Catch Connect mobile plans

Australian retail giant Catch has thrown its hat into the telecommunications ring. See how its prepaid plans stack up right here.

Get unlimited calls & texts + 40GB included data for $4.90 from Catch

Pay $4.90 for first 30 days then $49.90

Includes 40GB data

Unlimited standard national calls/SMS/MMS

200 standard international mins to 32 selected countries

View details

Catch Connect 30-day prepaid plans

Catch Connect's 30-day prepaid plans explained

Catch Connect 90-day prepaid plans

Catch Connect's 90-day prepaid plans explained

Much like its 30-day plans, Catch Connect's 90-day prepaid plans use the Optus 3G and 4G networks and come in 4 varieties:

• $39 plan which includes 8GB of data
• $69 plan which includes 35GB of data
• $89 plan which includes 54GB of data
• $119 plan which includes 102GB of data and 400 minutes to 32 countries

Catch Connect 365-day prepaid plans

Catch Connect's 365-day prepaid plans explained

For those looking to get the most out of every dollar, Catch Connect offers long-term 365-day prepaid plans that work out cheaper on a month-by-month basis than either its 30-day or 90-day plans. The caveat, of course, is that you need to pay a larger upfront cost to take advantage of the lower overall cost, and you lose the freedom to switch or cancel your plan whenever you want – unless you're happy with forfeiting the money you've already spent, that is.

Catch Connect extras

Alongside its standard prepaid plans, Catch Connect sells add-on packs with extra call and data inclusions.

For additional call credit to use on standard international calls and texts, international roaming and select premium phone services, Catch Connect offers $5, $10, $20 and $50 recharge options. International call and roaming rates vary from country to country, though standard international texts are fixed at 12c per message.

Any extra credit you add to your service will expire after 30 days, but if you top up with more credit before the 30 days are up, any unused credit from your previous recharge will roll over to the next 30 days, up to a maximum of $500.

How does Catch Connect compare?

• More data for your dollar than almost any other prepaid telco on the market.
• Frequent discounts for new customers represent even greater value.
• Long-expiry plans give you full access to your data from the get-go.

Despite lacking the experience of many of its competitors, Catch Connect distinguishes itself as one of the most attractive prepaid mobile providers currently on the market.

• 30-day plan comparison

  At the budget-friendly end, Catch Connect's 3GB 30-day plan beats out similarly-priced 1.5GB offerings from Jeenee Mobile and ALDImobile, as well as Kogan Mobile's slightly more expensive 2GB plan. In fact, the only provider to present a truly compelling alternative is Boost Mobile with its 2.5GB plan. It's more expensive and only features a 28-day expiry but it comes with full access to Telstra's 4G network, meaning greater coverage and potentially faster speeds than the Optus network Catch Connect uses.

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  There's a little more competition for Catch Connect when comparing its 11GB plan, but the fresh-faced provider still delivers some of the best value in the business. Cohorts like amaysim and OVO Mobile charge more per month for the same amount of data, while ALDImobile offers less data for the same price. Jeenee Mobile does gain a slight edge here though, including 5.5GB of data and $50 of international credit for the same price as Catch Connect.

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  For data-lovers, Catch Connect's 20GB plan is hard to top. OVO and Jeenee Mobile bundle in two-thirds of the data for the same price on their plans, although both come with international call inclusions you'd have to pay extra for with Catch Connect. Once again, only Boost Mobile presents a potentially superior option with its 15GB plan, offsetting its higher price with the speed and coverage benefits of Telstra's full 4G network.

• 90-day plan comparison

  Long-term prepaid plans are a relatively niche product, with only a handful of mobile providers offering them. On the one hand, this gives Catch Connect an edge since there are fewer options for it to compete against. On the other hand, it also makes comparing Catch Connect's plans difficult, since many other providers opt for 180- and 365-day expiries instead of Catch Connect's 90-day terms.

  Nevertheless, by calculating and comparing the equivalent monthly cost and monthly data inclusions on these long-term plans, it's clear that Catch Connect offers some of the best value-for-money plans on the market.

  Take its $39 plan, for instance. In monthly terms, it offers a rate of $13 for roughly 2.67GB, which is a fair bit cheaper than Kogan Mobile's equivalent 6GB 90-day plan. It's also significantly cheaper than Jeenee Mobile's 6-month Large 7GB plan, which works out at a rate twice as expensive as Catch Connect's for just a smidge over half the data. If you're after a longer expiry, Coles Mobile's 365-day plan is a tempting alternative that gets you even more data at a similar rate.

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  Catch Connect's 35GB plan is equally impressive. It edges out Kogan Mobile's Medium plan with a lower equivalent monthly rate, though you do get slightly more data with Kogan Mobile's offering. Even Lebara's 12-month plan doesn't deliver the same relative value, though the advantage of having a full year in which to use your data might be worth it in some cases.

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  There are even fewer options to consider if you're after a bigger data cap. Here, Kogan Mobile and Lebara both offer solid bang for your buck, but once again it's Catch Connect with its 54GB plan that represents the most data for your dollar. Unless you prefer the added flexibility of Lebara's 180-day expiries, Catch Connect is hard to top.

Why should you consider Catch Connect?

Catch Connect has hit the ground running with its prepaid mobile plans. Whether you're looking for a quick 30-day fix or the added freedom of a 90-day expiry, few other mobile providers can match the raw value of Catch Connect. If cheap prepaid plans are what you're after, you won't do much better anywhere else.

It's also worth highlighting how useful Catch Connect's 90-day expiry plans can be. Since you can portion out your data use however you like over the three months, it's especially handy if your data needs aren't so predictable. For instance, you might barely touch your mobile data on a typical day but then burn through a couple of GB on a work trip or weekend away every couple of months. Rather than continuously switching between low-data and high-data 30-day caps, a more flexible 90-day cap could save you both time and money.

Catch Connect recharge options

Unlike most other prepaid mobile providers, Catch Connect does not sell prepaid top-up cards at retail. Instead, the only way to recharge your Catch Connect plan is via your account dashboard on the Catch Connect website. There you can either choose to have your plan recharge automatically when it expires by debiting your preferred payment method or recharge manually at your leisure.

How to contact Catch Connect