Combine your Optus plans under a single account for a convenient way to manage your bills and share mobile data freely between them.
How do I share data with Optus?
With Optus, you can share data across as many Optus postpaid mobile and mobile broadband plans as you want, as long as they're all on the same account.
All the data from each plan will be added to a single pool accessible by each plan.
Data sharing works as the name suggests, allowing you to share your data with others on the same account.
Here's how it usually works:
Multiple plans are added to the same account under a single name.
All the mobile data from each plan is added together into a pool that each plan can access freely (i.e. no limits for each user as to how much they use throughout the month).
While Optus isn't the only provider with data sharing (Telstra has it too), it's a handy feature to have if you're looking for convenience in mobile account management.
Which Optus plans come with data sharing?
There are 2 types of Optus plans that provide data sharing:
Postpaid SIM-only mobile plans
Postpaid mobile broadband plans
We've gathered the eligible Optus mobile plans and mobile broadband plans in the table below for you to compare.
We currently don't have that product, but here are others to consider:
Looking for other options? Check out these similar products.
How we picked these
How does Optus data sharing work on mobile and mobile broadband plans?
For each postpaid mobile or mobile broadband plan you purchase on the same account, Optus will provide you with 1 SIM.
The data from each 1 will form a pool that can be accessed by all plans on the account.
Example: You buy 2 Small Optus Choice mobile plans ($45 for 20GB a month) and a Small Data SIM plan ($15 for 5GB a month). You'll pay $105 per month for 3 SIMs, each of which have access to a shared 45GB every month. Each person can use as much or as little data as they'd like from this pool.
What about the Optus $5 data sharing SIM?
Optus used to have a $5 data sharing SIM, but it was discontinued in December 2016.
For $5, you could buy an extra SIM for another device to access your shared data pool.
These days, you have to purchase a new postpaid mobile or mobile broadband plan on your account to get a new SIM.
Currently, the cheapest option is a $15 mobile broadband plan from Optus that you'll have to pay for every month.
Is Optus data sharing a good deal?
Data sharing is a good deal from a convenience perspective, but performs worse in terms of value.
Pros
Everything is managed on the same account
The data pool is usually large enough that it won't get used up
Optus lets you continue to browse at max speed of 1.5Mbps with no excess data charges if you run out of shared data
Cons
No data controls means 1 person can use up all the data themselves
You need to buy a new postpaid plan (starting from $15 per month) to add a device to the data share
Much more expensive than buying individual plans from better value providers
If you and your family or friends were planning to sign up to Optus anyway, data sharing might come in handy for you.
But if you're considering signing up to Optus just to access its data sharing feature, you may want to reconsider. There are cheaper mobile plans out there that you can buy to cater for each individual's needs.
Frequently asked questions
You can share your data with another phone so long as you're on the same Optus account with one of the following plans:
Postpaid SIM-only mobile
Postpaid mobile broadband
You cannot send data to someone under a different provider or someone that isn't covered under your account.
Unfortunately, you can't currently donate data to a friend with Optus.
However, you can donate part of your monthly data to those in need via Optus' partners like The Smith Family and the Salvation Army. You can enable monthly data donation via the Optus mobile app.
If your plans are on the same account, you can't disable data sharing. The only way to stop sharing data would be to move the plans to separate accounts under different names.
Sam Baran is a writer for Finder, covering topics across the tech, telco and utilities sectors. They enjoy decrypting technical jargon and helping people compare complex products easily. When they aren't writing, you'll find Sam's head buried in a book or working on their latest short story. Sam has a Bachelor of Advanced Science from the University of Sydney.
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