1 – Internet costs. (last updated August 2024)
If you get fair mobile reception, and have light to moderate Internet needs, you might find a 4G or 5G service will suffice.
Belong has a data sim starting from $15 a month for 20 gigs. If you go over, it’ll still work at 1.5Mbps which is slow but still usable if you’re patient. On the other end, $70 for 400 gigs is hard to exceed.
Aldi has similar offers but with data rollover, but at slightly higher rates than Belong. Depending on your usage patterns, it might be better value.
4G and 5G modems are quite expensive, but you can actually recycle many Telstra NBN smart modems by putting the sim card in them. They sell on ebay for about $50.
The local towers have been upgraded but evening slow downs may still occur.
2 – Mobile Plans. (last updated August 2024)
Hard to beat Aldi for value in our area. $19 a month is probably all you need if you’re not doing a lot of video watching.
Most other bargain offerings from Boost, Amaysim have been discontinued. You might know of a better deal?
As an aside, smart phones around $300 are now perfectly fine to use with the caveat of mediocre cameras.