Looking for a no-fuss mobile plan? Internode's got your number.
Thanks to the provisioning of Australia's three big mobile networks – Telstra, Optus and Vodafone – more and more telcos are throwing their hats into the mobile market by establishing themselves as mobile virtual network operators (MVNOs). Among these telcos is the South-Australian broadband company Internode, which leverages Optus' 4G network to provide postpaid SIM-only plans to 97% of Aussie residents.
Internode NodeMobile SIM-only plans
Branded as "NodeMobile", Internode's SIM-only plans come in four variants, each of which is offered on a no-lock-in, month-to-month contract:
- NodeMobile Starter, which includes 1GB of data and $550 of standard national calls and texts for $15 a month
- NodeMobile Value, which includes 2GB of data and $550 of standard national calls and texts for $19.99 a month
- NodeMobile Standard, which includes 3GB of data and unlimited standard national calls and texts for $24.99 a month
- NodeMobile Premium, which includes 4GB of data, unlimited standard national calls and texts and $100 of international call credit for $29.99 a month
- NodeMobile Platinum, which includes 9GB of data, unlimited standard national calls and texts and $300 of international call credit for $37.99 a month
Along with the monthly fee, all five NodeMobile plans incur a one-off setup fee of $10 to cover the cost and delivery of your NodeMobile SIM card.
Internode takes a proactive approach to managing customer spending on its NodeMobile plans, sending notifications when you hit certain thresholds of call and data usage within your monthly limit. By default, Internode suspends call or data services if you rack up more than $500 of excess charges, adding a safety net to keep you from drowning in a thousand-dollar mobile bill. You can also proactively set warnings through Internode's customer portal to more carefully manage any excess spend.
Excess usage charges themselves are typical for Aussie mobile providers, with any data over your monthly cap charged at $10 per 1GB. Data is tallied in 1GB chunks, so even if you only use a few MB over your monthly cap, you'll still have to pay the full $10.
How does Internode compare?
Fewer and fewer postpaid SIM-only plans include call credit these days, with most opting to bundle in unlimited calls and texts instead. This leaves Internode's NodeMobile Starter plan in an unfavourable position, since competing plans from providers like amaysim, Moose Mobile and Yomojo match or beat it on both included data and price while offering the far more attractive proposition of limitless calls to Aussie landlines and mobiles. You can see how this pans out in the table below:
Internode's NodeMobile Value plan is similarly outmatched, since it offers the same inclusions as Internode's competitors above at a cost of $10 more per month. It's not until the NodeMobile Premium plan that Internode competes with the frontrunners of the mobile space. Even then, Moose Mobile and Spintel's 10GB offerings represent greater value for your money:
At the $50 tier, Internode falls further behind the competition. Its NodeMobile Platinum plan comes with identical inclusions to both Moose Mobile's 34 plan and Spintel's 4G Mobile 10GB plan, yet clocks at a higher monthly rate. Meanwhile both amaysim and Vaya offer data caps of 13GB or more at a better price than Internode does:
Why should you consider Internode?
Internode finds itself squarely at the back of the pack with its NodeMobile plans. To be fair, the value proposition isn't terrible, but there are just so many better options out there at both the low- and high-budget price points.
If you are considering Internode, though, you can at least feel secure in the fact that its NodeMobile plans won't lock you into any long-term commitments. Thanks to the month-to-month contracts, you can cancel your service without penalty if you decide it's not meeting your communication needs. The spend management feature also gives you peace of mind that you can't incur incredible excess charges over time.
