Kogan Mobile plans review

It used to be that you’d look to Kogan Mobile exclusively for some of the best long-expiry Prepaid plans on the Vodafone mobile network, where you can pay for a year upfront. But that’s changed in recent times now that Kogan also offers SIM Only plans that, while competitively priced, come with 12-month contracts, which isn’t the norm stacked next to its peers. All Kogan Mobile plans, including long-expiry Prepaid plans, come with unlimited talk and text in Australia.

Kogan Mobile has a small selection of SIM-only postpaid mobile plans. These are regularly discounted for the first six months or so, but you'll need to commit to a year-long contract.  

Kogan plans are pretty competitive when discounted, but a little more average in the long run. 

Internode, iiNet, Circles.Life and Vodafone all tend to offer better data for dollar. Here's a look at the cheapest postpaid SIM-only plans with 45GB:

Kogan Mobile has a great range of long expiry plans, which tend to represent great value. These plans all have a 365-day recharge, meaning you can pay for an entire year upfront. 

Kogan Mobile is especially competitive in this space, offering far more data than any of its competitors. Here's a selection of 365-day long-expiry plans with at least 200GB:

With Kogan Mobile plans, you'll get access to Vodafone's 3G and 4G network. Vodafone's mobile network currently covers 96% of the population, giving it the smallest footprint out of the Big Three telcos. Vodafone coverage should still be more than enough for anyone in a metro area. 

Customers on select Kogan Mobile plans can currently try 5G for free, provided they have a compatible phone and coverage. Eligible plans include Large and Extra-Large 365-day recharges, and the 12-month Large SIM-only option.

Free 5G is available until October 26, unless further extended. At this stage, we don't know what will happen after the trial is over.  

The  Vodafone 5G footprint is available in over 1,000 suburbs across Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide, Canberra, Perth, the Gold Coast, the Central Coast, Wollongong, and the Sunshine Coast.

Here's a selection of other cheap plans powered by the Vodafone network:

Don’t look to Kogan Mobile for much in the way of included features. All Kogan Mobile plans let you earn one Qantas Point per $2 spent if you link your accounts, and you can buy handsets via the Kogan online store. But that’s about it when it comes to inclusions.

You can pay for international add-ons. Kogan Mobile charges $15 per 24 hours of roaming, which gives you 1GB of data, 100 standard text and 30 minutes of call time to selected countries. If you're heading overseas, that bolt-on can’t compete with the $5-per-day Vodafone charges to effectively use your calls, text and data as you would in Australia.

The other Kogan Mobile bolt-on is an international call pack, which starts at $5 per 30 days for 250 minutes of calls to 10 selected countries. There’s also the option to pay $10 per 30 days for 250 minutes of calls to 15 countries, or $15 per 30 days for 250 minutes of calls to 20 countries. You can see the supported countries below. The first 10 are part of the $5 bolt-on, which are also part of the $10 add-on as well as the proceeding five countries, while the $15 extra cost includes all 20 below.

New Zealand not being one of the countries included in the $5 pack feels like an oversight, but you should really look to telcos like Optus, amaysim, Vodafone and Telstra if you want to find the best phone plans with international calls.

Kogan Mobile has a decent number of support options if something goes wrong or you have any questions. You can start with self-paced online help via the Kogan Mobile Help Centre, which has a mix of FAQs and a search bar for specific queries. You can reach the telco on the phone by calling 1300 056 426 seven days a week between 8am and 8pm AEST, or by dialling 12612 if you’re calling from a phone connected to Kogan Mobile.

If you want chat support, you can get a reply within a few hours on Facebook but don’t look for a speedy reply on Twitter, and there are no other online chat options.

In terms of reported customer feedback, average ratings put Kogan Mobile outside of the top 10 of telcos that we track internally. The Kogan Mobile user reviews on Product Review have a 3.3 average rating (out of five) from 1,800+ reviews. This breaks down to a 3.5 rating for value for money, 3.4 for customer service, 3.6 for local reception and 3.0 for transparency.

There were only around 40 user reviews for Kogan Mobile on Trustpilot at the time of updating this review, but 65% of those were one-star ratings. The overall score is 2.8. 

To sign up for a Kogan Mobile plan, click ‘Go’ next to the plan you like the look of the most below to be taken directly to the sign-up page. Confirm whether you want a Kogan Mobile SIM Card, then click the ‘Add to cart’ button to add the plan to your cart. Follow the shopping cart prompts to complete your order.

Below is a daily updating list of all Kogan Mobile plans, organised by popularity.

Kogan Mobile is currently offering a 5G free trial on select plans. This offer runs until October 26. Kogan has yet to confirm what will happen after the free trial is over. Eligible plans include Large and Extra-Large 365-day recharges, and the 12-month Large SIM-only option.

Kogan also offers NBN plans via Kogan Internet (our review here), covering NBN 25, NBN 50, NBN 100, NBN 250 and NBN 1000 speed tiers. You can see all Kogan NBN plans below (organised by popularity).

Read about how we rate mobile providers here.