Boost Mobile prepaid plans

Providing low-cost mobile with high speeds; this is everything you need to know about getting your mobile services from Boost Mobile.

Boost Mobile

Boost Mobile was one of the first Mobile Virtual Network Operators (MVNO) to set up shop in Australia. It has been offering low-cost mobile plans since the turn of the century, primarily around SIM-only prepaid plans, although it has offered a range of budget prepaid handsets to consumers as well during that time.

Boost Mobile's plans are all based around prepaid affordability and simplicity, so there are only a few plans to select from to keep things as simple as possible.

Boost Mobile prepaid phone plans

Many telco providers offer a huge range of plans, which is fine if you want specific extras, but Boost has long sold itself as an easy to understand provider with just a few plans on offer at any given point in time.

• Read more about Boost Mobile's prepaid plans

  Excluding the lowest-cost plan, all of Boost Mobile's prepaid plans operate on a 28-day basis before your credit expires. Prepaid plans can be a great way to control your mobile spend because if you use up all your data, you're not charged excess fees for usage. Instead, your data access is simply cut until you recharge. You also don't have to worry about standard national calls and texts with Boost Mobile since all of its plans offer unlimited access for those calls and texts.

  Currently, there are five price tiers to select from:

  • $50 recharge, which includes 20GB of data as standard with a 28-day expiry period.
  • $40 recharge, which includes 15GB of data as standard with a 28-day expiry period.
  • $30 recharge, which includes 5GB of data as standard with a 28-day expiry period.
  • $20 recharge, which includes 2.5GB of data as standard with a 28-day expiry period.
  • $10 recharge, which includes 1GB of data as standard with a 7-day expiry period.

  However, Boost Mobile frequently runs special offers for bonus data above these pricing tiers as they're keen to stay competitive within the budget provider space.

How does Boost Mobile compare?

Boost Mobile is a well-known name in the budget mobile space, but it's not alone in owning that category, with many potential points of comparison.

Boost Mobile's plans operate on the Telstra 4G Mobile network, but in a slightly different way to other Telstra MVNOs. Boost did have the distinction of being the only 4G-capable Telstra-based MVNO for a period, but that's now open to other Telstra wholesale providers such as ALDImobile and Woolworths Mobile.

Where Boost differs is that it advertises access to the entire Telstra network, which means it stretches a little further in rural and regional areas that other Telstra MVNOs, all of whom advertise support from "parts of" the Telstra network. If you don't travel much in the more remote parts of Australia, this may not be a huge distinction to you.

• Telstra MVNO comparison

  Here's how Boost's prepaid plans compare against the prepaid offerings from Woolworths Mobile and ALDImobile to give you a comparative Telstra MVNO picture:

• Budget prepaid plan comparison

  However, that's not the only comparison point you could make because there are many other MVNOs on competing networks in the budget space. If you were looking to spend $30 or less on a prepaid plan from providers on any network, here's how Boost Mobile compares:

Why should you consider Boost Mobile?

Many low-cost MVNOs sell themselves purely on that low cost, and while this is definitely a conversation that Boost wants to be a part of, it's not the only reason to consider it.

Boost Mobile sells a small quantity of prepaid mobile phones, typically priced well under $100 outright. As you'd expect, they're not the fanciest models, but they're perfectly adequate communication devices. If your own needs are modest or if you're buying a phone for a less-demanding relative or one of your children, they're a good option.

Boost Mobile also differentiates itself with what it calls "Data free music streaming" on all 28-day expiry plans.

If you're a subscriber to services such as Spotify or Apple Music, or a listener to free streaming music services such as iHeartRadio, you can listen as much as you like without incurring data usage charges for those services. For paid music services, you'll still need an actual subscription, but you won't be burning through your data allocation while doing so.

Boost Mobile also provides a data rollover facility as long as you recharge at least $30 before your 28 days are up. Any unused data from your previous recharge will roll over into the next recharge, where it will then expire at the end of that period.

If you need a little extra data, Boost Mobile sells a $5 add-on that ups your data by 500MB on a one-off basis. The only other add-on you can buy is a $15 boost that provides you with unlimited calls to Canada, China, Germany, Ireland, Malaysia, New Zealand, Singapore, South Africa, the UK and the USA while your general credit is still live as well as a $15 credit for calling other destinations.

Boost Mobile prepaid recharge options

Running low on credit on your Boost Mobile plan? There are a variety of methods you can choose from to recharge your plan:

• Recharge online. You can recharge any Boost Mobile plan from the Internet at Boost Mobile’s recharge portal. Major credit cards as well as PayPal are accepted, and you can set up a recurring recharge if you’d prefer to save yourself the hassle of manually recharging in the future.
• With the Boost Mobile app. If you’re an iOS or Android user, Boost Mobile also provides an app that lets you easily check your balance and recharge when needed. The app is free to download for iOS (download here) and Android (download here) devices.
• From your phone. If you’d prefer to recharge over the phone, you can do so simply by dialling #111# from your Boost Mobile connected handset.
• From your phone browser. Boost Mobile provides a dedicated mobile browser interface for recharging, which you can access at care.boost.com.au.
• Via voucher. Recharge vouchers for Boost Mobile prepaid plans are available at major retailers and you can redeem them via any of the methods detailed above.

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