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Family mobile plans
Family mobile plans offer the convenience of having multiple plans under 1 bill and the ability to share data. No matter the make-up of your family, there are ways to bundle everyone's phone plans together and potentially save.
Mobile providers differ in how they offer family plans, but for the most part, there are 2 separate ways they go about this.
1. Mobile plans designed for family use
These are specific family plans where you have multiple SIMs under the same account that share a certain amount of data per month, all for a fixed price. Providers that offer this include Optus and ALDImobile.
2. Bundling SIMs for your family
Other providers might allow you to bundle SIM only plans together. In this case, you'd need to get each plan individually for family members then bundle them under the same account. Depending on the provider, you can share data across all the plans, and some might even offer a discount for bundling. Providers that take this approach include Telstra and Vodafone.
A note on data gifting:
Some providers also offer data gifting, whereby if you have mobile plans with the same telco, you can gift any unused data to other users, such as family members. Although these aren't specifically family plans, you can use this option to share around data and have mobile plans under the same provider. Some of the providers that allow you to do this include Belong, More and Tangerine.
Telstra family mobile plans
Telstra doesn't offer an actual family mobile plan, but on Telstra's Essential and Premium Upfront mobile plans, you can add up to 5 bundle plans and share data across them all.
Each extra mobile bundle plan is $50 a month each for 25GB of data. Or you can choose to add just a data bundle plan, which is $10 a month for 10GB.
5G access (you must have a 5G compatible device and be in a 5G coverage area to receive this).
Uncapped download speeds.
No lock-in contacts.
No excess data charges, but your speed will be reduced once you reach your data limit.
Keep in mind: Telstra doesn't offer bundling on its upfront Basic plan. You need to be on the Essential or Premium plan to bundle with other plans.
Another option for families using Telstra is you can share your Telstra data allowance between up to 10 Upfront mobile or data plans on the same account.
Optus family mobile plans
Optus offers a family mobile plan where you get 4 SIMs for $165 a month and share 320GB of data. Split evenly, that works to be $41.25 a month for 80GB of data each.
To compare, the closest Optus mobile SIM only plan in price is the Small Optus Choice Plan, which is $49 a month but for only 30GB of data.
You can add extra SIM plans to the family plan, up to 4 at $29 a month each.
Keep in mind: You don't get more data when you add extra users to the Optus family mobile plan, so everyone will be sharing the existing 320GB allocation.
The Optus family plan also includes:
A subscription to the McAfee Safe Family App at no additional cost.
Unlimited talk and text to standard Australian mobiles and landlines.
No excess data charges, but all services that share the plan will have their download speed slowed to 1.5Mbps if you exceed the monthly limit.
Aside from the family mobile plan, Optus also allows you to share data across any combination of eligible mobile SIM and mobile broadband plans. As there's no restriction to the number of plans you can share across, this could suit families that have more than 8 devices or people.
You can access Optus data sharing for your family with any of the plans below.
5G access (only with a 5G-compatible device and in areas with 5G coverage).
Unlimited data rollover if you recharge with the same plan within 24 hours of expiry.
Unlimited standard calls and texts to Australian fixed lines and standard Australian mobiles, plus unlimited standard calls and SMS to 20 countries.
Vodafone family plans
Vodafone doesn't have a family plan, but you can bundle up to 5 eligible phone, tablet and/or modem plans under the same account to receive a discount of up to 20%.
Your included data will be automatically shared between up to 10 eligible plans, so all data will be pooled. Some of the Vodafone plans you can bundle are shown below.
No excess data charges, but once you've exceeded your limit, speeds will be slowed to 2Mbps.
Unlimited standard national calls and SMS in Australia.
No early exit fees.
Yomojo family mobile plan bundles
Yomojo allows you to bundle up to 6 SIMs together to suit your family's needs. The more SIMs you bundle, the bigger the discount you receive, up to 15% off.
You can choose any one of Yomojo's 5 SIM only plans for each family member. They range from 6GB to 90GB and all have a 30-day expiry. Yomojo uses the Optus 4G Plus Network, which covers 98.5% of the Australian population.
Keep in mind: There is no data sharing between Yomojo's mobile plans, even if you bundle them together. If one or more of the plans runs out of their allocated data before 30 days, you will have to purchase more data to continue using it.
Belong data gifting
Belong lets you share any amount of your data in 1GB chunks with a fellow Belong mobile or Belong data plan user. There's no limit to how much you can send, you just need to make sure you've got at least 1.3GB of data.
You can gift up to 50% of the data on your standard monthly allowance to other More Mobile users. This total amount will be rounded up to the nearest GB and is only valid for your billing period. Each gift needs to be at least 1GB of data.
You have the option to share up to 50% of your plan's standard monthly data allowance (rounded up to the nearest GB) per billing period with SIM only plans to other Tangerine mobile users. Each gift of data must be a minimum of 1GB.
Lebara's 30-day and long expiry plans allow you to gift up to 2GB of data at a time, up to 5 times within a 30-day period, with another Lebara mobile service. The overall limit for data gifting is 10GB every 30 days.
You can share up to 50% of your included data from each recharge or usage period, in 1GB increments, with another active Everyday Mobile plan that has the data gifting feature.
Seeing as how no 2 families are the same, it depends on your family's data needs as to whether it's cheaper to get a family plan.
Saving tip
It pays to know how much data each family member uses each month, because it might work out cheaper to get individual plans rather than one big family plan.
Let's do the maths: ALDImobile
ALDImobile's $55 Family plan with 50GB of shared data sounds like a good deal at first glance. You can share it between 2 family members, equating to 25GB for $27.50 per person per month.
If you got 2 separate ALDImobile 25GB for $29 plans, that would cost a total of $58 a month. You'd be saving $3 a month with the family plan.
But let's say you only used 10.2GB a month, which is the average amount of data according to the Australian Consumer and Competition (ACCC) communications market report. It would actually cost you less to get individual plans that matched your data usage.
Getting a pair of ALDImobile's 10GB for $19 plans would only cost you a total of $38 a month. This works out to be cheaper than any of its family plans.
Expert tip: Just remember that the less data you use, the cheaper the mobile plan. There's no point in paying for a family plan which has loads of data that you don't even get close to using up each month.
Mark Neilsen is a writer at Finder, specialising in streaming, broadband and mobile. He looks for deals on all those services and keeps you abreast of any changes to see what's worth it for you. He has over 20 years' experience in print and digital media and while at Finder, Mark’s expertise has been featured in Yahoo Finance, The New Daily, Ad News, Tech Guide and news.com.au. In his time at Finder he has done over 300 articles on streaming, mobile and broadband. In his time away from Finder he is trying to get through the watchlists of the 11 streaming services he is currently subscribed to. See full profile
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