Australians using Vodafone mobile broadband will now get more data for their dollar thanks to a shake up that will increase data allowances, extend expiry periods and introduce 4G speeds to prepaid customers. The company is also attempting to mitigate bill shock with the introduction of data add-ons that will also be available on a month-by-month basis.
While pricing has been increased by a few dollars for some postpaid plans, this has been matched by data increases for many of the plans — in some cases, by up to two-thirds. Some expiry periods have remained unchanged, but others have been extended by 10 to 15 days.
Similarly, although the AU$49 and AU$75 recharges have been removed from the postpaid pricing structure, Vodafone has added a new AU$60 recharge offering 8GB of data (60-day expiry) and a new AU$90 recharge with 10Gb of data (90-day expiry).
If you go over your data limit early, a Data Add-On will automatically be added to your account (AU$10 offering an extra 1GB of data) to “prevent bill shock”. Existing Vodafone postpaid customers will also be able to add these onto monthly allowance if and when they need them.
Prepaid mobile broadband customers are also getting a bonus in the shake-up, getting access to Vodafone’s 4G network across the range of prepaid price points. These range from AU$10 for 300MB (30-day expiry) to AU$200 for 22GB of data (365-day expiry).
Postpaid Pricing Changes
Plan Cost (old cost) | New Data Limit | New Expiry | Old Data Limit | Old Expiry |
$10 | 300MB | 30 days | 200MB | 15 days |
$20 (was $19) | 1GB | 30 days | 600MB | 20 days |
$30 (was $29) | 3GB | 30 days | 2MB | Unchanged |
$45 (was $39) | 5GB | 45 days | 3GB | 30 days |
$60 | 8GB | 60 days | New | New |
$90 | 10GB | 90 days | New | New |
$125 | 15GB | 365 days | Unchanged | Unchanged |
$200 | 22GB | 365 days | Unchanged | Unchanged |
($49) | Removed | — | 6GB | 30 days |
($75) | Removed | — | 8GB | 90 days |