The best 365 day prepaid plans available in Australia

There’s one type of prepaid plan low-usage customers like my Nan won’t give up without a fight, the trusty 365-day long expiry plan.

There was a time when the phrases long-expiry and great value would never be uttered in the same sentence. Typically, long-expiry plans would feature the minimum inclusions and were used more for receiving calls than making them (or parking a phone number), whereas prepaid plans with 30-day recharge cycles included more overall value.

When the weight of smartphone usage began to shift from calls and text to data usage, and background data became a consideration, many who had been comfortably plodding along on $150 to $200 per year began burning through that amount in a matter of days. But these days, you can hook yourself up with a long-expiry prepaid plan with plenty of data to keep you afloat in a sea of software updates and cute cat videos. Let’s take a look at the best long expiry prepaid plans available in Australia.

Best 365-day long expiry prepaid plan

Boost Mobile

If you’re after a long life prepaid plan with a 12-month expiry, then Boost is the best choice when it comes to coverage and data per dollar value. Since it uses the full Telstra network (rather than the smaller wholesale network), you should get decent reception in most pockets of Australia. If this plan doesn’t have enough data for you, Boost also offers an even larger 12-month expiry plan.

If you’re simply looking for the cheapest 365-day plan, you’ll find it at Coles for just $120 (or $99 if you nab it by 8 December). It runs on the Optus 4G Plus network and offers unlimited talk and text in Oz and unlimited international calls to 15 selected destinations.

Best 180-day long expiry prepaid plan

amaysim prepaid

If you don’t want to commit to the full 12 months, amaysim’s 6-month plan is the best value choice with 120GB data and $50 off if you sign up before the end of 2020.

If you’re only interested in the cheapest 180-day prepaid plan, Woolworths Mobile’s $60 plan is your best bet, with unlimited talk and text in Australia, data sharing and 10% off your grocery shop every second weekend of the month.

Best 90-day long expiry prepaid plan

Kogan Mobile

For those who prefer their plans to run for only 90 days at a time, Kogan Mobile offers the best value, with plans ranging from around $46.90 to $139.90 depending on your usage.

Here’s a look at all of Kogan’s long expiry plans:

Best long expiry on the Telstra network

Boost Mobile

We’ve chosen Boost’s 110GB plan for our best pick on the Telstra network. Although the data-for-dollar value is better on the 300GB plan (below), we think the $200 price-point will be easier to swallow for most.

More 365 day prepaid mobile plans

Want to see how our best picks compare to the rest? Here are a few more choices to measure up against.

Optus long expiry prepaid plans

Optus offers a huge variety of long expiry prepaid options but the majority of them don’t actually include any data and instead charge per MB used (which is deducted from your recharge amount). This is an archaic pricing model but Optus does have options for long expiry prepaid with included data. Here’s what’s on offer:

Vodafone long expiry prepaid plans

Like Optus, Vodafone still offers a selection of long expiry prepaid plans that charge by the MB. However, when it comes to long expiry prepaid, Pay As You Go is your only option with Vodafone. There are no long expiry prepaid plans with Vodafone if you want data inclusions with your recharge. Here are the Pay As You Go plans offered by Vodafone.

Telstra long expiry prepaid plans

As we mentioned up top, Telstra has some seriously good value prepaid plans that include an allotted amount of data to burn through. But if you or a family member have incredibly low smartphone usage habits, Telstra also offers similar Pay As You Go options to Optus and Vodafone. Here is Telstra’s current lineup of long expiry prepaid plans: