There are many issues to consider when looking for the right mobile phone plan to suit your individual needs. This Compare Mobile Plans Buying Guide will help you to focus on the primary ideas you’ll need to look at. Making the wrong choice can affect your life for up to 24 months and cost you significantly more than what you should be paying, so we’re doing our utmost to set you in the right direction.

Usage:

This is the most important element to consider when choosing a mobile phone plan. Establish your previous habits on the phone and think about:

1. How many calls do you make each month?

2. How many text messages (SMS’s) do you make each month?

3. How much internet data do you use each month?

Think about your needs, and choose a plan that safely covers all these bases.

Note: If you are planning on buying an iPhone or other ‘smart phone’ for the first time, you will probably start to use more internet data than previously. Take this into consideration. For more precise help you can use Compare Mobile Plans’ special ‘Bill Buster’ tool (found on our homepage) to find out which mobile plan is best for your individual usage requirements. Read the ‘Bill Buster’ information found at the end of this buying guide for more information.

Price:

What is your budget? Never choose a plan you can’t afford or where potential excess charges in a heavy usage period could blow your budget. Consider how many calls you make to local, national, international, mobiles, or people with the same provider’s numbers. Check out each plan’s call rates for the kinds of services you intend on using.

Caps:

When choosing a cap plan make sure to find out the call rates. Some plans charge on a half-minute basis, whilst others are by the minute. Over a month-long period, being charged by whole minutes can have a huge effect on your phone bill or heavily eat into your free minutes. For example, if you have a ten second phone call, you will be charged for an entire minute.

Rates vary greatly. Find out the cost per minute/cost per half-minute and consider how long your usual calls are, plus your monthly total call volume.

There’s also the flag fall fee to consider. This is the cost a provider charges for making a phone call. How much does the provider charge for each call even before time starts ticking away?

Contract:

Do you want a contract? If you don’t you can get pre-paid plans, but if you do, make sure to consider the contract length.

Handset:

Decide which handset you are going to get. Consider the price as well as the functions on each phone and whether or not they suit your budget and needs.

Note: Weigh up additional monthly costs for the handset on top of your normal plan charges. It’s worth paying a little bit more for a higher cap if it means you get your handset for free. For example, Caps that cost between $50-$80 hit the ‘sweet spot’ in terms of having the option of a free phone.

Coverage:

Are you well covered? Find out how many mobile phone towers are in the main areas that you plan on using your phone. Telstra has the biggest infrastructure, whilst Optus are also very comprehensive. Vodafone have their own network as does Three Mobile, but Three Mobile’s are only found in metropolitan areas. 

Note: One thing to consider if on Three Mobile is that when you are ‘roaming’ outside city areas you will be using the Telstra network. Three Mobile’s internet data plans are very cheap, but if you download data whilst roaming you are charged on the Telstra rate, which is very expensive.

Data:

Find out how much data comes with your plan. Some plans don’t have a free data allowance, which can mean excess charges at the end of the month. For example, if you plan on using the internet a lot with an iPhone or Google Android phone, getting a plan with free data allocation will be a good idea.

Data tethering:

This is a great option on some plans where you plug your smartphone into your laptop, which then wirelessly connects your computer to the internet. In essence, the mobile phone functions exactly like a wireless portable internet USB modem connecting to the 3G networks. It works as long as you are in range of a mobile phone tower, and the data you use is either calculated as part of your plan’s allowance, or in some cases is free. For example, tethering is free with Vodafone’s iPhone 3GS $69 cap. Find out if your provider offers this service as not all of them currently do.

Speed:

The speed of your mobile phone’s wavelength is usually only relevant in relation to data transfer on the internet. Most companies now run on the quick 3G network, but Telstra do offer Next G, which is faster. Super-fast 4G data transference services are now under development in Australia.

One other situation where your wavelength speed may be important is when you are far away from mobile phone towers. A faster wavelength means your coverage and the speed of data transfer will be better further away from the tower.

Bonus Options:

Take into consideration any special deals a provider is offering, but make sure to read all of the small print. For example, you may be offered ‘unlimited SMS’ in some plans, but only on caps over $70.

Another example is an Optus cap plan that comes with $300 of free calls to other numbers from the Optus network. These free calls are only accessible after you’ve already spent $300 of the total $600 cap. In reality, this means by the time you’re making free calls to other Optus phones, you’ve entered the ‘danger zone’ where calls to other providers’ numbers are charged at high rates.

Business Options:

Check with the mobile phone provider to see what kind of corporate plans are available or that can be negotiated. In many instances, special cheap bulk plans for companies are worth making the effort.

Bill Buster:

Use Compare Mobile Plans’ special ‘Bill Buster’ tool (found on our homepage) to find out which mobile plan is best for your individual usage requirements. For $15 all you need to do is FAX, scan, or mail us a mobile phone bill that is a good indication of your general usage style. Bill Buster automatically analyses your bill line by line. Everything from call times, number of SMS’s, number of calls to local, mobile, national, international, or same provider numbers, and destinations are all taken into account when determining the best plan option.