Mobile broadband plans are now being offered by Australian supermarkets. Coles offers Coles Mobile, and Woolworths have called their plan, Woolworths Mobile. Obviously, the deals are slightly different as Woolworths uses Telstra’s 4G network, whereas Coles relies on Optus’s networks. Both of these have prepaid plans; differences obviously exist between them.
Considering the overall mobile broadband market in Australia, that does mean that we do have more choice. But are these plans worthy? Should we go ahead, and subscribe to any of them at this very instance? Let’s do a quick review and compare to Woolworths mobile plans.
Woolworths
Woolworths mobile broadband runs on Telstra 3G and 4G networks, as we have already mentioned. National texts and calls are unlimited. Recharge tiers are priced from around $15 to $45. Considering the $15 recharge tier, you can avail $250 for calls; standard national calls are charged at 90 cents. Other than the $15 recharge, each tier covers international calls in the form of either call credit or minutes. If your recharge tier is higher, then international calls may even be included as unlimited, but only to specific locations.
If you don’t use the allotted data within one recharge period, you can it get to roll over to the next period, provided that you recharge continuously. The maximum rolled over data which you can collect is 15 GB.
Also if you already have a Woolworths Rewards card, you enjoy an additional 10% discount whenever you recharge; and oh, these rewards cards are free, so you should always get your hands on them if you use Woolworths mobile plans.
Woolworths offers several SIM only deals, along with 24 month contracts with smartphones such as Oppo Android or Samsung Galaxy.
Coles
Coles offers SIM only plans, which run on the Optus 4G network. The lowest recharge tier is $10, so it’s the lowest prepaid offer for any of the supermarket plans. However, since the recharge amount is so low, the expiry period is also a minimum of 10 days. All Coles plans feature unlimited texts and national calls. International calls are included only for the top tier plans.
The higher tier plans have an expiry period of 28 days, whereas recharge cycles are around 30 days. Unlike Woolworths, data cannot be rolled over, but nonetheless, you can enjoy a range of extras in the form of more data volume and international calling credit.
So which one is the best?
It all depends on our preferences; yes, we do have a lot of choice, but a certain plan may not always be the best for us. That being said, in the most general of terms, you should go with Coles Mobile if you are a traveller in the country, and require mobile access for a limited period. Also you can go with Coles if you live in an area where Optus gives better coverage than Telstra. You can opt for Woolworths if you want data or a contract phone plan.