Are Telstra’s new family mobile bundles any good?

Telstra has launched new bundling options for its mobile customers on an "Essential" Upfront plan or better add up to five discounted plans to their account.

Customers paying for a $68 per month Upfront plan (or better) can pick between discounted plans: a $47 per month mobile plan with 15GB, or a $10 per month mobile broadband plan with 10GB.

Here are Telstra's Upfront mobile plans for are eligible for bundling:

On the face of it, $47 per month for 15GB is a bad deal. Telstra-owned MVNO Belong is currently offering 200GB for $45 per month, for example. But if you're insistent on keeping your whole family on the same Telstra account, bundle plans are actually a decent option thanks to data sharing. All Upfront plans on the same account share their data into a total pool.

Telstra's cheapest Upfront plan is currently $58 per month and includes 40GB of data. It's also speed capped to 250Mbps. If you were paying for two, you'd be looking at $116 per month with a shared data pool of 80GB.

Alternatively, if you take up the $68 per month plan and the bundle plan, you're looking at $115 per month with a shared data allowance of 195GB. You're also not subject to the speed cap. While this is only a small saving, you get more than twice the data to share.

You can add up to five bundle plans onto your account, and the math holds true even when you max it out. If you take the $68 plan and five bundle plans, you're looking at $303 per month with 255GB to share. Alternatively, six of Telstra's cheapest Upfront plans would set you back $348 per month with 240GB.

Notably, customers can also add a new device with each bundle plan.

There is one catch to be aware of, however: if you cancel or downgrade your $68 per month Upfront plan, you'll stop being eligible for the bundle plans.

Of course, Telstra MVNOs can still represent a better deal if you're not fussy about sticking with Big T. Here's a selection of plans from Telstra-powered providers with at least 40GB.

Meanwhile, Telstra's $10 per month mobile broadband bundle plan with 10GB is just plain good value. For comparison, its cheapest data-only plan is 5GB for $15 per month, so if you're a Telstra customer looking for a data-only SIM for a tablet, it's actually a pretty good deal. Especially because, once again, it's shared with your primary allowance.

Customers can also add a new device with mobile broadband bundle plans.