Telstra Prepaid Plan Review & Comparison

Telstra’s prepaid plans’ best feature is their unique content and ‘data vault’. Telstra’s pricing and network coverage plus their recent preparedness to offer sign up special deals mean they have to be in the mix when you’re comparing plans.

• Telstra offers some unique entertainment options (streamed voice and video) and some other value-added services to its prepaid range, but recently announced some entertainment options will be moved to Kayo.
  • Telstra prepaid will be right for you if you like those entertainment options.
• To be sure you’re getting the best value for data, make sure you first compare with Telstra’s SIM Only plans.
• Then compare with Belong Mobile, and Boost Mobile, the major alternatives to Telstra.
  • Both Belong Mobile and Boost Mobile use the Telstra Mobile Network.
• Telstra’s prepaid plans used to offer better value than their postpaid SIM Only deals.
  • However, the opposite is now true.
  • And their postpaid plans are now month-to-month as well.

Telstra’s plans and positioning placed them at the top of our telco value pyramid since 2014. In essence, going with a big phone company like Telstra means you’ll get a bunch of value-adds provided ‘free’ on top of the prepaid plan they give you. If these value-adds are of no use to you, however, then you may well have been better off choosing a core plan from an alternative SIM Only or prepaid provider.

However, keep in mind that Telstra recently announced a major shift in its sport entertainment, which we will cover in this article. Also keep in mind that Telstra and TPG Telecom have agreed to share their mobile networks, which could boost Telstra’s coverage even more if the deal is approved.

Telstra’s voice, minutes and data inclusions are well understood. You might be less familiar with the following important aspects of Telstra’s prepaid product range.

• Telstra’s prepaid video entertainment options takes a step back :
  Entertainment has become a part of phone plans now. Telstra’s prepaid plans and Optus include access to zero-rated sports programming. However, Telstra recently announced that sports streaming will be moved to Kayo Sports for a fee, as opposed to Telstra’s app for free. Prior to this announcement, if you’re into sports, Telstra’s sports inclusions was hugely valuable. For NRL, AFR, this single plan feature might have made Telstra worthy of their monthly prepaid spend. (Note: With any prepaid plan on which the user has a recharge value of $30 or more, they were able to use the Telstra app to watch the sport.) But the recent announcement takes away this valuable inclusion. However, Telstra’s customers will still be able to stream AFL and NRL games on Kayo Sports for a fee.
• Telstra prepaid streamed audio options:
  Optus and Telstra have quite different streamed audio offerings. Telstra has partnered with Apple. On some Telstra prepaid services, you can sign up with Telstra for a free 6 months Apple Music account. The ‘new aspect’ to Telstra’s support of this is that the data you use to stream the Apple Music service to your phone won’t come out of your plan. Optus partners with different streamed audio providers including iHeart Radio and Spotify.
• Other bonus Telstra features:
  Note, these are all available on Telstra Prepaid Plus. Not all of these features are available on all of their prepaid plans. Telstra also offers its users data banking, data free streaming of Apple Music and sports content, and Internet access through several hundred thousand “Telstra Air” WiFi Networks throughout the country (Which it sometimes offers free to everyone, anyway) and some Microsoft Onedrive cloud storage.

Telstra’s prepaid lineup offers everything from short expiry plans with 7-day expiry to normal expiry (28 days) and long expiry plans (up to 12 months expiry). Your prepaid plan’s “recharge expiry” refers to how long it lasts before you have to recharge, and long expiry plans last longer than a month and as much as a year before you have to recharge.

Unless you have a relatively unusual need for a long ‘expiry’ plan, or make a very small number of voice calls over a very long time, Telstra Prepaid Extra plans (their normal expiry lineup) are almost certainly going to be right for you. If you do have a requirement for a prepaid plan with a longer expiry period, see below for Telstra’s Long Life Plus offers.

Our own research shows that subscribers look for several factors when considering a phone plan. Among them are:

• Affordability;
• Network coverage;
• Reliability;
• Fair treatment;
• Quality customer service; and
• Innovation.

Of all these factors, we’ve found that subscribers, when looking into a phone plan, value fair treatment 3 times more than they do innovation.

What subscribers value.

Phone companies are now aware of this fact, and are responding accordingly. Telstra is no different, as they revamp their Telstra Pre-Paid Max plan with a number of fair inclusions:

• Increased core data inclusions;
• Expanded IDD (International Direct Dial) inclusions;
• Increased expiry dates;
• The addition of a ‘Data Bank.’ ( Also known as a ‘Data Vault’)
• Data-free streaming on Apple Music;
• Data-free sports streaming

Here’s more on Telstra’s approach.

Telstra’s phone plans already had some good features. Notably, the company has exclusive rights to sports leagues — notably the AFL (Australian Football League) and NRL (National Rugby League) among others — and allows its subscribers to stream this content for free.

The company continued to break records with this feature, with tens of thousands of subscribers streaming content at the same time during these sports events. For example, in 2019, the company recorded 1.2 million separate devices streaming AFL, NRL, and Netball games on a single weekend.

However, regardless of how great free sports streaming may be, it only targets a certain sector — males. For example, 60 percent of NRL viewers are male. Although a 40 percent viewership is not that bad as a target market, it leaves too many subscribers within a certain gender without much to look forward to in a phone plan.

Now though, Telstra has announced the removal of AFL and NRL sports games from their Live Pass, consistent with its new agreement with Foxtel. Now, to stream those content, you would have to do so on Foxtel’s streaming platform, Kayo Sports, for a fee.

Current Telstra Live Pass customers will get a Kayo Sports subscription at a discounted $5 per month to stream NRL and AFL games, and other Telstra customers will get the same for $15 per month. The move is not really surprising because last year, the NRL announced that it will block Telstra from streaming games for free on smartphones, beginning 2023. This latest agreement by Telstra and Foxtel seems to be the only viable solution to that upcoming block.

As stated, our survey on what subscribers find important while considering phone plans suggests that fairness comes first,  after the basics of price and reliability. There, we pointed out that subscribers see fairness as covering a broad range of issues. Two of the concerns were tailored towards data — specifically, refunding unused data and data management.

Another survey showed that over 20 percent of customers don’t trust their telco “at all”, and only less than 5 percent trust their telco “completely”. Trust and fairness go hand-in-hand, and watching your unused data disappear shakes trust and seems entirely unfair.

Consumer trust. Source

With Data Banking, Telstra allows you to keep your unused data as long as you recharge with at least $10. Your unused data rolls over to your next recharge cycle and beyond, up to 200GB that can be used after your plan data allowance expires. The data in your data vault never disappears or expires, so long as you keep your plan active and recharged. Unused data from data packs also go into your data bank.

Here’s a plus – if you ring Telstra, you’ll speak to an Aussie. This hasn’t been the case for several years after Telstra moved its call centres overseas. It became the norm for customers to speak with Telstra representatives who could barely understand the problem at hand, and customers lodged heavy complaints to Telstra as a result.

Thankfully, Telstra listened. The telco has now hired 2,000 Aussies and moved its call centres back to Australia. Not only that – they are now using a hybrid model that allows some support staff to work from home. This means that the next time you ring Telstra for support, you might even speak to someone in your neighborhood who understands exactly what the problem is.

Telstra launched its mobile 5G network commercially in 2019. Today, the telco’s 5G network covers 80% of the Australian population. However, only customers on postpaid plans have had access to the telco’s fifth-generation mobile network since its launch – that is, until now.

Telstra began 5G trials for prepaid customers on 30 May this year. To be eligible, just remain active on your prepaid plan by recharging when due. You’ll eventually receive an SMS from Telstra (if you haven’t already) informing you that your 5G trial has started.

The 5G trial ends 28 November, after which your prepaid plan will revert to 4G until Telstra decides how it plans to sell its 5G network to prepaid customers.

Telstra offer a $2 SIM Starter Kit with free delivery. It doesn’t include any recharge, so you’ll have to purchase a plan separately. However, Telstra also offer 5 other SIM Starter Kits that cost from $10 to $300. The amounts on these SIM Starter Kits are used to recharge your chosen prepaid plan. These kits usually come with some very attractive discounts on your plan recharge. Note that if you don’t use or recharge your SIM for 6 months, it will expire.

Telstra Long Life Plus plans are for unusual use cases. If you have a phone you keep in the glove box of your car for emergencies, if you receive the vast majority of your calls, then you might want one of these prepaid plans with extremely long expiry duration. Your plan’s expiry refers to how long your current recharge lasts until you need to recharge again. The most common plans have 20 or 30-day expiry periods, but long expiry plans last a lot longer — up to 365 days with Telstra.

Many phone companies have this sort of plan. We all upgrade our phones regularly (although the time between those upgrades is increasing all the time). Our own research on this site shows that the most common thing people do with their old phone is to put it in a drawer at home. It is in those phones squandered in drawers that Long Life SIMs are used.

• Sold in dollar values:
  As opposed to ‘Caps’, Long Expiry plans are purchased with a $ face value (e.g.$20) and then reasonable per minute call charges are deducted from that amount until the balance on the account is Zero.
• Data is expensive:
  In this plan, you will be charged 10 cents per MB. That’s $100+ per GB! This is the old way of charging for data.
• Telstra Prepaid Max is a better long expiry alternative:
  In our view, the overlap between the Long Life Prepaid plans offered by Telstra and the Prepaid Max range – which includes plans with a 35 and 42-day, 6 month and 12 month recharge ‘expiry’ period, is just plain confusing. Either plan will get you full access to the Telstra Network, and the Prepaid max 35 and 42-day, 6-month, and 12-month plans all come with allocated data allowances (20GB to 150GB) that make more sense than charging 10 cents per GB, as well as a 200GB Data Bank.

Telstra just revamped their postpaid lineup again, introducing a upfront postpaid plans. Their price range as the same as the previous lineup, and so are the data inclusions.

However, the upfront postpaid plans require you to pay first before your plan becomes active. In this sense, Telstra’s upfront postpaid plans are similar to prepaid plans, so it’s a good idea to keep them in mind if you’re in the market for an upfront plan.

Also, Telstra’s new upfront postpaid plans don’t require a credit check – much like prepaid plans. That’s because you have to have a credit / debit card or bank information on file, so that the telco can charge you automatically when due. That means no more waiting for your bill to arrive, and then having an additional 2 weeks to pay it off.

Although Telstra’s upfront postpaid plans are in the same price range and have the same data inclusions as the previous lineup, they have some new inclusions as well. Upfront plans include unlimited International SMS and MMS, along with 30 minutes International calls, and data share.

Both Telstra postpaid and prepaid customers can stream songs on Apple Music data-free (that is, without spending their plan data allowance). Note that you still have to purchase an Apple Music subscription, and downloads, video streaming and social interactions aren’t data free — you’ll use your data allowance for that.

Telstra also offer Extra Credit, which can be applied towards International voice and SMS, roaming, and premium SMS. Extra Credits can’t be used for calls and texts to Australian phone numbers and other uses within Australia, nor can they be used as PAYG data.

Prepaid has always been the lion’s share of the phone company’s sales. Despite the already enormous size of the prepaid market, the usage of prepaid services is increasing quickly. A number of factors are driving the increase in prepaid and other SIM only products, including Telstra’s. One of those factors is introductory offers. Including introductory offers, Telstra’s prepaid plans are often better value than more expensive postpaid alternatives, at lower price points on their own network. Also, the quality of the product is exactly the same.

As if often the case, Telstra’s Prepaid Plus plan is a better value than the nearest spend SIM Only plan. This is the case consistently across the major telcos – another reason not to write prepaid plans off before you consider them.

Telstra has addressed this data aspect of fairness with its inclusion of a data bank on its prepaid plans (their postpaid plans don’t offer this). Further, unlike Telstras free sports streaming content, data banks are even more fair because they benefit all subscribers — not just one sector.

But a significant advantage Telstra’s prepaid plans had over postpaid plans was their month-to-month nature vs their postpaid lengthy 12-month contract. Now, though, Telstra postpaid plans are also month-to-month, no lock-in contracts plans.

Telstra’s revamped inclusions are great, but they still face competition. The specifics of the data bank require that subscribers recharge with at least $10 prior to the plans expiry. Also, the $30, $40, and $50 plans require that the subscriber’s first recharge occur by 13 May, with all others by 31 October. The other plans lack this requirement, but all plans have a 200GB data bank cap.

Other telcos’ plans provide data banks with less stipulations, and for less money. For example, Belong Mobile offers unlimited data vaults on all its plans ($10 to $25), the data never expires, and the subscriber can transfer unused data to other Belong subscribers. Boost Mobile offer a similar ‘Data Rollover’ scheme.

Perhaps Telstra may eventually even match the competition – something that we thought might never happen.

A key change for Telstra in 2016 was the perception of their coverage. Following improvements in 2016, Optus and Vodafone’s networks are on a par with Telstra in cities. Independent research shows that all 3 networks cover a very similar proportion of the population with 4G speeds. If you live in or near a city, there really is very little reason to choose Telstra now. The case is different, however, in rural areas given Telstra’s expansive coverage footprint.

Telstra (cleverly) jealously guards their 3G /4G  network. It’s not even sold in its entirety through their network resellers.

There are around 2.5 million Australians who live in Rural Australia (that’s towns with less than 1000 inhabitants, and includes everyone from farmers to downsizing retirees who have moved from city areas). For them, Telstra could appear to be the only choice because of its strong 3G coverage.

Telstra has 2 national networks – its 3G and, separately, 4G networks. Whatever phone you have, it will work with the Telstra 3G network. The Telstra 3G network covers 98% of the Australian population. That’s 1.26 million square kilometers – a larger network footprint area than any other Australian phone company network. Their 4G network currently covers 90% of Australians with a 4G signal.

Just to make it clear, this does not call in to question what was said above. Telstra does cover some very rural parts of Australia. Those rural parts are very sparsely populated. But for people in the city – the vast majority of the country as a whole – Optus’ coverage is as good for them as Telstra’s. However, for those living in the coverage area that only Telstra services (usually with a 3G signal), there is no alternative.

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To add to all this, Telstra’s coverage could get even stronger in the coming months. Telstra just agreed to share mobile networks with TPG Telecom for 10 years. While TPG Telecom will experience significant boosts in coverage if the deal is approved by the ACCC, Telstra will also see some gains in coverage and bandwidth. That’s because TPG Telecom will grant Telstra access to part of their 4G and 5G networks, allowing them to install equipment on up to 169 TPG Telecom mobile sites.

Telstra’s network is provided with equal priority to both prepaid and postpaid customers. When the network stops working, it is most likely to stop working for both prepaid and postpaid customers at the same time.

Telstra suffered a series of embarrassing network outages in 2016. Despite efforts and a great deal of PR, the perception of their network as the most reliable in Australia has been sorely dented.

Thankfully, Telstra has now moved its call centres back to Australia. Although this doesn’t solve the issue of network outages, it ensures that you’ll speak to an Aussie who can empathise with your situation whenever you ring the telco.

There’s another negative — Telstra charge an unlocking fee for their devices. If  you have a Telstra device (handset, mobile broadband device, etc.) and you’d like to unlock it to use on other networks, Telstra will charge you some steep fees based on how long you’ve been activated:

• $80 if you never activated your device or had it activated for 6 months or less.
• $25 if activated for 6 months to 2 years.
• Free, only if activated over 2 years.

Telstra’s major competitors are well known in Australia

• Vodafone ‘MyMix’:
  Vodafone ‘MyMix’ plans allow you to tie together whatever combination of SMS, data, and voice you need. We think that the value Vodafone includes on these prepaid services is never as good as Kogan Mobile, which uses the same network. The international rates are simply not as good as those offered by Lebara Mobile, which, again, use exactly the same Vodafone 3G and 4G network. We also believe that the Vodafone MyMix plan configurator is complicated and an outdated concept. Yomojo, for example, does the same thing much better.
• Optus prepaid:
  Not only does Optus compete with Telstra extremely effectively on data inclusions at the moment, but we think Optus’ Streamed Audio offering is better than Telstra’s.

Outside the major phone companies, you will get a lot more for your money. We recommend you compare prepaid plans side by side.

Last updated on October 10th, 2024