Pennytel provides simple and affordable SIM-only mobile phone plans that are easy to understand.
Plenty of phone plans come with extra features, and that's fine as long as you're going to use them. However, if you're not, it's all too easy to get bogged down in confusing terms, limitations, additional charges and contract limitations.
Pennytel's pitch is that it's a much simpler, easier to use service, with a small range of month-to-month SIM-only plans, utilising the Telstra 4G network across Australia.
Pennytel SIM-only month-to-month plans
All of Pennytel's plans, from the least expensive to the most expensive, provide unlimited standard national calls and texts alongside a data quota to use within your billing month.
Pennytel's simple proposition means that data and plan cost are really the only comparative features of its service, which makes it very easy to compare.
Pennytel plans
- $20 Pennytel Small plan includes unlimited standard national calls, texts and MMS as well as 2GB of data on a month-to-month contract.
- $30 Pennytel Medium plan includes unlimited standard national calls, texts and MMS as well as 5GB of data on a month-to-month contract.
- $40 Pennytel Large plan includes unlimited standard national calls, texts and MMS as well as 9GB of data on a month-to-month contract.
- $50 Pennytel X Larger plan includes unlimited standard national calls, texts and MMS as well as 15GB of data on a month-to-month contract.
Pennytel does frequently run special offers on those deals, including free months or price cuts for a limited time period.
Pennytel's billing is worth looking at because it works on a strict monthly rotating term depending on when you sign up. If you contract on days 1-28 of a given month, on the same numerical day of the next month you'll enter your next billing cycle. If your service is activated on days 29-31 of a given month, your next billing cycle will kick off on the 28th of the following month, but you will be given a pro-rata credit for the days not used.
Pennytel keeps its excess data charging very simple, with a $10 1GB data bolt-on available if you need additional data. These do not stack, but you otherwise do not incur additional data charges if you go over your data quota. Unless you explicitly buy a data bolt-on, your data access will cease once you've exhausted your given quota.
All of Pennytel's mobile plans operate on month-to-month postpaid basis, so there's no contract break penalties to worry about. International calls will attract additional charges on a PAYG basis, and if you want your bill posted to you, it will cost you $2.50 per bill. It's much cheaper to opt for email bills, which are free.
How does Pennytel compare?
Pennytel sells itself as being a highly affordable mobile provider, but at the entry level of its pricing plans, it has a lot of competition, even in the SIM-only month-to-month contract space. Presuming you didn't want to go prepaid, you could consider options from Spintel, Moose or amaysim, all of which offer either more data or lower prices than Pennytel's $20 Small plan. The hook for Pennytel here could be its use of Telstra's 4G network, where its competitors are largely on the Optus 4G network. If you know that your Telstra reception in your area is better than Optus, that could make Pennytel a better deal.
It's much the same story for Pennytel's Medium 5GB plan, where it's quite feasible to score lower prices or more data for less than $30 per month. Again, the use of Telstra's 4G network probably pushes up Pennytel's prices, but the benefit could be better overall coverage.
Unfortunately for Pennytel, this is a comparison that only gets worse the higher you go up the pricing plan tiers. Pennytel's top-end X-Large plan costs $50 per month with 15GB of data, and at that price, you can pretty easily score more data or pay less, and often both at once.
Why should you consider Pennytel?
Pennytel's proposition rests on simplicity and the allure of getting onto Telstra's 4G network without the higher costs typically associated with Telstra's own in-house plans. If that has appeal to you it's worth considering, but if you're happy enough on other networks, it's worth looking at your options before signing up.
