One of the country's largest broadband providers, iiNet also offers a range of 4G mobile plans.
What services does iinet Mobile offer?
Launched from a West Australian garage back in 1993, iinet was a pioneer in the home broadband space, offering dial-up internet to West Australians. In the following decades, the company grew phenomenally, becoming one of the largest broadband providers in Australia. Today, the company is owned by TPG, and supports its comprehensive list of broadband offerings with a range of 4G mobile SIM-only plans that use the Optus 4G Plus network.
How much does iinet mobile cost?
iinet's SIM-only plans start at $19.99 per month, and range up to $49.99 per month. As with many MVNO providers, the main difference in price offerings is the amount of bundled data in a plan, although the cheapest plan doesn't include unlimited talk and text like the $29.99, $39.99 and $49.99 tiers.
For customers looking for international call value, the $39.99 and $49.99 price tiers also include $300 worth of international call value.
What excess charges could I face on these plans?
- Excess call costs
- Excess data costs
- International call costs
- International roaming costs
Most of iiNet's mobile plans include unlimited standard national calls and texts, except for the entry level plan, which comes with $400 worth of call and text quota. Calls are charged at 90c per minute plus a 35c flagfall, while text messages are charged at 25c each. If you go over your quota, those are the charges you can expect to pay on top of your regular monthly fee.
There are also select call and text types that aren't covered by quota or unlimited offers, specifically operator assisted calls, premium call and text services and calls to 19XX numbers. Those will attract additional charges as levied by each service provider.
Each iiNet mobile plan comes with a quantity of data to use on your plan each month. Once you exceed that usage, you'll automatically be topped up by 1GB at a cost of $10 per 1GB recharge. This does mean that if you go over your quota, even if only by a small amount of data, you'll be charged the full $10 excess fee.
Some iiNet plans do include value that can be used specifically for international calls, but once you exhaust that value, or if you're on a plan with no included international calls, then you'll incur extra costs for each additional international call that you make. Call costs vary by destination, but you can find iiNet's full international call pricing sheet here.
iiNet Mobile customers who wish to roam internationally with their services can do so, although it's disabled by default. You will need to contact iiNet and indicate if you wish for international roaming to be enabled on either a 90 day or permanent basis if you wish to travel with your mobile service. iiNet Mobile doesn't offer prepaid roaming packs for usage, instead charging on a PAYG basis for roaming services. Its full list of roaming prices can be found here.
As iiNet Mobile services are offered on a month-by-month basis, there's no contract break fee to pay, although you will have to pay any outstanding charges on your account if you should choose to terminate your service.
What extras does iinet mobile offer?
iinet built its reputation as a value broadband provider through initiatives like its "Freezone" and unmetered access to streaming services like Netflix and ABC iview. Unfortunately, there are no such extras offered with iinet's mobile plans.
Pros
- 4G Capability. iinet has full access to the Optus 4G Plus network for comprehensive LTE coverage.
- No lock in contracts. All of iinet's plans are billed monthly with no extended contracts, so if you're unhappy you can switch providers easily.
Cons
- SIM cost. You'll be hit with a once off $10 SIM card fee for joining iinet mobile, which is steep compared to the number of MVNO's that offer the SIM for free.
My galaxy5 is getting a little old. Could you inform me of any mobile phone deals presently??
Hi Patrick,
The Galaxy S6 and Galaxy S7 are both outstanding handsets. Are you looking to stick to Samsung?
Thanks,
Brodie