plans are longer than the standard 28 or 30-day plans. Some might go for 3 months, 6 months or 12 months. You might get bigger savings on cost or more data than a month-to-month plan, but you will be locked in for a longer term.
How often do you have to recharge a long expiry plan?
Long expiry plans work the same way as month-to-month. Once the expiry date hits, you’ll be automatically recharged (depending on how your telco has set up its renewal process) or you’ll need to manually recharge via the telco’s app.
It’s a good idea to compare other plans before you recharge, since there may have been changes in what telcos are offering.
What alternatives are available to long expiry plans?
The main alternatives to Long Expiry Plans are 12 month plans. While 12 month plans are postpaid in nature, the longer commitment is common to both plan types.
Other alternatives include shorter agreements such as month to month SIM Only plans.
How often should I check my phone plan against the competition?
We ran some research recently which showed that most people check their phone plan less than once a year. If you’re one of these people, 12 month plans are great. They’re set and forget, at least until this time next year, you get more data and bonus extras in the plan and, you weren’t going to move phone companies anyway.
What are the best long expiry plans on the Telstra network?
Telstra and Boost offer the best long expiry plans on the Telstra network. Boost uses the entire Telstra network and is the only smaller telco with that privilege, so you’ll get full Telstra coverage and pay less.
What are the best long expiry plans on the Optus network?
Optus has long-expiry plans, but you might find Amaysim have better deals.
What are the best long expiry plans on the Vodafone network?
Vodafone and Kogan offer the best long expiry deals on the Vodafone network. You might get better value out of Kogan since it’s a smaller telco.
What is a ‘365 day expiry’ or 365 day prepaid term?
An ‘expiry period’ is simply the time for which your prepaid plan will work, without you paying any more money for it.
Some prepaid plans can now be bought 12 months in advance – that means they have a 365 day expiry period. Because you pay up front for the full year, your expiry period is 365 days. Don’t worry though, your voice, SMS and data allowances will renew every month.
What's good
- Yearly cost often works out cheaper than monthly plans
- No worries about recharging your plan each month
- Most plans have data banking
- Good for consistent data users
What's bad
- Will require a bigger upfront cost
- You can't cancel or change the plan before the expiry
- If you run out of data early you'll need to buy a new plan
How do prepaid long-expiry plans work in Australia?
Plans that go longer than the standard month can offer bigger savings per month compared to month-to-month plans. Long expiry plans are a type of plan contract that’s paid either upfront (prepaid) or after the contract is up (postpaid). They can go for 3, 6, 12 or even 18 months.
One notable difference about long term expiry plans is that you’re handed the data upfront to use as you want until the expiry date. That could suit you if you have some months where you use more data than others.
Long expiry plans used to be standard, until flexible month-to-month contracts came along. There are fewer telcos offering them, but the ones that do – like Boost – have competitive prices and some great perks.
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What about PAYG plans, are they long expiry as well?
Pay As You Go (PAYG) plans are more like old-school postpaid contracts. You pay a set amount of ‘credit’ on your phone and pay for what you use. When your credit runs out, you have the option of recharging. PAYG plans can have long expiries too, sometimes up to a year. They’re good for people who don’t use their phones much and just want to be able to make basic calls and texts.
The benefits of long expiry plans
- You won’t have to renew your plan so often. Since long-expiry plans are priced well, you can lock one in and avoid having to compare plans for a better deal every month. It’s also handy if you want to go overseas and keep your number safe for when you return.
- As a cost per month, long expiry plans stack up well.
Like many products, if you buy bulk you get a discount. It’s the same for long expiry plans. Because you’re buying a long-term plan upfront, you’ll get more bang for your buck. - You can meter out your data usage.
Most telcos have apps that show you how much data you have left, so you can change your data habits if you’re running low (or go on a mega-binge if you’ve got heaps left!).
The downsides of long expiry plans
- Long expiry plans cost more upfront.
Not everyone can afford to drop $100 to $300 on a year-long phone plan; you’ll need to decide if you can make the larger upfront payment to get the savings down the track. - There’s no flexibility to switch plans.
You won’t be able to change plans until your expiry date (unless you’re keen to pay for two plans at once). While that’s a good set-and-forget feature, it can also mean you can’t compare and switch to a better deal if you happen to find one, or need a particular perk like international minutes. - You can’t cancel once you’re locked in.
After you’ve paid for your long expiry plan you typically can’t cancel and get a refund for any remaining months.
Have eSIMs changed the game?
Prior to eSIMs you used to have to physically eject the SIM card from your phone. Now with the introduction of eSIMs you can literally swap SIMs with the press of a button.
If you do opt for a long expiry but find you need to swap to another SIM for more data, you can easily switch now. This way you can have your cake and eat it too!
The best 12 month long expiry SIM Only plans in Australia
12 month SIM Only contract plans are dis-proportionally popular among the people who shop and buy on this website. The reason isn’t hard to see. Pick the right 12 month SIM Only contract option and you can win yourself a huge data allowance – a data inclusion which will give you a monthly entitlement often twice what you will get for the same spend on a month to month agreement.
We often recommend prepaid plans, a different type of SIM Only agreement (in fact, you can read all about these different types in our prepaid vs postpaid vs month to month article ) 12 month agreement plans tend to include unlimited voice and SMS for use in Australia, some sophisticated SIM Only plan options like easier roaming, the ability to share data between plans, say, in a family and, these days, even streamed entertainment services to your phone.
They do, however, tie you in to a Minimum Total Cost (we explain that below) and focus on ‘upselling’ you to a higher price point than you might otherwise have spent with huge data inclusions.
We love long expiry SIM Only plans because they work in a way that people actually behave. Most people don’t have the time to check their phone plan more than once a year. This can expose buyers to data deflation.
Are there short expiry plans?
Who uses prepaid plans with a 7 day expiry?
The obvious answer is someone who is only in Australia for a few days. Choosing a 7 to 10 day plan if you are only in the country for that period makes a lot of sense. You are not paying out for the tie you are no longer in Oz, including calls you haven’t time to use, texts you will never make and data that you should have used up but never did.
Even if you are a visitor to Australia and intend to stay a lot longer than 7 to 10 days, a short expiry plan might be just what you want to get you connected straight away without committing any more money to a provider you find you don’t like. Let’s face it, trying to sort out exactly what the best deal is can take some time and it’s easy to get bogged down or waste money by choosing the worst deal at the beginning.
It doesn’t just have to be a foreign tourist or businessman. If you are an Australian and are returning home, you may still not be aware of what’s the best deal for you from what can seem a confusing mass of possibilities. Choosing a short term expiry plan is a smart option for exactly the same reasons as the visitor t the country.
Great prepaid plans with long expiry dates
Amaysim has long expiry plans with large data limits. It’s eSIM-compatible so you can activate your plan without having to wait for a SIM card in the mail or head to a store to buy one.
Boost has 3 levels of prepaid long expiry plans. It occasionally offers extras like bonus data that are worth keeping an eye on. Boost uses the full Telstra network, which means you’ll get the same coverage as Telstra itself (no other smaller provider can offer that).
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