Optus to axe Vividwireless, phase out home wireless broadband

Jacqui Dent - Editorial Strategist

Last updated 04 December 2018

Optus has today announced it will be shutting down Vividwireless, which has been providing fixed mobile broadband services - also known as home wireless broadband - as a subsidiary brand of Optus since 2012. Optus is also phasing out its own home wireless broadband plans as part of this move.

As of now, it is no longer possible to take out a new plan with Vividwireless or Optus. Meanwhile, if you have an existing plan with Vividwireless, Optus is offering two choices:

Opt out of your Vividwireless contract without penalty.
Continue your current plan with the same monthly payments and data allowance, on a month to month basis, with your account administered by Optus. As your service is already delivered over the 4G Optus network, the quality of your service should remain the same.

If you're an Optus home wireless broadband customer, you can continue to use your plan until you decide to cancel.

No matter which option you choose, you can leave Vividwireless at any time, regardless of your contract length, without penalty. If you do want to keep your Vividwireless plan it will be transferred to Optus in March 2019, and you don't need to take any action at this time. If you prefer to opt out of the transfer, you have until February 21, 2019.

It's probably no coincidence that this announcement comes just days after Optus' radical refresh of its mobile broadband plans. Under the new Optus plans customers can get 200GB for just $60 per month. This is a limited time offer until February 3, after which time the plan will offer 100GB for $60 per month.

The current 200GB offer from Optus is a significantly better deal than Vividwireless' old 200GB plan for $70 per month and not just because of the price. While Vividwireless plans offered download speeds at a max of 12Mbps (equivalent to the slowest NBN speed tier), Optus 4G mobile broadband should be capable of achieving download speeds of up to 100Mbps, depending on conditions such as signal strength and the equipment you're using to connect.

It's too bad the 200GB offer won't continue indefinitely, however. And in the meantime, the closure of Vividwireless means there are now no mobile broadband plans on the market offering unlimited data.

If you're a Vividwireless customer and you prefer not to transfer your service to Optus, here are some other plans to consider:

#1	Tangerine Telecom Editor's Pick	Tangerine Telecom Editor's Pick 100GB Mobile Broadband Data Plan Mobile Broadband 100GB Data $34.90/mth Min. cost $34.90 Link not supplied	$34.90/mth Min. cost $34.90	Link not supplied
#2	Lebara Mobile	Lebara Mobile Data Plan Medium Mobile Broadband 80GB Data Prepaid (60 Days) Deal: Includes 20GB bonus data for first 3 recharges on Medium Data Plan until 03.11.26 $37 Link not supplied	$37	Link not supplied
#3	Vodafone	Vodafone Large Data SIM Only Plan Mobile Broadband 140GB Data Deal: Get 140GB of data for 12 months (incl. 70GB bonus data) on the Large Data SIM Only plan. Ends 21.10.26. T&Cs apply. $40/mth Min. cost $40 Link not supplied	$40/mth Min. cost $40	Link not supplied
#4	Belong	Belong 100GB Data SIM Only Mobile Broadband 100GB Data $40/mth Min. cost $40 Link not supplied	$40/mth Min. cost $40	Link not supplied
#5	Tangerine Telecom	Tangerine Telecom 200GB Mobile Broadband Data Plan Mobile Broadband 200GB Data $49.90/mth Min. cost $49.90 Link not supplied	$49.90/mth Min. cost $49.90	Link not supplied
#6	SpinTel	SpinTel Mobile Broadband Unlimited Mobile Broadband Unlimited Data $49.95/mth + $20 Upfront Min. cost $69.95 Link not supplied	$49.95/mth + $20 Upfront Min. cost $69.95	Link not supplied
#7	Lebara Mobile	Lebara Mobile Data Plan Large Mobile Broadband 120GB Data Prepaid (90 Days) Deal: Includes 30GB bonus data for first 3 recharges on Large Data Plan until 03.11.26 $50 Link not supplied	$50	Link not supplied
#8	amaysim	amaysim 100GB Data Plan Mobile Broadband 100GB Data Prepaid (28 Days) $50 Link not supplied	$50	Link not supplied
#9	Telstra	Telstra $54 Pre-Paid Mobile Broadband Go Mobile Broadband 85GB Data Prepaid (28 Days) Deal: Includes 45GB bonus data for first 3 recharges. Activate by 02.11.26 $54 Link not supplied	$54	Link not supplied
#10	Aussie Broadband	Aussie Broadband X-Large Data Only 5G SIM Mobile Broadband 180GB Data $60/mth Min. cost $60 Link not supplied	$60/mth Min. cost $60	Link not supplied

If you're a Vividwireless customer and you do choose to keep your current service, Optus says you will be given a new Optus MyAccount to manage your service once it's been migrated to Optus. If you pay by direct debit, Optus says you'll need to provide your direct debit details again after migration. You'll be notified via email when that happens.

If you choose to keep you plan, it's important to note that while your plan fees and data allowance won't change, some of the terms of your service will.

Specifically Optus says that, in contrast to Vividwireless' policy, if you fail to pay your bill on time your service won't be automatically suspended. Instead you'll be charged a late payment fee of $15 (no GST included) and you may continue to incur charges if you use your service and fail to pay.

Your service will also be governed by the Optus Fair Go Policy which, among other things, prohibits the use of your service for illegal or improper activities.

Jacqui Dent

Editorial Strategist

Jacqui Dent is an Editorial Content Strategist at WhistleOut Australia, where she writes about mobile phone plans, NBN plans and everything in between. Over her ten-year career, she has worked to provide informed advice to the public, first in the sphere of writing and now in the world of consumer tech. Jacqui has also written about consumer telco products for Business Insider, Pedestrian and the 50Up Club.

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