3 Things to Check Before Buying Your Next Mobile Plan

So your mobile plan’s about to expire. Great, more life admin to deal with. And what could be more fun than trying to sort through all the offers from different carriers and plans and phones and worry about spending too much money or not enough?

If you’re getting stressed already, don’t worry. You’re not the only one who feels this way. But choosing a phone plan doesn’t have to be hard. There are really just three key things to think about.

YOUR NETWORK COVERAGE
There’s no point getting a plan that’s not going to get you a good connection at your home, your place of work and other locations that you visit regularly. But there’s also no reason to pay more for one carrier if another can serve you just as well.

These days coverage from Australia’s three mobile networks, Telstra, Optus and Vodafone, is pretty much the same in most densely populated areas. And all other mobile carriers offer service on one of these three networks. And that’s good news, because it means you’ve got more choice when it comes to your mobile plan.

Use the WhistleOut coverage check tool to find out which carrier (or more likely, carriers) will serve you best. You may be surprised. Just make sure you check your home address, your workplace address, and any other addresses that you visit on a regular basis.

YOUR DATA USAGE
These days nearly every mobile plan comes with unlimited talk and text. Which means the only major decision you have to make about your plan is how much data you need.

Data is the most expensive inclusion on any mobile plan so it’s important to know how much you need so you aren’t spending too much or too little (and getting hit with excess usage fees!)

You should be able to find out how much data you use per month by checking a few of your most recent mobile bills. Now you just have to find a new plan that fits. Give yourself a bit of a data buffer if you think you’ll need it. As a guide, we generally find light mobile users don’t need more than 1GB per month, whereas medium users (think music-streaming, and the occasional YouTube video) might need up to 5GB.

Here are a few plans with those data inclusions from the carriers you know and trust, plus a few great new providers that you might want to try:

YOUR HANDSET
Do you already have a mobile phone that you’re happy with? Then don’t sign up for a new phone on a plan.

Carriers may try to tempt you to sign up for a new phone on a plan by making the phone appear to be a free or discounted inclusion. But a close comparison of handset plans to SIM-only plans reveals that the phone is almost never free or even cheap.

So do yourself a favour and keep the phone you’ve got and get a SIM-only deal. Or if you do need a new phone, buy it outright. It’s usually cheaper in the long-run.

Here are some great SIM-only deals with data for light to medium users:

Jacqui Dent is associate editor at WhistleOut, Australia's largest mobile phone and internet comparison site.

As a result of services provided by us, WhistleOut Pty Ltd may pay The FiftyUp Club a portion of any fee of that they receive from their providers. These fees may be based on either referrals to third parties or on application or approval for products from third party providers.