Need a phone or data plan for your kids, but don’t need the whole cost? Telstra’s approach to bundles could help.
Setting up family members with mobile and internet access isn’t just buying them a phone, but rather adding a service with it. The phone is a cost, for sure, but it’s typically a once-off cost, while the catering of the service an on-going one, and one that can be a little expensive over time.
If you’re setting your kids up with mobile service for school, or even equipping a SIM-ready tablet for data access where they go, it means factoring in a plan for one or both devices, and then you have to multiply that by how many devices you use.
Ongoing costs aren’t fun, but they may be necessary, and while one option could be to use less expensive mobile virtual network operators (MVNO) for your kids, Telstra is hoping an approach to bundling could work for families, as well.
It’s something launching on its mobile plans for customers this week, which provides a less expensive plan for Telstra customers for smaller needs, but on the proviso at least one member in the bundle is using a post-paid plan option from $68 per month onwards.
It works like this: if you’re subscribed to one of two Telstra Upfront Mobile Plans (“Upfront” is what it calls its post-paid plans) for a minimum of $68 per month, you’ll be able to buy a smaller bundle plan and share data pooled between them. There’s a Mobile Bundle Plan for $47 per month with 15GB and a data-only bundle plan for $10 per month with 10GB, but the data is shared between the two, which may make the case for families.
The cheapest Upfront plan you can use with Telstra bundles is the Essential Upfront is $68 with 180GB and uncapped 5G, while Telstra’s largest Upfront is the Premium plan, priced at $89 monthly with 300GB and uncapped 5G.
The logic here is you could opt for the 180GB Upfront plan for $68 per month, and throw in an extra data SIM for $10 per month with 10GB, and you’d essentially be sharing 190GB monthly between two SIMs for $78 per month. That could slim prices on tablets a little, whether it’s for you or your kids.
With phones, it’s a little more complex, and you may find with the $47 per month mobile bundle plan that you need to spend a whole lot more in order to find value in Telstra’s bundle plans. Plan comparison site WhistleOut ran the numbers on Telstra’s bundle plan additions, and it certainly seems like that might be the case.
Importantly, though, is that Telstra’s plan bundles are just one more way of trying to balance the books for the ongoing costs in mobile devices, which seems especially useful given how every other cost is seemingly rising, too.
