Telstra mobile plans

Telstra is Australia's largest network provider, so it's hardly surprising that it has a huge range of plans available. We'll go through Telstra's plans in detail and review them further down the page, but if you already know what you're looking for, you can start comparing using the tables below.

What Telstra mobile plans are you after?

Compare Telstra SIM-only plans here

Telstra's SIM-only plans are postpaid, meaning you'll pay for your usage every month, making them suited to regular mobile users. If you're looking for prepaid plans, including long expiry options, click here.

Compare Telstra prepaid plans below

Telstra's prepaid plans focus on good data value for the first few recharges. Any unused data you have left will rollover to the next month, and expiry periods range from seven days all the way up to a year.

Grab a new phone with a Telstra mobile plan

The tables below show the top new phone models that you can pair with a Telstra SIM-only plan. You can switch between the iPhone 12, iPhone 11 and Samsung S20 5G. Alternatively, you can pick your own handset by clicking "Filter results" and choosing the model that you want.

• iPhone 12
• iPhone 11
• Samsung Galaxy S20

Understanding Telstra's mobile plans

Although Telstra offers three separate types of plans – prepaid, SIM-only and plans with a phone – many of them share common features. These include unlimited standard calls and texts, access to Telstra Air Wi-Fi and the Telstra Plus rewards program.

Telstra prepaid plans

Prepaid plans are split into regular monthly Pre-Paid Complete plans and pay-as-you-go Long Life Plus plans. We've got more specific details on Telstra's PAYG plans here in our guide. Pre-Paid Complete plans suit normal mobile users who like having all their monthly usage arranged in advance and aren't worried about running through all their data. Here's Telstra's regular range of prepaid plans:

• $10 Pre-Paid Complete: 1GB for $10 with a 7-day expiry period.
• $30 Pre-Paid Complete: 8GB for $30 with a 28-day expiry period and 17GB of bonus data on the first three recharges (for 25GB total).
• $40 Pre-Paid Complete: 18GB for $40 with a 28-day expiry period and 17GB of bonus data on the first three recharges (for 35GB total).
• $150 Pre-Paid Complete: 60GB for $150 with a 6-month expiry period.
• $300 Pre-Paid Complete: 150GB for $300 with a 12-month expiry period.

We've done a brief comparison for you below showing how Telstra's long-expiry prepaid plans line up against its monthly options.

As with most long expiry plans, Telstra's 12-month plan offers the best value here. Usually, the longer the expiry period, the more value that's packed into your plan. Though strangely enough, Telstra's 180-day plan actually offers lower value than its monthly option.

Telstra SIM-only plans

This category is Telstra's postpaid plans, or what most people would call normal mobile plans. You pay for your total usage at the end of the month. These plans are designed for pretty hefty mobile users, since data allowances start at 40GB monthly.

• Small: 40GB for $55 per month. Unlimited talk and text.
• Medium: 80GB for $65 per month. Unlimited talk and text.
• Large: 120GB for $85 per month. Unlimited talk and text.
• Extra Large: 180GB for $115 per month. Unlimited talk and text.

These plans feature "endless" data, potential 5G network access and more. To find out more about Telstra's SIM-only plans, check out our in-depth guide.

Telstra phone plans

When you buy a phone on a plan from Telstra, you'll sign onto a contract that gives you a handset and one of Telstra's SIM-only plans (the ones we mentioned above). The main difference is that the monthly repayment cost of your handset will be added onto the plan's cost, and you'll be locked into this plan for a set period of time.

When you buy a phone from Telstra, you can look out for its "Blue Tick" phones if that's something that interests you. Telstra's "Blue Tick" phones have been tested by Telstra and shown to provide superior voice coverage in rural and regional areas.

You used to be able to pay a fee to upgrade your handset to a new one after just a year under the Telstra "New Phone Feeling" initiative. However, this feature is no longer available to customers who have purchased a plan after 14 January 2020.

Click here to see Telstra deals currently on offer

Telstra review: Why is Telstra so expensive?

As you've probably noticed, Telstra doesn't exactly have the cheapest plans on the market.

Telstra justifies its premium pricing with two main reasons: one is that it's the largest telco in Australia, and therefore has a strong reputation behind it, as well as the widest network coverage. Second, it offers way more bonus features on its plans than any other provider, in addition to its call and data inclusions.

Here are some of Telstra's headline features:

In addition to the main ones listed above, Telstra has even more extras for its customers:

• Telstra Air Wi-Fi. The Telstra Air national Wi-Fi network has a million hotspots Australia-wide. All Telstra customers get free access to this network.
• Telstra Plus rewards. Money spent on your Telstra bills will earn you Telstra Plus points, which you can use for various rewards at the Telstra shop.
• Data-free music streaming. Prepaid and postpaid customers can stream Apple Music without using up data.
• Data-free sports streaming. Prepaid and postpaid users can stream certain sports data-free, including AFL, NRL, netball and more.
• International inclusions. Telstra's plans either come with free international calls and texts to certain destinations, or the ability to add on international calls for a fee.

As you can see, Telstra offers way more than just calls and texts. We've summarised these for you in the table below.

Feature	Does Telstra have it?
Excess usage warning
Automatic prepaid recharge
Auto data top-ups
Entertainment extras
Data-free media streaming
Roll-over data
Data sharing
International calls/texts
International roaming
Rewards program
Student/pensioner discounts

How does Telstra compare?

As Australia's biggest provider, Telstra has a huge number of plans on offer. If you're interested in seeing how Telstra compares to other providers, check out the following links where we take a deeper dive into Telstra's prepaid and SIM-only plans.

If you're just after a final summary of how Telstra performs, check out our pros and cons table below.

What about Telstra roaming inclusions?

SIM-only customers have access to the International Day Pass, which provides 200MB of data and unlimited talk and text for $10 a day ($5 in New Zealand).

Prepaid customers are limited to the very expensive pay as you go roaming available on all plans, or buying Plus Packs with their credit, as follows:

• Small: $29 for 100MB of data with a 30-day expiry period.
• Medium: $85 for 300MB of data with a 30-day expiry period.
• Large: $160 for 600MB of data with a 30-day expiry period.

Data used past the limit is charged at $3/MB, which equates to a staggering $3,000 per 1GB of data.

In both cases, you'll probably save by picking up a local or travel SIM, since roaming costs can spike incredibly fast.

Telstra coverage

Telstra's mobile network is vast, covering 99.5% of the population, compared to Optus (reaching 98.5% of the population) and Vodafone (reaching 22 million Australians). The main places you're likely to notice a difference in coverage are rural and remote areas, where Telstra may perform better.

Here's an overview of Telstra's mobile coverage around the country. The green areas represent 4G network coverage (the most common type), with blue areas showing 3G coverage and some emerging 5G networks in purple.

As you can see from the purple areas above, Telstra's 5G network is currently only available in a select few metro areas in each state (excluding Tasmania). You can find out more in our guide to Telstra's 5G network.

Frequently asked questions about Telstra

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