September 12, 2013 
36 Comments 
YOURLifeChoices member Jacqui’s plan is ceasing in the next two weeks and she needs help finding a pensioner friendly prepaid mobile plan.
Q. Hello,
I’m desperate to find another mobile phone company which offers me a prepaid mobile service, especially for someone on a budget as I’ve just received advice from ‘ONE Seniors’ that they’re no longer able to continue the supply of their prepaid mobile services.
The prepaid plan which I’m currently with will cease to operate in the next two weeks. The plan features:
- 3 hours of talk time
- 200 SMS’s
- 1GB data
- Unlimited Facebook
- Expiry period of 90 days.
This plan was perfect for me. I’m doing it really tough financially and I barely have enough money to survive each fortnight.
I’ve done some basic research on the net, but up to now everything I’ve seen has an expiry period of 30 days.
Would your team know of any alternatives similar to the one above?
A. Hi Jacqui,
Thanks for your question. There are several smaller providers which offer services similar to what you currently receive. I have outlined two providers below which I believe fit your needs.
Amaysim
Having established a reputable name in the Australian market over the past five years, Amaysim’s services are powered by the Optus 3G network. The two major upsides of the Amaysim prepaid system is that the credit has a 90-day expiry period and you receive unlimited social networking (Facebook and Twitter). The rates seem fairly reasonable at 12 cents per minute standard calls and 12 cents per SMS. The only issue you may have is when it comes to mobile data, as their data packs all come with a 30-day expiry period, excluding the 10GB pack which lasts a full year ($99.90).
You can find out more at www.amaysim.com.au.
Dodo
Slightly less expensive call-rate wise than Amaysim, Dodo gives you the option of 60, 90, 180 or 360 day expiry on credit depending on the prepaid option you take. Standard calls cost 11 cents per minute with no flagfall Australia-wide, while sending an SMS will cost 11 cents. The only downside of Dodo is that they are not data friendly. If you are looking for a no-frills plan on a phone with no internet access, then this is a very solid option.
You can find out more at www.dodo.com.
Are you on a prepaid plan? Who do you use and how do they measure up? Do you know of a plan which may suit Jacqui?
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I’m with TPG. $17 per month with about $500 worth of calls and 2GB of data. You keep your phone number. You need to buy the new SIM card and have the monthly payment by automatic deduction from your account. I have never used my allowance. Check latest information on http://www.tpg.com.au.
They dont make that one any more mate,,but for $19.90 and $500 calls 1 GB data with TPG
Eastgardens, my $17 a month with Vaya gets me $750 of talk with free texts plus $900 Vaya to Vaya as well as 2GB of data. For $17 a month I have not seen better. Vaya goes through the Optus network.
I forgot to add that I only use a sim only unlocked phone, no landline for over two years so no Hellstra. The $20 a month I spend on two sim only plans for two phones would not even cover line rental on a landline….. I sometimes use my smart phone for the net but mostly I use my Virgin wifi plan which costs me $29 a month for 6GB of data. My other mobile phone has $10 of calls with expiry of 3 months and I can call any landline for 35 cents and talk to up to 3 hours but I don’t chat for that long. Calls to any mobiles on this Hello Mobile prepaid sim only plan are 12 cents per minute. I only use this phone if I’ve used 80% credit on the Android phone and this rarely happens.
I forgot to add that I only use a sim only unlocked phone, no landline for over two years so no Hellstra. The $20 a month I spend on two sim only plans for two phones would not even cover line rental on a landline….. I sometimes use my smart phone for the net but mostly I use my Virgin wifi plan which costs me $29 a month for 6GB of data. My other mobile phone has $10 of calls with expiry of 3 months and I can call any landline for 35 cents and talk to up to 3 hours but I don’t chat for that long. Calls to any mobiles on this Hello Mobile prepaid sim only plan are 12 cents per minute. I only use this phone if I’ve used 80% credit on the Android phone and this rarely happens.
I’m about to change over from Telstra prepaid to Aldi prepaid. I only use the phone for text messages. The main problem with Telstra is that the prepaid credit expires in 30 days, so I’m wasting money. The Aldi credit lasts for 365 days so I won’t waste credit. The Aldi sim costs $5.00 at Aldi and has $5.00 credit, so it’s really free. Aldi uses the Telstra network which I believe is superior to the others. You keep your own number. It cost $27.50 to unlock the phone. Other than the pain of setting up I expect it to be a good move.
Karl thanks for that information, I’ve got a Telstra phone which I rarely use, the sim is no longer working due to inactivity (didn’t know they did that) so I’ll look into the Aldi on and unlock it again.
We are with Vodafone prepaid. $30 for 365 days.
BUT if you use the mobile a lot, wouldn’t recommend it, as the calls are expensive.
My husband and I use it for emergencies only, and people can ring us!
You should also check out Aldi Mobile. Prepaid lasts 365 days 12c mobile,sms,local,std
5c megabyte
Also their unlimited is $35 month plus 5gb data. They use the telstra 3g network.
that sounds good – thanks
Should have also mentioned any topup is $15 and is added to what is already there. Topup extends the 365 days.
Is there anyone out there using Viber? Is it as good as it sounds and safe to download.
The $19.99 Amaysim’s plan is great – no contract – but 30 day expiry – and the unused portion of the previous month is added to your current month – I cannot use all the data that is on this plan – having said that my partner only puts on $10 on their Amaysim prepaid and it lasts about 6 weeks depending on your usage Perfect for occasional users Only pay for what you use 12c/min standard calls and /SMS 5c/MB data
and unlimited Facebook
I still use land line as I have ADSL plus if you just have a mobile it is too dear for others to ring you if they are using a land line.
Good luck with Voda, as you will be lucky to get out at all in a LOT of places
I use Telstra NEXT G they give the best coverage
Plan B did you know you can get naked DSL and not pay line rental for your internet? I had this for a few years and the voip system is as good as a standard landline Ask your provider about this…you can save heaps..
Jurassic but with naked don’t you need wifi equipment, or am i not correct.
i have wanted to try this but not sure what i need to do to get started please can you tell me how it all works> thanks=buby
Try Boost
Lee, I downloaded Viber a couple of months ago, but found that because it runs in the background all the time, it flattened my battery completely overnight every night, so I have removed it. You can only ring people who are on viber – like skype without the picture.
Be aware that Viber requests full access to your list of contacts, so they can build a huge database!
Once you allow this, your entire list of phone contacts become listed as users of Viber! – without their knowledge!
Do some Googling on “Viber access contacts” and be very careful about using Viber.
Viber is an Israeli company whose corporate headquarters are in Cyprus – the country of shonks! Do you think the company might have a lot to hide, by doing this?