If you’re not thrilled by the fact that Boost Mobile is gearing up to raise mobile plan prices this year, then maybe it’s time to give them the boot. While the few extra gigabytes that the provider’s latest prepaid refresh will also bring with it are a nice consolation prize for sticking around, there’s no downside to looking for a better deal elsewhere.
If you’re after an alternative to the Boost Mobile plans already primed for a price hike, here’s a quick rundown on the latest lot of promotions going around for prepaid mobile plans on the Telstra network.
If your current prepaid plan of choice is the Boost Mobile $10 for 3GB 7-day, I’ve got some bad news. From the 4th of July this year, that plan is becoming the new Boost Mobile $12 for 5GB 7-day prepaid mobile plan. $2 isn’t a huge hike by any means, but it’ll add up quickly over the long term.
At the time of writing, the only other 7-day expiry plan available on the Telstra network is priced at $10 and it includes less data. However, if you’re less picky about the network then the Optus Flex Prepaid $7 Recharge plan might be the better buy. It’s not only cheaper, it includes a generous 7GB of data.
This plan also includes unlimited talk and text within Australia, up to 200GB of data rollover if you enable auto-recharge and 300 minutes of standard calls to 50 international destinations for an extra $1. Optus will even throw in the first seven days for free if you activate a new number for this service via eSIM.
The $20 Boost Mobile 5GB 28-day expiry prepaid plan is also going up by $2 and 2GB in July. Fortunately, if you want to spend $20 on a mobile plan, you can do much better than 5GB per month. Even if you’re keen to stick to providers using the Telstra network, there are plenty of good options. For the sake of convenience, we’ve rounded them up in the widget below.
Of course, it should be said that Boost Mobile customers do get access to the entire Telstra network (which Telstra says covers 99.4% of Australians) rather than the slightly-smaller Telstra Wholesale network (which only reaches 98.8% of Aussies) available to other Telstra MVNOs. That sounds like a pretty small difference, but for those located in a regional or rural area then that 0.6% might count for a lot.
Still, if you live in a relatively metropolitan area and are keen on something cheap, our go-to recommendation here is the Tangerine 10GB Mobile SIM-only plan.
Priced at $10 per month, this plan comes with 10GB of data. That’s double that of its Boost Mobile counterpart prior to the price increase. This plan also comes with many of the same perks here that you would usually find in more expensive phone plans, including unlimited local calls and texts, a 500GB data bank and 4G speeds of up to 100Mbps on the Telstra network.
You’ll also get the first two months of mobile coverage for free if you sign up before May 1, 2023.
Those on the Boost Mobile $200 for 130GB long-expiry plan are facing the biggest rise in cost across the provider’s roster, with the long-expiry plan rising by $30 from the 4th of July. If you don’t want to stretch your budget any further, here’s a quick rundown of some of the other long-expiry options available at the same price point.
Our pick of the lot here is the Catch Mobile 365-Day Plan as it is currently available at a reduced price.
This Catch Mobile plan comes with 200GB of data, which works out to be roughly 16GB for each month in the year. Like most of Catch Mobile’s prepaid options, it’s powered by the Optus 4G mobile network and comes with unlimited standard national talk & text.
One thing you won’t find here is any form of 5G connectivity. This plan also lacks any international or roaming inclusions. However, you can add 100 minutes of calls to 32 selected destinations for an extra $5 per month.
As mentioned, you’ll pay $150 rather than the usual $200 if you sign up before the 9th of May. That discount will stick around until the first recharge. At that point, you’ll revert to the usual rate.
Fergus Halliday is a journalist at WhistleOut, Australia’s phone and internet comparison website.