Telstra Freedom Plus prepaid plans boost data, text inclusions
Data allowances are up and rollover is included, but not all the changes are as pleasing.
Telstra has changed its flagship Freedom prepaid plan, increasing the data allowances across plans and simplifying some other elements.
Here are the recharge options for the newly-minted Freedom Plus plans launched today (1 September 2015). All included unlimited texts to Australian numbers, and unlimited calls to other Telstra mobiles. Recharge period is 28 days.
| Recharge | Data | Call credit | # 2-min calls |
|---|---|---|---|
| $30 | 1.3GB | $250 | 115 |
| $40 | 3GB | $750 | 345 |
| $50 | 4GB | $1,500 | 691 |
The data inclusions are somewhat more generous than on the previous Freedom plans. The $30 plan is officially increasing from 800MB to 1.3GB, though a long-running offer of a bonus 500MB across the old Freedom plans has meant most customers already had that much data anyway. The $40 plan is up from 1.5GB (or 2GB with bonus) to 3GB, and the $50 plan rises from 2GB (or 2.5GB with bonus) to 4GB.
You can also roll over data that's not used during one month into the next month, which wasn't an option with the previous plan. As with the previous Freedom Plan, you can't use your call credit to purchase additional data – if you want that, you have to pay for it separately.
PREPAID PLANS
The previous Freedom prepaid plan offered an alternative option of unlimited calls and texts to any Australian mobile, regardless of network, between 6pm and 6am. That has now disappeared, which means this is a less flexible option if you regularly call people on multiple networks.
The data improvements are welcome, but if you don't require Telstra's 4G network other options are more generous. Amaysim, for instance, offers 5GB of data with unlimited texts and calls for $44.90 a month on Optus' 4G network. Vodafone now offers unlimited calls and texts across all of its prepaid and contract plans.
I pay $30 from my credit card to recharge Freedom Plus Plan. I use the “free” plan call credits and data credits while the $30 money from my credit card sits on my account as “core credit”. Next month I pay another $30 from my credit card and my core credit balance goes up to $60 and I get another round of free calls and data. When will I ever make use of my core credit balance, does it just accumulate higher and higher until I have to ask Telstra to start paying me interest?
Or how can I use the core credit to pay for my next plan recharge?
Hi Aaron,
The core credit is used for calls, text and data usage that isn’t included in your plan. Examples of this are international calls and text, premium calls and text (e.g. competition lines) and excess data usage. Unfortunately, you can’t pay for your next recharge with your remaining core credit.
Thanks,
Brodie