Got Telstra? Then you probably noticed that you couldn’t use your phone on Monday, and this probably made you cranky.
If you missed it, the Telstra mobile network suffered its third outage this month, following problems with the 4G network on May 1, and an outage of 000 emergency calls on May 4. This latest dropout took out 3G and 4G services nationwide and lasted for a few hours.
[referenced url=”https://www.lifehacker.com.au/2018/05/why-telstras-mobile-network-went-down/” thumb=”https://www.lifehacker.com.au/wp-content/uploads/sites/4/2018/01/telstra.jpg” title=”Why Telstra’s Mobile Network Went Down” excerpt=”Yesterday, thousands of Telstra customers were stranded without access to mobile voice or data for nearly five hours. It was the third outage affecting Telstra services this month. Now, the beleaguered telco has released a statement explaining what went wrong.”]
We all managed to survive the outage, and life goes on, but for some this latest fault will be the straw that broke the camel’s back. Telstra customers pay a premium for access to its network, and network reliability has been one of Telstra’s key selling points. But if the network isn’t actually more reliable, is it time to start saving some money?
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Optus Network Plans
Here’s a sample of 10GB BYO phone plans on the Optus 4G Plus network, and if you’re on a Telstra plan you will see the difference straight away. Right now, Telstra have a 15GB BYO plan for $49 per month on a 12-month contract. It’s a good price, but you can cut that in half with most of the options above.
It’s worth considering some of the extras you might get in a plan beyond just calls and data. Virgin Mobile’s SIM Only plans have data rollover and a few hundred dollars in international call credit, for example.
Vodafone Network Plans
If you’re a long-time Telstra customer it’s probably been a while since you’ve given serious thought to the idea of using the Vodafone network. But in that time, the network has gotten so much better, especially if you live in one of the major cities. Network monitoring app OpenSignal recently reported that Vodafone has the countries fastest average 4G speeds and the best average latency.
If this sounds good to you, then check out the Think Mobile plan in the plan above. That plan is one of the best value on any network right now, and if you need more data, Think has plans up to a huge 80GB for $48 per month.
Telstra Network Plans
Finally, you could choose a plan from one of the providers on the Telstra 4G network and save some money, though you might find that you get caught up in outages, like the one last Monday. Still, at least you wouldn’t be paying top dollar, which might make the downtime more palatable.
Joe Hanlon is Publisher at WhistleOut, Australia’s phone and internet comparison website. He’s been writing about phones and plans for far too long.