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Teenagers tend to be big mobile users, especially these days when so much of our social lives have migrated to the online space. We've gone through the mobile plans available on the market, picked out some of the best and put together some helpful tips so you can pick the right plan for your teen without breaking the bank.
These are the best allrounder plans for a teenager, which are a little different to what you might get for a younger kid. They still have plenty of talk and text, but also throw in a solid amount of data – at least 5GB – for them to play with.
You don’t have to spend a fortune for a basic unlimited calls package with a chunk of data thrown in as well. Circles.Life currently has a great deal giving you unlimited calls and text, as well as a solid 20GB of data for $18 for the first 3 months, before going back to $28 - good value both ways. It's also a month-to-month plan so you can opt out at any time if you decide to switch.
Similarly, TPG also has a promotion running on their 25GB plan which is $15 for the first 6 months, before reverting back to $29.99. There's no contract though, so you're free to switch out at any time.
If your teen doesn't spend their whole day stuck to their mobile phone, you can get away with a cheaper plan. These still offer 2GB or more of data, but keep the monthly cost under $15.
You don't have to spend a fortune for a basic unlimited calls package with a chunk of data thrown in as well. Moose Mobile currently has a great deal giving you unlimited calls and text, as well as 6GB of data for $14.80 for the first 12 months. It's also a month-to-month plan so you can opt out at any time if you decide to switch.
Similarly, if you're not looking for too much data, TPG's current offers on all their mobile plans makes their 6GB a great deal.
These plans suit teens who love streaming and using other online apps and social media, especially if you don't mind them having extra data for this purpose. They offer at least 10GB of data.
Circles.Life emerges as a top choice for teens wanting the freedom to browse abundantly on the go. Their current deal gives you an insane 100GB a month for only $38. There's even a 3GB bill shock protection on the plan, even though we're pretty sure your teen won't need it, which gives you enough time to top up your data amount before getting charged extra.
Lycamobile's plan is another great data plan, which still gives you unlimited calls and texts should you need it. Your first recharge is only $15, but the normal rate of $30 still makes this plan a bargain. You'll even get an extra 15GB of data if you're transferring an existing number to this plan.
Here are a few things to consider when trying to pick the best plan for you teen:
Data pooling on bundled plans can be great for families. Just make sure everyone's getting their share of the data and one person isn't hogging all of it!
Optus allows you to purchase several postpaid mobile plans together and enable data pooling with them. This combines their associated data limits into one, accessible to everyone with a pooled plan, and also places them all onto a single bill.
With Vodafone, you can bundle together several postpaid plans onto one bill and activate data pooling between them. Not only will everyone who is bundled in have the ability to use this data, but you can also control who has access to the pool and how much they can use to stop someone going way overboard.
Prepaid plans require you to pay ahead of time for a certain amount of monthly usage and your services are usually cut off when you go over this limit. Postpaid plans will usually let you go past the limit but will charge you for the excess at the end of your payment period.
We recommend a prepaid plan with unlimited talk and text for your teenager. This means that they'll always be able to contact you, but you'll both have to agree to purchasing extra data if they use it all up.
On the other hand, the major benefit of a postpaid plan is that you generally get more value for money overall.
If your teenager is under the age of 18, you'll have to put your name on their phone plan because they legally can't. However, this doesn't mean that you have to be the one who pays for it.
Having your teenager pay for their own phone plan, especially a prepaid one without the possibility of bill shock, can help them with responsibility or learning to budget.
This depends on a couple of things: how much your teenager wants to use the Internet on their phone, and how much you're willing to pay for. It's probably a good idea to sit down with your teenager and hammer out a compromise based on what both of you want.
To help you out, here's how much data common mobile activities consume:
| Activity | Data use |
|---|---|
| General web surfing | 2.5MB per page (roughly 60MB per hour) |
| Social media | 150MB per hour (90MB without videos) |
| Music streaming | 90MB per hour |
| Standard video streaming | 720MB per hour |
| HD video streaming (1080p) | 1.5GB per hour |
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