Looking for a postpaid plan, but not ready to commit to a two-year contract? 12-month phone plans have become hot alternative to 24-month plans, meaning that it’s a competitive marketplace and a consumer’s playground. With enough options and variances to suit everyone’s needs and wants, finding a plan is the easy part.
The hard part comes from deciding which is the best choice for you, as many phone plans come with extra goodies if you know where to look. To help simplify the process, we’ve rounded up some great plans from a selection of both big-name and budget-friendly telcos below. Hit the link to jump to your phone plan provider of choice:
Who offers 12-month phone plans?
What about Telstra, Optus and Vodafone?
Telstra had previously offered 12-month SIM-only plans, however Australia’s largest telco shifted focus to provide customers with more flexibility with a simple suite of month-to-month postpaid plans. These plans can be left as SIM-only plans or bundled with a new handset.
Both Optus and Vodafone have also removed their respective 12-month SIM-only plans, and now offer month-to-month only, which are the same plans that can be bundled with a new handset. Once you bundle with a new handset, you’re locked into a 12, 24 or 36-month payment plan for the device.
Prepaid 12-month mobile plans
If you prefer avoiding the chance of bill shock by sticking to prepaid plan, there are 12-month options available (usually billed as a ‘365-day’ plan). Some of these will feature monthly data that resets every 30 days, or a lump sum of gigabytes for your entire 365 days; if you do receive all your data upfront, you’ll need to be careful not to use it up too soon.
Boost Mobile 12-month plans
Boost Mobile mostly offers short-term plans, however the telco also offers a small selection of long-term prepaid plans over 12-month expiry periods. There are three 12-month plans to choose from — a $230 with 170GB of data, a $300 plan with 260GB of data and a $365 plan with 365GB of data. It works out to be around 14GB of data a month (and around $20 per month) for the $200 plan, 21GB for $25 per month for the $300 plan and 30GB for $31 per month for the $365 plan.
All of Boost Mobile’s plans run on the Telstra 3G, 4G and 5G networks, and Boost is also the only MVNO to operate with full access to the Telstra network.
The following table shows all Boost Mobile 12-month prepaid plans on Canstar Blue’s database, listed in order of cost, from the lowest to highest and then by data allowance, largest to smallest. Use our comparison tool to see plans from a range of other providers. These are products with links to a referral partner.
Catch Connect 12-month plans
If you’re happy to commit to a full year, Catch Connect’s 365-day plans have you covered, with three plans starting at $150 for 120GB and up to $300 for 360GB of yearly data. All plans include unlimited talk and text in Australia, but international calls will require you to buy an international call pack. All Catch Connect plans are powered by Optus’ 4G network and are offered on a SIM-only basis.
The following table shows all Catch Connect 365-day prepaid plans on Canstar Blue’s database, listed in order of cost, from the lowest to highest and then by data allowance, largest to smallest. Use our comparison tool to see plans from a range of other providers. These are products with links to a referral partner.
Kogan Mobile 12-month plans
Kogan Mobile currently offers a few year-long prepaid plans, starting from $120 for your full year (or around $10 per month) for 12GB of monthly data. Keep in mind that – as with Catch Connect – you’ll need to pay for your full 12 months upfront, so although you may save long-term, it does mean you’ll need to make a large outright plan payment. Kogan also tends to offer additional discounts on the prepay plans from time to time, so keep and eye out if you’re interested in Kogan’s plans. Plan options are below:
- Kogan Mobile Small Plan: $120 for 365 days (around $9.86 every 30 days). Includes 10GB of data every 30 days, plus unlimited standard national calls & SMS.
- Kogan Mobile Medium Plan: $180 for 365 days (around $14.79 every 30 days). Includes 17GB of data every 30 days, plus unlimited standard national calls & SMS.
- Kogan Mobile Large Plan: $270 for 365 days (around $22.19 every 30 days) . Includes 25GB of data every 30 days, plus unlimited standard national calls & SMS.
- Kogan Mobile Extra Large Plan: $300 for 365 days (around $24.66 every 30 days). Includes 40GB of data every 30 days, plus unlimited standard national calls & SMS.
The Medium, Large and Extra Large plans come with two data options: all your data upfront, or rationed out into 30-day chunks. Depending on your usage, you may find it more practical to pick the 30-day block option, so you won’t burn through a year’s worth of data too quickly.
Coles Mobile and ALDI Mobile 365-day plans
The supermarket brands are also on board with 365-day prepaid plans, and both ALDI Mobile and Coles Mobile sell year-long prepaid packs. Coles Mobile’s $180 prepaid plan features a 365-day expiry, and includes unlimited standard national calls and texts, plus 36GB of data to use over 12 months. You’ll need to ration this data out over your 365-day plan length (it breaks down to 3GB each month), or simply add extra data as needed: $5 will get you 500MB while the online-only $15 data pack gets you an extra 3GB.
ALDI Mobile’s Pay As You Go SIM plan also features a 365-day expiry, and comes pre-loaded with $5 of call, text and data credit. Talk, text, and data is all taken from your plan’s credit on a per-use basis, but credit can be added onto your plan at any time, in $15, $25 or $35 increments. ALDI Mobile’s PAYG rates are $0.12 per minute for standard calls, $0.12 per SMS, $0.35 per MMS, and $0.05 per megabyte of data (which works out to be about $51.20 per GB).
Should I get a 12-month phone plan?
Phone plans are a bit of a commitment, so be sure to find a plan that best suits your style – and your budget. The big telcos may be better if you’re looking for a standard plan, but smaller telcos may surprise you with how much value for money they can provide. It’s always a good idea to shop around, as the savings over 12 months can be worth the effort.
However, keep in mind that 12-month phone plans come with a contract, so you can’t dodge the monthly payments. If you’re on a tight budget and prefer the option of not using your phone from one month to the next, a good prepaid deal might be your best bet. But if you’re confident that you can make the monthly payments each time, telcos will often reward you for your 12-month loyalty.
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