Samsung Galaxy A56 and Galaxy A36 plans: Compare prices and deals

Telstra, Optus, and Vodafone are all offering the Samsung Galaxy A56 on a plan. No matter which one you go with, you get the option of either a 24-month plan or a 36-month plan.

A plan paired with a 36-month repayment term will usually be cheaper, but it means you're paying the cost of your phone off over a longer period of time. A 24-month repayment term means you'll own your Samsung smartphone sooner but pay more each month.

With that said, here are the mobile plans for the Samsung Galaxy A56 with a 36-month repayment term.

If you'd prefer a shorter turnaround time, here are the mobile plans for the Samsung Galaxy A56 with a 24-month repayment term.

As with the Galaxy A56, the Galaxy A36 smartphone is available outright and on a 36-month or 24-month plan. At the time of writing, Vodafone and Telstra are the only providers offering the Samsung Galaxy A36 on a plan. Optus is off the table. 

For a sense of what your options look like, take a look at the widget below for a round-up of  36-month plans for the Samsung Galaxy A36:

If you're looking to stick with a shorter repayment term, the widget below rounds-up 24-month plans for the Samsung Galaxy A36.

If you're looking to pick up either the Samsung Galaxy A56 or Galaxy A36 on a plan, you're going to have to throw in with one of Australia's "big three" mobile providers. It's either gonna be Optus, Vodafone or Telstra.

Although the plans on offer don't vary too much in structure, each provider has its own perks and plan features that might make one options better than depending on your situation. The other thing you'll want to consider is network coverage. The Telstra network has a reputation for offering the widest coverage in Australia, with Optus in second place and Vodafone in a close third.

These days, Vodafone isn't as far behind as you might expect though. Thanks to a new network sharing agreement with Optus, Vodafone customers in regional and rural areas now use the Optus network. The end result of this alliance is that Vodafone can now claim to offer 98.4% population coverage, which is just 0.1% behind Optus. 

Optus' Samsung Galaxy A56 plans all come with enough data to satisfy even heavy users. Even Optus' smallest plan has 50GB of data. That's far above the average when it comes to national data usage.

The more expensive options also come with unlimited international calls to select destinations, which is great to have if you've got friends or family overseas. If you're looking to go overseas yourself, Optus also offers decent roaming add-ons. You can score 5GB of roaming data and unlimited local talk & text for $5 per day, so long as your destination can be found on Optus' list of selected countries.

Optus mobile plans have no excess data fees. If you go over your monthly data cap, your speed will be capped at 1.5Mbps. That throttling isn't ideal but it's a clear improvement on being hit with an unexpectedly high bill at the end of the month.

If you're less likely to use up every gigabyte at your disposal, Optus mobile plans also come with data sharing if you have multiple plans on the same account. Although there's no data banking or rollover to hold onto your unused GB, that's still a solid value add for families.

Last but not least, being an Optus customer also gets you discounted access to Optus Sport, and access to SubHub. This platform lets you combine multiple subscription services (such as Netflix, Microsoft 365, and others) into a single bill, along with a 5% or 10% discount, depending on whether you sync two or three-or-more services.

Vodafone's Samsung Galaxy A56 plans and Galaxy A36 plans are typically just that little bit cheaper than Optus when it comes to cost. Despite that difference in price, they come with a similar amount of monthly data plus a range of perks and extras. 

As with Optus, the smallest plan on offer here (excluding promotions) includes 50GB of monthly data. That sum is well above the average national usage. Worse still, there's no data banking or rollover for unused data.

On a more positive note, there are also no excess data fee. Instead, Vodafone will slow your connection to 2Mbps should you exceed your monthly allowance. For what it's worth, this is slightly faster than the 1.5Mbps speed cap that Optus and Telstra employ.

Those who bundle multiple Vodafone mobile plans together on the same account get two benefits: discounts and data sharing.

Bundle up to five mobile plans together and you'll save between 5% and 20% off your total monthly bill, depending on how many you bundle. This discount excludes hardware repayments, but it can still offer decent savings if you're in a position to take advantage of it. As mentioned above, having multiple plans on the same account also lets you share data between them. Instead of being divided between each device, all your data gets put into a single shared pool.

All Vodafone plans also include unlimited international texts to select countries as standard, with the more-expensive plans including additional international call inclusions.

Of course, Vodafone's best selling point is its international roaming. For just $5 per day, you can use your phone as normal while overseas. This feature kicks in automatically whenever our phone connects to an overseas network and lasts for 24 hours. If you don't want to roam, all you have to do is put your phone into flight mode and stick to the hotel WiFi.

Telstra's Samsung Galaxy A56 plans and Galaxy A36 plans are the most expensive when it comes to the big three. Fortunately, the premium that comes with Australia's biggest telco does come with a pretty big perk in the form of wider network coverage.

Telstra's 4G network covers 99.7% of the Australian population, which puts it ahead  Optus' 98.5% and Vodafone's 98.4%. That difference is small enough that those living in populated and metropolitan areas might not notice. However, that difference can be everything in certain parts of the country. 

When it comes to 5G, Telstra offers an even bigger advantage. It's 5G network accounts for 91% of the Australian population. That's well ahead of the 80.5% that Optus accounts for. Meanwhile, Vodafone doesn't even publish its 5G coverage stats.

Once again, the smallest Samsung Galaxy A56 plan available from Telstra comes with a 50GB per month data allowance. Again, that's far higher than the average Australian uses each month and there's no way to hang onto what you don't use through data banking. That said, you can share data between up to 10 mobile services on the same eligible account. This may prove particularly useful for families looking to get the most out of the gigabytes they're paying for.

Regardless, you'll likely find mileage in the fact that there there are no overage charges or excess-data fees for going past that limit. Instead, you're slowed to 1.5Mpbs.

Telstra's Samsung Galaxy A56 plans and Galaxy A36 plans also come with 30 minutes of international calls to all destinations. That's not a huge amount of minutes compared to the competition, but the list of eligible destinations is a lot longer. 

Roaming with Telstra is relatively easy even if it not as affordable as the way that Optus or Vodafone handle things. You can stay connected in most countries for as little as $10 per day. That sum gets you 2GB to work with. New Zealand is the one exception here, which costs just $5 per day. 

Last but not least, there's the Telstra Plus rewards scheme. Similar to Qantas Frequent Flyer miles, you'll earn points every time you make an eligible plan payment. You can then put these points towards purchases from the Telstra Plus Rewards store. This online shopfront included everything discounted tickets for movies, concerts and sport events to headphones and other tech products.