Cheap phone plans with 10GB of data

Everyone likes to save a bit of money, but when it comes to phone plans, many of us need a little bit more than the 1GB or so of data on offer in many entry-level or cheap plans. For anyone that uses mobile data regularly for things like web and social media browsing, standard-quality music streaming and maybe the occasional YouTube video, 10GB of data is probably going to be enough to keep you going throughout the month.

But the big question is, how much do you have to pay for a minimum of 10GB of data on a prepaid or postpaid plan? In this guide, we’ll take a look at some of the cheapest phone plans around with a minimum of 10GB of data.

Postpaid phone plans with 10GB of data

The good news is, it’s easy to find cheap postpaid plans with a minimum of 10GB data included. Thanks to the competitive mobile virtual network operator (MVNO) market, telcos have been offering more and more data on SIM-only phone plans than was on offer just a few years ago.

Some of these plans are as little as $20 per month, and it’s easy to find big data inclusions around the $40 price mark. The following table includes a selection of postpaid plans from Canstar Blue’s database with a minimum of 10GB of data, listed in order of standard cost, lowest to highest, then by data allowance, largest to smallest. Use our phone plan comparison tool to see a wide range of plans from other providers. This table includes products with links to referral partners.

Postpaid plans are typically billed each month and are available as either month-to-month plans or a contract over a set period of time, usually 12 months. Month-to-month plans typically don’t charge you exit fees if you choose to cancel your plan, you’ll just need to pay off the last phone bill you receive.

Contract plans may have exit fees and other charges associated with cancelling your plan. One downside to postpaid phone plans is that if you go over your data inclusions, you might need to pay excess data charges, meaning you’ll be billed an additional amount for extra data (usually $10 for an extra 1GB).

Prepaid phone plans with 10GB of data

Likewise with postpaid, prepaid plans these days are quite cheap and feature some generous data inclusions. A minimum of 10GB data is easy to find for around $20, and bigger data inclusions are also widely available.

The following table includes a selection of prepaid plans from Canstar Blue’s database with a minimum of 10GB of data, listed in order of standard cost, lowest to highest, then by data allowance, largest to smallest. Use our phone plan comparison tool to see a wide range of plans from other providers. This table includes products with links to referral partners.

One thing to look out for with prepaid is the expiry period. You pay in advance for your prepaid plan and have a certain period of time, usually 28 or 30 days, to use up those inclusions. If you use up your plan allowances, such as your data, before the expiry period, typically you will no longer be able to use your mobile data unless you recharge your plan.

The one downside to prepaid compared to postpaid is that if your expiry period is shorter than a month (such as 28 days), you may be paying for 13 recharges in a year compared to the 12 monthly bills you would get with postpaid.

What about bigger data plans?

If you find that plans with around 10GB data isn’t quite enough data for you, as we’ve already mentioned, bigger data plans are available. While these are going to set you back around $40 to $50, you may still find these prices to be quite affordable. When comparing phone plans, you need to strike a good balance between getting the right inclusions for you, but also at a price that suits your budget. Let’s take a look at prepaid and postpaid plans with a minimum of 40GB of data.

How much mobile data do I need?

When choosing a mobile phone plan, you’ll need to consider a couple things to determine how much data you’ll need on your plan.

1. How often do you use your mobile data (when you’re not connected to the WiFi)
2. What kind of online activities do you use your mobile data for (web browsing, video streaming, etc)

Web browsing typically uses the least amount of data, around 60MB per hour, but depends on what type of web browsing you do (images and videos on websites will use more data). Social media may use anywhere between 160MB to 400MB per hour depending on the social media platform, while standard audio quality music streaming can use around 40MB per hour, depending on the streaming platform.

Video streaming on the other hand uses much more – just one hour of standard-definition video streaming can use around 1GB of data, and up to 3GB for high-definition quality. Watching just five hours of video each month with mobile data can easily chew up half of that 10GB of data.

Let’s say, if you use 160MB for social media, plus 40MB of music streaming, that’s a total of 200MB per hour — twice a day brings you up to 400MB, and that’s 2GB gone in one week. However, if you’re consistent with your usage, that will only use around 8GB of data per month.

If you want to keep costs down, and go for as cheap a plan as you can with enough data to keep you going, consider using your WiFi at home to download shows, movies and music to your device before heading out the door, so you’re not relying on mobile data for your streaming needs. Otherwise, if you choose a prepaid or month-to-month postpaid plan, you should be able to upgrade your plan the next billing period if your data inclusion doesn’t quite meet your needs.