Tangerine Telecom mobile review

Tangerine's mobile plans aren't as juicy as its NBN deals, but there is some decent value to be squeezed here.

Tangerine Telcom
3 out of 5 stars
3
  • pro
    Telstra Wholesale network
  • pro
    Great support reputation
  • con
    Average customer satisfaction
Nathan Lawrence
Aug 01, 2023
Icon Time To Read3 min read
Updated on March 31, 2025
Our verdict

While the SIM Only portion of Tangerine’s offering may play second fiddle to its NBN plans, there’s still decent value reinforced by solid support and great customer satisfaction.

pro
Pros
pro Telstra wholesale network (including 5G)
pro Great support reputation
pro International calling included on most plans
con
Cons
con Average customer satisfaction
con Not competitively priced

Tangerine Mobile value for money

Average prices on a reliable network.

If you visit the Tangerine Telecom homepage, you’re greeted by a company that’s clearly an NBN provider first and a telco second. Most of the its homepage is dedicated to the provider's broadband offering rather than mobile one. There's even a button that lets you add a SIM Only plan built in to the provider's NBN sign-up process.

All this paints a pretty clear picture of how the provider approaches the mobile market. Tangerine’s approach to being a telco is to provide lean SIM Only plans with little in the way of perks (more on that below).

Tangerine’s cheapest options is the 12GB SIM Only plan, which costs $23 a month and comes with 12GB of 4G data.

That’s a decent price for unlimited standard national talk and text, though a small amount of providers are usually cheaper and offer the same amount of data or more. For comparison, here’s how that particular Tangerine plan stacks up against Dodo, Spintel, Kogan and other telcos competing over budget SIM Only plans.

Tangerine Mobile features and perks

The Telstra wholesale network and international calls are the only perks here.

Tangerine’s main perk is that it operates on the speedy, far-reaching Telstra wholesale network. It’s not as ubiquitous as Telstra’s main network, but it still reaches an impressive 98.8% of the Australian population.

Tangerine offers six SIM Only plans and, starting with the 25GB SIM Only plan, you also get unlimited calls to mobiles and landlines in 15 selected countries:

  • Bangladesh
  • Canada
  • China
  • Greece
  • Hong Kong
  • India
  • Ireland
  • Japan
  • Malaysia
  • New Zealand
  • Singapore
  • South Korea
  • Thailand
  • UK
  • USA

The more you spend on a SIM Only plan with Tangerine, the better the dollars-to-data value gets. While the 12GB SIM Only plan translates to $1.92 per gigabyte, the 150GB SIM Only plan costs $58 a month, which means you’re paying a thrifty 39 cents per gigabyte.

That Tangerine price is not towards the bottom when you stack it next to competitors that currently offer at least 120GB of monthly SIM Only data.

Does Tangerine have 5G?

Yes, Tangerine customers on the 25GB plan or higher can get access to 5G, but there's also a some restrictions.

Tangerine's access to Telstra's 4G and 5G networks is also speed-capped: the 12GB plan at 100Mbps, the 25GB to 80GB plans at 150Mbps and the 150GB at 250Mbps depending on the plan.

Tangerine international roaming

Tangerine previously took a hammer to its roster of international roaming options. The provider offers three travel-oriented add-ons aimed at customers looking to keep in touch while they wander abroad, and those overhauled add-ons are now much better value.

Tangerine's travel packs are as follows:

  • $60 for 3GB of data, 300 mins of talk, 300 texts with 3-day expiry
  • $35 for 5GB of data, 30 mins of talk, 30 texts with 7-day expiry
  • $55 for 10GB, 60 mins of talk, 60 texts with a 14-day expiry

Tangerine roaming is supported in a total of 68 different destinations. You can find the full list available on the Tangerine website.

Tangerine Mobile customer support and satisfaction

A big focus on great service, which has led to happy customers.

Part of the initial vision behind Tangerine's creation was the belief that customers would switch if a new provider offered better service. While customer support options are more comprehensive for Tangerine NBN—especially with the zero-risk 14-day trial—Tangerine mobile customers still have access to support through forums, Facebook, phone support, or online self-help.

However, when it comes to customer satisfaction for Tangerine's SIM-only plans, the numbers tell a different story. On Product Review, Tangerine’s SIM-only plans have an average rating of 3 out of 5 from 63 reviews, and Trustpilot ratings have dropped to 2.2 from 4.1 previously. These figures indicate a noticeable dip compared to its previous customer service, with user reviews highlighting a good experience for NBN (4.2 out of 5 on Product Review for NBN) and more mixed experience for mobile customers. Despite the lower ratings for SIM-only plans, Tangerine continues to offer competitive pricing, but the satisfaction levels don't quite match up to those of higher-rated providers like Moose Mobile and Numobile.

How to sign up for Tangerine Mobile

First things first, head over to the SIM Only portion of the Tangerine website. Select a plan, then follow the prompts after you’ve hit ‘Order Now’ at the bottom of the page. You’ll need to register for an account with an email address before finalising your SIM Only order.

Tangerine Mobile plans

You can see all Tangerine SIM Only plans below.

Nathan Lawrence
Written by
Nathan Lawrence has been banging out passionate tech and gaming words for more than 11 years. These days, you can find his work on outlets like IGN, STACK, Fandom, Red Bull and AusGamers. Nathan adores PC gaming and the proof of his first-person-shooter prowess is at the top of a Battlefield V scoreboard.