One of the real advantages to prepaid phone plans is the ability to essentially ‘set and forget’ your plan when you pay upfront. For this reason, many telcos offer long-term prepaid plans, mostly over a 365-day (or 12-month) period and essentially taking that whole ‘set and forget’ approach for ultimate convenience.
So, what kind of 365 day prepaid plans are available, and are these plans right for you? Let’s take a look at some of the plans and providers offering long-term plans, and whether committing for a full year is the right option for you.
Is a 365-day prepaid mobile plan right for me?
Choosing a prepaid plan over a year-long expiry period does have its benefits, but it might not suit everyone. Of course, the fact that you pay in advance for a year’s worth of inclusions is great for anyone who doesn’t want to worry about recharges or paying bills — it is the ultimate set and forget plan.
However, the disadvantage is that these plans are expensive to pay for upfront, costing anywhere between $100 and $400, depending on inclusions. The amount of data included on the plan is typically what will determine how much you pay, as most prepaid plans these days include unlimited standard national calls and SMS by default.
The other negative is that you will most likely need to ration your data each month. While some providers might offer the option to give you a set amount of data each month, most plans will give you all of the data upfront for you to use as needed. If you chew through your data before those 365 days are over, you’ll need to recharge your plan early. However, if you find your data usage changes from month-to-month, the flexibility of using as much or as little data as you need each month can be a big plus.
Overall, you’ll need to consider the value for money with 365-day prepaid plans. If you can afford that larger upfront bill, these plans might be worth considering. It also helps to work out roughly how that price breaks down each month, and compare these long-term plans with other prepaid plans to see if you can get better value for money elsewhere.
Which providers offer 365-day prepaid plans?
Not all prepaid providers offer long-term plans, however there are quite a few options including plans from the biggest telcos and some of the smaller ones. Here is a list of some prepaid providers currently offering 365-day prepaid mobile plans:
Kogan Mobile offers two versions of 365-day plans, with the standard plans giving you a certain amount of data each month to use, while the Flex plans include the full data amount upfront so you can ration your data as needed.
Compare 365-day prepaid mobile plans
If a 365-day plan is right for you, it helps to compare plans from a range of providers to find the best plan to suit your needs. The following table shows a selection of 365-day prepaid plans from Canstar Blue’s database, listed in order of standard cost, lowest to highest, then by data allowance, largest to smallest. If you want to compare a larger range of offers from other providers, use our phone plan comparison tool. This table includes products with links to referral partners.
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