You may have noticed most, if not all, basic monthly prepaid SIM plans have had a price hike within the last year. For example, mine went from $10 a month to $15 a month. I’ve been shopping around for an alternative and, with the EOFY sales on currently, the annual prepaid plans are a significantly cheaper alternative than the monthly plans (often with more data too).

The cheapest I have found so far is Catch Connect’s 60 GB plan which is currently discounted to $89. That works out to ~$7.42 per month, with 5 GB of data per month on the Optus 4G network. If that’s not enough data, their two higher tier plans work out to ~$9.08 and $12.50 per month over a full year with way more data.

Other options you may want to look at are Kogan (Optus 4G network) and Lebara (Vodafone 4G network), though neither have an option as cheap as Catch Connect. There may be differences in how your data allowance is provided (up-front or monthly) and whether rollover is included so check that out as well.

  • NathA
    3·
    5 months ago

    I’m on an annual Boost plan, it came out at roughly $20/mo and 14gb. But, it’s on the Telstra network.

    I know it’s twice the price of what you’re quoting, but there’s more data and being Telstra. Calls to Australia, USA, UK and NZ are free. There are other countries but those are the only ones I cared about.

    • korda
      2·
      5 months ago

      Boost is also fantastic for fifo, where its Telstra or nothing.

    • Lodion 🇦🇺MA
      1·
      5 months ago

      I’ve just moved to a Boost annual prepaid plan. I was paying Belong $15 per month, but they’re about to bump the price to $21 per month… making it slightly more than the Boost option, but only on the wholesale network. Cheaper and better coverage? Sign me up!

  • WaterWaiverEnglish
    1·
    5 months ago

    Moose bumped me up to $14.80/month recently, prior to that it was about half the cost.

    I’m lucky to use 1GB/month so this looks perfect, thankyou.

    It looks like Catch support is useless though, lets hope nothing breaks during the port. https://forums.whirlpool.net.au/archive/2706810 <- also has some info about how to disable voicemail.

    • IlandarOP
      1·
      5 months ago

      Yeah my own data usage is very low these days, usually <3 GB a month, so I also went for that $89 deal. Let’s hope it’s a smooth transition!

  • Kayel
    1·
    5 months ago

    For those who are/travel rural. Telstra has a one year prepaid plan at ~$300 / year; free voice and text with a little bit of data.

    • TinyBreakM
      2·
      5 months ago

      Boost are almost certainly cheaper than Telstra, and its the exact same experience just with a speed cap.