telstra business phone plan

Australia’s Best-Rated Business Mobile Plan Providers

See Our Ratings Methodology .

Most Satisfied Customers | Vodafone

Vodafone is our winner for the 2023 mobile plan provider ratings, with an impressive five-star score across most categories, including customer satisfaction, value for money, client service, billing and plan flexibility, while it scored four stars for network coverage.

How we rate business mobile plan providers

Our ratings compare mobile phone plan providers offering business plans, based on customer satisfaction as rated by Australians.

How many Australians do we survey for our ratings?

Canstar Blue surveyed 580 Australians with a current business mobile plan service for their feedback on mobile plan providers they’ve been signed up to. Respondents had to have a current mobile phone plan for a business and that business pays the bills.

• The outcomes reported in these ratings are measured via accredited research panels managed by Qualtrics .

What criteria are used to rate business mobile plan providers?

Survey respondents are asked to rate their satisfaction with their business mobile phone plan provider from zero to 10 , with zero meaning extremely dissatisfied and 10 meaning extremely satisfied. Business mobile plan provider satisfaction is rated on the following criteria:

• Overall satisfaction: measures consumer satisfaction with a mobile plan provider as an individual score, NOT the combined total of all criteria.
• Value for money: the price paid for the mobile phone plan was reasonable for the service experienced.
• Network coverage: the mobile network offered good and reliable coverage.
• Client service: the mobile plan provider offered good service and support, and was easy to get in touch with.
• Billing: the mobile plan billing was clear and easy to understand and pay.
• Plan flexibility: the mobile plan provider offered a reasonable amount of plan flexibility.

How do we determine the winner?

The winning brand is the brand that receives the highest Overall satisfaction rating . All the scores from the Overall satisfaction criteria are then combined and averaged to determine the overall winner.

• Overall satisfaction is asked as a specific question and represents an individual measure, not a combined total of all criteria.
• The brand with the highest number of five-star ratings within the supporting criteria will become the five-star recipient in overall satisfaction, and therefore win the award. If a clear leading brand still cannot be determined from the supporting criteria, joint winners will be declared.

Which business mobile plan providers do we rate?

To qualify in the ratings results, providers must have received a minimum of 30 responses to be included. Therefore, not all mobile phone plan providers offering business services will be compared in this survey. Providers rated in this survey are listed below in order of best overall satisfaction.

Find more information on our Most Satisfied Customers ratings .

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Best business mobile plan providers

1. vodafone, ratings result.

Vodafone came out on top for the second year in a row, scoring five stars for overall satisfaction. It also scored five stars for value for money, client service, billing and plan flexibility, while it scored four stars for network coverage.

Editor’s notes

Vodafone offers the option of SIM-only plans or plans that can be bundled with a device. All that you need to do is supply your ABN/ACN on sign up, or link it to an existing Vodafone mobile plan account, with additional business plans also able be added.

Telstra took out second place with four stars for overall satisfaction, value for money, client service, billing and plan flexibility, while it scored five stars for network coverage.

Telstra offers a range of SIM-only plans or plans with a phone, with the option to bundle services onto the one plan. Its plans and device selection are essentially the same offerings as what you’ll get if you sign up to a non-business plan. If you bundle a phone with a plan, you’ll choose from a 12, 24 or 36-month device repayment period.

Ratings results

Rounding out our ratings in third is Optus with three stars for overall satisfaction and billing, while it scored four stars in the remaining categories — value for money, network coverage, client service and plan flexibility.

Optus offer a range of options for its business phone plans. While you can pick a similar selection of SIM-only plans and devices to its non-business phone plans, Optus does offer McAfee protection on up to 20 devices on its Business Choice Plus plans. Optus also offers a ‘team plan’ which includes four SIM plans with data to share and flexibility, along with the option to add on additional SIMs for an extra cost per SIM.

Other business phone plan providers

Apart from the above-mentioned providers, there are several other telcos also offering phone plans for businesses, although many of these providers might only offer SIM-only plans and no handsets for bundling. These telcos include:

• Aussie Broadband
• Southern Phone

Choosing a phone plan provider

Access to a phone and/or phone plan for work can be an essential part of a business. Of those surveyed, 27% provide employees with a mobile phone for work use and 33% upgrade handsets every one to two years.

Despite several providers offering mobile phone services to businesses, 50% of respondents have always been with the same business phone service provider. A big reason for this could be that almost a third of respondents (31%) believe the provider offers good value, while 26% believe their provider offers the best coverage or is the only provider with coverage in the area.

When choosing a provider for your business mobile phone services, there can be a lot to consider. 17% of survey respondents claimed that they don’t find the time to compare other offers and switch providers, so it might seem like a lot to think about on top of operating a business.

However, when you break it down to a few points, comparing business mobile phone plans might be more simple than you think.

Phone with a plan or SIM-only

The first thing to consider is whether you’ll need phones bundled with a phone plan — such as an iPhone or Samsung phone — or if you simply need the phone plan on its own. If you need handsets with a plan, your provider choices will mostly be limited to the big three telcos (Telstra, Optus and Vodafone).

If you just need the SIM cards with a phone plan, then you have a wider range of options to choose from.

Additional extras

Some providers will offer business-related extras such as the ability to bundle multiple services, data sharing across plans, device security software and more. If these extras are important to you, you can then compare providers to see what is available and which telco will offer the best value for you.

How much mobile data you need for your plans is pretty important. Consider what your team will be using their phone plans for — such as working on the go, accessing emails, video conferencing, making calls, etc — will help determine whether you need a plan with lots of data or not. If phones will be used primarily for making and receiving calls and accessing emails, a smaller amount of data, or a data-sharing plan, might work best. Otherwise you’ll need bigger data plans for working on the go and video conferencing.

Mobile coverage

Of course, for some workers, a phone plan can be essential when travelling for work. If your team frequently needs to travel, especially to regional and remote areas, ensuring your choice of provider has good mobile network coverage in that area is essential.

While the Telstra, Optus and Vodafone networks all offer coverage to the majority of the country, it’s worth checking the mobile coverage map before signing up to a provider to ensure that the areas your team will be working from are covered by the mobile network.

About our telco experts

Emma bradstock: senior telco specialist.

Emma Bradstock has been an authority on consumer phone, internet, technology and streaming markets in Australia for the last 4 years, with a dedication to providing Aussies with all the information they need to make better purchasing decisions. She holds a Bachelor of Arts in Communications and Media from Macquarie University and has a decade of professional writing experience in print and digital media.

Samantha Howse: Consumer Research Specialist

Samantha Howse is Canstar Blue’s Consumer Research Specialist, coordinating the consumer research program behind our customer satisfaction awards across Canstar and Canstar Blue in Australia and New Zealand. Sam has earned a Bachelor of Business (Marketing) from Griffith University and, with seven years in market research and 2 years in marketing, she is experienced in survey design, implementation and analysis, coupled with an understanding of marketing principles and best practice.

Frequently asked questions

About this research.

Canstar Blue surveyed 2,022 Australian small business owners and key decision makers across a range of categories to measure and track customer satisfaction, via ISO 26362 accredited research panels managed by Qualtrics. The outcomes reported are the results from customers within the survey group whose business currently pays for a mobile phone plan that is used for business purposes– in this case, 580 people.

Brands must have received at least 30 responses to be included. Results are comparative and it should be noted that brands receiving three stars have still achieved a satisfaction measure of at least six out of 10. Not all brands available in the market have been compared in this survey. The ratings table is first sorted by star ratings and then by mean overall satisfaction. A rated brand may receive a ‘N/A’ (Not Applicable) rating if it does not receive the minimum number of responses for that criteria.

Past ratings

Here are past winners of Canstar Blue’s Most Satisfied Customers – Business Phone Plans Providers ratings:

• 2022: Vodafone
• 2021: Optus
• 2020: Vodafone
• 2019: Vodafone
• 2018: Optus
• 2017: Vodafone
• 2016: Optus
• 2015: Optus

Latest phone products articles

Australia’s Best-Rated Business Mobile Plan Providers - September 1st

Vodafone iPhone Plans & Prices

Compare Vodafone iPhone plans at Canstar Blue. See the latest prices and deals for the iPhone X, iPhone 8 and all older iPhone models.

Optus iPhone Plans & Prices

Compare all Optus iPhone plans in Australia with Canstar Blue, including the latest deals on the iPhone X, iPhone 8 and 8 Plus.

Telstra iPhone Plans & Prices

As Australia’s largest telco, Telstra unsurprisingly offers a comprehensive range of iPhone plans, stocking all the newest and hottest Apple devices.

Of course, you’ll also get unlimited talk and text in Australia, plus no excess data …

Australia’s Best-Rated Business Mobile Plan Providers - February 19th

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When done right, porting your mobile number should take no longer than an hour. But an hour can turn into days. Get the full lowdown at Canstar Blue.

Australia’s Best-Rated Business Mobile Plan Providers - August 15th

Telstra vs Optus: Where can you find the best phone plan?

It’s the battle of the heavyweights. See which provider reigns supreme in this mobile phone plan comparison by Canstar Blue.

^By clicking on a shop online, compare now, buy online, more details, go to site or check latest prices button, you may leave Canstar Blue and be taken to a referral partner to compare. Canstar Blue may be paid for this referral. You agree that Canstar Blue’s  terms and conditions  apply to this referral. If you click on a brand that is not a referral partner, you will be taken to a brand page on Canstar Blue.

Canstar Blue may earn a fee for referrals from its website tables, and from sponsorship of certain products. Fees payable by product providers for referrals and sponsorship may vary between providers. Generally, sponsorship fees are payable in addition to referral fees. Sponsored products are clearly disclosed as such on website pages. They may appear in a number of areas of the website such as in comparison tables, on hub pages and in articles. Sponsored products may be displayed in a fixed position in a table, regardless of the product's rating, price or other attributes. The table position of a Sponsored product does not indicate any ranking or rating by Canstar. The table position of a Sponsored product does not change when a consumer changes the sort order of the table. For more information please see  How Are We Funded .

*Prices correct as of publication date.

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Business vs personal mobile plans

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Have you ever wondered how ‘business’ mobile plans differ from ‘personal’ plans? 

Well, quite often for small businesses, the only significant difference is the name, according to our research.

We compared a number of business plans with equivalent consumer plans, and found some curious anomalies. In a couple of cases, for example, the fine print for ‘business’ mobile plans indicated they could only be used for personal use.

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At Optus, its $40 consumer plan provides unlimited standard national calls, unlimited SMS and MMS within Australia and to certain countries, and up to 300 voice minutes to those selected countries. Plus 7GB of data. 

And the $40 business plan? As far as we can see, the inclusions and terms are pretty much the same. The consumer plan rules out ‘non-ordinary’ or ‘commercial purpose use’ but bizarrely the critical information summary for the business plan makes the same exclusion.

So we turned to the Optus Fair Go policy for clarification.

“If you are a residential customer our services are for your personal use only,” the policy said.

“If you are a business customer, including a small to medium business customer, our services are for your use in the ordinary course of business.

“You may not use the service in a manner which is ‘unreasonable’ or ‘unacceptable’.”

That seems to mean that you aren't allowed to make or take business calls on a personal plan, or personal calls (“should I buy some milk on the way home?”) on a business plan.

An Optus spokesperson explained: “Our consumer plans are designed for personal use while our business plans are for use in the ordinary course of business plus some personal use where needed.

“We understand there will be certain circumstances where a customer needs to use their service outside its primary intended purpose. In these cases, we offer a level of flexibility for customers to make a judgement on what is reasonable and acceptable use of their service based on their contract.”

So the good news is that the way most of us use one plan for business and personal purposes is acceptable, providing the selected plan reflects the main use.

It might not be obvious from the everyday use of the terms, but Optus (and probably other carriers) distinguishes between ‘business’ and ‘commercial’ use. The company confirmed that ‘commercial use' refers to levels of voice or data use normally seen only in call centres, or to mobile data used to access enterprise-style services rather than those associated with micro to medium businesses.

And although the inclusions and price may be the same for consumer and business plans, “Our SMB plans offer a number of benefits for business customers including billing made out to your registered ABN for tax purposes, access to business specialists in over 120 of our retail stores, premium support from our dedicated SMB team when you bundle two or more services, and invitations to exclusive business events,” said the Optus spokesperson.

The Optus Fair Go policy does goes on to give several examples of unreasonable use, most of which seem quite reasonable, such as not allowing automatic diallers, resale and bulk messaging. But the prohibition on using a ‘mobile voice’ SIM card in a non ‘mobile voice’ device seems odd. What difference does it make to the carrier whether you tether a tablet to the phone or temporarily move the SIM from a phone to a tablet?

The reason, according to the Optus spokesperson, is that requiring separate SIMs “allows us to optimise their service for the device, the network and billing purposes”. Optus does allow data pooling between plans, but you’re up for at least $10 a month per additional device, though that does include 1GB of shareable data.

Over at Vodafone, it’s pretty much the same situation when it comes to distinctions between personal and business customers.

The $60 personal plan provides unlimited standard national calls, unlimited standard national and overseas SMSes, 120 standard international minutes to selected countries and 6GB of data (a special offer running at the time of writing boosts that to 12GB).

The $60 business plan has the same inclusions.

But the personal plan is for “personal use by approved customers only” while the business plan is for “personal use by approved customers with an ABN/ACN only”.

We asked Vodafone to explain how a business plan can be for personal use only, but received no reply more than a week later. The only interpretations we can suggest are either that it essentially the same as Optus's business/commercial dichotomy but using different words, or that you can’t use that plan on a phone that’s used by more than one person (for example, the phone carried by whichever member of a team is on call over a particular weekend).

Telstra's personal and business plans are slightly different. For example, $50 a month gets personal customers ‘$1000 worth of calls’, unlimited SMS and 2.5GB of data, while business customers pay $55 for ‘$1200 worth of calls’, unlimited SMS and 5GB of data.

Bear in mind Telstra’s call values are calculated on what we consider to be an inflated tariff of $1 per minute. By comparison, even a $19 Virgin Mobile prepaid recharge can have a rate as low as 15c per minute.

A Telstra spokesperson* said that customers must have an ACN or ABN to qualify for a business plan, but business customers can opt for consumer plans if they consider the price and inclusions are a better fit.

"For example, we provide our small business customers with more voice value, because we know they make calls more frequently than our consumer customers," the spokesperson said, adding that the business plans also allow for free calls between mobiles on the same account.

Other benefits of the Go Business Mobile plans include a free data SIM for use with a tablet or dongle, with both devices sharing the same pot of data, and the ability to put cloud services such as Office 365, Symantec Endpoint Protection and Deputy rostering and workforce management onto the same bill.

Data sharing across multiple services is available on Telstra's consumer and business plans.

Mobile virtual network operators – the companies that provide mobile services based on third-party networks such as Telstra, Optus or Vodafone – generally make a clear distinction between personal and business usage.

For example, the conditions for amaysim's Unlimited plans flatly state they are “available to individual customers only (not companies or businesses), who use their mobile phone for personal use only. If we determine that you are using Unlimited 3GB other than for personal use or if we determine that you are using the Plan in a way that does or may, in our opinion, adversely affect the network, we reserve the right (at our option) to transfer you to the amaysim As You Go Plan, or to immediately suspend or cancel your access to the Service”.

We asked amaysim what it considers ‘personal use’ to be, and its compliance and service operations manager Chad Heininger responded: “We see personal use as individuals using their amaysim service primarily for private use in a way not connected with carrying out a business activity. As per our Fair Go Policy, our customers are unable to use our service for ‘business purposes’ as this falls outside of personal use. We aren’t specific about what constitutes as business use, because we trust our customers to use their judgment and play by the rules. For example, we would not expect our customers to use our service to support a large business or organisation as this clearly would be for ‘business purposes’. We also expect our customers to use our service in a reasonable and acceptable manner.”

It sounds to us that there's a certain amount of wriggle room – if your small-business ‘business use’ is similar to that of a personal customer in terms of the number of calls and texts, how would Amaysim tell the difference, and why would it be bothered? That said, we're not encouraging anyone to breach the T&Cs.

While large organisations can receive volume pricing, the benefits of business plans for small businesses are hard to quantify. In fact, the differences between many personal and business plans in terms of inclusions and costs are so insignificant that we can’t help feeling that the distinction is mostly arbitrary.

However, that also means there’s rarely any downside to opting for a business plan rather than the corresponding personal version.

So if a phone is going to be used primarily for business purposes, you might as well opt for a business plan and be fully compliant with the plan’s terms and conditions. It’s likely to cost much the same – and it reduces the admittedly slight risk that your service will be terminated because you went outside the T&Cs. 

* Note: This article was updated on 21 April 2016 due to Telstra responding to our request for more information after the article's publication.

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The best business phone plans: Reliable 5G for work

When I started writing for ZDNet 15 years ago , mobile phones were being used by 74% of the US population, but only 14% of those people were using these basic phones to access the internet. The latest data shows that 97% of Americans own a mobile phone, with 85% of those being smartphones that access the internet multiple times a day.

Smartphones and wireless cellular services are now essential for businesses to compete in today's market and broad coverage is an expectation. After T-Mobile's recent acquisition of Sprint, the US market is dominated by Verizon, T-Mobile, and AT&T. Each of these carriers offers various plan options for businesses of all sizes.

5G continues to roll out across the US, but reliable LTE service is still essential to getting work done. The pricing for business service is competitive, and as someone who has been in the industry for decades, it is amazing to see the reasonable pricing for such fast service that reaches across the nation.

Verizon phone plans for businesses

Verizon Wireless has the most subscribers in the US and is popular with businesses. Three Business Unlimited plans make it easy to find the perfect option for your business. All three  Business Unlimited plans  from Verizon include unlimited talk, text, and data. Support for 5G, mobile hotspot, and tablet use differentiate the three plans. Pricing is also for five or more lines, targeted for business and not for family usage.

Business Unlimited Start

$30 per line per month.

While there are no limits on minutes, texts, or data, in times of congestion data may be slower with this Start plan. Nationwide 5G, low-band spectrum 5G, is supported with the Start plan and a compatible smartphone.

Tablet, smartwatch, and hotspot options are available for additional costs on the Business Unlimited Start plan. The price also includes $5 per month savings for paper-free billing and auto pay.

Pros  

• Nationwide 5G coverage
• Able to add additional devices (watches, tablets) to the account
• No support for mmWave, high-band, 5G
• Data speeds slowed down during times of congestion

Business Unlimited Plus

$40 per line per month.

For $10 more per line per month, Verizon adds 100GB of premium network access, 5G UWB (mmWave) support, and unlimited mobile hotspot service. In addition, Verizon's Business Mobile Secure is included at no additional cost. This enhanced security bundle includes lookout mobile endpoint secure, mobile device management, Wi-Fi protection, and tech support.

• Nationwide 5G coverage, including mmWave spectrum
• Enhanced security bundle included
• Unlimited mobile hotspot service
• 100GB limit during high usage time periods

Business Unlimited Pro

$50 per line per month.

The highest level Verizon Business Unlimited plan provides twice the amount of premium network access, 120GB, along with 50% off on Business Unlimited Pro tablet plans.

This plan may be perfect for businesses using connected tablets out in the field and smartphones that are using data throughout the day away from Wi-Fi service.

• Nationwide 5G coverage with mmWave support
• 50% cost savings on tablet plans
• $50 price per line higher than other tiers

T-Mobile phone plans for businesses

After the purchase of Sprint, T-Mobile is now the second largest (in terms of subscriber count) carrier in the US. While T-Mobile has long been known for its consumer-friendly cellular plans, it also has one of the most extensive  libraries of business offerings  for small companies, large companies, and government agencies. Its new  Business Unlimited plans  are presented below, but other options require  direct discussions  between businesses and T-Mobile.

Business Unlimited Select

$25 to $60 per line per month.

Business Unlimited Select plans are designed for small business customers who need 1 to 12 lines of service. A one line plan is the most expensive, at $60 per month. Two lines are priced at $45 per line per month, four lines are $30 per line per month, and six or more lines are just $25 per line per month.

These plans include 5G network support, 5GB of high-speed mobile hotspot data, as well as unlimited calling/texting/data in Mexico and Canada.

• Very affordable small business plan
• Unlimited service in Mexico and Canada
• Unlimited streaming is limited to SD content
• Included data in Canada and Mexico is 128kbps speed

Business Unlimited Advanced

$30 to $70 per line per month.

If the employees of your small business travel by airplane and need Microsoft apps, then you should consider the T-Mobile Business Unlimited Advanced plan. This service plan includes 40GB of high-speed hotspot data, Microsoft 365, one hour of Gogo in-flight Wi-Fi, and 5GB of high-speed data in Canada and Mexico.

• Affordable per line price point
• Microsoft 365 productivity service included
• One hour of in-flight Wi-Fi service
• 40GB of high-speed hotspot
• 100GB of premium data

Business Unlimited Ultimate

$40 to $85 per line per month.

For small businesses that want it all at reasonable per line prices, the new Business Unlimited Ultimate plan is for you. In addition to the unlimited talk, text, and data (with 5G included) small businesses also get unlimited premium data, 100GB of mobile hotspot, and Microsoft 365.

Streaming content is provided with unlimited 4K UHD quality, WiFi on your flight is unlimited, and data in 210 countries is twice as fast (256kbps) as the other T-Mobile small business plans.

• Unlimited premium data
• Unlimited WiFi on your flight
• Microsoft 365 services included
• 5GB of high speed data in Canada and Mexico

AT&T phone plans for businesses

After T-Mobile added Sprint subscribers to its total subscriber base, AT&T dropped to third in total subscriber count. However, AT&T is also well established as an enterprise service provider with  four enterprise options  available to customers. AT&T also serves as the backbone for the  FirstNet network  optimized for first responders.

Unlimited Your Way for Business

Starting at $30 per month.

The Unlimited Your Way for Business plans allow up to 10 devices per plan group and are designed for small to medium-sized businesses. The more lines you add, up to 10 lines, the less expensive the starting price is for AT&T Business Unlimited Starter, Business Unlimited Performance, and Business Unlimited Elite. For 10 lines, the starting price is $30, $35, and $40 per line per month, respectively. For just a single line, these prices are $65, $75, and $85 per line per month, respectively.

Hotspot data allotments, priority data transmission, and higher definition streaming are features that improve as you move from the Starter tier to the Elite tier of service. Select the number of lines on the Unlimited Your Way website to view pricing for your company.

• Price per line decreases with additional lines
• Multiple tiers of service are offered
• Limited to 10 lines of service
• Priority data transmission restrictions
• Hotspot data limits

AT&T Mobility Select - Pooled

Starting at $35 per month.

Unlimited calls and text messages in the US, unlimited calls to Mexico and Canada, and unlimited texting from the US to more than 120 countries are included in the  AT&T Mobility Select - Pooled  plan service. Data is served up to each employee from a single shared pool for each business account.

Plans start at $35 per month, but potential customers need to contact AT&T to discuss specific details and plan pricing.

• Affordable plan pricing
• Unlimited calls to Mexico and Canada
• Shared pool requires management to allocate

AT&T Mobile Share Plus for Business

Starting at $50 per month.

The AT&T Mobile Share Plus for Business plan supports from one to 25 smartphone lines with various monthly data caps, ranging from 3GB to 120GB per phone. Pricing per phone starts at $50 per month for 3GB and goes up to $615 for one phone with 120GB of data.

Shareable data, rollover data, unlimited talk and text, mobile hotspot service, and international talk, text, and data are provided with these plans.

• Support for up to 25 lines of service
• Rollover data support
• Mobile hotspot service included
• Data caps allocated by service option

AT&T Business 4GB

Unlimited talk, text, and 4GB of data per line are provided with the AT&T Business 4GB  plan. Hotspot data and standard mobile security services are also provided with the plan. Pricing for smartphones starts at $50 per month, but further pricing requires consultation with an AT&T representative.

AT&T Business 4GB is available for tablets for $20 per month and for wearables for $10 per month. AT&T advertises this plan as best for small businesses.

• Unlimited talk and text
• Controlled pricing per each phone
• Service options for tablets and wearables
• 4GB data limit per each line

MVNO options for businesses

While the three major carriers offer focused business plans, there are also a few MVNOs that offer attractive per line plans that may work well for small businesses. MVNOs (mobile virtual network operators) are companies that use establish wireless carrier infrastructure to provide no or minimal contract options for customers. The MVNOs do not openly advertise which wireless carrier infrastructure they are using, but as soon as you insert a SIM into your phone, you can see which carrier is connected to which MVNO. MVNOs are optimized for consumers looking for phone service with no contracts and prepaid options, but these same elements may help small businesses control costs and adjust to market demands.

US Mobile for business

$9 per line and $2 per gb per month.

Most MVNOs offer attractive per line prices with each account limited to five or six lines. US Mobile is one MVNO that actually provides shared data plans for companies of any size. Enter the number of lines you need and the amount of shared data to view your total monthly payment. 

A couple of examples include 50 lines with 100GB of data for $674 per month or 30 lines with 50GB of data for $385 per month. We had the opportunity to test out the two available US Mobile SIM cards and found the service to be fast and reliable.

• Specific service offering for businesses
• Scalable to your business size and line needs
• Competitive $9 per line base fee
• Verizon and T-Mobile serve as network providers
• Data price per GB may be higher than unlimited plans

Mint Mobile

$30 per month per line.

Mint Mobile is one of the most popular MVNOs thanks in large part to advertising by one of its owners, Ryan Reynolds. While there are no specific business plans, three/six/twelve month plans for individual phones are available starting as low as $30 per month for unlimited talk, text, and data.

T-Mobile provides the network for Mint Mobile's service so you will need GSM handsets for the service.

• Unlimited talk, text, and data plan options
• Flexibility for less expensive data limit plans
• No specific business service plans
• Limited to T-Mobile coverage area
• Three available contract period options

Cricket Wireless

Starting at $25 per line per month.

Cricket Wireless is an established MVNO, service provided by AT&T, that has retail stores around the country so you can get support and establish service in person if you desire. One to five lines can be setup for each account with measured data or unlimited data. Mobile hotspot data can also be added to each line.

4G LTE and 5G data is provided, along with international support, cloud storage, and more.

• Established, trusted MVNO
• Physical retail stores around the country
• Unlimited and measured data plan options
• No long term contract required
• Service coverage area limited to AT&T network
• Five line limit per account

What steps should a new business take to establish wireless service?

While this buying guide provides current pricing and service options from the three primary US wireless carriers and MVNOs, specific pricing for your business requires a conversation with the carrier to fully define your company needs, available service discounts, and contract lengths.

One of the first things to figure out is where you will need service geographically in the US as all three carriers have slightly different coverage maps. Your geographic operating area may remove one, or more, carriers from your viable candidate list. 

The next step is to determine how many lines of service you will need and then the data needs of those lines. Calling and text messages are unlimited in all cases, but data speed and amount of data will drive your costs.

Most carriers also offer additional incentives and services, such as hotspot, in-flight coverage, Microsoft 365, and more. Make sure to account for the value of these incentives in your decision-making process.

What are the disadvantages of a MVNO?

Most MVNOs are focused on the consumer market so business plan offerings for more than six lines of service are rare. Pricing can be very competitive and with no contracts these MVNOs may be attractive to businesses just getting started that do not want to lock in long-term contracts.

Account management may require more time from businesses given the consumer focus of MVNOs. MVNOs are also subject to the infrastructure provided by the big three US carriers, but there are several established MVNOs with solid reputation and a record of high-quality service and support.

What is the best business phone plan?

We analyzed reliability, coverage, and price to compile a list of the best phone plans for your business which includes: Verizon, AT&T, and T-Mobile.

Does the choice of my smartphone model limit wireless service?

In the past, the US wireless market was split into GSM and CDMA service technologies with two carriers supporting each of these technologies. Modern smartphones support LTE and 5G service without CDMA technology your choice of smartphone is not as limited.

The most popular smartphones in the US, Apple iPhones and Samsung Galaxy phones, support all wireless technologies in the US wireless market so there are no limits on using these phones with any US carrier. If you purchase these phones directly from Samsung and Apple, then you can choose to purchase unlocked models.

Some phones are sold in a locked state so they can only be used on one specific carrier. This may be changing soon and there are processes to unlock your phone from your carrier if you decide to switch carriers. There used to be incentives for purchasing locked phones, but in today's world purchasing unlocked phones gives you the most flexibility for choosing your service provider.

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Best Telstra mobile plans (November 2023)

Here’s our independent recommendations on the network’s best phone plans

1. Best Optus mobile plans 2. Best Vodafone mobile plans

Telstra’s mobile plans are the most expensive on the market, but Telstra’s wide-reaching coverage can be worth the steeper price of entry for some people, particularly if you’re living in a regional or remote area of Australia.

However, Telstra’s cost alone makes it difficult to recommend, and to make matters worse, Telstra increased the cost of its mobile plans by as much as AU$6 a month in July 2023. Now, the most ‘affordable’ plan you can get from Telstra will cost you AU$62 a month, which is much higher than Optus and Vodafone’s cheapest offerings.

If you want to sign up or stay with Telstra because of its network coverage, we strongly suggest checking out our guide to cheap plans on the Telstra network . You’ll find a range of options from Telstra mobile virtual network operators (MVNOs) such as Boost Mobile, Belong and Mate, all of which offer Telstra coverage at a cheaper price.

We’ll be taking a look at various phones on this page, and seeing how they stack up on the Telstra network. If you’d like, you can jump ahead to our plan recommendations below:

Jump to: • Best SIM-only option – AU$62p/m for Telstra Basic plan • Best overall phone + plan combos – AU$120.29p/m for iPhone 14 | AU$118.20p/m for Samsung Galaxy S23 • Best cheap phone + plan combos – AU$91.95p/m for iPhone SE | AU$93.20p/m for Google Pixel 7a • Best premium phone + plan combos – AU$134.87p/m for iPhone 14 Pro | AU$143.20p/m for Samsung S23 Ultra

Noteworthy Telstra deals

Before we get stuck into our phone and plan recommendations, you should know about Telstra’s current phone deals:

• Save AU$250 on the Samsung Galaxy S21 FE when you add a Telstra plan

Best Telstra mobile plans: our picks

Best sim-only option.

Why you can trust TechRadar We spend hours testing every product or service we review, so you can be sure you’re buying the best. Find out more about how we test.

Telstra Basic plan | 50GB data | AU$62p/m

Telstra’s mobile plans have just got more expensive, as the telco increased its prices across the board at the beginning of July. Telstra’s cheapest plan now costs AU$62 a month (up from AU$58), and this is what we’d recommend as the best Telstra mobile plan. It now gets you 50GB of data a month (up from 40GB) and it offers capped data speeds of 250Mbps, on Telstra’s 4G and 5G network.

Total minimum cost is AU$62

Best overall phone + plan combos

Best overall iPhone + plan combo: our pick

iPhone 14 (128GB) | 50GB data | 24 months | AU$120.29p/m

The iPhone 15 is likely a few months away, but if you want a new iPhone now, we think this is your best option from Telstra. We suggest pairing the iPhone 14 with the Basic 50GB plan , which will see you pay AU$120.29 each billing. We only recommend picking up this device from Telstra if you absolutely have to, because you can get it from Optus or Vodafone for at least AU$20 cheaper per month.

Total cost over 24 months is AU$2,886.96

Best overall Android + plan combo: our pick

Samsung Galaxy S23 (128GB) | 50GB data | 24 months | AU$118.20p/m

The Galaxy S23 is the latest from Samsung, and if you buy it from Telstra, the Basic 50GB plan is your cheapest way of getting it. We’d suggest getting the S23 on a 24-month contract, which will cost you AU$118.20 a month with Telstra. As you might expect, you can get this phone on a cheaper plan with either Optus or Vodafone, so we strongly suggest you consider these telcos as well.

Total cost over 24 months is AU$2,836.80

Best cheap phone + plan combos

Best cheap iPhone + plan combo: our pick

iPhone SE 2022 (64GB) | 50GB data | 24 months | AU$91.95p/m

The iPhone SE 2022 is Apple’s 'budget' iPhone, with a starting price of AU$719. For the 'cheapest' iPhone plan from Telstra, we recommend pairing the Basic 50GB plan with the 64GB iPhone SE in black, red or white, which will see you pay AU$91.95 a month. You’ll get 50GB of data to play with each month, unlimited talk and text to standard numbers in Australia and 5G access.

Total cost over 24 months is AU$2,206.80

Best cheap Android phone + plan combo: our pick

Google Pixel 7a (128GB) | 50GB data | 24 months | AU$93.20p/m

The Google Pixel 7a is an affordable phone at AU$749, but fair warning, Telstra’s got the most expensive plan ( Optus is your cheapest option). If you need to go with Telstra, we recommend the Basic 50GB plan – it’ll cost you AU$93.20 each billing period if you pay it off over 24 months. Telstra’s plan is AU$13 more a month than you’d pay over at Optus, but you might be swayed by Telstra’s wider coverage.

Total cost over 24 months is AU$2,236.80

Best premium phone + plan combos

Best premium iPhone + plan combo: our pick

iPhone 14 Pro (128GB) | 50GB data | 24 months | AU$134.87p/m

For the best premium iPhone currently available, you’ll want to go with either the 14 Pro or 14 Pro Max, depending on your size preference. The Pro has the same 6.1-inch screen size as the regular iPhone 14, while the Pro Max stretches out to 6.7 inches. Whichever you go with, we think Telstra’s Basic plan on a 24-month contract is best, as it’ll get you 50GB of data from AU$134.87 a month.

Total cost over 24 months is AU$3,236.88

Best premium Android + plan combo: our pick

Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra (256GB) | 50GB data | 24 months | AU$143.20p/m

We’d argue the Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra is the best Android phone out there, and its new 200MP main camera is particularly noteworthy. If you must buy it from Telstra, pair it with the Basic 50GB plan , which will see you pay AU$143.20 a month on a 24-month contract. Optus and Vodafone both offer cheaper monthly plans, so consider signing up with either of them if you want to pay less each billing period.

Total cost over 24 months is AU$3,436.80

• Looking for something cheaper, or have your own phone? Check out the best-value Australian SIM-only plans

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Jasmine Gearie is an ecommerce editor at TechRadar Australia, with a primary focus on helping readers cut through the jargon to find the best mobile and internet plans for their needs. She crunches the numbers to maintain dedicated guides to the latest phones, NBN and broadband plans of all types, and covers the important telco industry news. She also hunts down tech deals on laptops, phones, gaming consoles and more, so readers know where to buy the products they want for the cheapest prices.

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• Upfront mobile plans

upfront Mobile plans

BYO phone and jump on a JB Hi-Fi Mobile upfront plan powered by Telstra's mobile network.

Activate and manage your plan with the JB Hi-Fi Mobile app

Check your usage, manage add-ons and get help, available now at your fingertips. Learn more

or log in to the web view

• Pre-Paid SIM
• Mobile broadband plans

$52 upfront plan

60GB + 40GB BONUS DATA

for use in Australia only

Month to month plan

• Unlimited calls and texts 

To standard Australian numbers

• 4G and 5G network access

Capped speed + available in select areas using compatible devices

• Data sharing with other JB Mobile plans

Available with up to 10 eligible plans on the same account for use within Australia

• Transfer your existing number or get a new one

How number porting works

Critical Information summary

Terms and conditions

$69 upfront plan

$1,65 6 minimum cost over 24 months

Get a $500 JB Gift Card

Available to port-in and new Telstra customers. *Gift card offer ends 29/11/23.

24 month plan

• 5G network access

Available in select areas using compatible devices

$99 upfront plan

Per month 1

$2,136  minimum cost over 24 months

Get a $1100 JB Gift Card*

Available to port-in and new Telstra customers.  *Gift card offer ends 29/11/23. 1. Reverts to $99 after 24 months.

• Call, SMS and MMS to standard international numbers
• Use while overseas (also known as international roaming)
• SMS & calls to premium numbers (e.g., 19xx numbers)
• Calls to some satellite numbers
• Earning Telstra Plus points

Please note that JB Hi-Fi Mobile plans will not contribute to the Telstra Loyalty program.

International Calling Packs

Stay in touch with friends and family overseas with an International Calling Pack to get additional call minutes to selected countries.

$10 monthly

• New Zealand
• Puerto Rico
• South Korea
• US Virgin Islands

$20 monthly

• Czech Republic
• Dominican Republic
• Faroe Islands
• French Guiana
• Liechtenstein
• Netherlands
• Palestinian Authority
• Philippines
• Saudi Arabia
• Slovak republic
• South Africa
• United Arab Emirates

$30 monthly

• Falkland Islands
• French Polynesia
• Mariana islands
• Netherlands Antilles
• New Caledonia
• Saint Maarten
• St Eustatius
• St Kitts & Nevis
• St Vincent & The Grenadines
• Turkmenistan
• Wallis Island

Please note: International Roaming is temporarily unavailable in Nigeria and Panama for services on an Upfront Mobile Plan.

International Roaming Day Passes

Access 1GB of data per day and unlimited calls and texts in eligible destinations. Countries are zoned according to what services are available.

New Zealand only. 1GB data, unlimited calls + SMS 

1GB data, unlimited calls + SMS 

• East Timor (Leste)
• Isle of Man
• Papua New Guinea
• Phillippines
• Russian Federation
• Slovak Republic
• Solomon Islands
• Switzerland

Unlimited calls + SMS

Data top-up

Gone over your 1GB Day Pass daily allowance? We'll SMS to give you the option of topping up.

$10 for 1gb

Valid for 31 days

Grab a new phone to go with your plan

Latest phones.

Check out our latest range of mobile phones from iPhone to Android. A perfect fit with a JB Hi-Fi Mobile upfront plan.

Things to know

• All data included on our plans is for use in Australia only. See the Add-ons section for available international data packs.
• +250Mbps Speed Cap: 250Mbps is the maximum potential download speed for data included in the Starter Plan. Typical speeds may often be slower and will vary due to factors like your location, device and network congestion. If you exceed your data, your speed will be capped at 1.5Mbps but you won’t be charged extra.  
• *Bonus JB Gift Card offers are only available to port-in customers and customers who connect a new service to Telstra. Excludes existing Telstra, Boost, and The Good Guys Mobile services. Offer is not available in conjunction with any other offer.
• Our callback hours operate Monday to Saturday 9am - 5pm AEST

Got questions about our JB Hi-Fi Mobile upfront plans? We’ve got the answer in our help section.

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Telstra mobile plans review

There's a reason Telstra costs more than most; but do you really need to be paying the premium?

We may earn money when you click our links.

Find out how we score mobile providers .

It's not just coverage that makes Telstra the most expensive mobile provider. Telstra is Australia’s original phone service provider, and for many, it is still the best for coverage and speeds. Telstra’s network coverage remains superior to the competition, with extended reach in regional and remote areas of Australia, and it was among the first of the network owners to roll out fast 5G coverage. 

You’ll pay extra to be a Telstra customer, and in some cases this price difference is significant. But in return, you get access to Australia’s fastest mobile network, a huge customer support team, as well as plenty of exclusive offers and perks through Telstra Plus rewards . Telstra itself is not for the budget conscious but you can save some money with an MVNO that uses the Telstra network .

To give you an idea of Telstra's value for money, let's take a look at its most popular plan: 

At the time of writing, the $58 Basic Upfront SIM Plan is the most popular Telstra plan available. It gives you 40GB to use for $58 per month on the Telstra 4G/5G network. It's no contract and can be paired with a new smartphone on a 24 or 36-month payment plan. It also comes with some neat perks, like two months of Binge , three months of Apple TV Plus and four months Spotify Premium. 

Telstra iPhone 14 plans

If you're looking to pick an iPhone 14 up through Telstra, your cheapest option is going to be the Telstra Upfront Mobile Plan Basic. Priced at $58 per month, this plan includes 40GB of data, unlimited local calls and texts and access to both Telstra's 4G and 5G network coverage.

The cost of pairing this plan with the new iPhone 14 is going to vary based on the model you choose. Assuming that the baseline iPhone 14 is the model you're after, you're looking at $38.86 per month in handset fees on a 36 month plan. All told, this works out to a total $96.58 per month over 36 months.

If you'd prefer a 24 month plan, you're looking at $58.29 per month in handset fees and $115.87 overall.

Telstra phone plans

Instead of the typical postpaid model, Telstra's SIM plans uses what it calls an Upfront payment method. Essentially, instead of paying your bill at the end of the month, you'll simply fork out your fee at the start of the month. It's similar to a prepaid plan but comes with the more premium inclusions you'd expect from a postpaid arrangement.

Across the entire Telstra range of phone plans, we’d argue that you needn't choose a plan higher than the Basic Upfront SIM Plan. There are phone plans with more data, of course, and you’ll need to bring your own phone (or grab one through Telstra), but this plan has everything you need at a price that won’t break the bank. If anything, 40GB of data per month is probably a tad excessive, but there are no smaller options available. 

Telstra BYO Upfront SIM plans

All of Telstra’s BYO Mobile Phone plans are offered with no lock-in contracts and if you'd like to add a new phone down the track, you don't need to change plans, you just add monthly phone repayments to your bill. Here's a look at the rest of Telstra's BYO mobile plans:

Of course, there are plenty of other plans in market to consider too, several of which operate on the Telstra network. Here are a few popular plans from other providers on the Telstra network:

Popular SIM plans from Telstra MVNOs

If the prices of the plans listed above overshoot your budget, or you’d prefer to avoid signing a contract, Telstra does have Prepaid plans available too. Our pick is the $30 Prepaid Complete plan, as you can see below. Just keep in mind that the credit you buy with this plan expires every 28 days. This means you need to recharge your account 13 times each year, a fact that may come as a surprise.

But to be honest, we probably wouldn’t choose Telstra for a Prepaid plan if value for money was a consideration. There are dozens of smaller mobile carriers offering better, cheaper prepaid plans .

Telstra Prepaid plans

Telstra mobile features and perks.

All Telstra's Upfront plans now come with 5G connectivity, a huge perk for those who want faster mobile speeds. Telstra’s Prepaid plans, on the other hand 

Telstra Upfront plans can be bundled with a range of cutting-edge and recent smartphones, including the latest iPhone, Google Pixel or Samsung Galaxy. Telstra lets you opt to purchase a handset outright, or you can pay it off over time with 12-month or 24-month handset repayment terms.

One of the better data-related perks for SIM-only plans is there are no excess data charges in Australia. This means if you burn through your max-speed data allowance, speeds are slowed to 1.5Mbps for the duration of your billing cycle. 

Woolworths Mobile also runs on the Telstra network and tends to offer great perks, too. Check out their plans below in comparison to Telstra’s offering.

Telstra mobile customer support and satisfaction

The premium price of Telstra plans also helps fund an impressive array of customer support options for when things go awry. Telstra offers self-paced support via forums and self-service online tools. If you want to talk to someone, Telstra is responsive via Twitter and Facebook, plus there’s an online chat service and dedicated phone support.

While there aren’t any excess data charges on SIM Only plans, you can monitor your usage via the Telstra app, plus there’s a range of in-person stores and Telstra Plus perks for earning points and other benefits.

Telstra support is impressive, but overall customer satisfaction isn’t as flash according to user-generated score on sites like Product Review and Trustpilot, even if the Google review fares better. In fairness, those score trends are relatively the same for Optus and Vodafone, too. Moose Mobile , Numobile, Pennytel and Tangerine are the only telcos that average above four out of five on these user-review websites.

What are Telstra Blue Tick phones?

In a country as large as Australia, coverage is a major consideration, especially if you live or work outside of the major metro areas. Telstra’s network is renowned for its coverage reach, but if you are at the edges of this coverage area you may need a specific phone model to get a good signal.

The Telstra Blue Tick is a way for Telstra to signify which handsets are superior for coverage based on its own internal testing. Not every phone is eligible, so this list is important if you feel like you need that boost in signal.

Samsung phones are generally the most popular Blue Tick handsets, mostly because the Apple iPhones don't earn the Blue Tick signification.

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Disclaimer: The information featured in this article is based on our best estimates of pricing, package details, contract stipulations, and service available at the time of writing. This is not a guarantee. All information is subject to change. Pricing will vary based on various factors, including, but not limited to, the customer’s location, package chosen, added features and equipment, the purchaser’s credit score, etc. For the most accurate information, please ask your customer service representative. Clarify all fees and contract details before signing a contract or finalizing your purchase. Each individual's unique needs should be considered when deciding on chosen products.

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The best Black Friday mobile plan and phone deals for 2023

Get SIM only plans for up to 65% off and huge discounts on popular phones such as iPhone 14, Google Pixel 8 and more for Black Friday.

We've rounded up some of our favourite deals before diving deeper because 'tis the season to lock in some big savings on your mobile plan and upgrade your tech for cheaper.

FIND DEALS FROM: Coles - Belong - amaysim - Vodafone - Boost Mobile - Optus - Kogan Mobile

Coles Mobile Black Friday deal

Coles has a stunning offer on its long-expiry plan if you sign up by 28 November 2023.

You'll receive 160GB of data for $125 on your first recharge (365-day expiry). The price and data limit reverts back to 120GB for $150 after.

Signing up with Coles Mobile will make you eligible for an egift card worth 10% off your groceries or largest single shop each month (up to $30).

Belong bonus data offer

Belong is adding more value to its monthly SIM only plans with 20GB of bonus data per month for 1 year on selected plans. Its offer ends on 18 January 2024.

• $35 SIM: 20GB bonus data per month. Get 60GB for $35 a month for the first 12 months. Data limit reverts back to 40GB after
• $45 SIM: 20GB bonus data per month. Get 120GB for $45 a month for the first 12 months. Data limit reverts back to 100GB after
• $55 SIM: 20GB bonus data per month. Get 180GB for $55 a month for the first 12 months. Data limit reverts back to 160GB after

amaysim mobile plan deals

amaysim's Black Friday offers run until 30 November 2023 and come with discounted prices and bonus data.

You can opt for its 28-day expiry plan or the 12-month SIM plan.

28-day plans

• 10GB Prepaid SIM: $10 for the first renewal and 5GB of bonus data for 3 renewals. 10GB for $18 ongoing. Get this deal here
• 32GB Prepaid SIM: $12 for the first renewal and bonus 28GB data for 3 renewals. 32GB for $30 ongoing. Get this deal here
• 80GB Prepaid SIM: $15 for the first renewal and bonus 20GB of data for 3 renewals. 80GB for $40 ongoing. Get this deal here
• 120GB Prepaid SIM: $24 for the first renewal, then $50 for 120GB ongoing. Get this deal here

12-month plans

• 150GB Prepaid SIM: 150GB for $130 first renewal, then $170 ongoing. Get this deal here
• 200GB Prepaid SIM: 200GB for $170 first renewal, then $220 ongoing. Get this deal here

Vodafone's Black Friday deals

This is where things get interesting. You can get a discounted handset on a plan and pair it with a discounted SIM.

You can pay off the cost of your phone with Vodafone over 12-, 24- or 36 months.

Vodafone's Black Friday offers end 28 November 2023.

SIM only plans and handsets

• 40GB SIM only plan: Pay $40 a month instead of $45.
• 150GB SIM only plan: Pay $50 a month instead of $55.
• 300GB SIM only plan: Pay $60 a month instead of $65.
• Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra: Up to $700 off. Get this deal here
• Samsung Galaxy A34: Up to $500 off. Get this deal here
• Google Pixel 8: $350 off. Get this deal here
• Google Pixel 8 Pro: $500 off. Get this deal here
• iPhone 14: $200 off. Get this deal here
• iPhone 12: $300 off. Get this deal here
• Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 5: $400 off. Get this deal here
• Bonus $1,000 trade-in credit: Get a $1,000 bonus credit (on top of the usual trade-in credit) when you upgrade to S22 Ultra 5G, trade-in an eligible device and stay connected Vodafone's phone plan for 12-, 24-, or 36 months. Get this deal here
• Motorola Edge 30 Pro: $400 off. Get this deal here
• Motorola Edge 30: $280 off. Get this deal here

Boost Mobile offers for Black Friday

Boost Mobile's popularity is credited to it being the only small provider with full access to the Telstra network .

Now, Boost is doing one better by slinging up to 65% off on selected SIM only plans.

Here are some of the standout offers available until 27 November 2023.

• $35 Prepaid SIM (28 days): $12 when you sign up and 50GB on the first 3 recharges. 25GB for $35 ongoing
• $45 Prepaid SIM (28 days): $17 when you sign up and 65GB on the first 3 recharges. 35GB for $45 ongoing
• $300 Prepaid SIM (365 days): $250 for 260GB, then $300 for 240GB ongoing

Black Friday deals from Optus

Optus's Black Friday offers will suit people looking for a big data mobile plan or extra bang for their buck with a new phone. The offers will end on 27 November 2023.

You can sign up for a phone plan over 12-, 24- or 36 months or buy outright if you're an existing Optus customer.

• 500GB SIM only plan (monthly): 500GB for $69 a month for 12 months, then $89 a month ongoing
• Gift card: $1,000 digital gift card when you buy Galaxy Z Flip 5, Z Fold 5 or S23 Ultra
• Samsung Galaxy S23 FE: $500 off

How does the gift card work?

When you buy the Galaxy S23 Ultra, Z Flip 5 or Z Fold 5 on a plan and trade in an eligible device in good working condition, you'll be able to get up to a $1,000 digital Mastercard gift card.

Kogan Mobile offers

Have you been eyeing a long-expiry plan for a while? Kogan Mobile's doing us a solid with discounts of up to 40% off until 3 December 2023.

• Kogan Small 365 days : Pay $100 instead of $120 on your first recharge for 120GB. Get this deal here
• Kogan Medium 365 Days : Pay $140 instead of $180 on your first recharge for 200GB. Get this deal here
• Kogan Large 365 Days : Pay $160 instead of $270 on your first recharge for 300GB. Get this deal here
• Kogan Extra Large 365 Days : Pay $180 instead of $300 on your first recharge for 500GB. Get this deal here

Telstra Black Friday deals

Telstra's doing it a bit differently this year. Apart from discounted phones, you can also earn 40,000 bonus Telstra Plus points by signing up for its Upfront mobile plans (new customers only).

These start from 50GB for $62 a month.

Offers end on 27 November 2023.

• Upfront mobile plans: Get 40,000 bonus Telstra Plus points to redeem in the Rewards store
• Google Pixel 8: $200 off
• Google Pixel 8 Pro: $400 off
• Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 5 (256GB): $250 off
• Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 5 (512GB): $300 off
• Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 5: $250 off

Lebara mobile plan deals

Last on our list is Lebara . The telco has heaps of plans on sale - from month-to-month options to long-expiry plans .

You'll need to sign up by 30 November 2023 to take advantage of the deals.

• Lebara Extra Small 30 Day : $14.90 for 8GB on the first recharge, then 4GB ongoing
• Lebara Small 30 Day :$12 for 30GB for the first recharge, then $24.90 for 25GB ongoing
• Lebara Medium 30 Day : 70GB for $29.90 for the first recharge, then 35GB ongoing
• Lebara Large 30 Day : 120GB for $49.90 for the first recharge, then 80GB ongoing
• Lebara XXL 30 Day : $34 for 130GB for the first recharge, then $69.90 for 100GB ongoing
• Lebara Small 180 Day : $90 for 80GB on the first recharge, then $120 ongoing
• Lebara Large 180 Day : $130 for 200GB on the first recharge, then $180 ongoing
• Lebara Small 360 Day : $149 for 180GB on the first recharge, then $200 ongoing
• Lebara Large 360 Day : $199 for 425GB on the first recharge, then $300 ongoing

When is Black Friday?

This year, Black Friday is on 24 November. The official sale period starts at midnight this Friday, but telcos have been offering promotions up to a week in advance. The sale then turns into Cyber Monday which typically runs through to late Tuesday.

UPDATED 22 Nov 2023: We've updated our news story with new Black Friday deals from Coles Mobile and Vodafone.

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Telstra's 'pink bus' service accused of not fully informing Indigenous customers of their rights

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An emergency bushfire warning is in place for Mariginiup, north of Perth. Keep up to date with ABC Emergency

It was hard to miss Telstra's bright pink bus shining brightly at this year's Garma Festival — the nation's biggest gathering of First Nations culture.

Key points:

• Three financial counselling services hold serious concerns about how Telstra is using the pink bus support service
• This week the ABC revealed Telstra's mis-selling scandal has been more wide-reaching than first thought
• Cases have been uncovered in Queensland for the first time

Amongst the attendees was an Aboriginal woman from Yirrkala, in East Arnhem Land in the Northern Territory.

At Garma, she visited the Telstra community outreach bus for the second time and staff helped her sort out an outstanding debt.

"Both times, she'd been told her debt had been waived and given a recharge (phone) voucher," said Fiona Pettiford, a financial counsellor with Anglicare NT.

But what concerned Ms Pettiford was the fact the woman was entitled to far more from the telecommunications giant.

After hearing the woman's story, and discovering she had been signed up for multiple services and devices during a 2017 Telstra store visit, Ms Pettiford quickly secured $12,000 for the woman from the telco, which included a refund and compensation.

"[That amount], when your only income is Centrelink, is pretty significant and can make a real difference to you and your family's life," Ms Pettiford said.

Telstra told the ABC customers did not always feel comfortable sharing personal details with staff on the pink bus, and sometimes it relied on financial counsellors to find out more.

The company said it paid Ms Pettiford's client quickly after she brought the case to its attention.

The ABC has spoken with three financial counselling services that hold concerns about Telstra's "community check-in bus".

They have questioned whether First Nations customers were always properly informed that they could be entitled to compensation if they were a victim of mis-selling.

Multiple concerns about the pink bus

In 2021, Telstra was hit with a $50 million dollar penalty after an Australian Competition & Consumer Commission (ACCC) investigation found instances of mis-selling involving 108 Indigenous customers in the Northern Territory, Western Australia and South Australia between 2016 and 2018.

The mis-selling was found to be a serious breach of Australian consumer law, and Telstra offered some victims compensation beyond a basic refund.

However, this week the ABC revealed the problem is much more widespread than first thought .

Following questions from the ABC, Telstra revealed it had paid millions of dollars to more than 2,300 customers since the ACCC's court action.

Telstra said there was not always clear evidence of mis-selling, however in some cases it chose to "take the customer's story on face value" and remediate anyway.

However, Ms Pettiford said financial counsellors were concerned people visiting the pink bus were not always being offered a refund and compensation.

"Those people are supposed to get the full remediation," she said.

"If they have a poor credit rating because of that debt, they might be still sitting there and impacting that client's financial life, and also many of those people may be due a refund with penalty interest."

Cairns-based financial counsellor Zack Wildy, from the Indigenous Consumer Assistance Network (ICAN), echoed the concerns.

"We've had a number of cases where people have visited the pink bus and either had a debt waived or had no issues identified, only later to be found out there was mis-selling," he told the ABC.

"If that person was actually a victim of mis-selling, then they've missed out on the other obligations that they're entitled to [until being represented by ICAN]."

The ABC asked to visit the pink bus, but Telstra said it was not "in an appropriate location at the moment to arrange access for filming purposes".

The company has rejected the concerns being raised about the pink bus, and said it had been proactively finding First Nations customers so it could make things right.

The bus has visited 190 communities, many remote, and offered support services to 22,000 people.

"We do have people approaching the bus … if they need help resolving any outstanding bills or if they do have an outstanding debt," Telstra's executive for contact centres Claire Johnston said.

"We have a really firm process (for an investigation) and we've identified a number of customers in those communities where we have remediated and provided compensation."

Ms Johnston maintained that staff on the pink bus were referring people to another team to have cases investigated.

"They take the information and we make a commitment to perform an investigation and then we make contact with the customer to discuss those things with them," she said.

Mis-selling detected in new state

The ABC can also reveal cases of mis-selling have been discovered in Queensland for the first time.

In the past 12 months, ICAN has uncovered 41 cases of Indigenous customers being sold products they could not afford after visiting a Telstra store.

In six of those cases, the mis-selling occurred in 2020 or later.

Telstra funded ICAN's investigations, and Mr Wildy said cases were found "everywhere from Thursday Island down to Mackay".

He said ICAN had lodged these cases with Telstra.

Most of the clients who were sold expensive data plans — 82 per cent — were either unemployed or on low incomes and more than half were single parents, carers or pensioners.

"They've been given the hard sell and walked out with a number of devices, products and services that they potentially didn't want, couldn't afford and perhaps couldn't use," Mr Wildy said.

"It shows … direct mis-selling to First Nations consumers in the Cape and potentially indicates that this could have happened in other parts of the country as well."

Mr Wildy said when it came to compensation cases, ICAN was often finding itself in conflict with Telstra over the extent of a client's vulnerability and the harm caused to that person.

Telstra said while it was not provided with specific ICAN cases to investigate further, it was "confident" it would "be able to resolve any issues raised".

The telco said it had undertaken extensive changes since the mis-selling had been identified and was confident it was no longer occurring.

This included changing the way sales staff were incentivised, removing excess data charges, changing how credit assessments were done, no longer using third-party debt collectors and buying back all retail stores.

Calls for a wider investigation

There are growing calls for the ACCC to launch a new investigation into Telstra's conduct.

"Yes, given the numbers that we've seen [in Queensland]," Mr Wildy said.

In a statement, the ACCC said it was continuing to monitor the situation.

"We are continuing our monitoring and our engagement with consumer advocates about these cases of misleading sales practices to vulnerable communities by Telstra," it said.

"As recently as last Friday, we have been advised by a consumer advocate dealing with this issue, that all but a handful of cases they are aware of have been historical conduct.

"Telstra continues to remediate certain consumers, including beyond the undertaking's remit."

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More than 200 Optus customers unable to call triple zero during 14-hour outage, Senate inquiry told

Chief executive Kelly Bayer Rosmarin faced grilling at Senate inquiry on Friday over last week’s network outage

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More than 200 of Optus’s customers were unable to call triple zero during the 14-hour outage, the company’s chief executive, Kelly Bayer Rosmarin, revealed to a Senate inquiry on Friday.

Bayer Rosmarin and the company’s head of networks, Lambo Kanagaratnam, faced a two-hour grilling before a Senate committee on Friday, chaired by the Greens communications spokesperson, Sarah Hanson-Young. Questions explored the outage itself as well as the company’s communication to customers and what will be done to prevent it happening again.

Decades-long rules mean mobile phones should be able to dial triple zero even when their mobile provider’s network is down by connecting via another network.

But Bayer Rosmarin said on Friday that 228 of the Optus customers who attempted to call triple zero during the outage on Wednesday last week were unable to connect their call.

The company had since conducted a welfare check on those customers and “thankfully everybody is OK”, she said.

The issue sparked an Australian Communications and Media Authority (Acma) investigation which Bayer Rosmarin should happen expeditiously.

“We absolutely believe that the triple zero system should have worked and it’s critical for all Australians that that system can be relied upon,” she said. “We don’t manage the triple zero system. It’s a very complex system that involves all the carriers.”

Bayer Rosmarin told the hearing she now carries both a Telstra and a Vodafone sim card with her in case of another outage like the one that took down Optus last week.

Bayer Rosmarin said she previously carried a spare Vodafone sim in case of an outage, but now also carries a spare Telstra sim.

“I now have all three. I used to have Vodafone and I have Telstra now too,” she said.

Bayer Rosmarin also said she did not speak to the communications minister, Michelle Rowland, until four hours into the outage last week.

“When I got up in the morning, I could see that the phone wasn’t working. And so I immediately decided to head into the office.”

She said she arrived at the office at 7.35am and had a crisis meeting from 7.45am until 8.30am. She said she spoke to the minister after that.

Bayer Rosmarin said her team had been in contact with the minister’s office before then, and that she assured Rowland Optus was working to restore the network as quickly as possible.

Optus initially claimed on Monday the outage was caused by changes to routing information supplied from an international peering network after a routine software upgrade. The company did not reveal until late on Wednesday that the peering network in question was Optus’s parent company’s Singtel Internet Exchange (STiX).

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However, Singtel moved to distance itself from responsibility, saying Optus had been informed in advance about the upgrade and that it had not caused the outage. Kanagaratnam said on Friday it was ultimately an issue with Optus’s Cisco routers not being configured correctly.

“The outage was as a result of our defences for the change in our routing information not working as it should have been and that’s something obviously we’ve addressed,” he told the Senate committee. “And we’ve worked around the clock to ensure that we address all the issues that we found.”

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During the outage about 90 of the company’s routers went offline due to a failsafe mechanism after receiving an overload in routing information, triggering the network shutdown. About 150 engineers were required to visit 14 sites across the country to reactivate them.

Bayer Rosmarin said the company had to perform a “hard reboot of the network” at about 10.30am on the Wednesday – a “brute force resuscitation of the network”. While the crisis was over for customers at 4pm, it took the team several days to determine what caused it.

The company had initially wondered whether it was a result of another cyber-attack, with Bayer Rosmarin noting there were “strange coincidences” between last week’s incident and last year’s cyber-attack, most notably that the Singtel board was in Australia for both. That idea was quickly ruled out, she said.

The company had conducted an outage exercise in October but did not account for the entire network going down. Kanagaratnam said Optus had now put in place protections so a similar event could not occur in future.

So far, 8,500 customers and small businesses have contacted Optus about compensation for losses amounting to $430,000 in compensation. The company had already applied $36,000 in compensation.

Bayer Rosmarin said Optus was keen to have a “broad” discussion about consequential losses as a result of the outage, noting that it would have wider implications for the NBN and other sectors going forward.

“We felt that this was an issue that’s much more broad and that should government choose to look into this we’d love to be part of that conversation. But there is no precedent for telcos or other essential providers covering consequential loss,” she said.

“We are very conscious that this would have far-reaching implications, not just for Optus, not just for all telcos, including the NBN, also for other essential services, utilities, government services, and that this needs to be a much broader conversation.”

She also said that measures allowing Optus customers to roam on to rival networks were not in place, and would take some discussion with other industry players and investment in capacity before it could happen in future.

The CEO also faced criticism from senators over the company’s communications with customers during the outage. She acknowledged that the company had only provided select media interviews, and said she would consider holding press conferences in the future, but it was “unusual for a CEO” to front the public during an outage.

Bayer Rosmarin did not directly respond to reports suggesting she could resign as early as next week, instead saying her focus had been on responding to the outage.

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Telstra and Optus will be forced to “take responsibility” and assist authorities in detecting oncoming cyber attacks under a revamped plan to deal with a national rise in cybercrime.

Home Affairs Minister Clare O’Neil said the federal government would enforce stringent new regulations on businesses and partner with telecommunications giants to help monitor traffic to identify indicators of compromise.

It comes as the federal government launched its $600m cyber security strategy on Wednesday to bolster critical infrastructure, individuals and businesses against escalating threats of cybercrime.

“One of the underlying ideas in the cyber strategy is to stop leaving small businesses and citizens on their own and to force the big players in our economy to take responsibility for this problem and oblige them to protect their customers,” Ms O’Neil told RN earlier.

“There’s probably no part of the private sector that is more equipped to help us nationally deal with the problem of cybercrime and yet we have paltry requirements on telcos at the moment to care for cyber security, and we will change that.”

Nearly 94,000 reports of cybercrime were made to law enforcement agencies by individuals and businesses in 2023, an increase of 23 per cent from the previous financial year.

It came off the back of a series of major breaches in 2022, that saw tens of millions of people have their personal information leaked online after Optus and Medibank’s customer databases were targeted by hackers.

Under its new plan the government will establish a mandatory reporting scheme requiring businesses to report ransomware attacks and payments, to curb concerns that companies are withholding information about hacks to avoid losing customers.

Businesses will also be banned from making ransom payments to cybercriminals and face limits on hoarding customer information, with a review to assess any “unnecessary risk” of holding onto significant volumes of data for longer than needed.

Ms O’Neil said an outright ban on ransomware payments will be rolled over the next two years to allow the government to scope a clearer picture of the issue.

“We’ve got data flying around the country, we’ve got cyber attacks on major pieces of infrastructure and we’ve got citizen businesses who keep saying to me that they feel really alone in this challenge and unnecessarily vulnerable,” she said.

“So the cyber strategy that the government is releasing today is not just a big vision document about what the world might look like in 2030. It is a very specific set of tangible things that the government will do to change the game for our country.”

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Information about the service

This plan allows you to data share with up to 10 eligible upfront mobile or data plans on your account. 

Eligible Data Share

You can also share data with other eligible plans on the same account. Eligible services can be found in our customer terms at telstra.com/customer-terms .  Or additional Data Share SIMs can be purchased for $5/mth per SIM (limit of 5 Data Share SIMs per service). Data is shared between your Plan and any additional Data Share SIMs. Data Share SIMs can’t be used in a mobile handset.

Your Mobile Repayment Option (MRO)

You must purchase an eligible device with this plan, payable over 24 monthly payments. You may receive a monthly discount. You will lose your discount if you cancel early.

Information about pricing

Refer to the Plan Cost table. 

What happens if I cancel my service early?

If you cancel your plan early, you’ll need to pay an Early Termination Charge (ETC) and any remaining device and accessory payments.  The maximum ETC at the start of your plan is set out in the above table.

Monthly Allowance

Refer to the above plan table. You can use your Monthly Call Allowance for most types of national direct dial calls, video calls and messages made in Australia to standard Australian numbers, including voice calls to most 11xx, 13xx, and 12xx, calls and SMS to most satellite phones, diversion within Australia to fixed numbers with only an 02, 03, 07 or 08 area code or mobile numbers commencing with only 04xx and any other calls or messages determined by us. Calls to 18xx numbers are free on this Plan.   You can also make free voice and video calls to other eligible plans on the same account in Australia. 

What happens if I go overseas?

Unless you are re-contracting your existing service or have chosen to opt out, your plan is automatically activated with International Roaming. You can de-activate this by calling us on 125 109 from within Australia or +61 439 125 109 outside of Australia free of charge from your Telstra service. 

For more information on International Roaming, visit telstra.com/internationalroaming .

Roaming + SMS + Data

If your plan does not have included Roaming Calls & SMS or Roaming Data then you will have an International Day Pass activated, which for an additional charge per day lets you make and receive unlimited standard voice calls and SMS and includes 200MB data for use each day (AEST) when travelling in Eligible Roaming Countries.

If you use more than your 200MB each day then we will automatically add extra data to your service in blocks of 500MB for $10. If you use your device outside of Eligible Roaming Countries or Choose to opt out of your International Day Pass then the following call rates will apply:

• Calls/SMS/MMS – visit www. telstra.com/overseas
• Mobile Data - $3.00 per MB (charged per KB or part)

For more information you can refer to the International Day Pass Critical Information Summary.

Other Information

What do i need to understand about my first bill.

When you start or change your plan part way through a billing period, your first bill will have part month charges.

How can I monitor and manage my usage?

You'll receive SMS alerts when you reach 50%, 85% and 100% of your Monthly Data allowance. We’ll also send you an alert if Extra Data is added to your service. To check your usage:

• login to My Account at telstra.com/myaccount
• use My Plan Manager by going to telstra.com/mpm on your mobile’s browser (select the ‘My’ tab to view details)
• use the Telstra 24x7® App on your iPhone and Android phone (available at telstra.com/business/app )
• check the mobile data usage meter at telstra.com.au/my-data-usage

Find out more at telstra.com/myusage

Fair Use Policy

You must comply with our Fair Use Policy and not use your services in an unreasonable or fraudulent manner or in a way that detrimentally interferes with the integrity of the network. We may take action if you breach the Fair Use Policy, including suspending or cancelling your service.

Need help? We're here for you.

Visit  telstra.com/contactus  for our support options. Call 13 20 00 or 133 677 (TTY), or +61 439 12 5109 from overseas, to speak to someone about your plan or to obtain a copy of this summary in an alternative /accessible format.

If there’s something you’re not happy with and you wish to make a complaint, visit  telstra.com/complaints . We like to make every attempt to resolve any issues but you can contact the Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman by phone on 1800 062 058 or visit  tio.com.au/about-us/contact-us  if you would like an independent investigation

This is a summary only. The full legal terms for this plan are available at telstra.com/customer-terms

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