The Best Mobile Plans for Entertainment

Superman Movie streaming on phone

Most of you these days don’t just see your Android or iPhone as a means of keeping in contact with friends and family far and wide at any time. One of the greatest uses you will have probably discovered is how it can entertain you. The telcos haven’t forgotten you when it comes to entertainment on the go as there are a variety of different plans available to suit your requirements.

There are several forms of entertainment available depending on your taste but the most popular are:

  • Video
  • Sports
  • Music

It’s not quite the same streaming video on a small smart phone screen, but the telcos have made it much easier than ever before. The thing that you do need to remember is that any type of entertainment can be quite expensive when it comes to the amount of GBs you are using to get your daily entertainment hit.

Streaming video attracts more GBs than streaming music, so you should decide before you pick a plan whether you want to keep your favourite tunes whirring round as you go about your daily routines or you prefer to use your data allowances for keeping in touch with the latest of one of the longest running soapies ever seen in the country and that’s Neighbours, which is nearly a quarter of a century old. There are the Netflix movies to consider in your entertainment plan as well.

Don’t forget the gigabytes for entertainment downloads

You will need to select a mobile plan which offers a generous data allowance. Typical use of data for the various entertainment options includes the following.

Music streaming is around:

  • 50 to 100 MB per hour

Video streaming is around:

  • 1GB per hour for SD
  • 3GB per hour HD
  • 7GB per hour for ultra HD

You will have to judge for yourself how much listening and viewing you can afford, or maybe it doesn’t really matter as you have a generous entertainment budget. The following are the best mobile plans for streaming video:

  • Optus $120 plan
  • Telstra Go Mobile Plus XXXL
  • Jeenee Mobile 30GB plan.

Optus is trying to get its fair share of the market by offering the best video streaming plan. Its $120 plan includes bundles that are free of data additional fees and lets the subscriber watch Stan, ABC iView streaming and Netflix at either a 10 dollar flat fee per month or no additional fees at all. With this plan you can only watch SD streaming and you must use a device that has been registered. This, in essence, means you can’t connect your registered smart phone for example to a larger TV screen. However, if you are on the bus, train or relaxing over lunch in a park, and as long as you have data coverage, you can watch Netflix on the move.

Jeenee’s budget option

SD streaming is by all means not the fastest but if that’s good enough for you Jeenee’s offers a budget choice that might suit you.

Telstra offers the best access

Its Go Mobile Plus XXXL plan is no doubt quite expensive but it does provide complete access to its 4GX network. This means you are less likely to experience any buffering as the speeds are the fastest offered by anyone throughout the country.

Netflix helps a little

If you can’t do without your movies on-the-go you can help reduce the data costs a little by taking advantage of Netflix offline playback which allows you to preload stuff you can’t do without onto your mobile device. Amazon Prime Video supports this feature as well. You can buy from both iTunes and Google Play your favourite movies and preload them onto your smart phone or other portable device and watch them when you choose at a later date.

Sports streaming

  • Optus $85 My Plan Plus
  • Telstra Go Mobile Plus M
  • OVO Mobile Extra Large.

Optus was the talk of the town back in August 2016 when it started to offer EPL to its customers new and old. The concern at the time was the fact it was monopolising one of our favourite sports when it got the rights to stream which used to be provided by Fox. You can use Optus’ dedicate sports app to watch the EPL in real time. If you buy the $85 My Plan Plus there is no extra monthly charge for Optus sport which includes EPL and cricket. For the cheaper plans the charge is $15 per month.

Telstra is not new to sports

Telstra has for some time offered the AFL footy pass and the NRL Live Pass which includes access to online streaming for Telstra subscribers on eligible plans. For NRL this includes live viewing of of the NRL Telstra Premiership matches, Auckland Nines, Kangaroo Tests and State of Origin. More recently its sports offerings have included National Basketball League and Netball Australia live matches.

OVO Mobile offers sports too

OVO has formed a close relationship with a number of sports content holders in Australia and now offers Drag Racing and Gymnastics Australia as well as free streaming of audio including radio channels from Triple M and Hit Radio.

Best plans for music streaming

These are:

  • Optus My Plan Plus contract plans
  • Telstra Go Mobile contract plans

Optus data free music

Optus does not offer free subscriptions, but it does offer a good service for music streaming which does not dig into your data quota. Virgin Mobile which operates off Optus infrastructure provides similar music streaming deals.

Telstra’s music subscriptions

If you take out a 24 month contract with Telstra you are eligible for an Apple Music subscription which does attract extra data costs but is for 6-months. It costs around $70 per month.

Summary

You certainly haven’t been forgotten by our communication providers if you want music, video or sports, wherever you are and whenever you want. Of course, any plan that attracts these live streaming options also includes lots of minutes, unlimited texts and sufficient data for essential browsing on-the-go.