Vodafone is re-inventing the way they offer phones and plans today, by throwing out the common lock-in contract option instead mostly opting for a month-to-month model with the option to purchase a handset on 12, 24 or 36 month interest free plans.
At their launch Vodafone says since 1995 there has been no real innovation in how Australians buy postpaid phone plans. Their new plans are for consumer business only with the business plans staying the same. The new Red Plan offerings give you the most freedom we’ve seen on a mobile phone plan. You can choose to leave your plan at any time with any remaining repayments on the phone simply billed to you on your next bill.
Vodafone has broken their new plan setup into three simple steps, simply pick a Red Plan starting from $30 and ranging up to $100 per month, choose whether you want to purchase a new phone outright or on a 12, 24 or 36 month interest free plan, then add inclusions. There’s a range of inclusions on offer including options for international calls, more data, insurance and accessories. It’s all bundled into one, easy monthly repayment.
Ben Mcintosh, Consumer Business Director, Vodafone Australia said of the new arrangements:
Not only have we made our smartphone plans and payments more flexible, we’re proud to announce our new consumer voice, text and data plans, with month-to-month and 12 month options available. They now come with more data and range from $30-4100 with six simple price points.
There are still BYO phone plans, with 12 month or month-to-month options so don’t stress there, but the new setup looks great.
Vodafone has invested $2 billion in technology in their network this year, building out their network in regional areas as well as in the urban areas.
Vodafone includes their $5 per day international roaming option with the plans. The $5 per day allows you to use all your usual plan inclusions for just $5 a day when visiting one of the 55 countries included in the plan. There’s also the chance to earn Qantas Frequent Flyer points on selected plans as well.
Wi-Fi Calling
Almost as an aside, Vodafone has also announced at the event that they will be bringing Wi-Fi calling to the network later this year. They haven’t given us any information beyond that, but VoWiFi is a popular option for Optus and Telstra customers who got the function on their network earlier this year
The new plans are now live on the Vodafone website for you to check out now. Head over and see whether this may suit you.
Compare existing plan with new ones and you worse off by $10 per month for 24month including handset. Another way of increasing profit…
So I compared my current plan with vodafone to the new ones and they actually ended up being $15 more expensive. similar data plan but with bonus data on the old $80 plan (8gb but double data to 16gb from the bonus) makes it even to the new $50 plan and with the new handset repayments I’d have to keep the phone for 3 years instead of the 2 years my current contract is going for to keep the costs the same. If i went with the new $40 plan I’d only get 6gb of data compared to 16gb and… Read more »
Grandfathered plans, especially those with significant bonus inclusions, are always going to offer better value than current off the rack plans. Eg I pay $45 a month for 17Gb data and unlimited calls. I don’t see anything coming close to matching that, but it doesn’t mean Vodafone aren’t objectively offering good value.
Vodafone appear to have gotten the $2 billion for technology investment by cutting their service levels so far back that even TPG; Dodo and Kogan’s customer service seems better by comparison. Whilst some Vodafone plans seem good value (especially included data) compared to say Telstra, the $$ saved just does not make up for the frustration due to the extremely poor customer service Vodafone now provides.
Your mileage may vary as usual. While you’ve had bad experience there’s thousands of now happy Vodafone customers out there.
I don’t know if any mobile telco has great customer service. I had to struggle a few days ago I with a 3hr+ online chat support with Telstra. So many transfers between different staff, very frustrating
I’ve found Vodafone’s customer service to be significantly more responsive than Telstra, and I’ve never had a good experience with Optus. Everyone’s experience will be different, but I’ve seen improvement – if anything – in Vodafone in recent years.
Yes My Experiences (plural) may vary but they are still valid experiences. Some background – I’ve been a Vodafone customer for more than ten years (possibly even > 15 years) and was originally a customer of both Three and Vodafone. I was a massive VF fan and would try to talk anybody who asked into joining VF – I disliked Telstra & Optus with a passion although I did try Virgin at one stage. I have multiple services (8, some still stuck on VF plans) and a while back VF staff suggested changing my account to Business since I had… Read more »
What is old is new again, Vodafone did this for a while in the early 2000s from memory.