Best Prepaid Plans September 2019: OVO, ALDI and Amaysim

What are the best prepaid plans available this month?

Welcome to the fantastic freedom of prepaid mobile phone plans. No more bill shock or nasty surprises. You just get what you pay for. Because of this, it’s understandable why students and seniors love prepaid mobile, but if you don’t fit into either of those categories, they’re still well worth a look if you’re in the market for savings.

For instance, in September OVO returns to impress us across everyday-use and high-use categories. The telco’s Small Mobile Plan is a good middle ground between cost and inclusions, while OVO Mobile Medium packs in some pretty perks with its big-data offering.

That said, the OVO Mobile – Medium plan is edged out by amaysim in September for big-data users with a $30 for 30GB on its Unlimited 30GB Prepaid offering.

Best prepaid plan for everyday use September 2019

Everyday users, understandably, seek value in that crossroads between cost and inclusions. Bells and whistles are fine, but really, the most important inclusion is a generous amount of data.

This month, OVO has impressed us with its Small Mobile Plan that costs $19.95 a month and includes 10GB of data. That’s a decent amount of data for everyday internet usage, but we also like the bundled inclusions. For starters, this OVO plan bundles Family Zone cyber safety for a single mobile device.

For those who fancy entertainment inclusions, this plan also grants access to OVOPlay for sports and radio streaming. As you’d rightly expect, OVOPlay streaming is data-free.

Best prepaid plan on the Telstra network

For September, we have two tied recommendations for everyday use on a prepaid mobile plan. ALDImobile kicks things off with its L Value Pack $25 plan. You’ll score 18GB of data and, if you top up within 24 hours of your pack expiring, you can enjoy the perk of continuous data rollover.

For those with international friends and family, this plan also offers unlimited calls and text to 15 countries. Additionally, there’s unlimited text for an additional 35 countries, but only 100 minutes of calls. Unlike Boost’s 28-day expiry window, ALDImobile prepaid covers 30 days.

If that’s not enough data for your prepaid needs, Boost has a $30 Prepaid plan with 20GB of data. You’ll also score 15GB of bonus data on your initial recharges, but don’t get too used to that extra capacity as it only lasts for the first three. Boost offers data rollover, too, as long as you recharge before your pack expires. On the international-contact front, Boost bundles standard calls and text to 20 select countries, with 100 minutes of calls to 35 other international locales.

The final Boost perk is that Apple Music users can stream unlimited monthly tunes without touching their data allowance.

Cheapest prepaid mobile plan September 2019

For September, the cheapest prepaid mobile plan is, same as last month, OVO’s Mini Mobile offering. It’ll cost you $9.95 per 30 days for 2GB of data, plus data-free OVOPlay entertainment for sports and radio streaming. It’s worth noting it’s targeted at kids, and includes unlimited texts with 500 minutes of Australia calls. For $14.95 per month, you can jump up to OVO’s MiniPlus Mobile Plan with 4GB of data, unlimited national calls, and Family Zone cyber security for your smartphone.

Best prepaid phone plan for high usage September 2019

When we say “high use”, we’re talking about stacks of data. With amaysim’s Unlimited 30GB Prepaid option, you’re effectively paying a buck per gigabyte: $30 for 30GB on a 28-day pack. That is except for the first month, where it only costs $10.

You’ll also receive unlimited standard calls and texts to 10 countries (with popular choices like USA, UK and New Zealand), and you can cough up an extra $10 for another gigabyte of data if you go over your allowance. There are no lock-in contracts, but this plan is designed to automatically renew every 28 days.

OVO returns again in our September shortlist with a competitive offering of 30GB at $29.95 per recharge. While it’ll cost you slightly more over the course of a year than our amaysim monthly victor’s offering, there’s data-free streaming on OVOPlay and Family Zone cyber security bundled with the cost. You also receive 100 minutes of international call time to select countries.

Best PAYG plan

Maybe you don’t need any data inclusions and would prefer to only pay for what you use or maybe you simply need to park a mobile phone number while you travel abroad, you might be looking for an old-school Pay-As-You-Go (PAYG) plan.

These types of plans aren’t typically associated with great value. In place of inclusions, like a set data or call amount, they offer rates for calls, texts and data that are deducted from the amount you recharge with. For example, if you have a PAYG plan that charges 12c per minute and you recharge with $15, you will have 125 minutes to use (assuming you don’t use any text or data, which each come with their own charges).

The absolute lowest amount of money you can pay per month is $1 with TPG’s PAYG plan. It will cost you $30 upfront to set up the SIM but after that, you will have 50MB of data per month to use and will be charged 9.9c per minute (plus a 10c flagfall fee) for calls and 9.9c per message. That’s incredibly low usage but if you’re after a PAYG plan, that’s probably what you’re after.

How do I change prepaid plans?

Switching prepaid plans and providers is nowhere as stressful as switching postpaid plans. The process will be different for every provider but, typically, all that’s required to switch prepaid “plans” is to select a different recharge type next top-up. Other providers will ask you to switch rate plans via an automated service over the phone, and some let you do it all from their app.

Switching providers is almost as simple, but not quite. If you want to switch providers and keep the same number, make sure you approach your new provider with the mobile number you would like to switch, the associated account number (if available), and your personal details for security purposes (e.g. name, date of birth, driver’s license number).

Where you might run into trouble is using one provider’s prepaid handset with another’s prepaid SIM. Unlike contract phone plans, prepaid phones tend to be network locked. Unlocking your prepaid handset will come with a small fee, which may vary depending on the make and model of your phone and the date of purchase.

What is the difference between prepaid and postpaid plans?

Postpaid plans are usually associated with contract terms and included handsets (though there are some decent month-to-month SIM plans available these days) whereas prepaid plans are low-commitment plans that give you more control over your spending.

With prepaid plans, you pay for the calls, text and data you think you will need before using them. Postpaid plans, on the other hand, calculate your usage at the end of your billing month and bill you for the calls, text and data used over that period (typically with excess fees if you go over your plan’s inclusions).

Both offer their own peace of mind; prepaid plans simply restrict your network access when you’ve burned through your data, whereas excess usage on a postpaid plan will result in additional charges on your bill at the end of the month. But prepaid plans come with the risk of getting cut off without notice, which can be dangerous if you forget to recharge, whereas postpaid plans will only cut you off if you fail to pay the last month’s bill after it’s due.

Which prepaid plans allow tethering?

You would be stretched to find a prepaid provider and plan that doesn’t allow for tethering these days. We reviewed every Australian prepaid provider and couldn’t find a single provider that didn’t offer tethering on its prepaid plans. The Optus website states that prepaid tethering is available on “most plans” but we checked with the customer service team who confirmed it was available on every prepaid plan.

So, here are the prepaid providers that allow tethering:

• ALDI Mobile
• Amaysim
• Boost Mobile
• Coles
• Dodo
• Hello Mobile
• Hive Mobile
• Jeenee Mobile
• Kogan Mobile
• Lebara Mobile
• Lycamobile
• Optus
• OVO
• TeleChoice
• Telstra
• TPG
• Vodafone
• Woolworths

What is the best prepaid plan for international calls?

We’ve already mentioned Amaysim’s stunning value on its prepaid options above but one added bonus you get on these plans is international call and text inclusions. On the highest recharge option, Amaysim offers 300 standard international minutes to 22 countries every month (and unlimited standard international calls to another 10 countries).ALDI Mobile also offers unlimited calls to 15 countries and an extra 400 minutes to 35 more countries. Both outstanding, all-rounder prepaid plans but if international calls are your number one priority, look no further than Lebara

Lebara already offers top data-per-dollar value on its XXL Plan but it also offers unlimited calls to 56 selected countries and an additional $10 for calls to every other zone.

More prepaid plans

Take a look at the most popular prepaid plans in Australia according to WhistleOut’s comparison engine.