The best deals on pre-paid mobile phone deals in Australia for November 2008 onwards.
We are covering only the 5 major carriers based only on initial price vs phone features.
We are not taking the pre-paid call prices or features into account on this page purely because they change often. This recommendation is based purely on the best mobile phone for your dollars.
3 (Three)
More changes to the phone pricing by 3 means that this carrier offers the best pre-paid phones you can buy.
We actually recommend the Nokia 6500 Slide for $229. Lots of functionality and pretty good camera. Nice screen, sound and build quality etc… If you can’t stretch to it’s price consider the Nokia 3120 for $179.
As for the Sony Ericsson W910i it’s selling for $249 – not worth it. Sure sound quality is great and maybe construction but it lacks functionality. Only consider this if music is your priority. We can only truly recommend this model if the price dropped to the $150-200 bracket.
There are other models but none compare to the features these models have.
Vodaphone
A few changes to the line up – as always. Vodaphone changes offerings nearly every week it seems! However the listing remains the same BUT pricing for these models can be as low as $99.
Vodaphone knows how to attract pre-paid customers with excellent mobiles that’s for sure! They are offering the Sony Ericsson k800i or the W880i, Nokia 6234 or 6300 for even lower $139 this period. This is the best network if you want well priced calls and SMS and a decent mobile phone.
They even offer the Nokia 6500 Classic for $249 which is great phone but missing a few options that the 6500 slide has. Nonetheless very stylish.
Optus
The Nokia 6300 pre-paid phone for $149-169 is the only choice. They seem to have focused to on the iPhone this period.
The Sony Ericsson W910i is also offered by Optus for a mere $199! That’s $50 less than Three!
Optus also no longer offers the pre-paid Apple iPhone 3G.
Telstra
The best although the most expensive pre-paid model is the Palm Centro at $299. BUT it’s a full fledged Palm OS Organizer with a phone and mini keyboard. Lots of software is available and just works great.
Of the NextG models the Telstra branded ZTE 156, 153 and 256 can be purchased for as low as $59 All the essential features are present in these models but construction is late 90’s rather than 2008.
Another model you can consider are the Samsung A-411 for $99 which is on par with the Telstra branded ZTE models or the Z750i which is probably the best pre-paid offering at $199.
Virgin Mobile
Virgin mobile are currently offering a huge range of pre-paid phones for less than $100! Clearly that’s their focus is the pre-paid market.
This period sees quite a few models under $100 that are worth considering.
Motorola K1 for $99
Samsung 8310 for $49
Sony Ericsson T250i for $49
Samsung J700 for $79
However their best offering is the Nokia 5000 for $129. Not the best spec phone but it’s neat and tidy with the usual and full Nokia functionality beyond those under $100.