Family mobile plans: The key to saving money and data

Family mobile plans are increasing in popularity among telcos.

Bundling your bills can be a great option for families who pay multiple phone and internet bills. Not only can it decrease your next mobile bill but also see your data go further.

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Family plans with Vodafone

Optus boasts a four SIM Family Plan option designed to save data and consolidate billing. With four SIMs under one plan, customers receive 320GB of data to share amongst all the bundled accounts. Each SIM costs $41.25 per month, which equates to $165 collectively per month.

If you need more than four SIMs, Optus customers can add up to four extra SIMs on top for a further $29 each per month but these won’t include any additional data.

Both this SIM family plan and all postpaid Optus Choice plans have data sharing, so all the data is pooled together. Be warned though, this means one person could use all the data themselves instead of everyone having an equal share. We recommend constantly monitoring the usage to make sure it’s being used evenly.

This Family Plan also features the Optus Pause functionality, which allows parents to keep their kids present and off their phones at the touch of a button.

Compare Optus’ plans with data sharing below:

Family plans with Vodafone

Vodafone has a unique way of saving customers money. Its Bundle and Save option works on a sliding scale – the more SIMs you add, the greater the discount, up to a maximum of 20% off the total bill. This is a great choice for larger families willing to consolidate their bills.

• Two bundled plans = 5 per cent saving per month
• Three bundled plans = 10 per cent saving per month
• Four bundled plans = 15 per cent saving per month
• Five bundled plans = 20 per cent saving per month

All current Vodafone postpaid mobile, tablet and mobile broadband plans are eligible for this bundling discount but discounts exclude hardware fees.

In addition, if you have a Vodafone standard Infinite, Vodafone BYOD, Team or Plus postpaid plan, you’re eligible for its data sharing option for up to 10 eligible plans bundled under one account. And much like Optus, Vodafone’s data sharing functions as one large pool. Note that Vodafone’s mobile broadband plans are excluded from data-sharing.

Here are Vodafone’s SIM-only mobile plans with data sharing:

And here are some of Vodafone’s SIM-only mobile broadband plans:

Family plans with Telstra

Telstra family plans can be a little trickier to set up. First, you need to be on either a Telstra Essential or Premium Upfront plan. The Essential Upfront plan costs $68 per month for 180GB or its Premium Upfront plan will set you back $89 per month for 300GB.

Here are the full details of Telstra’s Upfront Essential and Premium plans:

When you subscribe to one of these plans, you can bundle up to five additional discounted plans.

Each bundled plan costs $47 per month for a mobile plan with 15GB or a $10 per month mobile broadband plan with 10GB (data only). This is a great money-saving option for those who need an additional data-only SIM for a secondary device like a tablet.

In terms of data sharing, these bundle plans and all Telstra Upfront plans are eligible. These plans also include access to Telstra’s 5G network and are contract-free so you can bring your own device to save more money. But keep in mind you will need to pay for your Upfront plan in advance, similar to a prepaid plan.

Family plans with ALDI Mobile

ALDI Mobile has three of its own generous family mobile plans. Starting from $45 per month, customers can bundle between two to six services on one account with a 30-day renewal period. To save on data, ALDI Mobile’s Family Plans offer continuous rollover so you never lose your unused data.

ALDI Mobile operates on the Telstra network with 4G and 5G access. Here are the details of the telco’s family plans:

Family bundling with Yomojo

Optus Mobile Virtual Network Operator (MVNO), Yomojo has a bundling option that works much like Vodafone’s sliding scale but the discounts go up to six SIMs. The discounts are as follows:

• Two bundled SIM plans = 5 per cent saving
• Three bundled SIM plans = 7.5 per cent saving
• Four bundled SIM plans = 10 per cent saving
• Five bundled SIM plans = 12.5 per cent saving
• Six bundled SIM plans = 15 per cent saving

Compare Yomojo’s plans below:

Christie Graham is Digital Content Editor at WhistleOut, Australia’s mobile and internet comparison site.