Vodafone has a set of prepaid plans designed to help you save money while getting access to all the data that you need. It offers excess data at no charge on some of its plans, which is rare for prepaid options.
Why consider Vodafone?
You can pick between a Prepaid Plus plan, which is a monthly prepaid plan for regular phone users, or a Pay and Go long-expiry plan if you rarely use your phone and don't really need much data. We'll break these plans down for you in more detail further down the page.
Vodafone offers two types of prepaid plans: Prepaid Plus and Pay and Go.
Prepaid Plus plans are regular prepaid options where you pay for all your usage at the beginning of the month. With a Pay and Go plan, you purchase credit upfront that will last you a certain amount of time, and usage charges are subtracted from that total.
Vodafone's Prepaid Plus prepaid plans are listed below. Keep in mind that these are the starter packs from Vodafone, which means you'll need to buy one of these plans to start off with, but they come with more recharge options which we'll cover next.
Vodafone also has a $1 starter pack which comes with no inclusions. You pay $1 for the SIM card to be delivered to you, and then choose a recharge amount to get calls and data added on.
As well as the above starter packs, Vodafone offers these extra recharge amounts too:
If you're a regular mobile user, you'll definitely want to go for one of Vodafone's Prepaid Plus plans. They have all the normal inclusions that you need, including calls, text and data, plus some international minutes if you need them.
The plans in the $30-$60 range come with "unlimited" data and let you keep browsing past your data cap, at a significantly reduced download speed of 1.5Mbps. This is very slow, and only useful for basic browsing and checking your emails.
Vodafone's Pay and Go plans are all largely the same, differing only by starting credit amount and expiry period:
All three plans have the same PAYG rates: 20c/min for calls, 20c/SMS sent and 4c/MB of data.
Pay and Go is only useful if you don't use data – basically, ever. The rates work out to be about $30 for 1GB of data, which is terrible (considering you get 45GB for that same price on Prepaid Plus). Avoid Pay and Go unless you very rarely use your phone and you expect that credit to last for six months to a year.
Let's see how Vodafone stacks up against Kogan Mobile (a smaller provider using Vodafone's network) and Telstra when it comes to extra features available on its prepaid plans.
| Provider | Plan | Price | Data | Data per dollar value | Expiry period | Extra features |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Vodafone | $30 Prepaid Plus | $30 | 15GB | $2 per 1GB | 28 days | "Unlimited" data, international minutes, data banking |
| Telstra | $30 Prepaid Complete | $30 | 8GB (+17GB for first 3 recharges) | $3.75 per 1GB ($1.20 per 1GB for first 3 recharges) | 28 days | International minutes, data banking, 5G access, data-free sports/Apple Music streaming, Telstra Air |
| Kogan Mobile | Medium 30 days | $29.90 | 13GB | $2.30 per 1GB | 30 days | Qantas point rewards |
Compared to these other two providers, Vodafone's plan compares just fine. Kogan is slightly more appealing with its longer expiry period, but the data value is highly comparable and Vodafone even offers data banking.
Telstra is great value for the first 3 recharges, but falls off sharply after that. In terms of ongoing value, Vodafone wins out easily, even with Telstra's huge number of bonus features. It should be noted that these are all some of the lower value prepaid plans on the market, so if you're looking for more value, compare mobile plans to find out what's available.
Vodafone has long expiry recharges available, which we'll compare against Telstra and Kogan again to see how well the value holds.
| Provider | Plan | Price | Data | Data per dollar value | Expiry period | Extra features |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Vodafone | $250 Prepaid Plus | $250 | 150GB | $1.67 per 1GB | 365 days | Data banking |
| Telstra | $300 Prepaid Complete | $300 | 150GB | $2.00 per 1GB | 365 days | Data banking, international minutes, data-free sports/Apple Music streaming, Telstra Air, 5G access |
| Kogan Mobile | Medium 365 days | $205.60 | 158GB | $1.30 per 1GB | 365 days | Qantas point rewards |
Vodafone holds up well in the long expiry field, too, beating out Telstra easily in terms of value. However, Kogan provides more data for less money, making it a more attractive option than Vodafone.
In terms of features, Vodafone has nothing much to recommend it, since data banking is less useful year to year than month to month.
Keep in mind that if you're after Vodafone's 365-day prepaid plan, you'll need to first grab a starter pack as it's only available as a recharge.
Compared to smaller MVNOs, Vodafone provides more features than most but doesn't always measure up price-wise. Since MVNOs don't have to pay for network maintenance and construction, their plans are often cheaper than what Vodafone offers.
For a quick snapshot of how Vodafone prepaid plans compare, we've summed up the pros and cons below:
Prepaid plans don't come with a new handset on a contract. If you're looking for a phone on a plan, see what options Vodafone has on offer.
You can purchase a couple of select handsets from Vodafone, bundled in with your prepaid plan. Unfortunately, you can only get them in store at the moment, so head into your nearest branch if you're interested.
Vodafone's higher value prepaid plans already include some amount of international call credit, with 20 countries in Zone 1 and 70 countries in Zone 2.
When it comes to roaming, you won't have access to Vodafone's $5/day roaming offer, which lets you use your normal phone inclusions. Instead, you can purchase one of the following roaming add-ons:
Without these add-ons, you'll be charged pay-as-you-go rates, which will generally work out to be much more expensive. We recommend picking up a local or travel SIM when overseas to avoid expensive roaming options.
Regardless of your recharge method, Vodafone accepts the following payment types:
Here are the three ways that you can recharge your plan:
Visit Vodafone's express recharge page. Then simply enter your mobile number and follow the instructions. You won't be charged for data if you're using your phone's Internet to do this.
You can call 1511 on a mobile with your Vodafone SIM, or instead call 1300 650 410 and enter your phone number and PIN. Follow the instructions to recharge.
You can download the My Vodafone app from Google Play or Apple's App Store. The app allows you to see your usage, purchase add-ons and recharge.
Similar to the ways that you can recharge your plan, you can also check your Vodafone prepaid balance in three different ways:
You can purchase small extra data packs to top up your prepaid account. They only last for a limited time and can be purchased:
If you're only looking for data and you don't need to make calls or send texts, you can pick up a Vodafone prepaid mobile broadband plan. Starter packs cost between $30 and $50 for up to 55GB of data. Expiry periods are 30 days long for starter packs, though recharge options vary in expiry from 7 days up to 365.
They can be bought either as a standalone plan if you already have a modem or device, but you can also grab a suitable tablet or modem on a 12, 24 or 36-month repayment plan with your mobile broadband.
You'll be charged an additional $8 transfer fee if you downgrade your plan to a lower tier, but upgrading to a higher tier is free.
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do you have a prepaid that allows me to ring PNG at a discounted rate?
Hello Gary,
Thanks for your question.
For you to know the best plan that will suit your preference and budget you may contact Vodafone directly. Please be remained that you have come thru finder.com.au and we are a financial comparison and general information website.
Regards,
Chester