Telstra, Optus & more offer free data and calls for working from home: How much more do you get?
Major telco providers have announced bonus data and free services to help Australians work remotely and connect with their families during the coronavirus outbreak.
In response to the outbreak of COVID-19 caused by coronavirus, major mobile and Internet providers have stepped up to help out. It makes sense that with more people working from home, calling their families and videoconferencing, the demand for data will skyrocket. We'll break down the offers as the providers announce them.
To skip to a specific provider's offers, simply click on their name below.
Telstra Optus Vodafone Aussie Broadband Foxtel Skymesh Activ8me amaysim Kogan Circles.Life Boost Mobile
Telstra
Postpaid
An extra 25GB of data for postpaid (including mobile broadband) customers to use within 30 days.
Redeem via the Telstra 24x7 and My Telstra apps by June 30.
Prepaid
Additional 10GB of data on a recharge of over $40 (to be used within 28-30 days, depending on your plan).
Apply on the Telstra 24x7 and My Telstra apps by June 30.
Home phone
Unlimited national calls, 13/1300 calls, and calls to Australian mobiles for pensioners with a Telstra home phone plan.
Internet
Unlimited data on all home and business Internet plans for no additional cost until June 30.
Financial hardship
- Customers receiving the JobSeeker payment and have a fixed bundled service or multiple Telstra postpaid mobile plans may be eligible for a $20 monthly discount off their total bill for 6 months. Customers on a single Telstra postpaid plan may receive a $10 discount off their bill for 6 months. You can apply from April 20 until June 30.
- Customers with a valid Health Care Card or Pensioner Concession card are eligible for a new $30 Value Mobile offer, which comes with 2GB of data, no excess data charges and unlimited calls and texts in Australia.
Optus
Postpaid
One-off extra 20GB of data for postpaid customers in April.
Internet
Unlimited data on all fixed broadband plans (NBN, ADSL, cable) until June 30.
Prepaid
Additional 10GB of data when you recharge $40 or more in April.
Extra measures
Australian health workers get their postpaid mobile plan fees waived for 3 months. Apply online with your current AHPRA registration number until April 30.
Other offers
Optus Sport monthly subscription will be suspended until end of May 2020 for customers who are already signed up.
Free trial of Loop Live for small business customers.
Vodafone
Postpaid
Additional 5GB of data.
Unlimited standard calls and texts until the end of April.
Prepaid
One-off extra 3GB.
Unlimited standard calls and texts until the end of April.
Excess data charges reduced to $1/GB for postpaid mobile and mobile broadband customers from March 31 to May 5.
Other offers
Data-free access to federal Health Department and state-based health department websites.
Financial hardship
'Stay Connected Cap' plan available for customers who have proof of financial difficulty, with 3GB data, unlimited standard calls and texts for $10 a month. Only available for current Vodafone customers. After three months on the plan, you'll be reverted back to your normal mobile plan. Device repayments also continue as normal. Sign up on Vodafone's website from April 20 to May 20.
Registered health practitioners get a two-month credit on their postpaid mobile plan fees and prepaid recharges.
Aussie Broadband
Internet
NBN and ADSL plans which usually have limited data will now be unmetered from 6am-6pm.
Free upgrade for customers on NBN12 plan to NBN25 plan.
Superloop
Internet
All NBN and fixed wireless plans unmetered until April 30.
Foxtel
Internet
Customers on Foxtel's older data capped ADSL and NBN plans will now have access to unlimited data.
Skymesh
Sky Muster NBN
Sky Muster satellite customers will receive an extra 10GB of data every week for three months, delivered each Monday from March 23.
Activ8me
Sky Muster NBN
Weekly 15GB data blocks to customers for three months, from March 23.
amaysim
Prepaid and postpaid
Extra 10GB data for $10 plans.
Extra 20GB data for $20 plans.
Extra 30GB data for $30 plans.
Unlimited data for $40+ plans.
All plans to have unlimited talk and text.
Kogan
Prepaid
Additional 3GB data for all customers - customers on 90- and 365-day plans will have 30 days to use this bonus, while 30-day prepaid customers will get it with their next recharge before April 30.
Data-free access to the Federal Government Department of Health and state and territory health department websites.
Circles.Life
Mobile plans
Free international calls add-on available, with 300 minutes to call 15 countries, including China, Indonesia, UK, USA, and New Zealand.
To claim the add-on, simply click on the banner (which will appear from 1 April) in your Circles.Life app.
Boost Mobile
Prepaid plans
Bonus 5GB data for customers on $40 and $50 plans.
Bonus 10GB data for customers on $70 plan.
These offers will be automatically applied.
With a large increase in users on the NBN during business hours, many of these bonus mobile data offers could help ease congestion on the network.
An additional note for regional and remote satellite NBN customers
Sky Muster Plus customers will see an expansion in unmetered content from April 1, with all traffic, excluding video streaming and traffic through a VPN, being unmetered. This means that online activities such as web browsing, email and operating system updates will be data-free for customers. Social media applications such as Skype and FaceTime, as well as video calling apps like Zoom, will also be unmetered which is incredibly handy for those working from home during this time.
A new entry-level Sky Muster Plus plan is also being introduced from April 1, giving users 25GB of on-peak data and 25Gb off-peak data, aimed to make NBN satellite services more accessible to households during this period. It should be noted that these on- and off-peak data limits are for video streaming and VPN use since the majority of your Internet usage will already be unmetered on Sky Muster Plus plans.
Need faster Internet?
If you're worried that your Internet connection won't be up to the task of allowing you to work from home efficiently, you can check out the below table which shows NBN plans at Standard Plus and Premium speeds.
Start comparing Standard Plus and Premium speed NBN plans below
Picture: GettyImages
