Family mobile plans can decrease your combined mobile spending, make sharing data easier, and simplify your budget by combining multiple plans into a single, tidy bill.
Unfortunately, there aren't too many family plans in the Australian market. But there are also a couple of alternative plan types to consider, such as mobile plan bundling and data gifting.
Family mobile plans
A "family" mobile plan generally means multiple plans on the same account that share a single data pool. This combines all your phone bills into one, while also usually giving the account holder better oversight over how everyone is using their data and varying degrees of control over all the plans.
In terms of saving money, you can often save more by signing up to multiple separate plans from smaller providers. There are plenty of cheap mobile plans to be had out there, but this also means juggling more bills each month, separate data allowances, and probably won't include parental controls.
Of the 28 providers in our database, only four offer family mobile plans: Vodafone, Optus, ALDI Mobile, and Telstra. And they each handle things a little differently.
Vodafone family plans
Vodafone family plans not only let you share data, but you also get a bundling discount that increases the more plans you add.
For data sharing, all you have to do is sign up to multiple Vodafone postpaid plans on the same account and the data from each will automatically be added to the pool. The account holder gets control over the data pool, able to keep an eye on total usage or even block data access for family members if they go overboard – phone and SMS services are unlimited and therefore exempt from this.
Through Vodafone's "Bundle & Save" system, the more postpaid plans you add, the bigger your monthly discount, with the limit being 10 services. The first plan is undiscounted. The second is discounted by $5 per month, then each successive plan is discounted by $15 per month.
The sliding scale of savings works like this:
| Bundled services | Total discount |
|---|---|
| 1x plan | $0 |
| 2x plans | $5 |
| 3x plans | $20 |
| 4x plans | $35 |
| 5x plans | $50 |
| 6x plans | $65 |
| 7x plans | $80 |
| 8x plans | $95 |
| 9x plans | $110 |
| 10x plans | $125 |
Here are Vodafone's SIM-only plans with data sharing:
|
Vodafone
$58 Small SIM Only Plan
$45.00/mth
Min. cost $45
|
|
Vodafone
$68 Medium SIM Only Plan
$50.00/mth
Min. cost $50
|
|
Vodafone
$78 Large SIM Only Plan
$55.00/mth
Min. cost $55
|
Optus family plans
Optus postpaid mobile plans on the same account pool their data for everyone to access. These plans currently include the Choice Plus, Choice Plus Data, Plus Family and Plus Kids plans. Special Promo mobile plans are also usually included.
However, the Kids and Family plans will be retired soon, with those services being migrated to in-market Choice Plus plans for individuals. As such, we'll stick to going over the standard plans from now on.
On top of data sharing, you combine your plans into a single bill, and the account owner gets a degree of control and oversight over all the plans. There's also no limit to how many services you can add, nor does the account owner have to sign up to an expensive plan to qualify.
But it's worth noting there are no special family discounts to be had (now that the Family and Kids plans are being discontinued). The main benefits come from data sharing and simplifying your personal admin.
Here's a look at Optus' eligible postpaid plans:
|
Optus
$60 Optus Choice Plus Plan
$39.00/mth
Min. cost $39
|
|
Optus
$69 Optus Promo Plan
$69.00/mth
Min. cost $69
|
|
Optus
$70 Optus Choice Plus Plan
$70.00/mth
Min. cost $70
|
|
Optus
$90 Optus Choice Plus Plan
$90.00/mth
Min. cost $90
|
Telstra family plans
While not specifically marketed as Telstra family plans, you can bundle up to 20 of Big T's Upfront plans. This simplifies your bill, while also creating a single shared data pool between all the plans on your account, making them ideal for families.
These plans are similar to traditional postpaid ones but for one important distinction: you pay upfront at the start of each billing cycle, instead of at the end.
Here's a look at Telstra's eligible Upfront plans:
|
Telstra
$74 Basic Upfront SIM Plan
$74.00/mth
Min. cost $74
Link not supplied
|
|
Telstra
$84 Essential Upfront SIM Plan
$84.00/mth
Min. cost $84
Link not supplied
|
|
Telstra
$99 Premium Upfront SIM Plan
$99.00/mth
Min. cost $99
Link not supplied
|
While all the Upfront plans on your account share a single data pool, if you sign up to either the Essential or Premium plan then you can also add up to five Mobile Bundle Plans to your account. The special Mobile Bundle Plan is smaller and cheaper than the standard Upfront plans, adding just 25GB of data for $61 per month.
That small 25GB of data might be off-putting, but in truth you'll probably have way more data than you need. That's because the Essential and Premium plans have a huge amount of data – at least several times the average national usage. Given 25GB is itself a bit above the average needs, you might actually find you're paying premium prices for more data than you'll know what to do with.
ALDI Mobile family plans
ALDI Mobile's family plans include multiple SIMs with shared inclusions for a single cost. These are special plans aimed just at families, as opposed to bundling standard plans together. So, if you're already on a stand-alone plan with ALDI Mobile, you'll need to switch to one that's specifically labelled as a "Family Plan".
There are three options, each with different inclusions and a different limit on the number of services you can add. The smallest plan allows up to two services, while the largest can support up to six.
Here are ALDI's Family Plans:
|
ALDI mobile
$60 Family Plan
$60.00
Per 30 Day Renewal
Link not supplied
|
|
ALDI mobile
$118 Family Plan
$118.00
Per 30 Day Renewal
Link not supplied
|
|
ALDI mobile
$160 Family Plan
$160.00
Per 30 Day Renewal
Link not supplied
|
ALDI's Family Plans work out to be pretty cheap per user and per GB – roughly on par with the cheapest individual plans in our database. They also have the extra benefits of simplifying your bill and granting the account owner control via the ALDI Mobile app.
Customers can connect two to six 30-day expiry services on one account. The more you pay, the more services you can connect and the more data you can share between you.
ALDI Mobile operates on the Telstra Wholesale network, and all its family mobile plans have unlimited data rollover, 5G access with speeds capped to 150Mbps, and various inclusions for international calls.
If your main concern is saving money, you can also make use of mobile and internet bundles, which give you discounts for adding multiple plans to the same account.
Or, if you want to make sure no one runs out of data, you might consider plans with data gifting (not to be confused with data sharing). Data gifting lets you manually send spare GBs between people on the same provider.
Alex Angove-Plumb, Digital Content Editor at WhistleOut
Bundling mobile plans
Some providers give you a discount if you bundle multiple plans onto the same account, which has the additional benefit of combining everything into a single bill.
But mobile bundling discounts like this often require you also sign up to an internet plan with the same provider. In fact, the only telco in our database right now that still offers bundling discounts for mobile-only customers is Yomojo (not including those that offer data-sharing family plans, which we've already covered above).
To keep this guide simple, we've excluded providers that require an internet plan as part of bundling discounts, but if that interests you, then you can check out our guide to mobile and internet bundles.
Yomojo family bundling
Yomojo gives customers discounts if they have multiple prepaid plans on the one account. And the good news is the account owner doesn't have to sign up to an expensive plan to qualify – even the telco's cheapest 30-day prepaid plan is eligible. The discounts apply on up to six SIMs and are calculated on a sliding scale as follows:
| Bundled services | Discount |
|---|---|
| 1x mobile plan | 0% |
| 2x mobile plans | 5% |
| 3x mobile plans | 7.5% |
| 4x mobile plans | 10% |
| 5x mobile plans | 12.5% |
| 6x mobile plans | 15% |
The account owner has oversight into the data usage of each plan, with the power to add a Data Bolt-On, change their plan type, and adjust extra features like voicemail and roaming. But you don't get stricter control as you might with some data-sharing style family plans, such as doling out access to a shared data pool or other parental controls.
Here are Yomojo's prepaid mobile plans that work with family bundling:
|
Yomojo
Starter 29GB Plan
$24.90
Per 30 Day Renewal
Link not supplied
|
|
Yomojo
Essential 42GB Plan
$29.90
Per 30 Day Renewal
Link not supplied
|
|
Yomojo
Pro 105GB Plan
$34.90
Per 30 Day Renewal
Link not supplied
|
|
Yomojo
Ultra 220GB Plan
$49.90
Per 30 Day Renewal
Link not supplied
|
Mobile plans with data gifting
Data gifting lets services on the same provider manually "gift" data to each other, usually in 1GB increments. It's much more hands-on than data sharing, but that's fine if you only want to ensure there's spare data to be had if any family member occasionally goes a bit overboard.
This works particularly well if your mobile plan also has data banking – a feature that stores your unused data each month. That way, the more frugal members of your household will likely always be able to help the data hogs out in a pinch.
But data gifting doesn't mean all your bills will be consolidated into one. Nor will one family member get control over the mobile plans or usage of anyone else.
Belong data gifting
While Belong doesn't offer family-specific mobile plans, all of its plans allow you to gift data to other Belong customers. Customers need at least 1.3GB in their account to gift data, and can only do it five times per billing month.
An added bonus is infinite data banking. Belong will save all your unused data each month, so you can slowly build up a gigabyte hoard to generously bestow upon friends and family – as long as they also have a mobile plan with Belong and don't do anything to sacrifice your stash, like missing a payment. Belong operates on the Telstra Wholesale network.
Here are Belong's mobile plans:
|
Belong
25GB Mobile Plan
$34.00/mth
Min. cost $34
Link not supplied
|
|
Belong
40GB Mobile Plan
$39.00/mth
Min. cost $39
Link not supplied
|
|
Belong
100GB Mobile Plan
$49.00/mth
Min. cost $49
Link not supplied
|
|
Belong
160GB Mobile Plan
$59.00/mth
Min. cost $59
Link not supplied
|
Tangerine data gifting
Tangerine's data gifting is capped at 50% of each SIM-only plan's monthly data allowance per billing period, rounded up to the nearest GB. Customers must also gift a minimum amount of 1GB per transaction. Tangerine's plans also have limited data rollover, with different limits depending on the plan.
This data gifting doesn't apply to bonus data from special promos, and any gifted data cannot be regifted. Tangerine operates on the Telstra Wholesale network.
Here are Tangerine's mobile plans:
|
Tangerine Telecom
30GB 5G Mobile SIM
$30.00/mth
Min. cost $15
|
|
Tangerine Telecom
50GB 5G Mobile SIM
$36.00/mth
Min. cost $18
|
|
Tangerine Telecom
75GB 5G Mobile SIM
$42.00/mth
Min. cost $21
|
|
Tangerine Telecom
100GB 5G Mobile SIM
$48.00/mth
Min. cost $24
|
|
Tangerine Telecom
160GB 5G Mobile SIM
$60.00/mth
Min. cost $30
|
More data gifting
More Telecom's data gifting works the same as Tangerine's. Customers can gift data to other More mobile SIM-only customers, provided it's in 1GB increments and doesn't exceed 50% of their plan's standard monthly data allowance.
You can't regift any gifted data, nor can you gift bonus data received from a special offer or promo. More operates on the Telstra network.
Here are More's mobile plans:
|
More
30GB 5G Mobile SIM
$33.00/mth
Min. cost $33
Link not supplied
|
|
More
50GB 5G Mobile SIM
$40.00/mth
Min. cost $40
Link not supplied
|
|
More
75GB 5G Mobile SIM
$46.00/mth
Min. cost $46
Link not supplied
|
|
More
100GB 5G Mobile SIM
$52.00/mth
Min. cost $52
Link not supplied
|
|
More
160GB 5G Mobile SIM
$65.00/mth
Min. cost $65
Link not supplied
|
Everyday Mobile data gifting
Everyday Mobile from Woolworths, formerly known as Woolworths Mobile, offers data gifting on its 30-day prepaid, 365-day prepaid, and SIM-only plans. You can gift up to 50% of your included data in 1GB increments to any other Everyday Mobile customer.
Unused data rolls over into a data bank but, sadly, you can't gift any of your banked data, nor can you re-gift. Everyday Mobile is a Telstra Wholesale network provider.
Here are Everyday Mobile's 30-day prepaid and postpaid (SIM-only) plans:
|
Everyday Mobile
Pre-paid Mobile $25 Recharge
$25.00
Per 30 Day Renewal
Link not supplied
|
|
Everyday Mobile
Pre-paid Mobile $30 Recharge
$30.00
Per 30 Day Renewal
Link not supplied
|
|
Everyday Mobile
Pre-paid Mobile $35 Recharge
$35.00
Per 30 Day Renewal
Link not supplied
|
|
Everyday Mobile
$40 SIM Only
$40.00/mth
Min. cost $40
Link not supplied
|
|
Everyday Mobile
$50 SIM Only
$50.00/mth
Min. cost $50
Link not supplied
|
|
Everyday Mobile
$60 SIM Only
$60.00/mth
Min. cost $60
Link not supplied
|
Family mobile plan FAQs
Who offers family mobile plans?
Right now, the only providers offering family plans or family discounts are Vodafone, Optus, Telstra, ALDI Mobile, and Yomojo. Each differs in both price and inclusions, so it's important to remember you might not be comparing apples for apples.
Are family mobile plans a good idea?
If you're looking to consolidate your billing and spread the data around, then yes. Families that combine their plans into one reap the rewards of lower-priced plans and are able to stick to their budgets better. Data sharing can also mean you get better use out of your overall data, while usually granting the account holder special controls over who gets what.
Is it cheaper to be on a family plan?
Not always. You can often save more money by signing up to multiple cheap plans from a smaller provider – especially when comparing pricing to Vodafone, Optus, and Telstra. But this loses the other benefits of family mobile plans.
How many phones can you have on a family plan?
This varies depending on which provider you are with. For example, Optus allows unlimited eligible plans to share data on a single account, whereas ALDI Mobile places strict limits depending on the family mobile plan you sign up to. And other carriers have their own restrictions or limitations.
Christie Graham
Digital Content Editor
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