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Vaya mobile plans review

One of the oldest Optus MVNOs still offers some great value plans in more recent times.

Vaya
3 out of 5 stars
3
  • pro
    The cheap SIM only plans
  • pro
    Decent reported customer satisfaction
  • con
    The costlier SIM only plans
Nathan Lawrence
Jul 29, 2021
Icon Time To Read5 min read

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Heads Up
Update: Vaya is no longer available

Vaya is no longer available in Australia or servicing new customers.

Vaya have now been acquired by Amaysim (Optus).

Quick verdict
Vaya is an Optus MVNO that either offers great or not-so-great value depending on which of its plans you go with. If you’re looking for a relatively inexpensive SIM Only plan, Vaya’s two cheapest offerings are worth considering. Once you start spending beyond $30 a month, though, that value is a lot harder to find, more so given the lack of perks. Additionally, while Vaya has some good user-review scores on Product Review, there’s not that many support options for getting in touch.
pro
Pros
pro The cheap SIM only plans
pro Decent reported customer satisfaction
con
Cons
con The costlier SIM only plans
con Effectively zero perks
Our Approach
out of 5 for satisfaction
3
out of 5 for support
2
out of 5 for features
0.25
out of 5 for price
4

Find out how we score mobile providers.

Vaya mobile value for money

Competitive pricing on cheaper plans but that value dwindles the more you spend.

Vaya offers five SIM Only plans, which range from budget to big-data, all of which include unlimited text and talk to Australian numbers. The cheapest offering is the Vaya $14 Unlimited 5GB plan which, as the plan name says, costs $14 a month for 5GB of data.

In terms of competition around this price point, there are a few other Optus MVNOs that have the wood on Vaya. The Moose Mobile 9.80 SIM Only Promo plan costs $9.80 a month for the first year (typically $15.80) for 6GB of data and the Circles.Life 8GB Monthly Plan comes with 8GB of data for a regular price of $18 a month (though this has been regularly dropped to $14 a month for the first year). Spintel also has the $20 Mobile Plan, which is usually $20 a month but has a $12 monthly fee for the first six months and comes with 17GB of data.

While these promo pricing periods offer more data and/or better first-year value, Vaya’s fixed price for its $14 Unlimited 5GB plan is still competitively priced. Below is a daily updating list of popular SIM Only plans that come with at least 5GB of data and don’t cost more than $20 a month.

Next up is the Vaya $24 Unlimited 24GB plan with another plan name that says everything you need to know.

Moose Mobile and Circles.Life return with different plans to offer better first-year pricing if you factor in their promotions, otherwise Vaya comes out on top. The Moose 16.80 SIM Only Promo is typically priced at $23.80 each month ($16.80 for the first 12 months) for 20GB of data, while the Circles.Life 20GB Monthly Plan normally costs $28 a month ($18 for the first 12 months with promo pricing) for 20GB of base data and either 3GB or 33GB of bonus data, depending on the promotion.

If you take them at their typical pricing, Vaya’s $24 Unlimited 24GB plan comes out on top for SIM Only plans with at least 20GB of data. Below is a daily updating list of popular SIM Only plans that don’t cost more than $25 a month and include at least 20GB of data.

The price and data go up even more for the Vaya $36 Unlimited 38GB SIM Only plan.

At this price point, this is where Vaya’s value isn’t as evident. The Circles.Life 100GB Monthly Plan is effectively the incumbent king of Optus MVNOs with $38 typical monthly pricing for 100GB of data. Alternatively, Spintel offers 70GB of data in its $38 Mobile Plan, while the Moose 29.80 SIM Only plan has less data (35GB) albeit at a cheaper price point ($29.80 per month). Speaking of Moose Mobiel, you can go with the Moose 35.80 SIM Only plan that comes with 50GB of data. Dodo Mobile also offers 36GB of data for $30 a month.

Telstra MVNOs also offer better value pricing here, too, with the Belong 40GB Mobile Plan ($35 a month), the Mate Best Mates plan and Woolworths Mobile’s $35 SIM Only plan offering the same pricing and data as Belong (albeit with better perks).

All of those alternatives above come before Vaya’s $36 Unlimited 38GB in our comparison engine. Below is a daily updating list of popular SIM Only plans with at least 35GB of data that don’t cost more than $40 a month.

Vaya’s next SIM Only offering is the $44 Unlimited 50GB plan, which you can check out below.

Some familiar faces from above return if you’re after 50GB of SIM Only data each month, with Circles.Life’s 100GB Monthly Plan, Spintel’s $38 Mobile Plan and the Moose 35.80 SIM Only all offering better pricing and more data on the Optus network. Mate’s Soul Mates plan offers 50GB of data for $40 a month on the Telstra wholesale network, before Vaya’s plan slots in after those on our comparison engine.

Below is a daily updating list of popular SIM Only plans that come with at least 50GB of data and don’t cost more than $50 a month.

The final Vaya plan is the $56 Unlimited 64GB offering, which you can check out below.

If you’re after a SIM Only plan with at least 60GB of monthly data, you have to scroll a long way down the list of plans in our comparison engine to find Vaya. The same big-data plans from Circles.Life and Spintel return for Optus MVNO competitors alongside Southern Phone’s X-Large SIM Only Plan ($45 a month for 60GB). Moose 46.80 SIM Only plan (60GB for $46.80 per month) and the iPrimus $50 Medium SIM Only plan (70GB for $50 per month) are also better priced Optus network plans; even the $55 Optus Choice Plan has better pricing ($55 per month for 80GB) and perks than Vaya’s offering.

For Telstra MVNOs, Belong’s 80GB Mobile Plan ($45 a month) has better value as does Woolworths Mobile’s $45 SIM Only plan (65GB), Mate’s Elite Mates plan (70GB for $50 per month) as well as plans from CMobile and Tangerine Telecom. Vodafone also has a couple of plans worth considering at this price point.

Vaya’s value is more easily found with its cheaper plans. Below is a daily updating list of popular SIM Only plans with at least 60GB of data that don’t cost more than $60 per month.

Vaya mobile features and perks

International minutes are the only perk, but it’ll cost you.

It’s likely the reason Vaya has such competitive pricing for its cheaper SIM Only plans is because all of the telco’s plans are light on perks. The only perk for Vaya plans is that you can add 200 minutes of international calls (for every plan except the cheapest one) for $2 a month. These minutes can be used to call 100 selected countries which, in fairness, is a bigger range than most telcos include. That said, there are telcos that include international calls with their plans.

Vaya mobile customer support and satisfaction

Average customer support options with better-than-average reported customer satisfaction from Product Review.

Vaya is pretty light on when it comes to customer support options, but it does tick off most of the basics. For starters, you shouldn’t look to Twitter nor Facebook for speedy replies: Vaya doesn’t appear to have a presence on Twitter and the Facebook page hasn’t been updated since 2018. Still, while Facebook Messenger estimates a reply within a day, it was about an hour in my test. You can, however, use live chat via the Vaya website seven days a week (including public holidays). Outside of that, you can use FAQs on the Vaya website for self-paced help or call on 1300 008 292.

Reported customer satisfaction is a mixed affair. Google has a 2.3 out of 5 rating for Vaya after more than 150 reviews, while Trustpilot is at 3.2 albeit after only one user review.

Product Review offers a better snapshot of customer satisfaction care of more than 2,700 reviews with an average of 3.8 out of 5. At the time of writing, close to 2,000 of these reviews had either five or four stars. In terms of the breakdown, value for money gets 4.9, customer service scores 4.6, local reception sits at 4.6 and transparency has 4.7.

While Vaya’s customer-satisfaction score averages out to around 3 out of 5 if you take all three sources into account, this score is still decent compared to the dozens of telcos that we track.

How to sign up for Vaya mobile plans

Click the ‘Go’ button on the Vaya SIM Only plan you like the look of below or head directly to the Vaya website. Either way, click the ‘Buy Now’ button to confirm the Vaya plan you want, create a new account, then enter your personal info and payment details to complete the sign-up process.

Vaya mobile plans

Below is a list of the five Vaya SIM only plans you can buy.

Does Vaya mobile have 5G?

At the time of writing, Vaya did not offer 5G plans, there was only one Optus MVNO who offered 5G plans, and that’s Spintel. Outside of Spintel, you’ll have to buy an eligible plan from Telstra, Optus or Vodafone to get access to their respective 5G network. Below is a daily updating list of popular 5G plans.

Nathan Lawrence
Written by
Nathan Lawrence
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.

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