Circles.Life Australia review: How good are its mobile plans?

The Silicon Valley-backed telco continues to offer buckets of value Down Under.

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Circles.Life mobile plans offer competitive pricing with lots of data. If you’re looking for bonuses or even features like international calls, you’ll want to look elsewhere, but Circles is a great choice for those purely after data-for-dollar.

Circles.Life phone plans

Circles.Life had made a name for itself by offering lots of data at reasonable prices. While there’s always flux, Circles.Life regularly offers more data than its competitors do at the same price point.

This is largely due to the discounts Circles tends to offer. It’s rare for there to be a time when the provider isn’t offering a saving on your first six months or year. But even excluding these discounts, Circles plans tend to be pretty good value.

Circles.Life SIM-only plans are pretty basic. All you get is data and local talk and text. The plans are all contract-free, however. At time of writing, plan allowances range between 5GB and 100GB. Prices start as low as $10 per month.

Here’s the full set of Circles.Life mobile plans:

For comparison, here’s a look at postpaid SIM-only plans with at least 100GB:

Student and family discounts

Circles.Life doesn’t currently offer student discounts or family plans, but has a referral program.

For each friend you refer who activates their SIM card, Circles.Life will give you $5 off your monthly bill for six months. Your friend will get $10 off their monthly bill for six months.

Referring a family member is a good way for you both to save money on Circles.Life plans.

Circles.Life coverage

Circles.Life features and perks

If you like your SIM Only plan with a side of perks, Circles.Life isn’t the telco for you. That lean, mean pricing above is evidence that Circles.Life is focused on providing plenty of monthly data at a competitive price.

Circles.Life does however offer cheaper excess data than most other providers. If you go over your allowance, you can purchase an extra 3GB for $10. The standard rate is 1GB for $10. You can top-up as many times as you need to in a month.

Just be aware that this is a manual purchase. If you don’t, you’ll pay $0.01 for each megabyte of excess data, which works out to be roughly $10 per for 1GB.

Circles.Life plans don’t include international calls meaning you’re stuck with pricey pay-as-you-go rates.

There’s also international roaming, but it’s also pay-as-you-go, which means it’s very expensive. If you’re travelling overseas regularly, we’d recommend a competitor like Vodafone, where you’ll get $5 per day roaming.

Circles.Life data add-ons

Circles.Life now offers just one data add-on: 3GB for $10 (non-recurring). It can be purchased as many times as necessary in a billing period.

Circles.Life is frequently a top pick of ours when it comes to value, but for a more comprehensive look at the best mobile phone plans in Australia, check out our in-depth guide.

Circles.Life customer support and satisfaction

While the support options aren’t as varied as other telcos, Circles.Life prides itself on getting back to you fast.

The Circles.Life app also features bill tracking, billing and payment settings (if you need to update your payment method), and a live chat feature.

You can also call Circles.Life on the phone number 1300 863 004 to leave a voicemail. The support team will return your call within a day (according to Circles.Life’s website). The customer service centre operates between 8am and 8pm AEST Monday to Friday and between 8am and 5pm AEST on weekends and public holidays.

If you prefer to avoid talking over the phone at all costs you can lodge a ticket over on the telco’s website. Once again, Circles.Life claims you will have a response within the day.

Existing customers can also get in touch with the customer service live chat team via the iOS or Android app.

If you’re a new customer, there’s a web chat service for new connections and questions here. As with the call centre, the live chat team operates 8am to 8pm AEDT Monday to Friday and between 8am and 5pm on weekends and public holidays.

In terms of customer satisfaction, it depends where you go to read about it. The Circles.Life website boasts that its app has a 4.7 star rating in the iOS App Store.

On the other hand, Product Review and Trustpilot have lower ratings. Product Review has a 2.4-out-of-five rating from 660+ reviews. There are only 70 or so on Trustpilot, but the majority of those are one-star ratings, which puts the overall score at just 1.8 out of five.

Vodafone mobile plans review

Vodafone offers great plan perks and data-stuffed offerings.

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Vodafone mobile may not compete in the budget end of town, but they do offer great plans that start at around $40 a month. The more you spend, the faster your capped data speeds when you use up all of your max-speed allowance, too, which translates to limitless data.

Vodafone iPhone 14 plans

Since Vodafone’s postpaid plans tend to start at a lower price-point than Optus and Telstra, it’s a sure bet for those looking for the best value for their money when it comes to iPhone 14 plans. The most affordable option here is likely to be the

Priced at $40 per month, Vodafone’s $40 Lite Plan includes 40GB of Max Speed data (for a limited time) and unlimited rollover data (capped at 2Mpbs) plus standard national calls and text. The unspoken downside here is that Vodafone’s 5G coverage is much smaller than that of Optus and Telstra.

If you’re looking to pick up an iPhone 14 through Vodafone on a 36-month plan, you should expect to pay $38.86 per month for the device itself. Opting for a 24-month plan will cost you more at $58.29. Paired up with the $40 Lite Plan, you’re looking at either $78.86 per month on a 36 month plan or $92.75 per month on a 24-month plan.

Vodafone mobile value for money

Vodafone’s plan range will cover the needs of most phone owners, though there is an absence of plans under $30, except when there’s a promotion that brings the typical pricing down. Normally, under $30 is a popular price point for BYO phone shoppers.

We’ve noticed the price and value of Vodafone’s no-contract SIM plans fluctuate a bit over the past six-or-so months, but happily it is in a good place right now. The current plan range is generous with data, and tends to compare well to Telstra and Optus, especially if you’re in the market for a new smartphone.

We also like that the Vodafone smartphone range extends beyond just iPhones and Samsungs to include handsets from Oppo, Nokia, Motorola and Google.

Currently, the most popular Vodafone offering is the $40 SIM Only Lite Plan. It comes with unlimited standard national talk and text, 5G network access, 10GB of data (with 70GB of bonus data at the time of updating), discounted monthly pricing, and three months of Amazon Prime access. That’s a lot of perks packed into a single plan.

One of Vodafone’s better perks across SIM Only, Postpaid and Prepaid plans is ‘limitless data’. All Prepaid plans are capped at up to 1.5Mbps speeds if you go over your max-speed data allowance, but the SIM Only/Postpaid plans offer faster capped speeds the more you pay.

The $40 SIM Only Lite Plan and $45 SIM Only Lite+ Plan are capped at up to 2Mbps speeds after all max-speed data is exhausted, but the $55 SIM Only Super Plan and $65 SIM Only Super+ Plan are capped at up to 10Mbps. Buy Vodafone’s most expensive plan, the $120 SIM Only Ultra Plan, and speeds are capped at a very respectable (up to) 25Mbps if you burn through the 150GB of max-speed data.

This is a great way to help avoid bill shock, and it’s something that Telstra and, most recently, Optus now also offer, albeit those two telcos are capped at 1.5Mbps apiece.

You can see all of Vodafone’s available plans below.

Vodafone coverage

Vodafone’s network footprint is smaller in comparison to Telstra and Optus, it’s true. But truth be told, the most Australians can still get a reliable signal on Vodafone these days. That includes Vodafone’s various MVNOs (TPG, Kogan Mobile, etc.). Like Optus, the coverage of Vodafone’s MVNOs is the same as its 4G network.

If you’re worried about whether Vodafone can service your area, take a look at the coverage map below. If your address (and the places you regularly visit) are covered in purple, you should be absolutely fine with Vodafone coverage. There are still other factors that might impact your signal, but the map above is a reliable indication of Vodafone’s coverage in Australia.

Vodafone mobile features and perks

Remarkable as it may sound, Vodafone is one of the only telcos to offer a bundling discount for customers who have multiple services with them. The best part is that you can bundle plans across mobile, tablet, mobile broadband and NBN. The discount is super simple to follow, too: you get 5% off the price of each plan when you have two services, 10% when you have three services, 15% when you have four services, and a whopping 20% off the price of each plan when you have five or more.

Vodafone is also one of the few providers that offers discounted phone plans for seniors, with 10% off all its Infinite Plans for eligible customers.

Eligible services include phone, tablet and mobile broadband plans of $30 per month or more, and NBN 50 and NBN 100 services. If you’re in the market for NBN and want that bundle discount, Vodafone tends to provide great typical evening download speeds. You can see Vodafone two relevant speed tiers below that will let you nab the bundle discount.

Speaking of bundling, Vodafone wants to entice gamers to sign up to its services. If you have two or more eligible Vodafone services, you can register your interest for interest-free repayment options for a PlayStation 5 (available from 2021).

Vodafone also offers a 200GB data bank for Vodafone Prepaid customers, so unused megabytes can be carried over if you recharge before expiry. Prepaid customers can take advantage of this and nab $5 off per 28-day recharge by activating automatic recharge. Vodafone Prepaid plans also come with an international call allowance to selected countries. You can see one example of a Vodafone Prepaid plan below.

For Postpaid and SIM Only plans, the perks get better. All SIM Only/Prepaid plans come with an international call allowance, except for the cheapest $40 SIM Only Lite Plan. Still, those perks outlined in the previous section make for attractive offerings from Vodafone. Check out all of Vodafone’s SIM Only plans below.

And here’s how Vodafone SIM Only plans stack up against popular picks from other telcos.

While phone plans have no lock-in clauses, and you’re free to switch plans at will, when you’re buying a phone, even on an interest-free repayment term, you’re still signing a contract. If you wish to leave Vodafone, you’ll need to pay out the balance of what is owing on the phone. This condition is similar to Telstra and Optus phone plans too.

The real https://jiji.ng/ benefit for existing customers on a Vodafone Red Plan is that you can move freely from plan to plan, hunting down the best phone plans as they come up.

Vodafone mobile customer support and satisfaction

If something goes wrong or you have a question, Vodafone has you covered. Whether you prefer Twitter or Facebook, expect a speedy reply to any questions. There’s also an online chat service and customer forums where you can find more helpful information. Despite limitless data, you can still check in on your max-speed data remaining via the Android or iOS app, or by logging into your account on the Vodafone website.

If you look at user-generated scores on websites like Product Review and Trustpilot, both are below two out of five. That said, Google is at a comparatively respectable 3.9 out of five, which is slightly higher than Telstra but just below Optus.

How to sign up for Vodafone mobile

Take your pick of Vodafone mobile plans below, then click the corresponding ‘Go’ button to start the sign-up process. If you change your mind once you reach the Vodafone website, use the Mobile drop-down menu to browse ‘Plans with Phones’, ‘SIM Only Plans’, ‘Prepaid Plans’, or anything else that catches your fancy. The steps for signing up are incredibly straightforward and there are handy FAQs at the bottom of plan pages that offer handy insights.

Vodafone mobile plans

You can see all Vodafone mobile plans below.

How we review mobile providers

For more information on how we review mobile providers like Vodafone, check out this page.

Vodafone FAQs

The cheapest plan for Vodafone at time of writing is the Vodafone $30 prepaid recharge. If you want a no-contract plan, prices start at $40 per month.

Vodafone offers a discount when you bundle its services together. Otherwise you can watch this space to see if Vodafone offer any special deals. If you’re looking to save money on a Vodafone plan though, consider signing up to one of its MVNOs.