Is pre-paid wireless broadband good value?

by William Maher  |  Thursday 18 September 2008
Is pre-paid wireless broadband good value?

While pre-paid gets you out of a 24-month contract, it doesn’t always provide as much bang for buck when it comes to your monthly data allowance.

For $30 a month, pre-paid will get you 2GB on Virgin and Optus, which is actually better value than the Optus standalone 2GB contract over 24-months, which costs $39.99 ($29.99 if you bundle with an Optus phone plan).

Higher data quota, value's not so great
The value of pre-paid drops off as you move to higher data quotas. While $40 you get you 3GB with Optus pre-paid, you'll get 5GB for the same price on a bundled Optus 24-month contract (if you bundle with Optus phone plan).

Over at Three you get 6GB for $39, one of the best wireless broadband deals currently going in Australia (except for Unwired's whopping 10GB plans, but you'll be dealing with different speeds).

Pre-paid vs contract at $50
At $50, pre-paid isn't great value in terms of sheer data quota, compared with 24-month wireless plans. For $50 at Optus you get 6GB on a bundled plan (or $59.99 without a bundle), and over at Three the value is once again good, with $50 giving you 7GB. At Virgin you get 5GB, though that's over 60 days.

Consider network coverage
Picking wireless plans shouldn't be done on data quotas alone. Other issues to consider are wireless network coverage and speeds.

In terms of bang for buck, the catch with pre-paid is getting less data for your money. Of course, if your main aim is to avoid a 24-month contract, then you might be happy to compromise on a couple of GB.
Related Articles
See more about:  prepaid  |  wireless  |  optus  |  telstra  |  virgin
 
 
Comments: 10
PrepaidWirelessGuy
6 October 2008
 EDIT BY MODERATOR:
Advertising is a no-no.


Comment made about the PC Authority article:
Is pre-paid wireless broadband good value??
While pre-paid gets you out of a 24-month contract, it doesn’t always provide as much bang for buck when it comes to your monthly data allowance.

What do you think? Join the discussion.

Edited by .:Cyb3rGlitch:.: 6/10/2008 04:14:23 PM
RAC Gump
6 October 2008
 You'll kill 2Gb an a week.....unless you manage you keep track of ALL your programs auto update features, windows update, dont install any program while connected and never visit video or music websites........ oh, and dont install java or flash :)

Lucky me just got naked ADSL in my town, Ill be dumping this bigpong sattelite service asap....$100month/3Gb....30c Mb after.. :O
Thou Im not silly, as soon as I use my 3Gb im supposed to surf the unmetered sites... guess who's sites they are.... ;)

Cheers
Nat.W¿LL¿
6 October 2008
PrepaidWirelessGuy wrote:
EDIT BY MODERATOR:
Advertising is a no-no.
Edited by .:Cyb3rGlitch:.: 6/10/2008 04:14:23 PM

LOL
.:Cyb3rGlitch:.
6 October 2008
 I've got to hand it to them, they're getting better at making advertisements look like innocent posts.
Nat.W¿LL¿
6 October 2008
 yea the big give away was his name i guess...
jrip2
27 March 2009
 my billed deal gets me 60g per month,for $70 a month. and we use 90% of it !i am yet to find a better deal !
spottydog
3 April 2009
 Pre-paid mobile broadband is definitely not good value.
The charges are outrageous.
dunk_it
9 April 2010
 There is an error in this article:

Optus charges $30 for 1GB, not 2GB.

I might also mention that the service is absolutely appalling with so many blind spots (forget what it say's on the website, Optus will tell you that your in a blind spot after you have already purchased), their customer service is appalling (they tend to hang up when you ask to speak to a supervisor)!!

Optus overcharged me (by taking away all of my credit) and refusing to rein verse me for it. They fail to remember that it is easier to keep a customer than to find a new one... Well they have lost me as a customer and ill NEVER buy anything from them again! Companies should be thankful for our service and not screw us over in return, it’s your money!

Also Optus likes to have its call centers contact you trying to sell you more things that you don’t need, and if you get yourself into a contract good luck getting yourself out! Optus will try to sell you stuff but they wont do anything to fix your problems, They have called quite a few of my colleagues trying to sell them stuff and every time I jump on the phone and tell them not to call again.

If you are considering choosing Optus even after hearing this story try remembering the fact that it costs you 10MB of data every time you have to reconnect (that’s a lot of times) and then figure out how much that will cost you over the span of a year…

I have changed my service to a company that does offer 2GB for $30 Ie Virgin, Vodafone, and Three (I won’t state which company, as that might come across as advertising) but give Optus the flick and choose a good company.
Slatts
9 April 2010
Quote:
PC Authority > News >
Is pre-paid wireless broadband good value?
by William Maher on Sep 18, 2008


enough said

You can go back to grinding your axe now dunk_it.
Blyth
13 April 2010
 I have been a long time reader of PCA, and I have to say this feature article is by far one of the worst that I have ever seen in this magazine!

No only are the errors in the article it completely missed 3rd party vendors offerings.

Internode
iiNet
Dodo
and many others.

It is really poor reporting when you don't present all the viable offerings from everyone.

These 3rd party companies can offer competitive deals even though they are reselling Optus or Vodafone last mile access.

Internode for example use their own network right up to the Optus towers as a last mile solution and from my research offer very competitive packages without being hit for a huge bill for going over quotas.

None of the readers of the article would have any chance of knowing what else is in the market from that poorly written gabble PCA published.

If it was written by a freelance author, can you get your money back?

Seriously PCA, this feature barely showed all the options to your reader base and I hope this isn't a sign of the quality you will allow going forward.

Edited by Blyth: 13/4/2010 11:15:59 AM
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