iiNet mobile plans review

iiNet mobile is about as bare bolts as it comes but that’s likely because the brand name tends to be more associated with NBN than mobile. There’s no Postpaid or SIM Only offering here, instead iiNet mobile is all about Prepaid plans, and there’s only four of those to choose from. As is the trend with Prepaid plans these days, iiNet mobile doesn’t charge you extra for the SIM card, delivery of the SIM card, there’s no lock-in contract, and you can keep your number if you’d like to port it over.

Normally priced at $19.99 per one-month recharge – that recharge duration is a positive, given the prevalence of 28-day and 30-day “months” from other telcos – iiNet mobile’s first plan off the rank is priced at just $10 per month for the first six months for 8GB of data, as long as you’re a new customer.

As far as the Prepaid competition is concerned, that promotional pricing for the iiNet Mobile 8GB Plan is the best value offering when you look at first-year pricing. TPG technically equals it with its Small Mobile plan that has 8GB of data and identical pricing ($10 promo; $19.99 normally), except that the promo pricing only applies for the first three months. Here’s how the iiNet Mobile 8GB plan stacks up against other Prepaid plans with at least 6GB of data.

If you’re willing to pay $2.50 more for the first six months, the iiNet Mobile 16GB Plan has even better value.

What normally costs $24.99 a month is, instead, $12.50 for the first six months, which is a whole lot cheaper than the nearest Prepaid competitor offering at least 12GB of data. As you can see below, the nearest competitor is the Coles Prepaid $20 for 30 Days plan, which has less data (15GB) and costs $20 per 30 days, rather than operating on a one-month cycle.

Up your monthly Prepaid budget by another $2.50, and that’s where you’ll find the starting price for the iiNet Mobile 40GB Plan. Normally priced at $29.99 per month, you’ll only pay $15 per month for the first six months.

In terms of the competition, iiNet comes out on top once again in comparisons with other providers offering Prepaid plans with at least 20GB of data. iiNet’s Mobile 40GB Plan has the best first-year value compared to the other telcos below.

The last iiNet Prepaid plan is its Mobile 55GB Plan, which bucks that $2.50-incremental-increase trend and costs $20 for the first six months before reverting to its typical $39.99 monthly fee.

Despite the price five-buck ‘hike’, it still offers great value in comparison to competing Prepaid plans around the same price point.

When it comes to iiNet’s branding, people tend to think of them more as an NBN provider first, then a mobile provider second. This is reflected in the layout of the iiNet website navigation, and it’s also evident in iiNet’s lean approach to features for its four mobile plans.

While the value is great, unlimited national talk and text is a given for the vast majority of Prepaid, SIM Only and Postpaid plans these days, so there’s no points there for iiNet. It’s 4G-only at the moment, too, with no news of 5G support, which is still likely to be limited because the iiNet mobile carrier network is Vodafone and that’s slated to be smaller than the Telstra and Optus 5G mobile networks.

The only real perk comes in the iiNet Mobile 30GB Plan which, unlike iiNet’s other three plans, has 100 international minutes. That’s calls only, though, and you’ll have to pay extra for SMS or MMS to international numbers.

It’s strange that iiNet doesn’t offer any bundles for NBN and mobile services, instead focusing on NBN and Fetch TV bundles. You can see a list of iiNet’s 10 most popular NBN plans below (updated daily).

iiNet has okay support options if you have questions or for if things go wrong. If you prefer communicating via social media, you’ll find speedy responses on either Facebook or Twitter. There’s also phone support if you prefer to talk, or you can find self-paced online help or speak to someone via online chat. As is the norm, you can also monitor your monthly usage via the iiNet Support app.

In terms of customer satisfaction on consumer review sites such as Product Review and Trustpilot, iiNet scores decent scores, albeit with the disclaimer that the main focus of reviews understandably tends to be on broadband and not mobile. According to the average of our internal ranking system, this puts iiNet in the top five for customer satisfaction.

To sign up for an iiNet mobile plan, simply click on the ‘Go’ button in the table below next to the plan that most tickles your Prepaid fancy. When you’re at the iiNet website, hit the big red ‘Sign up Now’ button then fill out the relevant details in the four secure sign-up sections to get your SIM cards sent out to you (make sure your handset is unlocked). If you hit any snags, you can call iiNet support on 13 19 17 to guide you through the process.