The best mobile phone plans in Australia (January 2022)

If you’re in the market for a new phone, there are a couple of categories on this page that’ll be of interest, whether you’re after an iPhone 13—which you can easily sub out for a Samsung Galaxy S21 or other Android phone—or a more affordable alternative with a great plan.

For those who aren’t in the market for a handset, the rest of these categories are for you, split across SIM Only and Prepaid options. Whatever you’re after, from cheap through to data-stuffed, scroll on for the best mobile plans available in Australia this month.

Circles.Life 100GB Monthly Plan at a glance:

• $30 initial monthly fee (first 6 months)
• $45 per month (normally)
• $450 first-year cost
• 100GB data
• Optus network
• Month-to-month plan

The yardstick plan by which all others are measured for this category is the Circles.Life 100GB Monthly Plan. Ever since it arrived on the scene, this plan forced telcos to compete on lower monthly costs with plenty of data. While there is a heftier Circles.Life plan these days, the Circles.Life 100GB Monthly Plan is once again our pick this month for the best mix of affordable monthly pricing and a big slice of data.

You can go with the Circles.Life 160GB Monthly Plan if you want the extra data, but whether you’re paying full price or promo price for the 100GB Monthly Plan, it’s still great SIM Only value. Get in by 1:00pm AEDT on 1 February 2022 with the ‘BONUS100’ promo code to pay a $30 initial monthly fee for the first six months (and $45 per month thereafter) as part of an extended promotional pricing offer.

Compare phone plans below from a daily updating list of popular SIM Only Plans that have at least 70GB of data.

Vodafone $45 Lite+ Plan at a glance:

• $101.20 per month
• $35 plan; $56.20 phone (iPhone 13 128GB)
• 80GB data
• 2Mbps speeds after full-speed cap
• 5G network access
• International calls
• 3 months of Amazon Music
• Vodafone network
• Month-to-month plan

The new iPhone is here, which means we’ve updated this category to reflect the base model you can pay off today with a Postpaid phone plan. That’s the iPhone 13 which, refreshingly, starts with a 128GB model instead of the 64GB entry-level storage of yesteryear. For this category, we try to keep the combined monthly cost of a plan with 24-month handset repayment terms close to $100.

Last month, Optus took out the top spot but Vodafone is back with a cheaper overall plan this month. Pair an iPhone 13 128GB smartphone with the Vodafone $45 Lite+ Plan and you’ll pay $101.20 per month on 24-month handset repayment terms. You’ll get 30GB of base data and 50GB of bonus data, and if you burn through that, speeds are capped at 2Mbps. This Vodafone plan also comes with 100 minutes of calls to 36 selected countries and three months of Amazon Music (valued at $35.97).

For comparison, check out the daily updating list of popular iPhone 13 128GB plans below that come with at least 10GB of data.

Subscriptions for video streaming services seem to be the way to go when it comes to taking out this category. Not so long ago, Telstra secured this spot with a three-month Binge Standard giveaway. Later, it was Vodafone with a three-month Amazon Prime and Amazon Music Unlimited combo (the music part is back for now).

Now it’s a music-streaming service again, this time from Mate, albeit one focused on high-quality audio. If you sign up for the Better Mates, Great Mates, Best Mates Soul Mates or Elite Mates SIM Only plans, you nab up to 12 months of Tidal Premium music streaming subscription valued at $11.99 a month (and up to $143.88 in value if you stay for a year). Tidal was used to test the Razer Nommo Pro PC speakers in our recent review, and it’s certainly a great complement for other great speakers or headphones.

On top of this, these same Mate plans also come with a third-generation Amazon Echo Dot smart speaker (valued at $59). This promotion was due to expire at the end of 2021, but it’s since been extended to 11:59pm on 28 February 2022. Just use the ‘ECHODOT’ promo code at sign-up to score one. You can also bundle a Mate mobile plan with a Mate NBN plan to save $10 a month on your internet bill.

Woolworths Mobile $25 Mobile Phone Plan at a glance:

• $38.50 per month
• $25 plan; $13.50 phone (Samsung Galaxy A12)
• 20GB data
• 300GB data bank
• Data gifting
• 10% off monthly Woolies shop
• Telstra network
• No contract

If you want to pay off a new handset and have a decent Postpaid plan to pair it with, have a gander at the Woolworths Mobile $25 Mobile Phone Plan with a budget-friendly Samsung Galaxy A12 handset. This no-contract plan costs $38.50 a month with 24-month handset repayment terms, plus it comes with 20GB of data (up from 18GB), which is a great amount for everyday users.

There are some neat perks, too. For starters, any unused data can be banked between months (300GB, up from 200GB) and you can get 10% off your Woolies shop once a month (up to $50 in savings). Plus, you can also gift data to eligible Woolworths Mobile customers.

Below is a daily updating list of popular Postpaid plans from a variety of providers in our comparison engine that come with a Samsung Galaxy A12.

Dodo $20 Mobile Plan at a glance:

• $17 initial monthly fee (6 months)
• $20 per month (normally)
• $222 first-year cost
• 20GB data
• International calls
• Optus network
• Month-to-month plan

To help create more of a gap between our pick of the best cheap and cheapest mobile phone plans each month, we’ve upped the spend limit for this category from $15 a month to $20 or less. There are a lot of plans that compete around this pricepoint, particularly when it comes to limited-time promo pricing.

Dodo isn’t a telco that tends to score too many accolades in these categories, but it’s taken out the top spot this month with its $20 Mobile Plan. While it’s normally priced at $20 per month, new sign-ups pay a $17 monthly fee for the first six months. Whichever of those prices you’re paying, you get access to a respectable 20GB of data on the Optus network.

Compare phone plans below from a daily updating list of popular SIM Only plans in Australia that don’t cost more than $20 a month.

Circles.Life 5GB Monthly Plan at a glance:

• $10 monthly fee
• $120 first-year cost
• 5GB data
• Optus network
• Month-to-month plan

Not so long ago, Moose Mobile had bragging rights to both of our budget-friendly categories, albeit with two different plans. Now that Moose Mobile’s cheapest SIM Only plan has price hiked by a few bucks a month, it’s playing a contender role behind Circles.Life’s 5GB Monthly Plan, the latter of which boasts better dollar-to-data value despite the Moose 12.80 SIM Only Promo plan having wee bit more data (6GB).

This is a very straightforward offering from Circles.Life: $10 a month gets you 5GB of data. That’s a good price to pay for 5GB, meant for those with lighter data needs. Keep an eye out for promo codes, though, because Circles.Life loves to throw out a limited-time deal, which may equate to bonus data or cheaper pricing (or both).

Below is a daily updating list of popular SIM Only plans with at least 1GB of data that don’t cost more than $15 per month (at least initially).

Vodafone $85 SIM Only Ultra+ Plan at a glance:

• $65 per month
• $780 first-year cost
• Unlimited data
• 30GB max-speed hotspot
• 5G access
• International calls
• 3 months of Amazon Music
• Vodafone network
• Month-to-month plan

This category was once dominated by the Circles.Life 100GB Monthly Plan. While 100GB is still a hefty chunk of SIM Only data, that particular plan isn’t leading the pack anymore. Late last year, Vodafone introduced the $85 SIM Only Ultra+ Plan, which includes unlimited max-speed data on the Vodafone 5G network.

While $85 isn’t a bad price to pay for unlimited 5G data, it really depends on whether you’re in one of the specific metro areas with Vodafone 5G signal to truly experience the full value. Fast-forward to more recent times, though, and Vodafone has dropped the price to $65 a month for the foreseeable future. While you are limited to 30GB of max-speed hotspot data (capped at 2Mbps if you go over), this plan does come with unlimited calls to 36 dialling destinations and 300 minutes to another 54 countries.

Compare phone plans below from a daily updating list of popular SIM Only plans with at least 100GB of data.

If coverage is your primary concern, you might be looking for the best deal on Telstra’s network (or wholesale network if we’re talking Telstra MVNOs). This section doesn’t get the same monthly treatment as the rest of our top picks, but our ‘most popular’ plan filter is still a good indication of the best trending deals and is updated every day.

At the start of the month, the Boost Mobile $30 Prepaid plan was ahead of competing plans from Belong and Telstra. The Boost Mobile $30 Prepaid plan needs to be recharged every 28 days, but it comes with 20GB of base data, 25GB of bonus data on the first three recharges (just get in by 31 January 2022), next-recharge data rollover, and an international call allowance.

Those who have sufficient Optus coverage that don’t feel like spending a primo on Telstra can suss out the results below to find out which plans on the Optus network are trending right now. Optus tends to take out the top spot on its own network, but when it doesn’t, it’s a safe bet that Circles.Life will be somewhere near the top.

At the start of the month, the Circles.Life 5GB Monthly Plan was a nose in front of the Optus Prepaid Epic Data - $30 Recharge plan. If you want this Circles.Life plan, keep an eye out for a promo code from Circles.Life, like the recent double-data offer. Regardless of promotional data, $10 per month is a good price to pay for 5GB.

There aren’t as many Vodafone MVNOs on the scene as there are for Optus and Telstra, but Australia’s third-largest mobile network has plans with great value and plenty of data. For example, have a look at the top trending plans below to score a great deal.

More than Telstra and Optus, the popular pick each month tends to bounce around a bit. Some months it’ll be TPG. Others it will be Vodafone. But this month sees the return of iiNet with its Mobile 40GB Plan. Normally priced at $29.99 per month, the first six months are charged at $15 apiece for new sign-ups for 40GB of data.