Choosing the Best Mobile Phone Plan

Do you want to buy a mobile phone, but don't know where to start? Well, you are certainly not alone. Most new mobile phone customers are probably a little overwhelmed when it comes to picking a good deal. Who's to blame anyway. When you look at all the offers in the market it is no wonder we can't make a decision. The following guide will help you make a smarter choice by being informed...

I recently decided I needed to get myself a new mobile phone, after the old one I had been using for way too many years finally broke on me! It had been many years since I had brought a mobile phone, or looked into any new mobile phone plans.

I really didn't realise how many different types of mobile phones there were available now, and how many different categories of mobile phone plans you could choose from.

To be honest initially it made my heads spin a little. I decided to take my time, break each component of mobile phone, and mobile phone plan buying into smaller chunks, and make my decision from there.

What I ended up with eventually was a brand new mobile phone, and a nice little guide for anyone who is thinking about buying a new phone, but is a little unsure of what to look for, and what plan to choose.

The World of the Mobile Phone Plan!

If you are completely new to the world of mobile phones, then we thought it would be useful for us to provide an explanation/glossary of some of the most commonly heard terms, so that whilst you look for a new phone and plan you will understand the terms that you read and hear in product and calling plan descriptions.

Mobile phone - No explanation needed really. This is product that you will be using to make and receive your phone calls, sending and receiving text messages, and surfing the Internet.

Mobile phone calling plans - If you decide to take on a mobile phone calling plan instead of a pre-paid phone, then you will be put on a mobile phone plan. This is a deal made up of different components, and most companies will let you vary your call plan to suit the way you use your phone. These deals normally tie you into come length of contract.

Prepaid deals - The main alternative to a mobile phone call plan is a prepaid set up. This is where you are not ties into any long term contracts, and you load your phone up with a preset amount of calling credit. You cannot spend over that amount, and it is a useful way to avoid stacking up a lot of debt if you are a heavy user.

Service provider - There is more than one company that offers mobile phone services, and they are known as the service provider. They are responsible for running and maintaining your mobile phone service. They are also the company that you pay your bill too, and who will deal with any network, or mobile phone problems for you.

Network - This is the platform that all mobile phone services are built. These companies are the ones who, build and maintain the mobile phone network, and are responsible for the upkeep, and ongoing reliability of the service. It is not unusual for your service provider to also be the company who provides the network as well.

Peak time/Off peak time - On a mobile phone plan your call charges will vary depending on the time of day you make your calls. Normally you will pay more to make calls during peak times, and less to make calls during off peak times. As a general rule of thumb peak times are normally from around 9am-6pm, and off peak being 6pm-8.59am. This can vary so check with your service provider.

SMS - This stands for short message service. This is where you can send and receive text messages to your phone. Sometimes it is quicker and easier to send a text if you cannot speak. Different providers charge a different amount per message, and some even do bundle deals so see what's available.

Wi-Fi - Most modern mobile phones can access the Internet. They will normally charge you for surfing online, however if you buy a phone that is Wi-Fi enabled, if you go into a free Wi-Fi zone then you can surf your mobile phone's Internet without paying.

Roaming - A term used to describe the use of a mobile phone overseas.

Coverage - This is the geographical area that your mobile service provider covers. It simple shows you the areas you will be able to use your mobile phone. Ideally you want the provider that will give you the largest coverage possible, so you can use your mobile virtually wherever you are.

Call waiting - If you are already on a phone call, a phone that has the call waiting facility will alert you to the fact there is another call trying to get through to you.

Caller ID - This function will show the telephone number of anyone trying to phone you. It let's you know who is calling in case you would rather not speak to certain people at the time.

3G - This is more modern technology that enables us to make video calls, and send video messages to our friends.

Next G - An even more modern version of 3g, but is meant to cover more of Australia than any other network.

So, now you have an idea of some of the basic terms you will hear on your mobile phone search, let's look at the other things you should have in place before you start working out what to do next.

How Will You Use Your Phone

It is going to be very useful to you to understand what type of mobile phone customer you are likely to be. Once you know how you plan to use your phone you can start looking for plans that will match up to your requirements.

There are some basic user templates that you may fit into:

• Business use - You will be using your phone to make and receive many calls during mainly peak times of the day.
• Social use - You will probably like sending many text messages, and will probably make a few long phone calls but most may be off peak times.
• Emergency - You only really use your phone if you have to. If you have broken down in your car, or have an accident etc.

Figure out what type of user you will be, and from that point you will start to get an idea of what mobile phone plan you should be looking for.

Let's have a closer look at the different options available to you before we begin to look at the actual call plans themselves.

Pre-Paid Mobile Phones

One of the biggest issues for mobile phone users when they come out of mobile phone plans is that they got themselves into debt, by running up massive phone bills. If you have never had a mobile before, or are just a little worried about debt risk with a phone, then you could consider starting out on a pre-paid mobile phone plan.

With a pre-paid phone you start out with your phone and all it's accessories, and you will also get some starter calling credit. This will allow you to make some calls and send some text messages in the first few days.

Once that initial credit runs out you will then need to top up, and buy more credit which will allow you to start making calls again. It is similar to a pre-paid credit card in that there is no way you can unwittingly rack up a huge bill, and allows you to keep in control of your phone spending better.

There are some other benefits of pre-paid deals:

• Cheaper for those who only use their phone in an emergency
• Will give you an idea of how much you will use your phone
• You are not tied into any restrictive contracts
• You can easily move plans or networks
• No exit fee if you leave
• No bills or invoices to worry about

Of course like anything there are also the odd downsides, for example most pre-paid phones give you a time limit on your credit use. If you have $5 of unused credit at the end of the month, the credit will not run over into the next month, you will simply lose that credit and have to re-top up.

There is also the restrictions that you have credit wise. If you forget to top up your credit for example, and then find you need to ring your car break down service on the motorway, if you have insufficient credit you will not be able to make the call.

Rolling Mobile Phone Plans

If you are comfortable being billed monthly for your mobile phone usage, and want the freedom of being able to use your phone whenever you want to, then you will be better looking at a mobile phone plan with a contract.

Plan contracts vary in length, and often you can get more features and benefits if you sign up to a longer contract. The downside of this being if you change your mind and want to change mobile providers, you will be facing a high exit fee or penalty to leave.

The benefits of a mobile phone plan are:

• Often cheaper call rates vs the pre-paid customers
• You will sometimes get a free phone as part of the deal
• Slightly better customer service (in my opinion)
• Access to better features

It is very important to remember that when you sign up to mobile phones plans that you are signing up to a long term contract and are committing yourself for a certain amount of time.

It can often be a very expensive process getting out of a long mobile phone contract, and so you need to be 100% definite about the service you have picked before you sign the contract.

Do You Already Have a Phone?

As mentioned some mobile providers run deals where you get a mobile phone as part of your mobile phone plan. Depending on the age of the phone, and how feature laden it is will determine if, and how much you will pay for it each month.

Often plans will give you the option of buying the phone outright at the start of the contract, whilst others will charge you monthly for the phone. You will roughly be looking at anywhere between $5 to $40 dollars per month based on the type of phone you want.

If however you already have a mobile phone then you should be able to use that, and save money on buying a new one, or paying for one monthly. Remember that because you are tied into a longer term contract, you may end up paying much more for the phone than had you just brought one outright.

If you have brought your own mobile phone from a previous plan to your new deal you will also want to know...

Can I keep My Number?

Mobile phone numbers can often be very personal to us. It is also a massive pain to have to text all your contacts and let them you have a new telephone number. Fortunately in most cases you will not have to, because mobile providers will let you port your old number across to your new deal!

It means that changing plans does not have to mean the loss of your old number. The process of changing providers wouldn't be that long, and there should not be a major disturbance to your service.

Internet - Yes or No?

Most modern 3G phones have Internet capabilities, and mobile phone plans will come with a certain amount of Internet usage included as part of your monthly fees.

Try to work out how much you would use your Internet functions, because if you feel it is something you will not use often then you can reduce the amount of Internet "minutes" you will get each month, and can maybe save a couple of dollars.

The other thing to be aware of is that there are now many premium rate mobile Internet services that allow you to download music and games to your mobile phone. These services will often charge a very high fee on top of your Internet usage fee to download these things.

Make sure you know how much you are paying for such services before you begin to download anything at all.

So now we have a grasp on the basics, let's have a look at selection of some current mobile phone plans available, and try to figure out what type of customer they would suit best.

Mobile Phone Plans

1. The Vodafone $20 Sim Only Cap

• Included Value-$150
• Data-50MB
• Price-$24.95
• Voicecall cost- $0.90 per minute
• SMS-$0.28 per message
• Video Calls- $1.35 per minute

Make Unlimited Free Calls to Other Vodafone Customers

You are now able to call any other Vodafone user completely free using this plan.

The other calls that come as part of the plan are:

• National and Local: Standard national voice calls & video calls
• International Calls
• SMS: Standard & International SMS messages
• MMS: Standard & International SMS messages
• Voicemail: Free to access your voicemail messages
• 15 / 13 / 1800 numbers

This plan also allows you to connect your own phone which will save you money on buying a new one.

On the whole this is a good basic mobile phone plan. It is relatively cheap to run and you are only tied in for a 12 month period. One big advantage to the Vodafone plan is the free unlimited calls that you get to any other Vodafone user.

Ideally if your partner, or any of your close friends were Vodafone customers then you would really get the most out of this plan.

2. The 3 $29 Cap Plan

• Included Value-$180
• Data-50MB
• Price-$29.00
• Voicecall cost- $0.90 per minute
• SMS-$0.25 per message
• Video Calls- $1.35 per minute

Other calls that come as part of the plan are:

• National Voice Calls
• International Voice Calls
• SMS
• Voicemail
• Unlimited Calls to other 3 Users
• 13/1300/1800 numbers and directory services

You also get to choose a mobile phone to go with this plan. Again this is a cap plan like the Vodafone deal so you are limited in your usage but you have the advantage of free calls to other 3 users, and because of a special deal between 3 and Vodafone you can now make free calls to Vodafone users too!

3. The Virgin Mobile Smart Cap 39

• Included Value-$160
• Data-1.5 GB
• Price-$39 per month
• Voicecall cost- $0.99 per minute
• SMS-$0.00 per message
• Video Calls- $0.90 per minute

This deal from Virgin is similar to the others in that it gives you free calls to anyone on the same network as yourself which can save a lot of money in the long run. Although the voice calls are a little more expensive with this mobile phone plan, you get free SMS messages, as well as cheaper video calls.

If you are the type of user that likes to send an SMS rather than talking then this kind of text message heavy plan would be more up your street.

Rollover Minutes- One very attractive feature of this plan is that any unused minutes or messages you have at the end of the month will not be lost. They will simply roll over to your next months balance. This again is a great way to save money, and it makes a change not to be penalised just because you didn't use your phone much one month.

There is also a much larger data allowance with this plan, however it is more expensive than the other two at $39 per month.

So Much Choice

This is just 3 out of hundreds of different mobile phone plans there are available on the market, but even these 3 give you an idea of how different they can be.

There are plans that offer free SMS messages but more expensive voice calls, and then plans with cheap calls but not many included SMS.

That is why it is so important to discover what kind of user you are going to be before signing up to a long term contract. A good bit of advice would be to get yourself on a pre paid plan to begin with. That way you are not tied into a contract, you can not run up any debt, and it will give you an idea of the features you will use the most on your phone.

Once you have used your pre paid phone for a couple of months you can then have a look at the stats, look at where you have used your money, and see which type of contracted plan is going to be better for you.

Areas to Compare

Once you begin comparing different mobile phone plans there are going to be several areas you look at in your comparisons. They are going to be:

• Monthly cost
• Calls included
• SMS included
• Data included
• Phone included or BYO
• Video calling
• Roaming capabilities
• International call rates
• Internet cost
• Rollover abilities
• Length of contract
• Exit Fees

These are going to be your main areas of concern. You want to know exactly what you are getting for your money. Mobile phone retailers are very good at dressing up deals to look more glamorous than they are, and it is very easy to get caught up in the hype of a free phone or some other gift.

You want to know the cold hard facts about what is, and isn't going to be included in the plan, and exactly how much it is all going to cost you.

As well as visiting retailers there are also many very good online resources that let you compare different mobile phone plans based on your predicted usage. There are always new offers on the market, and the mobile business is still very competitive than ever.

If you are already with a mobile provider and just want a better deal, then it is a good idea to actually ring them and ask them. Many people over look this, but if you just contact your provider and let them know you have been looking at other deals, have found some quite good ones that are cheaper than you are currently on, and want to find out if they can match them, you will sometimes be offered a much better plan by your existing provider.

Nobody wants to lose a customer, and often the best place to get a good deal is with the company you already use.

• Price-$39 per month
• Voicecall cost- $0.99 per minute
• SMS-$0.00 per message
• Video Calls- $0.90 per minute

This deal from Virgin is similar to the others in that it gives you free calls to anyone on the same network as yourself which can save a lot of money in the long run. Although the voice calls are a little more expensive with this mobile phone plan, you get free SMS messages, as well as cheaper video calls.

If you are the type of user that likes to send an SMS rather than talking then this kind of text message heavy plan would be more up your street.

Rollover Minutes- One very attractive feature of this plan is that any unused minutes or messages you have at the end of the month will not be lost. They will simply roll over to your next months balance. This again is a great way to save money, and it makes a change not to be penalised just because you didn't use your phone much one month.

There is also a much larger data allowance with this plan, however it is more expensive than the other two at $39 per month.

So Much Choice

This is just 3 out of hundreds of different mobile phone plans there are available on the market, but even these 3 give you an idea of how different they can be.

There are plans that offer free SMS messages but more expensive voice calls, and then plans with cheap calls but not many included SMS.

That is why it is so important to discover what kind of user you are going to be before signing up to a long term contract. A good bit of advice would be to get yourself on a pre paid plan to begin with. That way you are not tied into a contract, you can not run up any debt, and it will give you an idea of the features you will use the most on your phone.

Once you have used your pre paid phone for a couple of months you can then have a look at the stats, look at where you have used your money, and see which type of contracted plan is going to be better for you.

Areas to Compare

Once you begin comparing different mobile phone plans there are going to be several areas you look at in your comparisons. They are going to be:

• Monthly cost
• Calls included
• SMS included
• Data included
• Phone included or BYO
• Video calling
• Roaming capabilities
• International call rates
• Internet cost
• Rollover abilities
• Length of contract
• Exit Fees

These are going to be your main areas of concern. You want to know exactly what you are getting for your money. Mobile phone retailers are very good at dressing up deals to look more glamorous than they are, and it is very easy to get caught up in the hype of a free phone or some other gift.

You want to know the cold hard facts about what is, and isn't going to be included in the plan, and exactly how much it is all going to cost you.

As well as visiting retailers there are also many very good online resources that let you compare different mobile phone plans based on your predicted usage. There are always new offers on the market, and the mobile business is still very competitive than ever.

If you are already with a mobile provider and just want a better deal, then it is a good idea to actually ring them and ask them. Many people over look this, but if you just contact your provider and let them know you have been looking at other deals, have found some quite good ones that are cheaper than you are currently on, and want to find out if they can match them, you will sometimes be offered a much better plan by your existing provider.

Nobody wants to lose a customer, and often the best place to get a good deal is with the company you already use.

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