Optus prepaid mobile plans compared

Optus offers prepaid plans for customers who need service over periods as short as five days all the way up to a year.

Pros/Cons

What services does Optus Prepaid offer?

Optus provides prepaid mobile services on its own Optus 4G Plus network across Australia. The connection you get will vary depending on your location with a mix of 3G and 4G availability and technology connection types depending on your smartphone device.

Optus sells a variety of handsets outright for use in the prepaid market, typically locked to the Optus network but sold at very affordable price points. Its core offerings in prepaid are SIM-only plans, which it offers in three varieties.

For very ad-hoc use, Optus Daily Plus plans offer a low fixed cost price for a single day’s use, charged against a prepaid pool of funds. If you need a plan with low usage but longer expiry, Optus Long Expiry plans may be a better fit. Optus’ primary play in the prepaid space are its Epic Data and Epic Value plans, which operate on 28-day or longer recharge cycles and come bundled with a variety of extras depending on recharge credit level.

How much does Optus Prepaid Mobile cost?

Most of Optus’ Epic Data plans work on a flat 28 day recharge cycle, though some lower-tier plans operate on shorter 10-day or 5-day cycles. Available recharge rates start at $10 and go up to $100. Lower-cost plans only include a set number of calling minutes, but higher recharges come with unlimited standard national calls. All Epic Data plans also include unlimited standard national texts, and recharges of $40 or more benefit from unlimited standard international calls to Canada, China, France, Germany, Hong Kong, India, Ireland, Japan, Malaysia, New Zealand, Singapore, South Korea, Sweden, the UK and the US as well. On the data front, caps range from 5GB up to 60GB, with Optus occasionally offering bonus data on top of those standard amounts.

Epic Value plans span a broader range of expiry periods, starting at 21 days and going all the way up to 365 days. Recharge pricing differs, too, beginning at $10 and topping out at $180. All Epic Value plans include unlimited standard national calls and texts, and feature data caps beginning at 500MB and topping out at 60GB.

Optus’ My Daily Plus plans are pretty unique in the Australian prepaid space. You pay a set recharge limit with a minimum of $10, but then you’re only charged for the days that you actually use the service at $2 per day for unlimited national calls and texts as well as 500MB of data. If you go over your quota in a single day you incur an additional $2 for an additional 524MB. If you recharge at the $10 or $20 level your credit expires after 30 days, but at any higher recharge level you have 186 days to use your credit.

What extras does Optus Prepaid Mobile offer?

Prepaid plans are usually relatively bare bones, with the best extras reserved for Optus contract customers. Optus is relatively generous in this regard, with a variety of extras, predominantly for customers on the Epic Data plans. They currently include extra data exclusively for streaming popular streaming TV services Netflix, Stan and ABC iview. Recharging an Epic plan within the expiry period also allows you to roll over any unused data quota up to a maximum of 50GB.

The Optus Prepaid Long Expiry Plan has a similar rollover feature, but rather than data, you can rollover unused credit up to $500 if you recharge within your expiry period.

Optus prepaid recharge options

Different Optus prepaid plans have different expiry periods, and it’s worth noting if there are bonuses, such as data or credit rollover if you recharge within your expiry period. Here’s how you can recharge your Optus prepaid services:

• Online through Optus

  Optus provides the ability to purchase recharges through its web portal for customers. You can recharge your own mobile phone, or any number associated with an Optus prepaid mobile account. Optus accepts payments via Visa, Mastercard, American Express, JCB Card, PayPal, via Internet Banking or from a pre-purchased voucher.

• Via the MyOptus App

  Optus provides a dedicated free to download app for iOS (download it here) or Android (download it here) mobile customers to recharge their mobile services on the go.

• Via PayPal

  You can use Optus’ prepaid payment portal to pay directly via PayPal if that’s your payment method of choice.

• Scan and Go Recharge

  Optus provides a system for fast, voucherless recharges at any 7-Eleven store nationwide. This involves setting up a dedicated QR code for your particular number, and then asking for a Scan and Go recharge instore. You scan the code, and it automatically applies the recharge to your prepaid account. You can find out more about Optus Scan and Go Recharge here.

• By phone

  You can recharge your phone by dialling 555 from your prepaid handset. This is a free call.

• Via a voucher

  Recharge vouchers can be purchased for Optus prepaid services at many large retail outlets, as well as at any Optus store itself.

• Via Autorecharge

  Optus has a facility for you to store credit card details pertaining to your prepaid service so that it automatically recharges your prepaid balance at a set expiry period. As with any automatic recharge, it’s up to you to keep an eye on what it’s doing if you’re not using an Optus service any more, as it will continually bill unless you adjust it.

How to contact Optus