Earlier this year Telstra changed their Pre-Paid plans to scrap the Encore plan for new users and introduced a new plan called Pre-Paid Freedom. At the time it looked to be a big step backwards as it decreased the data available to users. In a bid to entice more users onto the Pre-Paid Freedom plan Telstra have doubled the data as a Christmas present to customers using their Freedom Pre-paid plans.
For a $30 recharge there is now 800MB of data included, while for the $40 and $50 recharge’s there is 1,5GB and 2GB of data included respectively. Sounds great for those already on a Pre-Paid Freedom plan but for those who require more data than included, beware the fine print.
On the new Freedom plans, the highest recharge possible is a mere $50, so if you require more data, you will have to pay for it. Unfortunately, with the Pre-Paid Freedom plan you cannot use Telstra credit to pay for extra data packs as has been an option with previous Telstra Pre-Paid plans. To gain extra data you will need to “recharge” by parting with more hard-earned cash. Speaking with Ausdroid, a Telstra customer service representative advised
..all plus packs are incompatible with the Freedom offers. What you may do is to recharge these denominations to top up data. $5 for 250MB or $15 for 1GB, both good for 14 days.
The new Pre-Paid Freedom plans now look like this :
| Recharge |
$30 |
$40 |
$50 |
| Pick your bonus |
Anytime Bonus or Nights Bonus |
||
| Total Credit |
$250 ($30 recharge and $220 Freedom credit |
$550 ($40 recharge and $510 Freedom credit) |
$1,000 ($50 recharge and $950 Freedom credit) |
| Data (charged per KB) |
800MB |
1.5GB |
2GB |
|
All to use in Australia within 28 days |
|||
While it may seem like a good deal on the surface, carefully consider your data usage before committing to one of these new Freedom offers. While I commend Telstra for increasing data allowances, it’s also worrying that they’re removing some functions for updating using ‘Telstra credit’. If your data usage is greater than these then you will end up spending much more than you intended and once you leave the Pre-Paid Encore plans you cannot go back. As always it is a case of buyer beware.
Do you use Telstra Pre-Paid? Freedom or Encore? What are your thoughts on the new plans?
Just to let u guys know i realised when using the freedom credit you can use it to download apps and search the web
Yeah… nah. Still on Cap Encore, $50 credit = $950 of calls & SMS and 3.8GB of data (after using the $50 credit to buy a $49/3GB data pack), think I’ll stick with that.
I find Telstra’s “Beyond Talk” prepaid plan to be the best value for me. $50 recharge gives you 500 mins of talk, free texts and 400MB of data. You can then use that recharge credit to buy a $49 Browse “plus pack” which gives you 3GB. So a total of 3.4GB a month for $50.
New plans suck. Suspect they will be forced to change them eventually.
We certainly hope so. It seems a trend for all providers to provide less and less data- they may have doubled the data for this but to get more you need to pay more..so in the end it’s less data…no thanks..
Yeah it’s an awful trend 🙁
Long live Cap Encore!
Maybe ask the service representative why I had to put a virgin SIM into my Nexus 5 to get the Lollipop update? I think Android 5.0 might be a nice Christmas present for their customers.
If you are still on Cap-encore, then stick with it.
The prices of the Freedom plans are the same with 28 day expiry instead of 30 days and as Scott has mentioned, you can’t use your Telstra Credit to get more data.
This deal will expire and then you will be stuck with the lower data cap and you will need to hand over more cash to get more data.
Nice try Telstra, but I’m not falling for it.
same. can’t believe anyone would fall for it. I feel sorry for the people starting with Telstra now. Cap Encore was so much better, Freedom is named so badly. It’s like calling your new rottweiller Fluffy.
I got caught. The non availability of bonus plus packs was not in the info on the 24*7 telstra app. When the problem appeared I found it on the web site hidden away in the fine print. Not obvious at all. Now I have lost the excellent Encore deal. Also there seems there is no way you can use the app to pay money to get top up data. It is another example of deceptive marketing. I thought telstra had reformed, but sadly, they have proved true to old form.
There’s been double the data amount on Freedom plans for months now, so why is it a Christmas Present? It was due to expire in November and they extended the offer.
This week, Vodafone increased the value of its prepaid data packs. $5 now gets you 500MB instead of 300MB, and $15 gets you 2GB. I’d say that’s more worthy of an article.
I believe that was only for 6 months, whereas this may be permanent?
I’m also on Encore still, and have been mulling over whether it’s better than stay Encore or change to Freedom.
Hi Pumpino, we try to cover everything, but we can’t have someone on every iteration of every plan type across all carriers. Vodafone also hasn’t announced this to us or done a blog post on it. Have you got an email or something which outlines the updates? If you could forward it on we’d love to see it.