Belong is the latest telco to announce plan price changes in a string that shows households aren't the only ones being affected by the cost of living pressures.
Thankfully, unlike parent company Telstra which is re-pricing all its Upfront plans, Belong is limiting its price increase to just one plan.
From July 4 Belong's 20GB plan for $25 will be "retired". Any existing customers on that plan will be moved to a new 25GB plan costing $29 per month.
All other plan inclusions including international calls and text and any data-top ups will stay the same.
The $4 increase is in line with changes of between $3 to $6 on Telstra Upfront plans and $5 increase on most of Boost's 28-day expiry plans.
Belong said the change is due to "a range of factors we’ve taken into account as we continue to add value to the quality, coverage and security of your mobile service".
Belong customers will be moved at different times to the new plan but each will receive an email notifying them of the change with at least 30 days to prepare for the change. If you're not happy with the change you can cancel or change to another plan without incurring a fee.
Should you switch from Belong?
Belong is one of the better mobile virtual network operators out there:
- It runs on the Telstra wholesale network which covers 99.5% of Australians
- It offers unlimited data with no excess data charges, instead plan speeds are capped at 1Mbps when you use up your data allowance
- It was Australia's first carbon-neutral certified telco and has an ongoing focus on sustainability
If you're not happy with the price change there are a couple of options of telcos with similar offers
available.
If you'd like to jump ship to a provider on the same network, here's a selection of plans that offer at least 20GB of data for $25 and under:
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#1
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Everyday Mobile
Pre-paid Mobile $25 Recharge
$25.00
Per 30 Day Renewal
Link not supplied
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#2
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Tangerine Telecom
30GB 5G Mobile SIM
$30.00/mth
Min. cost $15
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Tangerine, MATE, numobile, Woolworths Mobile and Aldi Mobile each offer mobile plans for the same
monthly cost as the original $25 Belong plan with 22GB of data.
Nothing has been confirmed yet, but at this stage, there are no price rises on the cards for these telcos.
A Telstra spokesperson told WhistleOut that "Telstra’s decision to increase the prices of our postpaid mobile and data plans by CPI does not flow through to Telstra Wholesale’s MVNO pricing".
"Wholesale prices are commercially negotiated between Telstra Wholesale and MVNOs. MVNOs can then adjust their market pricing as they wish."
Unfortunately, none of the other Telstra MVNOs offers unlimited data like Belong. If you wanted to keep the perk of unlimited data and are okay with moving to the Optus network you could consider these Dodo plans:
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#1
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Dodo
Small Mobile Plan
$25.00/mth
Min. cost $25
|
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#2
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Dodo
Editor's Pick
Medium Mobile Plan
$30.00/mth
Min. cost $15
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The Optus network covers 98.5% of Australians and like Belong your plan speeds are capped at 1Mbps if you use your monthly data allowance.
If you were with Belong because of its sustainability options, price, and unlimited data then there's also the option of felix.
felix offers a single subscription plan on the Vodafone network:
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felix mobile
felix 25GB Mobile Plan
$30.00
Per 1 Month Renewal
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It's slightly more expensive than what the new entry-level Belong plan will be, but has truly unlimited data
capped at 20Mbps instead of a monthly data allowance.
felix's big draw for those who are environmentally conscious is its tree-planting initiative which sees a new tree planted for each active member every month. It recently passed its target of planting one million trees.
Dylan Crismale
Digital Content Editor
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