The best family mobile phone plans

Australia's best family mobile phone plans, bundles and data-sharing options for you and yours.

Best family plan
Aldi Mobile
ALDI Mobile
5 out of 5 stars
5
Family plans from$55/mo
Network
Telstra 4G
Next best
Optus
Optus Mobile
4.5 out of 5 stars
4.5
Family plans from$165/mo
Network
Optus 5G
Bundle discounts
Vodaphone
Vodafone Mobile
4 out of 5 stars
4
Plans from🔥$39/mo
Network
Vodafone 5G
Data sharing & bundles
Telstra
Telstra Mobile
4.5 out of 5 stars
4.5
Plans from$65/mo
Network
Telstra 5G
Data gifting
Belong
Belong Mobile
4 out of 5 stars
4
Plans from$30/mo
Network
Telstra 5G
Brodie Fogg
Oct 11, 2024
Icon Time To Read8 min read

Do telcos offer family mobile phone plans?

Few providers offer true family plans but some still offer decent data sharing.

Yes, but every provider’s definition of a family plan is different.

There are family mobile phone plans where you get multiple SIMs with shared inclusions for a single cost (e.g. ALDI Mobile and Optus) then there are “family” plans, which are just your standard data-sharing options repackaged as a family offer. So while we're talking bona fide family plans here, we'll also touch on the next best thing offered by alternative providers. And if you're looking for the best phone plans for kids, specifically, you can read more about that here.

Before we take a closer look at your options, here's a breakdown of the top seven most popular plans with at least 20GB of data that allow data sharing or data gifting for families. 

Heads Up
Are family plans a good deal?

Family plans may be a good deal for some, but generally speaking you can save more money by just getting a handful of good SIM-only plans

Telstra's version of a family plan will set you back $222/mth for a family of four. This will get you 248GB of data to split between you all. If, however you just bought four numobile SIMs with 50GB of data each, you'd only be paying $152/mth. Each user would miss out on perks like unlimited data, and an extra 9GB per month - but your overall bill would be $840 cheaper over the course of 12 months.

It is a similar story when you look at Optus and Vodafone MVNOs. Optus' Family Plan covers four SIMs for $165 and 320GB, while Optus MVNO Southern Phone charges $35/mth for 100GB. Four SIMs with Souther Phone will get you 400GB for $140 instead - a $300 saving per year for more data.

While you'll still need to handle multiple bills, with auto-pay and direct debit it should be less onerous and cheaper for everyone involves. 

Best family mobile plan

ALDI Mobile family plans

pro
Reasons to buy
  • Plenty of options for families of any size
  • Operates on the Telstra Wholesale network
  • Usage limit restrictions
con
Reasons to avoid
  • No broadband or phone bundling options

As one of our most highly recommended Telstra MVNOs (Mobile Virtual Network Operators), ALDI Mobile gets a head-start by offering outstanding prepaid value on the Telstra wholesale network. It also so happens to be one of the only providers offering true family plan discounts.

There are three family mobile phone plans offered by ALDI Mobile at $55 for 50GB and two users, $95 for 100GB and four users and $125 for 150GB and six users. If you do the math, those deals are very decent. The $55 Family Plan works out at $27.50 for 25GB per month per user, the $95 Family Plan works out at $23.75 for 25GB per user and the $110 plan works out at $20.83 for 25GB per user.

Each plan includes a total data pool that each user shares. So if one family member has a stronger appetite for data than the others, it will be deducted from the overall family data pool (rather than an excess charge or top-up fee). The account owner can also set individual usage limits if one member of the family is using more than their fair share of data.

Take a look at individual phone plans from ALDI Mobile to compare them against the family value plans.

Next best family mobile plan

Optus Family Plan

pro
Reasons to buy
  • One plan for four family members
  • Option to add additional family members
  • Optus Pause helps control family usage
  • McAfee Safe Family app included
con
Reasons to avoid
  • No option for families of 2
  • No broadband bundles
  • Adding an extra SIM doesn't get you more data

Optus's family plan isn't quite as generous or flexible as its ALDI Mobile alternative, but it's the next best thing. Priced at $165 per month, it's a family-sized mobile plan that covers up to four users and comes with 320GB of shared data. This works out to be $41.25 per user for 80GB apiece. It also includes unlimited talk and text to standard Australian numbers plus access to the McAfee Safe Family app, which usually costs $8.99 per month.

Not only is the Family Plan cheaper per user than a quarter of $49 Optus Choice Plus accounts, but each user also gets over double the amount of monthly data than they would on the standalone plan. When it’s time to add another SIM to your litter, you can simply add another mobile SIM for an additional $29 per month. This doesn't get you any extra data, however, so you'll be sharing your total pool between five. 

Here’s a quick summary of the most popular individual Optus plans for comparison:

Price Tag
Are there unlimited data family plans?

In a sense, yes. The plans listed below from Telstra, Optus and Vodafone all offer some variation of what's commonly called 'endless data'.

Endless data plans offer an allotted amount "max speed" data (your included data amount). Once you exceed that amount of data, you can continue to use your smartphone's internet connection but your download speeds crawl to a painfully slow 1.5Mbps on most plans.

There's also a new provider on the block, felix mobile, which offers endless data with a generous 20Mbps speed cap at just $35 per month. That said, each member of the family would need to have their own individual felix plan, which could become costly very quickly.

Best family phone plan for bundling services

Vodafone SIM only plans

pro
Reasons to buy
  • Higher discounts the more users you add
  • Broadband bundles make the discount sweeter
con
Reasons to avoid
  • Vodafone network won't work for everyone (especially those living in regional areas)

Vodafone offers discounts on up to five eligible plan when you bundle them under one account. While this isn't technically a family plan, it does mean you end up with some solid value if your whole family is happy to go with Vodafone.

Each discount is worth 5% off your total bill, and is applicable on a bunch of plan from SIMs, tablet, and NBN plans. These stackable discounts can end up saving you a good chunk of change, plus all the data is sharable across plans of the same kind (ie. all SIM plans will share the one data pool).

For example, four $49 SIM plans on the same account get a total of 200GB to share across each device. But thanks to Vodafone’s Bundle and Save system, each of the four plans would be discounted by 15%, costing $41.65 per month each ($166.60 in total). $166.60 for 200GB is pretty good value.

Here’s every Bundle and Save discount through Vodafone:

  • 2 plans: 5% off each plan
  • 3 plans: 10% off each plan
  • 4 plans: 15% off each plan
  • 5 or more plans: 20% off each plan

Note that the discount doesn't apply to handset repayments. See below Vodafone's current postpaid plans:

More providers with bundling discounts

Yomojo mobile bundling

Optus MVNO Yomojo offers a discount if you take up multiple prepaid plans from it. It's not quite the same thing as the Family mobile phone plans found through ALDI Mobile and others, but it's a decent way to save. Discounts start at 5% with two plans and go as high as 15% with six plans. 

Here's the full breakdown of bundling discounts on Yomojo's plans

  • 2 plans: 5% off each plan
  • 3 plans: 7.5% off each plan
  • 4 plans: 10% off each plan
  • 5 plans: 12.5% off each plan
  • 6 plans: 15% off each plan

Data is not shared between SIMs.

Best for data sharing

Telstra Upfront SIM plans

pro
Reasons to buy
  • Data-sharing offered on all Telstra Upfront SIM-only plans
  • Access to the Telstra 5G network
con
Reasons to avoid
  • Not the cheapest option for families

Although Telstra family plans don't technically exist anymore, the telco still offers Data Sharing between eligible SIMs.

Telstra’s current range of Upfront SIM plans all offer data sharing with family bundle discounts on select plans. Essentially, that means you can sign up for a big data plan and multiple cheaper plans to access one combined pool of data. For example, say one family member signs up for the 180GB $75 Upfront plan and the other two sign up for the 50GB $65 Upfront plan. That gives you 280GB to share with the family. 

In addition, customers on the Essential or Premium Upfront plan can add up to five cheaper plans to their account with Telstra's family bundle discounts. With a single Upfront Essential or Premium plan, Telstra customers can add up to five Mobile Bundle Plans, a unique plan that offers 25GB of uncapped 4G/5G speeds for $50 per month. It’s not a discount, really, but still the cheapest Telstra Upfront SIM plan you can buy. Telstra still charges a premium for its market-leading network coverage (which is even more valuable now with Telstra’s 5G coverage.)

Telstra's cheapest Upfront plan is currently $65 per month and includes 50GB of data. It's also speed capped at 250Mbps. If you were paying for two, you'd be looking at $130 per month with a shared data pool of 100GB.

Alternatively, if you take up the $75 per month plan and the bundle plan, you're looking at $125 per month with a shared data allowance of 205GB. You're also not subject to the speed cap. While this is only a small saving, you get more than twice the data to share. This trend continues even when you max out the number of bundle plans you add. 

Customers on bundle plans can also get a new device. Just note that if you cancel or downgrade the $75 per month Upfront plan, you'll stop being eligible for bundles. 

Best for data gifting

Everyday Mobile SIM plans

There's also Everyday Mobile, previously known as Woolworths Mobile. Yet another Telstra MVNO, Everyday doesn’t offer family plans or bundles per se but it does offer great value on the Telstra wholesale network and data gifting on all plans of up to 50% of your included data.

Data Gifting lets users give their data to other people with the same provider. In Everyday Mobile's case, data can only be gifted in 1GB increments and cannot be regifted. Still, anything unused will roll over into your 500GB data bank for future use, which is a bonus.

Everyday Mobile also offers 10% off your Woolworths grocery shop (up to $500) once per month. That’s a potential saving of $50 per month depending on the size of your monthly shop.

Everyday Mobile's overall value makes it a constant front-runner in our recommendations for the best mobile phone plans every month.

More providers with data gifting

Belong mobile data gifting

Belong doesn't offer data sharing or family mobile phone plans, but does have data gifting. If you have spare data, you can gift to it any other customer on Belong, whether they're a friend or family member. 

Even better, Belong allows unlimited data banking - and that includes gifted data. So, theoretically, if one person in the family didn't use much data at all, they could either send it to another family member or keep it for a rainy day.

Belong now has access to the Telstra 5G network, but speeds are capped at 150Mbps on the 25GB to 100GB mobile plans and at 250Mbps on the 160GB plan.

Tangerine Mobile data gifting

Tangerine is another Telstra-backed MVNO that offers data gifting. As with the alternatives above, you can send that excess to a family or friend.

That said, Tangerine's take on this particular perk comes with many of the same constraints. You have to be gifting to another Tangerine customer, you have to be giving away more than 1GB, you can't offload any bonus data and you're capped at 50% of your standard data allowance.

Still, for some, this might make a lot of sense as a way to use up the generous amount of data that a Tangerine SIM-only plan gets you.

More Mobile data gifting

As with Belong, More Mobile doesn't offer full-blown data sharing or dedicated family mobile phone plans but it does cater to those looking for data gifting. If you have spare gigabytes kicking around, you can give them to a friend or family member, so long as they're with More.

There are a few catches here. You can only gift up to half of your standard monthly data allowance, there's a gifting minimum of 1GB per transaction and you cannot give away any bonus data.

More mobile plans typically include access to the Telstra 3G and 4G networks, but some plans do include 5G. However, speeds are capped at 100Mbps on all of its 4G mobile plans and 250Mbps for the provider's 5G offering.

Family Plan FAQs

Does Telstra offer family plans?

Telstra does not currently offer traditional family mobile phone plans bundles but recently moved to offer bundling options for its mobile customers that allow them to add up to five discounted "family plans" to their account.

Is it cheaper to have a family mobile plan?

Not always. However, depending on your data needs, a family plan might be a  budget-friendly option when it comes to keeping you and your household connected.

For example, Optus' family plan gives you 320GB to use across four users. Getting a comparable 100GB per month on a mobile plan from the same provider would ordinarily cost you around $59 per account. That works out to be a significantly higher total of around $236 per month (though it does work out to an extra 80GB of data).

So long as the individuals sharing your family mobile plan aren't regularly exceeding the data allowance, then it does come out to be a little cheaper than the alternative. However, if your household is a little more hungry for data than dollars then it might be worth investigating one of the data gifting plans we've included above.

What is the best phone service for a family plan?

When it comes to bundling your monthly bills with family mobile phone plans, our pick of the lot is ALDI. This provider offers not one but three different family plans, all of which are competitively priced and run on the Telstra network.

How many devices/lines can you have on a family phone plan?

The number of devices and lines you can have on a family plan depends on the provider and how the mobile plan is structured. For instance, Optus' family plan supports up to four users (with extra users able to be added at $29 per month) while Telstra's family plans cost $50 per extra user. Aldi's family plans start from 2 users.

Brodie Fogg
Written by
Brodie Fogg is the Australian editorial lead at Reviews.org. He has covered consumer tech, telecommunications, video games, streaming and entertainment for over five years at websites like WhistleOut and Finder and can be found sharing streaming recommendations at 7NEWS every month.

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